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Re: here we go again....
- From: Sam Weiss <SamWeiss...>
- Subject: Re: here we go again....
- Date: Fri 21 Feb 2003 21.07 (GMT)
At 12:46 AM 2/21/03, Judith R Cohen wrote:
>I was brought up to see Judaism as full of
>adult choices and one's own concscience.
That is indeed one of several approaches to Judaism. A much older
understanding has it that adults face an overwhelming range of choices, and
that in a healthy human being one's own concscience ultimately serves one's
own best interests (after following the philosophical chain of
consequences), and that the role of Judaism is precisely to circumscribe
that range of choices in the direction of "God's Will." This does have a
way of relieving, though not removing, the onus from one's concscience and
transferring it onto the consciences of the leaders and rabbinic
interpreters of the Torah (in the broadest sense of the word). It
therefore explains why loyal Orthodox Jews have less trouble in following
dictates that don't stand up to "neutral" logical scrutiny than
non-Orthodox Jews have in understanding these dictates. (By "neutral"
logic I mean the kind that does not take the Torah as its logical starting
point.) In classical Judaism the role of human understanding is far less
important than commonly assumed. This is made quite clear in the biblical
Tree of Knowledge vs. Tree of Life episode.
Unfortunately, the chasm that lies between different interpretations of
one's own religion is normally deeper than the differences between liberal
understandings of two different religions. That is a tough nut to swallow
for those who are consumed (as I once was) with the question of "Why can't
we all just get along?"
Shabbat Shalom.
_____________________________________________________________
Cantor Sam Weiss === Jewish Community Center of Paramus, NJ
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