February 21, 2003
DEZIONIZATION:
Golden Calf still with us --- except it has multiplied (Rabbi Berel Wein, 2/21/03, Jewish World Review)The narrative of the incident of Israel and the Golden Calf -- read this week publicly from the Torah -- is so riveting and fascinating that we return to it year after year with renewed and refreshed interest.How did human beings that experienced godly Revelation at Sinai revert to worshipping a Golden Calf just a few short weeks later? What happened to the "the kingdom of priests and holy nation" to cause this terrible reversal of course?
The great biblical commentators and, in fact, the Jewish people itself, in its deepest soul, have all wrestled with the problem of understanding this unfathomable fall of Israel and its consequences. And even though a full solution to this problem is not present, at least not in this limited space, I think that there are a number of insights that are apparent from this event, and that these insights are pertinent and necessary to us, personally and nationally, today as well. [...]
In a wholesale manner, Jews are abandoning Judaism and are being encouraged to do so by others whose commitment to Judaism and Jewish survival is tepid, at best. In the present society's permissive atmosphere that allows one to construct the rules of one's own religion as one wishes, the "eiruv rav" agitates for the destruction of tradition and the elimination of explicitly stated Torah values and behavior. Is it any wonder, then, that the people yet dance around the Golden Calf?
Lastly, I wish to point out that saving the Jewish people from the clutches of the Golden Calf is not always pleasant and joyful work. When Moses returns to the encampment of the Jews and sees for himself the destruction -- both physical and moral -- that the creation of the Golden Calf has wrought, he calls for action, even for civil war in order to save the people. "Who is unto G-d, let him come unto me!" is his battle cry. And the men of the tribe of Levi who rallied to his cause at that fateful moment in Jewish history, slew thousands in order to save Israel from the wrath of Godly destruction.
Moses remembers the loyalty of Levi to the cause of Jewish survival in his final blessings to the people of Israel. "They spared not even family in their loyalty to G-d's covenant," he exclaims. Moses allows no compromise with the Golden Calf, for that will only lead the people down the slippery slope of spiritual annihilation.
It is an insight that we should ponder in our current society as well.
Secularization is an especially odd phenomenon in Israel--evidenced most recently in the electoral success of Shinui. Why should Israel exist if it's not a distinctly Jewish state?
Posted by Orrin Judd at February 21, 2003 10:07 AMUhhh, as a shining example of accountable government, free speech and individual rights in the midst of atavistic Islamism?
Just a guess.
Regards,
Jeff G
Jeff -
I think those qualities have less inspirational appeal than commonly imagined. Some sort of secular Zionism rather than Judaism will not be enough to maintain the state in the face of fierce opposition from Arab neighbors. There has to be more.
That too is just a guess.
Yes - those qualities may help us admire Israel from 6000 miles away, but they don't offer a compelling reason for Israelis to endure terror attacks when they can be safe and prosperous in Palm Beach, Florida. After all, they can set an example of civilized government from the U.S.
Posted by: pj at February 21, 2003 12:36 PMMore than that though, why not just a single state in the region, encompassing Jews and Palestinians, who are after all quite similar ethnically.
Posted by: oj at February 21, 2003 12:39 PMOdd question given that Zionism was originally not a religious movement, but more of a nationalist one once the Dreyfuss affair convinced secular Jews that they could never integrate in the nations they lived in.
I find Orrin's last comment a bit odd. I don't think he advocates a single state solution ala Edward Said so is the point that the Jews' religious faith is essential to keep Israel viable? The ethnic similarity of Jews and Arabs is quite moot. The Jews have a distinct cultural difference between them and their Arab neighbors, thus explaining why Israel developed into a stable, prosperous democracy while all Arab states became repressive autocracies of varying degrees. You don't need a separate religion to justify self determination.
Chris;
Precisely, so what about when you expunge that distinct culture?
Shinui exists in the context of Israel’s politics. My understanding of their message is that they want to limit the political power of the ultra-orthodox by removing issues such as marriage and divorce from their authority and that they want to abrogate draft exemptions for their children (all other Israeli Jews enter the military at 18, 3yrs for boys 2 for girls) and subsidies paid to families of "students" in those communities. I can understand and agree with these goals. If I were an Israeli parent whose children were in the army I would resent the draft dodgers, and it would aggravate me even more to have to pay taxes to keep them on welfare.
Would implementing this platform mean the end of Judaism? I do not think so. Every innovation since the invention of the synagogue has been meet with hysteria by some group of rabbis or the other. My concern with the state of Judaism in Israel is not that it becomes pluralistic. Let the ultra-orthodox maintain or strengthen their strangle-hold on Judaism in Israel and they will drive a majority of the people away from religion just as established churches have in Europe. I think a pluralistic system with local control and lots of different approaches and theologies would do a lot to strengthen Judaism in Israel.
Mr. Schwartz:
Is any other variant of Judaism reproducing at replacement level other than the Orthodox?