Home

Opinion & Commentary:

Judaism's inherent and unique thirst for understanding

By Sanford Aranoff

June 20, 2008

"How was your Passover seder?" I asked my daughter, who lives in Israel.

"We stayed up till past 1 a.m.," she replied. "The purpose of the seder is to teach the children."

Compare with a seder at friends in New York: We sang a few songs, drank wine, read parts of the Haggadah in English, and ate matzah and the meal. The children did not pay any attention to the reading of the Haggadah.

Comparison of these two seders shows that many American Jews do not understand the profound message of Judaism. We are so overwhelmed by the messages from Christian leaders that we incorrectly view Judaism from a Christian viewpoint. The Pope's message is obedience to the ideals. Islam is based upon submission to God. Both Christianity and Islam stress the goal as individual salvation -- do as you are told, and then things will be better for you. This is akin to paganism, where one acts to please the gods so that the person or group will be better off.

The message of Judaism is so radically different that most of us misunderstand the message. (This may be a reason for the anti-Semitic hatred of Jews.) Belief in God is not central and basic in Judaism, as it the case with the other religions, for some Jewish authorities do not count belief in God as one of the commandments Jews are obligated to do (as, for example, the command to honor one's parents). Life after death is a formal belief and is downplayed. There is very little discussion of the Hereafter. Well, if neither belief in God nor a discussion of the Hereafter is the central message of Judaism, what then is the message?

The Talmud states, "It is better to do something good for its own sake rather than to receive a reward." This epitomizes the fundamental, critical difference between Judaism and other worldviews. Do the right thing because it is right, not to get a better place in Heaven, and not to make you feel good. This is the essential aspect of humanity as viewed by Judaism. This is not to be confused with altruism, but a full focus on the tasks.

The goal of scientific research should be our desire for knowledge, not for the applications that surely will follow. This attitude is a primary reason for the overwhelming numbers of great scientists who are Jewish.

Fighting wars is done for the purpose of defending ourselves, not for national prestige.

Jewish concept of the importance of saving one's life is different, and Jews need to explain the rationality and superiority of our way of thinking. Some members of the Islamic faith believe that one can murder people for the sake of religion. Quakers go to the other extreme, and will not fight to defend the country. Catholics translate the commandment "Do not murder" as "Thou shall not kill." A Jew is allowed to kill in self-defense.

Some feel saving another person's life is more important than saving one's own life. Jews have to tell the world that one's own life is paramount. Catholics believe that saving the life of an unborn baby is no less important than saving the life of the mother.

The very idea of fighting a war because we were attacked is not accepted. The U.S. gave many reasons for the invasion of Iraq, but did not say the reason was Iraq's shooting down our planes in the no-flight zone. When Arabs fire rockets into Israel and kill people, the world accuses Israel of overreacting, instead of understanding that Israel has the moral and legal obligation of self-defense.

The alternate approach to trying to achieve morality is to set up intermediate goals. Too many of us confuse these intermediate goals with the real goals. Too many of us focus on money or fame, or personal salvation via religion, and lose sight of the true goals we ought to pursue. Teachers, for example, give the impression that the goal is a good grade, rather than understanding, with the unfortunate result that students confuse the goal of good grades with the goal of understanding.

The Talmud states, "These are the things one gets rewarded both in this world and in the Hereafter ..." The items listed are things like daily prayer and doing kind deeds. The statement concludes saying that study is balanced against all the others. Study is the epitome of Judaism.

The core belief in education is why Jews are so successful in intellectual fields. There is nothing as wonderful as helping a young mind to think, learn, and understand. I am fulfilling the true essence of my humanity.

In these dangerous times, Jews must teach the world the important message of Judaism, if we are to survive. The current danger overrides the prohibition of teaching non-Jews the Torah. Jews must directly challenge the Pope's recent statement that obedience is paramount, instead stressing that understanding is paramount. Jews must directly challenge Islam teaching submission, where students learn to repeat back like a recording device. Jews must directly challenge, for example, Senator Hillary Clinton's statements that religion gives her comfort, and say that Judaism teaches to be focused on goals, not our comfort.

Jews must challenge our educational system demanding that understanding, not grades, be the goal. Tests that satisfy national goals must not be based upon rote memory. Jews must challenge U.S. foreign policy regarding Israel, saying that separation into equal states is not separate and equal; instead, Jews must demand America focus on the goal of Jews and Arabs working on joint businesses and ventures together, ignoring the intermediate goal of two states.

The presidential candidates speak confidently about their plans if elected. They are wrong in being confident, as no single human being has enough intellectual capability to properly understand the complexity of the issues. The president is chief executive, not chief. The correct approach is to support independent think tanks that have access to all relevant information. They would issue papers, and make them available on the Internet (after redaction). This would make the public more aware of the complexity of decision-making. Proper understanding of the conflicting goals of decisions, the different relevant historical analogies, and the various economic and political theories all are essential to good decision making. Here again the Jewish idea of understanding and complexity must be stressed. Jews must say that in-depth analysis is a basic Jewish concept.

A leader must be humble, not over-confident. Moses, our teacher, was "the most humble man in the world." Jews need to explain to others the need for humility.

A humble, honest person knows that certainty does not exist. In Hebraic law, if a court unanimously decides on a death sentence, the defendant is freed. The reason is that it is impossible to reach a unanimous death verdict, and so we suspect bribery. Modern scientific thought, as proven by K. Godel -- an early 20th century mathematician from Princeton -- is that certainty does not exist. Jews have the obligation to stress that political candidates need to be humble and to acknowledge the complexities of issues. Jews must demand that people who discuss issues express doubt and admit they may be wrong, as this basic Jewish value has universal significance.

We must demand discussion of historical analogies with comments on the similarities and differences with the present. If a speaker fails to mention a historical analogy, we must demand that the person search for one, as there always must be analogies. For example, when we talk about leaving Iraq, we must discuss Vietnam, where we withdrew in spite of winning militarily. Millions died -- people who would be alive had we remained. The fall of Iran, and the possible future confrontation with Iran, was a consequence of our precipitous withdrawal from Vietnam. More recently, the withdrawal under fire from Fallujah, Iraq, during initial campaign approved by President George Bush four years ago may have resulted in the current civil war and the prolonging of our military effort. The discussion about Fallujah must include bad decisions made by governments during reelection campaigns. Any speaker on the subject of our current involvement in Iraq must discuss these historical questions. Jews must reiterate that such discussions are Jewish values.

When a speaker fails to discuss historical analogies, it means the speaker is trying to sell his ideas, rather than trying to understand the issues better. Judaism demands understanding, not salesmanship. The Torah says, "I have given you today life and good, and evil and death. Choose the good!" The Jewish value is to fully present the options, so that we can understand the choices.

We Jews must break our millennia-old silence. We must educate others about these basic Jewish values. These values are the focus on understanding, teaching, education, examining from all sides of issues, looking for analogies and parallels, honesty, humility, and explaining fully, including ideas with which we disagree.

Dr. Aranoff is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Mathematics and Science at Rider University. He has received rabbinical training at Yeshiva University, and lived in Israel. He now resides in Monroe.