THE INTERNAL WAR BETWEEN SPIRITUALITY AND NON-SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF

A learned treatise into the conflict between biblical representations and reason in 21st century Jewish thought.

Why is Masada considered an heroic chapter in Jewish history? Is it because it was actually heroic or because it was deemed necessary, by Jewish communal intellectual authorities, for it to be looked upon, and given lip-service to, as heroic? What is “heroic” about a bunch of Jews committing suicide? It was, indeed, a communal profession of religious conviction but why has it been hailed as “heroic”? Do Jewish children strain their intellects in puzzlement while trying to internally compute this incident as heroic on a par with, say, the Spartan stand at Thermopylae or the early American defense of the Alamo? How extensive a suspension of disbelief is required of young Jewish minds to accept this interpretation, that lying down and committing suicide is as valiant as armed resistance? Logical reasoning dictates that what is true for the few is equally true for the many. Would it be “heroic” if we were to all lie down and present our jugular veins when faced with a seemingly hopeless situation? ………………………..
Why is the story of Purim looked upon with such celebratory joy even to the extent of communal approval of drunken revelry? If the fate of an entire people is based upon the individual allure of one woman’s sexual paraphernalia to the eyes of a heathen potentate, is it not more of a dire warning than a miraculous rescue? If Vashti had acceded to Ahasueros’s order to dance nakit, Esther would not have had the opportunity to strut her stuff and win the old bastard’s heart (together with his private parts). What kind of subliminal message does this narrative give to young Jewish males? Could it be that manhood and the readiness to resort to armed conflict is not as efficacious as the sweet essence of female pudenda when the Jewish people are in jeopardy? ….
If Solomon was so wise, why was he such a horny geezer with hundreds of wives and concubines? How does inordinately vast wisdom and knowledge reconcile with grotesque and profligate licentiousness? Solomon built Jerusalem but then he gilded the temple walls with gold and, in doing so, enticed every money grubbing despot in the known world to come and get it. How many Israelites, men, woman and children, died because of the gold hanging on those temple walls? Do we accept Solomon’s folly as the accomplishment of a wise and noble monarch because it is truly so or because we have been conditioned to accept it as such despite the strain such belief exacts on credulity? Why should GOLD have had such a place of supreme importance in the ancient Jewish conception of God’s priorities. Did God care whether the temple wherein his children prayed was plated with gold? Would his children’s prayers have been invalidated if they had been offered in a more modest setting? As we give lip-service to professions of longing for the ancient “Jerusalem of Gold” do we really yearn for a spiritual connection in which gold is immaterial and irrelevant? …………….
Moshe Rabeynu, a.k.a. Moshe “Hung So Lo“ Rabeynu, a.k.a. The Yeshiva Bucher, will continue this incisive and stimulating discussion in the near future. You can access Moshe’s blog at HTTP://theyeshivabucher.blogspot.com
Shalom and Zei Gezunt!