Mensch•Mark For Elul 8 - Loving Righteous Ways - Ohev Et HaTzadakot
In Judaism, doing is far more important than believing, or even learning – unless the learning leads to the doing,
The Talmudic tractate Avot, 6:6 provides a roadmap as to how to live an ethical life. This passage includes 48 middot (measures) through which we can “acquire Torah.” See the full list here. For the coming days, running from the first of Elul through Yom Kippur, I’ll be highlighting one of these middot, in order to assist each of us in the process of soul searching (“heshbon ha-nefesh”). Today’s middah:
Loving Righteous Ways - Middah Ohev Et HaTzadakotURJ’s Take
In Deuteronomy we read: "Do that which is right and good in the sight of God" (Deuteronomy 6:18). Rabbi Mark Washofsky explains that this requires us to act as a holy people in every aspect of our daily lives, in our contact with all our fellow human beings, in our social and economic pursuits and in our ritual activities. (Jewish Living: A Guide to Contemporary Reform Practice p.297)
This teaching is echoed in text that comes from the book of Isaiah. Judaism is a faith rooted in righteous good deeds. One cannot simply be a repository for Torah knowledge. The essence and purpose of study is action. Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah used to say:
One whose wisdom exceeds his or her good deeds what is that person like? To a tree whose branches are many, but whose roots are few; and the wind comes and uproots it and turns it upside down. But the one whose good deeds exceed his or her wisdom, what is that person like? To a tree whose branches are few, but whose roots are many, even if all the winds in the world were to come and blow against it, they could not budge it from its place. (Pirkei Avot 3:22)
Rabbi Elisha ben Abuyah created another metaphor for those with knowledge and varying amounts of good deeds. He said that a person who has learned much Torah and has good deeds is like a horse which has reins. The person who has the first—much Torah, but not the second—good deeds, is like a horse without reins: it soon throws the rider over its head. (Avot de Rabbi Natan xxiv, 39a as found in The Rabbinic Anthology # 469)
In Jewish tradition, studying and doing go hand in hand. In the midrashic commentary Tanna Debe Eliyahu, we learn that an individual should first be a decent human being (in other words a mensch—Yiddish for a good decent individual) before seeking to acquire learning:
"Let a person do good deeds, then ask Adonai for knowledge of Torah: let a person first act as righteous and upright individuals act, and then let that person ask Adonai for wisdom: let a person first grasp the way of humility, and then ask Adonai for understanding."
BARBARA BINDER KADDEN
MY TAKE: Deed and Creed
It’s often claimed that Jews are overwhelmingly secular, and if they bother to think about God at all, a large percentage are agnostic. But that doesn’t mean that these Jews are not “religious.” In fact, when we evaluate their religiosity on purely Jewish terms, rather than buying into the prevailing Christian notions of faith found here in the West, Jews come off as being astoundingly “religious” after all.
A 2012 Pew survey of Jews and Jewish Values illustrates my point perfectly. At least 8-in-10 American Jews say that pursuing justice (84%) and caring for the widow and the orphan (80%) are somewhat or very important values that inform their political beliefs and activity.
More than 7-in-10 also say that tikkun olam, healing the world (72%), and welcoming the stranger (72%) are somewhat or very important values.
A majority (55%) say that seeing every person as made in the image of God is somewhat or very important in informing their political beliefs and activity.
In Judaism, doing is far more important than believing, or even learning – unless the learning LEADS to the doing, and doing primarily equates to ways in which we care for our neighbor.
Further, as I wrote in a column about the casting of an agnostic Jew in the role of Tevye, “Agnosticism for a Jew is part of that ongoing dialogue with divinity that is Tevye's specialty. It is in fact the ultimate expression of spirituality, the religious quest as extreme sport.”
The essence of Jewish belief is questioning; its spirituality is fueled by skepticism. The very term "Israel" means to struggle with God. The first Hebrew passage a Jewish child learns is the "Four Questions" recited at the Passover seder. Those who claim to be agnostic are actually more true to classic Judaic forms of religiosity than those who profess blind faith. Christians are nurtured on dogma; Jews are nurtured on doubt, which is a prime reason for Judaism's increasing popularity among other Americans in a time of uncertainty.
In essence, the only truly Jewish way to show love for God is not to believe, but rather to express the loving in the doing, in the living of a just and righteous life.
See this excerpt from my 1994 sermon, Spirituality and Religion
Spirituality is also about social action. Spirituality is about healing others, it is about giving selflessly, it is about sharing deep insights and terrifying fears, it is about glowing candles and incessant questioning from children. It is about life and death and life from death -- in short, it is about everything that organized religion does twenty four hours a day,
And - it's about dues, and leaky roofs and staff hirings, and yes, although I shudder to say it, it's about politics too. Spirituality is about forming a community and making it work. One night while Web-surfing I came across a discussion group on the subject of why people don't affiliate with synagogues. I think that woman from the personals ad must have been one of the contributors - there were about fifty in all. They recited the entire litany of depressing things we all know too well, the high cost, the cliquishness that turned them off, the politics.
See my book, Menschmarks: Life Lessons of a Human Rabbi