Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: learn how to use Jewish language

Capturing the imagination of the Jewish people
 
Progressive thinkers need to stop sulking and learn how to use Jewish
language as a progressive force. Only then will they be able to
agitate effectively for change.
 
By Dr. Samuel Lebens / Jewish World blogger Tags: Jewish World Jewish
law
 
 
Two statistics, culled from the same recent survey, made quite a mark
upon the comment pages of Ha’artez: 80% of Israelis believe in God and
70% believe that Jews are the chosen people. According to Uri Misgav,
the first statistic indicates that Israelis are pretty stupid. After
all, no enlightened and educated figure could believe in God in this
day and age), and according to Gideon Levy, the second indicates that
the average Israeli is a neo-fascist racist.
 
But, to me, these statistics actually say very little.
 
What and who is God? One of my rabbis was accused of being an atheist
by another rabbi. His response? "Well, in a sense, it’s true. I
certainly don’t believe in the God that he believes in," he said. For
any two Jews, there’s likely to be three views as to what and who God
really is, so the consensus that 80% of Israelis believe in God could
actually be a smokescreen for an incredibly diverse array of
theological convictions.
 
Some of those theists might have an Aristotelian conviction that the
nexus of cause and effect that we call the physical universe must have
some uncaused cause standing outside of it. Some of those theists
might be very subtle Wittgensteinians who know that, strictly
speaking, all God-talk is nonsensical mumbo-jumbo, but rely upon it as
the only way to show, somehow, what it is they vividly experience in
their rare moments of revelation, even though they recognize that,
fundamentally, language fails.
 
Some varieties of theism might be stupid and unthinking, but Aristotle
and Wittgenstein were no pushovers. To tarnish all varieties of theism
with the same brush is to engage in brutal oversimplification that
belies any claim to philosophical literacy.
 
Rabbi Lord Jakobowitz argued, beautifully, that every nation is chosen
by God. The Romans may have been chosen to introduce the world to the
notion of the rule of law, the British to introduce parliamentary
democracy, and the Americans to showcase the running of a liberal
democracy with a racially diverse population. All of these nations
have had their successes and their failures.
 
We too, the Jewish people, may have been chosen to bring our unique
cultural assets to the table. This isn’t to adopt a shred of racism;
it is to acknowledge a responsibility, to accept a calling. Some
interpretations of our "choseness" may be exclusivist and xenophobic,
but as Rabbi Jakobowitz demonstrated, that doesn’t have to be the
case.
 
If you want to be a progressive political activist or commentator in
Israel, fighting for justice for Palestinians and Israeli Arabs, and
fighting for the separation of religion and state, then you still need
to know how to speak the language of the people. The language of the
Jewish people is still to a great extent the language of Judaism. What
this survey does tell us, more than anything else, is that only if you
are "Jewishly literate" will you be able to capture the imagination of
the Jewish people.
 
Progressive thinkers need to stop sulking about this fact and learn
how to use that language as a progressive force. If they cannot speak
the language of the Jewish people, then they will never be able to
agitate effectively for change. Instead, they can only give up,
emulating Elijah who - in his darkest moment - concluded that the Jews
were beyond hope.
 
To think the statistics of 80% of Israelis believing in God and 70%
believing that the Jews are the chosen people tell us anything about
the intelligence or politics of the Israeli public is not only
offensive, but lacks imagination. It lacks the capacity to envisage
the wide variety of interpretations open to Judaism.
 
If you like, let Martin Luther King Jr. be an example. Was he an
unintelligent bigot just because he spoke in the language of the
Bible?
 
Uri Misgav started his article with a quote of John Lennon. I end mine
with a misquote: Imagine there’s a heaven. Imagine that there’s a God
who overflows with love for you and for every other living being.
Imagine that He calls upon us as a community and upon you personally,
to be a blessing; not a dogmatic preacher of intolerance, but a social
activist for righteousness and justice. This is the sort of
progressive language that actually has the power to move Israelis,
because, thank God, overwhelmingly they believe in God.
 
Dr. Samuel Lebens teaches Jewish philosophy at Yeshivat Har’el in the
Old City of Jerusalem. He studies at Yeshivat Har Etzion, holds a PhD
in metaphysics and logic, and is the chair of the Association for the
Philosophy of Judaism.
 
http://www.jidaily.com/U9i6d/e
 

 wrote:
 
qui c'era la scorreggia di un alcolista che non si intende di
religione. E vive a Roma.
 

On 22 Feb, 13:53, il Jabotinsky della Pelota Basca
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io sostituirei la E con un POICHE'