Context is everything.
Except when it comes to essence, of course. Then the whole point is to strip away context. To distinguish the substantial from the accidental, as we might say in philosophy.
Some context, then, about our search for the essence.
Two weeks ago, in Or Shalom’s adult bnei mitzvah class, rabbinic student Susan Shamash led a discussion of Yigdal. This piyyut, liturgical poem, composed by Daniel ben Yehudah Dayan in 1404, lists thirteen essential Jewish beliefs enumerated by medieval philosopher Moses Maimonides:
God is an eternal non-corporeal unity, the first existent and creator, who communicates to the treasured people, through prophets (especially Moshe), a true and enduring Torah. God, who knows our inner and outer lives, metes out justice accordingly and will one day send Mashiach and revive the dead.
Could we accept all of these principles? Susan invited us to wonder with her.
So, we wondered:
Is Torah unchanging? No; Jewish practice evolves.
Does God really conduct the world with justice? No; innocents do suffer.
Will Mashiach come? Not in the form of a single charismatic leader.
Will God revive the dead? Not literally, but maybe this is a metaphor for reviving our flagging national spirit.
Clearly, the Yigdal’s principles were not our personal principles.
So I challenged the class: Let’s each write our own list of essential principles. The next week, we shared our essential lists.
Tikkun olam (world repair), tradition, Torah, Shabbat, Israel, and the holocaust.
God, the creator, led us through the Exodus, chose us and held us as we wandered. Shabbat and other rituals provide connection, renewing us as we renew them.
Creation’s plan includes a final vision. Prophecy shows the shape, direction and meaning of the plan. The end times will reveal a renewed vision.
A guardian angel and a pure inner soul — but not necessarily in forms familiar to Jewish tradition.
We are connected in an unbroken chain of tradition with our Hebrew, Israelite and Jewish ancestors. God exists inside and outside us as Eyn Sof (Kabbalistic concept of infinity). Judaism’s ethical teachings and ritual practices provide an excellent framework for human life. The metaphorical and analogical thinking underlying Jewish tradition express the structure of reality.
All human beings are created in the image of God.
Where do your spiritual foundations lie? In myth, history, metaphysics, ritual, ideas, ethics or soul experience?
What basic bottom lines animate your faith? Do they connect with teachings in a faith tradition you love? In a faith tradition you reject?
If you think you have faith, in what do you have faith?
Image: www.sanmar.com
