adam@npois.UUCP (Adam V. Reed) (03/20/85)
I wrote: >> A Humanistic Jew is a Jew who defines his way of life as a Jew without >> reference to supernatural authority... Eliyahu Teitz responded with, inter alia: >...when G-D says do something, and I do not understand it...I observe >because I am a faithful servant, and my job is to do first, and question >later. This is precisely the kind of appeal to supernatural authority that I, as a Humanistic Jew, explicitly reject. I accept the fact that Teitz disagrees with me on that point; I would ask him to accept the fact that I don't agree with him. At the same time, I welcome the discussion; I think that we can all learn from discussions about Jewish thought, practice, and observance. Teitz also comments: >Another, more basic question. If you don't hold the will if G-D to be >important, why be Jewish in the first place. To me, being Jewish is a way of life, rather than a matter of adherence to any specific belief. I am attached to the Jewish way of life because it has been effective in preserving the Jewish people and civilization long after all other peoples and civilizations of comparable antiquity have disappeared; and because people raised in the Jewish civilization have a record of being existentially more efficacious, of being more likely to make creative contributions in art, science, and indeed any intellectual endeavor, than those raised in any other surviving civilization. I think that I can understand the reasons why the Jewish way of life is so effective in secular, humanistic terms; I do not find supernatural belief either necessary or helpful. Adam
teitz@aecom.UUCP (Eliyahu Teitz) (03/26/85)
> > To me, being Jewish is a way of life, rather than a matter of adherence > to any specific belief. I am attached to the Jewish way of life because > it has been effective in preserving the Jewish people and civilization > long after all other peoples and civilizations of comparable antiquity > have disappeared; and because people raised in the Jewish civilization > have a record of being existentially more efficacious, of being more > likely to make creative contributions in art, science, and indeed any > intellectual endeavor, than those raised in any other surviving > civilization. I think that I can understand the reasons why the Jewish > way of life is so effective in secular, humanistic terms; I do not find > supernatural belief either necessary or helpful. The question I now ask is what preserved the Jewish nation long after others of comparable antiquity disappreared? Why have we survived so long? Our being a nation of the book, not only reading it but observing it ( as it is written, not as one wants to ) has kept us going so long. We have in the Torah not only rules, but an entire lifestyle, of which each and every part is important. One of te mitzvot in the Torah is to know G-D and believe that He is our G-D, and that we are accountable and responsible to Him. Humanists deny the very first of the Ten Commandments. Judaism isn't just doing some of the things in the Torah, but ignoring those that are a bother or seem illogical. You may not see G-D a supernatural. If that is so then fine, because then your definition doesn't cut out the Ten Commandments. But if you don't think G-D is a force in Judaism, then you knock out one of the foundations of Judaism. One last point. Why, just because you observe certain rules and regulations, and thereby preserve a way of life, do you think you will make contributions that are greater than people who do not observe these ancient customs? Because you don't eat non kosher things ( no matter how you define them ) that makes you intellectually superior to those who don't abide by this law? We make contributions beyond our number for no logical reason except maybe that we have a tradition of striving to obtain knowledge. But this has nothing to do with religious observance. Eliyahu Teitz.