D'var Torah
Rabbi Barry A. Kenter
Additional Thoughts
What do you wish to imply by defining Judaism as a civilization?
The definition of Judaism as a civilization is intended to correct certain errors and to affirm certain truths.
This definition negates (1) the notion that Judaism is nothing more than a religion, in the conventional sense, as a system of beliefs and practices, whether revealed or achieved, centering in a belief in God, and (2) the notion that Judaism is a way of life transmitted by biological inheritance as a sum of racial characteristics and habits.
This definition affirms that:
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Judaism is the ongoing life of the Jewish People. Jews are aware of themselves as a People, in terms of a common history and a common destiny. The life of the Jewish People is embodied in a dynamic pattern of language, history, institutions, beliefs, practices and arts.
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Jewish religion is what makes of that pattern an organic whole, and gives meaning and purpose to Jewish life, both individual and collective.
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Judaism, as the civilization of the Jewish People, necessarily undergoes change, as it encounters changing conditions, with the Jewish religion, as the soul of that civilization, undergoing corresponding changes.
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As a civilization, Judaism must naturally interact with other civilizations. To affirm its individual character, it must express itself, whether affirmatively or negatively, in terms that are relevant to those other civilizations.
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As a modern civilization, Judaism should recognize as valid the ideal of freedom of thought, which inevitably leads to diversity of thought and practice. It must, therefore, regard as legitimate and normal the coexistence of various groups within Judaism, which have different religious and secular ideologies, as long as these Groups identify themselves with the Jewish People and seek to enhance Jewish life.
On the basis of these affirmations there emerges the following program for Jewish life in our day:
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The establishment of a cultural and spiritual center for world Jewry in Eretz Yisrael, where, with Jews as the majority of the population, Judaism can be the dominant influence in determining the character of the life developing there.
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The organization, in every locality in which Jews find themselves, of organic Communities maintaining close cultural and spiritual ties with the Jewry of Israel, and striving to embody, perpetuate, and enhance the values of Jewish civilization.
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The endeavor on the part of Jews in the Diaspora to learn to live in two civilizations: that of the Jewish People and that of the lands of their residence, in such a way as to synthesize the best in both.
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The redefinition, through a representative body of world Jewry, of the status of the Jewish People and Judaism in the modern world, a status which has been profoundly altered by the acquisition of civil rights in all democratic countries, and by the establishment of a predominantly Jewish state in Eretz Yisrael.
Mordecai Kaplan,
Questions Jews Ask
JUDAISM is a way of life which endeavors to transform virtually every human action into a means of communion with God. Through this communion with God, the Jew is enabled to make his contribution to the establishment of the Kingdom of God and the brotherhood of men on earth. So far as its adherents are concerned, Judaism seeks to extend the concept of right and wrong to every aspect of their behavior. Jewish rules of conduct apply not merely to worship, ceremonial, and justice between man and man, but also to such matters as philanthropy, personal friendships and kindnesses, intellectual pursuits, artistic creation, courtesy, the preservation of health, and the care of diet.
So rigorous is this discipline, as ideally conceived in Jewish writings, that it may be compared to those specified for members of religious orders in other faiths. A casual conversation or a thoughtless remark may, for instance, be considered a grave violation of Jewish law. It is forbidden, not merely as a matter of good form, but of religious law, to use obscene language, to rouse a person to anger, or to display unusual ability in the presence of the handicapped. The ceremonial observances are equally detailed. The ceremonial Law expects that each Jew will pray thrice every day, if possible, at the synagogue; to recite a blessing before and after each meal; to thank God for any special pleasure, such as a curious sight, the perfume of a flower, or the receipt of good news, wear a fringed garment about his body; to recite certain passages from Scripture each day; and to don tephillin (cubical receptacles containing certain Biblical passages) during the morning prayers.
The decisions regarding right and wrong under given conditions are not left for the moment, but are formulated with great care in the vast literature created by the Jewish religious teachers. At the heart of this literature are the Hebrew Scriptures, usually described as the Old Testament, consisting of the Five Books of Moses (usually called the Torah), the Prophets, and Books of Moses, contain the prescriptions for human conduct composed under Divine inspiration. The ultimate purpose of Jewish religious study is the application of the principles enunciated in the Scriptures, to cases and circumstances which the principles do not explicitly cover.
Because Judaism is a way of life, no confession of faith can by itself make one a Jew. Belief in the dogmas of Judaism must be expressed in the acceptance of its discipline, rather than in the repetition of a verbal formula. But no failure either to accept the beliefs of Judaism or to follow its prescriptions is sufficient to exclude from the fold a member of the Jewish faith. According to Jewish tradition, the covenant between God and Moses on Mount Sinai included all those who were present and also all of their descendants. This covenant was reaffirmed in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, when the people together with their leaders made “a sure covenant to walk in God’s law, which was given to Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes” (Nehemiah 10..30). To apply the words used by Scripture in another connection, this covenant has thus been made binding upon the Jews, “and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them” (Esther 9.27). There is therefore no need for any ceremony to admit a Jewish child into the faith of Judaism. Born in a Jewish household, he becomes at once “a child of the covenant.” The fact that the child has Jewish parents involves the assumption of the obligations which God has placed on these parents and their descendants.
This concept of the inheritance of religious traditions does not imply any sense of racial differentiation. The concept derives simply from the belief that a person may assume binding obligations not only for himself, but also for his descendants. Thus anyone who is converted to Judaism assumes the obligation to observe its discipline, and makes this obligation binding on his descendants forever, precisely as if he had been and Israelite, standing with Moses, before Mount Sinai on the day of the Revelation.
Lewis Finkelstein
Judaism