Rabbi Harold Kushner tells a story about a British nobleman, a member of the House of Lords. One Sunday morning as the gentleman was leaving church, he was overheard to make a comment about the sermon, the subject of which had been the sin of adultery: “I yield to no man in my admiration for the Church of England, but when it starts interfering with my private life, it goes too far.”
It would seem that one of the fundamental assumptions of Judaism is that it should intrude into our private lives. At the core of Judaism is the concept of mitzvah, the idea that we are obligated for certain kinds of behavior, and that we are obligated to the Jewish community around us. Such an assertion is off-putting to many of us in the modern world. We hear such a statement, and resentment immediately wells up from below. What right does Judaism have to tell me how to behave, or to tell me what I owe to others? If we seek a philosophical rationale for our resentment, perhaps the words of Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence come to mind: We are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights; among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Nothing here about our obligations to the community or to a specific pattern of life. Maybe Judaism needs “to get with the program”.
Yet the assertion that we resist obligation is not so simple. Many of us feel obligated to fast on Yom Kippur. It is clear that about 1200 of us feel obligated to be here for at least part of services on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. Many of us feel obligated to support Israel. We may feel obligated to do what we can to relieve suffering in Darfur. This year a significant number of us felt obligated to come to a service to remember the victims of the Shoah. On a more personal level I often meet families in the intensive care unit of the hospital who feel obligated to be at the side of a parent, a spouse, or other family member even when there is no medical reason to do. Clearly there are some obligations we feel in life.
When Dr. Arnold Eisen became the Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, one of his first requests was for communities in the Conservative Movement to engage in a conversation about mitzvah. I would like to initiate that conversation at our Shavuot Tikkun on Sunday evening, June 8. Some of the questions the chancellor would like us to discuss are the following: To what obligations do we respond wholeheartedly in life: Protecting and providing for our children? Taking care of elderly parents? Being there when family or friends need us? Are there any actions we feel obligated to perform as Jewish human beings? Are there any obligations we feel toward Judaism, the Jewish community, or Israel? If we perform any mitzvot, what is the source of their authority: God? Conscience? Jewish tradition? The community? Is there an element of love in fulfilling our obligations? I know that virtually all of us feel obligations to our families. I ask myself how many of us still feel obligated to give back to the community, and if we do, which communities deserve our time, effort, and resources? And I am especially curious whether any of us feel any compelling obligation to God in a way that shapes how we live our lives. A generation ago many Jews would explain their observance of Shabbat or Kashrut as what God wants. But even for the smaller number of us in our generation who keep kosher or observe Shabbat, I suspect our rationale is not that this is what God commands.
These are not just theoretical questions because if our sense of obligation does not extend to anything connected to Judaism, we are going to have to build a radically new Judaism. Sometimes I think this is precisely what we need to do. Thus I am curious to hear your thoughts on these matters and whether the traditional understanding of mitzvah has any compelling meaning in the modern world
I hope you will join us on the 8th. I know the Chancellor is curious to hear what we have to say. I am certainly interested to hear what you are thinking, and I am sure that all of us in the HJC community will be enriched by one another’s reflections.