Jewish Thought Lecture Notes and Key Concepts
JUDC 1035 - Introduction to Judaism
University of Cincinnati
Unit 3:
Jewish Thought
• The Challenge (Borowitz):
• What role does the idea of commandment play in modern Jewish life?
• How should Jews balance the demands of tradition and the desire for autonomy and
self-determination?
• Autonomy - self-governing, independent, choosing your own actions
• Law:
• Traditionally, Jewish law places constraints on personal autonomy (self-govern)
• Example - wanting to drive over the speed limit, but following constraints
• Why is autonomy so important to liberal Jews?
• Belief that individual decision making is valued by the tradition
• Self-legislating understood an important part of human dignity
• Intellectual Environment:
• Rise of the “science of Judaism” (Wissenschaft des Judentums)
• Attempt for Jews to study their own traditions scientifically
• Not assuming that history comes from G-d but at other historical factors
• Biblical scholarships and the documentary hypothesis
• Judaism comes to be contextualized
• One expression of universal human experiences
• Ethical Challenges:
• If the law or the Torah are divine in origin, then they cannot be challenged
• If the law or the Torah are human, then they can be criticized Two cases:
Langer Case - one parent died, one parent remarried but wasn’t legal because she didn’t
have a get
Mamzer - bastard
Should be allowed to marry someone else because not their fault
• Shabbat Hoax - if someone is crumbled under a house, if you’re Jewish, then you
can help them (if they’re alive)
• What do these cases illustrate?
• Langer case - should have a way to let it be allowed
• It was a general mistake for committing adultery
• Shabbat hoax - if you are saving a life during Shabbat, you should help them
• Only allowed to save the person if they are Jewish
• Rules:
• If unsure who the person is and unsure on the religion, you dig them out
• But, if you see they are dead, then you stop digging until after Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive but not Jewish, then you stop digging until after
Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive and Jewish, then you keep digging them out
• Do you break Jewish law and follow moral intuition, or break moral intuition and
follow Jewish law?
• Could say that G-d laid out the rules for your morality
• Could say that your morality is more important, could bypass law once
• Cycle of God, Israel, and Torah (the Three pillars and their interconnection)
Jewish Monotheism
• Describing God:
• Gillman’s 4 core ideas…
G-d alone is G-d (only one G-d)
G-d’s will is sovereign
• Makes G-d’s will known and that you have to follow it
• G-d has a stake in human civilization
• Wants things to go well
• G-d is a personal G-d
• Is personal to you
• Exodus 34:6-7…
• What do you see about G-d in this text?
• Kind and gracious
• Understanding because slow to anger
• Honest, clear about reasoning and his unhappiness
• Vengeful - holds a grudge
• Understanding the 13 attributes of G-d:
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful towards people before they sin
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful even after a person has sinned
• A God…
• Supreme Ruler
• Merciful…
• G-d recognized human frailty and does not lead people into temptation
• Gracious…
• G-d shows mercy even to those who do not deserve it
Slow to Anger…
G-d gives sinners time to repent
Abounding in Steadfast Love…
G-d emphasizes a persons merits
• Faithful…
• G-d is faithful and does not renege on his promises
• Keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation…
• G-d remembers the deeds of righteous ancestors, and acts favorably towards their
descendants
• Forgiving Iniquity…
• G-d forgives the intentional sinner if they repent
• Forgiving Transgression…
• G-d gives whose who rebel against G-d the change to repent
• Forgiving (Unintentional) Sin…
• G-d forgives sins committed through carelessness or apathy
• Clearing the Guilty…
• G-d wipes away the sings of those who repent, clearing them of guilt
• How is G-d depicted?
• Loyal figure
• Understanding figure
• Make it seem like a father-like figure
• Maimonides: 13 Principles of Father:
• Yigdal Prayer
• Anything new being introduced?
• Idea of the Messiah
• Emphasis on Moses and Moses’ prophecy
• The fact that prophecy is real
• Idea that G-d gave Moses a true Torah
• Any similarities to 13 attributes?
Both agree that G-d is one
G-d is the Master of the Universe/Supreme Ruler
• Emphasis on G-d’s loving kindness and compassion
• 13 principles…
• He exists
• He is one
• He has neither bodily form nor substance
• He was first
• Master of the Universe
• Prophecy
• Moses
• A Torah of Truth
• G-d will not alter or change His law
• He sees and knows our secrets thoughts
• He rewards people with loving kindness, according to their deeds
• Messiah
• G-d will revive the lead
• Jewish Theology:
• Main Sources…
• Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)
• Rabbinic Literature (Talmud, Midrash)
• Jewish Philosophy
• Liturgy (Prayerbook)
• Modern Challenges…
Historical events (Holocaust)
Science (Are Miracles Real?)
Personal Experience (Where is G-d in my life?) Shifting
Strategies:
• Historical Strategies…
• Add new prayers to the prayerbook that reflect current views
• Come up with new interpretations of traditional texts
• Modern Strategies…
• Change the language of the prayerbook
New theologies
Kaplan’s Article
• Who does Kaplan think G-d is?
• Doesn’t think that there is a personal or one supreme G-d
• That there are a bunch of smaller, not as strong G-d
• Leaves G-d as an abstract idea
• The motivator to helping those around you
• Not actually going to help you
• How is this view similar to/different from the traditional view?
• Problems…
• Concerned about fascism, nazism, and communism
• G-d isn’t going to intervene supernaturally
• G-d can help people transcend themselves and live out ethical teachings of Judaism
• What do you think the title means?
• That G-d has the power to lead to salvation
Not that G-d is the power, but can lead to salvation Does it
make sense to label G-d as an idea?
It makes sense that not everyone believes in G-d
Could help at least thinking or believing that G-d is an idea at the least
• What makes Judaism?
• The ideals and ethics
• The community
• How it’s passed on
• Education
• About Judaism
• About prayers
• To read Hebrew
• Involvement in the community
• Responses to the video:
• Issues…
• Diminishing the religion if not told to care about it
• Just to do the practices and rituals
• Need to ground the ideas in a higher being
• Going to lose the reason and belief for the religion
• You need to have knowledge (not necessarily even have a lot of care) for it
• They did these practices for certain reasons
• Losing connections to those that started it
• People might be motivated because they enjoy doing it
Might be harder to force your religion down through generations
Post-Holocaust Theology
• Is the Holocaust a Unique Event in Jewish History?
• 2 Primary Views:
Not a Unique Event:
Holocaust as Divine Punishment:
• Holocaust is the term for a type of sacrifice offering in the temple
• A “whole burnt offering” - completely consumed by fire
• Wasserman (Leader of Jewish community killed in the Holocaust):
• Jews killed in the Holocaust are a sacrifice to G-d that will hasten messianic
redemption
Hoping that a Messianic figure will come and fix the problems of the world
• Holocaust as Chastiesment:
• Idea made by Joseph Isaac Shneerson (Lubavitcher Rebbe):
• Holocaust is a way of punishing the Jews for rejecting the Torah and assimilating
to other cultures
• Similar to other “radical communal misfortunes”
• Like the Babylonian Exile - Jews were exiled for going astray from Judaism
• Rejection of views:
• Because we, the Jews, were victims of the Holocaust and cannot/should not be
blamed for the Holocaust
• Is a Unique Event:
• Part 1:
• Rubenstein: “One can either affirm the innocence of Israel or the justice of Gd at
Auschwitz”
• In other words, a G-d who would punish innocent people in this way cannot be just
• Other words, people are deserving of G-d’s punishment because we were not
innocent and had sinned
• Part 2:
Who is the G-d that has died for Rubenstein?
G-d is dead in people’s hearts
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People have forgotten G-d and G-d’s directions
• No communication between man and G-d in these days
G-d has turned away from humanity and G-d’s involvement for people
In order to let human experiment unfold
• Part 3:
• Irving “Yitz” Greenberg (Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire):
• You should not say anything about G-d or in general that you wouldn’t be afraid to
say to the people being slaughtered in death camps
Using the idea of being slaughtered in death camps to compare to most innocent person you can
think of
• What type of statements could be said?
That you can’t blame the innocent for the actions of those before that might not be innocent
• Idea of the voluntary covenant:
That we aren’t bound by the covenant, but that we should choose to reenter it but not be forced
It is worth being a part of but cannot be chosen for you
• Emil Fackenheim (614th Commandment):
• You are not going to have the victory over us, but despite you, we won’t change our
way of lives and beliefs
Not going to change way of life based on what Hitler did to the Jewish people
• Part 4: New Questions
• If one does not or cannot affirm the “G-d of the prophets and the rabbis,” does
Judaism become a matter of personal preference?
• If G-d is not doing anything, then it becomes a personal preference
• Implied, is both the question of Judaism as a personal preference, and is it a choice
Is something gained verses something lost
• Can G-d be involved in destruction, without assuming it is a form of punishment?
• G-d created man, man can punish man, so the destruction is not a form of
punishment by G-d
• Is there a “credible, theological alternative” to the traditional view?
• Post-holocaust, people were not believing in the traditional view because they
thought that G-d didn’t exist
• What is attractive part to the traditional view?
Given hope to keep going and that G-d has a greater plan for you
G-d is balancing all of these factors and is investing in behavior
Hopeful purpose to keep living your life - can’t be left blank
Torah and Revelation
• Core Questions:
• Did the revelation on Mt. Sinai really happen?
• If so, what was revealed?
• Traditionalist View:
• That G-d revealed the Torah in “discrete words and letters”
• G-d spoke and Moses wrote down what G-d said
• That everything in the Torah is divine and all by G-d, nothing from Moses
• Might put more respect and holiness on something that is divine
• Ex. rising when the ark is opened to read the Torah
• What is at stake in this claim?
• If G-d revealed his will clearly to Moses at Mt. Sinai, and Moses recorded it accurately
in the Torah, then every detail in the Torah is binding This leaves little room for
personal autonomy Advantages:
View is clear and consistent Authority
of Torah is absolute
• Disadvantages:
• What if you find a moral or textual problem in the Torah?
• View does not outline a clear response
• Biblical Criticism:
• The documentary hypothesis challenges the idea that Moses wrote the Torah
• Raises two main questions:
• If Moses did not write the Torah, is it still authoritative? Does it express G-d’s will?
• If it is not from G-d directly in some way, then it can’t be authoritative
• Might not express G-d’s will directly
• It revealed an amount of respect for G-d
• If G-d didn’t reveal the Torah on Mt. Sinai, what (if anything) was revealed?
• The ideas of the Torah
• Alternative Views:
• Could something have been revealed at Sinai other than the specific words of the
Torah?
• Rosenzweig’s view:
• Revelation reveals relationship
• On Mt. Sinai, Moses is not given a set of words or ‘behavioral code’ to write down and
pass on
• The encounter with G-d is the revelation
• That encounter commands but it does not legislate
• Heschel’s view:
• G-d will was revealed on Sinai, but the Torah is not a pure record of the divine
will
• Instead, the Torah records how people understood the revelation
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As a result, the Torah is not ‘perfect’ document, but it is still authoritative
Law and Authority in Judaism
• Core Questions:
• What makes Jewish law authoritative?
• How does law function?
• How can (or should) Jewish law be interpreted?
• Law as a Living Organism:
• What does Dorff mean when he describes law as a living organism?
• That the law is ever-changing
• Law is constantly changing and evolving
• Natural selection over time of laws
• Why do you think he chooses this model?
• Natural selection of life
• You learn based on your experiences
• Does it make sense to you?
• Also includes adaptability in certain situations
• How does Law Function?
• Another way of thinking about law is as a a system of rules
• How is this different from Dorff’s view of law as a living organism?
• Adaptation to unanticipated scenarios
• No exceptions, no way around it
• If the rule says X, then you have to follow it
• Do you think one view fits better with the ‘traditionalist’ view of G-d?
• Does one fit better with ‘traditionalist’ view of Torah? Why?
• What makes law authoritative?
Dorff argues against the idea of legal positivism
Positivism: The law is authoritative because it is created by a ruler or legislative body
• In a Jewish context, this means that law communicates G-d’s will (either directly or
through human intermediaries)
• Torah is the constitutional document of Judaism
• Alternative Accounts:
• Brainstorm: What alternatives might there be to legal positivism?
• Moral -
• Ethical - if it contributes to the greater society and that you feel it’s right
• Fear or danger - traffic rules for example
• Gravity for example - it is how it is, cannot be changed
• Example of something that we can describe as reality
• If the law is not authoritative because of who wrote it, why else might it be
authoritative?
• For what it does in the world community
• Natural law theory:
• Law is authoritative if its content is morally correct
• Example: a law prohibiting murder is authoritative because murder is inherently
wrong
• Dorff: “Jewish law is an expression of the love… Jews have for both G-d and for
other human beings”
Law is a framework to express and live out the ideals of the Torah and the covenant
Peoplehood
• Overview:
• Religious Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
Want to return to the Jewish home state
Religious Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want a Jewish state
• Don’t want to return to the Jewish state
• Secular Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Secular Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Jewish Messianism:
• Messiah - (anointed one) will come and re-establish Jewish sovereignty in the
promised land
• Who will bring this about? People or G-d? (Big question in Judaism)
• Is it all G-d?
• Is it all people?
• Is it a shared work between people and G-d?
• Abraham Isaac Kook (Rav Kook):
• He sought to “transform religious messianic longing into a basis for collaboration with
the aspirations of modern Zionism”
• Joseph Soloveitchik:
• Thought that the foundation of the state of Israel is part of G-d’s plan
• Served as the head of the Jewish University in New York
• The Six Knocks - for Soloveitchik, these events are signs of divine activity in history
• Founding of the State of Israel in 1948
• Israeli victories on the battlefield
• Christian support for the Israeli State
Pride of Jewish youth in the state of Israel
Jews can defend themselves against attack
• Jewish immigration en masse to Israel
• He does not call on American Jews to move to Israel, but rather to support Israel
politically and financially?
• Why? What does this suggest but the relationship between the Jewish people and the
Jewish state?
• Thinks that Jews not living there should support Israel politically and financially
• Not everyone needs to move and live in Israel
• Questions for Discussion:
• How is the religious Zionism of Rav Kook or Rav Soloveitchik different from secular
Zionism?
• Different programs for what it means to be engaged in the state
• Still being helpful to create unity
• How might a nationalist understanding of Jewish peoplehood create unity between
Jews? How might it lead to divisions?
• Creates more unity because it gives Jews a bond of belonging and community
• Can move to Israel and just know that you’ll know that you’re accepted
• Jewish Geography
• Once you have a state that represent the community it represents everyone
• As a result of a Jewish state, both Jews and Israelis are representatives of the Jewish
state
Division in the religious community - different levels of observance
Jewish Thought
• The Challenge (Borowitz):
• What role does the idea of commandment play in modern Jewish life?
• How should Jews balance the demands of tradition and the desire for autonomy and
self-determination?
• Autonomy - self-governing, independent, choosing your own actions
• Law:
• Traditionally, Jewish law places constraints on personal autonomy (self-govern)
• Example - wanting to drive over the speed limit, but following constraints
• Why is autonomy so important to liberal Jews?
• Belief that individual decision making is valued by the tradition
• Self-legislating understood an important part of human dignity
• Intellectual Environment:
• Rise of the “science of Judaism” (Wissenschaft des Judentums)
• Attempt for Jews to study their own traditions scientifically
• Not assuming that history comes from G-d but at other historical factors
• Biblical scholarships and the documentary hypothesis
• Judaism comes to be contextualized
• One expression of universal human experiences
• Ethical Challenges:
• If the law or the Torah are divine in origin, then they cannot be challenged
• If the law or the Torah are human, then they can be criticized Two cases:
Langer Case - one parent died, one parent remarried but wasn’t legal because she didn’t
have a get
Mamzer - bastard
Should be allowed to marry someone else because not their fault
• Shabbat Hoax - if someone is crumbled under a house, if you’re Jewish, then you
can help them (if they’re alive)
• What do these cases illustrate?
• Langer case - should have a way to let it be allowed
• It was a general mistake for committing adultery
• Shabbat hoax - if you are saving a life during Shabbat, you should help them
• Only allowed to save the person if they are Jewish
• Rules:
• If unsure who the person is and unsure on the religion, you dig them out
• But, if you see they are dead, then you stop digging until after Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive but not Jewish, then you stop digging until after
Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive and Jewish, then you keep digging them out
• Do you break Jewish law and follow moral intuition, or break moral intuition and
follow Jewish law?
• Could say that G-d laid out the rules for your morality
• Could say that your morality is more important, could bypass law once
• Cycle of God, Israel, and Torah (the Three pillars and their interconnection)
Jewish Monotheism
• Describing God:
• Gillman’s 4 core ideas…
G-d alone is G-d (only one G-d)
G-d’s will is sovereign
• Makes G-d’s will known and that you have to follow it
• G-d has a stake in human civilization
• Wants things to go well
• G-d is a personal G-d
• Is personal to you
• Exodus 34:6-7…
• What do you see about G-d in this text?
• Kind and gracious
• Understanding because slow to anger
• Honest, clear about reasoning and his unhappiness
• Vengeful - holds a grudge
• Understanding the 13 attributes of G-d:
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful towards people before they sin
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful even after a person has sinned
• A God…
• Supreme Ruler
• Merciful…
• G-d recognized human frailty and does not lead people into temptation
• Gracious…
• G-d shows mercy even to those who do not deserve it
Slow to Anger…
G-d gives sinners time to repent
Abounding in Steadfast Love…
G-d emphasizes a persons merits
• Faithful…
• G-d is faithful and does not renege on his promises
• Keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation…
• G-d remembers the deeds of righteous ancestors, and acts favorably towards their
descendants
• Forgiving Iniquity…
• G-d forgives the intentional sinner if they repent
• Forgiving Transgression…
• G-d gives whose who rebel against G-d the change to repent
• Forgiving (Unintentional) Sin…
• G-d forgives sins committed through carelessness or apathy
• Clearing the Guilty…
• G-d wipes away the sings of those who repent, clearing them of guilt
• How is G-d depicted?
• Loyal figure
• Understanding figure
• Make it seem like a father-like figure
• Maimonides: 13 Principles of Father:
• Yigdal Prayer
• Anything new being introduced?
• Idea of the Messiah
• Emphasis on Moses and Moses’ prophecy
• The fact that prophecy is real
• Idea that G-d gave Moses a true Torah
• Any similarities to 13 attributes?
Both agree that G-d is one
G-d is the Master of the Universe/Supreme Ruler
• Emphasis on G-d’s loving kindness and compassion
• 13 principles…
• He exists
• He is one
• He has neither bodily form nor substance
• He was first
• Master of the Universe
• Prophecy
• Moses
• A Torah of Truth
• G-d will not alter or change His law
• He sees and knows our secrets thoughts
• He rewards people with loving kindness, according to their deeds
• Messiah
• G-d will revive the lead
• Jewish Theology:
• Main Sources…
• Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)
• Rabbinic Literature (Talmud, Midrash)
• Jewish Philosophy
• Liturgy (Prayerbook)
• Modern Challenges…
Historical events (Holocaust)
Science (Are Miracles Real?)
Personal Experience (Where is G-d in my life?) Shifting
Strategies:
• Historical Strategies…
• Add new prayers to the prayerbook that reflect current views
• Come up with new interpretations of traditional texts
• Modern Strategies…
• Change the language of the prayerbook
New theologies
Kaplan’s Article
• Who does Kaplan think G-d is?
• Doesn’t think that there is a personal or one supreme G-d
• That there are a bunch of smaller, not as strong G-d
• Leaves G-d as an abstract idea
• The motivator to helping those around you
• Not actually going to help you
• How is this view similar to/different from the traditional view?
• Problems…
• Concerned about fascism, nazism, and communism
• G-d isn’t going to intervene supernaturally
• G-d can help people transcend themselves and live out ethical teachings of Judaism
• What do you think the title means?
• That G-d has the power to lead to salvation
Not that G-d is the power, but can lead to salvation Does it
make sense to label G-d as an idea?
It makes sense that not everyone believes in G-d
Could help at least thinking or believing that G-d is an idea at the least
• What makes Judaism?
• The ideals and ethics
• The community
• How it’s passed on
• Education
• About Judaism
• About prayers
• To read Hebrew
• Involvement in the community
• Responses to the video:
• Issues…
• Diminishing the religion if not told to care about it
• Just to do the practices and rituals
• Need to ground the ideas in a higher being
• Going to lose the reason and belief for the religion
• You need to have knowledge (not necessarily even have a lot of care) for it
• They did these practices for certain reasons
• Losing connections to those that started it
• People might be motivated because they enjoy doing it
Might be harder to force your religion down through generations
Post-Holocaust Theology
• Is the Holocaust a Unique Event in Jewish History?
• 2 Primary Views:
Not a Unique Event:
Holocaust as Divine Punishment:
• Holocaust is the term for a type of sacrifice offering in the temple
• A “whole burnt offering” - completely consumed by fire
• Wasserman (Leader of Jewish community killed in the Holocaust):
• Jews killed in the Holocaust are a sacrifice to G-d that will hasten messianic
redemption
Hoping that a Messianic figure will come and fix the problems of the world
• Holocaust as Chastiesment:
• Idea made by Joseph Isaac Shneerson (Lubavitcher Rebbe):
• Holocaust is a way of punishing the Jews for rejecting the Torah and assimilating
to other cultures
• Similar to other “radical communal misfortunes”
• Like the Babylonian Exile - Jews were exiled for going astray from Judaism
• Rejection of views:
• Because we, the Jews, were victims of the Holocaust and cannot/should not be
blamed for the Holocaust
• Is a Unique Event:
• Part 1:
• Rubenstein: “One can either affirm the innocence of Israel or the justice of Gd at
Auschwitz”
• In other words, a G-d who would punish innocent people in this way cannot be just
• Other words, people are deserving of G-d’s punishment because we were not
innocent and had sinned
• Part 2:
Who is the G-d that has died for Rubenstein?
G-d is dead in people’s hearts
lOMoARcPSD| 59331229
RLST 210 D. Barer
People have forgotten G-d and G-d’s directions
• No communication between man and G-d in these days
G-d has turned away from humanity and G-d’s involvement for people
In order to let human experiment unfold
• Part 3:
• Irving “Yitz” Greenberg (Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire):
• You should not say anything about G-d or in general that you wouldn’t be afraid to
say to the people being slaughtered in death camps
Using the idea of being slaughtered in death camps to compare to most innocent person you can
think of
• What type of statements could be said?
That you can’t blame the innocent for the actions of those before that might not be innocent
• Idea of the voluntary covenant:
That we aren’t bound by the covenant, but that we should choose to reenter it but not be forced
It is worth being a part of but cannot be chosen for you
• Emil Fackenheim (614th Commandment):
• You are not going to have the victory over us, but despite you, we won’t change our
way of lives and beliefs
Not going to change way of life based on what Hitler did to the Jewish people
• Part 4: New Questions
• If one does not or cannot affirm the “G-d of the prophets and the rabbis,” does
Judaism become a matter of personal preference?
• If G-d is not doing anything, then it becomes a personal preference
• Implied, is both the question of Judaism as a personal preference, and is it a choice
Is something gained verses something lost
• Can G-d be involved in destruction, without assuming it is a form of punishment?
• G-d created man, man can punish man, so the destruction is not a form of
punishment by G-d
• Is there a “credible, theological alternative” to the traditional view?
• Post-holocaust, people were not believing in the traditional view because they
thought that G-d didn’t exist
• What is attractive part to the traditional view?
Given hope to keep going and that G-d has a greater plan for you
G-d is balancing all of these factors and is investing in behavior
Hopeful purpose to keep living your life - can’t be left blank
Torah and Revelation
• Core Questions:
• Did the revelation on Mt. Sinai really happen?
• If so, what was revealed?
• Traditionalist View:
• That G-d revealed the Torah in “discrete words and letters”
• G-d spoke and Moses wrote down what G-d said
• That everything in the Torah is divine and all by G-d, nothing from Moses
• Might put more respect and holiness on something that is divine
• Ex. rising when the ark is opened to read the Torah
• What is at stake in this claim?
• If G-d revealed his will clearly to Moses at Mt. Sinai, and Moses recorded it accurately
in the Torah, then every detail in the Torah is binding This leaves little room for
personal autonomy Advantages:
View is clear and consistent Authority
of Torah is absolute
• Disadvantages:
• What if you find a moral or textual problem in the Torah?
• View does not outline a clear response
• Biblical Criticism:
• The documentary hypothesis challenges the idea that Moses wrote the Torah
• Raises two main questions:
• If Moses did not write the Torah, is it still authoritative? Does it express G-d’s will?
• If it is not from G-d directly in some way, then it can’t be authoritative
• Might not express G-d’s will directly
• It revealed an amount of respect for G-d
• If G-d didn’t reveal the Torah on Mt. Sinai, what (if anything) was revealed?
• The ideas of the Torah
• Alternative Views:
• Could something have been revealed at Sinai other than the specific words of the
Torah?
• Rosenzweig’s view:
• Revelation reveals relationship
• On Mt. Sinai, Moses is not given a set of words or ‘behavioral code’ to write down and
pass on
• The encounter with G-d is the revelation
• That encounter commands but it does not legislate
• Heschel’s view:
• G-d will was revealed on Sinai, but the Torah is not a pure record of the divine
will
• Instead, the Torah records how people understood the revelation
lOMoARcPSD| 59331229
RLST 210 D. Barer
As a result, the Torah is not ‘perfect’ document, but it is still authoritative
Law and Authority in Judaism
• Core Questions:
• What makes Jewish law authoritative?
• How does law function?
• How can (or should) Jewish law be interpreted?
• Law as a Living Organism:
• What does Dorff mean when he describes law as a living organism?
• That the law is ever-changing
• Law is constantly changing and evolving
• Natural selection over time of laws
• Why do you think he chooses this model?
• Natural selection of life
• You learn based on your experiences
• Does it make sense to you?
• Also includes adaptability in certain situations
• How does Law Function?
• Another way of thinking about law is as a a system of rules
• How is this different from Dorff’s view of law as a living organism?
• Adaptation to unanticipated scenarios
• No exceptions, no way around it
• If the rule says X, then you have to follow it
• Do you think one view fits better with the ‘traditionalist’ view of G-d?
• Does one fit better with ‘traditionalist’ view of Torah? Why?
• What makes law authoritative?
Dorff argues against the idea of legal positivism
Positivism: The law is authoritative because it is created by a ruler or legislative body
• In a Jewish context, this means that law communicates G-d’s will (either directly or
through human intermediaries)
• Torah is the constitutional document of Judaism
• Alternative Accounts:
• Brainstorm: What alternatives might there be to legal positivism?
• Moral -
• Ethical - if it contributes to the greater society and that you feel it’s right
• Fear or danger - traffic rules for example
• Gravity for example - it is how it is, cannot be changed
• Example of something that we can describe as reality
• If the law is not authoritative because of who wrote it, why else might it be
authoritative?
• For what it does in the world community
• Natural law theory:
• Law is authoritative if its content is morally correct
• Example: a law prohibiting murder is authoritative because murder is inherently
wrong
• Dorff: “Jewish law is an expression of the love… Jews have for both G-d and for
other human beings”
Law is a framework to express and live out the ideals of the Torah and the covenant
Peoplehood
• Overview:
• Religious Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
Want to return to the Jewish home state
Religious Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want a Jewish state
• Don’t want to return to the Jewish state
• Secular Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Secular Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Jewish Messianism:
• Messiah - (anointed one) will come and re-establish Jewish sovereignty in the
promised land
• Who will bring this about? People or G-d? (Big question in Judaism)
• Is it all G-d?
• Is it all people?
• Is it a shared work between people and G-d?
• Abraham Isaac Kook (Rav Kook):
• He sought to “transform religious messianic longing into a basis for collaboration with
the aspirations of modern Zionism”
• Joseph Soloveitchik:
• Thought that the foundation of the state of Israel is part of G-d’s plan
• Served as the head of the Jewish University in New York
• The Six Knocks - for Soloveitchik, these events are signs of divine activity in history
• Founding of the State of Israel in 1948
• Israeli victories on the battlefield
• Christian support for the Israeli State
Pride of Jewish youth in the state of Israel
Jews can defend themselves against attack
• Jewish immigration en masse to Israel
• He does not call on American Jews to move to Israel, but rather to support Israel
politically and financially?
• Why? What does this suggest but the relationship between the Jewish people and the
Jewish state?
• Thinks that Jews not living there should support Israel politically and financially
• Not everyone needs to move and live in Israel
• Questions for Discussion:
• How is the religious Zionism of Rav Kook or Rav Soloveitchik different from secular
Zionism?
• Different programs for what it means to be engaged in the state
• Still being helpful to create unity
• How might a nationalist understanding of Jewish peoplehood create unity between
Jews? How might it lead to divisions?
• Creates more unity because it gives Jews a bond of belonging and community
• Can move to Israel and just know that you’ll know that you’re accepted
• Jewish Geography
• Once you have a state that represent the community it represents everyone
• As a result of a Jewish state, both Jews and Israelis are representatives of the Jewish
state
Division in the religious community - different levels of observance
Jewish Thought
• The Challenge (Borowitz):
• What role does the idea of commandment play in modern Jewish life?
• How should Jews balance the demands of tradition and the desire for autonomy and
self-determination?
• Autonomy - self-governing, independent, choosing your own actions
• Law:
• Traditionally, Jewish law places constraints on personal autonomy (self-govern)
• Example - wanting to drive over the speed limit, but following constraints
• Why is autonomy so important to liberal Jews?
• Belief that individual decision making is valued by the tradition
• Self-legislating understood an important part of human dignity
• Intellectual Environment:
• Rise of the “science of Judaism” (Wissenschaft des Judentums)
• Attempt for Jews to study their own traditions scientifically
• Not assuming that history comes from G-d but at other historical factors
• Biblical scholarships and the documentary hypothesis
• Judaism comes to be contextualized
• One expression of universal human experiences
• Ethical Challenges:
• If the law or the Torah are divine in origin, then they cannot be challenged
• If the law or the Torah are human, then they can be criticized Two cases:
Langer Case - one parent died, one parent remarried but wasn’t legal because she didn’t
have a get
Mamzer - bastard
Should be allowed to marry someone else because not their fault
• Shabbat Hoax - if someone is crumbled under a house, if you’re Jewish, then you
can help them (if they’re alive)
• What do these cases illustrate?
• Langer case - should have a way to let it be allowed
• It was a general mistake for committing adultery
• Shabbat hoax - if you are saving a life during Shabbat, you should help them
• Only allowed to save the person if they are Jewish
• Rules:
• If unsure who the person is and unsure on the religion, you dig them out
• But, if you see they are dead, then you stop digging until after Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive but not Jewish, then you stop digging until after
Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive and Jewish, then you keep digging them out
• Do you break Jewish law and follow moral intuition, or break moral intuition and
follow Jewish law?
• Could say that G-d laid out the rules for your morality
• Could say that your morality is more important, could bypass law once
• Cycle of God, Israel, and Torah (the Three pillars and their interconnection)
Jewish Monotheism
• Describing God:
• Gillman’s 4 core ideas…
G-d alone is G-d (only one G-d)
G-d’s will is sovereign
• Makes G-d’s will known and that you have to follow it
• G-d has a stake in human civilization
• Wants things to go well
• G-d is a personal G-d
• Is personal to you
• Exodus 34:6-7…
• What do you see about G-d in this text?
• Kind and gracious
• Understanding because slow to anger
• Honest, clear about reasoning and his unhappiness
• Vengeful - holds a grudge
• Understanding the 13 attributes of G-d:
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful towards people before they sin
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful even after a person has sinned
• A God…
• Supreme Ruler
• Merciful…
• G-d recognized human frailty and does not lead people into temptation
• Gracious…
• G-d shows mercy even to those who do not deserve it
Slow to Anger…
G-d gives sinners time to repent
Abounding in Steadfast Love…
G-d emphasizes a persons merits
• Faithful…
• G-d is faithful and does not renege on his promises
• Keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation…
• G-d remembers the deeds of righteous ancestors, and acts favorably towards their
descendants
• Forgiving Iniquity…
• G-d forgives the intentional sinner if they repent
• Forgiving Transgression…
• G-d gives whose who rebel against G-d the change to repent
• Forgiving (Unintentional) Sin…
• G-d forgives sins committed through carelessness or apathy
• Clearing the Guilty…
• G-d wipes away the sings of those who repent, clearing them of guilt
• How is G-d depicted?
• Loyal figure
• Understanding figure
• Make it seem like a father-like figure
• Maimonides: 13 Principles of Father:
• Yigdal Prayer
• Anything new being introduced?
• Idea of the Messiah
• Emphasis on Moses and Moses’ prophecy
• The fact that prophecy is real
• Idea that G-d gave Moses a true Torah
• Any similarities to 13 attributes?
Both agree that G-d is one
G-d is the Master of the Universe/Supreme Ruler
• Emphasis on G-d’s loving kindness and compassion
• 13 principles…
• He exists
• He is one
• He has neither bodily form nor substance
• He was first
• Master of the Universe
• Prophecy
• Moses
• A Torah of Truth
• G-d will not alter or change His law
• He sees and knows our secrets thoughts
• He rewards people with loving kindness, according to their deeds
• Messiah
• G-d will revive the lead
• Jewish Theology:
• Main Sources…
• Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)
• Rabbinic Literature (Talmud, Midrash)
• Jewish Philosophy
• Liturgy (Prayerbook)
• Modern Challenges…
Historical events (Holocaust)
Science (Are Miracles Real?)
Personal Experience (Where is G-d in my life?) Shifting
Strategies:
• Historical Strategies…
• Add new prayers to the prayerbook that reflect current views
• Come up with new interpretations of traditional texts
• Modern Strategies…
• Change the language of the prayerbook
New theologies
Kaplan’s Article
• Who does Kaplan think G-d is?
• Doesn’t think that there is a personal or one supreme G-d
• That there are a bunch of smaller, not as strong G-d
• Leaves G-d as an abstract idea
• The motivator to helping those around you
• Not actually going to help you
• How is this view similar to/different from the traditional view?
• Problems…
• Concerned about fascism, nazism, and communism
• G-d isn’t going to intervene supernaturally
• G-d can help people transcend themselves and live out ethical teachings of Judaism
• What do you think the title means?
• That G-d has the power to lead to salvation
Not that G-d is the power, but can lead to salvation Does it
make sense to label G-d as an idea?
It makes sense that not everyone believes in G-d
Could help at least thinking or believing that G-d is an idea at the least
• What makes Judaism?
• The ideals and ethics
• The community
• How it’s passed on
• Education
• About Judaism
• About prayers
• To read Hebrew
• Involvement in the community
• Responses to the video:
• Issues…
• Diminishing the religion if not told to care about it
• Just to do the practices and rituals
• Need to ground the ideas in a higher being
• Going to lose the reason and belief for the religion
• You need to have knowledge (not necessarily even have a lot of care) for it
• They did these practices for certain reasons
• Losing connections to those that started it
• People might be motivated because they enjoy doing it
Might be harder to force your religion down through generations
Post-Holocaust Theology
• Is the Holocaust a Unique Event in Jewish History?
• 2 Primary Views:
Not a Unique Event:
Holocaust as Divine Punishment:
• Holocaust is the term for a type of sacrifice offering in the temple
• A “whole burnt offering” - completely consumed by fire
• Wasserman (Leader of Jewish community killed in the Holocaust):
• Jews killed in the Holocaust are a sacrifice to G-d that will hasten messianic
redemption
Hoping that a Messianic figure will come and fix the problems of the world
• Holocaust as Chastiesment:
• Idea made by Joseph Isaac Shneerson (Lubavitcher Rebbe):
• Holocaust is a way of punishing the Jews for rejecting the Torah and assimilating
to other cultures
• Similar to other “radical communal misfortunes”
• Like the Babylonian Exile - Jews were exiled for going astray from Judaism
• Rejection of views:
• Because we, the Jews, were victims of the Holocaust and cannot/should not be
blamed for the Holocaust
• Is a Unique Event:
• Part 1:
• Rubenstein: “One can either affirm the innocence of Israel or the justice of Gd at
Auschwitz”
• In other words, a G-d who would punish innocent people in this way cannot be just
• Other words, people are deserving of G-d’s punishment because we were not
innocent and had sinned
• Part 2:
Who is the G-d that has died for Rubenstein?
G-d is dead in people’s hearts
lOMoARcPSD| 59331229
RLST 210 D. Barer
People have forgotten G-d and G-d’s directions
• No communication between man and G-d in these days
G-d has turned away from humanity and G-d’s involvement for people
In order to let human experiment unfold
• Part 3:
• Irving “Yitz” Greenberg (Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire):
• You should not say anything about G-d or in general that you wouldn’t be afraid to
say to the people being slaughtered in death camps
Using the idea of being slaughtered in death camps to compare to most innocent person you can
think of
• What type of statements could be said?
That you can’t blame the innocent for the actions of those before that might not be innocent
• Idea of the voluntary covenant:
That we aren’t bound by the covenant, but that we should choose to reenter it but not be forced
It is worth being a part of but cannot be chosen for you
• Emil Fackenheim (614th Commandment):
• You are not going to have the victory over us, but despite you, we won’t change our
way of lives and beliefs
Not going to change way of life based on what Hitler did to the Jewish people
• Part 4: New Questions
• If one does not or cannot affirm the “G-d of the prophets and the rabbis,” does
Judaism become a matter of personal preference?
• If G-d is not doing anything, then it becomes a personal preference
• Implied, is both the question of Judaism as a personal preference, and is it a choice
Is something gained verses something lost
• Can G-d be involved in destruction, without assuming it is a form of punishment?
• G-d created man, man can punish man, so the destruction is not a form of
punishment by G-d
• Is there a “credible, theological alternative” to the traditional view?
• Post-holocaust, people were not believing in the traditional view because they
thought that G-d didn’t exist
• What is attractive part to the traditional view?
Given hope to keep going and that G-d has a greater plan for you
G-d is balancing all of these factors and is investing in behavior
Hopeful purpose to keep living your life - can’t be left blank
Torah and Revelation
• Core Questions:
• Did the revelation on Mt. Sinai really happen?
• If so, what was revealed?
• Traditionalist View:
• That G-d revealed the Torah in “discrete words and letters”
• G-d spoke and Moses wrote down what G-d said
• That everything in the Torah is divine and all by G-d, nothing from Moses
• Might put more respect and holiness on something that is divine
• Ex. rising when the ark is opened to read the Torah
• What is at stake in this claim?
• If G-d revealed his will clearly to Moses at Mt. Sinai, and Moses recorded it accurately
in the Torah, then every detail in the Torah is binding This leaves little room for
personal autonomy Advantages:
View is clear and consistent Authority
of Torah is absolute
• Disadvantages:
• What if you find a moral or textual problem in the Torah?
• View does not outline a clear response
• Biblical Criticism:
• The documentary hypothesis challenges the idea that Moses wrote the Torah
• Raises two main questions:
• If Moses did not write the Torah, is it still authoritative? Does it express G-d’s will?
• If it is not from G-d directly in some way, then it can’t be authoritative
• Might not express G-d’s will directly
• It revealed an amount of respect for G-d
• If G-d didn’t reveal the Torah on Mt. Sinai, what (if anything) was revealed?
• The ideas of the Torah
• Alternative Views:
• Could something have been revealed at Sinai other than the specific words of the
Torah?
• Rosenzweig’s view:
• Revelation reveals relationship
• On Mt. Sinai, Moses is not given a set of words or ‘behavioral code’ to write down and
pass on
• The encounter with G-d is the revelation
• That encounter commands but it does not legislate
• Heschel’s view:
• G-d will was revealed on Sinai, but the Torah is not a pure record of the divine
will
• Instead, the Torah records how people understood the revelation
lOMoARcPSD| 59331229
RLST 210 D. Barer
As a result, the Torah is not ‘perfect’ document, but it is still authoritative
Law and Authority in Judaism
• Core Questions:
• What makes Jewish law authoritative?
• How does law function?
• How can (or should) Jewish law be interpreted?
• Law as a Living Organism:
• What does Dorff mean when he describes law as a living organism?
• That the law is ever-changing
• Law is constantly changing and evolving
• Natural selection over time of laws
• Why do you think he chooses this model?
• Natural selection of life
• You learn based on your experiences
• Does it make sense to you?
• Also includes adaptability in certain situations
• How does Law Function?
• Another way of thinking about law is as a a system of rules
• How is this different from Dorff’s view of law as a living organism?
• Adaptation to unanticipated scenarios
• No exceptions, no way around it
• If the rule says X, then you have to follow it
• Do you think one view fits better with the ‘traditionalist’ view of G-d?
• Does one fit better with ‘traditionalist’ view of Torah? Why?
• What makes law authoritative?
Dorff argues against the idea of legal positivism
Positivism: The law is authoritative because it is created by a ruler or legislative body
• In a Jewish context, this means that law communicates G-d’s will (either directly or
through human intermediaries)
• Torah is the constitutional document of Judaism
• Alternative Accounts:
• Brainstorm: What alternatives might there be to legal positivism?
• Moral -
• Ethical - if it contributes to the greater society and that you feel it’s right
• Fear or danger - traffic rules for example
• Gravity for example - it is how it is, cannot be changed
• Example of something that we can describe as reality
• If the law is not authoritative because of who wrote it, why else might it be
authoritative?
• For what it does in the world community
• Natural law theory:
• Law is authoritative if its content is morally correct
• Example: a law prohibiting murder is authoritative because murder is inherently
wrong
• Dorff: “Jewish law is an expression of the love… Jews have for both G-d and for
other human beings”
Law is a framework to express and live out the ideals of the Torah and the covenant
Peoplehood
• Overview:
• Religious Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
Want to return to the Jewish home state
Religious Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want a Jewish state
• Don’t want to return to the Jewish state
• Secular Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Secular Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Jewish Messianism:
• Messiah - (anointed one) will come and re-establish Jewish sovereignty in the
promised land
• Who will bring this about? People or G-d? (Big question in Judaism)
• Is it all G-d?
• Is it all people?
• Is it a shared work between people and G-d?
• Abraham Isaac Kook (Rav Kook):
• He sought to “transform religious messianic longing into a basis for collaboration with
the aspirations of modern Zionism”
• Joseph Soloveitchik:
• Thought that the foundation of the state of Israel is part of G-d’s plan
• Served as the head of the Jewish University in New York
• The Six Knocks - for Soloveitchik, these events are signs of divine activity in history
• Founding of the State of Israel in 1948
• Israeli victories on the battlefield
• Christian support for the Israeli State
Pride of Jewish youth in the state of Israel
Jews can defend themselves against attack
• Jewish immigration en masse to Israel
• He does not call on American Jews to move to Israel, but rather to support Israel
politically and financially?
• Why? What does this suggest but the relationship between the Jewish people and the
Jewish state?
• Thinks that Jews not living there should support Israel politically and financially
• Not everyone needs to move and live in Israel
• Questions for Discussion:
• How is the religious Zionism of Rav Kook or Rav Soloveitchik different from secular
Zionism?
• Different programs for what it means to be engaged in the state
• Still being helpful to create unity
• How might a nationalist understanding of Jewish peoplehood create unity between
Jews? How might it lead to divisions?
• Creates more unity because it gives Jews a bond of belonging and community
• Can move to Israel and just know that you’ll know that you’re accepted
• Jewish Geography
• Once you have a state that represent the community it represents everyone
• As a result of a Jewish state, both Jews and Israelis are representatives of the Jewish
state
Division in the religious community - different levels of observance
Jewish Thought
• The Challenge (Borowitz):
• What role does the idea of commandment play in modern Jewish life?
• How should Jews balance the demands of tradition and the desire for autonomy and
self-determination?
• Autonomy - self-governing, independent, choosing your own actions
• Law:
• Traditionally, Jewish law places constraints on personal autonomy (self-govern)
• Example - wanting to drive over the speed limit, but following constraints
• Why is autonomy so important to liberal Jews?
• Belief that individual decision making is valued by the tradition
• Self-legislating understood an important part of human dignity
• Intellectual Environment:
• Rise of the “science of Judaism” (Wissenschaft des Judentums)
• Attempt for Jews to study their own traditions scientifically
• Not assuming that history comes from G-d but at other historical factors
• Biblical scholarships and the documentary hypothesis
• Judaism comes to be contextualized
• One expression of universal human experiences
• Ethical Challenges:
• If the law or the Torah are divine in origin, then they cannot be challenged
• If the law or the Torah are human, then they can be criticized Two cases:
Langer Case - one parent died, one parent remarried but wasn’t legal because she didn’t
have a get
Mamzer - bastard
Should be allowed to marry someone else because not their fault
• Shabbat Hoax - if someone is crumbled under a house, if you’re Jewish, then you
can help them (if they’re alive)
• What do these cases illustrate?
• Langer case - should have a way to let it be allowed
• It was a general mistake for committing adultery
• Shabbat hoax - if you are saving a life during Shabbat, you should help them
• Only allowed to save the person if they are Jewish
• Rules:
• If unsure who the person is and unsure on the religion, you dig them out
• But, if you see they are dead, then you stop digging until after Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive but not Jewish, then you stop digging until after
Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive and Jewish, then you keep digging them out
• Do you break Jewish law and follow moral intuition, or break moral intuition and
follow Jewish law?
• Could say that G-d laid out the rules for your morality
• Could say that your morality is more important, could bypass law once
• Cycle of God, Israel, and Torah (the Three pillars and their interconnection)
Jewish Monotheism
• Describing God:
• Gillman’s 4 core ideas…
G-d alone is G-d (only one G-d)
G-d’s will is sovereign
• Makes G-d’s will known and that you have to follow it
• G-d has a stake in human civilization
• Wants things to go well
• G-d is a personal G-d
• Is personal to you
• Exodus 34:6-7…
• What do you see about G-d in this text?
• Kind and gracious
• Understanding because slow to anger
• Honest, clear about reasoning and his unhappiness
• Vengeful - holds a grudge
• Understanding the 13 attributes of G-d:
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful towards people before they sin
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful even after a person has sinned
• A God…
• Supreme Ruler
• Merciful…
• G-d recognized human frailty and does not lead people into temptation
• Gracious…
• G-d shows mercy even to those who do not deserve it
Slow to Anger…
G-d gives sinners time to repent
Abounding in Steadfast Love…
G-d emphasizes a persons merits
• Faithful…
• G-d is faithful and does not renege on his promises
• Keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation…
• G-d remembers the deeds of righteous ancestors, and acts favorably towards their
descendants
• Forgiving Iniquity…
• G-d forgives the intentional sinner if they repent
• Forgiving Transgression…
• G-d gives whose who rebel against G-d the change to repent
• Forgiving (Unintentional) Sin…
• G-d forgives sins committed through carelessness or apathy
• Clearing the Guilty…
• G-d wipes away the sings of those who repent, clearing them of guilt
• How is G-d depicted?
• Loyal figure
• Understanding figure
• Make it seem like a father-like figure
• Maimonides: 13 Principles of Father:
• Yigdal Prayer
• Anything new being introduced?
• Idea of the Messiah
• Emphasis on Moses and Moses’ prophecy
• The fact that prophecy is real
• Idea that G-d gave Moses a true Torah
• Any similarities to 13 attributes?
Both agree that G-d is one
G-d is the Master of the Universe/Supreme Ruler
• Emphasis on G-d’s loving kindness and compassion
• 13 principles…
• He exists
• He is one
• He has neither bodily form nor substance
• He was first
• Master of the Universe
• Prophecy
• Moses
• A Torah of Truth
• G-d will not alter or change His law
• He sees and knows our secrets thoughts
• He rewards people with loving kindness, according to their deeds
• Messiah
• G-d will revive the lead
• Jewish Theology:
• Main Sources…
• Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)
• Rabbinic Literature (Talmud, Midrash)
• Jewish Philosophy
• Liturgy (Prayerbook)
• Modern Challenges…
Historical events (Holocaust)
Science (Are Miracles Real?)
Personal Experience (Where is G-d in my life?) Shifting
Strategies:
• Historical Strategies…
• Add new prayers to the prayerbook that reflect current views
• Come up with new interpretations of traditional texts
• Modern Strategies…
• Change the language of the prayerbook
New theologies
Kaplan’s Article
• Who does Kaplan think G-d is?
• Doesn’t think that there is a personal or one supreme G-d
• That there are a bunch of smaller, not as strong G-d
• Leaves G-d as an abstract idea
• The motivator to helping those around you
• Not actually going to help you
• How is this view similar to/different from the traditional view?
• Problems…
• Concerned about fascism, nazism, and communism
• G-d isn’t going to intervene supernaturally
• G-d can help people transcend themselves and live out ethical teachings of Judaism
• What do you think the title means?
• That G-d has the power to lead to salvation
Not that G-d is the power, but can lead to salvation Does it
make sense to label G-d as an idea?
It makes sense that not everyone believes in G-d
Could help at least thinking or believing that G-d is an idea at the least
• What makes Judaism?
• The ideals and ethics
• The community
• How it’s passed on
• Education
• About Judaism
• About prayers
• To read Hebrew
• Involvement in the community
• Responses to the video:
• Issues…
• Diminishing the religion if not told to care about it
• Just to do the practices and rituals
• Need to ground the ideas in a higher being
• Going to lose the reason and belief for the religion
• You need to have knowledge (not necessarily even have a lot of care) for it
• They did these practices for certain reasons
• Losing connections to those that started it
• People might be motivated because they enjoy doing it
Might be harder to force your religion down through generations
Post-Holocaust Theology
• Is the Holocaust a Unique Event in Jewish History?
• 2 Primary Views:
Not a Unique Event:
Holocaust as Divine Punishment:
• Holocaust is the term for a type of sacrifice offering in the temple
• A “whole burnt offering” - completely consumed by fire
• Wasserman (Leader of Jewish community killed in the Holocaust):
• Jews killed in the Holocaust are a sacrifice to G-d that will hasten messianic
redemption
Hoping that a Messianic figure will come and fix the problems of the world
• Holocaust as Chastiesment:
• Idea made by Joseph Isaac Shneerson (Lubavitcher Rebbe):
• Holocaust is a way of punishing the Jews for rejecting the Torah and assimilating
to other cultures
• Similar to other “radical communal misfortunes”
• Like the Babylonian Exile - Jews were exiled for going astray from Judaism
• Rejection of views:
• Because we, the Jews, were victims of the Holocaust and cannot/should not be
blamed for the Holocaust
• Is a Unique Event:
• Part 1:
• Rubenstein: “One can either affirm the innocence of Israel or the justice of Gd at
Auschwitz”
• In other words, a G-d who would punish innocent people in this way cannot be just
• Other words, people are deserving of G-d’s punishment because we were not
innocent and had sinned
• Part 2:
Who is the G-d that has died for Rubenstein?
G-d is dead in people’s hearts
lOMoARcPSD| 59331229
RLST 210 D. Barer
People have forgotten G-d and G-d’s directions
• No communication between man and G-d in these days
G-d has turned away from humanity and G-d’s involvement for people
In order to let human experiment unfold
• Part 3:
• Irving “Yitz” Greenberg (Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire):
• You should not say anything about G-d or in general that you wouldn’t be afraid to
say to the people being slaughtered in death camps
Using the idea of being slaughtered in death camps to compare to most innocent person you can
think of
• What type of statements could be said?
That you can’t blame the innocent for the actions of those before that might not be innocent
• Idea of the voluntary covenant:
That we aren’t bound by the covenant, but that we should choose to reenter it but not be forced
It is worth being a part of but cannot be chosen for you
• Emil Fackenheim (614th Commandment):
• You are not going to have the victory over us, but despite you, we won’t change our
way of lives and beliefs
Not going to change way of life based on what Hitler did to the Jewish people
• Part 4: New Questions
• If one does not or cannot affirm the “G-d of the prophets and the rabbis,” does
Judaism become a matter of personal preference?
• If G-d is not doing anything, then it becomes a personal preference
• Implied, is both the question of Judaism as a personal preference, and is it a choice
Is something gained verses something lost
• Can G-d be involved in destruction, without assuming it is a form of punishment?
• G-d created man, man can punish man, so the destruction is not a form of
punishment by G-d
• Is there a “credible, theological alternative” to the traditional view?
• Post-holocaust, people were not believing in the traditional view because they
thought that G-d didn’t exist
• What is attractive part to the traditional view?
Given hope to keep going and that G-d has a greater plan for you
G-d is balancing all of these factors and is investing in behavior
Hopeful purpose to keep living your life - can’t be left blank
Torah and Revelation
• Core Questions:
• Did the revelation on Mt. Sinai really happen?
• If so, what was revealed?
• Traditionalist View:
• That G-d revealed the Torah in “discrete words and letters”
• G-d spoke and Moses wrote down what G-d said
• That everything in the Torah is divine and all by G-d, nothing from Moses
• Might put more respect and holiness on something that is divine
• Ex. rising when the ark is opened to read the Torah
• What is at stake in this claim?
• If G-d revealed his will clearly to Moses at Mt. Sinai, and Moses recorded it accurately
in the Torah, then every detail in the Torah is binding This leaves little room for
personal autonomy Advantages:
View is clear and consistent Authority
of Torah is absolute
• Disadvantages:
• What if you find a moral or textual problem in the Torah?
• View does not outline a clear response
• Biblical Criticism:
• The documentary hypothesis challenges the idea that Moses wrote the Torah
• Raises two main questions:
• If Moses did not write the Torah, is it still authoritative? Does it express G-d’s will?
• If it is not from G-d directly in some way, then it can’t be authoritative
• Might not express G-d’s will directly
• It revealed an amount of respect for G-d
• If G-d didn’t reveal the Torah on Mt. Sinai, what (if anything) was revealed?
• The ideas of the Torah
• Alternative Views:
• Could something have been revealed at Sinai other than the specific words of the
Torah?
• Rosenzweig’s view:
• Revelation reveals relationship
• On Mt. Sinai, Moses is not given a set of words or ‘behavioral code’ to write down and
pass on
• The encounter with G-d is the revelation
• That encounter commands but it does not legislate
• Heschel’s view:
• G-d will was revealed on Sinai, but the Torah is not a pure record of the divine
will
• Instead, the Torah records how people understood the revelation
lOMoARcPSD| 59331229
RLST 210 D. Barer
As a result, the Torah is not ‘perfect’ document, but it is still authoritative
Law and Authority in Judaism
• Core Questions:
• What makes Jewish law authoritative?
• How does law function?
• How can (or should) Jewish law be interpreted?
• Law as a Living Organism:
• What does Dorff mean when he describes law as a living organism?
• That the law is ever-changing
• Law is constantly changing and evolving
• Natural selection over time of laws
• Why do you think he chooses this model?
• Natural selection of life
• You learn based on your experiences
• Does it make sense to you?
• Also includes adaptability in certain situations
• How does Law Function?
• Another way of thinking about law is as a a system of rules
• How is this different from Dorff’s view of law as a living organism?
• Adaptation to unanticipated scenarios
• No exceptions, no way around it
• If the rule says X, then you have to follow it
• Do you think one view fits better with the ‘traditionalist’ view of G-d?
• Does one fit better with ‘traditionalist’ view of Torah? Why?
• What makes law authoritative?
Dorff argues against the idea of legal positivism
Positivism: The law is authoritative because it is created by a ruler or legislative body
• In a Jewish context, this means that law communicates G-d’s will (either directly or
through human intermediaries)
• Torah is the constitutional document of Judaism
• Alternative Accounts:
• Brainstorm: What alternatives might there be to legal positivism?
• Moral -
• Ethical - if it contributes to the greater society and that you feel it’s right
• Fear or danger - traffic rules for example
• Gravity for example - it is how it is, cannot be changed
• Example of something that we can describe as reality
• If the law is not authoritative because of who wrote it, why else might it be
authoritative?
• For what it does in the world community
• Natural law theory:
• Law is authoritative if its content is morally correct
• Example: a law prohibiting murder is authoritative because murder is inherently
wrong
• Dorff: “Jewish law is an expression of the love… Jews have for both G-d and for
other human beings”
Law is a framework to express and live out the ideals of the Torah and the covenant
Peoplehood
• Overview:
• Religious Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
Want to return to the Jewish home state
Religious Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want a Jewish state
• Don’t want to return to the Jewish state
• Secular Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Secular Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Jewish Messianism:
• Messiah - (anointed one) will come and re-establish Jewish sovereignty in the
promised land
• Who will bring this about? People or G-d? (Big question in Judaism)
• Is it all G-d?
• Is it all people?
• Is it a shared work between people and G-d?
• Abraham Isaac Kook (Rav Kook):
• He sought to “transform religious messianic longing into a basis for collaboration with
the aspirations of modern Zionism”
• Joseph Soloveitchik:
• Thought that the foundation of the state of Israel is part of G-d’s plan
• Served as the head of the Jewish University in New York
• The Six Knocks - for Soloveitchik, these events are signs of divine activity in history
• Founding of the State of Israel in 1948
• Israeli victories on the battlefield
• Christian support for the Israeli State
Pride of Jewish youth in the state of Israel
Jews can defend themselves against attack
• Jewish immigration en masse to Israel
• He does not call on American Jews to move to Israel, but rather to support Israel
politically and financially?
• Why? What does this suggest but the relationship between the Jewish people and the
Jewish state?
• Thinks that Jews not living there should support Israel politically and financially
• Not everyone needs to move and live in Israel
• Questions for Discussion:
• How is the religious Zionism of Rav Kook or Rav Soloveitchik different from secular
Zionism?
• Different programs for what it means to be engaged in the state
• Still being helpful to create unity
• How might a nationalist understanding of Jewish peoplehood create unity between
Jews? How might it lead to divisions?
• Creates more unity because it gives Jews a bond of belonging and community
• Can move to Israel and just know that you’ll know that you’re accepted
• Jewish Geography
• Once you have a state that represent the community it represents everyone
• As a result of a Jewish state, both Jews and Israelis are representatives of the Jewish
state
Division in the religious community - different levels of observance
Jewish Thought
• The Challenge (Borowitz):
• What role does the idea of commandment play in modern Jewish life?
• How should Jews balance the demands of tradition and the desire for autonomy and
self-determination?
• Autonomy - self-governing, independent, choosing your own actions
• Law:
• Traditionally, Jewish law places constraints on personal autonomy (self-govern)
• Example - wanting to drive over the speed limit, but following constraints
• Why is autonomy so important to liberal Jews?
• Belief that individual decision making is valued by the tradition
• Self-legislating understood an important part of human dignity
• Intellectual Environment:
• Rise of the “science of Judaism” (Wissenschaft des Judentums)
• Attempt for Jews to study their own traditions scientifically
• Not assuming that history comes from G-d but at other historical factors
• Biblical scholarships and the documentary hypothesis
• Judaism comes to be contextualized
• One expression of universal human experiences
• Ethical Challenges:
• If the law or the Torah are divine in origin, then they cannot be challenged
• If the law or the Torah are human, then they can be criticized Two cases:
Langer Case - one parent died, one parent remarried but wasn’t legal because she didn’t
have a get
Mamzer - bastard
Should be allowed to marry someone else because not their fault
• Shabbat Hoax - if someone is crumbled under a house, if you’re Jewish, then you
can help them (if they’re alive)
• What do these cases illustrate?
• Langer case - should have a way to let it be allowed
• It was a general mistake for committing adultery
• Shabbat hoax - if you are saving a life during Shabbat, you should help them
• Only allowed to save the person if they are Jewish
• Rules:
• If unsure who the person is and unsure on the religion, you dig them out
• But, if you see they are dead, then you stop digging until after Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive but not Jewish, then you stop digging until after
Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive and Jewish, then you keep digging them out
• Do you break Jewish law and follow moral intuition, or break moral intuition and
follow Jewish law?
• Could say that G-d laid out the rules for your morality
• Could say that your morality is more important, could bypass law once
• Cycle of God, Israel, and Torah (the Three pillars and their interconnection)
Jewish Monotheism
• Describing God:
• Gillman’s 4 core ideas…
G-d alone is G-d (only one G-d)
G-d’s will is sovereign
• Makes G-d’s will known and that you have to follow it
• G-d has a stake in human civilization
• Wants things to go well
• G-d is a personal G-d
• Is personal to you
• Exodus 34:6-7…
• What do you see about G-d in this text?
• Kind and gracious
• Understanding because slow to anger
• Honest, clear about reasoning and his unhappiness
• Vengeful - holds a grudge
• Understanding the 13 attributes of G-d:
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful towards people before they sin
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful even after a person has sinned
• A God…
• Supreme Ruler
• Merciful…
• G-d recognized human frailty and does not lead people into temptation
• Gracious…
• G-d shows mercy even to those who do not deserve it
Slow to Anger…
G-d gives sinners time to repent
Abounding in Steadfast Love…
G-d emphasizes a persons merits
• Faithful…
• G-d is faithful and does not renege on his promises
• Keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation…
• G-d remembers the deeds of righteous ancestors, and acts favorably towards their
descendants
• Forgiving Iniquity…
• G-d forgives the intentional sinner if they repent
• Forgiving Transgression…
• G-d gives whose who rebel against G-d the change to repent
• Forgiving (Unintentional) Sin…
• G-d forgives sins committed through carelessness or apathy
• Clearing the Guilty…
• G-d wipes away the sings of those who repent, clearing them of guilt
• How is G-d depicted?
• Loyal figure
• Understanding figure
• Make it seem like a father-like figure
• Maimonides: 13 Principles of Father:
• Yigdal Prayer
• Anything new being introduced?
• Idea of the Messiah
• Emphasis on Moses and Moses’ prophecy
• The fact that prophecy is real
• Idea that G-d gave Moses a true Torah
• Any similarities to 13 attributes?
Both agree that G-d is one
G-d is the Master of the Universe/Supreme Ruler
• Emphasis on G-d’s loving kindness and compassion
• 13 principles…
• He exists
• He is one
• He has neither bodily form nor substance
• He was first
• Master of the Universe
• Prophecy
• Moses
• A Torah of Truth
• G-d will not alter or change His law
• He sees and knows our secrets thoughts
• He rewards people with loving kindness, according to their deeds
• Messiah
• G-d will revive the lead
• Jewish Theology:
• Main Sources…
• Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)
• Rabbinic Literature (Talmud, Midrash)
• Jewish Philosophy
• Liturgy (Prayerbook)
• Modern Challenges…
Historical events (Holocaust)
Science (Are Miracles Real?)
Personal Experience (Where is G-d in my life?) Shifting
Strategies:
• Historical Strategies…
• Add new prayers to the prayerbook that reflect current views
• Come up with new interpretations of traditional texts
• Modern Strategies…
• Change the language of the prayerbook
New theologies
Kaplan’s Article
• Who does Kaplan think G-d is?
• Doesn’t think that there is a personal or one supreme G-d
• That there are a bunch of smaller, not as strong G-d
• Leaves G-d as an abstract idea
• The motivator to helping those around you
• Not actually going to help you
• How is this view similar to/different from the traditional view?
• Problems…
• Concerned about fascism, nazism, and communism
• G-d isn’t going to intervene supernaturally
• G-d can help people transcend themselves and live out ethical teachings of Judaism
• What do you think the title means?
• That G-d has the power to lead to salvation
Not that G-d is the power, but can lead to salvation Does it
make sense to label G-d as an idea?
It makes sense that not everyone believes in G-d
Could help at least thinking or believing that G-d is an idea at the least
• What makes Judaism?
• The ideals and ethics
• The community
• How it’s passed on
• Education
• About Judaism
• About prayers
• To read Hebrew
• Involvement in the community
• Responses to the video:
• Issues…
• Diminishing the religion if not told to care about it
• Just to do the practices and rituals
• Need to ground the ideas in a higher being
• Going to lose the reason and belief for the religion
• You need to have knowledge (not necessarily even have a lot of care) for it
• They did these practices for certain reasons
• Losing connections to those that started it
• People might be motivated because they enjoy doing it
Might be harder to force your religion down through generations
Post-Holocaust Theology
• Is the Holocaust a Unique Event in Jewish History?
• 2 Primary Views:
Not a Unique Event:
Holocaust as Divine Punishment:
• Holocaust is the term for a type of sacrifice offering in the temple
• A “whole burnt offering” - completely consumed by fire
• Wasserman (Leader of Jewish community killed in the Holocaust):
• Jews killed in the Holocaust are a sacrifice to G-d that will hasten messianic
redemption
Hoping that a Messianic figure will come and fix the problems of the world
• Holocaust as Chastiesment:
• Idea made by Joseph Isaac Shneerson (Lubavitcher Rebbe):
• Holocaust is a way of punishing the Jews for rejecting the Torah and assimilating
to other cultures
• Similar to other “radical communal misfortunes”
• Like the Babylonian Exile - Jews were exiled for going astray from Judaism
• Rejection of views:
• Because we, the Jews, were victims of the Holocaust and cannot/should not be
blamed for the Holocaust
• Is a Unique Event:
• Part 1:
• Rubenstein: “One can either affirm the innocence of Israel or the justice of Gd at
Auschwitz”
• In other words, a G-d who would punish innocent people in this way cannot be just
• Other words, people are deserving of G-d’s punishment because we were not
innocent and had sinned
• Part 2:
Who is the G-d that has died for Rubenstein?
G-d is dead in people’s hearts
lOMoARcPSD| 59331229
RLST 210 D. Barer
People have forgotten G-d and G-d’s directions
• No communication between man and G-d in these days
G-d has turned away from humanity and G-d’s involvement for people
In order to let human experiment unfold
• Part 3:
• Irving “Yitz” Greenberg (Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire):
• You should not say anything about G-d or in general that you wouldn’t be afraid to
say to the people being slaughtered in death camps
Using the idea of being slaughtered in death camps to compare to most innocent person you can
think of
• What type of statements could be said?
That you can’t blame the innocent for the actions of those before that might not be innocent
• Idea of the voluntary covenant:
That we aren’t bound by the covenant, but that we should choose to reenter it but not be forced
It is worth being a part of but cannot be chosen for you
• Emil Fackenheim (614th Commandment):
• You are not going to have the victory over us, but despite you, we won’t change our
way of lives and beliefs
Not going to change way of life based on what Hitler did to the Jewish people
• Part 4: New Questions
• If one does not or cannot affirm the “G-d of the prophets and the rabbis,” does
Judaism become a matter of personal preference?
• If G-d is not doing anything, then it becomes a personal preference
• Implied, is both the question of Judaism as a personal preference, and is it a choice
Is something gained verses something lost
• Can G-d be involved in destruction, without assuming it is a form of punishment?
• G-d created man, man can punish man, so the destruction is not a form of
punishment by G-d
• Is there a “credible, theological alternative” to the traditional view?
• Post-holocaust, people were not believing in the traditional view because they
thought that G-d didn’t exist
• What is attractive part to the traditional view?
Given hope to keep going and that G-d has a greater plan for you
G-d is balancing all of these factors and is investing in behavior
Hopeful purpose to keep living your life - can’t be left blank
Torah and Revelation
• Core Questions:
• Did the revelation on Mt. Sinai really happen?
• If so, what was revealed?
• Traditionalist View:
• That G-d revealed the Torah in “discrete words and letters”
• G-d spoke and Moses wrote down what G-d said
• That everything in the Torah is divine and all by G-d, nothing from Moses
• Might put more respect and holiness on something that is divine
• Ex. rising when the ark is opened to read the Torah
• What is at stake in this claim?
• If G-d revealed his will clearly to Moses at Mt. Sinai, and Moses recorded it accurately
in the Torah, then every detail in the Torah is binding This leaves little room for
personal autonomy Advantages:
View is clear and consistent Authority
of Torah is absolute
• Disadvantages:
• What if you find a moral or textual problem in the Torah?
• View does not outline a clear response
• Biblical Criticism:
• The documentary hypothesis challenges the idea that Moses wrote the Torah
• Raises two main questions:
• If Moses did not write the Torah, is it still authoritative? Does it express G-d’s will?
• If it is not from G-d directly in some way, then it can’t be authoritative
• Might not express G-d’s will directly
• It revealed an amount of respect for G-d
• If G-d didn’t reveal the Torah on Mt. Sinai, what (if anything) was revealed?
• The ideas of the Torah
• Alternative Views:
• Could something have been revealed at Sinai other than the specific words of the
Torah?
• Rosenzweig’s view:
• Revelation reveals relationship
• On Mt. Sinai, Moses is not given a set of words or ‘behavioral code’ to write down and
pass on
• The encounter with G-d is the revelation
• That encounter commands but it does not legislate
• Heschel’s view:
• G-d will was revealed on Sinai, but the Torah is not a pure record of the divine
will
• Instead, the Torah records how people understood the revelation
lOMoARcPSD| 59331229
RLST 210 D. Barer
As a result, the Torah is not ‘perfect’ document, but it is still authoritative
Law and Authority in Judaism
• Core Questions:
• What makes Jewish law authoritative?
• How does law function?
• How can (or should) Jewish law be interpreted?
• Law as a Living Organism:
• What does Dorff mean when he describes law as a living organism?
• That the law is ever-changing
• Law is constantly changing and evolving
• Natural selection over time of laws
• Why do you think he chooses this model?
• Natural selection of life
• You learn based on your experiences
• Does it make sense to you?
• Also includes adaptability in certain situations
• How does Law Function?
• Another way of thinking about law is as a a system of rules
• How is this different from Dorff’s view of law as a living organism?
• Adaptation to unanticipated scenarios
• No exceptions, no way around it
• If the rule says X, then you have to follow it
• Do you think one view fits better with the ‘traditionalist’ view of G-d?
• Does one fit better with ‘traditionalist’ view of Torah? Why?
• What makes law authoritative?
Dorff argues against the idea of legal positivism
Positivism: The law is authoritative because it is created by a ruler or legislative body
• In a Jewish context, this means that law communicates G-d’s will (either directly or
through human intermediaries)
• Torah is the constitutional document of Judaism
• Alternative Accounts:
• Brainstorm: What alternatives might there be to legal positivism?
• Moral -
• Ethical - if it contributes to the greater society and that you feel it’s right
• Fear or danger - traffic rules for example
• Gravity for example - it is how it is, cannot be changed
• Example of something that we can describe as reality
• If the law is not authoritative because of who wrote it, why else might it be
authoritative?
• For what it does in the world community
• Natural law theory:
• Law is authoritative if its content is morally correct
• Example: a law prohibiting murder is authoritative because murder is inherently
wrong
• Dorff: “Jewish law is an expression of the love… Jews have for both G-d and for
other human beings”
Law is a framework to express and live out the ideals of the Torah and the covenant
Peoplehood
• Overview:
• Religious Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
Want to return to the Jewish home state
Religious Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want a Jewish state
• Don’t want to return to the Jewish state
• Secular Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Secular Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Jewish Messianism:
• Messiah - (anointed one) will come and re-establish Jewish sovereignty in the
promised land
• Who will bring this about? People or G-d? (Big question in Judaism)
• Is it all G-d?
• Is it all people?
• Is it a shared work between people and G-d?
• Abraham Isaac Kook (Rav Kook):
• He sought to “transform religious messianic longing into a basis for collaboration with
the aspirations of modern Zionism”
• Joseph Soloveitchik:
• Thought that the foundation of the state of Israel is part of G-d’s plan
• Served as the head of the Jewish University in New York
• The Six Knocks - for Soloveitchik, these events are signs of divine activity in history
• Founding of the State of Israel in 1948
• Israeli victories on the battlefield
• Christian support for the Israeli State
Pride of Jewish youth in the state of Israel
Jews can defend themselves against attack
• Jewish immigration en masse to Israel
• He does not call on American Jews to move to Israel, but rather to support Israel
politically and financially?
• Why? What does this suggest but the relationship between the Jewish people and the
Jewish state?
• Thinks that Jews not living there should support Israel politically and financially
• Not everyone needs to move and live in Israel
• Questions for Discussion:
• How is the religious Zionism of Rav Kook or Rav Soloveitchik different from secular
Zionism?
• Different programs for what it means to be engaged in the state
• Still being helpful to create unity
• How might a nationalist understanding of Jewish peoplehood create unity between
Jews? How might it lead to divisions?
• Creates more unity because it gives Jews a bond of belonging and community
• Can move to Israel and just know that you’ll know that you’re accepted
• Jewish Geography
• Once you have a state that represent the community it represents everyone
• As a result of a Jewish state, both Jews and Israelis are representatives of the Jewish
state
Division in the religious community - different levels of observance
Jewish Thought
• The Challenge (Borowitz):
• What role does the idea of commandment play in modern Jewish life?
• How should Jews balance the demands of tradition and the desire for autonomy and
self-determination?
• Autonomy - self-governing, independent, choosing your own actions
• Law:
• Traditionally, Jewish law places constraints on personal autonomy (self-govern)
• Example - wanting to drive over the speed limit, but following constraints
• Why is autonomy so important to liberal Jews?
• Belief that individual decision making is valued by the tradition
• Self-legislating understood an important part of human dignity
• Intellectual Environment:
• Rise of the “science of Judaism” (Wissenschaft des Judentums)
• Attempt for Jews to study their own traditions scientifically
• Not assuming that history comes from G-d but at other historical factors
• Biblical scholarships and the documentary hypothesis
• Judaism comes to be contextualized
• One expression of universal human experiences
• Ethical Challenges:
• If the law or the Torah are divine in origin, then they cannot be challenged
• If the law or the Torah are human, then they can be criticized Two cases:
Langer Case - one parent died, one parent remarried but wasn’t legal because she didn’t
have a get
Mamzer - bastard
Should be allowed to marry someone else because not their fault
• Shabbat Hoax - if someone is crumbled under a house, if you’re Jewish, then you
can help them (if they’re alive)
• What do these cases illustrate?
• Langer case - should have a way to let it be allowed
• It was a general mistake for committing adultery
• Shabbat hoax - if you are saving a life during Shabbat, you should help them
• Only allowed to save the person if they are Jewish
• Rules:
• If unsure who the person is and unsure on the religion, you dig them out
• But, if you see they are dead, then you stop digging until after Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive but not Jewish, then you stop digging until after
Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive and Jewish, then you keep digging them out
• Do you break Jewish law and follow moral intuition, or break moral intuition and
follow Jewish law?
• Could say that G-d laid out the rules for your morality
• Could say that your morality is more important, could bypass law once
• Cycle of God, Israel, and Torah (the Three pillars and their interconnection)
Jewish Monotheism
• Describing God:
• Gillman’s 4 core ideas…
G-d alone is G-d (only one G-d)
G-d’s will is sovereign
• Makes G-d’s will known and that you have to follow it
• G-d has a stake in human civilization
• Wants things to go well
• G-d is a personal G-d
• Is personal to you
• Exodus 34:6-7…
• What do you see about G-d in this text?
• Kind and gracious
• Understanding because slow to anger
• Honest, clear about reasoning and his unhappiness
• Vengeful - holds a grudge
• Understanding the 13 attributes of G-d:
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful towards people before they sin
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful even after a person has sinned
• A God…
• Supreme Ruler
• Merciful…
• G-d recognized human frailty and does not lead people into temptation
• Gracious…
• G-d shows mercy even to those who do not deserve it
Slow to Anger…
G-d gives sinners time to repent
Abounding in Steadfast Love…
G-d emphasizes a persons merits
• Faithful…
• G-d is faithful and does not renege on his promises
• Keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation…
• G-d remembers the deeds of righteous ancestors, and acts favorably towards their
descendants
• Forgiving Iniquity…
• G-d forgives the intentional sinner if they repent
• Forgiving Transgression…
• G-d gives whose who rebel against G-d the change to repent
• Forgiving (Unintentional) Sin…
• G-d forgives sins committed through carelessness or apathy
• Clearing the Guilty…
• G-d wipes away the sings of those who repent, clearing them of guilt
• How is G-d depicted?
• Loyal figure
• Understanding figure
• Make it seem like a father-like figure
• Maimonides: 13 Principles of Father:
• Yigdal Prayer
• Anything new being introduced?
• Idea of the Messiah
• Emphasis on Moses and Moses’ prophecy
• The fact that prophecy is real
• Idea that G-d gave Moses a true Torah
• Any similarities to 13 attributes?
Both agree that G-d is one
G-d is the Master of the Universe/Supreme Ruler
• Emphasis on G-d’s loving kindness and compassion
• 13 principles…
• He exists
• He is one
• He has neither bodily form nor substance
• He was first
• Master of the Universe
• Prophecy
• Moses
• A Torah of Truth
• G-d will not alter or change His law
• He sees and knows our secrets thoughts
• He rewards people with loving kindness, according to their deeds
• Messiah
• G-d will revive the lead
• Jewish Theology:
• Main Sources…
• Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)
• Rabbinic Literature (Talmud, Midrash)
• Jewish Philosophy
• Liturgy (Prayerbook)
• Modern Challenges…
Historical events (Holocaust)
Science (Are Miracles Real?)
Personal Experience (Where is G-d in my life?) Shifting
Strategies:
• Historical Strategies…
• Add new prayers to the prayerbook that reflect current views
• Come up with new interpretations of traditional texts
• Modern Strategies…
• Change the language of the prayerbook
New theologies
Kaplan’s Article
• Who does Kaplan think G-d is?
• Doesn’t think that there is a personal or one supreme G-d
• That there are a bunch of smaller, not as strong G-d
• Leaves G-d as an abstract idea
• The motivator to helping those around you
• Not actually going to help you
• How is this view similar to/different from the traditional view?
• Problems…
• Concerned about fascism, nazism, and communism
• G-d isn’t going to intervene supernaturally
• G-d can help people transcend themselves and live out ethical teachings of Judaism
• What do you think the title means?
• That G-d has the power to lead to salvation
Not that G-d is the power, but can lead to salvation Does it
make sense to label G-d as an idea?
It makes sense that not everyone believes in G-d
Could help at least thinking or believing that G-d is an idea at the least
• What makes Judaism?
• The ideals and ethics
• The community
• How it’s passed on
• Education
• About Judaism
• About prayers
• To read Hebrew
• Involvement in the community
• Responses to the video:
• Issues…
• Diminishing the religion if not told to care about it
• Just to do the practices and rituals
• Need to ground the ideas in a higher being
• Going to lose the reason and belief for the religion
• You need to have knowledge (not necessarily even have a lot of care) for it
• They did these practices for certain reasons
• Losing connections to those that started it
• People might be motivated because they enjoy doing it
Might be harder to force your religion down through generations
Post-Holocaust Theology
• Is the Holocaust a Unique Event in Jewish History?
• 2 Primary Views:
Not a Unique Event:
Holocaust as Divine Punishment:
• Holocaust is the term for a type of sacrifice offering in the temple
• A “whole burnt offering” - completely consumed by fire
• Wasserman (Leader of Jewish community killed in the Holocaust):
• Jews killed in the Holocaust are a sacrifice to G-d that will hasten messianic
redemption
Hoping that a Messianic figure will come and fix the problems of the world
• Holocaust as Chastiesment:
• Idea made by Joseph Isaac Shneerson (Lubavitcher Rebbe):
• Holocaust is a way of punishing the Jews for rejecting the Torah and assimilating
to other cultures
• Similar to other “radical communal misfortunes”
• Like the Babylonian Exile - Jews were exiled for going astray from Judaism
• Rejection of views:
• Because we, the Jews, were victims of the Holocaust and cannot/should not be
blamed for the Holocaust
• Is a Unique Event:
• Part 1:
• Rubenstein: “One can either affirm the innocence of Israel or the justice of Gd at
Auschwitz”
• In other words, a G-d who would punish innocent people in this way cannot be just
• Other words, people are deserving of G-d’s punishment because we were not
innocent and had sinned
• Part 2:
Who is the G-d that has died for Rubenstein?
G-d is dead in people’s hearts
lOMoARcPSD| 59331229
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People have forgotten G-d and G-d’s directions
• No communication between man and G-d in these days
G-d has turned away from humanity and G-d’s involvement for people
In order to let human experiment unfold
• Part 3:
• Irving “Yitz” Greenberg (Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire):
• You should not say anything about G-d or in general that you wouldn’t be afraid to
say to the people being slaughtered in death camps
Using the idea of being slaughtered in death camps to compare to most innocent person you can
think of
• What type of statements could be said?
That you can’t blame the innocent for the actions of those before that might not be innocent
• Idea of the voluntary covenant:
That we aren’t bound by the covenant, but that we should choose to reenter it but not be forced
It is worth being a part of but cannot be chosen for you
• Emil Fackenheim (614th Commandment):
• You are not going to have the victory over us, but despite you, we won’t change our
way of lives and beliefs
Not going to change way of life based on what Hitler did to the Jewish people
• Part 4: New Questions
• If one does not or cannot affirm the “G-d of the prophets and the rabbis,” does
Judaism become a matter of personal preference?
• If G-d is not doing anything, then it becomes a personal preference
• Implied, is both the question of Judaism as a personal preference, and is it a choice
Is something gained verses something lost
• Can G-d be involved in destruction, without assuming it is a form of punishment?
• G-d created man, man can punish man, so the destruction is not a form of
punishment by G-d
• Is there a “credible, theological alternative” to the traditional view?
• Post-holocaust, people were not believing in the traditional view because they
thought that G-d didn’t exist
• What is attractive part to the traditional view?
Given hope to keep going and that G-d has a greater plan for you
G-d is balancing all of these factors and is investing in behavior
Hopeful purpose to keep living your life - can’t be left blank
Torah and Revelation
• Core Questions:
• Did the revelation on Mt. Sinai really happen?
• If so, what was revealed?
• Traditionalist View:
• That G-d revealed the Torah in “discrete words and letters”
• G-d spoke and Moses wrote down what G-d said
• That everything in the Torah is divine and all by G-d, nothing from Moses
• Might put more respect and holiness on something that is divine
• Ex. rising when the ark is opened to read the Torah
• What is at stake in this claim?
• If G-d revealed his will clearly to Moses at Mt. Sinai, and Moses recorded it accurately
in the Torah, then every detail in the Torah is binding This leaves little room for
personal autonomy Advantages:
View is clear and consistent Authority
of Torah is absolute
• Disadvantages:
• What if you find a moral or textual problem in the Torah?
• View does not outline a clear response
• Biblical Criticism:
• The documentary hypothesis challenges the idea that Moses wrote the Torah
• Raises two main questions:
• If Moses did not write the Torah, is it still authoritative? Does it express G-d’s will?
• If it is not from G-d directly in some way, then it can’t be authoritative
• Might not express G-d’s will directly
• It revealed an amount of respect for G-d
• If G-d didn’t reveal the Torah on Mt. Sinai, what (if anything) was revealed?
• The ideas of the Torah
• Alternative Views:
• Could something have been revealed at Sinai other than the specific words of the
Torah?
• Rosenzweig’s view:
• Revelation reveals relationship
• On Mt. Sinai, Moses is not given a set of words or ‘behavioral code’ to write down and
pass on
• The encounter with G-d is the revelation
• That encounter commands but it does not legislate
• Heschel’s view:
• G-d will was revealed on Sinai, but the Torah is not a pure record of the divine
will
• Instead, the Torah records how people understood the revelation
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As a result, the Torah is not ‘perfect’ document, but it is still authoritative
Law and Authority in Judaism
• Core Questions:
• What makes Jewish law authoritative?
• How does law function?
• How can (or should) Jewish law be interpreted?
• Law as a Living Organism:
• What does Dorff mean when he describes law as a living organism?
• That the law is ever-changing
• Law is constantly changing and evolving
• Natural selection over time of laws
• Why do you think he chooses this model?
• Natural selection of life
• You learn based on your experiences
• Does it make sense to you?
• Also includes adaptability in certain situations
• How does Law Function?
• Another way of thinking about law is as a a system of rules
• How is this different from Dorff’s view of law as a living organism?
• Adaptation to unanticipated scenarios
• No exceptions, no way around it
• If the rule says X, then you have to follow it
• Do you think one view fits better with the ‘traditionalist’ view of G-d?
• Does one fit better with ‘traditionalist’ view of Torah? Why?
• What makes law authoritative?
Dorff argues against the idea of legal positivism
Positivism: The law is authoritative because it is created by a ruler or legislative body
• In a Jewish context, this means that law communicates G-d’s will (either directly or
through human intermediaries)
• Torah is the constitutional document of Judaism
• Alternative Accounts:
• Brainstorm: What alternatives might there be to legal positivism?
• Moral -
• Ethical - if it contributes to the greater society and that you feel it’s right
• Fear or danger - traffic rules for example
• Gravity for example - it is how it is, cannot be changed
• Example of something that we can describe as reality
• If the law is not authoritative because of who wrote it, why else might it be
authoritative?
• For what it does in the world community
• Natural law theory:
• Law is authoritative if its content is morally correct
• Example: a law prohibiting murder is authoritative because murder is inherently
wrong
• Dorff: “Jewish law is an expression of the love… Jews have for both G-d and for
other human beings”
Law is a framework to express and live out the ideals of the Torah and the covenant
Peoplehood
• Overview:
• Religious Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
Want to return to the Jewish home state
Religious Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want a Jewish state
• Don’t want to return to the Jewish state
• Secular Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Secular Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Jewish Messianism:
• Messiah - (anointed one) will come and re-establish Jewish sovereignty in the
promised land
• Who will bring this about? People or G-d? (Big question in Judaism)
• Is it all G-d?
• Is it all people?
• Is it a shared work between people and G-d?
• Abraham Isaac Kook (Rav Kook):
• He sought to “transform religious messianic longing into a basis for collaboration with
the aspirations of modern Zionism”
• Joseph Soloveitchik:
• Thought that the foundation of the state of Israel is part of G-d’s plan
• Served as the head of the Jewish University in New York
• The Six Knocks - for Soloveitchik, these events are signs of divine activity in history
• Founding of the State of Israel in 1948
• Israeli victories on the battlefield
• Christian support for the Israeli State
Pride of Jewish youth in the state of Israel
Jews can defend themselves against attack
• Jewish immigration en masse to Israel
• He does not call on American Jews to move to Israel, but rather to support Israel
politically and financially?
• Why? What does this suggest but the relationship between the Jewish people and the
Jewish state?
• Thinks that Jews not living there should support Israel politically and financially
• Not everyone needs to move and live in Israel
• Questions for Discussion:
• How is the religious Zionism of Rav Kook or Rav Soloveitchik different from secular
Zionism?
• Different programs for what it means to be engaged in the state
• Still being helpful to create unity
• How might a nationalist understanding of Jewish peoplehood create unity between
Jews? How might it lead to divisions?
• Creates more unity because it gives Jews a bond of belonging and community
• Can move to Israel and just know that you’ll know that you’re accepted
• Jewish Geography
• Once you have a state that represent the community it represents everyone
• As a result of a Jewish state, both Jews and Israelis are representatives of the Jewish
state
Division in the religious community - different levels of observance
Jewish Thought
• The Challenge (Borowitz):
• What role does the idea of commandment play in modern Jewish life?
• How should Jews balance the demands of tradition and the desire for autonomy and
self-determination?
• Autonomy - self-governing, independent, choosing your own actions
• Law:
• Traditionally, Jewish law places constraints on personal autonomy (self-govern)
• Example - wanting to drive over the speed limit, but following constraints
• Why is autonomy so important to liberal Jews?
• Belief that individual decision making is valued by the tradition
• Self-legislating understood an important part of human dignity
• Intellectual Environment:
• Rise of the “science of Judaism” (Wissenschaft des Judentums)
• Attempt for Jews to study their own traditions scientifically
• Not assuming that history comes from G-d but at other historical factors
• Biblical scholarships and the documentary hypothesis
• Judaism comes to be contextualized
• One expression of universal human experiences
• Ethical Challenges:
• If the law or the Torah are divine in origin, then they cannot be challenged
• If the law or the Torah are human, then they can be criticized Two cases:
Langer Case - one parent died, one parent remarried but wasn’t legal because she didn’t
have a get
Mamzer - bastard
Should be allowed to marry someone else because not their fault
• Shabbat Hoax - if someone is crumbled under a house, if you’re Jewish, then you
can help them (if they’re alive)
• What do these cases illustrate?
• Langer case - should have a way to let it be allowed
• It was a general mistake for committing adultery
• Shabbat hoax - if you are saving a life during Shabbat, you should help them
• Only allowed to save the person if they are Jewish
• Rules:
• If unsure who the person is and unsure on the religion, you dig them out
• But, if you see they are dead, then you stop digging until after Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive but not Jewish, then you stop digging until after
Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive and Jewish, then you keep digging them out
• Do you break Jewish law and follow moral intuition, or break moral intuition and
follow Jewish law?
• Could say that G-d laid out the rules for your morality
• Could say that your morality is more important, could bypass law once
• Cycle of God, Israel, and Torah (the Three pillars and their interconnection)
Jewish Monotheism
• Describing God:
• Gillman’s 4 core ideas…
G-d alone is G-d (only one G-d)
G-d’s will is sovereign
• Makes G-d’s will known and that you have to follow it
• G-d has a stake in human civilization
• Wants things to go well
• G-d is a personal G-d
• Is personal to you
• Exodus 34:6-7…
• What do you see about G-d in this text?
• Kind and gracious
• Understanding because slow to anger
• Honest, clear about reasoning and his unhappiness
• Vengeful - holds a grudge
• Understanding the 13 attributes of G-d:
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful towards people before they sin
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful even after a person has sinned
• A God…
• Supreme Ruler
• Merciful…
• G-d recognized human frailty and does not lead people into temptation
• Gracious…
• G-d shows mercy even to those who do not deserve it
Slow to Anger…
G-d gives sinners time to repent
Abounding in Steadfast Love…
G-d emphasizes a persons merits
• Faithful…
• G-d is faithful and does not renege on his promises
• Keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation…
• G-d remembers the deeds of righteous ancestors, and acts favorably towards their
descendants
• Forgiving Iniquity…
• G-d forgives the intentional sinner if they repent
• Forgiving Transgression…
• G-d gives whose who rebel against G-d the change to repent
• Forgiving (Unintentional) Sin…
• G-d forgives sins committed through carelessness or apathy
• Clearing the Guilty…
• G-d wipes away the sings of those who repent, clearing them of guilt
• How is G-d depicted?
• Loyal figure
• Understanding figure
• Make it seem like a father-like figure
• Maimonides: 13 Principles of Father:
• Yigdal Prayer
• Anything new being introduced?
• Idea of the Messiah
• Emphasis on Moses and Moses’ prophecy
• The fact that prophecy is real
• Idea that G-d gave Moses a true Torah
• Any similarities to 13 attributes?
Both agree that G-d is one
G-d is the Master of the Universe/Supreme Ruler
• Emphasis on G-d’s loving kindness and compassion
• 13 principles…
• He exists
• He is one
• He has neither bodily form nor substance
• He was first
• Master of the Universe
• Prophecy
• Moses
• A Torah of Truth
• G-d will not alter or change His law
• He sees and knows our secrets thoughts
• He rewards people with loving kindness, according to their deeds
• Messiah
• G-d will revive the lead
• Jewish Theology:
• Main Sources…
• Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)
• Rabbinic Literature (Talmud, Midrash)
• Jewish Philosophy
• Liturgy (Prayerbook)
• Modern Challenges…
Historical events (Holocaust)
Science (Are Miracles Real?)
Personal Experience (Where is G-d in my life?) Shifting
Strategies:
• Historical Strategies…
• Add new prayers to the prayerbook that reflect current views
• Come up with new interpretations of traditional texts
• Modern Strategies…
• Change the language of the prayerbook
New theologies
Kaplan’s Article
• Who does Kaplan think G-d is?
• Doesn’t think that there is a personal or one supreme G-d
• That there are a bunch of smaller, not as strong G-d
• Leaves G-d as an abstract idea
• The motivator to helping those around you
• Not actually going to help you
• How is this view similar to/different from the traditional view?
• Problems…
• Concerned about fascism, nazism, and communism
• G-d isn’t going to intervene supernaturally
• G-d can help people transcend themselves and live out ethical teachings of Judaism
• What do you think the title means?
• That G-d has the power to lead to salvation
Not that G-d is the power, but can lead to salvation Does it
make sense to label G-d as an idea?
It makes sense that not everyone believes in G-d
Could help at least thinking or believing that G-d is an idea at the least
• What makes Judaism?
• The ideals and ethics
• The community
• How it’s passed on
• Education
• About Judaism
• About prayers
• To read Hebrew
• Involvement in the community
• Responses to the video:
• Issues…
• Diminishing the religion if not told to care about it
• Just to do the practices and rituals
• Need to ground the ideas in a higher being
• Going to lose the reason and belief for the religion
• You need to have knowledge (not necessarily even have a lot of care) for it
• They did these practices for certain reasons
• Losing connections to those that started it
• People might be motivated because they enjoy doing it
Might be harder to force your religion down through generations
Post-Holocaust Theology
• Is the Holocaust a Unique Event in Jewish History?
• 2 Primary Views:
Not a Unique Event:
Holocaust as Divine Punishment:
• Holocaust is the term for a type of sacrifice offering in the temple
• A “whole burnt offering” - completely consumed by fire
• Wasserman (Leader of Jewish community killed in the Holocaust):
• Jews killed in the Holocaust are a sacrifice to G-d that will hasten messianic
redemption
Hoping that a Messianic figure will come and fix the problems of the world
• Holocaust as Chastiesment:
• Idea made by Joseph Isaac Shneerson (Lubavitcher Rebbe):
• Holocaust is a way of punishing the Jews for rejecting the Torah and assimilating
to other cultures
• Similar to other “radical communal misfortunes”
• Like the Babylonian Exile - Jews were exiled for going astray from Judaism
• Rejection of views:
• Because we, the Jews, were victims of the Holocaust and cannot/should not be
blamed for the Holocaust
• Is a Unique Event:
• Part 1:
• Rubenstein: “One can either affirm the innocence of Israel or the justice of Gd at
Auschwitz”
• In other words, a G-d who would punish innocent people in this way cannot be just
• Other words, people are deserving of G-d’s punishment because we were not
innocent and had sinned
• Part 2:
Who is the G-d that has died for Rubenstein?
G-d is dead in people’s hearts
lOMoARcPSD| 59331229
RLST 210 D. Barer
People have forgotten G-d and G-d’s directions
• No communication between man and G-d in these days
G-d has turned away from humanity and G-d’s involvement for people
In order to let human experiment unfold
• Part 3:
• Irving “Yitz” Greenberg (Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire):
• You should not say anything about G-d or in general that you wouldn’t be afraid to
say to the people being slaughtered in death camps
Using the idea of being slaughtered in death camps to compare to most innocent person you can
think of
• What type of statements could be said?
That you can’t blame the innocent for the actions of those before that might not be innocent
• Idea of the voluntary covenant:
That we aren’t bound by the covenant, but that we should choose to reenter it but not be forced
It is worth being a part of but cannot be chosen for you
• Emil Fackenheim (614th Commandment):
• You are not going to have the victory over us, but despite you, we won’t change our
way of lives and beliefs
Not going to change way of life based on what Hitler did to the Jewish people
• Part 4: New Questions
• If one does not or cannot affirm the “G-d of the prophets and the rabbis,” does
Judaism become a matter of personal preference?
• If G-d is not doing anything, then it becomes a personal preference
• Implied, is both the question of Judaism as a personal preference, and is it a choice
Is something gained verses something lost
• Can G-d be involved in destruction, without assuming it is a form of punishment?
• G-d created man, man can punish man, so the destruction is not a form of
punishment by G-d
• Is there a “credible, theological alternative” to the traditional view?
• Post-holocaust, people were not believing in the traditional view because they
thought that G-d didn’t exist
• What is attractive part to the traditional view?
Given hope to keep going and that G-d has a greater plan for you
G-d is balancing all of these factors and is investing in behavior
Hopeful purpose to keep living your life - can’t be left blank
Torah and Revelation
• Core Questions:
• Did the revelation on Mt. Sinai really happen?
• If so, what was revealed?
• Traditionalist View:
• That G-d revealed the Torah in “discrete words and letters”
• G-d spoke and Moses wrote down what G-d said
• That everything in the Torah is divine and all by G-d, nothing from Moses
• Might put more respect and holiness on something that is divine
• Ex. rising when the ark is opened to read the Torah
• What is at stake in this claim?
• If G-d revealed his will clearly to Moses at Mt. Sinai, and Moses recorded it accurately
in the Torah, then every detail in the Torah is binding This leaves little room for
personal autonomy Advantages:
View is clear and consistent Authority
of Torah is absolute
• Disadvantages:
• What if you find a moral or textual problem in the Torah?
• View does not outline a clear response
• Biblical Criticism:
• The documentary hypothesis challenges the idea that Moses wrote the Torah
• Raises two main questions:
• If Moses did not write the Torah, is it still authoritative? Does it express G-d’s will?
• If it is not from G-d directly in some way, then it can’t be authoritative
• Might not express G-d’s will directly
• It revealed an amount of respect for G-d
• If G-d didn’t reveal the Torah on Mt. Sinai, what (if anything) was revealed?
• The ideas of the Torah
• Alternative Views:
• Could something have been revealed at Sinai other than the specific words of the
Torah?
• Rosenzweig’s view:
• Revelation reveals relationship
• On Mt. Sinai, Moses is not given a set of words or ‘behavioral code’ to write down and
pass on
• The encounter with G-d is the revelation
• That encounter commands but it does not legislate
• Heschel’s view:
• G-d will was revealed on Sinai, but the Torah is not a pure record of the divine
will
• Instead, the Torah records how people understood the revelation
lOMoARcPSD| 59331229
RLST 210 D. Barer
As a result, the Torah is not ‘perfect’ document, but it is still authoritative
Law and Authority in Judaism
• Core Questions:
• What makes Jewish law authoritative?
• How does law function?
• How can (or should) Jewish law be interpreted?
• Law as a Living Organism:
• What does Dorff mean when he describes law as a living organism?
• That the law is ever-changing
• Law is constantly changing and evolving
• Natural selection over time of laws
• Why do you think he chooses this model?
• Natural selection of life
• You learn based on your experiences
• Does it make sense to you?
• Also includes adaptability in certain situations
• How does Law Function?
• Another way of thinking about law is as a a system of rules
• How is this different from Dorff’s view of law as a living organism?
• Adaptation to unanticipated scenarios
• No exceptions, no way around it
• If the rule says X, then you have to follow it
• Do you think one view fits better with the ‘traditionalist’ view of G-d?
• Does one fit better with ‘traditionalist’ view of Torah? Why?
• What makes law authoritative?
Dorff argues against the idea of legal positivism
Positivism: The law is authoritative because it is created by a ruler or legislative body
• In a Jewish context, this means that law communicates G-d’s will (either directly or
through human intermediaries)
• Torah is the constitutional document of Judaism
• Alternative Accounts:
• Brainstorm: What alternatives might there be to legal positivism?
• Moral -
• Ethical - if it contributes to the greater society and that you feel it’s right
• Fear or danger - traffic rules for example
• Gravity for example - it is how it is, cannot be changed
• Example of something that we can describe as reality
• If the law is not authoritative because of who wrote it, why else might it be
authoritative?
• For what it does in the world community
• Natural law theory:
• Law is authoritative if its content is morally correct
• Example: a law prohibiting murder is authoritative because murder is inherently
wrong
• Dorff: “Jewish law is an expression of the love… Jews have for both G-d and for
other human beings”
Law is a framework to express and live out the ideals of the Torah and the covenant
Peoplehood
• Overview:
• Religious Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
Want to return to the Jewish home state
Religious Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want a Jewish state
• Don’t want to return to the Jewish state
• Secular Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Secular Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Jewish Messianism:
• Messiah - (anointed one) will come and re-establish Jewish sovereignty in the
promised land
• Who will bring this about? People or G-d? (Big question in Judaism)
• Is it all G-d?
• Is it all people?
• Is it a shared work between people and G-d?
• Abraham Isaac Kook (Rav Kook):
• He sought to “transform religious messianic longing into a basis for collaboration with
the aspirations of modern Zionism”
• Joseph Soloveitchik:
• Thought that the foundation of the state of Israel is part of G-d’s plan
• Served as the head of the Jewish University in New York
• The Six Knocks - for Soloveitchik, these events are signs of divine activity in history
• Founding of the State of Israel in 1948
• Israeli victories on the battlefield
• Christian support for the Israeli State
Pride of Jewish youth in the state of Israel
Jews can defend themselves against attack
• Jewish immigration en masse to Israel
• He does not call on American Jews to move to Israel, but rather to support Israel
politically and financially?
• Why? What does this suggest but the relationship between the Jewish people and the
Jewish state?
• Thinks that Jews not living there should support Israel politically and financially
• Not everyone needs to move and live in Israel
• Questions for Discussion:
• How is the religious Zionism of Rav Kook or Rav Soloveitchik different from secular
Zionism?
• Different programs for what it means to be engaged in the state
• Still being helpful to create unity
• How might a nationalist understanding of Jewish peoplehood create unity between
Jews? How might it lead to divisions?
• Creates more unity because it gives Jews a bond of belonging and community
• Can move to Israel and just know that you’ll know that you’re accepted
• Jewish Geography
• Once you have a state that represent the community it represents everyone
• As a result of a Jewish state, both Jews and Israelis are representatives of the Jewish
state
Division in the religious community - different levels of observance
Jewish Thought
• The Challenge (Borowitz):
• What role does the idea of commandment play in modern Jewish life?
• How should Jews balance the demands of tradition and the desire for autonomy and
self-determination?
• Autonomy - self-governing, independent, choosing your own actions
• Law:
• Traditionally, Jewish law places constraints on personal autonomy (self-govern)
• Example - wanting to drive over the speed limit, but following constraints
• Why is autonomy so important to liberal Jews?
• Belief that individual decision making is valued by the tradition
• Self-legislating understood an important part of human dignity
• Intellectual Environment:
• Rise of the “science of Judaism” (Wissenschaft des Judentums)
• Attempt for Jews to study their own traditions scientifically
• Not assuming that history comes from G-d but at other historical factors
• Biblical scholarships and the documentary hypothesis
• Judaism comes to be contextualized
• One expression of universal human experiences
• Ethical Challenges:
• If the law or the Torah are divine in origin, then they cannot be challenged
• If the law or the Torah are human, then they can be criticized Two cases:
Langer Case - one parent died, one parent remarried but wasn’t legal because she didn’t
have a get
Mamzer - bastard
Should be allowed to marry someone else because not their fault
• Shabbat Hoax - if someone is crumbled under a house, if you’re Jewish, then you
can help them (if they’re alive)
• What do these cases illustrate?
• Langer case - should have a way to let it be allowed
• It was a general mistake for committing adultery
• Shabbat hoax - if you are saving a life during Shabbat, you should help them
• Only allowed to save the person if they are Jewish
• Rules:
• If unsure who the person is and unsure on the religion, you dig them out
• But, if you see they are dead, then you stop digging until after Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive but not Jewish, then you stop digging until after
Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive and Jewish, then you keep digging them out
• Do you break Jewish law and follow moral intuition, or break moral intuition and
follow Jewish law?
• Could say that G-d laid out the rules for your morality
• Could say that your morality is more important, could bypass law once
• Cycle of God, Israel, and Torah (the Three pillars and their interconnection)
Jewish Monotheism
• Describing God:
• Gillman’s 4 core ideas…
G-d alone is G-d (only one G-d)
G-d’s will is sovereign
• Makes G-d’s will known and that you have to follow it
• G-d has a stake in human civilization
• Wants things to go well
• G-d is a personal G-d
• Is personal to you
• Exodus 34:6-7…
• What do you see about G-d in this text?
• Kind and gracious
• Understanding because slow to anger
• Honest, clear about reasoning and his unhappiness
• Vengeful - holds a grudge
• Understanding the 13 attributes of G-d:
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful towards people before they sin
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful even after a person has sinned
• A God…
• Supreme Ruler
• Merciful…
• G-d recognized human frailty and does not lead people into temptation
• Gracious…
• G-d shows mercy even to those who do not deserve it
Slow to Anger…
G-d gives sinners time to repent
Abounding in Steadfast Love…
G-d emphasizes a persons merits
• Faithful…
• G-d is faithful and does not renege on his promises
• Keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation…
• G-d remembers the deeds of righteous ancestors, and acts favorably towards their
descendants
• Forgiving Iniquity…
• G-d forgives the intentional sinner if they repent
• Forgiving Transgression…
• G-d gives whose who rebel against G-d the change to repent
• Forgiving (Unintentional) Sin…
• G-d forgives sins committed through carelessness or apathy
• Clearing the Guilty…
• G-d wipes away the sings of those who repent, clearing them of guilt
• How is G-d depicted?
• Loyal figure
• Understanding figure
• Make it seem like a father-like figure
• Maimonides: 13 Principles of Father:
• Yigdal Prayer
• Anything new being introduced?
• Idea of the Messiah
• Emphasis on Moses and Moses’ prophecy
• The fact that prophecy is real
• Idea that G-d gave Moses a true Torah
• Any similarities to 13 attributes?
Both agree that G-d is one
G-d is the Master of the Universe/Supreme Ruler
• Emphasis on G-d’s loving kindness and compassion
• 13 principles…
• He exists
• He is one
• He has neither bodily form nor substance
• He was first
• Master of the Universe
• Prophecy
• Moses
• A Torah of Truth
• G-d will not alter or change His law
• He sees and knows our secrets thoughts
• He rewards people with loving kindness, according to their deeds
• Messiah
• G-d will revive the lead
• Jewish Theology:
• Main Sources…
• Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)
• Rabbinic Literature (Talmud, Midrash)
• Jewish Philosophy
• Liturgy (Prayerbook)
• Modern Challenges…
Historical events (Holocaust)
Science (Are Miracles Real?)
Personal Experience (Where is G-d in my life?) Shifting
Strategies:
• Historical Strategies…
• Add new prayers to the prayerbook that reflect current views
• Come up with new interpretations of traditional texts
• Modern Strategies…
• Change the language of the prayerbook
New theologies
Kaplan’s Article
• Who does Kaplan think G-d is?
• Doesn’t think that there is a personal or one supreme G-d
• That there are a bunch of smaller, not as strong G-d
• Leaves G-d as an abstract idea
• The motivator to helping those around you
• Not actually going to help you
• How is this view similar to/different from the traditional view?
• Problems…
• Concerned about fascism, nazism, and communism
• G-d isn’t going to intervene supernaturally
• G-d can help people transcend themselves and live out ethical teachings of Judaism
• What do you think the title means?
• That G-d has the power to lead to salvation
Not that G-d is the power, but can lead to salvation Does it
make sense to label G-d as an idea?
It makes sense that not everyone believes in G-d
Could help at least thinking or believing that G-d is an idea at the least
• What makes Judaism?
• The ideals and ethics
• The community
• How it’s passed on
• Education
• About Judaism
• About prayers
• To read Hebrew
• Involvement in the community
• Responses to the video:
• Issues…
• Diminishing the religion if not told to care about it
• Just to do the practices and rituals
• Need to ground the ideas in a higher being
• Going to lose the reason and belief for the religion
• You need to have knowledge (not necessarily even have a lot of care) for it
• They did these practices for certain reasons
• Losing connections to those that started it
• People might be motivated because they enjoy doing it
Might be harder to force your religion down through generations
Post-Holocaust Theology
• Is the Holocaust a Unique Event in Jewish History?
• 2 Primary Views:
Not a Unique Event:
Holocaust as Divine Punishment:
• Holocaust is the term for a type of sacrifice offering in the temple
• A “whole burnt offering” - completely consumed by fire
• Wasserman (Leader of Jewish community killed in the Holocaust):
• Jews killed in the Holocaust are a sacrifice to G-d that will hasten messianic
redemption
Hoping that a Messianic figure will come and fix the problems of the world
• Holocaust as Chastiesment:
• Idea made by Joseph Isaac Shneerson (Lubavitcher Rebbe):
• Holocaust is a way of punishing the Jews for rejecting the Torah and assimilating
to other cultures
• Similar to other “radical communal misfortunes”
• Like the Babylonian Exile - Jews were exiled for going astray from Judaism
• Rejection of views:
• Because we, the Jews, were victims of the Holocaust and cannot/should not be
blamed for the Holocaust
• Is a Unique Event:
• Part 1:
• Rubenstein: “One can either affirm the innocence of Israel or the justice of Gd at
Auschwitz”
• In other words, a G-d who would punish innocent people in this way cannot be just
• Other words, people are deserving of G-d’s punishment because we were not
innocent and had sinned
• Part 2:
Who is the G-d that has died for Rubenstein?
G-d is dead in people’s hearts
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People have forgotten G-d and G-d’s directions
• No communication between man and G-d in these days
G-d has turned away from humanity and G-d’s involvement for people
In order to let human experiment unfold
• Part 3:
• Irving “Yitz” Greenberg (Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire):
• You should not say anything about G-d or in general that you wouldn’t be afraid to
say to the people being slaughtered in death camps
Using the idea of being slaughtered in death camps to compare to most innocent person you can
think of
• What type of statements could be said?
That you can’t blame the innocent for the actions of those before that might not be innocent
• Idea of the voluntary covenant:
That we aren’t bound by the covenant, but that we should choose to reenter it but not be forced
It is worth being a part of but cannot be chosen for you
• Emil Fackenheim (614th Commandment):
• You are not going to have the victory over us, but despite you, we won’t change our
way of lives and beliefs
Not going to change way of life based on what Hitler did to the Jewish people
• Part 4: New Questions
• If one does not or cannot affirm the “G-d of the prophets and the rabbis,” does
Judaism become a matter of personal preference?
• If G-d is not doing anything, then it becomes a personal preference
• Implied, is both the question of Judaism as a personal preference, and is it a choice
Is something gained verses something lost
• Can G-d be involved in destruction, without assuming it is a form of punishment?
• G-d created man, man can punish man, so the destruction is not a form of
punishment by G-d
• Is there a “credible, theological alternative” to the traditional view?
• Post-holocaust, people were not believing in the traditional view because they
thought that G-d didn’t exist
• What is attractive part to the traditional view?
Given hope to keep going and that G-d has a greater plan for you
G-d is balancing all of these factors and is investing in behavior
Hopeful purpose to keep living your life - can’t be left blank
Torah and Revelation
• Core Questions:
• Did the revelation on Mt. Sinai really happen?
• If so, what was revealed?
• Traditionalist View:
• That G-d revealed the Torah in “discrete words and letters”
• G-d spoke and Moses wrote down what G-d said
• That everything in the Torah is divine and all by G-d, nothing from Moses
• Might put more respect and holiness on something that is divine
• Ex. rising when the ark is opened to read the Torah
• What is at stake in this claim?
• If G-d revealed his will clearly to Moses at Mt. Sinai, and Moses recorded it accurately
in the Torah, then every detail in the Torah is binding This leaves little room for
personal autonomy Advantages:
View is clear and consistent Authority
of Torah is absolute
• Disadvantages:
• What if you find a moral or textual problem in the Torah?
• View does not outline a clear response
• Biblical Criticism:
• The documentary hypothesis challenges the idea that Moses wrote the Torah
• Raises two main questions:
• If Moses did not write the Torah, is it still authoritative? Does it express G-d’s will?
• If it is not from G-d directly in some way, then it can’t be authoritative
• Might not express G-d’s will directly
• It revealed an amount of respect for G-d
• If G-d didn’t reveal the Torah on Mt. Sinai, what (if anything) was revealed?
• The ideas of the Torah
• Alternative Views:
• Could something have been revealed at Sinai other than the specific words of the
Torah?
• Rosenzweig’s view:
• Revelation reveals relationship
• On Mt. Sinai, Moses is not given a set of words or ‘behavioral code’ to write down and
pass on
• The encounter with G-d is the revelation
• That encounter commands but it does not legislate
• Heschel’s view:
• G-d will was revealed on Sinai, but the Torah is not a pure record of the divine
will
• Instead, the Torah records how people understood the revelation
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As a result, the Torah is not ‘perfect’ document, but it is still authoritative
Law and Authority in Judaism
• Core Questions:
• What makes Jewish law authoritative?
• How does law function?
• How can (or should) Jewish law be interpreted?
• Law as a Living Organism:
• What does Dorff mean when he describes law as a living organism?
• That the law is ever-changing
• Law is constantly changing and evolving
• Natural selection over time of laws
• Why do you think he chooses this model?
• Natural selection of life
• You learn based on your experiences
• Does it make sense to you?
• Also includes adaptability in certain situations
• How does Law Function?
• Another way of thinking about law is as a a system of rules
• How is this different from Dorff’s view of law as a living organism?
• Adaptation to unanticipated scenarios
• No exceptions, no way around it
• If the rule says X, then you have to follow it
• Do you think one view fits better with the ‘traditionalist’ view of G-d?
• Does one fit better with ‘traditionalist’ view of Torah? Why?
• What makes law authoritative?
Dorff argues against the idea of legal positivism
Positivism: The law is authoritative because it is created by a ruler or legislative body
• In a Jewish context, this means that law communicates G-d’s will (either directly or
through human intermediaries)
• Torah is the constitutional document of Judaism
• Alternative Accounts:
• Brainstorm: What alternatives might there be to legal positivism?
• Moral -
• Ethical - if it contributes to the greater society and that you feel it’s right
• Fear or danger - traffic rules for example
• Gravity for example - it is how it is, cannot be changed
• Example of something that we can describe as reality
• If the law is not authoritative because of who wrote it, why else might it be
authoritative?
• For what it does in the world community
• Natural law theory:
• Law is authoritative if its content is morally correct
• Example: a law prohibiting murder is authoritative because murder is inherently
wrong
• Dorff: “Jewish law is an expression of the love… Jews have for both G-d and for
other human beings”
Law is a framework to express and live out the ideals of the Torah and the covenant
Peoplehood
• Overview:
• Religious Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
Want to return to the Jewish home state
Religious Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want a Jewish state
• Don’t want to return to the Jewish state
• Secular Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Secular Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Jewish Messianism:
• Messiah - (anointed one) will come and re-establish Jewish sovereignty in the
promised land
• Who will bring this about? People or G-d? (Big question in Judaism)
• Is it all G-d?
• Is it all people?
• Is it a shared work between people and G-d?
• Abraham Isaac Kook (Rav Kook):
• He sought to “transform religious messianic longing into a basis for collaboration with
the aspirations of modern Zionism”
• Joseph Soloveitchik:
• Thought that the foundation of the state of Israel is part of G-d’s plan
• Served as the head of the Jewish University in New York
• The Six Knocks - for Soloveitchik, these events are signs of divine activity in history
• Founding of the State of Israel in 1948
• Israeli victories on the battlefield
• Christian support for the Israeli State
Pride of Jewish youth in the state of Israel
Jews can defend themselves against attack
• Jewish immigration en masse to Israel
• He does not call on American Jews to move to Israel, but rather to support Israel
politically and financially?
• Why? What does this suggest but the relationship between the Jewish people and the
Jewish state?
• Thinks that Jews not living there should support Israel politically and financially
• Not everyone needs to move and live in Israel
• Questions for Discussion:
• How is the religious Zionism of Rav Kook or Rav Soloveitchik different from secular
Zionism?
• Different programs for what it means to be engaged in the state
• Still being helpful to create unity
• How might a nationalist understanding of Jewish peoplehood create unity between
Jews? How might it lead to divisions?
• Creates more unity because it gives Jews a bond of belonging and community
• Can move to Israel and just know that you’ll know that you’re accepted
• Jewish Geography
• Once you have a state that represent the community it represents everyone
• As a result of a Jewish state, both Jews and Israelis are representatives of the Jewish
state
Division in the religious community - different levels of observance
Jewish Thought
• The Challenge (Borowitz):
• What role does the idea of commandment play in modern Jewish life?
• How should Jews balance the demands of tradition and the desire for autonomy and
self-determination?
• Autonomy - self-governing, independent, choosing your own actions
• Law:
• Traditionally, Jewish law places constraints on personal autonomy (self-govern)
• Example - wanting to drive over the speed limit, but following constraints
• Why is autonomy so important to liberal Jews?
• Belief that individual decision making is valued by the tradition
• Self-legislating understood an important part of human dignity
• Intellectual Environment:
• Rise of the “science of Judaism” (Wissenschaft des Judentums)
• Attempt for Jews to study their own traditions scientifically
• Not assuming that history comes from G-d but at other historical factors
• Biblical scholarships and the documentary hypothesis
• Judaism comes to be contextualized
• One expression of universal human experiences
• Ethical Challenges:
• If the law or the Torah are divine in origin, then they cannot be challenged
• If the law or the Torah are human, then they can be criticized Two cases:
Langer Case - one parent died, one parent remarried but wasn’t legal because she didn’t
have a get
Mamzer - bastard
Should be allowed to marry someone else because not their fault
• Shabbat Hoax - if someone is crumbled under a house, if you’re Jewish, then you
can help them (if they’re alive)
• What do these cases illustrate?
• Langer case - should have a way to let it be allowed
• It was a general mistake for committing adultery
• Shabbat hoax - if you are saving a life during Shabbat, you should help them
• Only allowed to save the person if they are Jewish
• Rules:
• If unsure who the person is and unsure on the religion, you dig them out
• But, if you see they are dead, then you stop digging until after Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive but not Jewish, then you stop digging until after
Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive and Jewish, then you keep digging them out
• Do you break Jewish law and follow moral intuition, or break moral intuition and
follow Jewish law?
• Could say that G-d laid out the rules for your morality
• Could say that your morality is more important, could bypass law once
• Cycle of God, Israel, and Torah (the Three pillars and their interconnection)
Jewish Monotheism
• Describing God:
• Gillman’s 4 core ideas…
G-d alone is G-d (only one G-d)
G-d’s will is sovereign
• Makes G-d’s will known and that you have to follow it
• G-d has a stake in human civilization
• Wants things to go well
• G-d is a personal G-d
• Is personal to you
• Exodus 34:6-7…
• What do you see about G-d in this text?
• Kind and gracious
• Understanding because slow to anger
• Honest, clear about reasoning and his unhappiness
• Vengeful - holds a grudge
• Understanding the 13 attributes of G-d:
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful towards people before they sin
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful even after a person has sinned
• A God…
• Supreme Ruler
• Merciful…
• G-d recognized human frailty and does not lead people into temptation
• Gracious…
• G-d shows mercy even to those who do not deserve it
Slow to Anger…
G-d gives sinners time to repent
Abounding in Steadfast Love…
G-d emphasizes a persons merits
• Faithful…
• G-d is faithful and does not renege on his promises
• Keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation…
• G-d remembers the deeds of righteous ancestors, and acts favorably towards their
descendants
• Forgiving Iniquity…
• G-d forgives the intentional sinner if they repent
• Forgiving Transgression…
• G-d gives whose who rebel against G-d the change to repent
• Forgiving (Unintentional) Sin…
• G-d forgives sins committed through carelessness or apathy
• Clearing the Guilty…
• G-d wipes away the sings of those who repent, clearing them of guilt
• How is G-d depicted?
• Loyal figure
• Understanding figure
• Make it seem like a father-like figure
• Maimonides: 13 Principles of Father:
• Yigdal Prayer
• Anything new being introduced?
• Idea of the Messiah
• Emphasis on Moses and Moses’ prophecy
• The fact that prophecy is real
• Idea that G-d gave Moses a true Torah
• Any similarities to 13 attributes?
Both agree that G-d is one
G-d is the Master of the Universe/Supreme Ruler
• Emphasis on G-d’s loving kindness and compassion
• 13 principles…
• He exists
• He is one
• He has neither bodily form nor substance
• He was first
• Master of the Universe
• Prophecy
• Moses
• A Torah of Truth
• G-d will not alter or change His law
• He sees and knows our secrets thoughts
• He rewards people with loving kindness, according to their deeds
• Messiah
• G-d will revive the lead
• Jewish Theology:
• Main Sources…
• Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)
• Rabbinic Literature (Talmud, Midrash)
• Jewish Philosophy
• Liturgy (Prayerbook)
• Modern Challenges…
Historical events (Holocaust)
Science (Are Miracles Real?)
Personal Experience (Where is G-d in my life?) Shifting
Strategies:
• Historical Strategies…
• Add new prayers to the prayerbook that reflect current views
• Come up with new interpretations of traditional texts
• Modern Strategies…
• Change the language of the prayerbook
New theologies
Kaplan’s Article
• Who does Kaplan think G-d is?
• Doesn’t think that there is a personal or one supreme G-d
• That there are a bunch of smaller, not as strong G-d
• Leaves G-d as an abstract idea
• The motivator to helping those around you
• Not actually going to help you
• How is this view similar to/different from the traditional view?
• Problems…
• Concerned about fascism, nazism, and communism
• G-d isn’t going to intervene supernaturally
• G-d can help people transcend themselves and live out ethical teachings of Judaism
• What do you think the title means?
• That G-d has the power to lead to salvation
Not that G-d is the power, but can lead to salvation Does it
make sense to label G-d as an idea?
It makes sense that not everyone believes in G-d
Could help at least thinking or believing that G-d is an idea at the least
• What makes Judaism?
• The ideals and ethics
• The community
• How it’s passed on
• Education
• About Judaism
• About prayers
• To read Hebrew
• Involvement in the community
• Responses to the video:
• Issues…
• Diminishing the religion if not told to care about it
• Just to do the practices and rituals
• Need to ground the ideas in a higher being
• Going to lose the reason and belief for the religion
• You need to have knowledge (not necessarily even have a lot of care) for it
• They did these practices for certain reasons
• Losing connections to those that started it
• People might be motivated because they enjoy doing it
Might be harder to force your religion down through generations
Post-Holocaust Theology
• Is the Holocaust a Unique Event in Jewish History?
• 2 Primary Views:
Not a Unique Event:
Holocaust as Divine Punishment:
• Holocaust is the term for a type of sacrifice offering in the temple
• A “whole burnt offering” - completely consumed by fire
• Wasserman (Leader of Jewish community killed in the Holocaust):
• Jews killed in the Holocaust are a sacrifice to G-d that will hasten messianic
redemption
Hoping that a Messianic figure will come and fix the problems of the world
• Holocaust as Chastiesment:
• Idea made by Joseph Isaac Shneerson (Lubavitcher Rebbe):
• Holocaust is a way of punishing the Jews for rejecting the Torah and assimilating
to other cultures
• Similar to other “radical communal misfortunes”
• Like the Babylonian Exile - Jews were exiled for going astray from Judaism
• Rejection of views:
• Because we, the Jews, were victims of the Holocaust and cannot/should not be
blamed for the Holocaust
• Is a Unique Event:
• Part 1:
• Rubenstein: “One can either affirm the innocence of Israel or the justice of Gd at
Auschwitz”
• In other words, a G-d who would punish innocent people in this way cannot be just
• Other words, people are deserving of G-d’s punishment because we were not
innocent and had sinned
• Part 2:
Who is the G-d that has died for Rubenstein?
G-d is dead in people’s hearts
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People have forgotten G-d and G-d’s directions
• No communication between man and G-d in these days
G-d has turned away from humanity and G-d’s involvement for people
In order to let human experiment unfold
• Part 3:
• Irving “Yitz” Greenberg (Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire):
• You should not say anything about G-d or in general that you wouldn’t be afraid to
say to the people being slaughtered in death camps
Using the idea of being slaughtered in death camps to compare to most innocent person you can
think of
• What type of statements could be said?
That you can’t blame the innocent for the actions of those before that might not be innocent
• Idea of the voluntary covenant:
That we aren’t bound by the covenant, but that we should choose to reenter it but not be forced
It is worth being a part of but cannot be chosen for you
• Emil Fackenheim (614th Commandment):
• You are not going to have the victory over us, but despite you, we won’t change our
way of lives and beliefs
Not going to change way of life based on what Hitler did to the Jewish people
• Part 4: New Questions
• If one does not or cannot affirm the “G-d of the prophets and the rabbis,” does
Judaism become a matter of personal preference?
• If G-d is not doing anything, then it becomes a personal preference
• Implied, is both the question of Judaism as a personal preference, and is it a choice
Is something gained verses something lost
• Can G-d be involved in destruction, without assuming it is a form of punishment?
• G-d created man, man can punish man, so the destruction is not a form of
punishment by G-d
• Is there a “credible, theological alternative” to the traditional view?
• Post-holocaust, people were not believing in the traditional view because they
thought that G-d didn’t exist
• What is attractive part to the traditional view?
Given hope to keep going and that G-d has a greater plan for you
G-d is balancing all of these factors and is investing in behavior
Hopeful purpose to keep living your life - can’t be left blank
Torah and Revelation
• Core Questions:
• Did the revelation on Mt. Sinai really happen?
• If so, what was revealed?
• Traditionalist View:
• That G-d revealed the Torah in “discrete words and letters”
• G-d spoke and Moses wrote down what G-d said
• That everything in the Torah is divine and all by G-d, nothing from Moses
• Might put more respect and holiness on something that is divine
• Ex. rising when the ark is opened to read the Torah
• What is at stake in this claim?
• If G-d revealed his will clearly to Moses at Mt. Sinai, and Moses recorded it accurately
in the Torah, then every detail in the Torah is binding This leaves little room for
personal autonomy Advantages:
View is clear and consistent Authority
of Torah is absolute
• Disadvantages:
• What if you find a moral or textual problem in the Torah?
• View does not outline a clear response
• Biblical Criticism:
• The documentary hypothesis challenges the idea that Moses wrote the Torah
• Raises two main questions:
• If Moses did not write the Torah, is it still authoritative? Does it express G-d’s will?
• If it is not from G-d directly in some way, then it can’t be authoritative
• Might not express G-d’s will directly
• It revealed an amount of respect for G-d
• If G-d didn’t reveal the Torah on Mt. Sinai, what (if anything) was revealed?
• The ideas of the Torah
• Alternative Views:
• Could something have been revealed at Sinai other than the specific words of the
Torah?
• Rosenzweig’s view:
• Revelation reveals relationship
• On Mt. Sinai, Moses is not given a set of words or ‘behavioral code’ to write down and
pass on
• The encounter with G-d is the revelation
• That encounter commands but it does not legislate
• Heschel’s view:
• G-d will was revealed on Sinai, but the Torah is not a pure record of the divine
will
• Instead, the Torah records how people understood the revelation
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As a result, the Torah is not ‘perfect’ document, but it is still authoritative
Law and Authority in Judaism
• Core Questions:
• What makes Jewish law authoritative?
• How does law function?
• How can (or should) Jewish law be interpreted?
• Law as a Living Organism:
• What does Dorff mean when he describes law as a living organism?
• That the law is ever-changing
• Law is constantly changing and evolving
• Natural selection over time of laws
• Why do you think he chooses this model?
• Natural selection of life
• You learn based on your experiences
• Does it make sense to you?
• Also includes adaptability in certain situations
• How does Law Function?
• Another way of thinking about law is as a a system of rules
• How is this different from Dorff’s view of law as a living organism?
• Adaptation to unanticipated scenarios
• No exceptions, no way around it
• If the rule says X, then you have to follow it
• Do you think one view fits better with the ‘traditionalist’ view of G-d?
• Does one fit better with ‘traditionalist’ view of Torah? Why?
• What makes law authoritative?
Dorff argues against the idea of legal positivism
Positivism: The law is authoritative because it is created by a ruler or legislative body
• In a Jewish context, this means that law communicates G-d’s will (either directly or
through human intermediaries)
• Torah is the constitutional document of Judaism
• Alternative Accounts:
• Brainstorm: What alternatives might there be to legal positivism?
• Moral -
• Ethical - if it contributes to the greater society and that you feel it’s right
• Fear or danger - traffic rules for example
• Gravity for example - it is how it is, cannot be changed
• Example of something that we can describe as reality
• If the law is not authoritative because of who wrote it, why else might it be
authoritative?
• For what it does in the world community
• Natural law theory:
• Law is authoritative if its content is morally correct
• Example: a law prohibiting murder is authoritative because murder is inherently
wrong
• Dorff: “Jewish law is an expression of the love… Jews have for both G-d and for
other human beings”
Law is a framework to express and live out the ideals of the Torah and the covenant
Peoplehood
• Overview:
• Religious Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
Want to return to the Jewish home state
Religious Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want a Jewish state
• Don’t want to return to the Jewish state
• Secular Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Secular Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Jewish Messianism:
• Messiah - (anointed one) will come and re-establish Jewish sovereignty in the
promised land
• Who will bring this about? People or G-d? (Big question in Judaism)
• Is it all G-d?
• Is it all people?
• Is it a shared work between people and G-d?
• Abraham Isaac Kook (Rav Kook):
• He sought to “transform religious messianic longing into a basis for collaboration with
the aspirations of modern Zionism”
• Joseph Soloveitchik:
• Thought that the foundation of the state of Israel is part of G-d’s plan
• Served as the head of the Jewish University in New York
• The Six Knocks - for Soloveitchik, these events are signs of divine activity in history
• Founding of the State of Israel in 1948
• Israeli victories on the battlefield
• Christian support for the Israeli State
Pride of Jewish youth in the state of Israel
Jews can defend themselves against attack
• Jewish immigration en masse to Israel
• He does not call on American Jews to move to Israel, but rather to support Israel
politically and financially?
• Why? What does this suggest but the relationship between the Jewish people and the
Jewish state?
• Thinks that Jews not living there should support Israel politically and financially
• Not everyone needs to move and live in Israel
• Questions for Discussion:
• How is the religious Zionism of Rav Kook or Rav Soloveitchik different from secular
Zionism?
• Different programs for what it means to be engaged in the state
• Still being helpful to create unity
• How might a nationalist understanding of Jewish peoplehood create unity between
Jews? How might it lead to divisions?
• Creates more unity because it gives Jews a bond of belonging and community
• Can move to Israel and just know that you’ll know that you’re accepted
• Jewish Geography
• Once you have a state that represent the community it represents everyone
• As a result of a Jewish state, both Jews and Israelis are representatives of the Jewish
state
Division in the religious community - different levels of observance
Jewish Thought
• The Challenge (Borowitz):
• What role does the idea of commandment play in modern Jewish life?
• How should Jews balance the demands of tradition and the desire for autonomy and
self-determination?
• Autonomy - self-governing, independent, choosing your own actions
• Law:
• Traditionally, Jewish law places constraints on personal autonomy (self-govern)
• Example - wanting to drive over the speed limit, but following constraints
• Why is autonomy so important to liberal Jews?
• Belief that individual decision making is valued by the tradition
• Self-legislating understood an important part of human dignity
• Intellectual Environment:
• Rise of the “science of Judaism” (Wissenschaft des Judentums)
• Attempt for Jews to study their own traditions scientifically
• Not assuming that history comes from G-d but at other historical factors
• Biblical scholarships and the documentary hypothesis
• Judaism comes to be contextualized
• One expression of universal human experiences
• Ethical Challenges:
• If the law or the Torah are divine in origin, then they cannot be challenged
• If the law or the Torah are human, then they can be criticized Two cases:
Langer Case - one parent died, one parent remarried but wasn’t legal because she didn’t
have a get
Mamzer - bastard
Should be allowed to marry someone else because not their fault
• Shabbat Hoax - if someone is crumbled under a house, if you’re Jewish, then you
can help them (if they’re alive)
• What do these cases illustrate?
• Langer case - should have a way to let it be allowed
• It was a general mistake for committing adultery
• Shabbat hoax - if you are saving a life during Shabbat, you should help them
• Only allowed to save the person if they are Jewish
• Rules:
• If unsure who the person is and unsure on the religion, you dig them out
• But, if you see they are dead, then you stop digging until after Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive but not Jewish, then you stop digging until after
Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive and Jewish, then you keep digging them out
• Do you break Jewish law and follow moral intuition, or break moral intuition and
follow Jewish law?
• Could say that G-d laid out the rules for your morality
• Could say that your morality is more important, could bypass law once
• Cycle of God, Israel, and Torah (the Three pillars and their interconnection)
Jewish Monotheism
• Describing God:
• Gillman’s 4 core ideas…
G-d alone is G-d (only one G-d)
G-d’s will is sovereign
• Makes G-d’s will known and that you have to follow it
• G-d has a stake in human civilization
• Wants things to go well
• G-d is a personal G-d
• Is personal to you
• Exodus 34:6-7…
• What do you see about G-d in this text?
• Kind and gracious
• Understanding because slow to anger
• Honest, clear about reasoning and his unhappiness
• Vengeful - holds a grudge
• Understanding the 13 attributes of G-d:
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful towards people before they sin
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful even after a person has sinned
• A God…
• Supreme Ruler
• Merciful…
• G-d recognized human frailty and does not lead people into temptation
• Gracious…
• G-d shows mercy even to those who do not deserve it
Slow to Anger…
G-d gives sinners time to repent
Abounding in Steadfast Love…
G-d emphasizes a persons merits
• Faithful…
• G-d is faithful and does not renege on his promises
• Keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation…
• G-d remembers the deeds of righteous ancestors, and acts favorably towards their
descendants
• Forgiving Iniquity…
• G-d forgives the intentional sinner if they repent
• Forgiving Transgression…
• G-d gives whose who rebel against G-d the change to repent
• Forgiving (Unintentional) Sin…
• G-d forgives sins committed through carelessness or apathy
• Clearing the Guilty…
• G-d wipes away the sings of those who repent, clearing them of guilt
• How is G-d depicted?
• Loyal figure
• Understanding figure
• Make it seem like a father-like figure
• Maimonides: 13 Principles of Father:
• Yigdal Prayer
• Anything new being introduced?
• Idea of the Messiah
• Emphasis on Moses and Moses’ prophecy
• The fact that prophecy is real
• Idea that G-d gave Moses a true Torah
• Any similarities to 13 attributes?
Both agree that G-d is one
G-d is the Master of the Universe/Supreme Ruler
• Emphasis on G-d’s loving kindness and compassion
• 13 principles…
• He exists
• He is one
• He has neither bodily form nor substance
• He was first
• Master of the Universe
• Prophecy
• Moses
• A Torah of Truth
• G-d will not alter or change His law
• He sees and knows our secrets thoughts
• He rewards people with loving kindness, according to their deeds
• Messiah
• G-d will revive the lead
• Jewish Theology:
• Main Sources…
• Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)
• Rabbinic Literature (Talmud, Midrash)
• Jewish Philosophy
• Liturgy (Prayerbook)
• Modern Challenges…
Historical events (Holocaust)
Science (Are Miracles Real?)
Personal Experience (Where is G-d in my life?) Shifting
Strategies:
• Historical Strategies…
• Add new prayers to the prayerbook that reflect current views
• Come up with new interpretations of traditional texts
• Modern Strategies…
• Change the language of the prayerbook
New theologies
Kaplan’s Article
• Who does Kaplan think G-d is?
• Doesn’t think that there is a personal or one supreme G-d
• That there are a bunch of smaller, not as strong G-d
• Leaves G-d as an abstract idea
• The motivator to helping those around you
• Not actually going to help you
• How is this view similar to/different from the traditional view?
• Problems…
• Concerned about fascism, nazism, and communism
• G-d isn’t going to intervene supernaturally
• G-d can help people transcend themselves and live out ethical teachings of Judaism
• What do you think the title means?
• That G-d has the power to lead to salvation
Not that G-d is the power, but can lead to salvation Does it
make sense to label G-d as an idea?
It makes sense that not everyone believes in G-d
Could help at least thinking or believing that G-d is an idea at the least
• What makes Judaism?
• The ideals and ethics
• The community
• How it’s passed on
• Education
• About Judaism
• About prayers
• To read Hebrew
• Involvement in the community
• Responses to the video:
• Issues…
• Diminishing the religion if not told to care about it
• Just to do the practices and rituals
• Need to ground the ideas in a higher being
• Going to lose the reason and belief for the religion
• You need to have knowledge (not necessarily even have a lot of care) for it
• They did these practices for certain reasons
• Losing connections to those that started it
• People might be motivated because they enjoy doing it
Might be harder to force your religion down through generations
Post-Holocaust Theology
• Is the Holocaust a Unique Event in Jewish History?
• 2 Primary Views:
Not a Unique Event:
Holocaust as Divine Punishment:
• Holocaust is the term for a type of sacrifice offering in the temple
• A “whole burnt offering” - completely consumed by fire
• Wasserman (Leader of Jewish community killed in the Holocaust):
• Jews killed in the Holocaust are a sacrifice to G-d that will hasten messianic
redemption
Hoping that a Messianic figure will come and fix the problems of the world
• Holocaust as Chastiesment:
• Idea made by Joseph Isaac Shneerson (Lubavitcher Rebbe):
• Holocaust is a way of punishing the Jews for rejecting the Torah and assimilating
to other cultures
• Similar to other “radical communal misfortunes”
• Like the Babylonian Exile - Jews were exiled for going astray from Judaism
• Rejection of views:
• Because we, the Jews, were victims of the Holocaust and cannot/should not be
blamed for the Holocaust
• Is a Unique Event:
• Part 1:
• Rubenstein: “One can either affirm the innocence of Israel or the justice of Gd at
Auschwitz”
• In other words, a G-d who would punish innocent people in this way cannot be just
• Other words, people are deserving of G-d’s punishment because we were not
innocent and had sinned
• Part 2:
Who is the G-d that has died for Rubenstein?
G-d is dead in people’s hearts
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People have forgotten G-d and G-d’s directions
• No communication between man and G-d in these days
G-d has turned away from humanity and G-d’s involvement for people
In order to let human experiment unfold
• Part 3:
• Irving “Yitz” Greenberg (Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire):
• You should not say anything about G-d or in general that you wouldn’t be afraid to
say to the people being slaughtered in death camps
Using the idea of being slaughtered in death camps to compare to most innocent person you can
think of
• What type of statements could be said?
That you can’t blame the innocent for the actions of those before that might not be innocent
• Idea of the voluntary covenant:
That we aren’t bound by the covenant, but that we should choose to reenter it but not be forced
It is worth being a part of but cannot be chosen for you
• Emil Fackenheim (614th Commandment):
• You are not going to have the victory over us, but despite you, we won’t change our
way of lives and beliefs
Not going to change way of life based on what Hitler did to the Jewish people
• Part 4: New Questions
• If one does not or cannot affirm the “G-d of the prophets and the rabbis,” does
Judaism become a matter of personal preference?
• If G-d is not doing anything, then it becomes a personal preference
• Implied, is both the question of Judaism as a personal preference, and is it a choice
Is something gained verses something lost
• Can G-d be involved in destruction, without assuming it is a form of punishment?
• G-d created man, man can punish man, so the destruction is not a form of
punishment by G-d
• Is there a “credible, theological alternative” to the traditional view?
• Post-holocaust, people were not believing in the traditional view because they
thought that G-d didn’t exist
• What is attractive part to the traditional view?
Given hope to keep going and that G-d has a greater plan for you
G-d is balancing all of these factors and is investing in behavior
Hopeful purpose to keep living your life - can’t be left blank
Torah and Revelation
• Core Questions:
• Did the revelation on Mt. Sinai really happen?
• If so, what was revealed?
• Traditionalist View:
• That G-d revealed the Torah in “discrete words and letters”
• G-d spoke and Moses wrote down what G-d said
• That everything in the Torah is divine and all by G-d, nothing from Moses
• Might put more respect and holiness on something that is divine
• Ex. rising when the ark is opened to read the Torah
• What is at stake in this claim?
• If G-d revealed his will clearly to Moses at Mt. Sinai, and Moses recorded it accurately
in the Torah, then every detail in the Torah is binding This leaves little room for
personal autonomy Advantages:
View is clear and consistent Authority
of Torah is absolute
• Disadvantages:
• What if you find a moral or textual problem in the Torah?
• View does not outline a clear response
• Biblical Criticism:
• The documentary hypothesis challenges the idea that Moses wrote the Torah
• Raises two main questions:
• If Moses did not write the Torah, is it still authoritative? Does it express G-d’s will?
• If it is not from G-d directly in some way, then it can’t be authoritative
• Might not express G-d’s will directly
• It revealed an amount of respect for G-d
• If G-d didn’t reveal the Torah on Mt. Sinai, what (if anything) was revealed?
• The ideas of the Torah
• Alternative Views:
• Could something have been revealed at Sinai other than the specific words of the
Torah?
• Rosenzweig’s view:
• Revelation reveals relationship
• On Mt. Sinai, Moses is not given a set of words or ‘behavioral code’ to write down and
pass on
• The encounter with G-d is the revelation
• That encounter commands but it does not legislate
• Heschel’s view:
• G-d will was revealed on Sinai, but the Torah is not a pure record of the divine
will
• Instead, the Torah records how people understood the revelation
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RLST 210 D. Barer
As a result, the Torah is not ‘perfect’ document, but it is still authoritative
Law and Authority in Judaism
• Core Questions:
• What makes Jewish law authoritative?
• How does law function?
• How can (or should) Jewish law be interpreted?
• Law as a Living Organism:
• What does Dorff mean when he describes law as a living organism?
• That the law is ever-changing
• Law is constantly changing and evolving
• Natural selection over time of laws
• Why do you think he chooses this model?
• Natural selection of life
• You learn based on your experiences
• Does it make sense to you?
• Also includes adaptability in certain situations
• How does Law Function?
• Another way of thinking about law is as a a system of rules
• How is this different from Dorff’s view of law as a living organism?
• Adaptation to unanticipated scenarios
• No exceptions, no way around it
• If the rule says X, then you have to follow it
• Do you think one view fits better with the ‘traditionalist’ view of G-d?
• Does one fit better with ‘traditionalist’ view of Torah? Why?
• What makes law authoritative?
Dorff argues against the idea of legal positivism
Positivism: The law is authoritative because it is created by a ruler or legislative body
• In a Jewish context, this means that law communicates G-d’s will (either directly or
through human intermediaries)
• Torah is the constitutional document of Judaism
• Alternative Accounts:
• Brainstorm: What alternatives might there be to legal positivism?
• Moral -
• Ethical - if it contributes to the greater society and that you feel it’s right
• Fear or danger - traffic rules for example
• Gravity for example - it is how it is, cannot be changed
• Example of something that we can describe as reality
• If the law is not authoritative because of who wrote it, why else might it be
authoritative?
• For what it does in the world community
• Natural law theory:
• Law is authoritative if its content is morally correct
• Example: a law prohibiting murder is authoritative because murder is inherently
wrong
• Dorff: “Jewish law is an expression of the love… Jews have for both G-d and for
other human beings”
Law is a framework to express and live out the ideals of the Torah and the covenant
Peoplehood
• Overview:
• Religious Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
Want to return to the Jewish home state
Religious Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want a Jewish state
• Don’t want to return to the Jewish state
• Secular Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Secular Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Jewish Messianism:
• Messiah - (anointed one) will come and re-establish Jewish sovereignty in the
promised land
• Who will bring this about? People or G-d? (Big question in Judaism)
• Is it all G-d?
• Is it all people?
• Is it a shared work between people and G-d?
• Abraham Isaac Kook (Rav Kook):
• He sought to “transform religious messianic longing into a basis for collaboration with
the aspirations of modern Zionism”
• Joseph Soloveitchik:
• Thought that the foundation of the state of Israel is part of G-d’s plan
• Served as the head of the Jewish University in New York
• The Six Knocks - for Soloveitchik, these events are signs of divine activity in history
• Founding of the State of Israel in 1948
• Israeli victories on the battlefield
• Christian support for the Israeli State
Pride of Jewish youth in the state of Israel
Jews can defend themselves against attack
• Jewish immigration en masse to Israel
• He does not call on American Jews to move to Israel, but rather to support Israel
politically and financially?
• Why? What does this suggest but the relationship between the Jewish people and the
Jewish state?
• Thinks that Jews not living there should support Israel politically and financially
• Not everyone needs to move and live in Israel
• Questions for Discussion:
• How is the religious Zionism of Rav Kook or Rav Soloveitchik different from secular
Zionism?
• Different programs for what it means to be engaged in the state
• Still being helpful to create unity
• How might a nationalist understanding of Jewish peoplehood create unity between
Jews? How might it lead to divisions?
• Creates more unity because it gives Jews a bond of belonging and community
• Can move to Israel and just know that you’ll know that you’re accepted
• Jewish Geography
• Once you have a state that represent the community it represents everyone
• As a result of a Jewish state, both Jews and Israelis are representatives of the Jewish
state
Division in the religious community - different levels of observance
Jewish Thought
• The Challenge (Borowitz):
• What role does the idea of commandment play in modern Jewish life?
• How should Jews balance the demands of tradition and the desire for autonomy and
self-determination?
• Autonomy - self-governing, independent, choosing your own actions
• Law:
• Traditionally, Jewish law places constraints on personal autonomy (self-govern)
• Example - wanting to drive over the speed limit, but following constraints
• Why is autonomy so important to liberal Jews?
• Belief that individual decision making is valued by the tradition
• Self-legislating understood an important part of human dignity
• Intellectual Environment:
• Rise of the “science of Judaism” (Wissenschaft des Judentums)
• Attempt for Jews to study their own traditions scientifically
• Not assuming that history comes from G-d but at other historical factors
• Biblical scholarships and the documentary hypothesis
• Judaism comes to be contextualized
• One expression of universal human experiences
• Ethical Challenges:
• If the law or the Torah are divine in origin, then they cannot be challenged
• If the law or the Torah are human, then they can be criticized Two cases:
Langer Case - one parent died, one parent remarried but wasn’t legal because she didn’t
have a get
Mamzer - bastard
Should be allowed to marry someone else because not their fault
• Shabbat Hoax - if someone is crumbled under a house, if you’re Jewish, then you
can help them (if they’re alive)
• What do these cases illustrate?
• Langer case - should have a way to let it be allowed
• It was a general mistake for committing adultery
• Shabbat hoax - if you are saving a life during Shabbat, you should help them
• Only allowed to save the person if they are Jewish
• Rules:
• If unsure who the person is and unsure on the religion, you dig them out
• But, if you see they are dead, then you stop digging until after Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive but not Jewish, then you stop digging until after
Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive and Jewish, then you keep digging them out
• Do you break Jewish law and follow moral intuition, or break moral intuition and
follow Jewish law?
• Could say that G-d laid out the rules for your morality
• Could say that your morality is more important, could bypass law once
• Cycle of God, Israel, and Torah (the Three pillars and their interconnection)
Jewish Monotheism
• Describing God:
• Gillman’s 4 core ideas…
G-d alone is G-d (only one G-d)
G-d’s will is sovereign
• Makes G-d’s will known and that you have to follow it
• G-d has a stake in human civilization
• Wants things to go well
• G-d is a personal G-d
• Is personal to you
• Exodus 34:6-7…
• What do you see about G-d in this text?
• Kind and gracious
• Understanding because slow to anger
• Honest, clear about reasoning and his unhappiness
• Vengeful - holds a grudge
• Understanding the 13 attributes of G-d:
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful towards people before they sin
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful even after a person has sinned
• A God…
• Supreme Ruler
• Merciful…
• G-d recognized human frailty and does not lead people into temptation
• Gracious…
• G-d shows mercy even to those who do not deserve it
Slow to Anger…
G-d gives sinners time to repent
Abounding in Steadfast Love…
G-d emphasizes a persons merits
• Faithful…
• G-d is faithful and does not renege on his promises
• Keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation…
• G-d remembers the deeds of righteous ancestors, and acts favorably towards their
descendants
• Forgiving Iniquity…
• G-d forgives the intentional sinner if they repent
• Forgiving Transgression…
• G-d gives whose who rebel against G-d the change to repent
• Forgiving (Unintentional) Sin…
• G-d forgives sins committed through carelessness or apathy
• Clearing the Guilty…
• G-d wipes away the sings of those who repent, clearing them of guilt
• How is G-d depicted?
• Loyal figure
• Understanding figure
• Make it seem like a father-like figure
• Maimonides: 13 Principles of Father:
• Yigdal Prayer
• Anything new being introduced?
• Idea of the Messiah
• Emphasis on Moses and Moses’ prophecy
• The fact that prophecy is real
• Idea that G-d gave Moses a true Torah
• Any similarities to 13 attributes?
Both agree that G-d is one
G-d is the Master of the Universe/Supreme Ruler
• Emphasis on G-d’s loving kindness and compassion
• 13 principles…
• He exists
• He is one
• He has neither bodily form nor substance
• He was first
• Master of the Universe
• Prophecy
• Moses
• A Torah of Truth
• G-d will not alter or change His law
• He sees and knows our secrets thoughts
• He rewards people with loving kindness, according to their deeds
• Messiah
• G-d will revive the lead
• Jewish Theology:
• Main Sources…
• Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)
• Rabbinic Literature (Talmud, Midrash)
• Jewish Philosophy
• Liturgy (Prayerbook)
• Modern Challenges…
Historical events (Holocaust)
Science (Are Miracles Real?)
Personal Experience (Where is G-d in my life?) Shifting
Strategies:
• Historical Strategies…
• Add new prayers to the prayerbook that reflect current views
• Come up with new interpretations of traditional texts
• Modern Strategies…
• Change the language of the prayerbook
New theologies
Kaplan’s Article
• Who does Kaplan think G-d is?
• Doesn’t think that there is a personal or one supreme G-d
• That there are a bunch of smaller, not as strong G-d
• Leaves G-d as an abstract idea
• The motivator to helping those around you
• Not actually going to help you
• How is this view similar to/different from the traditional view?
• Problems…
• Concerned about fascism, nazism, and communism
• G-d isn’t going to intervene supernaturally
• G-d can help people transcend themselves and live out ethical teachings of Judaism
• What do you think the title means?
• That G-d has the power to lead to salvation
Not that G-d is the power, but can lead to salvation Does it
make sense to label G-d as an idea?
It makes sense that not everyone believes in G-d
Could help at least thinking or believing that G-d is an idea at the least
• What makes Judaism?
• The ideals and ethics
• The community
• How it’s passed on
• Education
• About Judaism
• About prayers
• To read Hebrew
• Involvement in the community
• Responses to the video:
• Issues…
• Diminishing the religion if not told to care about it
• Just to do the practices and rituals
• Need to ground the ideas in a higher being
• Going to lose the reason and belief for the religion
• You need to have knowledge (not necessarily even have a lot of care) for it
• They did these practices for certain reasons
• Losing connections to those that started it
• People might be motivated because they enjoy doing it
Might be harder to force your religion down through generations
Post-Holocaust Theology
• Is the Holocaust a Unique Event in Jewish History?
• 2 Primary Views:
Not a Unique Event:
Holocaust as Divine Punishment:
• Holocaust is the term for a type of sacrifice offering in the temple
• A “whole burnt offering” - completely consumed by fire
• Wasserman (Leader of Jewish community killed in the Holocaust):
• Jews killed in the Holocaust are a sacrifice to G-d that will hasten messianic
redemption
Hoping that a Messianic figure will come and fix the problems of the world
• Holocaust as Chastiesment:
• Idea made by Joseph Isaac Shneerson (Lubavitcher Rebbe):
• Holocaust is a way of punishing the Jews for rejecting the Torah and assimilating
to other cultures
• Similar to other “radical communal misfortunes”
• Like the Babylonian Exile - Jews were exiled for going astray from Judaism
• Rejection of views:
• Because we, the Jews, were victims of the Holocaust and cannot/should not be
blamed for the Holocaust
• Is a Unique Event:
• Part 1:
• Rubenstein: “One can either affirm the innocence of Israel or the justice of Gd at
Auschwitz”
• In other words, a G-d who would punish innocent people in this way cannot be just
• Other words, people are deserving of G-d’s punishment because we were not
innocent and had sinned
• Part 2:
Who is the G-d that has died for Rubenstein?
G-d is dead in people’s hearts
lOMoARcPSD| 59331229
RLST 210 D. Barer
People have forgotten G-d and G-d’s directions
• No communication between man and G-d in these days
G-d has turned away from humanity and G-d’s involvement for people
In order to let human experiment unfold
• Part 3:
• Irving “Yitz” Greenberg (Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire):
• You should not say anything about G-d or in general that you wouldn’t be afraid to
say to the people being slaughtered in death camps
Using the idea of being slaughtered in death camps to compare to most innocent person you can
think of
• What type of statements could be said?
That you can’t blame the innocent for the actions of those before that might not be innocent
• Idea of the voluntary covenant:
That we aren’t bound by the covenant, but that we should choose to reenter it but not be forced
It is worth being a part of but cannot be chosen for you
• Emil Fackenheim (614th Commandment):
• You are not going to have the victory over us, but despite you, we won’t change our
way of lives and beliefs
Not going to change way of life based on what Hitler did to the Jewish people
• Part 4: New Questions
• If one does not or cannot affirm the “G-d of the prophets and the rabbis,” does
Judaism become a matter of personal preference?
• If G-d is not doing anything, then it becomes a personal preference
• Implied, is both the question of Judaism as a personal preference, and is it a choice
Is something gained verses something lost
• Can G-d be involved in destruction, without assuming it is a form of punishment?
• G-d created man, man can punish man, so the destruction is not a form of
punishment by G-d
• Is there a “credible, theological alternative” to the traditional view?
• Post-holocaust, people were not believing in the traditional view because they
thought that G-d didn’t exist
• What is attractive part to the traditional view?
Given hope to keep going and that G-d has a greater plan for you
G-d is balancing all of these factors and is investing in behavior
Hopeful purpose to keep living your life - can’t be left blank
Torah and Revelation
• Core Questions:
• Did the revelation on Mt. Sinai really happen?
• If so, what was revealed?
• Traditionalist View:
• That G-d revealed the Torah in “discrete words and letters”
• G-d spoke and Moses wrote down what G-d said
• That everything in the Torah is divine and all by G-d, nothing from Moses
• Might put more respect and holiness on something that is divine
• Ex. rising when the ark is opened to read the Torah
• What is at stake in this claim?
• If G-d revealed his will clearly to Moses at Mt. Sinai, and Moses recorded it accurately
in the Torah, then every detail in the Torah is binding This leaves little room for
personal autonomy Advantages:
View is clear and consistent Authority
of Torah is absolute
• Disadvantages:
• What if you find a moral or textual problem in the Torah?
• View does not outline a clear response
• Biblical Criticism:
• The documentary hypothesis challenges the idea that Moses wrote the Torah
• Raises two main questions:
• If Moses did not write the Torah, is it still authoritative? Does it express G-d’s will?
• If it is not from G-d directly in some way, then it can’t be authoritative
• Might not express G-d’s will directly
• It revealed an amount of respect for G-d
• If G-d didn’t reveal the Torah on Mt. Sinai, what (if anything) was revealed?
• The ideas of the Torah
• Alternative Views:
• Could something have been revealed at Sinai other than the specific words of the
Torah?
• Rosenzweig’s view:
• Revelation reveals relationship
• On Mt. Sinai, Moses is not given a set of words or ‘behavioral code’ to write down and
pass on
• The encounter with G-d is the revelation
• That encounter commands but it does not legislate
• Heschel’s view:
• G-d will was revealed on Sinai, but the Torah is not a pure record of the divine
will
• Instead, the Torah records how people understood the revelation
lOMoARcPSD| 59331229
RLST 210 D. Barer
As a result, the Torah is not ‘perfect’ document, but it is still authoritative
Law and Authority in Judaism
• Core Questions:
• What makes Jewish law authoritative?
• How does law function?
• How can (or should) Jewish law be interpreted?
• Law as a Living Organism:
• What does Dorff mean when he describes law as a living organism?
• That the law is ever-changing
• Law is constantly changing and evolving
• Natural selection over time of laws
• Why do you think he chooses this model?
• Natural selection of life
• You learn based on your experiences
• Does it make sense to you?
• Also includes adaptability in certain situations
• How does Law Function?
• Another way of thinking about law is as a a system of rules
• How is this different from Dorff’s view of law as a living organism?
• Adaptation to unanticipated scenarios
• No exceptions, no way around it
• If the rule says X, then you have to follow it
• Do you think one view fits better with the ‘traditionalist’ view of G-d?
• Does one fit better with ‘traditionalist’ view of Torah? Why?
• What makes law authoritative?
Dorff argues against the idea of legal positivism
Positivism: The law is authoritative because it is created by a ruler or legislative body
• In a Jewish context, this means that law communicates G-d’s will (either directly or
through human intermediaries)
• Torah is the constitutional document of Judaism
• Alternative Accounts:
• Brainstorm: What alternatives might there be to legal positivism?
• Moral -
• Ethical - if it contributes to the greater society and that you feel it’s right
• Fear or danger - traffic rules for example
• Gravity for example - it is how it is, cannot be changed
• Example of something that we can describe as reality
• If the law is not authoritative because of who wrote it, why else might it be
authoritative?
• For what it does in the world community
• Natural law theory:
• Law is authoritative if its content is morally correct
• Example: a law prohibiting murder is authoritative because murder is inherently
wrong
• Dorff: “Jewish law is an expression of the love… Jews have for both G-d and for
other human beings”
Law is a framework to express and live out the ideals of the Torah and the covenant
Peoplehood
• Overview:
• Religious Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
Want to return to the Jewish home state
Religious Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want a Jewish state
• Don’t want to return to the Jewish state
• Secular Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Secular Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Jewish Messianism:
• Messiah - (anointed one) will come and re-establish Jewish sovereignty in the
promised land
• Who will bring this about? People or G-d? (Big question in Judaism)
• Is it all G-d?
• Is it all people?
• Is it a shared work between people and G-d?
• Abraham Isaac Kook (Rav Kook):
• He sought to “transform religious messianic longing into a basis for collaboration with
the aspirations of modern Zionism”
• Joseph Soloveitchik:
• Thought that the foundation of the state of Israel is part of G-d’s plan
• Served as the head of the Jewish University in New York
• The Six Knocks - for Soloveitchik, these events are signs of divine activity in history
• Founding of the State of Israel in 1948
• Israeli victories on the battlefield
• Christian support for the Israeli State
Pride of Jewish youth in the state of Israel
Jews can defend themselves against attack
• Jewish immigration en masse to Israel
• He does not call on American Jews to move to Israel, but rather to support Israel
politically and financially?
• Why? What does this suggest but the relationship between the Jewish people and the
Jewish state?
• Thinks that Jews not living there should support Israel politically and financially
• Not everyone needs to move and live in Israel
• Questions for Discussion:
• How is the religious Zionism of Rav Kook or Rav Soloveitchik different from secular
Zionism?
• Different programs for what it means to be engaged in the state
• Still being helpful to create unity
• How might a nationalist understanding of Jewish peoplehood create unity between
Jews? How might it lead to divisions?
• Creates more unity because it gives Jews a bond of belonging and community
• Can move to Israel and just know that you’ll know that you’re accepted
• Jewish Geography
• Once you have a state that represent the community it represents everyone
• As a result of a Jewish state, both Jews and Israelis are representatives of the Jewish
state
Division in the religious community - different levels of observance
Jewish Thought
• The Challenge (Borowitz):
• What role does the idea of commandment play in modern Jewish life?
• How should Jews balance the demands of tradition and the desire for autonomy and
self-determination?
• Autonomy - self-governing, independent, choosing your own actions
• Law:
• Traditionally, Jewish law places constraints on personal autonomy (self-govern)
• Example - wanting to drive over the speed limit, but following constraints
• Why is autonomy so important to liberal Jews?
• Belief that individual decision making is valued by the tradition
• Self-legislating understood an important part of human dignity
• Intellectual Environment:
• Rise of the “science of Judaism” (Wissenschaft des Judentums)
• Attempt for Jews to study their own traditions scientifically
• Not assuming that history comes from G-d but at other historical factors
• Biblical scholarships and the documentary hypothesis
• Judaism comes to be contextualized
• One expression of universal human experiences
• Ethical Challenges:
• If the law or the Torah are divine in origin, then they cannot be challenged
• If the law or the Torah are human, then they can be criticized Two cases:
Langer Case - one parent died, one parent remarried but wasn’t legal because she didn’t
have a get
Mamzer - bastard
Should be allowed to marry someone else because not their fault
• Shabbat Hoax - if someone is crumbled under a house, if you’re Jewish, then you
can help them (if they’re alive)
• What do these cases illustrate?
• Langer case - should have a way to let it be allowed
• It was a general mistake for committing adultery
• Shabbat hoax - if you are saving a life during Shabbat, you should help them
• Only allowed to save the person if they are Jewish
• Rules:
• If unsure who the person is and unsure on the religion, you dig them out
• But, if you see they are dead, then you stop digging until after Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive but not Jewish, then you stop digging until after
Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive and Jewish, then you keep digging them out
• Do you break Jewish law and follow moral intuition, or break moral intuition and
follow Jewish law?
• Could say that G-d laid out the rules for your morality
• Could say that your morality is more important, could bypass law once
• Cycle of God, Israel, and Torah (the Three pillars and their interconnection)
Jewish Monotheism
• Describing God:
• Gillman’s 4 core ideas…
G-d alone is G-d (only one G-d)
G-d’s will is sovereign
• Makes G-d’s will known and that you have to follow it
• G-d has a stake in human civilization
• Wants things to go well
• G-d is a personal G-d
• Is personal to you
• Exodus 34:6-7…
• What do you see about G-d in this text?
• Kind and gracious
• Understanding because slow to anger
• Honest, clear about reasoning and his unhappiness
• Vengeful - holds a grudge
• Understanding the 13 attributes of G-d:
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful towards people before they sin
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful even after a person has sinned
• A God…
• Supreme Ruler
• Merciful…
• G-d recognized human frailty and does not lead people into temptation
• Gracious…
• G-d shows mercy even to those who do not deserve it
Slow to Anger…
G-d gives sinners time to repent
Abounding in Steadfast Love…
G-d emphasizes a persons merits
• Faithful…
• G-d is faithful and does not renege on his promises
• Keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation…
• G-d remembers the deeds of righteous ancestors, and acts favorably towards their
descendants
• Forgiving Iniquity…
• G-d forgives the intentional sinner if they repent
• Forgiving Transgression…
• G-d gives whose who rebel against G-d the change to repent
• Forgiving (Unintentional) Sin…
• G-d forgives sins committed through carelessness or apathy
• Clearing the Guilty…
• G-d wipes away the sings of those who repent, clearing them of guilt
• How is G-d depicted?
• Loyal figure
• Understanding figure
• Make it seem like a father-like figure
• Maimonides: 13 Principles of Father:
• Yigdal Prayer
• Anything new being introduced?
• Idea of the Messiah
• Emphasis on Moses and Moses’ prophecy
• The fact that prophecy is real
• Idea that G-d gave Moses a true Torah
• Any similarities to 13 attributes?
Both agree that G-d is one
G-d is the Master of the Universe/Supreme Ruler
• Emphasis on G-d’s loving kindness and compassion
• 13 principles…
• He exists
• He is one
• He has neither bodily form nor substance
• He was first
• Master of the Universe
• Prophecy
• Moses
• A Torah of Truth
• G-d will not alter or change His law
• He sees and knows our secrets thoughts
• He rewards people with loving kindness, according to their deeds
• Messiah
• G-d will revive the lead
• Jewish Theology:
• Main Sources…
• Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)
• Rabbinic Literature (Talmud, Midrash)
• Jewish Philosophy
• Liturgy (Prayerbook)
• Modern Challenges…
Historical events (Holocaust)
Science (Are Miracles Real?)
Personal Experience (Where is G-d in my life?) Shifting
Strategies:
• Historical Strategies…
• Add new prayers to the prayerbook that reflect current views
• Come up with new interpretations of traditional texts
• Modern Strategies…
• Change the language of the prayerbook
New theologies
Kaplan’s Article
• Who does Kaplan think G-d is?
• Doesn’t think that there is a personal or one supreme G-d
• That there are a bunch of smaller, not as strong G-d
• Leaves G-d as an abstract idea
• The motivator to helping those around you
• Not actually going to help you
• How is this view similar to/different from the traditional view?
• Problems…
• Concerned about fascism, nazism, and communism
• G-d isn’t going to intervene supernaturally
• G-d can help people transcend themselves and live out ethical teachings of Judaism
• What do you think the title means?
• That G-d has the power to lead to salvation
Not that G-d is the power, but can lead to salvation Does it
make sense to label G-d as an idea?
It makes sense that not everyone believes in G-d
Could help at least thinking or believing that G-d is an idea at the least
• What makes Judaism?
• The ideals and ethics
• The community
• How it’s passed on
• Education
• About Judaism
• About prayers
• To read Hebrew
• Involvement in the community
• Responses to the video:
• Issues…
• Diminishing the religion if not told to care about it
• Just to do the practices and rituals
• Need to ground the ideas in a higher being
• Going to lose the reason and belief for the religion
• You need to have knowledge (not necessarily even have a lot of care) for it
• They did these practices for certain reasons
• Losing connections to those that started it
• People might be motivated because they enjoy doing it
Might be harder to force your religion down through generations
Post-Holocaust Theology
• Is the Holocaust a Unique Event in Jewish History?
• 2 Primary Views:
Not a Unique Event:
Holocaust as Divine Punishment:
• Holocaust is the term for a type of sacrifice offering in the temple
• A “whole burnt offering” - completely consumed by fire
• Wasserman (Leader of Jewish community killed in the Holocaust):
• Jews killed in the Holocaust are a sacrifice to G-d that will hasten messianic
redemption
Hoping that a Messianic figure will come and fix the problems of the world
• Holocaust as Chastiesment:
• Idea made by Joseph Isaac Shneerson (Lubavitcher Rebbe):
• Holocaust is a way of punishing the Jews for rejecting the Torah and assimilating
to other cultures
• Similar to other “radical communal misfortunes”
• Like the Babylonian Exile - Jews were exiled for going astray from Judaism
• Rejection of views:
• Because we, the Jews, were victims of the Holocaust and cannot/should not be
blamed for the Holocaust
• Is a Unique Event:
• Part 1:
• Rubenstein: “One can either affirm the innocence of Israel or the justice of Gd at
Auschwitz”
• In other words, a G-d who would punish innocent people in this way cannot be just
• Other words, people are deserving of G-d’s punishment because we were not
innocent and had sinned
• Part 2:
Who is the G-d that has died for Rubenstein?
G-d is dead in people’s hearts
lOMoARcPSD| 59331229
RLST 210 D. Barer
People have forgotten G-d and G-d’s directions
• No communication between man and G-d in these days
G-d has turned away from humanity and G-d’s involvement for people
In order to let human experiment unfold
• Part 3:
• Irving “Yitz” Greenberg (Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire):
• You should not say anything about G-d or in general that you wouldn’t be afraid to
say to the people being slaughtered in death camps
Using the idea of being slaughtered in death camps to compare to most innocent person you can
think of
• What type of statements could be said?
That you can’t blame the innocent for the actions of those before that might not be innocent
• Idea of the voluntary covenant:
That we aren’t bound by the covenant, but that we should choose to reenter it but not be forced
It is worth being a part of but cannot be chosen for you
• Emil Fackenheim (614th Commandment):
• You are not going to have the victory over us, but despite you, we won’t change our
way of lives and beliefs
Not going to change way of life based on what Hitler did to the Jewish people
• Part 4: New Questions
• If one does not or cannot affirm the “G-d of the prophets and the rabbis,” does
Judaism become a matter of personal preference?
• If G-d is not doing anything, then it becomes a personal preference
• Implied, is both the question of Judaism as a personal preference, and is it a choice
Is something gained verses something lost
• Can G-d be involved in destruction, without assuming it is a form of punishment?
• G-d created man, man can punish man, so the destruction is not a form of
punishment by G-d
• Is there a “credible, theological alternative” to the traditional view?
• Post-holocaust, people were not believing in the traditional view because they
thought that G-d didn’t exist
• What is attractive part to the traditional view?
Given hope to keep going and that G-d has a greater plan for you
G-d is balancing all of these factors and is investing in behavior
Hopeful purpose to keep living your life - can’t be left blank
Torah and Revelation
• Core Questions:
• Did the revelation on Mt. Sinai really happen?
• If so, what was revealed?
• Traditionalist View:
• That G-d revealed the Torah in “discrete words and letters”
• G-d spoke and Moses wrote down what G-d said
• That everything in the Torah is divine and all by G-d, nothing from Moses
• Might put more respect and holiness on something that is divine
• Ex. rising when the ark is opened to read the Torah
• What is at stake in this claim?
• If G-d revealed his will clearly to Moses at Mt. Sinai, and Moses recorded it accurately
in the Torah, then every detail in the Torah is binding This leaves little room for
personal autonomy Advantages:
View is clear and consistent Authority
of Torah is absolute
• Disadvantages:
• What if you find a moral or textual problem in the Torah?
• View does not outline a clear response
• Biblical Criticism:
• The documentary hypothesis challenges the idea that Moses wrote the Torah
• Raises two main questions:
• If Moses did not write the Torah, is it still authoritative? Does it express G-d’s will?
• If it is not from G-d directly in some way, then it can’t be authoritative
• Might not express G-d’s will directly
• It revealed an amount of respect for G-d
• If G-d didn’t reveal the Torah on Mt. Sinai, what (if anything) was revealed?
• The ideas of the Torah
• Alternative Views:
• Could something have been revealed at Sinai other than the specific words of the
Torah?
• Rosenzweig’s view:
• Revelation reveals relationship
• On Mt. Sinai, Moses is not given a set of words or ‘behavioral code’ to write down and
pass on
• The encounter with G-d is the revelation
• That encounter commands but it does not legislate
• Heschel’s view:
• G-d will was revealed on Sinai, but the Torah is not a pure record of the divine
will
• Instead, the Torah records how people understood the revelation
lOMoARcPSD| 59331229
RLST 210 D. Barer
As a result, the Torah is not ‘perfect’ document, but it is still authoritative
Law and Authority in Judaism
• Core Questions:
• What makes Jewish law authoritative?
• How does law function?
• How can (or should) Jewish law be interpreted?
• Law as a Living Organism:
• What does Dorff mean when he describes law as a living organism?
• That the law is ever-changing
• Law is constantly changing and evolving
• Natural selection over time of laws
• Why do you think he chooses this model?
• Natural selection of life
• You learn based on your experiences
• Does it make sense to you?
• Also includes adaptability in certain situations
• How does Law Function?
• Another way of thinking about law is as a a system of rules
• How is this different from Dorff’s view of law as a living organism?
• Adaptation to unanticipated scenarios
• No exceptions, no way around it
• If the rule says X, then you have to follow it
• Do you think one view fits better with the ‘traditionalist’ view of G-d?
• Does one fit better with ‘traditionalist’ view of Torah? Why?
• What makes law authoritative?
Dorff argues against the idea of legal positivism
Positivism: The law is authoritative because it is created by a ruler or legislative body
• In a Jewish context, this means that law communicates G-d’s will (either directly or
through human intermediaries)
• Torah is the constitutional document of Judaism
• Alternative Accounts:
• Brainstorm: What alternatives might there be to legal positivism?
• Moral -
• Ethical - if it contributes to the greater society and that you feel it’s right
• Fear or danger - traffic rules for example
• Gravity for example - it is how it is, cannot be changed
• Example of something that we can describe as reality
• If the law is not authoritative because of who wrote it, why else might it be
authoritative?
• For what it does in the world community
• Natural law theory:
• Law is authoritative if its content is morally correct
• Example: a law prohibiting murder is authoritative because murder is inherently
wrong
• Dorff: “Jewish law is an expression of the love… Jews have for both G-d and for
other human beings”
Law is a framework to express and live out the ideals of the Torah and the covenant
Peoplehood
• Overview:
• Religious Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
Want to return to the Jewish home state
Religious Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want a Jewish state
• Don’t want to return to the Jewish state
• Secular Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Secular Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Jewish Messianism:
• Messiah - (anointed one) will come and re-establish Jewish sovereignty in the
promised land
• Who will bring this about? People or G-d? (Big question in Judaism)
• Is it all G-d?
• Is it all people?
• Is it a shared work between people and G-d?
• Abraham Isaac Kook (Rav Kook):
• He sought to “transform religious messianic longing into a basis for collaboration with
the aspirations of modern Zionism”
• Joseph Soloveitchik:
• Thought that the foundation of the state of Israel is part of G-d’s plan
• Served as the head of the Jewish University in New York
• The Six Knocks - for Soloveitchik, these events are signs of divine activity in history
• Founding of the State of Israel in 1948
• Israeli victories on the battlefield
• Christian support for the Israeli State
Pride of Jewish youth in the state of Israel
Jews can defend themselves against attack
• Jewish immigration en masse to Israel
• He does not call on American Jews to move to Israel, but rather to support Israel
politically and financially?
• Why? What does this suggest but the relationship between the Jewish people and the
Jewish state?
• Thinks that Jews not living there should support Israel politically and financially
• Not everyone needs to move and live in Israel
• Questions for Discussion:
• How is the religious Zionism of Rav Kook or Rav Soloveitchik different from secular
Zionism?
• Different programs for what it means to be engaged in the state
• Still being helpful to create unity
• How might a nationalist understanding of Jewish peoplehood create unity between
Jews? How might it lead to divisions?
• Creates more unity because it gives Jews a bond of belonging and community
• Can move to Israel and just know that you’ll know that you’re accepted
• Jewish Geography
• Once you have a state that represent the community it represents everyone
• As a result of a Jewish state, both Jews and Israelis are representatives of the Jewish
state
Division in the religious community - different levels of observance
Jewish Thought
• The Challenge (Borowitz):
• What role does the idea of commandment play in modern Jewish life?
• How should Jews balance the demands of tradition and the desire for autonomy and
self-determination?
• Autonomy - self-governing, independent, choosing your own actions
• Law:
• Traditionally, Jewish law places constraints on personal autonomy (self-govern)
• Example - wanting to drive over the speed limit, but following constraints
• Why is autonomy so important to liberal Jews?
• Belief that individual decision making is valued by the tradition
• Self-legislating understood an important part of human dignity
• Intellectual Environment:
• Rise of the “science of Judaism” (Wissenschaft des Judentums)
• Attempt for Jews to study their own traditions scientifically
• Not assuming that history comes from G-d but at other historical factors
• Biblical scholarships and the documentary hypothesis
• Judaism comes to be contextualized
• One expression of universal human experiences
• Ethical Challenges:
• If the law or the Torah are divine in origin, then they cannot be challenged
• If the law or the Torah are human, then they can be criticized Two cases:
Langer Case - one parent died, one parent remarried but wasn’t legal because she didn’t
have a get
Mamzer - bastard
Should be allowed to marry someone else because not their fault
• Shabbat Hoax - if someone is crumbled under a house, if you’re Jewish, then you
can help them (if they’re alive)
• What do these cases illustrate?
• Langer case - should have a way to let it be allowed
• It was a general mistake for committing adultery
• Shabbat hoax - if you are saving a life during Shabbat, you should help them
• Only allowed to save the person if they are Jewish
• Rules:
• If unsure who the person is and unsure on the religion, you dig them out
• But, if you see they are dead, then you stop digging until after Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive but not Jewish, then you stop digging until after
Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive and Jewish, then you keep digging them out
• Do you break Jewish law and follow moral intuition, or break moral intuition and
follow Jewish law?
• Could say that G-d laid out the rules for your morality
• Could say that your morality is more important, could bypass law once
• Cycle of God, Israel, and Torah (the Three pillars and their interconnection)
Jewish Monotheism
• Describing God:
• Gillman’s 4 core ideas…
G-d alone is G-d (only one G-d)
G-d’s will is sovereign
• Makes G-d’s will known and that you have to follow it
• G-d has a stake in human civilization
• Wants things to go well
• G-d is a personal G-d
• Is personal to you
• Exodus 34:6-7…
• What do you see about G-d in this text?
• Kind and gracious
• Understanding because slow to anger
• Honest, clear about reasoning and his unhappiness
• Vengeful - holds a grudge
• Understanding the 13 attributes of G-d:
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful towards people before they sin
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful even after a person has sinned
• A God…
• Supreme Ruler
• Merciful…
• G-d recognized human frailty and does not lead people into temptation
• Gracious…
• G-d shows mercy even to those who do not deserve it
Slow to Anger…
G-d gives sinners time to repent
Abounding in Steadfast Love…
G-d emphasizes a persons merits
• Faithful…
• G-d is faithful and does not renege on his promises
• Keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation…
• G-d remembers the deeds of righteous ancestors, and acts favorably towards their
descendants
• Forgiving Iniquity…
• G-d forgives the intentional sinner if they repent
• Forgiving Transgression…
• G-d gives whose who rebel against G-d the change to repent
• Forgiving (Unintentional) Sin…
• G-d forgives sins committed through carelessness or apathy
• Clearing the Guilty…
• G-d wipes away the sings of those who repent, clearing them of guilt
• How is G-d depicted?
• Loyal figure
• Understanding figure
• Make it seem like a father-like figure
• Maimonides: 13 Principles of Father:
• Yigdal Prayer
• Anything new being introduced?
• Idea of the Messiah
• Emphasis on Moses and Moses’ prophecy
• The fact that prophecy is real
• Idea that G-d gave Moses a true Torah
• Any similarities to 13 attributes?
Both agree that G-d is one
G-d is the Master of the Universe/Supreme Ruler
• Emphasis on G-d’s loving kindness and compassion
• 13 principles…
• He exists
• He is one
• He has neither bodily form nor substance
• He was first
• Master of the Universe
• Prophecy
• Moses
• A Torah of Truth
• G-d will not alter or change His law
• He sees and knows our secrets thoughts
• He rewards people with loving kindness, according to their deeds
• Messiah
• G-d will revive the lead
• Jewish Theology:
• Main Sources…
• Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)
• Rabbinic Literature (Talmud, Midrash)
• Jewish Philosophy
• Liturgy (Prayerbook)
• Modern Challenges…
Historical events (Holocaust)
Science (Are Miracles Real?)
Personal Experience (Where is G-d in my life?) Shifting
Strategies:
• Historical Strategies…
• Add new prayers to the prayerbook that reflect current views
• Come up with new interpretations of traditional texts
• Modern Strategies…
• Change the language of the prayerbook
New theologies
Kaplan’s Article
• Who does Kaplan think G-d is?
• Doesn’t think that there is a personal or one supreme G-d
• That there are a bunch of smaller, not as strong G-d
• Leaves G-d as an abstract idea
• The motivator to helping those around you
• Not actually going to help you
• How is this view similar to/different from the traditional view?
• Problems…
• Concerned about fascism, nazism, and communism
• G-d isn’t going to intervene supernaturally
• G-d can help people transcend themselves and live out ethical teachings of Judaism
• What do you think the title means?
• That G-d has the power to lead to salvation
Not that G-d is the power, but can lead to salvation Does it
make sense to label G-d as an idea?
It makes sense that not everyone believes in G-d
Could help at least thinking or believing that G-d is an idea at the least
• What makes Judaism?
• The ideals and ethics
• The community
• How it’s passed on
• Education
• About Judaism
• About prayers
• To read Hebrew
• Involvement in the community
• Responses to the video:
• Issues…
• Diminishing the religion if not told to care about it
• Just to do the practices and rituals
• Need to ground the ideas in a higher being
• Going to lose the reason and belief for the religion
• You need to have knowledge (not necessarily even have a lot of care) for it
• They did these practices for certain reasons
• Losing connections to those that started it
• People might be motivated because they enjoy doing it
Might be harder to force your religion down through generations
Post-Holocaust Theology
• Is the Holocaust a Unique Event in Jewish History?
• 2 Primary Views:
Not a Unique Event:
Holocaust as Divine Punishment:
• Holocaust is the term for a type of sacrifice offering in the temple
• A “whole burnt offering” - completely consumed by fire
• Wasserman (Leader of Jewish community killed in the Holocaust):
• Jews killed in the Holocaust are a sacrifice to G-d that will hasten messianic
redemption
Hoping that a Messianic figure will come and fix the problems of the world
• Holocaust as Chastiesment:
• Idea made by Joseph Isaac Shneerson (Lubavitcher Rebbe):
• Holocaust is a way of punishing the Jews for rejecting the Torah and assimilating
to other cultures
• Similar to other “radical communal misfortunes”
• Like the Babylonian Exile - Jews were exiled for going astray from Judaism
• Rejection of views:
• Because we, the Jews, were victims of the Holocaust and cannot/should not be
blamed for the Holocaust
• Is a Unique Event:
• Part 1:
• Rubenstein: “One can either affirm the innocence of Israel or the justice of Gd at
Auschwitz”
• In other words, a G-d who would punish innocent people in this way cannot be just
• Other words, people are deserving of G-d’s punishment because we were not
innocent and had sinned
• Part 2:
Who is the G-d that has died for Rubenstein?
G-d is dead in people’s hearts
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People have forgotten G-d and G-d’s directions
• No communication between man and G-d in these days
G-d has turned away from humanity and G-d’s involvement for people
In order to let human experiment unfold
• Part 3:
• Irving “Yitz” Greenberg (Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire):
• You should not say anything about G-d or in general that you wouldn’t be afraid to
say to the people being slaughtered in death camps
Using the idea of being slaughtered in death camps to compare to most innocent person you can
think of
• What type of statements could be said?
That you can’t blame the innocent for the actions of those before that might not be innocent
• Idea of the voluntary covenant:
That we aren’t bound by the covenant, but that we should choose to reenter it but not be forced
It is worth being a part of but cannot be chosen for you
• Emil Fackenheim (614th Commandment):
• You are not going to have the victory over us, but despite you, we won’t change our
way of lives and beliefs
Not going to change way of life based on what Hitler did to the Jewish people
• Part 4: New Questions
• If one does not or cannot affirm the “G-d of the prophets and the rabbis,” does
Judaism become a matter of personal preference?
• If G-d is not doing anything, then it becomes a personal preference
• Implied, is both the question of Judaism as a personal preference, and is it a choice
Is something gained verses something lost
• Can G-d be involved in destruction, without assuming it is a form of punishment?
• G-d created man, man can punish man, so the destruction is not a form of
punishment by G-d
• Is there a “credible, theological alternative” to the traditional view?
• Post-holocaust, people were not believing in the traditional view because they
thought that G-d didn’t exist
• What is attractive part to the traditional view?
Given hope to keep going and that G-d has a greater plan for you
G-d is balancing all of these factors and is investing in behavior
Hopeful purpose to keep living your life - can’t be left blank
Torah and Revelation
• Core Questions:
• Did the revelation on Mt. Sinai really happen?
• If so, what was revealed?
• Traditionalist View:
• That G-d revealed the Torah in “discrete words and letters”
• G-d spoke and Moses wrote down what G-d said
• That everything in the Torah is divine and all by G-d, nothing from Moses
• Might put more respect and holiness on something that is divine
• Ex. rising when the ark is opened to read the Torah
• What is at stake in this claim?
• If G-d revealed his will clearly to Moses at Mt. Sinai, and Moses recorded it accurately
in the Torah, then every detail in the Torah is binding This leaves little room for
personal autonomy Advantages:
View is clear and consistent Authority
of Torah is absolute
• Disadvantages:
• What if you find a moral or textual problem in the Torah?
• View does not outline a clear response
• Biblical Criticism:
• The documentary hypothesis challenges the idea that Moses wrote the Torah
• Raises two main questions:
• If Moses did not write the Torah, is it still authoritative? Does it express G-d’s will?
• If it is not from G-d directly in some way, then it can’t be authoritative
• Might not express G-d’s will directly
• It revealed an amount of respect for G-d
• If G-d didn’t reveal the Torah on Mt. Sinai, what (if anything) was revealed?
• The ideas of the Torah
• Alternative Views:
• Could something have been revealed at Sinai other than the specific words of the
Torah?
• Rosenzweig’s view:
• Revelation reveals relationship
• On Mt. Sinai, Moses is not given a set of words or ‘behavioral code’ to write down and
pass on
• The encounter with G-d is the revelation
• That encounter commands but it does not legislate
• Heschel’s view:
• G-d will was revealed on Sinai, but the Torah is not a pure record of the divine
will
• Instead, the Torah records how people understood the revelation
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As a result, the Torah is not ‘perfect’ document, but it is still authoritative
Law and Authority in Judaism
• Core Questions:
• What makes Jewish law authoritative?
• How does law function?
• How can (or should) Jewish law be interpreted?
• Law as a Living Organism:
• What does Dorff mean when he describes law as a living organism?
• That the law is ever-changing
• Law is constantly changing and evolving
• Natural selection over time of laws
• Why do you think he chooses this model?
• Natural selection of life
• You learn based on your experiences
• Does it make sense to you?
• Also includes adaptability in certain situations
• How does Law Function?
• Another way of thinking about law is as a a system of rules
• How is this different from Dorff’s view of law as a living organism?
• Adaptation to unanticipated scenarios
• No exceptions, no way around it
• If the rule says X, then you have to follow it
• Do you think one view fits better with the ‘traditionalist’ view of G-d?
• Does one fit better with ‘traditionalist’ view of Torah? Why?
• What makes law authoritative?
Dorff argues against the idea of legal positivism
Positivism: The law is authoritative because it is created by a ruler or legislative body
• In a Jewish context, this means that law communicates G-d’s will (either directly or
through human intermediaries)
• Torah is the constitutional document of Judaism
• Alternative Accounts:
• Brainstorm: What alternatives might there be to legal positivism?
• Moral -
• Ethical - if it contributes to the greater society and that you feel it’s right
• Fear or danger - traffic rules for example
• Gravity for example - it is how it is, cannot be changed
• Example of something that we can describe as reality
• If the law is not authoritative because of who wrote it, why else might it be
authoritative?
• For what it does in the world community
• Natural law theory:
• Law is authoritative if its content is morally correct
• Example: a law prohibiting murder is authoritative because murder is inherently
wrong
• Dorff: “Jewish law is an expression of the love… Jews have for both G-d and for
other human beings”
Law is a framework to express and live out the ideals of the Torah and the covenant
Peoplehood
• Overview:
• Religious Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
Want to return to the Jewish home state
Religious Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want a Jewish state
• Don’t want to return to the Jewish state
• Secular Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Secular Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Jewish Messianism:
• Messiah - (anointed one) will come and re-establish Jewish sovereignty in the
promised land
• Who will bring this about? People or G-d? (Big question in Judaism)
• Is it all G-d?
• Is it all people?
• Is it a shared work between people and G-d?
• Abraham Isaac Kook (Rav Kook):
• He sought to “transform religious messianic longing into a basis for collaboration with
the aspirations of modern Zionism”
• Joseph Soloveitchik:
• Thought that the foundation of the state of Israel is part of G-d’s plan
• Served as the head of the Jewish University in New York
• The Six Knocks - for Soloveitchik, these events are signs of divine activity in history
• Founding of the State of Israel in 1948
• Israeli victories on the battlefield
• Christian support for the Israeli State
Pride of Jewish youth in the state of Israel
Jews can defend themselves against attack
• Jewish immigration en masse to Israel
• He does not call on American Jews to move to Israel, but rather to support Israel
politically and financially?
• Why? What does this suggest but the relationship between the Jewish people and the
Jewish state?
• Thinks that Jews not living there should support Israel politically and financially
• Not everyone needs to move and live in Israel
• Questions for Discussion:
• How is the religious Zionism of Rav Kook or Rav Soloveitchik different from secular
Zionism?
• Different programs for what it means to be engaged in the state
• Still being helpful to create unity
• How might a nationalist understanding of Jewish peoplehood create unity between
Jews? How might it lead to divisions?
• Creates more unity because it gives Jews a bond of belonging and community
• Can move to Israel and just know that you’ll know that you’re accepted
• Jewish Geography
• Once you have a state that represent the community it represents everyone
• As a result of a Jewish state, both Jews and Israelis are representatives of the Jewish
state
Division in the religious community - different levels of observance
Jewish Thought
• The Challenge (Borowitz):
• What role does the idea of commandment play in modern Jewish life?
• How should Jews balance the demands of tradition and the desire for autonomy and
self-determination?
• Autonomy - self-governing, independent, choosing your own actions
• Law:
• Traditionally, Jewish law places constraints on personal autonomy (self-govern)
• Example - wanting to drive over the speed limit, but following constraints
• Why is autonomy so important to liberal Jews?
• Belief that individual decision making is valued by the tradition
• Self-legislating understood an important part of human dignity
• Intellectual Environment:
• Rise of the “science of Judaism” (Wissenschaft des Judentums)
• Attempt for Jews to study their own traditions scientifically
• Not assuming that history comes from G-d but at other historical factors
• Biblical scholarships and the documentary hypothesis
• Judaism comes to be contextualized
• One expression of universal human experiences
• Ethical Challenges:
• If the law or the Torah are divine in origin, then they cannot be challenged
• If the law or the Torah are human, then they can be criticized Two cases:
Langer Case - one parent died, one parent remarried but wasn’t legal because she didn’t
have a get
Mamzer - bastard
Should be allowed to marry someone else because not their fault
• Shabbat Hoax - if someone is crumbled under a house, if you’re Jewish, then you
can help them (if they’re alive)
• What do these cases illustrate?
• Langer case - should have a way to let it be allowed
• It was a general mistake for committing adultery
• Shabbat hoax - if you are saving a life during Shabbat, you should help them
• Only allowed to save the person if they are Jewish
• Rules:
• If unsure who the person is and unsure on the religion, you dig them out
• But, if you see they are dead, then you stop digging until after Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive but not Jewish, then you stop digging until after
Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive and Jewish, then you keep digging them out
• Do you break Jewish law and follow moral intuition, or break moral intuition and
follow Jewish law?
• Could say that G-d laid out the rules for your morality
• Could say that your morality is more important, could bypass law once
• Cycle of God, Israel, and Torah (the Three pillars and their interconnection)
Jewish Monotheism
• Describing God:
• Gillman’s 4 core ideas…
G-d alone is G-d (only one G-d)
G-d’s will is sovereign
• Makes G-d’s will known and that you have to follow it
• G-d has a stake in human civilization
• Wants things to go well
• G-d is a personal G-d
• Is personal to you
• Exodus 34:6-7…
• What do you see about G-d in this text?
• Kind and gracious
• Understanding because slow to anger
• Honest, clear about reasoning and his unhappiness
• Vengeful - holds a grudge
• Understanding the 13 attributes of G-d:
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful towards people before they sin
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful even after a person has sinned
• A God…
• Supreme Ruler
• Merciful…
• G-d recognized human frailty and does not lead people into temptation
• Gracious…
• G-d shows mercy even to those who do not deserve it
Slow to Anger…
G-d gives sinners time to repent
Abounding in Steadfast Love…
G-d emphasizes a persons merits
• Faithful…
• G-d is faithful and does not renege on his promises
• Keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation…
• G-d remembers the deeds of righteous ancestors, and acts favorably towards their
descendants
• Forgiving Iniquity…
• G-d forgives the intentional sinner if they repent
• Forgiving Transgression…
• G-d gives whose who rebel against G-d the change to repent
• Forgiving (Unintentional) Sin…
• G-d forgives sins committed through carelessness or apathy
• Clearing the Guilty…
• G-d wipes away the sings of those who repent, clearing them of guilt
• How is G-d depicted?
• Loyal figure
• Understanding figure
• Make it seem like a father-like figure
• Maimonides: 13 Principles of Father:
• Yigdal Prayer
• Anything new being introduced?
• Idea of the Messiah
• Emphasis on Moses and Moses’ prophecy
• The fact that prophecy is real
• Idea that G-d gave Moses a true Torah
• Any similarities to 13 attributes?
Both agree that G-d is one
G-d is the Master of the Universe/Supreme Ruler
• Emphasis on G-d’s loving kindness and compassion
• 13 principles…
• He exists
• He is one
• He has neither bodily form nor substance
• He was first
• Master of the Universe
• Prophecy
• Moses
• A Torah of Truth
• G-d will not alter or change His law
• He sees and knows our secrets thoughts
• He rewards people with loving kindness, according to their deeds
• Messiah
• G-d will revive the lead
• Jewish Theology:
• Main Sources…
• Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)
• Rabbinic Literature (Talmud, Midrash)
• Jewish Philosophy
• Liturgy (Prayerbook)
• Modern Challenges…
Historical events (Holocaust)
Science (Are Miracles Real?)
Personal Experience (Where is G-d in my life?) Shifting
Strategies:
• Historical Strategies…
• Add new prayers to the prayerbook that reflect current views
• Come up with new interpretations of traditional texts
• Modern Strategies…
• Change the language of the prayerbook
New theologies
Kaplan’s Article
• Who does Kaplan think G-d is?
• Doesn’t think that there is a personal or one supreme G-d
• That there are a bunch of smaller, not as strong G-d
• Leaves G-d as an abstract idea
• The motivator to helping those around you
• Not actually going to help you
• How is this view similar to/different from the traditional view?
• Problems…
• Concerned about fascism, nazism, and communism
• G-d isn’t going to intervene supernaturally
• G-d can help people transcend themselves and live out ethical teachings of Judaism
• What do you think the title means?
• That G-d has the power to lead to salvation
Not that G-d is the power, but can lead to salvation Does it
make sense to label G-d as an idea?
It makes sense that not everyone believes in G-d
Could help at least thinking or believing that G-d is an idea at the least
• What makes Judaism?
• The ideals and ethics
• The community
• How it’s passed on
• Education
• About Judaism
• About prayers
• To read Hebrew
• Involvement in the community
• Responses to the video:
• Issues…
• Diminishing the religion if not told to care about it
• Just to do the practices and rituals
• Need to ground the ideas in a higher being
• Going to lose the reason and belief for the religion
• You need to have knowledge (not necessarily even have a lot of care) for it
• They did these practices for certain reasons
• Losing connections to those that started it
• People might be motivated because they enjoy doing it
Might be harder to force your religion down through generations
Post-Holocaust Theology
• Is the Holocaust a Unique Event in Jewish History?
• 2 Primary Views:
Not a Unique Event:
Holocaust as Divine Punishment:
• Holocaust is the term for a type of sacrifice offering in the temple
• A “whole burnt offering” - completely consumed by fire
• Wasserman (Leader of Jewish community killed in the Holocaust):
• Jews killed in the Holocaust are a sacrifice to G-d that will hasten messianic
redemption
Hoping that a Messianic figure will come and fix the problems of the world
• Holocaust as Chastiesment:
• Idea made by Joseph Isaac Shneerson (Lubavitcher Rebbe):
• Holocaust is a way of punishing the Jews for rejecting the Torah and assimilating
to other cultures
• Similar to other “radical communal misfortunes”
• Like the Babylonian Exile - Jews were exiled for going astray from Judaism
• Rejection of views:
• Because we, the Jews, were victims of the Holocaust and cannot/should not be
blamed for the Holocaust
• Is a Unique Event:
• Part 1:
• Rubenstein: “One can either affirm the innocence of Israel or the justice of Gd at
Auschwitz”
• In other words, a G-d who would punish innocent people in this way cannot be just
• Other words, people are deserving of G-d’s punishment because we were not
innocent and had sinned
• Part 2:
Who is the G-d that has died for Rubenstein?
G-d is dead in people’s hearts
lOMoARcPSD| 59331229
RLST 210 D. Barer
People have forgotten G-d and G-d’s directions
• No communication between man and G-d in these days
G-d has turned away from humanity and G-d’s involvement for people
In order to let human experiment unfold
• Part 3:
• Irving “Yitz” Greenberg (Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire):
• You should not say anything about G-d or in general that you wouldn’t be afraid to
say to the people being slaughtered in death camps
Using the idea of being slaughtered in death camps to compare to most innocent person you can
think of
• What type of statements could be said?
That you can’t blame the innocent for the actions of those before that might not be innocent
• Idea of the voluntary covenant:
That we aren’t bound by the covenant, but that we should choose to reenter it but not be forced
It is worth being a part of but cannot be chosen for you
• Emil Fackenheim (614th Commandment):
• You are not going to have the victory over us, but despite you, we won’t change our
way of lives and beliefs
Not going to change way of life based on what Hitler did to the Jewish people
• Part 4: New Questions
• If one does not or cannot affirm the “G-d of the prophets and the rabbis,” does
Judaism become a matter of personal preference?
• If G-d is not doing anything, then it becomes a personal preference
• Implied, is both the question of Judaism as a personal preference, and is it a choice
Is something gained verses something lost
• Can G-d be involved in destruction, without assuming it is a form of punishment?
• G-d created man, man can punish man, so the destruction is not a form of
punishment by G-d
• Is there a “credible, theological alternative” to the traditional view?
• Post-holocaust, people were not believing in the traditional view because they
thought that G-d didn’t exist
• What is attractive part to the traditional view?
Given hope to keep going and that G-d has a greater plan for you
G-d is balancing all of these factors and is investing in behavior
Hopeful purpose to keep living your life - can’t be left blank
Torah and Revelation
• Core Questions:
• Did the revelation on Mt. Sinai really happen?
• If so, what was revealed?
• Traditionalist View:
• That G-d revealed the Torah in “discrete words and letters”
• G-d spoke and Moses wrote down what G-d said
• That everything in the Torah is divine and all by G-d, nothing from Moses
• Might put more respect and holiness on something that is divine
• Ex. rising when the ark is opened to read the Torah
• What is at stake in this claim?
• If G-d revealed his will clearly to Moses at Mt. Sinai, and Moses recorded it accurately
in the Torah, then every detail in the Torah is binding This leaves little room for
personal autonomy Advantages:
View is clear and consistent Authority
of Torah is absolute
• Disadvantages:
• What if you find a moral or textual problem in the Torah?
• View does not outline a clear response
• Biblical Criticism:
• The documentary hypothesis challenges the idea that Moses wrote the Torah
• Raises two main questions:
• If Moses did not write the Torah, is it still authoritative? Does it express G-d’s will?
• If it is not from G-d directly in some way, then it can’t be authoritative
• Might not express G-d’s will directly
• It revealed an amount of respect for G-d
• If G-d didn’t reveal the Torah on Mt. Sinai, what (if anything) was revealed?
• The ideas of the Torah
• Alternative Views:
• Could something have been revealed at Sinai other than the specific words of the
Torah?
• Rosenzweig’s view:
• Revelation reveals relationship
• On Mt. Sinai, Moses is not given a set of words or ‘behavioral code’ to write down and
pass on
• The encounter with G-d is the revelation
• That encounter commands but it does not legislate
• Heschel’s view:
• G-d will was revealed on Sinai, but the Torah is not a pure record of the divine
will
• Instead, the Torah records how people understood the revelation
lOMoARcPSD| 59331229
RLST 210 D. Barer
As a result, the Torah is not ‘perfect’ document, but it is still authoritative
Law and Authority in Judaism
• Core Questions:
• What makes Jewish law authoritative?
• How does law function?
• How can (or should) Jewish law be interpreted?
• Law as a Living Organism:
• What does Dorff mean when he describes law as a living organism?
• That the law is ever-changing
• Law is constantly changing and evolving
• Natural selection over time of laws
• Why do you think he chooses this model?
• Natural selection of life
• You learn based on your experiences
• Does it make sense to you?
• Also includes adaptability in certain situations
• How does Law Function?
• Another way of thinking about law is as a a system of rules
• How is this different from Dorff’s view of law as a living organism?
• Adaptation to unanticipated scenarios
• No exceptions, no way around it
• If the rule says X, then you have to follow it
• Do you think one view fits better with the ‘traditionalist’ view of G-d?
• Does one fit better with ‘traditionalist’ view of Torah? Why?
• What makes law authoritative?
Dorff argues against the idea of legal positivism
Positivism: The law is authoritative because it is created by a ruler or legislative body
• In a Jewish context, this means that law communicates G-d’s will (either directly or
through human intermediaries)
• Torah is the constitutional document of Judaism
• Alternative Accounts:
• Brainstorm: What alternatives might there be to legal positivism?
• Moral -
• Ethical - if it contributes to the greater society and that you feel it’s right
• Fear or danger - traffic rules for example
• Gravity for example - it is how it is, cannot be changed
• Example of something that we can describe as reality
• If the law is not authoritative because of who wrote it, why else might it be
authoritative?
• For what it does in the world community
• Natural law theory:
• Law is authoritative if its content is morally correct
• Example: a law prohibiting murder is authoritative because murder is inherently
wrong
• Dorff: “Jewish law is an expression of the love… Jews have for both G-d and for
other human beings”
Law is a framework to express and live out the ideals of the Torah and the covenant
Peoplehood
• Overview:
• Religious Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
Want to return to the Jewish home state
Religious Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want a Jewish state
• Don’t want to return to the Jewish state
• Secular Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Secular Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Jewish Messianism:
• Messiah - (anointed one) will come and re-establish Jewish sovereignty in the
promised land
• Who will bring this about? People or G-d? (Big question in Judaism)
• Is it all G-d?
• Is it all people?
• Is it a shared work between people and G-d?
• Abraham Isaac Kook (Rav Kook):
• He sought to “transform religious messianic longing into a basis for collaboration with
the aspirations of modern Zionism”
• Joseph Soloveitchik:
• Thought that the foundation of the state of Israel is part of G-d’s plan
• Served as the head of the Jewish University in New York
• The Six Knocks - for Soloveitchik, these events are signs of divine activity in history
• Founding of the State of Israel in 1948
• Israeli victories on the battlefield
• Christian support for the Israeli State
Pride of Jewish youth in the state of Israel
Jews can defend themselves against attack
• Jewish immigration en masse to Israel
• He does not call on American Jews to move to Israel, but rather to support Israel
politically and financially?
• Why? What does this suggest but the relationship between the Jewish people and the
Jewish state?
• Thinks that Jews not living there should support Israel politically and financially
• Not everyone needs to move and live in Israel
• Questions for Discussion:
• How is the religious Zionism of Rav Kook or Rav Soloveitchik different from secular
Zionism?
• Different programs for what it means to be engaged in the state
• Still being helpful to create unity
• How might a nationalist understanding of Jewish peoplehood create unity between
Jews? How might it lead to divisions?
• Creates more unity because it gives Jews a bond of belonging and community
• Can move to Israel and just know that you’ll know that you’re accepted
• Jewish Geography
• Once you have a state that represent the community it represents everyone
• As a result of a Jewish state, both Jews and Israelis are representatives of the Jewish
state
Division in the religious community - different levels of observance
Jewish Thought
• The Challenge (Borowitz):
• What role does the idea of commandment play in modern Jewish life?
• How should Jews balance the demands of tradition and the desire for autonomy and
self-determination?
• Autonomy - self-governing, independent, choosing your own actions
• Law:
• Traditionally, Jewish law places constraints on personal autonomy (self-govern)
• Example - wanting to drive over the speed limit, but following constraints
• Why is autonomy so important to liberal Jews?
• Belief that individual decision making is valued by the tradition
• Self-legislating understood an important part of human dignity
• Intellectual Environment:
• Rise of the “science of Judaism” (Wissenschaft des Judentums)
• Attempt for Jews to study their own traditions scientifically
• Not assuming that history comes from G-d but at other historical factors
• Biblical scholarships and the documentary hypothesis
• Judaism comes to be contextualized
• One expression of universal human experiences
• Ethical Challenges:
• If the law or the Torah are divine in origin, then they cannot be challenged
• If the law or the Torah are human, then they can be criticized Two cases:
Langer Case - one parent died, one parent remarried but wasn’t legal because she didn’t
have a get
Mamzer - bastard
Should be allowed to marry someone else because not their fault
• Shabbat Hoax - if someone is crumbled under a house, if you’re Jewish, then you
can help them (if they’re alive)
• What do these cases illustrate?
• Langer case - should have a way to let it be allowed
• It was a general mistake for committing adultery
• Shabbat hoax - if you are saving a life during Shabbat, you should help them
• Only allowed to save the person if they are Jewish
• Rules:
• If unsure who the person is and unsure on the religion, you dig them out
• But, if you see they are dead, then you stop digging until after Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive but not Jewish, then you stop digging until after
Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive and Jewish, then you keep digging them out
• Do you break Jewish law and follow moral intuition, or break moral intuition and
follow Jewish law?
• Could say that G-d laid out the rules for your morality
• Could say that your morality is more important, could bypass law once
• Cycle of God, Israel, and Torah (the Three pillars and their interconnection)
Jewish Monotheism
• Describing God:
• Gillman’s 4 core ideas…
G-d alone is G-d (only one G-d)
G-d’s will is sovereign
• Makes G-d’s will known and that you have to follow it
• G-d has a stake in human civilization
• Wants things to go well
• G-d is a personal G-d
• Is personal to you
• Exodus 34:6-7…
• What do you see about G-d in this text?
• Kind and gracious
• Understanding because slow to anger
• Honest, clear about reasoning and his unhappiness
• Vengeful - holds a grudge
• Understanding the 13 attributes of G-d:
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful towards people before they sin
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful even after a person has sinned
• A God…
• Supreme Ruler
• Merciful…
• G-d recognized human frailty and does not lead people into temptation
• Gracious…
• G-d shows mercy even to those who do not deserve it
Slow to Anger…
G-d gives sinners time to repent
Abounding in Steadfast Love…
G-d emphasizes a persons merits
• Faithful…
• G-d is faithful and does not renege on his promises
• Keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation…
• G-d remembers the deeds of righteous ancestors, and acts favorably towards their
descendants
• Forgiving Iniquity…
• G-d forgives the intentional sinner if they repent
• Forgiving Transgression…
• G-d gives whose who rebel against G-d the change to repent
• Forgiving (Unintentional) Sin…
• G-d forgives sins committed through carelessness or apathy
• Clearing the Guilty…
• G-d wipes away the sings of those who repent, clearing them of guilt
• How is G-d depicted?
• Loyal figure
• Understanding figure
• Make it seem like a father-like figure
• Maimonides: 13 Principles of Father:
• Yigdal Prayer
• Anything new being introduced?
• Idea of the Messiah
• Emphasis on Moses and Moses’ prophecy
• The fact that prophecy is real
• Idea that G-d gave Moses a true Torah
• Any similarities to 13 attributes?
Both agree that G-d is one
G-d is the Master of the Universe/Supreme Ruler
• Emphasis on G-d’s loving kindness and compassion
• 13 principles…
• He exists
• He is one
• He has neither bodily form nor substance
• He was first
• Master of the Universe
• Prophecy
• Moses
• A Torah of Truth
• G-d will not alter or change His law
• He sees and knows our secrets thoughts
• He rewards people with loving kindness, according to their deeds
• Messiah
• G-d will revive the lead
• Jewish Theology:
• Main Sources…
• Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)
• Rabbinic Literature (Talmud, Midrash)
• Jewish Philosophy
• Liturgy (Prayerbook)
• Modern Challenges…
Historical events (Holocaust)
Science (Are Miracles Real?)
Personal Experience (Where is G-d in my life?) Shifting
Strategies:
• Historical Strategies…
• Add new prayers to the prayerbook that reflect current views
• Come up with new interpretations of traditional texts
• Modern Strategies…
• Change the language of the prayerbook
New theologies
Kaplan’s Article
• Who does Kaplan think G-d is?
• Doesn’t think that there is a personal or one supreme G-d
• That there are a bunch of smaller, not as strong G-d
• Leaves G-d as an abstract idea
• The motivator to helping those around you
• Not actually going to help you
• How is this view similar to/different from the traditional view?
• Problems…
• Concerned about fascism, nazism, and communism
• G-d isn’t going to intervene supernaturally
• G-d can help people transcend themselves and live out ethical teachings of Judaism
• What do you think the title means?
• That G-d has the power to lead to salvation
Not that G-d is the power, but can lead to salvation Does it
make sense to label G-d as an idea?
It makes sense that not everyone believes in G-d
Could help at least thinking or believing that G-d is an idea at the least
• What makes Judaism?
• The ideals and ethics
• The community
• How it’s passed on
• Education
• About Judaism
• About prayers
• To read Hebrew
• Involvement in the community
• Responses to the video:
• Issues…
• Diminishing the religion if not told to care about it
• Just to do the practices and rituals
• Need to ground the ideas in a higher being
• Going to lose the reason and belief for the religion
• You need to have knowledge (not necessarily even have a lot of care) for it
• They did these practices for certain reasons
• Losing connections to those that started it
• People might be motivated because they enjoy doing it
Might be harder to force your religion down through generations
Post-Holocaust Theology
• Is the Holocaust a Unique Event in Jewish History?
• 2 Primary Views:
Not a Unique Event:
Holocaust as Divine Punishment:
• Holocaust is the term for a type of sacrifice offering in the temple
• A “whole burnt offering” - completely consumed by fire
• Wasserman (Leader of Jewish community killed in the Holocaust):
• Jews killed in the Holocaust are a sacrifice to G-d that will hasten messianic
redemption
Hoping that a Messianic figure will come and fix the problems of the world
• Holocaust as Chastiesment:
• Idea made by Joseph Isaac Shneerson (Lubavitcher Rebbe):
• Holocaust is a way of punishing the Jews for rejecting the Torah and assimilating
to other cultures
• Similar to other “radical communal misfortunes”
• Like the Babylonian Exile - Jews were exiled for going astray from Judaism
• Rejection of views:
• Because we, the Jews, were victims of the Holocaust and cannot/should not be
blamed for the Holocaust
• Is a Unique Event:
• Part 1:
• Rubenstein: “One can either affirm the innocence of Israel or the justice of Gd at
Auschwitz”
• In other words, a G-d who would punish innocent people in this way cannot be just
• Other words, people are deserving of G-d’s punishment because we were not
innocent and had sinned
• Part 2:
Who is the G-d that has died for Rubenstein?
G-d is dead in people’s hearts
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People have forgotten G-d and G-d’s directions
• No communication between man and G-d in these days
G-d has turned away from humanity and G-d’s involvement for people
In order to let human experiment unfold
• Part 3:
• Irving “Yitz” Greenberg (Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire):
• You should not say anything about G-d or in general that you wouldn’t be afraid to
say to the people being slaughtered in death camps
Using the idea of being slaughtered in death camps to compare to most innocent person you can
think of
• What type of statements could be said?
That you can’t blame the innocent for the actions of those before that might not be innocent
• Idea of the voluntary covenant:
That we aren’t bound by the covenant, but that we should choose to reenter it but not be forced
It is worth being a part of but cannot be chosen for you
• Emil Fackenheim (614th Commandment):
• You are not going to have the victory over us, but despite you, we won’t change our
way of lives and beliefs
Not going to change way of life based on what Hitler did to the Jewish people
• Part 4: New Questions
• If one does not or cannot affirm the “G-d of the prophets and the rabbis,” does
Judaism become a matter of personal preference?
• If G-d is not doing anything, then it becomes a personal preference
• Implied, is both the question of Judaism as a personal preference, and is it a choice
Is something gained verses something lost
• Can G-d be involved in destruction, without assuming it is a form of punishment?
• G-d created man, man can punish man, so the destruction is not a form of
punishment by G-d
• Is there a “credible, theological alternative” to the traditional view?
• Post-holocaust, people were not believing in the traditional view because they
thought that G-d didn’t exist
• What is attractive part to the traditional view?
Given hope to keep going and that G-d has a greater plan for you
G-d is balancing all of these factors and is investing in behavior
Hopeful purpose to keep living your life - can’t be left blank
Torah and Revelation
• Core Questions:
• Did the revelation on Mt. Sinai really happen?
• If so, what was revealed?
• Traditionalist View:
• That G-d revealed the Torah in “discrete words and letters”
• G-d spoke and Moses wrote down what G-d said
• That everything in the Torah is divine and all by G-d, nothing from Moses
• Might put more respect and holiness on something that is divine
• Ex. rising when the ark is opened to read the Torah
• What is at stake in this claim?
• If G-d revealed his will clearly to Moses at Mt. Sinai, and Moses recorded it accurately
in the Torah, then every detail in the Torah is binding This leaves little room for
personal autonomy Advantages:
View is clear and consistent Authority
of Torah is absolute
• Disadvantages:
• What if you find a moral or textual problem in the Torah?
• View does not outline a clear response
• Biblical Criticism:
• The documentary hypothesis challenges the idea that Moses wrote the Torah
• Raises two main questions:
• If Moses did not write the Torah, is it still authoritative? Does it express G-d’s will?
• If it is not from G-d directly in some way, then it can’t be authoritative
• Might not express G-d’s will directly
• It revealed an amount of respect for G-d
• If G-d didn’t reveal the Torah on Mt. Sinai, what (if anything) was revealed?
• The ideas of the Torah
• Alternative Views:
• Could something have been revealed at Sinai other than the specific words of the
Torah?
• Rosenzweig’s view:
• Revelation reveals relationship
• On Mt. Sinai, Moses is not given a set of words or ‘behavioral code’ to write down and
pass on
• The encounter with G-d is the revelation
• That encounter commands but it does not legislate
• Heschel’s view:
• G-d will was revealed on Sinai, but the Torah is not a pure record of the divine
will
• Instead, the Torah records how people understood the revelation
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As a result, the Torah is not ‘perfect’ document, but it is still authoritative
Law and Authority in Judaism
• Core Questions:
• What makes Jewish law authoritative?
• How does law function?
• How can (or should) Jewish law be interpreted?
• Law as a Living Organism:
• What does Dorff mean when he describes law as a living organism?
• That the law is ever-changing
• Law is constantly changing and evolving
• Natural selection over time of laws
• Why do you think he chooses this model?
• Natural selection of life
• You learn based on your experiences
• Does it make sense to you?
• Also includes adaptability in certain situations
• How does Law Function?
• Another way of thinking about law is as a a system of rules
• How is this different from Dorff’s view of law as a living organism?
• Adaptation to unanticipated scenarios
• No exceptions, no way around it
• If the rule says X, then you have to follow it
• Do you think one view fits better with the ‘traditionalist’ view of G-d?
• Does one fit better with ‘traditionalist’ view of Torah? Why?
• What makes law authoritative?
Dorff argues against the idea of legal positivism
Positivism: The law is authoritative because it is created by a ruler or legislative body
• In a Jewish context, this means that law communicates G-d’s will (either directly or
through human intermediaries)
• Torah is the constitutional document of Judaism
• Alternative Accounts:
• Brainstorm: What alternatives might there be to legal positivism?
• Moral -
• Ethical - if it contributes to the greater society and that you feel it’s right
• Fear or danger - traffic rules for example
• Gravity for example - it is how it is, cannot be changed
• Example of something that we can describe as reality
• If the law is not authoritative because of who wrote it, why else might it be
authoritative?
• For what it does in the world community
• Natural law theory:
• Law is authoritative if its content is morally correct
• Example: a law prohibiting murder is authoritative because murder is inherently
wrong
• Dorff: “Jewish law is an expression of the love… Jews have for both G-d and for
other human beings”
Law is a framework to express and live out the ideals of the Torah and the covenant
Peoplehood
• Overview:
• Religious Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
Want to return to the Jewish home state
Religious Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want a Jewish state
• Don’t want to return to the Jewish state
• Secular Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Secular Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Jewish Messianism:
• Messiah - (anointed one) will come and re-establish Jewish sovereignty in the
promised land
• Who will bring this about? People or G-d? (Big question in Judaism)
• Is it all G-d?
• Is it all people?
• Is it a shared work between people and G-d?
• Abraham Isaac Kook (Rav Kook):
• He sought to “transform religious messianic longing into a basis for collaboration with
the aspirations of modern Zionism”
• Joseph Soloveitchik:
• Thought that the foundation of the state of Israel is part of G-d’s plan
• Served as the head of the Jewish University in New York
• The Six Knocks - for Soloveitchik, these events are signs of divine activity in history
• Founding of the State of Israel in 1948
• Israeli victories on the battlefield
• Christian support for the Israeli State
Pride of Jewish youth in the state of Israel
Jews can defend themselves against attack
• Jewish immigration en masse to Israel
• He does not call on American Jews to move to Israel, but rather to support Israel
politically and financially?
• Why? What does this suggest but the relationship between the Jewish people and the
Jewish state?
• Thinks that Jews not living there should support Israel politically and financially
• Not everyone needs to move and live in Israel
• Questions for Discussion:
• How is the religious Zionism of Rav Kook or Rav Soloveitchik different from secular
Zionism?
• Different programs for what it means to be engaged in the state
• Still being helpful to create unity
• How might a nationalist understanding of Jewish peoplehood create unity between
Jews? How might it lead to divisions?
• Creates more unity because it gives Jews a bond of belonging and community
• Can move to Israel and just know that you’ll know that you’re accepted
• Jewish Geography
• Once you have a state that represent the community it represents everyone
• As a result of a Jewish state, both Jews and Israelis are representatives of the Jewish
state
Division in the religious community - different levels of observance
Jewish Thought
• The Challenge (Borowitz):
• What role does the idea of commandment play in modern Jewish life?
• How should Jews balance the demands of tradition and the desire for autonomy and
self-determination?
• Autonomy - self-governing, independent, choosing your own actions
• Law:
• Traditionally, Jewish law places constraints on personal autonomy (self-govern)
• Example - wanting to drive over the speed limit, but following constraints
• Why is autonomy so important to liberal Jews?
• Belief that individual decision making is valued by the tradition
• Self-legislating understood an important part of human dignity
• Intellectual Environment:
• Rise of the “science of Judaism” (Wissenschaft des Judentums)
• Attempt for Jews to study their own traditions scientifically
• Not assuming that history comes from G-d but at other historical factors
• Biblical scholarships and the documentary hypothesis
• Judaism comes to be contextualized
• One expression of universal human experiences
• Ethical Challenges:
• If the law or the Torah are divine in origin, then they cannot be challenged
• If the law or the Torah are human, then they can be criticized Two cases:
Langer Case - one parent died, one parent remarried but wasn’t legal because she didn’t
have a get
Mamzer - bastard
Should be allowed to marry someone else because not their fault
• Shabbat Hoax - if someone is crumbled under a house, if you’re Jewish, then you
can help them (if they’re alive)
• What do these cases illustrate?
• Langer case - should have a way to let it be allowed
• It was a general mistake for committing adultery
• Shabbat hoax - if you are saving a life during Shabbat, you should help them
• Only allowed to save the person if they are Jewish
• Rules:
• If unsure who the person is and unsure on the religion, you dig them out
• But, if you see they are dead, then you stop digging until after Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive but not Jewish, then you stop digging until after
Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive and Jewish, then you keep digging them out
• Do you break Jewish law and follow moral intuition, or break moral intuition and
follow Jewish law?
• Could say that G-d laid out the rules for your morality
• Could say that your morality is more important, could bypass law once
• Cycle of God, Israel, and Torah (the Three pillars and their interconnection)
Jewish Monotheism
• Describing God:
• Gillman’s 4 core ideas…
G-d alone is G-d (only one G-d)
G-d’s will is sovereign
• Makes G-d’s will known and that you have to follow it
• G-d has a stake in human civilization
• Wants things to go well
• G-d is a personal G-d
• Is personal to you
• Exodus 34:6-7…
• What do you see about G-d in this text?
• Kind and gracious
• Understanding because slow to anger
• Honest, clear about reasoning and his unhappiness
• Vengeful - holds a grudge
• Understanding the 13 attributes of G-d:
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful towards people before they sin
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful even after a person has sinned
• A God…
• Supreme Ruler
• Merciful…
• G-d recognized human frailty and does not lead people into temptation
• Gracious…
• G-d shows mercy even to those who do not deserve it
Slow to Anger…
G-d gives sinners time to repent
Abounding in Steadfast Love…
G-d emphasizes a persons merits
• Faithful…
• G-d is faithful and does not renege on his promises
• Keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation…
• G-d remembers the deeds of righteous ancestors, and acts favorably towards their
descendants
• Forgiving Iniquity…
• G-d forgives the intentional sinner if they repent
• Forgiving Transgression…
• G-d gives whose who rebel against G-d the change to repent
• Forgiving (Unintentional) Sin…
• G-d forgives sins committed through carelessness or apathy
• Clearing the Guilty…
• G-d wipes away the sings of those who repent, clearing them of guilt
• How is G-d depicted?
• Loyal figure
• Understanding figure
• Make it seem like a father-like figure
• Maimonides: 13 Principles of Father:
• Yigdal Prayer
• Anything new being introduced?
• Idea of the Messiah
• Emphasis on Moses and Moses’ prophecy
• The fact that prophecy is real
• Idea that G-d gave Moses a true Torah
• Any similarities to 13 attributes?
Both agree that G-d is one
G-d is the Master of the Universe/Supreme Ruler
• Emphasis on G-d’s loving kindness and compassion
• 13 principles…
• He exists
• He is one
• He has neither bodily form nor substance
• He was first
• Master of the Universe
• Prophecy
• Moses
• A Torah of Truth
• G-d will not alter or change His law
• He sees and knows our secrets thoughts
• He rewards people with loving kindness, according to their deeds
• Messiah
• G-d will revive the lead
• Jewish Theology:
• Main Sources…
• Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)
• Rabbinic Literature (Talmud, Midrash)
• Jewish Philosophy
• Liturgy (Prayerbook)
• Modern Challenges…
Historical events (Holocaust)
Science (Are Miracles Real?)
Personal Experience (Where is G-d in my life?) Shifting
Strategies:
• Historical Strategies…
• Add new prayers to the prayerbook that reflect current views
• Come up with new interpretations of traditional texts
• Modern Strategies…
• Change the language of the prayerbook
New theologies
Kaplan’s Article
• Who does Kaplan think G-d is?
• Doesn’t think that there is a personal or one supreme G-d
• That there are a bunch of smaller, not as strong G-d
• Leaves G-d as an abstract idea
• The motivator to helping those around you
• Not actually going to help you
• How is this view similar to/different from the traditional view?
• Problems…
• Concerned about fascism, nazism, and communism
• G-d isn’t going to intervene supernaturally
• G-d can help people transcend themselves and live out ethical teachings of Judaism
• What do you think the title means?
• That G-d has the power to lead to salvation
Not that G-d is the power, but can lead to salvation Does it
make sense to label G-d as an idea?
It makes sense that not everyone believes in G-d
Could help at least thinking or believing that G-d is an idea at the least
• What makes Judaism?
• The ideals and ethics
• The community
• How it’s passed on
• Education
• About Judaism
• About prayers
• To read Hebrew
• Involvement in the community
• Responses to the video:
• Issues…
• Diminishing the religion if not told to care about it
• Just to do the practices and rituals
• Need to ground the ideas in a higher being
• Going to lose the reason and belief for the religion
• You need to have knowledge (not necessarily even have a lot of care) for it
• They did these practices for certain reasons
• Losing connections to those that started it
• People might be motivated because they enjoy doing it
Might be harder to force your religion down through generations
Post-Holocaust Theology
• Is the Holocaust a Unique Event in Jewish History?
• 2 Primary Views:
Not a Unique Event:
Holocaust as Divine Punishment:
• Holocaust is the term for a type of sacrifice offering in the temple
• A “whole burnt offering” - completely consumed by fire
• Wasserman (Leader of Jewish community killed in the Holocaust):
• Jews killed in the Holocaust are a sacrifice to G-d that will hasten messianic
redemption
Hoping that a Messianic figure will come and fix the problems of the world
• Holocaust as Chastiesment:
• Idea made by Joseph Isaac Shneerson (Lubavitcher Rebbe):
• Holocaust is a way of punishing the Jews for rejecting the Torah and assimilating
to other cultures
• Similar to other “radical communal misfortunes”
• Like the Babylonian Exile - Jews were exiled for going astray from Judaism
• Rejection of views:
• Because we, the Jews, were victims of the Holocaust and cannot/should not be
blamed for the Holocaust
• Is a Unique Event:
• Part 1:
• Rubenstein: “One can either affirm the innocence of Israel or the justice of Gd at
Auschwitz”
• In other words, a G-d who would punish innocent people in this way cannot be just
• Other words, people are deserving of G-d’s punishment because we were not
innocent and had sinned
• Part 2:
Who is the G-d that has died for Rubenstein?
G-d is dead in people’s hearts
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People have forgotten G-d and G-d’s directions
• No communication between man and G-d in these days
G-d has turned away from humanity and G-d’s involvement for people
In order to let human experiment unfold
• Part 3:
• Irving “Yitz” Greenberg (Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire):
• You should not say anything about G-d or in general that you wouldn’t be afraid to
say to the people being slaughtered in death camps
Using the idea of being slaughtered in death camps to compare to most innocent person you can
think of
• What type of statements could be said?
That you can’t blame the innocent for the actions of those before that might not be innocent
• Idea of the voluntary covenant:
That we aren’t bound by the covenant, but that we should choose to reenter it but not be forced
It is worth being a part of but cannot be chosen for you
• Emil Fackenheim (614th Commandment):
• You are not going to have the victory over us, but despite you, we won’t change our
way of lives and beliefs
Not going to change way of life based on what Hitler did to the Jewish people
• Part 4: New Questions
• If one does not or cannot affirm the “G-d of the prophets and the rabbis,” does
Judaism become a matter of personal preference?
• If G-d is not doing anything, then it becomes a personal preference
• Implied, is both the question of Judaism as a personal preference, and is it a choice
Is something gained verses something lost
• Can G-d be involved in destruction, without assuming it is a form of punishment?
• G-d created man, man can punish man, so the destruction is not a form of
punishment by G-d
• Is there a “credible, theological alternative” to the traditional view?
• Post-holocaust, people were not believing in the traditional view because they
thought that G-d didn’t exist
• What is attractive part to the traditional view?
Given hope to keep going and that G-d has a greater plan for you
G-d is balancing all of these factors and is investing in behavior
Hopeful purpose to keep living your life - can’t be left blank
Torah and Revelation
• Core Questions:
• Did the revelation on Mt. Sinai really happen?
• If so, what was revealed?
• Traditionalist View:
• That G-d revealed the Torah in “discrete words and letters”
• G-d spoke and Moses wrote down what G-d said
• That everything in the Torah is divine and all by G-d, nothing from Moses
• Might put more respect and holiness on something that is divine
• Ex. rising when the ark is opened to read the Torah
• What is at stake in this claim?
• If G-d revealed his will clearly to Moses at Mt. Sinai, and Moses recorded it accurately
in the Torah, then every detail in the Torah is binding This leaves little room for
personal autonomy Advantages:
View is clear and consistent Authority
of Torah is absolute
• Disadvantages:
• What if you find a moral or textual problem in the Torah?
• View does not outline a clear response
• Biblical Criticism:
• The documentary hypothesis challenges the idea that Moses wrote the Torah
• Raises two main questions:
• If Moses did not write the Torah, is it still authoritative? Does it express G-d’s will?
• If it is not from G-d directly in some way, then it can’t be authoritative
• Might not express G-d’s will directly
• It revealed an amount of respect for G-d
• If G-d didn’t reveal the Torah on Mt. Sinai, what (if anything) was revealed?
• The ideas of the Torah
• Alternative Views:
• Could something have been revealed at Sinai other than the specific words of the
Torah?
• Rosenzweig’s view:
• Revelation reveals relationship
• On Mt. Sinai, Moses is not given a set of words or ‘behavioral code’ to write down and
pass on
• The encounter with G-d is the revelation
• That encounter commands but it does not legislate
• Heschel’s view:
• G-d will was revealed on Sinai, but the Torah is not a pure record of the divine
will
• Instead, the Torah records how people understood the revelation
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As a result, the Torah is not ‘perfect’ document, but it is still authoritative
Law and Authority in Judaism
• Core Questions:
• What makes Jewish law authoritative?
• How does law function?
• How can (or should) Jewish law be interpreted?
• Law as a Living Organism:
• What does Dorff mean when he describes law as a living organism?
• That the law is ever-changing
• Law is constantly changing and evolving
• Natural selection over time of laws
• Why do you think he chooses this model?
• Natural selection of life
• You learn based on your experiences
• Does it make sense to you?
• Also includes adaptability in certain situations
• How does Law Function?
• Another way of thinking about law is as a a system of rules
• How is this different from Dorff’s view of law as a living organism?
• Adaptation to unanticipated scenarios
• No exceptions, no way around it
• If the rule says X, then you have to follow it
• Do you think one view fits better with the ‘traditionalist’ view of G-d?
• Does one fit better with ‘traditionalist’ view of Torah? Why?
• What makes law authoritative?
Dorff argues against the idea of legal positivism
Positivism: The law is authoritative because it is created by a ruler or legislative body
• In a Jewish context, this means that law communicates G-d’s will (either directly or
through human intermediaries)
• Torah is the constitutional document of Judaism
• Alternative Accounts:
• Brainstorm: What alternatives might there be to legal positivism?
• Moral -
• Ethical - if it contributes to the greater society and that you feel it’s right
• Fear or danger - traffic rules for example
• Gravity for example - it is how it is, cannot be changed
• Example of something that we can describe as reality
• If the law is not authoritative because of who wrote it, why else might it be
authoritative?
• For what it does in the world community
• Natural law theory:
• Law is authoritative if its content is morally correct
• Example: a law prohibiting murder is authoritative because murder is inherently
wrong
• Dorff: “Jewish law is an expression of the love… Jews have for both G-d and for
other human beings”
Law is a framework to express and live out the ideals of the Torah and the covenant
Peoplehood
• Overview:
• Religious Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
Want to return to the Jewish home state
Religious Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want a Jewish state
• Don’t want to return to the Jewish state
• Secular Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Secular Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Jewish Messianism:
• Messiah - (anointed one) will come and re-establish Jewish sovereignty in the
promised land
• Who will bring this about? People or G-d? (Big question in Judaism)
• Is it all G-d?
• Is it all people?
• Is it a shared work between people and G-d?
• Abraham Isaac Kook (Rav Kook):
• He sought to “transform religious messianic longing into a basis for collaboration with
the aspirations of modern Zionism”
• Joseph Soloveitchik:
• Thought that the foundation of the state of Israel is part of G-d’s plan
• Served as the head of the Jewish University in New York
• The Six Knocks - for Soloveitchik, these events are signs of divine activity in history
• Founding of the State of Israel in 1948
• Israeli victories on the battlefield
• Christian support for the Israeli State
Pride of Jewish youth in the state of Israel
Jews can defend themselves against attack
• Jewish immigration en masse to Israel
• He does not call on American Jews to move to Israel, but rather to support Israel
politically and financially?
• Why? What does this suggest but the relationship between the Jewish people and the
Jewish state?
• Thinks that Jews not living there should support Israel politically and financially
• Not everyone needs to move and live in Israel
• Questions for Discussion:
• How is the religious Zionism of Rav Kook or Rav Soloveitchik different from secular
Zionism?
• Different programs for what it means to be engaged in the state
• Still being helpful to create unity
• How might a nationalist understanding of Jewish peoplehood create unity between
Jews? How might it lead to divisions?
• Creates more unity because it gives Jews a bond of belonging and community
• Can move to Israel and just know that you’ll know that you’re accepted
• Jewish Geography
• Once you have a state that represent the community it represents everyone
• As a result of a Jewish state, both Jews and Israelis are representatives of the Jewish
state
Division in the religious community - different levels of observance
Jewish Thought
• The Challenge (Borowitz):
• What role does the idea of commandment play in modern Jewish life?
• How should Jews balance the demands of tradition and the desire for autonomy and
self-determination?
• Autonomy - self-governing, independent, choosing your own actions
• Law:
• Traditionally, Jewish law places constraints on personal autonomy (self-govern)
• Example - wanting to drive over the speed limit, but following constraints
• Why is autonomy so important to liberal Jews?
• Belief that individual decision making is valued by the tradition
• Self-legislating understood an important part of human dignity
• Intellectual Environment:
• Rise of the “science of Judaism” (Wissenschaft des Judentums)
• Attempt for Jews to study their own traditions scientifically
• Not assuming that history comes from G-d but at other historical factors
• Biblical scholarships and the documentary hypothesis
• Judaism comes to be contextualized
• One expression of universal human experiences
• Ethical Challenges:
• If the law or the Torah are divine in origin, then they cannot be challenged
• If the law or the Torah are human, then they can be criticized Two cases:
Langer Case - one parent died, one parent remarried but wasn’t legal because she didn’t
have a get
Mamzer - bastard
Should be allowed to marry someone else because not their fault
• Shabbat Hoax - if someone is crumbled under a house, if you’re Jewish, then you
can help them (if they’re alive)
• What do these cases illustrate?
• Langer case - should have a way to let it be allowed
• It was a general mistake for committing adultery
• Shabbat hoax - if you are saving a life during Shabbat, you should help them
• Only allowed to save the person if they are Jewish
• Rules:
• If unsure who the person is and unsure on the religion, you dig them out
• But, if you see they are dead, then you stop digging until after Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive but not Jewish, then you stop digging until after
Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive and Jewish, then you keep digging them out
• Do you break Jewish law and follow moral intuition, or break moral intuition and
follow Jewish law?
• Could say that G-d laid out the rules for your morality
• Could say that your morality is more important, could bypass law once
• Cycle of God, Israel, and Torah (the Three pillars and their interconnection)
Jewish Monotheism
• Describing God:
• Gillman’s 4 core ideas…
G-d alone is G-d (only one G-d)
G-d’s will is sovereign
• Makes G-d’s will known and that you have to follow it
• G-d has a stake in human civilization
• Wants things to go well
• G-d is a personal G-d
• Is personal to you
• Exodus 34:6-7…
• What do you see about G-d in this text?
• Kind and gracious
• Understanding because slow to anger
• Honest, clear about reasoning and his unhappiness
• Vengeful - holds a grudge
• Understanding the 13 attributes of G-d:
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful towards people before they sin
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful even after a person has sinned
• A God…
• Supreme Ruler
• Merciful…
• G-d recognized human frailty and does not lead people into temptation
• Gracious…
• G-d shows mercy even to those who do not deserve it
Slow to Anger…
G-d gives sinners time to repent
Abounding in Steadfast Love…
G-d emphasizes a persons merits
• Faithful…
• G-d is faithful and does not renege on his promises
• Keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation…
• G-d remembers the deeds of righteous ancestors, and acts favorably towards their
descendants
• Forgiving Iniquity…
• G-d forgives the intentional sinner if they repent
• Forgiving Transgression…
• G-d gives whose who rebel against G-d the change to repent
• Forgiving (Unintentional) Sin…
• G-d forgives sins committed through carelessness or apathy
• Clearing the Guilty…
• G-d wipes away the sings of those who repent, clearing them of guilt
• How is G-d depicted?
• Loyal figure
• Understanding figure
• Make it seem like a father-like figure
• Maimonides: 13 Principles of Father:
• Yigdal Prayer
• Anything new being introduced?
• Idea of the Messiah
• Emphasis on Moses and Moses’ prophecy
• The fact that prophecy is real
• Idea that G-d gave Moses a true Torah
• Any similarities to 13 attributes?
Both agree that G-d is one
G-d is the Master of the Universe/Supreme Ruler
• Emphasis on G-d’s loving kindness and compassion
• 13 principles…
• He exists
• He is one
• He has neither bodily form nor substance
• He was first
• Master of the Universe
• Prophecy
• Moses
• A Torah of Truth
• G-d will not alter or change His law
• He sees and knows our secrets thoughts
• He rewards people with loving kindness, according to their deeds
• Messiah
• G-d will revive the lead
• Jewish Theology:
• Main Sources…
• Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)
• Rabbinic Literature (Talmud, Midrash)
• Jewish Philosophy
• Liturgy (Prayerbook)
• Modern Challenges…
Historical events (Holocaust)
Science (Are Miracles Real?)
Personal Experience (Where is G-d in my life?) Shifting
Strategies:
• Historical Strategies…
• Add new prayers to the prayerbook that reflect current views
• Come up with new interpretations of traditional texts
• Modern Strategies…
• Change the language of the prayerbook
New theologies
Kaplan’s Article
• Who does Kaplan think G-d is?
• Doesn’t think that there is a personal or one supreme G-d
• That there are a bunch of smaller, not as strong G-d
• Leaves G-d as an abstract idea
• The motivator to helping those around you
• Not actually going to help you
• How is this view similar to/different from the traditional view?
• Problems…
• Concerned about fascism, nazism, and communism
• G-d isn’t going to intervene supernaturally
• G-d can help people transcend themselves and live out ethical teachings of Judaism
• What do you think the title means?
• That G-d has the power to lead to salvation
Not that G-d is the power, but can lead to salvation Does it
make sense to label G-d as an idea?
It makes sense that not everyone believes in G-d
Could help at least thinking or believing that G-d is an idea at the least
• What makes Judaism?
• The ideals and ethics
• The community
• How it’s passed on
• Education
• About Judaism
• About prayers
• To read Hebrew
• Involvement in the community
• Responses to the video:
• Issues…
• Diminishing the religion if not told to care about it
• Just to do the practices and rituals
• Need to ground the ideas in a higher being
• Going to lose the reason and belief for the religion
• You need to have knowledge (not necessarily even have a lot of care) for it
• They did these practices for certain reasons
• Losing connections to those that started it
• People might be motivated because they enjoy doing it
Might be harder to force your religion down through generations
Post-Holocaust Theology
• Is the Holocaust a Unique Event in Jewish History?
• 2 Primary Views:
Not a Unique Event:
Holocaust as Divine Punishment:
• Holocaust is the term for a type of sacrifice offering in the temple
• A “whole burnt offering” - completely consumed by fire
• Wasserman (Leader of Jewish community killed in the Holocaust):
• Jews killed in the Holocaust are a sacrifice to G-d that will hasten messianic
redemption
Hoping that a Messianic figure will come and fix the problems of the world
• Holocaust as Chastiesment:
• Idea made by Joseph Isaac Shneerson (Lubavitcher Rebbe):
• Holocaust is a way of punishing the Jews for rejecting the Torah and assimilating
to other cultures
• Similar to other “radical communal misfortunes”
• Like the Babylonian Exile - Jews were exiled for going astray from Judaism
• Rejection of views:
• Because we, the Jews, were victims of the Holocaust and cannot/should not be
blamed for the Holocaust
• Is a Unique Event:
• Part 1:
• Rubenstein: “One can either affirm the innocence of Israel or the justice of Gd at
Auschwitz”
• In other words, a G-d who would punish innocent people in this way cannot be just
• Other words, people are deserving of G-d’s punishment because we were not
innocent and had sinned
• Part 2:
Who is the G-d that has died for Rubenstein?
G-d is dead in people’s hearts
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People have forgotten G-d and G-d’s directions
• No communication between man and G-d in these days
G-d has turned away from humanity and G-d’s involvement for people
In order to let human experiment unfold
• Part 3:
• Irving “Yitz” Greenberg (Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire):
• You should not say anything about G-d or in general that you wouldn’t be afraid to
say to the people being slaughtered in death camps
Using the idea of being slaughtered in death camps to compare to most innocent person you can
think of
• What type of statements could be said?
That you can’t blame the innocent for the actions of those before that might not be innocent
• Idea of the voluntary covenant:
That we aren’t bound by the covenant, but that we should choose to reenter it but not be forced
It is worth being a part of but cannot be chosen for you
• Emil Fackenheim (614th Commandment):
• You are not going to have the victory over us, but despite you, we won’t change our
way of lives and beliefs
Not going to change way of life based on what Hitler did to the Jewish people
• Part 4: New Questions
• If one does not or cannot affirm the “G-d of the prophets and the rabbis,” does
Judaism become a matter of personal preference?
• If G-d is not doing anything, then it becomes a personal preference
• Implied, is both the question of Judaism as a personal preference, and is it a choice
Is something gained verses something lost
• Can G-d be involved in destruction, without assuming it is a form of punishment?
• G-d created man, man can punish man, so the destruction is not a form of
punishment by G-d
• Is there a “credible, theological alternative” to the traditional view?
• Post-holocaust, people were not believing in the traditional view because they
thought that G-d didn’t exist
• What is attractive part to the traditional view?
Given hope to keep going and that G-d has a greater plan for you
G-d is balancing all of these factors and is investing in behavior
Hopeful purpose to keep living your life - can’t be left blank
Torah and Revelation
• Core Questions:
• Did the revelation on Mt. Sinai really happen?
• If so, what was revealed?
• Traditionalist View:
• That G-d revealed the Torah in “discrete words and letters”
• G-d spoke and Moses wrote down what G-d said
• That everything in the Torah is divine and all by G-d, nothing from Moses
• Might put more respect and holiness on something that is divine
• Ex. rising when the ark is opened to read the Torah
• What is at stake in this claim?
• If G-d revealed his will clearly to Moses at Mt. Sinai, and Moses recorded it accurately
in the Torah, then every detail in the Torah is binding This leaves little room for
personal autonomy Advantages:
View is clear and consistent Authority
of Torah is absolute
• Disadvantages:
• What if you find a moral or textual problem in the Torah?
• View does not outline a clear response
• Biblical Criticism:
• The documentary hypothesis challenges the idea that Moses wrote the Torah
• Raises two main questions:
• If Moses did not write the Torah, is it still authoritative? Does it express G-d’s will?
• If it is not from G-d directly in some way, then it can’t be authoritative
• Might not express G-d’s will directly
• It revealed an amount of respect for G-d
• If G-d didn’t reveal the Torah on Mt. Sinai, what (if anything) was revealed?
• The ideas of the Torah
• Alternative Views:
• Could something have been revealed at Sinai other than the specific words of the
Torah?
• Rosenzweig’s view:
• Revelation reveals relationship
• On Mt. Sinai, Moses is not given a set of words or ‘behavioral code’ to write down and
pass on
• The encounter with G-d is the revelation
• That encounter commands but it does not legislate
• Heschel’s view:
• G-d will was revealed on Sinai, but the Torah is not a pure record of the divine
will
• Instead, the Torah records how people understood the revelation
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RLST 210 D. Barer
As a result, the Torah is not ‘perfect’ document, but it is still authoritative
Law and Authority in Judaism
• Core Questions:
• What makes Jewish law authoritative?
• How does law function?
• How can (or should) Jewish law be interpreted?
• Law as a Living Organism:
• What does Dorff mean when he describes law as a living organism?
• That the law is ever-changing
• Law is constantly changing and evolving
• Natural selection over time of laws
• Why do you think he chooses this model?
• Natural selection of life
• You learn based on your experiences
• Does it make sense to you?
• Also includes adaptability in certain situations
• How does Law Function?
• Another way of thinking about law is as a a system of rules
• How is this different from Dorff’s view of law as a living organism?
• Adaptation to unanticipated scenarios
• No exceptions, no way around it
• If the rule says X, then you have to follow it
• Do you think one view fits better with the ‘traditionalist’ view of G-d?
• Does one fit better with ‘traditionalist’ view of Torah? Why?
• What makes law authoritative?
Dorff argues against the idea of legal positivism
Positivism: The law is authoritative because it is created by a ruler or legislative body
• In a Jewish context, this means that law communicates G-d’s will (either directly or
through human intermediaries)
• Torah is the constitutional document of Judaism
• Alternative Accounts:
• Brainstorm: What alternatives might there be to legal positivism?
• Moral -
• Ethical - if it contributes to the greater society and that you feel it’s right
• Fear or danger - traffic rules for example
• Gravity for example - it is how it is, cannot be changed
• Example of something that we can describe as reality
• If the law is not authoritative because of who wrote it, why else might it be
authoritative?
• For what it does in the world community
• Natural law theory:
• Law is authoritative if its content is morally correct
• Example: a law prohibiting murder is authoritative because murder is inherently
wrong
• Dorff: “Jewish law is an expression of the love… Jews have for both G-d and for
other human beings”
Law is a framework to express and live out the ideals of the Torah and the covenant
Peoplehood
• Overview:
• Religious Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
Want to return to the Jewish home state
Religious Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want a Jewish state
• Don’t want to return to the Jewish state
• Secular Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Secular Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Jewish Messianism:
• Messiah - (anointed one) will come and re-establish Jewish sovereignty in the
promised land
• Who will bring this about? People or G-d? (Big question in Judaism)
• Is it all G-d?
• Is it all people?
• Is it a shared work between people and G-d?
• Abraham Isaac Kook (Rav Kook):
• He sought to “transform religious messianic longing into a basis for collaboration with
the aspirations of modern Zionism”
• Joseph Soloveitchik:
• Thought that the foundation of the state of Israel is part of G-d’s plan
• Served as the head of the Jewish University in New York
• The Six Knocks - for Soloveitchik, these events are signs of divine activity in history
• Founding of the State of Israel in 1948
• Israeli victories on the battlefield
• Christian support for the Israeli State
Pride of Jewish youth in the state of Israel
Jews can defend themselves against attack
• Jewish immigration en masse to Israel
• He does not call on American Jews to move to Israel, but rather to support Israel
politically and financially?
• Why? What does this suggest but the relationship between the Jewish people and the
Jewish state?
• Thinks that Jews not living there should support Israel politically and financially
• Not everyone needs to move and live in Israel
• Questions for Discussion:
• How is the religious Zionism of Rav Kook or Rav Soloveitchik different from secular
Zionism?
• Different programs for what it means to be engaged in the state
• Still being helpful to create unity
• How might a nationalist understanding of Jewish peoplehood create unity between
Jews? How might it lead to divisions?
• Creates more unity because it gives Jews a bond of belonging and community
• Can move to Israel and just know that you’ll know that you’re accepted
• Jewish Geography
• Once you have a state that represent the community it represents everyone
• As a result of a Jewish state, both Jews and Israelis are representatives of the Jewish
state
Division in the religious community - different levels of observance
Jewish Thought
• The Challenge (Borowitz):
• What role does the idea of commandment play in modern Jewish life?
• How should Jews balance the demands of tradition and the desire for autonomy and
self-determination?
• Autonomy - self-governing, independent, choosing your own actions
• Law:
• Traditionally, Jewish law places constraints on personal autonomy (self-govern)
• Example - wanting to drive over the speed limit, but following constraints
• Why is autonomy so important to liberal Jews?
• Belief that individual decision making is valued by the tradition
• Self-legislating understood an important part of human dignity
• Intellectual Environment:
• Rise of the “science of Judaism” (Wissenschaft des Judentums)
• Attempt for Jews to study their own traditions scientifically
• Not assuming that history comes from G-d but at other historical factors
• Biblical scholarships and the documentary hypothesis
• Judaism comes to be contextualized
• One expression of universal human experiences
• Ethical Challenges:
• If the law or the Torah are divine in origin, then they cannot be challenged
• If the law or the Torah are human, then they can be criticized Two cases:
Langer Case - one parent died, one parent remarried but wasn’t legal because she didn’t
have a get
Mamzer - bastard
Should be allowed to marry someone else because not their fault
• Shabbat Hoax - if someone is crumbled under a house, if you’re Jewish, then you
can help them (if they’re alive)
• What do these cases illustrate?
• Langer case - should have a way to let it be allowed
• It was a general mistake for committing adultery
• Shabbat hoax - if you are saving a life during Shabbat, you should help them
• Only allowed to save the person if they are Jewish
• Rules:
• If unsure who the person is and unsure on the religion, you dig them out
• But, if you see they are dead, then you stop digging until after Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive but not Jewish, then you stop digging until after
Shabbat
• But, if you see they are alive and Jewish, then you keep digging them out
• Do you break Jewish law and follow moral intuition, or break moral intuition and
follow Jewish law?
• Could say that G-d laid out the rules for your morality
• Could say that your morality is more important, could bypass law once
• Cycle of God, Israel, and Torah (the Three pillars and their interconnection)
Jewish Monotheism
• Describing God:
• Gillman’s 4 core ideas…
G-d alone is G-d (only one G-d)
G-d’s will is sovereign
• Makes G-d’s will known and that you have to follow it
• G-d has a stake in human civilization
• Wants things to go well
• G-d is a personal G-d
• Is personal to you
• Exodus 34:6-7…
• What do you see about G-d in this text?
• Kind and gracious
• Understanding because slow to anger
• Honest, clear about reasoning and his unhappiness
• Vengeful - holds a grudge
• Understanding the 13 attributes of G-d:
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful towards people before they sin
• The Lord…
• G-d is merciful even after a person has sinned
• A God…
• Supreme Ruler
• Merciful…
• G-d recognized human frailty and does not lead people into temptation
• Gracious…
• G-d shows mercy even to those who do not deserve it
Slow to Anger…
G-d gives sinners time to repent
Abounding in Steadfast Love…
G-d emphasizes a persons merits
• Faithful…
• G-d is faithful and does not renege on his promises
• Keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation…
• G-d remembers the deeds of righteous ancestors, and acts favorably towards their
descendants
• Forgiving Iniquity…
• G-d forgives the intentional sinner if they repent
• Forgiving Transgression…
• G-d gives whose who rebel against G-d the change to repent
• Forgiving (Unintentional) Sin…
• G-d forgives sins committed through carelessness or apathy
• Clearing the Guilty…
• G-d wipes away the sings of those who repent, clearing them of guilt
• How is G-d depicted?
• Loyal figure
• Understanding figure
• Make it seem like a father-like figure
• Maimonides: 13 Principles of Father:
• Yigdal Prayer
• Anything new being introduced?
• Idea of the Messiah
• Emphasis on Moses and Moses’ prophecy
• The fact that prophecy is real
• Idea that G-d gave Moses a true Torah
• Any similarities to 13 attributes?
Both agree that G-d is one
G-d is the Master of the Universe/Supreme Ruler
• Emphasis on G-d’s loving kindness and compassion
• 13 principles…
• He exists
• He is one
• He has neither bodily form nor substance
• He was first
• Master of the Universe
• Prophecy
• Moses
• A Torah of Truth
• G-d will not alter or change His law
• He sees and knows our secrets thoughts
• He rewards people with loving kindness, according to their deeds
• Messiah
• G-d will revive the lead
• Jewish Theology:
• Main Sources…
• Tanakh (Hebrew Bible)
• Rabbinic Literature (Talmud, Midrash)
• Jewish Philosophy
• Liturgy (Prayerbook)
• Modern Challenges…
Historical events (Holocaust)
Science (Are Miracles Real?)
Personal Experience (Where is G-d in my life?) Shifting
Strategies:
• Historical Strategies…
• Add new prayers to the prayerbook that reflect current views
• Come up with new interpretations of traditional texts
• Modern Strategies…
• Change the language of the prayerbook
New theologies
Kaplan’s Article
• Who does Kaplan think G-d is?
• Doesn’t think that there is a personal or one supreme G-d
• That there are a bunch of smaller, not as strong G-d
• Leaves G-d as an abstract idea
• The motivator to helping those around you
• Not actually going to help you
• How is this view similar to/different from the traditional view?
• Problems…
• Concerned about fascism, nazism, and communism
• G-d isn’t going to intervene supernaturally
• G-d can help people transcend themselves and live out ethical teachings of Judaism
• What do you think the title means?
• That G-d has the power to lead to salvation
Not that G-d is the power, but can lead to salvation Does it
make sense to label G-d as an idea?
It makes sense that not everyone believes in G-d
Could help at least thinking or believing that G-d is an idea at the least
• What makes Judaism?
• The ideals and ethics
• The community
• How it’s passed on
• Education
• About Judaism
• About prayers
• To read Hebrew
• Involvement in the community
• Responses to the video:
• Issues…
• Diminishing the religion if not told to care about it
• Just to do the practices and rituals
• Need to ground the ideas in a higher being
• Going to lose the reason and belief for the religion
• You need to have knowledge (not necessarily even have a lot of care) for it
• They did these practices for certain reasons
• Losing connections to those that started it
• People might be motivated because they enjoy doing it
Might be harder to force your religion down through generations
Post-Holocaust Theology
• Is the Holocaust a Unique Event in Jewish History?
• 2 Primary Views:
Not a Unique Event:
Holocaust as Divine Punishment:
• Holocaust is the term for a type of sacrifice offering in the temple
• A “whole burnt offering” - completely consumed by fire
• Wasserman (Leader of Jewish community killed in the Holocaust):
• Jews killed in the Holocaust are a sacrifice to G-d that will hasten messianic
redemption
Hoping that a Messianic figure will come and fix the problems of the world
• Holocaust as Chastiesment:
• Idea made by Joseph Isaac Shneerson (Lubavitcher Rebbe):
• Holocaust is a way of punishing the Jews for rejecting the Torah and assimilating
to other cultures
• Similar to other “radical communal misfortunes”
• Like the Babylonian Exile - Jews were exiled for going astray from Judaism
• Rejection of views:
• Because we, the Jews, were victims of the Holocaust and cannot/should not be
blamed for the Holocaust
• Is a Unique Event:
• Part 1:
• Rubenstein: “One can either affirm the innocence of Israel or the justice of Gd at
Auschwitz”
• In other words, a G-d who would punish innocent people in this way cannot be just
• Other words, people are deserving of G-d’s punishment because we were not
innocent and had sinned
• Part 2:
Who is the G-d that has died for Rubenstein?
G-d is dead in people’s hearts
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People have forgotten G-d and G-d’s directions
• No communication between man and G-d in these days
G-d has turned away from humanity and G-d’s involvement for people
In order to let human experiment unfold
• Part 3:
• Irving “Yitz” Greenberg (Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire):
• You should not say anything about G-d or in general that you wouldn’t be afraid to
say to the people being slaughtered in death camps
Using the idea of being slaughtered in death camps to compare to most innocent person you can
think of
• What type of statements could be said?
That you can’t blame the innocent for the actions of those before that might not be innocent
• Idea of the voluntary covenant:
That we aren’t bound by the covenant, but that we should choose to reenter it but not be forced
It is worth being a part of but cannot be chosen for you
• Emil Fackenheim (614th Commandment):
• You are not going to have the victory over us, but despite you, we won’t change our
way of lives and beliefs
Not going to change way of life based on what Hitler did to the Jewish people
• Part 4: New Questions
• If one does not or cannot affirm the “G-d of the prophets and the rabbis,” does
Judaism become a matter of personal preference?
• If G-d is not doing anything, then it becomes a personal preference
• Implied, is both the question of Judaism as a personal preference, and is it a choice
Is something gained verses something lost
• Can G-d be involved in destruction, without assuming it is a form of punishment?
• G-d created man, man can punish man, so the destruction is not a form of
punishment by G-d
• Is there a “credible, theological alternative” to the traditional view?
• Post-holocaust, people were not believing in the traditional view because they
thought that G-d didn’t exist
• What is attractive part to the traditional view?
Given hope to keep going and that G-d has a greater plan for you
G-d is balancing all of these factors and is investing in behavior
Hopeful purpose to keep living your life - can’t be left blank
Torah and Revelation
• Core Questions:
• Did the revelation on Mt. Sinai really happen?
• If so, what was revealed?
• Traditionalist View:
• That G-d revealed the Torah in “discrete words and letters”
• G-d spoke and Moses wrote down what G-d said
• That everything in the Torah is divine and all by G-d, nothing from Moses
• Might put more respect and holiness on something that is divine
• Ex. rising when the ark is opened to read the Torah
• What is at stake in this claim?
• If G-d revealed his will clearly to Moses at Mt. Sinai, and Moses recorded it accurately
in the Torah, then every detail in the Torah is binding This leaves little room for
personal autonomy Advantages:
View is clear and consistent Authority
of Torah is absolute
• Disadvantages:
• What if you find a moral or textual problem in the Torah?
• View does not outline a clear response
• Biblical Criticism:
• The documentary hypothesis challenges the idea that Moses wrote the Torah
• Raises two main questions:
• If Moses did not write the Torah, is it still authoritative? Does it express G-d’s will?
• If it is not from G-d directly in some way, then it can’t be authoritative
• Might not express G-d’s will directly
• It revealed an amount of respect for G-d
• If G-d didn’t reveal the Torah on Mt. Sinai, what (if anything) was revealed?
• The ideas of the Torah
• Alternative Views:
• Could something have been revealed at Sinai other than the specific words of the
Torah?
• Rosenzweig’s view:
• Revelation reveals relationship
• On Mt. Sinai, Moses is not given a set of words or ‘behavioral code’ to write down and
pass on
• The encounter with G-d is the revelation
• That encounter commands but it does not legislate
• Heschel’s view:
• G-d will was revealed on Sinai, but the Torah is not a pure record of the divine
will
• Instead, the Torah records how people understood the revelation
As a result, the Torah is not ‘perfect’ document, but it is still authoritative
Law and Authority in Judaism
• Core Questions:
• What makes Jewish law authoritative?
• How does law function?
• How can (or should) Jewish law be interpreted?
• Law as a Living Organism:
• What does Dorff mean when he describes law as a living organism?
• That the law is ever-changing
• Law is constantly changing and evolving
• Natural selection over time of laws
• Why do you think he chooses this model?
• Natural selection of life
• You learn based on your experiences
• Does it make sense to you?
• Also includes adaptability in certain situations
• How does Law Function?
• Another way of thinking about law is as a a system of rules
• How is this different from Dorff’s view of law as a living organism?
• Adaptation to unanticipated scenarios
• No exceptions, no way around it
• If the rule says X, then you have to follow it
• Do you think one view fits better with the ‘traditionalist’ view of G-d?
• Does one fit better with ‘traditionalist’ view of Torah? Why?
• What makes law authoritative?
Dorff argues against the idea of legal positivism
Positivism: The law is authoritative because it is created by a ruler or legislative body
• In a Jewish context, this means that law communicates G-d’s will (either directly or
through human intermediaries)
• Torah is the constitutional document of Judaism
• Alternative Accounts:
• Brainstorm: What alternatives might there be to legal positivism?
• Moral -
• Ethical - if it contributes to the greater society and that you feel it’s right
• Fear or danger - traffic rules for example
• Gravity for example - it is how it is, cannot be changed
• Example of something that we can describe as reality
• If the law is not authoritative because of who wrote it, why else might it be
authoritative?
• For what it does in the world community
• Natural law theory:
• Law is authoritative if its content is morally correct
• Example: a law prohibiting murder is authoritative because murder is inherently wrong
• Dorff: “Jewish law is an expression of the love… Jews have for both G-d and for other
human beings”
Law is a framework to express and live out the ideals of the Torah and the covenant
Peoplehood
• Overview:
• Religious Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
Want to return to the Jewish home state
Religious Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want a Jewish state
• Don’t want to return to the Jewish state
• Secular Zionism
• Want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Secular Anti-Zionism
• Don’t want to create a Jewish state
• Don’t necessarily want to return to the Jewish home state
• Jewish Messianism:
• Messiah - (anointed one) will come and re-establish Jewish sovereignty in the
promised land
• Who will bring this about? People or G-d? (Big question in Judaism)
• Is it all G-d?
• Is it all people?
• Is it a shared work between people and G-d?
• Abraham Isaac Kook (Rav Kook):
• He sought to “transform religious messianic longing into a basis for collaboration with
the aspirations of modern Zionism”
• Joseph Soloveitchik:
• Thought that the foundation of the state of Israel is part of G-d’s plan
• Served as the head of the Jewish University in New York
• The Six Knocks - for Soloveitchik, these events are signs of divine activity in history
• Founding of the State of Israel in 1948
• Israeli victories on the battlefield
• Christian support for the Israeli State
Pride of Jewish youth in the state of Israel
Jews can defend themselves against attack
• Jewish immigration en masse to Israel
• He does not call on American Jews to move to Israel, but rather to support Israel
politically and financially?
• Why? What does this suggest but the relationship between the Jewish people and the
Jewish state?
• Thinks that Jews not living there should support Israel politically and financially
• Not everyone needs to move and live in Israel
• Questions for Discussion:
• How is the religious Zionism of Rav Kook or Rav Soloveitchik different from secular
Zionism?
• Different programs for what it means to be engaged in the state
• Still being helpful to create unity
• How might a nationalist understanding of Jewish peoplehood create unity between
Jews? How might it lead to divisions?
• Creates more unity because it gives Jews a bond of belonging and community
• Can move to Israel and just know that you’ll know that you’re accepted
• Jewish Geography
• Once you have a state that represent the community it represents everyone
• As a result of a Jewish state, both Jews and Israelis are representatives of the Jewish
state
Division in the religious community - different levels of observance
