Judaism promulgates a teleological worldview – that history is moving toward a specific goal, namely, the Redemption, or the Messianic era. So how can a generation as dissolute as ours be redeemed? To be redeemed, Hashem, wants the maximum from us Jews: study Torah; love your neighbor as yourself; keep Shabbat; don’t speak disparagingly about others; keep kosher – the whole nine yards. But the minimum requirement to be redeemed is to identify as a Jew. As assimilated as a Jew may be, he can still be redeemed. However, the starkest defection from the Jewish People is to side with those sworn to our destruction. According to Jewish law, every person born to a Jewish mother is Jewish, even if s/he converts to another religion. But a Jew needs to minimally cast his/her lot with the Jewish community to be redeemable. Why should a dissolute Jew who identifies as a Jew be redeemable? According to our sages, the Patriarchs and Matriarchs passed their spiritual DNA down to their descendants. This spiritual safety net is called, “zechut avot,” the merit of the forefathers. But zechut avot, like any inheritance, only becomes yours if you claim it. Your grandfather can bequeath you a bank account worth a million dollars, but if don’t show up at the lawyer’s office and identify yourself as Jake Levy’s grandson, you won’t have access to his fortune. If you don’t actively identify as a Jew, you can’t inherit the precious fortune of zechut avot. Jewish identity is what prompted Kirk Douglas to fast every Yom Kippur. As he proudly stated, “I might be making a film, but I fasted.” Jewish identity is what prompted Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to post a large silver mezuzah on the doorpost of her Supreme Court chambers. Jewish identity is what prompted movie star Scarlet Johansson to stand up for Israel at the cost of her prestige as an Oxfam ambassador. The Passover Seder speaks about four sons. Only one of them is cast as “wicked.” As the Hagaddah states: “The wicked son, what does he say? ‘What is this service to you?’ ‘To you,’ but not to him. Because he excludes himself from the community, he is a heretic. … Say to him, ‘Because of what God did for me when I went out of Egypt.’ For me, but not for him, because if he would have been there, he would not have been redeemed.” The first Passover marked the birth of the Jewish nation. Every Passover since poses the challenge to every Jew: Are you in or are you out?
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 18:11:28 +0000
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