Tradition, TRA-DI-TION! (and why it doesn't inspire me)

An argument I hear for orthopraxy is "even though Torah may not have been given by god and even though god may not exist there is value in following the traditions of the Jewish people". This argument doesn't do anything for me. I've been in discussions with people on the blog where they have used this argument on me and my response was fairly ho-hum. I think they may have gotten the impression that I was be factitious but I genuinely don't get it. Over Pesach I think I figured out why.

Pesach featured a lot of discussion about minhagim (traditions which lack a textual source but still have binding status in Jewish law). As you may or may not know, within Judaism minhagim are taken very seriously. In general, one is supposed to keep all of their parent's minhagim. Having been raised Lubavitch I was raised with many minhagim that are different from the brand of orthodox Judaism I now belong to. Since leaving the sect I've dropped nearly all of my Lubavitch minhagim. I didn't ask a Rabbi for permission, I just stopped doing them.

Being orthoprax is very much like following a minhag. There is no source for following a particular tradition but you follow it anyway. If you're orthoprax you may not believe in the source for being orthodox but you follow it anyway.

I think the main reason I'm fairly indifferent to ancient Jewish traditions is a result of my parents being BTs. They (and by extension, I) are not part of some never-ending chain of people following a set of traditions that snakes back to Moses. My folks just joined up. Maybe they had grandparents who might have followed some of these practices. But I can trace my family's tradition of sports allegiances farther back than my family's tradition of religious observances. (BTW, I feel very strongly about my sports allegiances but then again, I would compromise them in a second if there was reason to). You can argue that even if my family isn't part of a never-ending chain we are all Jewish and my tribe has been following these traditions. My response is that I can point to a mixed marriage or two up the chain and that I can claim a genetic/familial connection to a couple different ancient traditions. Why should I invest in Judaism in particular? Because this is what my parents selected a couple decades ago?

But this is just one issue. When I was frum in my mind I didn't practice Judaism because I needed to be a part of something greater than myself. I did it because I believed it was what god wanted of me. Whether the commandments were 33 years old or 3,300 years old was irrelevant. The fact that minhagim lack a source bothered me then. (If god didn't decree it then why does it matter? Let's do what makes sense!) Why do I separate from my wife for an extra seven days? Tradition? Why should I care about tradition for tradition sake? Traditions are great if they take on meaning. But I don't care for artificially applying meaning where there is none simply for the sake of trying to justify meaningless practices. This is also my basic critique of orthopraxy. Inventing meanings all day does not make acting-orthodox meaningful.

A lack of tradition is the only one my family's got.

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Interesting side note: In writing this blog I remembered that before I went mentally OTD I once made the argument for "tradition" to The Candy Man. In particular I remember telling him that even if he doesn't believe in god/Torah/orthodoxy there is something cool in wearing a kippah if only because it is a custom that dates back hundreds, or thousands, of years. I don't think I was very convincing. I remember thinking I wasn't totally in love with the argument but thought it might do something for him.

I recently asked The Candy Man if he remembered this conversation. He said he did and that he recalls that we got on the topic because I was feeling uneasy about not wearing a kippah at work. It's been a long ride.

Dayenu 2008

Guest post by The CandyMan

(The Hebrew word dayenu means "it would have been enough for us." This is a variation on the classic song from the Passover Seder. Enjoy! And feel free to add your own agreeable dayenus in the comments. -TCM)

If our world were filled with plants and animals, but we had never evolved as a species, dayenu.

If we had evolved as a species, but lacked the senses that make life so precious, dayenu.

If we had the senses that make life so precious, but lacked the intellect to appreciate our experiences, dayenu.

If we had the intellect to appreciate our experiences, but lacked the means to feed our poor, dayenu.

If we had the means to feed our poor, but never developed modern medicine, dayenu.

If we had developed modern medicine, but never learned to love our neighbors, dayenu.

If we had learned to love our neighbors, but never learned to love the foreigner, dayenu.

If we had learned to love the foreigner, but never realized that all were equal, dayenu.

If we had realized that all were equal, but never declared freedom of religion, assembly, and speech, dayenu.

If we had declared freedom of religion, assembly, and speech, but had not been taught the power of love and non-violence, dayenu.

If we had been taught the power of love and non-violence, but never achieved full civil rights for all minorities, dayenu.

If we had achieved full civil rights for all minorities, but were denied the privilege of marrying whom we choose, dayenu.

If we were privileged to marry whom we choose, but were denied the privilege of an education, dayenu.

If we were privileged to have an education, but were denied the privilege of choosing our occupations, dayenu.

If we were privileged to choose our occupations, but lacked homelands and countries for different nations, dayenu.

If we had homelands and countries for different nations, but lacked the technology to communicate and make peace between peoples, dayenu.

If we had the technology to communicate and make peace between peoples, but lacked the technology and foresight to save our planet, dayenu.

Day dayenu, day dayenu, day dayenu, dayenu dayenu!

And a happy Earth Day to all.

Party in the City Where the Heat is On

Jessica, who blogs at Philosophy and Mixtapes wrote this yesterday:

...I've noticed that many of the Jewish bloggers I come into contact with speak in the negative about religion. Not that they're anti-religion, but it's what they don't want to do or what they don't agree with, and not what they do want to do. I wanted to know what people consider positive about religion and the positive things that they find important in their beliefs.

I think many of the bloggers who speak in the negative about religion (myself included of course) actually have a strong affinity to their culture/former religion. IMHO when some people stop taking religion on faith and look at it with a critical eye they feel betrayed and lied to and then they may go blog (negatively) about it. I get the impression that many bloggers feel a strong connection to their religious culture they just don't like how the religion manifests itself. I also think there are bloggers who feel trapped in their circumstance.

I can say for myself that I'm not against "Judaism and everything it has ever stood for". My issues with it have more to do with the assumption that it is "Perfect and True in every way", the idea that it contains the "Ultimate Truth", and the inflexibility of the system. In other words, I probably wouldn't be blogging if I was Reform. ( I know there is the Conservative Apikoris, but I wonder if there are any Reform skeptic blogs?)

But this all skirts around the real question in Jessica's post which was "what [do] people consider positive about religion and the positive things that they find important in their beliefs."

In my experience it's much easier to point out what is wrong with religion than to pick out what's right. When a religion makes verifiable claims you can refute them. When a religion believes that their leaders are infallible and then those leaders do horrible things you can expose them. These problems are usually specific to a particular religion or sect. On the other hand most positive religious values exist independent of religion. People in secular society give charity, don't murder and love their neighbor. If I were to pick something specific I would say Orthodox Judaism does a pretty sweet job of creating communities. But maybe what it comes down to (in my case) is I feel like most of the positive things in religion simply don't require religion.

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I'm going to be out-of-town for Pesach and will probably not be doing any blogging. Have a Happy Pesach everyone!

Letting go of the blame

GUEST POST BY The Candy Man

O no, I see,
A spider web, and it's me in the middle.
So I twist, and turn...

Singing I, I never meant to cause you trouble,
And I, I never meant to do you wrong...

They spun a web for me,
They spun a web for me.
--Coldplay, Trouble

A net is spread over all the living.
--Rabbi Akiba (Avot 3:20)

The one good thing about arguing is that sometimes it helps you understand yourself. Last week, I found myself debating an Anglo expat living in Israel. This fellow was worried about his 15-year-old son, who would have to enlist in the Israeli army in a few years. After a particularly heated exchange, I wrote the following:

Feivel, for every ounce of concern you feel for your son, there is a Palestinian mother out there worried about hers. You guys are caught up in something bigger and more powerful than either one of you deserve. I wish you all the best. I do not have the answers to these problems, but I do feel for them and for you. I hope we have peace soon, so we can stop worrying about such terrible things.

I think this sentiment translates well to my own struggle. As a "skeptic," lapsed Ortho, or whatever you might call me, I have felt my fair share of righteous indignation towards the Orthodox world over the years. After all, the Orthodox world is not a kind place to skeptics. Philosophical differences lead to differences in practice, and these are very difficult to reconcile. This has been incredibly frustrating for me, and led to a number of very serious personal conflicts within my family. The situation has caused everybody a lot of pain and anger. Who can I blame for this situation?

First off, I don't blame myself for this situation. As the Talmud says, A judge has only what his eyes show him. If I can be blamed for my predicament, it is only because I was too idealistic, too naive, too ambitious. As a child, I got carried away with religious fervor. I spent so many hours working away on this stuff. I took my rabbis at their word, and tried to obey them. I was a model bochur. I didn't talk to girls. I learned in my free time. I wasn't the best person in the world, but I was a pretty model Orthodox Jew. I spent years after high school learning in Israel. And still the skeptic viewpoint found its way into me! No, I tried my best, my friends. I do not blame myself. I don't even regret it. After all, I am a product of all that studying, that deep conviction. My ideas today developed from those seeds, and I am proud of them, not ashamed.

Can I blame my parents for our family's situation? For sending me to a religious school? For not foreseeing the danger of raising children in a fundamentalist philosophy? My parents are gentle people. They were not raised Orthodox, they came to it in college, together. It is the cement of their marriage. They love Judaism and cherish it, and they believe every letter. Can I really fault them for trying to instill that same faith in my own heart? They were only trying to do what was best for me. You cannot fault a parent for trying to do the best for his or her child. If anything, my parents tried to steer me away from my own instincts, tried to keep me from getting too carried away with all the religious stuff.

What about my rabbis? After all, they should have known better! They learn Torah all the time! How could they not realize that Genesis was written by multiple authors? How could they fail to notice the ethical wrongs they were preaching? Many times have I faulted these rabbis, called them failures. Rav lachem b'nei levy! You take too much power into your own hands! It's easy to blame someone if they're not around. But when I go back to my old neighborhood, when I see my old rabbis again, it's not anger or indignation I feel. I feel compassion. They are getting older, and I can see that they had no more clue about anything than I ever did. They are just men, teachers, trying to make their students' lives a little clearer. Keeping us away from the bad stuff. They believed what they believed, and they were only trying to help. I cannot blame them any more than I can blame my parents.

We are all caught in a web. You the reader, me the blogger, Orthos, skeptics, Jews, Christians, atheists. My parents, my rabbis, the gentile housekeeper whose life I made a living hell as a child -- we were all born into it. You see, the world is not a perfect place. It's a mess. We are all learning the ropes together, and it's the school of hard knocks. There's a lot of nonsense out there in the world, a lot of history, a lot of anger, a lot of hate. And each of us is just a tiny cog, a little piece of dirt, trying to avoid getting crushed by the gears.

We are all together in this boat. No one watches the watchmen. There is no quick fix. We cannot break free by cannibalizing each other. The best we can do is feel a little compassion, and let go of the blame.

Another Concert Ban

You probably remember the recent ban Orthodox Jewish Rabbis placed on the musical stylings of Hasidic entertainer Lipa Schmeltzer. (link) The latest religious ban comes from Ayatollah Alam al-Hoda over in Iran.

Ayatollah Alam al-Hoda, Friday Prayer leader of Mashhad: "The difference between [the holy Shi'te city of] Mashhad and other provinces should be demonstrated by banning public concerts in the city."
- National Review Online 4/5/08

According to Wikipedia: "Mashhad is the second largest city in Iran and one of the holiest cities in the Shia world." In other words, Mashhad is the Shia equivalent of Hasidic Brooklyn. :)

I'm interested in the fact that different religions often express themselves in eerily similar ways.

Here is a link to "Testimonies of Young People and Christian Rock". (link) These guys are Baptist. The comments from these young Christians talking about "Christian Rock" are very similar to the complaints made about Lipa and his adaptation of "modern" music.

"'Christian rock' has hindered my life because the only difference between 'Christian rock' and secular rock is the words. The beat, rhythm, and the melody are not different; they are the same."

"I can tell you that when I hear 'Christian rock' music, it makes no difference what the lyrics are. It is the music that causes the poor spirit and rebellious attitude."

When concert bans are invoked by both Hasidic-Jewish-fundamentalists and Shia-Islamic-fundamentalists it has to make you stop and think.

"We Agree": The Game

GUEST POST BY The CandyMan

This is the post on which we will play "We Agree" in the comments section. Everyone is welcome to join the game. Please read the rules of "We Agree" in their entirety before playing. The rules can be found on the previous post, "Rules of the Game."

Remember, questions and comments about the game should be applied to the previous rules post. The only comments made here should be comments that are part of the game.

I'll start the ball rolling in the comments.

Good luck!

"We Agree": Rules of the Game

GUEST POST BY The CandyMan

I spent much of my free time this week in a bull session on Holy Hyrax's blog. We solved the Arab-Israeli conflict, finally.

All that arguing puts me in the mood for some fun. Why not play a game? Let's play "We Agree." It's a participatory game that will take place on the comments section of the next post.

Anyone can play. Here's how it works (please read the rules in their entirety before starting play):

(1) Each player is allowed to make up to three statements per comment. Each statement should start with "We agree..." and obey the following guidelines:

1. Statements should be made in a good faith effort to find common ground with all the other players. In other words, try to make your statements things that you think everyone else can agree upon. Remember that anyone can join the game at any time.
2. Only "We agree..." statements should be made in each comment on the game post. Any other questions or comments can and should be made here on this rules post.
   
3. If a player disagrees with a statement made by a previous poster, s/he is allowed to use one of his/her comments to rephrase it. The format for doing this is to quote the statement in question and then offer a restatement of that idea in a way you think everyone would agree with.
4. Comments that violate these rules will be deleted without a trace at the discretion of the moderator (me!).
   

(2) Once a player has posted a comment, s/he must wait until two other players have posted a comment before posting another comment.

(3) All comments will be strictly moderated and should be made in good faith.

Again, the game will start in the comments section on the next blog post. You could make generic statements, like "We agree that pizza is yummy," but the best players can use the game to win political or philosophical points. (You can think of it as practice for Wikipedia.)

Not interested? Then don't participate. You are welcome to contribute your thoughts, questions, and comments in the comments section of this rules post. However, please keep the comments section for the next post clear for the game.

(In addendum: We all agree that when you mention a blogger, you should link to his site. If you're interested in joining the convo about Arab-Israeli peace, there are two back-to-back posts on HH's blog. Here's a link to the second one. My responses are in the comments.)

What Would Be Sufficient Proof of God?

Yesterday Frum Heretic asked the question:

...if you consider yourself an atheist or agnostic what would be sufficient proof to you for the existence of God?

He quoted an interesting argument from Walter Wurzburger's God Is Proof Enough:

There is no irrefutable evidence of the existence of God which could convince radical empiricists, who a priori rule out the possibility of supernatural intervention. Even if it were possible to produce video tapes of the Sinaitic Revelation, they would still say 'let us find the natural causes of this extraordinary and puzzling event.'

Here is my response:

A proof that might work for me would be a book (or scroll), given to all of humanity, that dictated a reasonable set of rules for all people to live by. Further, the rules would be timeless and easily understandable to even the simplest reader. When people followed the rules listed in this book, they would consistently become better people and care for the betterment of all humanity. There would be a direct correlation between people observing the laws in this book and a reduction in violence/increase in peace. This book would also have to be true in every way. i.e. no insane claims like Noah's Ark.

I don't think such a document would be beyond god's abilities.

Do you think the Torah meets these requirements?

You Know?

Honest to blog, I just haven't felt the need to write about god and religion lately. (I guess I still think about it though). So in leu of any creativity on my part enjoy this little gem created by someone else. :)