Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, begins tomorrow night. To those who are fasting, I wish a צום קל , an easy fast.
Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.
In Judaism, the term "High Holydays" refers to Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). This year, the first one begins on Sept 6, 2021 and the second on Sept.15.
In monotheistic religions of the West, namely Judaism, Christianity
and Islam, there is a belief that at the end of time, God will judge all
humanity, bringing the righteous to paradise and the wicked to hell. In Hebrew
this is called YOM HADIN, “the day of judgment,” a term that appeared first in
post-biblical times.
According to the New Testament, God “set a day in which he purposes to judge the inhabited earth” (Acts 17: 31). Another text, however states that it would be Jesus who will do the judging: “The Father judges no one but has entrusted all judgment to the Son” (Joh, 5:22). The terrifying scene has been magnificently portrayed by Michelangelo in his famous painting, “The Last Judgment,” now in the Sistine chapel in the Vatican..
Similarly, Islam proclaims that at the end of time Allah
will decide how people will spend their afterlife (See, for ex. Kuran 3:55;
5:48 and others).
The ancient Rabbis, too, had a
similar view, except that according to them the judging will be done solely by
God. Inspired by the Roman military life, they imagined that, particularly on
Rosh Hashanah, “all that come into the world will pass before Him like legions
of soldiers.” (RH 1: 2). They also taught that Rosh Hashanah initiates a process
of divine judgment that is completed ten days later on Yom Kippur. In fact, on
Rosh Hashanah, they said, two books are opened before God: Some people are
written in the Book of Life, while others are written in the Book of Death
(see, RH 32b).
This assumption is highlighted in
a traditional liturgical text called, Unetane Tokef (“Let us speak
of awesomeness”), which was composed
between 6 and 8th centuries, and recited during the Jewish High
Holidays. It states that (in translation):
On Rosh Hashanah it is inscribed,
And on Yom Kippur it is sealed.
How many shall pass away and how many shall
be born,
Who shall live and who shall die,
Who shall reach the end of his days and who
shall not,
Who shall perish by water and who by fire,
Who by sword and who by wild beast,
Who by famine and who by thirst,
Who by earthquake and who by plague,
Who by strangulation and who by stoning,
Who shall have rest and who shall wander,
Who shall be at peace and who shall be
pursued,
Who shall be at rest and who shall be
tormented,
Who shall be exalted and who shall be
brought low,
Who shall become rich and who shall be
impoverished.
But repentance, prayer and righteousness
avert judgment’s severe decree.
For me, this image of a final
judgment is Kafkaesque and a frightening one. First of all, we don’t know when
it will happen; we don’t know how it will happen, and the concept itself is far
from being comfortable and soothing. It is meant to terrify us into behaving
correctly. But I don’t think it works.
In fact, I think, it is a real turn off!
I much rather prefer to reinterpret
the concept and turn the burden on us who can do something about it in a constructive
way. So, for me, a religious naturalist, instead of talking about Yom Ha-din,
the Day of Final judgment, I think we should look at the new Jewish New Year as
a day of starting a process of self-evaluation, which is done in the recesses
of our heart. So, on Rosh Hashanah, we begin the process and conclude it on Yom
Kippur with our new commitment to improve ourselves. At least this is something
that we can do, and must do.
The Talmud even gives us an example of a self-evaluation: After death, when a person is brought to judgment, he is asked: a) Did you conduct your business with integrity; b) Did you set aside fixed times to study; c) did you engage in procreation? and d) Did you hope for better things to come (Shab.31a).
In my case, as I look upon my
behavior last year, I realize that I need to be more patient with people, and
to realize that others function at a different pace than mine. As a Rabbi I am also
inclined to respond to every demand and every request. As I grow older, I need
to learn how to say No at times, for my own well-being and for the sake of the
project I am about to initiate. Just as Simone Biles, the Olympic star, was
able to put her mental wellbeing above the pressures of the moment, I should be
able to respond with clarity of thought in each and every case by considering
what I can do best without killing myself.
So, I plan to start the
self-evaluation on Rosh Hashanah and conclude it on Yom Kippur, determined to
be a better person and a more productive individual. Maybe you should consider
doing the same.
I was interviewed by Rabbi Richard Address of the Jewish Sacred Aging, and I discussed my Sefardic background, how we moved to the Willows in Westborough, MA and my personal theology.
https://vimeo.com/581051990
Please check it out.
Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, PhD
Presently, there are two major Jewish groups in the world: Ashkenazic,
who trace their background to Germany and other Eastern European countries, and
Sefardic Jews, who lived in and came out of Spain. Both groups are influenced by the cultural
life of their respective original communities.
The term “Sefarad” appears only once in the Bible: In the
prophet Obadiah (v.20), written most likely well after the destruction of the
first temple of Jerusalem in 586/7 BCE. (Others place it as late as the 5th
cent. BCE). “Sefarad” probably refers to Sardis, a city in Asia Minor. However,
in the Aramaic translation of the Bible, the Targum Jonathan (7th
cent. CE), the name was associated with Spain, and that identification remained
for many centuries. So, by definition, Sefardic Jews are those who trace their
origin to Spain.
How did the Jews get to Spain? In the year 711, the Arab
commander, Tarik ibn Ziyyad, crossed the straights of Gibraltar, and began to
conquer Spain. Many Jews from North Africa followed him. They set up
communities in various parts of Spain, giving rise to a celebrated Jewish
culture. Among the great luminaries that emerged in the country, one can
mention Ibn Gabirol, the poet (d.1069),
ibn Ezra, the renowned biblical commentator (d. 1167) and the philosopher
Maimonides (d. 1204). However, the Christian forces in the north initiated the
Reconquista as early as the 11th cent. and started to push the
Moslems south and away from Spain. Things worsened for the Jewish communities,
too. In 1391 a major riot occurred in Seville and many Jews were killed. The
Inquisition was set up in 1480 and went after the Conversos, new converts to
Christianity. Finally, in 1492, claiming that the Jews were a bad influence on the new Christians, King
Ferdinand of Aragon and his wife Queen Isabela issued a decree of expulsion of
all Jews from Spain. Thousands left, many arriving in the Ottoman Empire. (Jews
have returned to Spain recently, and there are synagogues in many parts of the
country).
There are considerable differences between Ashkenazic Jews
and Sefardic Jews. Here are some examples:
a. Liturgy: there are many differences between Ashkenazic and
Sefardic prayers.
b. Religious practices: Sefardic Jews follow the teachings of the Shulhan
Aruk by Joseph Caro 16th cent), whereas Ashkenazic Jews follow the writings
of Moses Isserless (16th cent.).
c. Language: Ashkenazic Jews spoke/still speak Yiddish (a
Jewish/German dialect); whereas Sefardic Jews spoke/still speak Ladino, based
on Spanish.
d. Most Sefardic Jews name their children after living parents. Ashkenazic
Jews after dead parents.
e. Sefardic Jews use flat stones at the cemetery but Ashkenazic
Jews prefer upright stones.
f. The cuisine of Ashkenazic Jews is considerably different from
Sefardic cuisine.
g. The Synagogue music for Sefardic Jews is very different from the
music used by Ashkenazic Jews.
Se Also, Sefardic Jews pronounce Biblical and rabbinic Hebrew differently from Ashkenazic Hebrew.
There are some Jews around the world that do not really
belong to either group, often referred to as Mizrahi Jews, such as the Jews of Yemen or Iran, because they did not
become part of the peregrinations of either Sefardic or Ashkenazic Jews. In
practical terms, however, these
communities follow the Sefardic rituals and religious practices.
What is the present situation? In Israel, the Jewish
community is divided between these two groups. Outside of Israel, in the US and
Europe, there are more Ashkenazic Jews that Sefardic Jews. On the other hand, the
rate of inter-cultural marriages between these two groups continue to grow. (For
the record: I am a Sefardic Jew from Turkey, whereas my wife is Ashkenazic from
Argentina).
For the foreseeable future, the division between these two
groups will continue, even if the lines of demarcation are not so clear in many
communities.
Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D
The term “revelation” can be defined as “the divine
disclosure to humans of something regarding the human existence or the world.”
In the ancient Near East, it was commonly believed that gods
verbally communicated with their subjects: Thus, for example, “This is the word
of Ninlil [the goddess] for the king, “Fear not, O Ashurbanipal! Now, as I have
spoken, it will come to pass” (ANET, p.451). Gods also communicated through
dreams: “In my dream, (the goddess) Belet-biri stood by me. She spoke to me as
follows…..” (1)
In biblical times, too, where God appears to the Israelites as
a Father, King, or Creator, “revelations” appear to have taken place in a variety of ways.
They included,
a. Direct Speech, such as: “The Lord said to Abram: Go forth
from your native land…”(Gen.12: 1, all biblical quotes from JPS), or, “The word
of the Lord came to me” (Jer.1:4), even, at times, to animals, “The Lord opened
the ass’s mouth and she said to Balaam” (Num.22:28).
b. Through an angel: “An angel of the Lord appeared to him
(Moses) in a blazing fire out of a bush” (Ex.3: 2), or “The angel of the Lord
said to her: ‘Go back to your mistress, and submit to her harsh treatment”
(Gen. 16:9).
c. Dreams and visions: “When a prophet of the Lord arises
among you, I make Myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream”
(Num.12:6); or “The hand of the Lord came upon me. He took me out by the spirit
of the Lord and set me down in the valley” (Dan 37: 1).
d. Writing on the wall: “He therefore made the hand appear,
and caused the writing to be inscribed.” (Dan. 5:24).
e. Urim and Thummim: “Inside the breast piece of decision
you shall place the Urim and Thummim so that they are over Aaron’s heart when
he comes before the Lord” (Ex. 28: 30). [We do not know what these objects
were. Many suggest that they were a type of sacred lots used for divination]
Biblical books, containing statements attributed to God, were
written by unknown human authors: The Book of Psalms, attributed to King David,
is a collection of poems/prayers to God. The books of Joshua, Judges , Samuel, Kings
and Chronicles are quasi-historical books but not God’s work. Proverbs and
Ecclesiastes deal with human wisdom. Song of Songs is a book about human love. Each
prophet assumedly wrote his own book. The Book of Esther does not even include
the name of God.
What about the Pentateuch? Even though, just before the
reading of the Torah, the Jewish liturgy
proclaims: “This is the Torah which Moses set before the Children of Israel,
according to the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses” (Hertz), we really
don’t know who finally put it all together. Nowhere in the Five Books of Moses
is it stated that Moses was the author of the entire Pentateuch. In the
expression “Moses wrote down this Torah” (Deut.31:9), the word “Torah” simply means
“teaching,” namely, general instruction
and not the entire Pentateuch(2). Even the Rabbis had to admit that Moses could
not have been the author of the statement in Deuteronomy, “So Moses, God’s
servant, died there” (34:5). Their answer: Joshua wrote it.
During rabbinic times, the Rabbis were aware of the issue of
authorship of various texts in the Hebrew Bible; hence they presented a list of
authors for each biblical text : e.g., Moses wrote the Pentateuch and the book
of Job (BB 14b). In the medieval period,
divine revelation was generally accepted by many. Yet Maimonides (12th
cent) stated that “when we call the Torah ‘God’s word’ we speak metaphorically.”
But, then, making an exception with regard to Moses, he surprisingly added “We
do not know exactly how it [the Pentateuch] reached us, but only that it came
to us through Moses who acted like a secretary taking dictation” (Helek: San.
Ch.10, No.8).
Today, can we take the concept of revelation literally? If,
so how can we explain the so many internal discrepancies within the biblical
material? For instance, of the two sets of the Decalogue, Ex.20 and Deut. 5,
which is God’s real words? Did God change “his” mind?
In trying to ascertain how the Bible took shape, many Biblical
scholars tell us that the Hebrew Bible is made up of four different literary
strands, JEDP, which were composed by various human authors over a long period
of time. We don’t know exactly when the Hebrew Canon was completed. Some have
argued that the Council of Jamnia finalized the Hebrew Bible in the first cent.
CE., but this theory has been challenged by many critics. Scholars now suggest
dates that vary from the 1st cent. BCE to the 2nd cent.
CE.
From the perspective of Jewish religious naturalism, my
position, we can say that all biblical texts and rabbinic instructions were
written by extraordinary human beings who were inspired by the circumstances
that surrounded them. They were eventually collected as sacred texts for the
larger community to read and study. Instead of “revelation,” most religious
naturalists use the idea of “discovery.”
So, if we want to find out God’s will, they would say, all we need to do
is investigate and study the evidence that is provided to us by nature. Even though,
that is not perfect and always subject to change based on the discovery of new data,
it is, at least, verifiable.
1. Prophets and Prophecy in the ANE, SBL, M. Nissinen, SBL,
2003, p.69.
2. Jeffrey H. Tigay, Deuteronomy, JPS, 1996, 291
Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D
You think prophets are gone? Not so in some Christian
groups. I recently learned that Ellen G. White (d.1915), the co-founder of the
Seven Day Adventists, was regarded as a “prophetess.” Bishop D.T. Tonne of the
Elijah Prophet of Fire Ministries International is identified online as a
“prophet.” Similarly, Russell M. Nelson Sr. is the 17th and current
president as well as the prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints.
Who is a prophet? A prophet by definition is a mouthpiece of
God, a human medium capable of receiving and transmitting a verbal message from
the divine. Prophecy is an ancient phenomenon in the Near East, where we find a
number of references to people who claimed that they received the word of God
and shared this message with other people. They went by different names,
including: muhhu in Babylonia, apilu in Mari (of Syria) and navi
in ancient Israel. Some of them were simple diviners, others acted as
social critics. Some were attached to sanctuaries, others roamed alone. They
were men and women. Their language is at times banal but often impressive. They
spoke up at temples but also in the market places.
Examples are plentiful: an unknown prophet of Akkad looked
forward to the day when “the country will live safely….the people will have
abundance” (ANET, 606). The Jewish prophet Amos (8th cent. BCE),
preached in the northern kingdom of Israel: “Seek good and not evil that you
may live…Hate evil and love good and establish justice in the gate” (5:14-15,
JPS). Micah (8th cent. BCE) expressed his hope in Jerusalem that
people “will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning
hooks. Nation shall not take up sword against nation; they shall never again
know war” (4: 3, JPS). First Isaiah (8th cent. BCE) looked forward
to the day when God “will hold up a signal to the nations and assemble the
banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of
the earth” (11: 12, JPS).
Ancient prophets usually shared their messages verbally and,
later on, scribes turned them into written texts, often ex post facto.
In the New Testament, both John the Baptist (Mat 11:9-11) and
Jesus (Acts 3:22) are called prophets. In
the Quran, Mohammad is viewed as one. Even though Mohammad accepted Jesus and
the biblical prophets as legitimate, Christians do not view Muhammad as a
prophet and Jews do not consider Mohammad or Jesus as prophets.
How does one know if a prophet is legitimate or not? In
Jewish history, not everyone was accepted as a legitimate prophet. Many were in
fact declared false. The book of Deuteronomy, for example, tells us that “if a
prophet speaks in the name of the Lord and the oracle does not come true, that
oracle was not spoken by the Lord” (Deut.18:22). That prophet is false. During
the reign of King Jehoshaphat of Judah (870-846 BCE), “a lying spirit (fell) in
the mouth of the prophets” (I K 22: 23). The prophet Ezekiel attacked “the
foolish prophets who follow their own spirit.” (13:3-4). In the NT, Jesus warns
of false prophets “who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are
ravenous wolves” (Matt. 7: 15).
During the medieval times, the concept of prophecy came
under heavy criticism among major Jewish philosophers, because divine revelation
was becoming more and more problematic and philosophically untenable. Thus, for
instance, even though Saadia Gaon (d. 942) of Egypt defended the old concept of
prophecy as verbal revelation from God, others, like Abraham Ibn Ezra (d.1167)
of Tudela, Spain and Moses Maimonides (d.1204)
of Cordoba, Spain argued that when the prophets spoke up, they used their own reason
and imaginative powers.
We do not know when prophecy ended in ancient Israel. According
to the Talmud, “After the last prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi died
(about 5th cent. BCE), the Divine Spirit of prophetic revelation
departed from the Jewish people, and they were still utilizing a Divine Voice,
which they heard as an echo of prophecy” (Yoma 9b). On the other hand, Seder
Olam Rabba ,30, a rabbinic text that deals with chronology, places it at
the time of Alexander the Great (d.323 BCE). The Jewish historian Josephus (1st
cent CE) still speaks of “false prophets” during the Roman period (Wars 6/5/2).
It must have been a slow process.
Today, for all practical purposes, we live in a post-prophetic
era. Except for very few examples in the Christian world today (see above), no human
being is given the title of “prophet” anymore. Today, it is almost impossible
to ascertain who has received “the word of God,” and how. Now, at best, we talk
about wise people or charismatic individuals who can speak with a commanding
voice on major social, political and
religious issues, not because they received verbal messages from the divinity but
because of the forceful arguments they can muster when they speak up. We pay
attention to them and often follow their teachings. They are our modern
teachers and guides.
