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Freethought
Association of West Michigan
Meeting Minutes for November 28, 2001, #104
Don Hansen, who worked tirelessly on behalf of our group in locating
a new
meeting facility, brought us up to date on this search. Since
then we have
settled on meeting at the Yankee Clipper Library, located at 2025
Leonard, NE
in Grand Rapids. The telephone number is #(616) 235- 8316. For
more
information write to info@freethoughtassociation.org or visit
our website:
www.freethoughtassociation.org.
Our first meeting there will be January 16, 2002 @ 7PM. Marshall
Grate will
present "The Origins of War."
On January 30, Dr. Robert Collins will present "The Human
Mind as a Prism,"
as a companion presentation to an earlier offering to our group.
The February 13 meeting will feature Bill Merriman, who will
explain the
"Secular Basis For Human Rights."
We had no regular meetings scheduled for December. However, we
had a
wonderful time at the Tesh Lou/ Little Africa restaurant where
we had our
annual Winter Solstice Party on December 12. The restaurant is
unique in
featuring a strictly Vegan cuisine of Ethiopian dishes that one
eats sans
utensils.
These minutes are extremely tardy in getting out due to this
FAOWM secretary
being consumed with work, family and this busy time of year- but
also with
preparing a good sized body of very recent art work for a show
at the Mercury
Head Gallery, just east of Tesh Lou Imports (Little Africa) at
962 E. Fulton;
#: 456- 6022. It will run from Dec. 20- to approx. January 20
of the new year.
Our topic for this meeting was "The Jewish Approach to Living"
and was
presented by Rabbi David Krishef of the Ahavas Israel synagogue.
One of the
first differences to Christianity, the world religion the majority
of our
group is most familiar with, was that the teachings of Judaism
do not require
a specific number of beliefs to remain a Jew. The Western sense
of
"religion", he noted, is generally synonymous with belief,
but there is no
word in classical Hebrew for the term, religion. One does not
even strictly
have to believe in the fundamental principle of God's existence.
He later
spoke of the prohibition in believing in more than one God but
that this does
not oblige one to believe in any particular God. In the Hebrew
teachings,
behavior is more important than belief. Rabbi Krishef spoke of
"mitzvah"
which deals with the concept of commands or commandments and implies
a
commander. However, in this context it is seen more as a source
of authority
for the guiding principles of the Jewish people.
Rabbi Krishef gave us a primer of sorts on some of the terms
and
materials that practicing Jews use and adhere to, including the
book of
commentary, stories and rabbinic writings called the Midrash.
The Mishna, the
oral law itself, and the Gemarra, which is a commentary on the
former, are
two parts found in the Talmud, which is separate from the Hebrew
Bible, or
what Christians refer to as the Old Testament. There is also a
legal section,
the Halakah, and a portion devoted to legends and stories, the
Aggada. The
Torah refers to the first five books of the Bible. Rabbi Krishef
is a
Conservative Jew, which he explained is between Orthodox and Reformed
Judaism, and allows for one to hold that these books were composed
by
numerous and different types of people over many centuries, and
at the same
time sense that the presence of God is shown in the words. God
can have given
His laws in perfect form but there can exist inherent flaws in
the texts due
to time, human error and interpretation.
Our speaker talked of the importance to humankind, that transcends
differing
cultures and times, in marking important events in time's passage.
Without
differentiating within the flow of time, meaning and structure
falls away.
Many core religious celebrations are derived from seasonal changes
and other
celebrations and rituals spring from life stages and events important
to the
identity of a group. He spoke of some of these events important
to Judaism
and how the writings provide justification for following the authoritative
rules contained therein.
Rabbi Krishef said that myth can be regarded as a story that
gives meaning to
the lives of those who cherish them. He compared myth to a frame
of a house.
When you live within the house you know the frame is there but
never see it.
When myth is recognized as such; broken, the frame emerges, and
the walls
fall away but the structure can still be used as a guide to life.
The rabbi
mentioned how this ancient method for disseminating ethics and
behavior was
understood in its more poetic sense in past times but later codified.
He gave
numerous examples of how to see the core, timeless values embedded
within the
mythic stories. One does not have to perceive the stories as literal
truths
to appreciate the ritual practices in Judaism or uncover the intrinsic
values
shared in them.
He talked of the imperfect fit that sometimes arises when a verse
in the
Torah is sought to justify a system of thought and how one needs
a "lens" to
read the Bible that sees the oral traditions and cultural influences
that
inspired the texts to marry these to the concepts meaningfully.
One of the
613 mitzvoth commands the setting up of a system of justice, including
punishment for those who break the laws. Interestingly, instead
of the one
path to true salvation, and judgment according to one group's
beliefs- as is
seen in Christianity, the Jewish tenets see the laws as a way
to avoid
anarchy and chaos but that those of other traditions will be judged
according
to their own religion. It also goes without saying that the path
laid in
Judaism is one to a system of behavior and ethical considerations
but without
the ultimate destination of a divine salvation- giver; i.e. the
Jesus of
Christianity. As he said before, Judaism is a system that emphasizes
behavior
over belief.
Some of the laws are set up to inflict as little pain as possible
on other
animals. The rabbi said one will find very few Jewish hunters
and that many
of the kosher laws are derived ultimately from this value. There
is also the
distancing of ritual acts regarding life from those of the ancient
Egyptians,
for example, that had many rituals regarding death and its preservation.
The
prohibition of mixing blood and milk, for example, symbolizes
keeping life
and death as separate considerations. Foods that can be touched,
eaten, etc.
are used as concrete ways to pass on less concrete values.
Rabbi Krishef answered questions regarding the historic difficulties
between
the peoples of Israel and Palestine in living together. While
he gave a very
full response, just one of the considerations raised was that
the
contentiousness of the land has much to do with Jews, Moslems
and Christians
all viewing it as their own sacred area. Some other questions
were about the
traditional head covering of Jewish people and the Orthodox practice
of how
the hair is worn and beardedness. The covering being in deference
to
subservience to God, seen traditionally as located above us and
the locks
deriving from a verse prohibiting shaving the corners of one's
head. He spoke
of the ancient custom of binding scripture on one's head, arm
or hand as a
symbolic practice that literally binds the instructions for living
onto the
wearer. He also spoke of the writing that says the Torah should
not be used
as a spade, or in other words as a way to make money. Rabbis justify
their
work by being regarded as teachers of the practices of their people
and as
being compensated for not becoming lawyers, doctors, etc. Rabbi
Krishef also
spoke of killing as done by humans or God. Murder, he explained,
is illegal
killing. That done by God is automatically justified and there
is killing by
humans that is sanctioned and not considered murder. There was
more talk
about myth, symbol and allegory. Creation stories or other myths
telling of
beginnings promote a sense of order and purpose and how the people
fit into
the world. This is seen in the biblical chaos giving way to the
creation of
specific elements, as one example. Even the 7 days of a week and
written of
in the biblical creation story may be symbolic. It is an unnatural
way of
dividing time, and may, perhaps be a subtle way of saying God
is above nature.
Rabbi David Krishef gave us an illuminating view into Judaism
and an
interesting topic to close out on, for our tenure at the GRCC
Calkins Science
Center meeting place.
Secretary: Charles LaRue
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