What Being Jewish Is All About Pt 2

What Is The Purpose Of The Jewish Religion?

When I was on Safari in Africa I observed numerous copulations of Lions and leopards. There were a few minutes of courtship, a kind of ritualized dance if you will, followed by each party assuming the position and then after 30 seconds or so of activity there was a grunt and a mutual separation.

I don’t know what surprised me the most. The short duration of the act from such a powerful symbol of masculine power, or the fact that the act took place in full public, observed by many tourists in their jeeps just yards away?

Yes, I know animals feel no modesty or shame, but I have observed the same phenomenon with humans.

This summer we have been watching a Sky TV production of life amongst the powerful Roman elite in 1st century BCE, called “Domina”. While it deals with the political and military intrigues of Gaius Caesar and his family and friends it gives view to life amongst the rich and famous of the Roman ruling class. It seems that whenever the men had some time to kill, or for their evening entertainment, they would visit a brothel. On numerous occasions there would be a room full of beds each next to the other, all occupied by the friends with the partner of their choosing. The variety of the menu was impressive. My point is that these men were very much like the lions in the Serengeti, doing their thing in public with no modesty or shame.

Why not?

Because modesty and shame are learned behaviors and where were these pagans supposed to learn these values? Even their gods were cavorting with other gods and humans.

One may argue that human beings are merely more evolved animals, but animals none the less. They have the same cravings for food, shelter, community, and sexual gratification as do all the other animals in the world.

A pride of lions has defined roles for males and females. The females take care of the cubs and do most of the hunting. The males oversee security and when needed do the heavy lifting.

While most species are male dominated there are matriarchal societies as well where the females are in charge and males are good for menial tasks and sperm donors.

The differences between humans and other animals are one of degree not substance. In the Bible it took the full duration of the creation week to get to humans. All the other animals had to be created first and only then could the crowning glory of creation be made, but human animals were just the last of the animals to be created. They were vested with the same drives and the same needs as all the other animals and so it would have remained, but for the animal Eve sharing the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge with her male counterpart Adam.

With knowledge came awareness, and with awareness came shame, for they realized they were naked and put fig leaves over their privates. They now ceased to be merely the most developed animal in the world, they were now human beings. They now had Divine Knowledge which was the first religion, and that gave them guidance to recognize modesty and shame.

What is the purpose of the Jewish religion?

It is to provide discipline and with-it sanctity; to raise us from animals to human beings. Animals can only be profane; humans can attain holiness.

Let us examine three animal instincts and how Judaism helps us sanctify them.

All creatures want more. In the animal world it maybe the pursuit of a greater territory, or the pursuit for more food, or more sexual partners and the offspring that come with it. These are desires to be pursued. The animal does not think of them as good or bad, sacred or profane, they are just pure id.

It is the religious force that gives value to these desires, that introduces the superego, that gives man the chance to leave being an animal to become a mensh. It is religion that allows man to leave the profane and to enter the holy, and that is the role of Judaism.

Having wealth is not a good or bad thing. All animals as we have seen strive for more, but religion wants us to sanctify wealth. Abraham the first Jew was wealthy, but he used his wealth and the power that came with it to pursue peace and to help others. He saves his nephew who was captured, he pursues peace with his neighbors even when it costs him economically. He gives his nephew first choice of land to keep shalom bayit, domestic peace, and he uses wealth to find a bride with proper values for his son. He is a beacon for monotheism in a polytheistic world. Later the Torah will outline many laws that will force the rich to provide for the poor.

This Rosh Hashana begins a shemita year, the Sabbatical year. In the days of the Torah all debts were cancelled in the shemita year so that the poor could get out from a life of perpetual poverty. Wealth is a blessing if we sanctify it by sharing with those who have less. Lions don’t know about sharing unless a herd of hyenas chases them off a recent kill.

The sexual drive that humans feel is as close to the animal world as it gets which may explain why so many people’s sexual life makes them appear as animals. I know of landlords who prey on their poor female tenants and demand sexual favors for a rent extension. Harvey Weinstien…. Need I say more. We can ask so many sexual predators, why do you behave the way you do? The answer will be some form of, “because I can”. That is the animal in us all and in early creation that is how we were formed.

We were animals and then came religion that taught that we acknowledge that drive, but if you want to be more than just an animal you need to control it, recognize limits, and in so doing make it holy.

Thankfully Judaism never said we expect you to ignore those animal drives, which would never happen because we came from animals. Rather Judaism said control, elevate and then sanctify those very same drives, by including your sex life in the holiness that you are trying to achieve.

All living things need nourishment. My vegetable plants need fertilizer, my son’s dog needs to be fed and of course humans need to eat, but how and what we eat defines whether we are animals who consume to live, or religious human beings who elevate the act of consumption to an experience of the holy.

We Jews have dietary laws that strengthen our discipline. We can override the animal urge of being hungry and eating whatever comes along to make decisions that by being restrictive elevate the act from consumption to holiness. We sanctify consumption. For carnivores eating requires the taking of life. While not a perfect elevation from the animal in us the restrictive nature of the food, the minimizing of pain in ritual slaughter, the elimination of much of the blood, are all ways that make us deal with the death involved in eating. In this context some authorities have argued that the highest level of kashruth is vegetarianism. Kashruth is the compromise that allows us to rise above the animal and sanctify eating, even when many of us are incapable of giving up meat.

To return to the opening question, what is the purpose of the Jewish religion? It is tikkun olam but a lot more. It is the force that elevates us from the animal to the holy and that is what we should be focused on as we enter the period of self-reflection known as the Ten Days of Repentance.

Shanna Tova.

As always please share with family and friends and those who might be interested in this issue as we gather for the hhdays.