At its best, Judaism never feared questions. It embraced complexity, speculation, the unknown. But in many religious communities today, innovation is suspect and questioning is a threat.
2. Naomi Wolf, doin' some really brilliant torah readin's on her stack, mentioned recently that some of the rituals are not just rules or goin' thru the motions but what she called "technology!" now that might sound purdy woo but think 'bout it-- take lightin' the candles--the resonance of prayer, the light (we are all light / light energy), the comfortin' energies of loved ones...time of day (evening)... I mean COULD it be tech? In the best sense of it, when done with meanin' an' not just goin' thru the motions? Could tefillin be "tech" too? Quantum-level? How the black boxes appear like Kubrick's mystery obelisk?
Dunno but it's 2025 an' our heritage is richer than jewels an' full've mysteries an' maybe (mebbe?) the ancient wisenheimers knew a LOT more than we give 'em credit for? nu?... (or new?)
Where did you get this old man in the sky thing? I don’t know one intelligent Jew who thinks of G-d in that way. And yes, the Ramchal does acknowledge doing mitzvos for reward, he just emphasizes that this way of serving Hashem is not such a high level.
totally! as little kid I wuz also told that only Christians could "depict" g-d an' that it wuzza no-no fer us joos--an' per the strictest "rules" (written? oral tradition? dunno) it would be idolatry ta do so. Not that I gave a hoot about "da rules" but the whole thing seemed so silly... like Charleton Heston in a wig as Moses (that, too, of course wuzza jooish confection!)
Excellent essay, and how I have felt about science and religion (and Judaism) for many many years. Science doesn't take us further from discovering "God" but closer to it, though the ultimate answers will always escape us. Many scientists working with quantum physics have developed a belief in a God, an ultimate mystery Creator; a Creator who, like Schrödinger's cat, exists in an undefined, suspended state forever. Is it there? Is it not there? Alive? Dead?
Interesting points, I partially share the views, but the religions themselves, if and when they were spoken of as heresy, then what would be the original? and, from where they would have strayed astray.
The holy scriptures on which Judaism relies, are actually the backbone of Judaism, so there will never appear in the world such a brilliant scientist who would compile a whole like the Torah in any form, let alone in any scientific form.
Moses, Aaron, or the entire Levite family (which was not united either), not to mention numerous prophets. Where did they get the information? What the distant future holds. there are events that have already happened in the history of the world and the Jews, and those that are yet to happen, like those that are currently happening, we only need eyes and ears to be able to perceive them.
God, Elohim, HaShem, Elohim, יהוה. whatever everyone calls it now, I like the last one myself. Judging from the scriptures, it is a spirit. A state that we cannot see with our natural eyes unless the Almighty allows it.
In the scientific sense, O2 and Water, water is in all its forms. Our life is made possible by the forms of water throughout the earth. Adam and Eve did not see their nudity, but they heard and saw God walking in the garden. Theology or not, religions have been born from interpretations after the confusion of Babel, due to theo-philosophical and philosophical stubbornness to control large and small masses of people.
All religions have their own believers, for better or for worse, I consider myself a Torah-watcher.
Quite a lot of Jewish thought has continued in this exact vein of wrestling with the Unknowable Mind of G-d for years and it thrives now. It thrives in different ways and areas other than the frum shul, often sadly intolerant of the world outside its confines, or the smug secularism of Reform Judaism, which can be so watered down in an attempt to “fit in,” that I don’t know why they bother sending their kids to Hebrew School.
The Shoah was a profoundly traumatic event, once who resonances have not stopped with those who perished in and those who survived the death camps. Many cultures sadly have experienced the generational trauma which comes from terrible things done to their ancestors in memory spanning centuries. The eruptions into everyday reality are all part of the patterns of ossification the author alludes to.
In hindsight, it is easier to see - or perceive - great arcs of theological development. In the here and now, it can be harder to recognize. When I think of dark matter - which I do with roughly half the frequency with which I think about the Roman Empire - I just barely hear the Voice in the silence of Ein Sof. The patterns which adumbrate dark matter and the tantalizing insights of quantum mechanics are that Silent Voice which demands we listen. It is an enormous frustration and a promise that tells me, "One day you’re going to look back and it’s all going to have been so obvious."
Until we see it, it is an impenetrable mystery, calling to us all to "Just look. It’s right in front of you. I wrote it on the geology of the Earth and sang all of existence into Being from Nothing. The chorus and refrain of the original song are still echoing for you, in taste, sound, smell and sight. It’s right here, in front of your eyes and other senses, if you could only learn to perceive it all together and apart simultaneously. Just look. Nothing is stopping you from seeing it. I want you to see it.
More like these ones please Future of Jewish.
Less like these ones please Future of Jewish.
1. this bud's fer you! (interestin' stuff from this guy!)--totally parallel's mit science!
https://quantumtorah.com/
2. Naomi Wolf, doin' some really brilliant torah readin's on her stack, mentioned recently that some of the rituals are not just rules or goin' thru the motions but what she called "technology!" now that might sound purdy woo but think 'bout it-- take lightin' the candles--the resonance of prayer, the light (we are all light / light energy), the comfortin' energies of loved ones...time of day (evening)... I mean COULD it be tech? In the best sense of it, when done with meanin' an' not just goin' thru the motions? Could tefillin be "tech" too? Quantum-level? How the black boxes appear like Kubrick's mystery obelisk?
Dunno but it's 2025 an' our heritage is richer than jewels an' full've mysteries an' maybe (mebbe?) the ancient wisenheimers knew a LOT more than we give 'em credit for? nu?... (or new?)
Where did you get this old man in the sky thing? I don’t know one intelligent Jew who thinks of G-d in that way. And yes, the Ramchal does acknowledge doing mitzvos for reward, he just emphasizes that this way of serving Hashem is not such a high level.
totally! as little kid I wuz also told that only Christians could "depict" g-d an' that it wuzza no-no fer us joos--an' per the strictest "rules" (written? oral tradition? dunno) it would be idolatry ta do so. Not that I gave a hoot about "da rules" but the whole thing seemed so silly... like Charleton Heston in a wig as Moses (that, too, of course wuzza jooish confection!)
Excellent essay, and how I have felt about science and religion (and Judaism) for many many years. Science doesn't take us further from discovering "God" but closer to it, though the ultimate answers will always escape us. Many scientists working with quantum physics have developed a belief in a God, an ultimate mystery Creator; a Creator who, like Schrödinger's cat, exists in an undefined, suspended state forever. Is it there? Is it not there? Alive? Dead?
Interesting points, I partially share the views, but the religions themselves, if and when they were spoken of as heresy, then what would be the original? and, from where they would have strayed astray.
The holy scriptures on which Judaism relies, are actually the backbone of Judaism, so there will never appear in the world such a brilliant scientist who would compile a whole like the Torah in any form, let alone in any scientific form.
Moses, Aaron, or the entire Levite family (which was not united either), not to mention numerous prophets. Where did they get the information? What the distant future holds. there are events that have already happened in the history of the world and the Jews, and those that are yet to happen, like those that are currently happening, we only need eyes and ears to be able to perceive them.
God, Elohim, HaShem, Elohim, יהוה. whatever everyone calls it now, I like the last one myself. Judging from the scriptures, it is a spirit. A state that we cannot see with our natural eyes unless the Almighty allows it.
In the scientific sense, O2 and Water, water is in all its forms. Our life is made possible by the forms of water throughout the earth. Adam and Eve did not see their nudity, but they heard and saw God walking in the garden. Theology or not, religions have been born from interpretations after the confusion of Babel, due to theo-philosophical and philosophical stubbornness to control large and small masses of people.
All religions have their own believers, for better or for worse, I consider myself a Torah-watcher.
Quite a lot of Jewish thought has continued in this exact vein of wrestling with the Unknowable Mind of G-d for years and it thrives now. It thrives in different ways and areas other than the frum shul, often sadly intolerant of the world outside its confines, or the smug secularism of Reform Judaism, which can be so watered down in an attempt to “fit in,” that I don’t know why they bother sending their kids to Hebrew School.
The Shoah was a profoundly traumatic event, once who resonances have not stopped with those who perished in and those who survived the death camps. Many cultures sadly have experienced the generational trauma which comes from terrible things done to their ancestors in memory spanning centuries. The eruptions into everyday reality are all part of the patterns of ossification the author alludes to.
In hindsight, it is easier to see - or perceive - great arcs of theological development. In the here and now, it can be harder to recognize. When I think of dark matter - which I do with roughly half the frequency with which I think about the Roman Empire - I just barely hear the Voice in the silence of Ein Sof. The patterns which adumbrate dark matter and the tantalizing insights of quantum mechanics are that Silent Voice which demands we listen. It is an enormous frustration and a promise that tells me, "One day you’re going to look back and it’s all going to have been so obvious."
Until we see it, it is an impenetrable mystery, calling to us all to "Just look. It’s right in front of you. I wrote it on the geology of the Earth and sang all of existence into Being from Nothing. The chorus and refrain of the original song are still echoing for you, in taste, sound, smell and sight. It’s right here, in front of your eyes and other senses, if you could only learn to perceive it all together and apart simultaneously. Just look. Nothing is stopping you from seeing it. I want you to see it.
Just look."
RaMChal postdates Shabbetai Tzvi.
Excellent!
Great article. You spoke to my soul and reassured me that I am not the only one who feels this way about the frum world.
“Placeholders for something bigger”— That’s all we are and all we will ever be.
The essay was a breath of fresh air. A welcome change of topic.
Gracias.