Yeshiva University - Masmid Yearbook (New York, NY)

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MASMID We wish to avoid any misunderstanding. We do not say that there are not countless things which have worth. Nay more, Judaism teaches that everything has its worth. There is no one too insignificant or too wicked or too worthless to find consideration. Everyone has a claim to his place in the world. Indeed Judaism goes so far as to ascribe a worth to inanimate things. Thus we find that it is wrong to destroy articles which may have utility. A lovely maxim of the Cabbala says: In all things lie locked sparks of the lost original light. And these sparks await their liberation. Everything contained in the world has a right to its own place, and to partake some day in reality. But nothing has reality in itself. Nothing can therefore be an object of worship or of adoration, not even Nature. There is no more dangetous delusion than the belief that Nature is eternal and Godlike. The conception which we have outlined har- monizes completely with modern science. It is only obsolete science that assumes that there has always been absolute matter, that the world is a mechanism which consists of absolute forces. In modern physics, in Einstein ' s physics, everything has be- come relative. The entire process of nature is dissolved into a system of extremely complicated mathematical equations; really, therefore, into a complicated system of relations. But no substances remain. These disappear completely. Even the concept of natural forces has vanished from modern physics, as has the concept of eternal laws. The latest researches have done away with the concept of natural law. Even in logic and mathematics the concept of compulsion has been pushed further and further back; or it is shown that this compulsion has quite different roots. It is more a form of our thought, as Kant claimed. The modern interpretation of Nature comes much nearer the conception which the Jews have always had, namely the idea of creatio ex nihilo. Cre- ation and Creation out of nothing are in fact, both the same thing. If something had already existed out of which God could have first created the world, it would not have been a real creation. A recent Jewish thinker, Steinheim, says, The idea of ' creation out of nothing ' is the vety standard of the Jewish synagogue. This idea of creatio ex nihilo therefore very emphatically rules out all superstition. For what is superstition if not the consideration of the phenomena which surround us as reality, or the belief that behind these phenomena beings are hidden. All mytho- logies, all beliefs in gods, in demons, in good and bad spirits, arise from the same motive, namely the belief that behind these occurrences there are mysterious beings. Judaism strongly opposed this. Judaism rejects all mythologies, all realms of gods, all dark worlds. However, even such conceptions as those of natural forces are only refined forms of super.nition. Such words also as electricity or gravity are only pictorial ex- pressions, which are in no way better than the old conceptions of gods and spirits. Therefore the Jewish doctrine forbids man to make himself an image. This fundamental law, Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image, is one of the greatest visions ever conceived on earth. This vision separates man from the superstitious and haunted worlds of prehistoric times. It locks up the worlds of mythology and magic. This vision raises man out of a fairy realm and brings him into the world of reality. Without this command- ment there could be no historical life of man. Man would remain ensnared in a child ' s world, in a passive world, in a dream world. He would never break through to reality and co responsi- bility. The cardinal principle of Judaism which we have discussed is, therefore, the guaranty of a clear, responsible human life in reality, in this world, and not in a world populated by super- stitious entities, in which there is no ethical re- sponsibility. The premise of the Oneness of God opens wide the door to science. The exodus from Egypt can also be regarded as the exodus from the house of slavery, the house of mytho- logy. The gods of Egypt with their hawk and ram heads, or the cult of the bull, show man still deeply imbedded in Nature, in the slavery of the Ten

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M A S M 1 D Jew? Tliis vital c|iics[ion must be iinswcrcd. Oni.- (liin is tcTtain, that every man lias a ri lit lo live- in hi liiiic . Il is unjust to ikiii.md ili.ii one live ilie lile of pasi generations. In l.iii, ii i uiir Jiil to live our life in ilie present, to lullrll (In Av mands of our own limes. Judaism is noi only capable of fulfilling the demantis of our times; it is not only sunicienlly modern as to make it jJOSSible to li ' i ' wilh it in oin ' il.iy; Iml we even assert that il is by f.U ' the mosi .ulv.uucd sl.uidpoini possible. The profound insight of Judaism is, in many respects, far ahead of our times. There is no other salvation for the Jewish minority than the realization of this. Not by compromises but by knowing his true character and defending it ener- getically can the Jew survive. There is perhaps no doctrine in the world which is less disposed to compromise than the Jewish doctrine. In seeking a .solution, we must first ask our- selves: What is modern . ' What characterizes the modern man . ' There are many factors to be found. We will stress three of them. These three present themselves quite naturally, since we may approach man from three sides: his thought, his desires, and his feelings. Thus this classifica- tion arises without any systematic or pedantic con- siderations. The modern man claims that he does not wish to be siiperst ' it ' ioiis. He loves clear, scientific thinking. He does not believe in things which he considers the product of childish dreams or fantastic fabrications. Secondly, the modern man is very little disposed to asceticism. He is occupied not so much with the other world as with this world. He loves this world. He wishes to reconstruct his environment, to set it in order so that it may be livable. He does not like to make distinaions between this world and the other, between body and soul. He seeks unity. Thirdly, modern man emphasizes communal life. He senses that no one can be an isolated being, that every one must live in human society and is dependent upon it for existence. He seeks to understand phenomena not so much on the basi of introspection as on the basis of social relations or, w-e may say, from a historical basis. I.ct us observe the an nude ol Judaism toward these three major characteristics of modern man. No world-view is less supersriiious than Judaism. None is more in harmony with human rca.son. I Icrmann Cohen, one of the most significant of modern religious philosophers, calls Judaism the religion of rca.son. Why. ' The foundation of Judaism is monotheism. Judai.sm teaches not only ihat there is one God, and not many gods; but il also asserts the Oueiiess of God. That is the granite foundation on which Judaism stands or falls. It is asserted that outside of God there is no reality. The only reality that there is, is God, In other words, God is reality. The Hebrew root of the word for God (which the Jew does not utter) is equivalent to reality or absolute reality. Everything outside of God has no reality. It is created; it is creature. Therefore nothin g owes its reality to itself; nothing lives of its own force; nothing has substance of its own. Whoever con- siders anything in this world a being is practis- ing idolatry. The fundamental task of Judaism is to destroy idolatry. Idolatry means more than kneeling before a statue. It means to believe that the phenomen.i of the world about us are reality in themselves. As for example, the belief that there is matter which has always existed; or that nature is eternal ; or that there are natural forces ' which exist in and for themselves; or natural laws which have absolute validity. In fact, the laws of logic and of mathematics are not, from this point of view, absolute laws. Nothing in the world can claim to be valid or eternal or inde- pendent of God ' s reality. Nothing can raise the claim to be worshipped. There is nothing before which the Jew must bow or kneel. In the story of Esther it is told that all the courtiers prostrated themselves before Haman. Only Mordecai refused to do so, tliereby enraging Haman. When asked hy he did not kneel. Mordecai revealed that he v.as a Jew. And it s.iys, But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence. The idea of idolatry is here much more broadlv conceived than is com- monly assumed. we

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MASMID service of NaiLirc. Tlic greatest cmancipaiion of mankinil, tliat is, from Nature, is the work ol the Jews. Ill jiiil.iisin, m,m r.iiscs liiinstll .iliove Nature. In tliis .iiilip.illiy Id .ill siipcrslilidns, ilitic lies ,111 .iin.uliiin iiii vi will 111. liiil.iiMii li.is never ilcniiJ llii.s w ' dilcl. We niiisl hiikiiiIhi iIi.iI in the story of uciiidii, ilun ' appr.ii .it;.iin .iiul .iL;.iin the words, Ami CoJ s.iw ili.ii ii ,i.s ijddii. ' ' I li. world is Clod ' s ,md is L;ood. I he Jewish toncep tion is opiiinistli. Another great conception of the world, tin. Indian, is pessimistic, and hiindreils of millions of people believe in ii implicitly. In the eyes of this part of Inimanity, the world is e il, the world connotes suffering. With each thing we do we only entangle ourselves more and more in this suflering. The highest goal of man is knowledge. This knowledge consists in realizing that all existence is devoid of meaning. The highest goal is the extinction of the world, and that can be attained only by ever greater de- tachment from the vi ' orld, by asceticism. This is the exact opposite of the optimistic Jewish inter- pretation of the world. This pessimistic conception is not limited to India alone. Great philosophers have shared it. Even Christianity holds that the completion of man lies in the Beyond. Philosophers like Schopenhauer teach that the wotld is evil, and that there is no higher goal than the extinction of this world. This attitude, in turn, influenced great artists, as, for example, Richard Wagner. His Tristan is based on the philosophy of Schopenhauer. The Jewish conception, on the other hand, demands the glorification of the world Jewish philosophy differs very strongly from mysticism. Mysticism demands the fusion of man with God. The great goal of the mystic is an intense desire to become at one with God. This view Jewish philosophy sharply rejects. When Moses asked God, Show me Thy glory, God answered, Thou c.inst not see my face: for no man shall see me and live, But God shows Moses His attributes, and tliese attributes of God are ethical attributes. Thus God directs Moses to the world. Moses is not to look upon God, but upon the world, upon the world as it rcflcxts the light of Ciod. He sees the world as it is constructed according to the order of God. The will of the Jews is c|uitc definitely liirecied towards the bet- terment of this world. That is why the Jewish teachings do not speak of a Beyond , but of the ' coming world. This udiid is fundamentally good. The cv ' il in the world comes from the disorder which man has caused, and this disorder is rooted in the fact that man was free, Man was created as a free being. He might accept or reject the order which he found. If man did not have this freedom, he would not be a man. He would then be nothing but a perfect machine. He would be dead. The meaning of Judaism is the constant re- establishment of the original meaning of Creation. To carry the truth of the very beginning of things through all times and not to allow it.self to be misled, is the purpose of the Jewish religion. This basic truth must be brought to life anew in all times. A great opportunity for a revivification of Judaism lies in t he fact that it is no ascetic doctrine. Judaism does not teach flight from the world. On the contrary, it commands that the responsibility for the world be assumed. There is perhaps no religion of mankind which em- phasizes as strongly iis Jewish wisdom the element of Joy. Joy is not only allowed, it is demanded. Thus there is a command to eat and drink with pleasure. To abstain from pleasure is a sin. This teaching is entirely positive. It conquers death not only by the hope of a continuation of personal existence beyond the grave: it conquers death by a basic extirpation of the roots of death. Death is rooted in the disorder of the world. The connection between God and man is broken and must be remade. The Jewish teaching has created the splendid conception of Schechina. This is the presence of God in the world. God wishes this world to be his residence. The Jewish con- ception of God h.is nothing to do with the pale abstractions of philosophers and theologians. It is an immeasurablv reali.stic conception. This EJet ' en