Shema, Yisrael
As I near the end of my two years of "becoming Jewish," I am also coming up on probably the most consequential oral exam since my dissertation defense: my interview with the Bet Din. And to feel a bit more prepared for that interview, I thought I would write a series of blog posts summing up what I have learned about Jews, Judaism, and how-to-be-Jewish over the past couple of years -- and invite my rabbis and the rest of my Jewish community to chip in their thoughts (and give my thoughts a nudge in the right direction as need be).
Just as the abundance of words given to Christian belief statements hints at the central place of belief in that religious tradition, the relatively spare wording of Judaism's main statement of faith – and the many words that follow it dedicated more to the responsibilities of the believer – tell us a lot about what is important to Jews. We are much more a people of responsibility and ritual, of learning and discussion, of reflection and action, than a people of belief.
It's not that Jews don't believe anything, it's just that our couple of core beliefs – in the oneness of God and in the relationship the Jewish people have with Him – are so simple and ingrained that we generally don't feel we need to talk about them. I suspect that even those Jews who question the existence of God (and yes, in most cases being agnostic or even atheistic does not in and of itself bar one from being a Jew-in-good-standing) would never dare to question the oneness of the God they aren't sure they believe in.
When I was trying to pass myself off as a Christian, I seemed to constantly run across people who wanted to know what I believed about this or that: the virgin birth, the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the humanity of Christ, the infallibility of the Bible, one theory of atonement or another, the list went on and on. While occasionally they actually wanted to know my opinion, it seemed like most of the time these questions were for purposes of categorization: what kind of Christian was I, and was it their kind of Christian or not?
In contrast, during the almost-two-years that I have been becoming Jewish, not once has any person asked me what I believe about God or the Torah or almost anything else, really. But I have been asked about my level of observance: do you keep kosher? will you eat otherwise-kosher food without a heksher on it? do you write on Shabbos? would you mind carrying this-or-that on Shabbos? It's not that people are being judgmental (though I sometimes fear that they will judge my answers) or worried that I will cross their lines (though I certainly hope I don't) so much as that they want to gauge where I am on the spectrum of Jewish observance so that they don't cross any of my lines. They are, essentially, being considerate.
What I guess I'm getting at here is that Judaism has a complicated relationship with belief. We have a couple of deeply-held core beliefs and we sing them out proudly almost every time we get together. But they are not what we talk about, not what we quiz newbies about, not what in essence defines us. We are much more interested in knowing how you work to be Jewish and how you do your Judaism than what you believe. And that, I think, is how it should be. Try it sometime - you might like it!
Finally, I want to end this post with the first ever segment of "Signs you will never see in front of a synagogue". As many of you know, a large number of Christian churches have these signs out front that they post a slogan or message on every now and again. Some call them "wayside pulpits." I don't think I've ever seen a Synagogue with a – what would you call it? a wayside bimah? – but if they had them, here are two things you wouldn't see written on them:
So, without further ado, I start with one of the things that attracted me to Judaism in the first place: the sh'ma, and what it says about Judaism as a belief system…
– – –
One of the things that always drove me crazy about trying to be a good Christian was the statements-of-faith. Many of the churches I have been a part of have weaved one or another of these creeds or confessions into their worship lives, for example asking worshippers to recite a particular "I believe…" formula just before partaking of communion. Other churches trot their statements of required belief out in places other than worship, or perhaps just keep them on display in the back of the hymnal, but they all seem to have them somewhere.
Now, let me interject that it isn't the existence of statements of faith that bothers me (if it was, I'd go back to being Quaker or UU), or even the idea of reciting a statement of faith as part of a worship service (if you've got one, you might as well use it, right?). The sh'ma, which I am trying to get around to talking about in this post, is often considered to be the essential Jewish statement of faith, and we say it – sing it out proudly, in fact – at every prayer service except Havdalah and an extra time when we put our kids to bed.
No, what always bothered me about Christian statements of faith was just how many beliefs – often fairly nit-picky ones at that – they expect a person to affirm at one time, often on a weekly basis. One of the oldest, most basic (and shortest) creeds of Christianity, the Apostles' Creed, is said to contain 12 articles of faith, though by my counting there more like 20 particular beliefs it asks a Christian to affirm. And mostly, I couldn't affirm them. Sure, I said the words every Sunday morning growing up, but it was a lie. (My church made me lie every Sunday morning, and I still haven't quite gotten over that!)
But back to my point: these creeds and confessions and statements-of-faith are long, detailed, and full of items that in some ways distract and detract from the central focus of faith in God. They were stumbling blocks before this blind man, rather than aids to a deeper faith.
But maybe that is jsit because I am not, in my heart and soul, a Christian. Long lists of beliefs just don't give me that warm feeling.
But maybe that is jsit because I am not, in my heart and soul, a Christian. Long lists of beliefs just don't give me that warm feeling.
As far as I can tell, these detailed statements of faith are representative of what matters to Christians: if your salvation is through faith alone, then it stands to reason that what exactly you have faith in matters a whole awful lot. While it is difficult to generalize about a religion as vast and diverse as Christianity, in most cases I have seen that whether a particular group of Christians will consider you one of their number is much more often about whether you believe the right things (or are at least willing to say you do and "fake it till you make it") than about how you pray, or how you worship, or how you behave in the world. I'm not saying that those other things don't matter to Christians, just that they are further down the totem pole. A lot of Christians would be more comfortable with a sinner-who-believes than a saint-who-doubts.
Now consider instead Judaism's statement of faith:
Sh'ma Yisrael: Adonai eloheinu, Adonai echad!
one possible translation: Listen up Israel: the Eternal is our God, the Eternal alone!
another, more common: Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one!
It's so simple it's practically a one-liner. Unlike the Christian formulae, we are not asking someone to read out a list of very specific beliefs – in a sense, we aren't even asking for belief at all, just a willingness to listen – but instead we are keeping it simple: two bare-bones-basic beliefs that lie at the heart of Judaism:
- There is only one God
- The One God is our God (not that we aren't willing to share, mind: this is said more in the sense that we belong to God through an ages-old covenant than that God belongs to us in some exclusive way)
Just as the abundance of words given to Christian belief statements hints at the central place of belief in that religious tradition, the relatively spare wording of Judaism's main statement of faith – and the many words that follow it dedicated more to the responsibilities of the believer – tell us a lot about what is important to Jews. We are much more a people of responsibility and ritual, of learning and discussion, of reflection and action, than a people of belief.
It's not that Jews don't believe anything, it's just that our couple of core beliefs – in the oneness of God and in the relationship the Jewish people have with Him – are so simple and ingrained that we generally don't feel we need to talk about them. I suspect that even those Jews who question the existence of God (and yes, in most cases being agnostic or even atheistic does not in and of itself bar one from being a Jew-in-good-standing) would never dare to question the oneness of the God they aren't sure they believe in.
When I was trying to pass myself off as a Christian, I seemed to constantly run across people who wanted to know what I believed about this or that: the virgin birth, the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the humanity of Christ, the infallibility of the Bible, one theory of atonement or another, the list went on and on. While occasionally they actually wanted to know my opinion, it seemed like most of the time these questions were for purposes of categorization: what kind of Christian was I, and was it their kind of Christian or not?
In contrast, during the almost-two-years that I have been becoming Jewish, not once has any person asked me what I believe about God or the Torah or almost anything else, really. But I have been asked about my level of observance: do you keep kosher? will you eat otherwise-kosher food without a heksher on it? do you write on Shabbos? would you mind carrying this-or-that on Shabbos? It's not that people are being judgmental (though I sometimes fear that they will judge my answers) or worried that I will cross their lines (though I certainly hope I don't) so much as that they want to gauge where I am on the spectrum of Jewish observance so that they don't cross any of my lines. They are, essentially, being considerate.
What I guess I'm getting at here is that Judaism has a complicated relationship with belief. We have a couple of deeply-held core beliefs and we sing them out proudly almost every time we get together. But they are not what we talk about, not what we quiz newbies about, not what in essence defines us. We are much more interested in knowing how you work to be Jewish and how you do your Judaism than what you believe. And that, I think, is how it should be. Try it sometime - you might like it!
Finally, I want to end this post with the first ever segment of "Signs you will never see in front of a synagogue". As many of you know, a large number of Christian churches have these signs out front that they post a slogan or message on every now and again. Some call them "wayside pulpits." I don't think I've ever seen a Synagogue with a – what would you call it? a wayside bimah? – but if they had them, here are two things you wouldn't see written on them:
YOU ARE INVITED TO
BELIEVE
THIS SUNDAY, [worship times]
I keep seeing this one at a local Church of Christ that I pass taking the kids to school. Why is this not a Jewish sign? First off, we don't invite people into our Synagogues to "believe." That isn't the point for us. You can believe at home. Come to the Synagogue to pray in community, to study and learn and discuss and reflect in community, to socialize and party in community, to plan and do things in community. Second off, it says "this Sunday". I've met a number of Christians who are religious on Sunday and maybe on Wednesday night. That's fine I guess, but most of the Jews I meet seem to consider Judaism to be something they do every day.
Another one:
THE EVIDENCE
OF KNOWING GOD
IS OBEYING GOD
That's from a Bible Church on the same road as the Church of Christ. Why is this not a Jewish sign? At first glance it seems Jewish enough: it's about doing, not believing, after all. But it still proceeds from the very Christian idea that you have to believe before you do. Knowing God leads to doing what God wants. Jews take the opposite tack. So you've lost your faith in God, you say? Do the mitzvot and they will lead you back to Him. You don't feel you know God to begin with? Add another mitzvah to your daily routine ever now and then and you will get to know Her by and by. Following God's ways is the way to get to God.
My teenager adds: Jews also aren't 100% about blind obedience. Arguing with God is a tradition that goes back as far as Abraham, and was still alive and well in the time of Moses.
Got your own thoughts on all this? Go ahead, argue away! It's a very Jewish thing to do, after all…
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