1. Story about identity
2. Camus: Sacred no and Sacred Yes, Sisyphus
3. Michael Lerner
4. Borowitz
2. Camus: Sacred no and Sacred Yes, Sisyphus
3. Michael Lerner
4. Borowitz
SACRED NO (RESISTANCE)
Camus’ The Rebel
What is a rebel? A [person] who says no, but whose refusal does not imply a renunciation. (S)he is also a person who says yes, from the moment (s)he makes his first gesture of rebellion. A slave who has taken orders all his life suddenly decides that he cannot obey some new command. What does he mean by saying "no"?
He means, for example, that “this has been going on too long.". "up to this point yes, beyond it no," "you are going too far," or, again, "there is a limit beyond which you shall not go."
What is a rebel? A [person] who says no, but whose refusal does not imply a renunciation. (S)he is also a person who says yes, from the moment (s)he makes his first gesture of rebellion. A slave who has taken orders all his life suddenly decides that he cannot obey some new command. What does he mean by saying "no"?
He means, for example, that “this has been going on too long.". "up to this point yes, beyond it no," "you are going too far," or, again, "there is a limit beyond which you shall not go."
Judaism as Counterculture
The Hasidic master Rebbe Nahman of Bratslav tells us that this is what it means to be a Hebrew. For a Hebrew, an ivri, as the word in Hebrew suggests, is one who crosses over (ovr) boundaries and obstacles, and in particular the obstacle of meaninglessness and despair.
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Why are we called ivrim? Genesis Rabba 42:8
The Hasidic master Rebbe Nahman of Bratslav tells us that this is what it means to be a Hebrew. For a Hebrew, an ivri, as the word in Hebrew suggests, is one who crosses over (ovr) boundaries and obstacles, and in particular the obstacle of meaninglessness and despair.
Michael Lerner, Jewish Renewal, "Why Jews Left Judaism."
And I went to a variety of Jewish community centers, to universities, to professional associations, and even recruited some subjects at polling places in inner-city Jewish neighborhoods. All in all, I spoke to 357 people in every part of the United States, Canada, and England, and asked them about their lives, their values, and their relationships to: their Judaism. I found that most Jews who distanced themselves from the Jewish community or from Judaism did so not because Judaism was too different from the materialistic and self-indulgent ethos of American society, but because the Jewish community and Judaism were too similar to the larger society. The Judaism that they had been offered was stultifying and, like the dominant culture in American society, spiritually deadening—it had never engaged them on a spiritual, intellectual, emotional, or aesthetic level. While many had warm memories of specific holidays and so had adopted some form of observance of these holidays, few felt that the tradition and the teachings had commanded their attention or allegiance. I do not present the interviews as systematic or objective data, but rather am presenting a subjective interpretation of what I heard.
And I went to a variety of Jewish community centers, to universities, to professional associations, and even recruited some subjects at polling places in inner-city Jewish neighborhoods. All in all, I spoke to 357 people in every part of the United States, Canada, and England, and asked them about their lives, their values, and their relationships to: their Judaism. I found that most Jews who distanced themselves from the Jewish community or from Judaism did so not because Judaism was too different from the materialistic and self-indulgent ethos of American society, but because the Jewish community and Judaism were too similar to the larger society. The Judaism that they had been offered was stultifying and, like the dominant culture in American society, spiritually deadening—it had never engaged them on a spiritual, intellectual, emotional, or aesthetic level. While many had warm memories of specific holidays and so had adopted some form of observance of these holidays, few felt that the tradition and the teachings had commanded their attention or allegiance. I do not present the interviews as systematic or objective data, but rather am presenting a subjective interpretation of what I heard.
Eugene Borowitz, The Masks Jews Wear, “Creative Alienation”
Today, [humanity] needs people who are creatively alienated. To be satisfied with our situation is either to have bad values or to understand grossly what [persons] can do. …Creative alienation implies sufficient withdrawal from our society to judge it critically, but also the way and flexibility to keep finding and trying ways to correct it. I think Jewishness offers a unique means of gaining and maintaining such creative alienation. This was not its primary role in the lives of our parents and grandparents.
Today, [humanity] needs people who are creatively alienated. To be satisfied with our situation is either to have bad values or to understand grossly what [persons] can do. …Creative alienation implies sufficient withdrawal from our society to judge it critically, but also the way and flexibility to keep finding and trying ways to correct it. I think Jewishness offers a unique means of gaining and maintaining such creative alienation. This was not its primary role in the lives of our parents and grandparents.
וַיְכֻלּ֛וּ הַשָּׁמַ֥יִם וְהָאָ֖רֶץ וְכׇל־צְבָאָֽם׃ וַיְכַ֤ל אֱלֹהִים֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔י מְלַאכְתּ֖וֹ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֑ה וַיִּשְׁבֹּת֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔י מִכׇּל־מְלַאכְתּ֖וֹ אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשָֽׂה׃ וַיְבָ֤רֶךְ אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־י֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔י וַיְקַדֵּ֖שׁ אֹת֑וֹ כִּ֣י ב֤וֹ שָׁבַת֙ מִכׇּל־מְלַאכְתּ֔וֹ אֲשֶׁר־בָּרָ֥א אֱלֹהִ֖ים לַעֲשֽׂוֹת׃ {פ}
The heaven and the earth were finished, and all their array. On the seventh day God finished the work that had been undertaken: [God] ceased on the seventh day from doing any of the work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy—having ceased on it from all the work of creation that God had done.
David Hartman
The setting of the sun ushers in a unit of time where the flowers of the field stand over and against man as equal members of the universe. I am forbidden to pluck a flower or to do with it as I please; at sunset the flower becomes a “thou” to me with a right to existence regardless of its possible value for me. I stand silently before nature as before a fellow creature of God and not as a potential object of my control, and I must face the fact that I am a man and not God. The Sabbath aims at healing the human grandiosity of technological society.
The setting of the sun ushers in a unit of time where the flowers of the field stand over and against man as equal members of the universe. I am forbidden to pluck a flower or to do with it as I please; at sunset the flower becomes a “thou” to me with a right to existence regardless of its possible value for me. I stand silently before nature as before a fellow creature of God and not as a potential object of my control, and I must face the fact that I am a man and not God. The Sabbath aims at healing the human grandiosity of technological society.
SACRED YES: AFFIRMATION
From Abraham Joshua Heschel’s The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man (1951)
The higher goal of spiritual living is not to amass a wealth of information, but to face sacred moments. In a religious experience for example, it is not a thing that imposes itself on man but a spiritual presence. (Sabbath, p.6)
To gain control of the world of space is certainly one of our tasks. The danger begins when in gaining power in the realm of space we forfeit all aspirations in the realm of time. There is a realm where the goal is not to have but to be, not to own but to give, not to control but to share, not to subdue but to be in accord. Life goes wrong when control of space, the acquisition of things in space, becomes our sole concern. (Sabbath, p.3)
As civilization advances, the sense of wonder declines. Such decline is an alarming symptom of our state of mind. Mankind will not perish for want of information; but only for want of appreciation. The beginning of our happiness lies in understanding that life without wonder is not worth living. What we lack is not a will to believe but a will to wonder. Awareness of the divine begins with wonder. It is the result of what man does with his higher incomprehension…What fills us with radical amazement is not the relations in which everything is embedded but the fact that even the minimum of perception is a maximum of enigma. The most incomprehensible fact is the fact that we comprehend at all. (Heschel, God in Search of Man, pp. 46-7)
The higher goal of spiritual living is not to amass a wealth of information, but to face sacred moments. In a religious experience for example, it is not a thing that imposes itself on man but a spiritual presence. (Sabbath, p.6)
To gain control of the world of space is certainly one of our tasks. The danger begins when in gaining power in the realm of space we forfeit all aspirations in the realm of time. There is a realm where the goal is not to have but to be, not to own but to give, not to control but to share, not to subdue but to be in accord. Life goes wrong when control of space, the acquisition of things in space, becomes our sole concern. (Sabbath, p.3)
As civilization advances, the sense of wonder declines. Such decline is an alarming symptom of our state of mind. Mankind will not perish for want of information; but only for want of appreciation. The beginning of our happiness lies in understanding that life without wonder is not worth living. What we lack is not a will to believe but a will to wonder. Awareness of the divine begins with wonder. It is the result of what man does with his higher incomprehension…What fills us with radical amazement is not the relations in which everything is embedded but the fact that even the minimum of perception is a maximum of enigma. The most incomprehensible fact is the fact that we comprehend at all. (Heschel, God in Search of Man, pp. 46-7)
Countercultural:
Sonnet 130
Yoma 69b
What are the things?
Borowitz.
Sonnet 130
Yoma 69b
What are the things?
Borowitz.
Finish with Source which are countercultural-- Crossing Over
1. Shabbat
2. Kiddushin 30a
3. Learning Lishma--Avot 4:2
4. Breaking the Idols
1. Shabbat
2. Kiddushin 30a
3. Learning Lishma--Avot 4:2
4. Breaking the Idols
(ו) שאין לך מדה טובה הימנה. שלא תאמר שבלמוד חכמת יונית בהכרח אלמד מהם מדיניות והנהגה ומדות טובות. להכי קאמר שאין לך מדה טובה הימנה. כי כל המדות טובות ערוכות בכל ושמורות בה. ועוד יש לפרש דתנא דידן מהדר אכולהו מוסרי החכמים וקאמר שאין בכל המדות טובות שיעצוך שתקנה ותשתלם בהן כמדה הזאת שיעצתיך שזאת היא עולה על גביהן. מד"ש:
(6) FOR THERE IS NO BETTER TRAIT [Heb. middah]241Tosafot Yom Tov understands the word as “trait” or “characteristic”, the way it is indeed used in other contexts. The simple understanding of the word here, however, would be something like “way” or “lot”. THAN THIS. You should not think that through learning the wisdom of the Greeks you will certainly learn proper behavior and good character. The mishna says “there is no better trait than this”, for all good character traits are arranged and included in it. Alternatively, our tanna is addressing all of the ethical teachings of the Sages and saying that, from among all of the good character traits that the Sages have advised you to acquire and perfect yourself in, none is like this trait about which I have advised you, for it is the greatest of them all—Midrash Shmuel.