Chanukah Musings
Regards from Bais Chana...
It’s not as warm as I had hoped, coming to Florida from Minnesota. But here we are, outside of Orlando on beautiful camp grounds (hey, someone has to do it…) with some thirty delightful teenagers plus the staff, for the winter session of Bais Chana - and we’re learning Tanya!
Most of the girls are attending Jewish schools of one sort of another and all have been told that Judaism is beautiful, mitzvoth are beneficial, Torah is wise, the Maccabees were brave, Yosef was handsome, etc. But no mention of Divine Will (ratzon elyon) no mention of G-d’s pleasure or displeasure. No mention of Divine Kavanah, purpose of creation or the relationship between G-d and His Mitzvot nor between G–d and His people.
Sounds like Greek to me!
The Greeks of Chanukah believed in beauty, physical and spiritual. Judaism was spiritually beautiful, they agreed, so why spoil it by insisting that it is G-d’s Torah, His Mitzvot, for His pleasure? Do the Mitzvot if it makes you a more perfect human specimen. Study Torah if it makes you more intelligent. But do a Mitzvah for G-d? Not that the Greeks didn’t worship gods, deities of all sorts, they even bowed to them and offered incense.
But to the Greeks, all spiritual matters were part of human perfection: master the earth, master the heavens. Never merely to please a G-d who knows what He wants, we are not pawns in creation! We are not puppets to some celestial puppeteer! We aren’t wimps wanting to please! We are the captains of our fate – masters of our souls!
Only the week before I was in New York for the Shabbaton Retreat (you may have heard the live broadcast of the Saturday night talk). There I was making the argument for G-d’s needs. He needs the Mitzvah more than you do, etc.
The idea met with some resistance (as it always does): He is perfect, why would He need? The mitzvah is for our benefit on earth and in the hereafter.
Lately I have been thinking of the hereafter a lot. I guess that comes with age. I open the refrigerator and wonder, “what am I here after?” or I come into a room and think, “what am I here after. (Okay, so that’s an ‘old' joke…) But, I digress….
At that Saturday night lecture, one woman said to me, “I found myself resisting the idea of G-d needing our Mitzvot and wondering why. Then I realized that if the Mitzvah is for me I can fudge it a little. But if He really needs it then I have to do it and I have to do it right!
So, what do you think?
It’s not as warm as I had hoped, coming to Florida from Minnesota. But here we are, outside of Orlando on beautiful camp grounds (hey, someone has to do it…) with some thirty delightful teenagers plus the staff, for the winter session of Bais Chana - and we’re learning Tanya!
Most of the girls are attending Jewish schools of one sort of another and all have been told that Judaism is beautiful, mitzvoth are beneficial, Torah is wise, the Maccabees were brave, Yosef was handsome, etc. But no mention of Divine Will (ratzon elyon) no mention of G-d’s pleasure or displeasure. No mention of Divine Kavanah, purpose of creation or the relationship between G-d and His Mitzvot nor between G–d and His people.
Sounds like Greek to me!
The Greeks of Chanukah believed in beauty, physical and spiritual. Judaism was spiritually beautiful, they agreed, so why spoil it by insisting that it is G-d’s Torah, His Mitzvot, for His pleasure? Do the Mitzvot if it makes you a more perfect human specimen. Study Torah if it makes you more intelligent. But do a Mitzvah for G-d? Not that the Greeks didn’t worship gods, deities of all sorts, they even bowed to them and offered incense.
But to the Greeks, all spiritual matters were part of human perfection: master the earth, master the heavens. Never merely to please a G-d who knows what He wants, we are not pawns in creation! We are not puppets to some celestial puppeteer! We aren’t wimps wanting to please! We are the captains of our fate – masters of our souls!
Only the week before I was in New York for the Shabbaton Retreat (you may have heard the live broadcast of the Saturday night talk). There I was making the argument for G-d’s needs. He needs the Mitzvah more than you do, etc.
The idea met with some resistance (as it always does): He is perfect, why would He need? The mitzvah is for our benefit on earth and in the hereafter.
Lately I have been thinking of the hereafter a lot. I guess that comes with age. I open the refrigerator and wonder, “what am I here after?” or I come into a room and think, “what am I here after. (Okay, so that’s an ‘old' joke…) But, I digress….
At that Saturday night lecture, one woman said to me, “I found myself resisting the idea of G-d needing our Mitzvot and wondering why. Then I realized that if the Mitzvah is for me I can fudge it a little. But if He really needs it then I have to do it and I have to do it right!
So, what do you think?
posted by Scruz | 8:04 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home