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This week we talk about our Torah Together classes (which are awesome!), Jewish theological education, and the possibility of a PunkTorah movie (but we need your help!).
PunkTorah Radio: Torah Together, Atheist Judaism, and PunkTorah the Movie!
I watched Christopher Hitchens the other day on YouTube. The “Arch Bishop of Anti-Theism” remarked that the Jewish G-d was a genocidal megalomaniac and bemoaned how anyone could worship such a terrible deity.
Ironically, Christopher Hitchens is Jewish. But that’s a whole other story.
If you read Parshat Ekev, you’re left wondering if he’s right. The Hebrews are about to enter the promised land, and Moses is telling them to do some pretty cruel things to the Canaanites on G-d’s behalf. “You shall not spare them…no man will be able to stand up before you until you have destroyed them…their gods you will burn with fire…you shall drive out those nations from before you” (Deuteronomy 7:16-22).
So I guess you’re right, Hitch. G-d, it seems, doesn’t have a lot of loving-kindness for the Canaanites.
If you have the chance, watch a documentary called The Bible’s Buried Secrets and you’ll learn something interesting about the ancient Israelites: they weren’t exactly the mighty warriors that the Bible talks about. In fact, they were shepherds, outcasts, nomads, serfs…people on the fringes of society.
I know a little bit about people on society’s fringe. I’ve spent a good bit of my life there, as a nerd, a weirdo, a freak, a rocker, an artist. I think my teen years were the culmination of all of these identities.
Anyway, these are the people today who sit on the outside of society. Something we all have in common: we like stories that give us strength. We generally feel powerless, whether it’s powerless over some popular kid at school, a loudmouth boss at work that won’t leave you alone, whatever. So we come up with elaborate stories that give us a sense of belonging, a sense of unity with people in our struggle, and ultimately, stories where we win in the end. Pop culture is filled with these stories: Revenge of the Nerds, Napoleon Dynamite, American Splendor, Ghost World, SLC Punk…these are our “Parshat Ekevs” (or would that be Ekevot?)
Imagine what it must have been like to be a beaten up surf in the Bronze Age, a social pariah of your time, totally worthless to any community you tried to belong to, and then have someone tell you that you are chosen specially by the one true G-d who believes in you and that you are actually the descendent of mighty warriors. Sounds pretty rad to me.
So yes, Hitch, this G-d seems like a tyrant. But when life won’t stop beating you up, it’s nice to know that you have some muscle on your side and that you belong to something bigger than yourself.
A Jewish family moves to a new town. Wanting to put their son in the best school possible, they enroll him in a Catholic prep school down the street.
One day the child comes home from school and says, “Dad, today I learned something really amazing in school. There’s three Gods. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
The angry Jewish father yells, “Don’t believe that lie son! We’re Jewish! There’s only ONE God, and we don’t believe in Him!”
I love this joke because it’s really true. 52% of Jews do not believe in G-d.
As a peddler of religion, I think a lot about this trend. Jews simply don’t believe in theism. This, and a lack of good spiritual engagement (which is different that religion, ritual, history and culture), is why we’re in a spiritual recession.
It was a conversation with an atheist friend of mine who turned me on to learning more about the growing Humanist Jewish community. Taking the mysticism out of Judaism and making it people-centered, this Judaism should be the biggest thing since sliced challah (pun intended).
My first stop was OurJewishCommunity.org. Founded by the rabbinical staff of Congregation Beth Adam (a humanistic synagogue in Ohio), OurJewishCommunity is doing a lot to engage non-theistic Jews in the Jewish tradition. My favorite part of the site is the streaming Shabbat videos, which I have watched many times over a glass of wine.
While over half of Jewish America does not believe in a Creator, humanist congregations are tiny compared to organizations like Chabad. I asked Rabbi Laura Baum of OurJewishCommunity.org and Beth Adam about this disconnect, and she replied:
“Some folks affiliate with the congregation or movement in which they grew up as a child – even if they no longer believe the core tenets. There are those for whom congregational affiliation is simply a matter of finding the most convenient congregation [geographically]… rather than making sure the…belief system of the congregation aligns with their own thinking.”
My next stop on my G-dless Jewish Adventure was a conversation with my mother. Discussing this issue, my Mom replied, “I dated a man who was a Jewish atheist when I was in my twenties. He didn’t believe in Judaism, but he was very strong in his Jewish identity.”
I found myself at the Southeast Limmud Festival (a weekend Jewish conference) living this issue. A woman was complaining about the lack of non-religious programming at the festival. She’s here to celebrate Judaism, but damn it, there better not be any religion involved! I joked with a friend, “it’s like signing up for a Christian fellowship retreat and complaining that there was too much Jesus and not enough Frisbee.”
That’s the way all my friends are. My circle of close friends is about 30% Jewish. And of those people, I only know a handful of Jews who have expressed overtly theistic feelings. The rest are culturally Jewish, but extremely proud of that and willing to give their blood for the cause of the Jewish People.
It didn’t completely hit me until I did a fundraiser for PunkTorah where we gave away copies of our Indie Yeshiva Pocket Siddur. The response from my friends was great! So many people donated to PunkTorah, but several replied, “oh, that’s OK…I don’t need a siddur. That’s not my thing.”
My head swarmed with questions. Can the Jewish people exist without the central figure of Judaism? Does Judaism need G-d, anyway? Maybe none of this ultimately matters.
I found my answer after going out on a date with a Jewish girl who was also non-spiritual. She told me that she does not believe in Judaism religiously, but has a deep connection to the ritual and community. She went on to talk about the Jewish summer camps she has worked at, the alternative spring break trips to poor countries, the tikkun olam projects she has been involved with and her leadership among Jewish youth. She had this glowing look in her eyes as she spoke so fondly about her work in the community.
And then it hit me. The Chasidim teach that there is a spark of the divine in everything. So maybe, there is a spark of the divine in atheism? And it inspired by own midrash:
“Once upon a time, G-d gave the Torah to Moses at Mount Sinai. All the G-d fearing people stood at the base of the mountain, trembling in awe as the cloud of G-d’s eternal Being covered the mountain top and thundered down with a mighty roar.
As Moses descended the mountain, he saw the Hebrews scurrying around their tents, discussing the awesomeness of G-d, their new responsibilities toward each other and the future of their tribe. And Moses was delighted.
But off in the distance Moses saw something strange. There were Hebrews who were not celebrating G-d. They were not talking about the new holy laws that were before them. They did not care about the thunder and smoke.
Moses got angry and approached this group. “How dare you not accept G-d’s law?”
One of the group stood up and said, “Moses, everyone was at the base of Sinai and left the sick, the hungry and the dead behind. We stayed here to care for them. We don’t know who or what G-d was, and we do not know what Torah is. But we do know that our people needed us, and we were there for them when no one else was.”
Moses smiled in relief and replied, “Thank G-d you were here with the people who needed you and not the G-d that wanted you.”
