Oppenheim Arts & Letters

Monotheist Reconstruction

Source: YouTube poster "IsraelNationalTV".  "Singer & Gimpel Show 41 - I'm a proud Jew but I hate keeping commandments."  September 21, 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg_umLwS1es

Born of beer, cowgirls, and NASCAR and a whole lot of other things known to American boys, I'm a reconstructing Jew: I keep a good 19th Century sort of Sabbath with Siddur and Torah at hand, but I don't unscrew the lighbulb in the refrigerator.

There is this one thing about being Jewish: to the enemies of the Jews, a Jew is a Jew no matter how distant from the religious wellsprings and ritual connections of Judaism.

For a Jew among Jews, I suppose there's some competition beneath the oversights and determinations of God, but I'm not playing.  Like Tevye, I have my talk with the Almighty, essentially thanking him for the wine and would he please take care of this one or help me with that or make some other good thing a better good thing.

At brass tacks, however, I believe also that I'm a creature of the universe graced with empathy and imagination, and if the God of Leviticus, to whom no one sacrifices and burns sheep these days--and good God I hope not--hasn't appeared in familiar form for a while, perhaps the form has changed with our appreciation of the living and of the All.

We evolve, mind and spirit, perceptions and ideals.

I rise from Judaism and what I know of Jewish culture and life as one does a firm deck or foundation.  It is the earth beneath my feet. 

I do not however cling to the insensible.

It is one thing to, and with discipline, rest on the Sabbath, and those who know me know I do, but it would be another thing altogether to keep a dark refrigerator and put appliances on timers, much less hire gentile helpers (as I have read some do), to spare me the effort of touching a switch or the committing sin of making fire by turning a knob on a stove.

Keep the spirit, not the letter, says I, and though some may call me heretic for it, those who hate me most would still call me a Jew, and but in that one observation they would remain right.

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A New Year -- in Ecstatic Harmony

Source: YouTube poster "cornerstonemusic".  "Mayim Medley."  Posted October 29, 2008: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjiMlEec5cU.  Caption: "Cornerstone Choir and Orchestra Sing the Mayim Medley of song with the Cornerstone CUFI singers."

Source: YouTube poster "cornerstonemusic".  "Hava Nagila Texas Style."  Posted October 28, 2008: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WF6irnzAiI

Religion mixed with politics makes the strangest bedfellows.

Well, L'Shana Tovah, my online frenemies: from time to time, it is okay to be happy and at peace, and if the two videos posted above don't make you feel happy and peaceful, Allah help you, for faith should boost one's spirits in a good way.

Credit Jerusalem Post columnist Isi Leibler with circulating through e-mail the URL's to the above videos.

Through his column, Leibler notes the following:

The principal reason for Evangelical support is that unlike other Christian groups, they reject replacement theology, which teaches that God forsook the Jews for having rejected Jesus. They respect Judaism as the foundation of Christianity and believe that the Jews will always remain God’s chosen people. They believe that the Jewish claim to Israel is based on the biblical promise from God. That may embarrass secular Jews, but for traditional Jews it remains the core of their relationship with the Holy Land. [1]

Leibler goes on to note that, "Evangelical political clout with the Democratic administration is considerably weaker than it was under president George W. Bush. Nevertheless, with more than 60 million adherents, they still represent one of the most powerful political forces in the United States."

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I told my last girlfriend--both most recent and probably last forever--who wanted a Messianic Jewish household, which I interpreted as Christianity on a Jewish holiday schedule, that it seemed that "half the world wants to kill us, and the other half wants to convert us."

Personal lesson learned: Jewish culture and Judaism remain in me, at least, a breathing, organic inseparable experience.  Should such ever be consigned to "heritage", it will then be a dead thing--may it neither die in me or with me.

Still, this is a New Year, calendar day -- 4 Tishri 5770: may all start refreshed with all.

May all start with you.

Reference

1. Leibler, Isi.  "Evangelicals: An Appreciation."  Isi Leibler Candidly Speaking From Jerusalem, August 17, 2009: http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=1759; The Jerusalem Post, August 16, 2009: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1249418620257&pagename=JPArticle/ShowFull

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Latency

Source: Aish.com, Sunday, 24 Elul, 5769: http://www.aish.com/sp/pg/57973927.html

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Anti Anti-Semitism

This last verse proves that the Quran is declaring that it is the will of God himself to gather the children of Israel again into their promised land before the end days. Accordingly, No Muslim has the right to interfere with the gathering of the Jews in Israel, as this is the will of God himself.

The latter verse made me look at Israel as the ultimate representation of God’s power and the wonderful declaration of his existence. [1]

For the many pockets of Islamist violence around the world, Islam has its intellectual antibodies, and may they strengthen in numbers and perception.

The writer of the above, Tawfik Hamid, has developed a second career out of a first one with the militant Jihad.

Today he's the advocate of broader and more gracious perspectives.

Pearls grow out of the irritation induced by a single grain of sand.

Here too our irritant pains and sorrows grow pearls.

Cited Reference

1. Hamid, Tawfik.  "Why I Love Israel Based on the Quran."  Somebodyhelpme.info, June 7, 2004: http://www.somebodyhelpme.info/righteous/Tawfik_Hamid/Why_I_love_Israel_based_on_the_Quran.pdf

Other Reference

Darwish, Nonie.  Arabs for Israel (web): http://www.arabsforisrael.com/pages/23/index.htm

Somebodyhelpme.info.  "The Arab-Israeli Conflict, Middle East Realities, and Islamo-Fascism": http://www.somebodyhelpme.info/

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Language - Tangential Co-Evolution

I had written: "From what American schoolchildren are being taught by their teachers to what Americans are being told by their presidents, concepts unique to Islam are nowadays almost always 'Westernized.'… [T]his phenomenon has resulted in epistemic (and thus endemic) failures, crippling Americans from objectively understanding some of Islam's more troublesome doctrines." [1]

Via the Middle East Forum, Raymond Ibrahim's remarks well recognize the existence of a extensive body of literature culminating in clerical judgment and edict.

As one associate noted, one might argue the meaning of a Qur'anic ayat  broadly only to find more certain and swift anchorage in the Hadith, Sunnah, and Tasfir and all their flowdown into hair-splitting exegesis.  If language is a cultural technology, one aspect of it in which I believe, then Islam has been working on its own machinery for 1400 years.

For a glimpse into how not parallel or graced with "parity" languages are, here is one of the great contemporary theological experts hashing through Persion, Latin, and Arabic (and his words are in translation too).

Dr Soroush began by explaining the concept of secularism. He said: In Persian, we don’t have a specific term for ‘secularism’; in fact, it’s a term that’s unique to the Latin languages. Most Arabic speakers haven’t found an equivalent for it either and they’ve mostly chosen to use the foreign original. Of course, in Persian, terms such as gitianegi and/or donyaviat have been suggested (derived from the words for the cosmos and the world). In Arabic, too, the term ilmaniat has occasionally been used which is derived from the term for ‘science’ or for ‘the world of differences’. In the Latin languages, ‘secularism’ is derived from the word saeculum, meaning here and now; that is to say, this world and not the next world, this world and not the world beyond. So, in effect, secularism is a confirmation of one world and a rejection of two other worlds. It means that our concern is focused on this earthly, natural world, in which we’re living now, that we’re seeking to understand and to succeed in the world we’re in; we’re not concerned about the world after death or the world beyond (the supernatural). On the whole, secularism is a rejection of asceticism, a confirmation of partaking in and of this world in every sense of the term, and a snubbing of the hereafter and the supernatural. [2]

Abdolkarim Saroush has his own intellectual encounter with the Divine through which to journey in cultural-linguistic multiplex.  Although touted as a now renegade pro-democracy Iranian scholar (he who appointed by Ayatollah Khomieni himself oversaw "the expulsion of a significant number of academics and students from universities that he felt were not revolutionary or religious" [3]), his Wikipedia entry sports this slight upside-downism:

Soroush's political theory is in line with the modern tradition from Locke to the framers of the American constitution. It portrays human beings as weak and susceptible to temptation, even predation. As such, they need a vigilant and transparent form of government. He believes that the assumption of innate goodness of mankind, shared by radical Utopians from anarchists to Islamic fundamentalists underestimates the staying power of social evil and discounts the necessity of a government of checks and balances to compensate for the weaknesses of human nature. [3]

Right keys (" . . . Locke to the framers of the American constitution"), discordant melody:  America's colonizing prigs, ne Puritans, may have thought the "assumption of innate goodness" shared by radical and evil elements--the same that booted them out of England--but old Ben Franklin and the energetic Thomas Jefferson and others--no: " . . . that all men are created equal" proved their opening salvo, not that some are better believers in God than others, and those others need the judicious mastering of a paternal government.

Nonetheless, such verbal card tricks well point out the remarkable creativity with which humans have evolved separate communicating metonymies: our most critical symbols recognize and address similar issues, but they don't cluster in similar ways.

My most simple example of functional metonymy has been this: if I say, "Fireplace" you say what? 

You may have some answers, even the one I have in mind, but the one noun should remain open to many possibilities.  However, should I have said "Fireplace and stockings," the intuitive choices in minds where Christian culture predominates should be quite narrow.

We may call it the "Salvation Army", and it may function with some discipline and zeal, but it is no army and the charity it receives has no destination known to arms; in Islam, charity may be charitable but it may include a most uncharitable and willful end--the spread of Islam abetted by violence to those who are not of it and wish not to be subdued and enslaved in its name: "For example, in its section on zakat, the Arabic-English edition of the standard legal text, 'Umdat as-Salik, translates fi sabil Allah as "those fighting for Allah." Next to the index entry for fi sabil Allah, it simply says "see jihad"--notes Ibrahim's article.  Ibrahim follows through with the meaning of "Jihad" of deepest interest to those most enthralled by it and to those most understandably fearful of the former.

Those who know me know well that I have referred to the Islamic Small Wars as conflicts for detectives and poets from the first peep into the misery in central and south Somalia, and here it would seem the poets, or poet-scholars, blessed with extraordinary cultural, language, and linguistic abilities and skills, have much work ahead of them.

Reference

1. Ibrahim, Raymond.  "When Will Westerners Stop Westernizing Islamic Concepts?"  Middle East Forum, August 25, 2009: http://www.meforum.org/2441/westernizing-islamic-concepts

2. Saroush, Abdolkarim.  "Militant Secularism."  Nilou Mobasser, Translator.  Source (foreign language): http://www.roozneveshtha.com/2007/08/post_135.shtml; drsoroush.com, August 2007: http://www.drsoroush.com/English/On_DrSoroush/E-CMO-2007-Militant%20Secularism.html

3. Wikipedia.  "Abdolkarim Soroush": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdolkarim_Soroush

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The Convergence of Virtue

A good phrase by Rabindranath Tagore, the great Indian poet, comes to mind here. He said: So long as a child is born, it shows that God hasn’t lost hope in humanity. Now, if I were to view the world from God’s perspective, I’d say that we still haven’t lost hope in humanity. Nor have we lost hope in religiosity. I still believe that religious people are behind many endearing manifestations of humanity. If you look at all the charity work that is done in the name of religion, you’ll see that there’s still no shortage of this kind of thing. I’m living in the United States where there are very many religious people who do good works. The women who work as nurses in leper colonies are still Christian nuns and they do what they do because of their religious beliefs. There are still good and pious souls in the world. You can find hundreds of examples of this kind of moral conduct. Of course very dangerous things have also been done and are being done in the name of religion. [1]

The speaker: Abdulkarim Soroush: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdolkarim_Soroush

I have learned, possibly the hard way, that empathy in human affairs is not a given, nor perhaps are faith in God, charity, courage, and humility, but then where such virtues do exist, they do so in hearts and heads across every divide imaginable.  Whether the religious facet within a culture encourages the development and sustainment of a predominantly virtuous society whose precepts approach the universal would seem part of a question with which we're struggling.

As we pull our heads out of our own geocultural and geophysical sands, we may rediscover more core values held in common than differences

Love of education and a healthy respect for books (and each book a universe)?  If you're here, you have got that.

Recognition of the divine in others?  Perhaps that is more challenging, but one reaches to perceive the experience and position of some other, a labor not entirely of empathy and imagination but of inspiration too.

Secularism provides for an individuated and introspective journey into the eternal backward through cultural and spiritual legacy and forward through the consideration of new ideas and the experience without design of spiritual ecstacy and epiphany.

One day we wake up and we know what we did not the night or hour before.

Jewish American Transcendentalist?

I've had a little bit of fun with "Divine Rational Universal Monotheism" as a catchy seed, but having encountered Catholic anti-Semitic views, pressure to convert from the Lutheran quarter, the appellation of monkey or pig (in Gaza, "donkey" suffices) from the Muslim one, one may be obligated to at minimum recognize attachments to unreconstructed (and both patronizing and divisive) dogma in every fragment of the theokalaedescope.

Reference

1. Amiri, Nooshabeh.  "Some of our Clerics are no Better than the Taliban: Interview with Abdulkarim Soroush."  Paris, April 2009, appearing at dsoroush.com: http://www.drsoroush.com/English/Interviews/E-INT-20090500-SomeOfOurClerics.html

Related Reference

Catholics for a Changing Church: http://www.ccc4vat2.co.uk/site2.2/Newfiles/index.html - an exploring and introspective center for universalized thought.

For that nagging "the Jews killed Christ (God)" message: Guimaraes, Atila Sinke.  "Jewish Sanhedrin Re-Established."  Tradition in Action, Bird's Eye View of the News, December 20, 2004: http://www.traditioninaction.org/bev/060bev12-20-2004.htm

OA&L Related

Oppenheim, James S.  "Islam - One Scholar."  Oppenheim Arts & Letters, November 14, 2008: http://commart.typepad.com/oppenheim_arts_letters/2008/11/islam---one-scholar.html

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Do we compete to develop and sustain intensely conflicting institutions, or do we work to sustain a virtuous faith in the Divine and the elevation of mankind universally to an evermore compassionate, empathetic, and ennobled state?

Man certainly has a relationship with the universe, earth, and with nature that would seem as yet unsettled and possibly under-explored; as for the relationship with God, I would think it happier were its discussions and proposals not so often leveraged for the many suspect pleasures known to despots.

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Take Joy in the Being of Others

A Note on Jewish Identity -- My Own

Salomon, Rabbi Yaakov.  "American Jewry in Trouble: What Can We Do About It": http://www.aish.com/b/52570727.html

I've enjoyed my literary solitude, and I prize it partly for not being courted or patronized by church or synagogue.   God and I alone own my soul.   However, Jews have now again the curse of living in interesting times, and it would seem half the world wants to convert us--I would not make a happy "Messianic Jew": that would be a birthright taken from me--and some other hidden half, gathering between anti-Semites and Islamofascists, wants to kill us.

One finds out about being a Jew when challenged by the prospect of becoming something else, especially when prodded by someone else's will.

If I am a good person, Rabbi Salomon, it has not come from reading Torah but from having been raised in a decent Jewish family amid a sea of books and provided through Jewish ideals and accommodations a broader consciousness of others than may have been the case if raised some other way.  If there is a Grand Central Station for "rational universal monotheism", Judaism has been it, and that with a maximum of compassion and a minimum of magical thinking.

It has been some time since the world has seen Jewish priests waving about burnt offerings to propritiate a "jealous God".  Instead, from the Torah through Maimonides and on to Lassa Oppenheim, composer of the world's first authoritative volume on international law (published in 1905, it remains in active use),  the Jewish way has produced much of the legal and transactional framing through which the modern world lives when it lives at its human best.

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I posed this question in an arch sense elsewhere: Suppose a Palestinian Arab refugee youth, boy or girl, approached a border one day and said to the guard, "This Islam is killing me and no other state in Islam  will accept me.  I want to be Jewish.  I want asylum in Israel," would the guard turn him away?  We know the fate for apostate, collaborating, and heretical Muslims at the hands of Islamists: what is the guard's duty?  What is Israel's obligation?

I may be looking some from the outer banks of Judaism toward its heart this morning, but such a question combining divine and human concern and generous good will for practical real-world application strikes me as indicative of a particularly Jewish mode of thought.

That special book is here, and I do read it from time to time; I also keep the Sabbath; however, kosher doesn't interest me; still, I feel Jewish: it may be said that ethical Judaism owns my soul but I'm not immune to that little bit of momentary connection with the divine through the Jewish experience and way.

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Judaism's Soul and Divine Rational Universal Monotheism (DRUM)

Some of the Jews were “practicing” and some were not, but they shared a deep (and cultural commitment) to justice and equality. To a person, the hundreds of Jews I worked with were dedicated to the depths of their souls to a world of justice and peace. The religious Jews sometimes framed this as a burden placed in their hands (and the hands of all Jews) by God. Their unswerving dedication to do good was a “mitvah.” In this context, a mitvah commonly means an act of kindness and consideration that is done without thought or expectation of recompense or recognition. In fact, most mitvahs are done or given secretly, and these are the most smiled upon by God. Hence, many of the Jews I worked with were not in leadership positions giving news conferences or getting paid for the work in the movement. They worked, often tirelessly and often at great personal risk, out of the limelight. More “tightly” mitvah means following the 613 commandments in the Torah.

Wolf, Rowan. "Israel, Palestine, and a Personal Conflict." Truth Spring, January 16, 2009: http://truthspring.info/2009/01/16/israel-palestine-and-a-personal-conflict/

Yesterday, I was looking for the humorous punch line, "Please God, choose somebody else" and found the first reference Googled up an article on Jewish humor on a Jews for Jesus web site:

Our Scriptures tell us that God chose us as a people for himself, to make his name great among the other nations, and to bless us. Nowadays, such an idea brings a smirk or an offhand remark like Tevye's in Fiddler on the Roof: "Lord, I know we are the chosen people, but once in awhile couldn't you choose somebody else?"

Perlman, Susan.  "Jewish Humor in Not So Funny Times."  Issues, April 1, 2005: http://jewsforjesus.org/publications/issues/15_10/jewishhumor

At Modelmayhem.com, where the model-photographer community knows me as "commart", it seems there has been at least one thread every week devoted to aspects of the Jewish mystique.  The gallery launches challenges, questions, and remarks, some good, some less so, on the nature of Jewish culture, ethnicity, race (no such thing), and religion.  Most sparks come from gentiles, but some launch as counterpoints from Jews--well, at least one recently: "'Judaism is a Religion, not an Ethnicity'".  Note the interior quotation.  The provacateur said, "I've seen that written a few times around here. What's the issue? Why do people want to stress this? Curious Jew wants to know!"

Thread location: http://www.modelmayhem.com/po.php?thread_id=464902

One tires of the curiosity or interest that may belie an anti-Semitic grudge or two, for few others delve into such as, say, B'Hai or Scientology or Christian Science or any of a number of interesting groups with as much gusto.  Perhaps more disquieting, may be the matter of finding laudable explanation, in part or whole, on web sites that may best be interpreted as representing communities of the erstwhile fans of Judaism who if Jewish might extend themselves into the Christian ethos, if Christian may wish to appropriate the Jewish cachet and holiday cycle, and, if Muslim and modern, may extoll the virtues without dredging up matters from Banu Quraiza to the present contemplation of the destruction of Israel and of the Jews as a majority power in their own state.

Whether killing with guns and insensate politics or klling with kindness and co-option, the good news for today's curious may be that access to facets of Jewish faith and life may be as near universal today as its quiet good deeds, insights, and tenets.

Judaism 101: http://www.jewfaq.org/toc.htm, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism

Jewish Cuisine: http://www.thejewishcookbook.com/

Jewish Encyclopedia: http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/

Jewish Prayer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shema_Yisrael

Reversion to Judaism: http://www.aish.com/

Tanakh: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanakh

Torah im Derech Eretz: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torah_im_Derech_Eretz

Torah Ummadah: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torah_Umadda

The above list may do for anyone's briefest introduction and orientation to Judaism and Jewish life.

There may be a little humor in it as well with AISH listed as I have it, but perhaps a fundamental plea to those who ask with animosity about Jewish culture, ethnicity, and religion would be look and to search independently and without politics for and on so much light.

To those who have found cause to write with a good heart about the Jewish experience from their various walks, mine as a most assimilated American included, I would suggest keeping or perhaps revising one's Sabbath, whether taken on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, for there is something also in the Jewish soul revived by the week's special day of deep separation from the concerns of business and continuous maintenance, productivity, and work.

Sunset will come at 8:42 p.m., making this upcoming and near-solstice day of rest, from dusk Friday night to dark on Saturday nigh, a long one to match what  in another era (and still for some) would have been days of work and care fully as long.

Here's a sweet note on the Sabbath and its candle lighting ceremony:

To greet the Sabbath, Jews traditionally light candles, which symbolize the new light that is brought into the home with the Sabbath’s arrival. Jewish mysticism maintains that every Jew is granted an enhanced soul for the duration of the Sabbath. Accordingly, a spiritual portal (that is much less accessible during the other days of the week) opens wider on that day. Our “enhanced soul” is an opportunity to access this expanded, spiritual realm. The candles remind us to take advantage of this expanded spiritual stream. Traditionally, as the Sabbath approaches, Jews light at least two candles, which, according to kabbalistic teachings, represent the feminine and masculine forms of Divine energy. To derive the most benefit from this appealing concept, many Jewish families adopt the custom of lighting one additional candle for each member of their household.

Source: Weisenberg, Tehila.  "Soul Lights."  Sasson, n.d.: http://www.sassonmagazine.com/pageed.php?m_id=39

I can't speak for God (none should be so presumptuous), and if the Jews have been divinely gifted, there's not much I can do about it; however, if the Jewish way reflects ways of being and of thinking and of facilitating good for its people, then I should think so many others interested in the same might wish to draw themselves closer to Jewish philosophy and ritual.

Whether Jewish or other rational monotheist, let us all start with observance of just the one day apart and at peace.

A good Sabbath to all.

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Exalted - That Old Time Religion

YouTube poster "ye073": "Give Me That Old Time Religion" sung by Mahalia Jackson, posted April 19, 2008: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l4_4OO5lAs

Wikipedia: "Mahalia Jackson": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahalia_Jackson

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