A Thought For This Shabbat
* * * * * * * *    Erev Shabbat    *   December 18th *    2015    * * * * * * * *

                         
Ten years ago, I wrote a piece for the Charleston Gazette-Mail entitled "The Value of Doubt". I am not only humbled by the number of people who still remember it but honored that it is annually presented for discussion with the senior theology classes at Charleston Catholic High school. I think its message may still be timely and offer it for your consideration today as my 'Thought for Shabbat":

       What is the first rule when taking a test? Stick to your first answer; it is probably the correct answer. I can't tell you the number of times that I have changed my answer on a test only to discover I was right the first time. I tell my kids all the time: "Stick to your first answer!" And so what did I do at First Presbyterian Church last week? I had an answer all prepared and I changed it because I wasn't sure it was right for the audience - and I got it wrong! Let me explain.

       For the past six weeks, the First Presbyterian Church has sponsored a wonderful series of lectures and dialogues on the problem of evil and how people of religion can live with hope in an age of violence. I spoke one evening and they invited all the speakers to return for a panel discussion. There was a question that I just knew would be asked. In fact, I was so sure that question was coming that I prepared exactly what I was going to say. Sure enough, the question came: "Why is there so much violence in this world caused by religious fanaticism? We see so much evil committed by those who claim to be believers in G-d. Why is that?" I had the answer all worked out. It is a radical answer, but I think it is the right one. However, before I spoke, I started to tell myself: "Be careful, Victor, this might not be the best audience to give this answer. It might be right, but this is a fairly religious group of people, and I don't think this audience would appreciate your unorthodox thoughts. I think you'd better switch to a safer answer."

       And so I did. I went with a safe answer.

       I told the audience: "The reason there is so much religious violence is because we have forgotten what religion and belief in G-d is all about. I find it no mere coincidence that the commandment 'And you shall love the stranger in your midst because you were strangers in the land of Egypt' appears more times in the Torah than any other commandment (36 times, I believe!). The problem with religion today and the reason so much violence is committed in the name of religion is because we have forgotten how important that commandment is to G-d. The single most important teaching of all Western religions is 'Love the stranger.' That is the strongest protection we have against religious fanaticism and violence. If we would only preach from the pulpit more that G-d wants us to love everyone, and emphasize that we are all G-d's children, we would not have the violence that is so easily inflicted by religious fanatics on the 'stranger' and on the 'infidel'."

       And that got some applause. The audience liked it, but I would have taken off points because it didn't fully answer.

       Let's be honest. Is violence committed in the name of religion today because religious people are forgetting that we are all children in the eyes of G-d? Are ministers, priests, rabbis, and imams really not preaching that we are all one humanity? Oh, please! I have been to enough panels and dialogues to know that every religion believes that we are required to love our neighbors, to show mercy and kindness to everyone. I have never heard a minister, a priest, a rabbi or an imam ever say that their religion believes it is OK to inflict violence on those not of their faith. Every religion preaches love of the stranger and religious leaders teach that to their followers all the time.

       Yet religious violence continues, committed time and again by people who say they believe that they are commanded to love their neighbors as themselves. How could they do that?

       Well, here is what I wanted to say and I didn't say it until the last session and only at the reception in the social hall.

       Several members of different religious denominations and faiths were exchanging courtesies and someone said: "This entire program was so good and religiously uplifting. We need to have these events more often. It would so help reduce the violence we see. Don't you agree?" I don't know. Maybe it was because it was a very long day, or maybe it was because these people seemed so open, but I felt I had to respond with what I wanted to say all along. I said: "I agree. I do think these get-togethers are so important. But, with all due respect, this is not what will decrease the violence.

       "We need religious leaders to have the courage to say something that is very hard to publicly say and for religious people to hear. I think the real reason why there is so much violence committed in the name of religion is because we religious leaders don't do enough to encourage doubt in our believers.

       "Certainty is a very dangerous thing, especially with religion. Certainty is perhaps the most important reason for the violence we see today and we have seen throughout history. When you are so sure that you are right and the "other side" is wrong, you can justify anything to prove that certainty. And religious leaders of all faiths need to have the guts to say to their parishioners: We don't really know what G-d always wants.

       "Don't get me wrong. I believe with absolute certainty in G-d and I believe with absolute certainty that, as a Jewish believer, He gave us His law (the Torah) to guide our lives. But I have huge doubts about man in general and me in particular. I do not believe that we, as human beings, can ever really say with certainty that we always fully understand what   G-d wants.

        "And that is what is missing in religion. Doubt. Doubt is healthy. It holds you back from doing some very evil things in the name of your G-d because you never know for certain that is what G-d wants."
I rambled some more, but that was the gist of what I said.

       The first words I heard from the group? "I wish you had said that tonight. I wish we could hear that more at my place of worship." Others gathered and agreed.

       Their reaction blew me away. My first answer was the correct answer after all. It sounds so religiously corrupting because it is actually saying: "Religion must have doubt." But I learned from a great rabbi, Emanuel Rackman, that certainty is the hallmark of the fanatic and doubt is good for the human soul. I have never forgotten his words: "Certainty with regard to anything is poison to the soul." He bases this importance of doubt on the Torah. It tells in the book of Exodus of G-d's refusal to let Moses "see" Him. G-d says: "No man can see My face and live." However, the Torah does say that G-d lets Moses see His backside. Rackman, quoting the great Maimonides, says that obviously, G-d's back is not meant to be understood as physical here. What this event signifies is that no one (not even Moses) can ever have a face-to-face encounter with G-d. We can never fully know G-d. We are human and G-d is beyond our ken; we will only ever be able to catch a glimpse of Him. And we will never be totally certain about G-d's ways and what G-d thinks.

       Being a creature of belief, but with doubts, is humbling and is the greatest check against fanaticism. There is violence in our world because too many people of faith live and are taught religious certainty: "We are right and they are wrong." And the only way to stem religious violence is for religious leaders to say it is okay to live with doubt.

       My wife and kids wondered why I was home so late that evening. I was "staying after school," redoing my answer.


      Shabbat shalom to all my friends and to all who are not yet my friends!
  
Rabbi Victor Urecki 

B'nai Jacob Synagogue
1599 Virginia St. East
Charleston, West Virginia 25311
304-346-4722
www.bnaijacob.com
"Traditional Judaism
For a Modern World"