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November 27, 2009
Tackling Jewish ethics
Conference attracts big name participants.
DAVE GORDON
“There are six, maybe seven of us,” Rabbi Shmuley Boteach announced recently, lamenting that so few prominent, internationally known figures exist who dedicate their professional lives to bringing Jewish values to the mainstream.
Radio host and best-selling author of 23 books through his organization, This World: The Jewish Values Network, Boteach sought to gather some of those individuals at a single conference, alongside other Jews of note, with the hope of inspiring the 150 attendees to take the message of Judaism’s ethical tradition to the masses.
Judaism’s ethical lessons, said Boteach, “have no future for us unless we confront the wider world and make Jewish values mainstream.”
The conference was held in conjunction with Yeshiva University at New York City’s Jewish Federation in Manhattan. Called An International Symposium on Jewish Values, it hosted more than 20 speakers on Nov. 17 and 18.
To kick off the symposium, Michael Steinhardt, business leader and well-known philanthropist, spoke on what are Jewish values. “I can’t put my finger on it ... it’s about struggling with our spirituality – a unique vision,” he said.
Steinhardt, an avowed atheist who has donated tens of millions of dollars to Jewish causes, said that he is uncomfortable with how God is often portrayed. “Is God a fairy tale vision of a diety, with a quiver full of lightning bolts, or a God of unconditional love, cuddling in a bath of effervescent warmth?”
Whatever the case, he acknowledged, “It is kosher to argue with God. If arguing wasn’t in the Bible, you could be burned at the stake, but we have Abraham.”
True to the conference mandate, Steinhardt reiterated, “Judaism teaches us to live in this life and does not have an excessive focus on the afterlife. There are no vows of celibacy or vows of poverty.”
Three innate qualities of Jews, he said, are “genuine religious spirituality,” as is evidenced by the sheer numbers of ashrams and monasteries that are filled with Jewish seekers, as well as being attuned to the unity of our people. “We have an ethnic consciousness. We travel abroad looking for that little sign in that little town that exists with Jews. We look around a room at a party and try to identify Jewish faces.”
Add to that, creativity.
“Creativity is a Jewish value. We have a disproportionate number in the creative arts. What is it? Genetics? Social Darwinism? I don’t know what. An echo of Old Testament morality?”
Richard Joel, president of Yeshiva University and former director of Hillel International, offered his thoughts on where this generation is heading in its Judaism. He criticized the Birthright Israel program for what he says is a lack of developmental follow up, and he sees a generation that is indifferent to intermarriage.
“There has to be a symposium on the problem of intermarriage. They [this generation] don’t feel their Jewishness is valuable. Somehow people think after Birthright, they’ve gotten their flu shot, and they’re inoculated against intermarriage.”
He suggested bringing a feel good experience to young Jews, who are already over intellectually stimulated. “They need to imbibe it, not talk about it.
“This has to be a family journey,” he said. “You get [your children] for 18 years,” he asserted. He then said that Jewish values needed to be inculcated in the home so that children will learn right from wrong.
“The first thing I want to ensure is that students aren’t blindly ritualistic. There is a way to have meaning with the Covenant and do it with constant purpose.”
Other notable guest panelists and speakers included Ken Kurson, co-author of Rudolph Giuliani’s recent book, Leadership; Marianne Williamson, best-selling author of spiritual books including Healing the Soul of America and The Age of Miracles, who spoke on Sacred Time, Sacred Space: Commitment to the Ideal of Shabbat Through Consecration of Time Over the Acquisition of Space; Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, co-author of Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism and more recently, A Code of Jewish Ethics; Rabbi Dr. Jacob J. Schacter, professor of Jewish history and Jewish thought at Yeshiva University; and Alan Dershowitz, famed lawyer, professor of law at Harvard University and author of The Case for Israel.
Following up on Joel’s exhortation to parents, Telushkin said, “Children have to be educated on goodness. This has massive implications.... If we have value-free education, just giving kids the right facts and they’d naturally gravitate toward good, that’s not going to happen.”
Renowned scholar Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz spoke on Education and Scholarship: The Symbiosis and Evolution of Wisdom.
He excoriated what has become the college experience on campus. “People go to school, sit there for years and no one knows the purpose of it.... It’s seen as governmental or institutionalized babysitters ... what is the alternative? A group of adolescents in the streets, chaos?”
For him, there has been a dearth of wisdom imparted to Jewish youth.
“What does a boy learn in college? Drink and catch girls and stay long enough to get some profit out of it – and smoke grass? And somewhere in between get bits and pieces of knowledge.” In generations past, “the school was never the centre of education. The home was. The education of a scholar is making him interested in knowledge.”
Dennis Prager, nationally syndicated radio host and author of Think a Second Time, spoke on Action, as Opposed to Belief: The Righteous Deed Always Trumps Religious Dogma.
He opened with the story of a caller to his show struggling with the overwhelming burden of caring for his ailing mother but who continued to do so despite, at times, wishing he could free himself and that she would finally succumb to the illness.
“You are one of the finest sons I have ever had the honor of meeting,” Prager recalled saying. “Look at how you treat your mother ... you are a giant. I relieved that man of a horrible, horrible burden. I tell my listeners that Judaism teaches it’s how you act that’s important. His siblings may not want her to die, but he’s the one who honors his mother [through caring for her daily].”
An ethical lesson that Jews can offer to the non-Jewish world, he maintained, is that it is action that counts. “Feelings have become the fulcrum of significance,” said Prager. “The heart means nothing ... it is causing the ruination of society.”
Prager sees that the genesis of feelings-based decisions can be traced back to the Baby Boomer generation.
“They say if it’s inauthentic, it should not be done. So if you’re acting happy and you’re unhapppy, you’re acting inauthentically. So what if men acted authentically? They’d grab every attractive woman on the street! We suppress our ... authenticity all day! If men acted authentically, it would be a catastrophe on society.”
Citing another example, he said being charitable in Jewish law is mandated as action based. “Judaism doesn’t say give from your heart. It says give 10 percent, and if your heart catches up, good for you! If Schwartz’s heart caught up, good for him. Meantime, a lot of good people benefit and buildings have been built.”
Jewish practices can require marrying deed with thought, he clarified to the Independent.
“In ethics, intent is irrelevant; in ritual, it is very important. That’s exactly my position. That’s why, ironically, I think we need more reason in the religious laws than the ethical laws. In other words, if someone says ‘I don’t steal because God says we shouldn’t steal,’ I’m perfectly at peace with that. I don’t care if they rationalize, ‘If I steal and if everyone steals the world will fall apart,’” reasoned Prager.
“I think it’s much more powerful to say that God says not to steal. But for ritual, I do want reason applied.... Frankly, it’s what I grew up thinking.”
Dave Gordon is a freelance writer. His website is davegordonwrites.com.
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