Re: Mitzvah--A thought for Erev Shabbat

[jonathan gordon <jbgordon...>]

I enjoyed robert's discussion of mitzvah as longing and connection. 
Compare that to Solomon Schechters description of the "Joy of the Law" 
in his Aspects of Rabbinic Theology. As we have gone from a people in 
which ritual law was the norm to one  for whom the carrying out of 
ritual law is the aberration,  the understanding of even the vocabulary 
has changed. My complaint here is that many times people who should know 
better avoid the primary meaning of mitzvah  when teaching uneducated 
Jews.  There are not 613 longings or connections or even guidelines, are 
there? Remember the scene in the film Ghostbusters when he says it is my 
rule to never get involved with possessed beings, then she purrs, and he 
says, it is more of guideline, really?  I wonder if it is the narcissism 
of our age that we never ask what god asks of us, just how good we feel 
when we choose to call on our higher power.  I am part of this post 
scarcity culture, and claim no higher ground. All the same, I perceive 
it as a   great change in  the Jewish religious climate. I am a baby 
boomer, and I suspect our majority.  Our generation is now bereft of 
rebellion.  Smugness does not suit us well.
Am I dour in this? Perhaps.  My apologies, especially as the New Year 
revels beckon.
jonathan gordon

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