The Jews were shocked by what they saw. It is said that our toast on wine – “Le chaim”, i.e. “to life”, originated in contradistinction from that time and that our tradition of not clinking wine glasses also forms part of this.
In today’s liberal western democracies, we value our freedoms. Our primary focus is upon celebrating life rather than death. Society places freedom of speech and freedom of the press as pinnacles of our democratic way of life. But, not all freedoms are equal.
The freedom of life, i.e. the sanctity of life over death is a far higher freedom than is the freedom of speech – every individual has the fundamental right to life; the right to feel and to be safe and secure. The individual right to free movement and to free thought are essential basic rights. Democracies must engage with these fundamental principles and confront their true priorities.
Freedom of speech under the protection of democratic law cannot be used to incite the killing of other human beings in an undemocratic and lawless manner. This is not a democratic freedom but a denial of the most basic democratic principle which the founders of democracy fought so hard for and died for. The fundamental right of life.
Life, liberty and fraternity. This is the correct order of principles.
The “people of the book” value life above all else. Jewish law is about life and how to live life. When a person dies, Jewish law covers the correct procedures, as do our customs and traditions.
The whole point behind the famous biblical story about Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah, when G-d tested them to make their sacrifice, is about life. G-d forbids us to kill a human being to prove our love and our belief in Him. Only G-d gives life and takes life. No servant of G-d has the right to kill in the name of G-d. G-d is the G-d of the living here on our earth.
We have the right of self-defence and this must only be applied very carefully. All such “rights” become relevant due to communities comprised of groups of individual human beings.
Belief is a personal dimension and experience of life. Bureaucracy, on the other hand, is a man-made necessity as well as expediency to help organise society. Bureaucracy should never dictate belief and belief should never become affected or compromised by bureaucracy.
Many people have negative experiences on some occasions when they visit a religious communal service. They quite likely may feel uncomfortable, unfamiliar, unwelcome; they could be distracted by others, not enjoy the experience, find it boring, or not wish to participate. There are many people who associate belief with what their negative experiences of particular bureaucracies may have been. It is interesting to note that the vast majority of people who go to restaurants, theatres, movies, sporting events etc., or who read books, do not simply avoid such activities due to particular bad experiences. They learn from the experiences and look for new and improved, often different ones.
Bureaucracies may not adequately reflect belief, but surely such situations should not challenge an individual’s basic personal belief. True belief is above bureaucracies.
The individual and the group; a family or a club comprised of people who choose to belong; the prayer of an individual and the collective prayer of a specific group which considers itself an integral part of a larger, wider group – this tension can be resolved by being inclusive rather than being exclusive.
This is belief together with bureaucracy.
3: Continuity
What is continuity? Why should one want to continue? Continue what? And what about Jewish continuity?
First one has to define what is “Jewish”. One is either born to a Jewish mother, or can convert Halachically12 and thus join the Jewish people. Anyone can become Jewish.
12 From Halacha – the collective body of Jewish religious law, including Biblical law (the 613 mitzvot) and later Talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.
What is “being Jewish”?
Obviously, being Jewish is deeper than eating chicken soup or listening to Jewish music. Jewish culture is very interesting and absorbing for some; but in which period of history and within which geographical location?
A Frenchman is French to the end, as is an Englishman; but what about their grandchildren who emigrate to Canada or to Sweden? What is the identity of a person living in Germany whose great-grandparent was born in Morocco, or of an Iranian family that moved to Argentina, Peru or Brazil a hundred years ago? And how would you define a South African immigrant to Australia whose family had originally lived in Holland or Russia for centuries? And what about the children of such a person?
There is no end to the possibilities: marriage between a Spaniard and an Italian; the offspring of a Yemenite father and an Indian mother; a third-generation Chinese living in the US, or a seventh generation Ugandan African working in the Congo …
If this approach to identity were the true definition of “being Jewish”, then Jewish continuity would have been gone long, long ago. All the world’s great ancient civilisations have left behind some relics, but no readily identifiable descendants. We can visit the remains of ancient Rome, climb the Parthenon in Athens and enter the pyramids in Egypt. There are magnificent, exciting, enchanting and breathtaking ruins of great civilisations in Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, Cambodia and elsewhere – but where are the offspring of those who created them?
When we compare ourselves to every other people and civilisation, we find out that we Jews have defied every possible parameter of history and logic and all the standards of self-preservation.
But Jewish continuity is not about living in the past; rather, it is all about the future connecting with the past through the present. It is about caring, sharing and belief. It is about quality of life, spiritually and physically. Rather than ignoring or negating materialism, Judaism contains it – without worshipping it. Its truth and power are components of a lifestyle which does not allow them to be used for the mere exploitation of others. It contains justice and righteousness. It values the future even more than the present. Its focus is the priorities and commitment of the group, beyond individual self- interests; caring and sharing.
We all like to feel good about ourselves and some of us even like to feel good about others, but so what? We say that people should be “good people”, but what does this mean?
Is this a modern-day phenomenon, “A Current Affair”? Not really! It has been alive and relevant in each and every generation throughout history. Even way back, in Biblical times, our ancestors were confronted by the same issues. Throughout the Book of Genesis, the “Jewish People” are called the “Children of Israel”. They were then an extended family. In a certain sense, the Jewish people have always remained an extended family. By calling ourselves “the Children of Israel” we declare ourselves the descendants of the family of our patriarch Jacob (also named “Israel”) – his “twelve tribes”. Our patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, were real human beings. This was their continuity.
At the very end of Bereishit (Genesis), Joseph dies in Egypt. Joseph – one of Jacob’s sons, brother of twelve and father of two of the “twelve tribes of Israel”, the man who became the right hand of the great Pharaoh of Egypt and who was instrumental in saving Egypt from the great famine, thus making Egypt the mighty nation that it became – that wonderful, outstanding human being