TRIP AROUND THE SUN
39
of 52 Jews
(Conservative)
Thoughts
during the week:
As is becoming
usual, I remembered more that should have been included in last week’s report.
Most of it has to do with the personality of this pastor. In churches like this
one, the pastor’s personality has everything to do with the success of the
congregation. This large church was filled to the gills.
The
closest I could compare him to is one of those really good demonstrators at the
fair – you’ve enjoyed them. They take a set of knives and do magic with them –
or a fancy blender that goes so fast it cooks from friction – making hot soup
from a medley of raw vegetables and a little water and salt. Then they pass it
out in little cups talking the whole time about your health and how much money
you are going to save. They are so excited for us all.
Pastor
Clint was a master. He screamed with delight – he walked back and forth like Tigger the Tiger – “WO! Be a Tigger
for JESUS!!” He cried and had a broken voice at will. Don’t get this wrong,
please – I liked this guy. When someone has this kind of talent, I always hope
his motives are good – because with good motives, a salesman is our friend –
with bad motives, he can do great harm. Meeting his boy was a bit of comfort
for me. Things like this make one human. He invited each new visitor to stand
and introduce themselves, and he asked, “How did you find us?” I said I drove
by and met Paul. He said, “Paul is a great guy!” Asking another visitor,
the visitor said, “I saw you on TV. – You look better there!” Pastor
Clint stood stunned for seconds – and then yelled out with delight, “I like
this guy!!” Everyone was still laughing – and Clint the pastor was definitely
enjoying his goat-hood. During our little ride together in the hotrod, we
talked some. He said, “I’ll bet you have a ball in this car.” I said, “Oh yes –
it gets me lots of attention.” He
looked at me knowingly, and I said, punching him in the side a little, “Me and
you like attention.” “Ha!” he said,
“Life is too short!” On returning in
the hotrod, he yelled out again to the congregation gathered in front of the
church, “Be a Tigger for Jesus!”
I like
both the humor and the substance of that phrase with Tigger
in it. The pastor had declared Tigger to be his
favorite cartoon character; he’s one of mine also. I don’t care much for Pooh. Eyore is actually kind of interesting. There are lots of
good people who move slow. “Enthusiasm” literally
means “God within.” There are forces other than God that (or who) also can have a similar
effect – both good ones and otherwise.
Sometimes
we get a bit of real data when we hear words that come without preparation and
thought. What does a fundamentalist mean when he declares, “Life is too short.”
It indicates a need to get it now – in this
life – a heaven on Earth position – not the “I’m saved forever and this life is
nothing attitude.” I think this pastor is very different from his parishioners
– smarter – but it’s still a position from which he is able to do lots of good
– or otherwise. Is there a scripture in which someone says “Eat, Drink, and be
Merry, for tomorrow we die?” Or is that from Shakespeare or somewhere else? I
know I’ve heard it from the pulpit many times as something to which we should
not subscribe.
The Visit:
Jewish – Conservative
Ner Tamid – 16770-A
When I
arrived, I knew enough to get one of the little caps and put it on. After being
seated, however, the Rabbi came to me and asked, “Are you married?” I said,
“Yes – I am married.” He then took me back out and asked me to take a long
scarf-like cloth that I was to drape across my shoulders – the two ends hanging
in the front. Later I talked with someone about this – and when he heard of the
question about whether I was married, he was puzzled – he said I should wear it
whether married or not. The marriage question may have been about something
else – maybe where I was sitting or something ???
The
first nearly an hour was spent singing and the Rabbi reading – but essentially
all in Hebrew. Once in a while there was “transliteration” in the book – that’s
where the English pronunciations of the Hebrew words are written so people who
don’t know Hebrew could sound out the readings and the songs.
This
all leads to very poor music, as even most of the Jews do not know the Hebrew.
I thought it might be hard to have a report on anything – if the meeting
continued in this way.
Here’s
an example from the web of transliteration:
nilavup paattu nilavup paattu...oar naaL kaettaen
moongil kaattil moongil kaattil...naanum padiththaen
nilavup paattu nilavup paattu oar naaL kaettaen
moongil kaattil moongil kaattil naanum padiththaen
nilavup paattu nilavup paattu oar naaL kaettaen
moongil kaattil moongil kaattil naanum padiththaen
andha isaiyin ragasiyam iru uyirukkup
purindhadhu
iru uyirukkup purindhadhu ingu yaarukkuth therindhadhu
isaiyil kalandhu midhakkum thenRalae isaiyin magaLaip paarththadhillaiyoa
Then we read these and pronounce them – and the magic of
Hebrew comes from our mouths.
Here is an example of some actual
Hebrew: (Sorry about the length – it’s a picture from the web – not actually
characters – comes as a unit.)
I, of
course, have no idea what it says – but more important, most of the Jews also
do not. This emotional attachment to a language has always puzzled me. The Catholics
used to speak the Mass only in Latin. Why would they do this? Men put together
these languages. They are more like science than religion – they are not
sacred, but simply useful. Right now – right here – English is the most useful
to have a successful meeting – perhaps Spanish is next – and it falls off
quickly from there.
While
all this was going on, I was trying to follow – and get a minute in between to
look at the Torah – and the commentary – to try to get a comparison with what I
saw with the Reformed Jews. (It was easier there, as about half of it was in
English – and transliteration was available for all of it – making it more
possible to keep on the right page.)
I was not
successful in finding commentary on the plagues – in particular the killing of
the firstborn of the Egyptians – but I did find this – referring to landmarks
during the Exodus:
The
landmarks mentioned in these verses have long ago disappeared, and cannot be
identified with certainly. The precision, however, with which they are
designated, guarantees that the spots were once well known.
(This
was interesting – because the precision of the historical writings is used to
help determine the truth of them – rather than taking the position, “This is
God’s word, period.”)
Continuing:
No portion of the world outside of
(Several
interesting things here – “Bible” is acceptable as a synonym for “Torah.” There
is, however, no Old Testament – and certainly no New Testament. It is simply
the Bible or the Torah. “Popular” is not the same in meaning at all as
“important.” To us, it appears that the Passover is the most important thing of
all to the Jews – but Jews recognize that it is not so much the most important
– as the most popular.)
Continuing:
“the Lord looked forth.” Metaphorical for lightning.
One glance of God’s eye sufficed to throw into hopeless confusion the enemies
of his redeemed firstborn.
(The
firstborn – released from the destroying angel by the miracle of Passover – are
here regarded as the ones Pharaoh was after – rather than all the Hebrew
slaves. This as if the deliverance of the firstborn was a deliverance from
Pharaoh – not from the destroying angel. If this really happened as written in
the Old Testament or the Torah – then it seems to me it was not from Pharaoh,
but from God that the firstborn needed to be protected and delivered. Then of
course, all the Hebrews needed to be delivered from Pharaoh. In other
words, the miracle of the lamb’s blood was to be saved from God – not from
Pharaoh.)
Continuing: “discomfited.” Threw into confusion. The
text does not allude to the means whereby the panic of the Egyptians was
produced. The Psalmist supplies this omission. “The clouds flooded forth
waters; the skies sent out a sound. The voice of thunder was in the whirlwind;
the lightnings lighted up the world, etc.
(At the
other meeting – this confusion was given as a possible interpretation of
“killing of firstborn.” They became so confused it was no longer clear who was
firstborn and who was not – thus – the death of the firstborn. I could not find
this same opinion in this commentary. I still suspect it may be there, but that
I just didn’t find it.)
Now two
most interesting topics came from the Rabbi’s talk – (IN
{I
value English only as a scientist and for communication where we live; it has
no religious significance to me. I did request an English-speaking mission,
because I thought I could do a better job using the language I knew. All three
boys served in Spanish-speaking missions – and can now have private conversation
in my presence.}
Topic One: Muslim Terrorism
(This
Rabbi had been very soft-spoken up to now – but his enthusiasm became very
visible and audible now.)
We are
told over and over and over when we hear of Muslim terrorism, that the vast majority of Muslim people are not
terrorists, but peace-loving people. That’s entirely accurate and entirely
irrelevant.
The
passive behavior of the vast majority
of Germans under Hitler did nothing to stop the killing of Jews.
The vast majority of Russians under Stalin
would not themselves have killed Jews and other innocent people – but that
didn’t stop what was happening.
It is
meaningless at best and terribly evil at worst to say that a large majority is
non-violent.
Few
Palestinians strap bombs to their children, but the majority support this by
word or by silence.
(Most
Mormons supported a belief in God’s curse against the Negro race this same way
– by voice or by silence. If someone wanted to speak out against it, he was not
allowed to speak – or told to change his subject. I suspect that Muslims who
speak out against Muslim terrorism are not popular. I know that no one did when
I visited the Muslims – they talked instead of how Allah had turned millions of
Jews into monkeys.)
What is
said daily about Jews in Mosques is no different from what was said in
Their
peaceful lifestyle is doing nothing to stop the violence.
Islamic
groups have criticized individual acts of violence, like 9/11 – but no Islamic
group has criticized Islamic terrorism in general.
(I
don’t find I can argue very strongly against this position. I can say with
surety, however, that Jews celebrate terrorism every year when they celebrate
Passover. The killing of the firstborn was terrorism, pure and simple. It
always seems that our terrorism is
justified or even heroic, while the other
guy’s terrorism is evil and completely without justification.)
(The
truth is that terrorism is simply the war tool of the weak against the strong.
David could not meet the giant hand to hand, so he acted from afar with a new
tool of war that the big guy didn’t understand. That’s part of why it makes no
sense to believe it was God who killed the firstborn of the Egyptians – that
would be the strongest, God, against
the weaker Pharaoh. It must surely have been a tool of the
weaker, the Hebrews, against the
stronger, Pharaoh.) Why would God use
terrorism, when he could simply have taken out the Pharaoh and any others
necessary for the escape? God don’t shoot pool, He don’t
play football, and He don’t fight wars – we do these things, and we have a
tendency to pray that God will help us win.)
Topic Two: Most important of the Ten Commandments.
What is
the most important of the Ten Commandments?
Individuals
in the congregation responded in whispers or little more – and what I heard was
“Thou shalt have no other Gods.” I also thought this
would be the Rabbi’s answer. I also whispered that answer.
You may
think it’s the one concerning the unity of the one and only God, but that is
not it – not according to The Rabbis.
(Now
this phrase is interesting in itself – this is
a Rabbi speaking – who are “The Rabbis?” I think it must be like our “General
Authorities.”)
According
to The Rabbis, the most important is: “Honor thy Father and thy Mother.”
If we
do not honor parents, then also we will not honor grandparents – and we will
not honor great grandparents – and eventually we dishonor God – as the Father
of us all.
(How
literal is this to Jews? – It appears here that God is in our genealogy. This
becomes clear later.)
But
honoring our parents, according to The Rabbis, means also to honor our
teachers.
Then
his question: If a parent and a teacher are both in trouble, who do we redeem
first?
(I hear
from the congregation – Parents.)
No –
the answer is that we redeem the teacher first. If the parent also is an
honorable teacher, then they are the same. A parent is a teacher.
He
said, “Judaism does not honor biological
parenthood.”
(Boy –
do we see otherwise – born to a Jewish mother, one is automatically a Jew – but
even within this congregation, their answer did not agree with what the Rabbi
was saying – so it may well be that the doctrine (The Rabbis) supports his
contention rather than what most Jews actually do. We have much doctrine like
this also, that is, doctrines the majority of us do not follow. We don’t want a
list, do we?)
(Now –
with parenthood having naught to do with biology – God does become the Parent
of us all – because He is the teacher of us all, which, among
Jews, is far more to be honored than a biological link. So
much for the study of the genes – genealogy. Rather than study the sire
of the sire of the sire, Jews might like to ferret out the teacher of the
teacher of the teacher. Probably a much harder job.)
With
transliteration, then, we had some music.
And the
Rabbi gave us a bit of comedy relief, which was welcomed by all.
“What
is the difference between a British person and a Jew?”
“The British
person leaves without saying goodbye.”
“The
Jew says goodbye over and over - and then never leaves.”
And
then a retired couple were brought up front. They are
joining a group in
The
Rabbi said in his closing, “May you be a blessing to your new neighbors as you
have been to us.” There were tears among the people.
39
of 52 Jews
(Conservative)