JUDAISM: Some Thoughts - by Mike and Tal Rogoff

While Judaism is the oldest of the world’s three monotheistic religions, it is easy to miss the fact that its heart is its people. Jews are not only of the Jewish faith, they are part of a dispersed nation, now partly reunited, a fact that does much to explain the sense of identification and community that exists among Jews everywhere.

The roots of Judaism go back over 3,500 years, to God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as recorded in the Hebrew Bible (the “Old Testament”): “Walk before me, and be thou perfect”, in return for which God promises a nation and a particular piece of land (Canaan, now Israel). Many traditional Jews still consider that covenant completely binding, though rival claims to the land have made it a thorny issue in recent times.

That is the “particularistic” character of Judaism – a national religion, rooted in an historical homeland, with a religious code that binds that community alone. The code is spelt out in great detail in the Torah, the “Law” which God gave Moses at Mount Sinai some 3,300 years ago. In the early 10th century BC, King David established the worship of Yahweh, the One God, in Jerusalem. David’s son Solomon built the Temple, the House of the Lord, which – with a short interlude of destruction, exile and return ­– was the focus of a sacrificial rite, presided over by priests, for another 1,000 years.

Judaism changed radically after the Romans devastated Jerusalem and razed the Temple in 70 AD. The dream of national resurgence under a “messiah” – divinely annointed but not divine – intensified, and has endured among traditional religious Jews to this day. The people were forced to grapple with the new reality of a religion stripped of its central sacrificial rite. The result was the emergence of what became known as Rabbinic Judaism. A national spiritual leadership and a powerful tradition of scholarship developed, strict ritual observance was emphasized, and a vibrant religious culture cultivated. The rabbi (“teacher”) had replaced the priest as the chief religious functionary; synagogues (which had existed at the time of the Temple) were now the place where Jews expressed their faith as a community; and with the sacrificial rites defunct, a synagogue liturgy evolved to replace them.

Rabbinic interpretation of both religious and “civil” Biblical precepts produced the so-called “Oral Law”. Codified between ca. 200 and 500 AD in two encyclopaedic works known together as the Talmud, it has remained the authoritative basis for traditional Jewish religious practice to this day.

For all its particularism, Judaism has always seen itself as a “universalist” religion as well, not in the sense of trying to convert others to its creed (that was never its way), but in the sense of claiming it as the source of eternal truths and ethical behaviour for other peoples to emulate.

Fundamental to Judaism is the belief that the people of Israel are God's chosen people – although “called” is perhaps a better word than “chosen”. They were selected not for privilege but for moral responsibility, to serve as a “light unto the nations”. The Biblical prophets, the ancient nation’s vocal conscience, reiterated that worship of and sacrifice to the One God was only valid when backed up by righteousness, for “what does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God” (Micah [8th century BC]).

Apart from its uncompromising monotheism, the Sabbath – a divinely ordained weekly day of rest – is perhaps Judaism’s most obvious spiritual contribution to humankind. It is the fourth of the Ten Commandments (“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy”); and, according to the Bible, reflects God’s six days of creation (our work week!) and his rest from his labours on the seventh day. Apart from its powerful spiritual dimension in Jewish tradition, the Sabbath (“Shabbat” in Hebrew) may be seen as an exceptionally early piece of labour legislation, extending the day of rest to all creatures – one’s servants, “strangers” in one’s midst, and even one’s animals (Exodus 20).

Judaism’s ethical imperative has been an essential theme down the centuries. The Biblical legal system was remarkably enlightened (“…seek judgement, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow” [Isaiah, ca. 700 BC]), and not only for the Israelites themselves: “…the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 18).

A strong tradition of charity and alms-giving developed over time, mostly within the Jewish community, but outside it as well: “In a city where non-Jews and Jews live, …support Jewish and non-Jewish poor, visit Jewish and non-Jewish sick…” (Jerusalem Talmud, ca. 400 AD).

Wherever Jews were persecuted or restricted by the surrounding majority culture, they tended to become insular, looking inward to their own community and supporting the needy within it. On the other hand, in modern societies which allowed them to flourish, there has been a surge of proactive philanthropy and social activism among Jews. Much of it is to help fellow-Jews, to be sure, but often it is for the benefit of the general community. Many see it as a latter-day reworking of the old Jewish concept of “tikkun olam” – “repairing the world”.

Judaism has divided into several large streams over the last 150 years or so. Jewish Orthodoxy still meticulously observes the old system of strict religious observance.

Reform Judaism began as a 19th-century liberal reaction to rigid Orthodox traditionalism, and has sought contemporary ways of making Judaism relevant for the modern individual. It prides itself on the centrality of its social action agenda. The Conservative movement, a predominantly North American phenomenon, is far closer to Jewish religious tradition than Reform, but views it through a modern lens, and has changed or adapted various Orthodox rulings to its contemporary community needs.

And one more challenging concept: Zionism. The name “Zion” is a Biblical synonym for Jerusalem, and often for the Land of Israel altogether (“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea we wept, when we remembered Zion” [Psalm 137]). Yet “Zionism” has become a term of vilification in an era in which many still deny Israel’s very right to exist. The term was coined around 1890 to describe the Jewish revival movement which was then gathering momentum in Europe. Its fundamental assumption was that the Jews are a people and not just a faith, and, like other peoples, have the right to self-determination in their own national home – in this case, an historical national home. Ever since the ancient dispersion of many (but not all) Jews from what is now Israel, the dream of return found expression in Jewish liturgy and literature. Transforming that dream into a modern political movement with a practical agenda is what Zionism is all about.

There are certain “ultra-Orthodox” Jewish circles for whom Zionism is anathema. They contend that a Jewish state should wait for the coming of the Messiah; and if Jews insist on pre-empting God’s timetable, then at the very least such a state should strictly adhere to Jewish religious practice.

With their rival claims to the same territory, Zionism and the Palestinian national movement often seem irreconcileable. The extremists on each side reject the other’s claims entirely, leaving little room for dialogue and resolution. Zionism speaks with different voices, however, and there are many moderate and pragmatic Zionists who are prepared to adapt the old dream to new realities, and find place in the same small land for the two peoples to live side by side.

Jerusalem, Israel

© 2007, Mike & Tal Rogoff