Between Man and God: Issues in Judaic Thought PDF
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Between Man and God BETWEEN MAN AND GOD Issues in Judaic Thought MARTIN SICKER Contributions to the Study of Religion, Number 66 GREENWOOD PRESS Westport, Connecticut • London Recent Titles in Contributions to the Study of Religion Competing Visions of Islam in the United States: A Study of Los Angeles Kambiz GhaneaBassiri Bodies of Life: Shaker Literature and Literacies Etta M. Madden Toward a Jewish (M)Orality: Speaking of a Postmodern Jewish Ethics S. Daniel Breslauer The Catholic Church in Mississippi, 1911–1984: A History Michael V. Namorato Holocaust Scholars Write to the Vatican Harry James Cargas, editor Bystanders: Conscience and Complicity During the Holocaust Victoria J. Barnett The Death of God Movement and the Holocaust: Radical Theology Encounters the Shoah Stephen R. Haynes and John K. Roth, editors Noble Daughters: Unheralded Women in Western Christianity, 13th to 18th Centuries Marie A. Conn Confessing Christ in a Post-Holocaust World: A Midrashic Experiment Henry F. Knight Learning from History: A Black Christian’s Perspective on the Holocaust Hubert Locke History, Religion, and Meaning: American Reflections on the Holocaust and Israel Julius Simon, editor Religious Fundamentalism in Developing Countries Santosh C. Saha and Thomas K. Carr Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sicker, Martin. Between man and God : issues in Judaic thought / Martin Sicker. p. cm.—(Contributions to the study of religion, ISSN 0196–7053 ; no. 66) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–313–31904–9 (alk. paper) 1. God(Judaism) 2. Man(Jewishtheology) 3. Judaism—Doctrines. I. Title. II. Series. BM610.S485 2001 296.3′11—dc21 00–069127 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright © 2001 by Martin Sicker All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 00–069127 ISBN: 0–313–31904–9 ISSN: 0196–7053 First published in 2001 Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. www.greenwood.com Printed in the United States of America The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Introduction vii 1. The Judaic Conception of God 1 2. The Temporal or Prophetic Paradigm 21 3. The Experience of the Divine 41 4. Man, the Universe, and the Creator 57 5. The Meaning of Human Existence 75 6. Man in the Image 89 7. Man and Providence 97 8. Man’s Moral Autonomy 109 9. The Good and Evil Impulses 129 10. Divine Omniscience and Moral Autonomy 149 11. Resolving Rabbi Akiba’s Paradox 165 12. The Question of Divine Justice 189 13. Theodicy in Judaic Thought 201 14. Divine Justice and Human Justice 229 Bibliography 239 Index 255 Introduction Morethanahalf-centuryaftertheHolocaust,thetheologicalreverberations ofthathorrendousintrusionofevilintothecourseofhumanhistoryremain withusunabated.“WherewasGodatAuschwitz?”isacrythatcontinuestobe heard.Satisfactoryanswerstothisheartrendingquestionseemtoeludeus,as wecontinuetowitnessthehorrorsthatmenarecapableofinflictingonone another.Thisworkwaswritteninpartasapersonalattempttocometogrips withthatawesomequestionandwithitsomeoftherelatedcentralissuesof Jewish thought and belief. InrecentyearsanumberofdisturbingbooksandarticlesbyJewishau- thors on the subject of theodicy, the justification of divine acts, most of themwrittenwiththeHolocaustastheirpointofreference,haveappeared. Theseworksattempttodealwiththephilosophicalandtheologicalimpli- cationsoftheHolocaustandthereforenecessarilytouchuponsomeofthe crucialissuesthathavetroubledJewishthinkersformillennia.Ihavefound someoftheseworkstobeparticularlydisconcertingprimarilybecauseIbe- lievethemtobefundamentallyillconceivedaswellassociallyandpsycho- logically counterproductive. In a sense, this book is my response to those authors. Thereseemstobeatendencyamongmanywritersofsuchcontemporary workstoarguethattheveryfactoftheHolocaustinvalidatestraditionalJew- ishtheology,andthatitslong-heldideasaboutGodmustthereforeberevised radically.Anexampleofthisapproachisthepositiontakenbyonesuchwriter, Steven Jacobs, who rejects traditional conceptions of God as being out of touchwiththerealworld.“Whatisdemandedintherealmoftheologicalin- tegrityisanotionofGodcompatiblewiththerealityofradicalevilatworkand viii INTRODUCTION atplayinourworld,anotionthat,also,admitsofhumanfreedomforgoodand evil—withoutthefruitlessappealstoaGodwho‘chose’(?)nottoactbecause He could not act.”1 Thisstatementimplies,stronglyandinmyviewincorrectly,thattraditional thoughtdoesnotdealwith“therealityofradicalevil,”althoughitisnoten- tirely clear what the author of the statement means by the phrase “radical evil.”ItsauthorthenleapstothenonsequiturconclusionthattheGodoftradi- tionalJudaictheologyisessentiallyimpotentandthereforenotworthyofour supplications.Inotherwords,itappearsthathehasassignedtoGodasetofre- sponsibilities, a sort of job description. Since these responsibilities were not carriedouttohissatisfaction,especiallywithregardtoGodnothavingpre- vented the Holocaust, the traditional Judaic notion of an omnipotent God whoisconcernedwithmanmustthereforebediscountedandHisjobdescrip- tionradicallyrevised.However,thequestionis,wouldthinkerssuchasJacobs reallywantaGodwhovisiblyintervenedinourcollectiveandprivatelives, thereby restricting our freedoms of choice and actions? Michael Lerner ob- servedinthisregard:“Althoughtheyknowtheycouldneverreallybelieveina godofthissort,andthoughtheydon’treallybelieveinthisgod,theyareangry at‘him’fornotexisting,andsowon’tallowthemselvestoknowtheGodthat Does exist.”2 Itseemsclearthatitwasinresponsetothisgenerallineofargumentthat Emmanuel Levinas wrote: Whatcanthissufferingoftheinnocentsmean?IsitnotaproofofaworldwithoutGod, where only man measures Good and Evil? The simplest and most common answer wouldbeatheism.Thisisalsothesanestreactionforallthoseforwhompreviouslya fairly primary sort of God had dished out prizes, inflicted punishment or pardoned sins—aGodwho,inHisgoodness,treatedmenlikechildren.Butwithwhatlesser demonorstrangemagicianhaveyouthereforefilledyourheaven,youwhoclaimitis empty?Andwhy,underanemptysky,doyoucontinuetohopeforagoodandsensible world.3 WithallduerespectforthesincerityoftheJewish“deathofGod”theolo- gians,muchofthislineofargumenthasalwaysstruckmeasaformofverbal “dragon-slaying.” That is, one conjures up a conceptual “dragon,” and then proceedstoslayit,deftlyandwithfinality.However,myownresearchintothe traditionalliteratureofJudaismindicatesthatonewouldbehard-pressedto findanysuchreadilydestructibletheological“dragons.”Thisisnottosuggest thatonewillnotfindsomeratherunsophisticatedideasaboutGodthere.But thisisverydifferentfromassertingthatsuchideasarerepresentativeoftradi- tionalJudaicthoughtwhich,infact,asmayreadilybeseenintheworksofits principalexponents,ishardlyasnaïveasthe“dragon-slayers”wouldhaveus believe.Theequivalenttothequestion,“WherewasGodatAuschwitz?”has INTRODUCTION ix long been asked by Jewish thinkers, albeit in reference to other places and times,sincethedestructionoftheFirstJewishCommonwealthmorethantwo andahalfmillenniaago.Theywrestledwiththepossibleanswersthen,justas wedotoday.Thebigdifferencebetweenthenandnowisnotwiththeenor- mityanduniquenessoftheHolocaustwhencomparedwithallotherdisasters inJewishhistory,butwiththereadinessofearlierthinkerstosearchformean- ingwithoutalmostcavalierlydiscardingideasandbeliefsthatwerecherished throughoutthathistory.Iwillargueinthisbookthatthemodernadvocatesof radicaltheologicalrevisionactuallyhavelittletoaddtoourunderstandingof thewaysofGodandevenlesstoameaningfulJudaicperspectiveontheuni- verse and the relationship between man and God. A second concern of this work is the argument, heard rather frequently nowadays,thatbecausethereisnouniversallyacceptedtheologyofJudaism, oneisnotboundbyanyparticularconceptionofGod,whetherofbiblicalor rabbinicorigin,orasespousedbyJewishphilosophersandtheologiansoverthe centuries.Inotherwords,Jewishtheologyhascometobeviewedessentiallyas an“equalopportunity”fieldofintellectualendeavor.Atitsextreme,theargu- mentismadethat,aslongasoneidentifiesoneselfand“lives”asaJew,what- everthatissupposedtomean,ithardlymatterswhatonebelievesaboutGod, orthatoneevenbelievesinoranythingaboutGod.Moreover,thisapproach, whichmostoftentendstobeidentifiedwiththemodernmovementforthere- constructionofJudaism,isalsotakeninessencebyanotinsignificantnumber ofrabbisandthinkersfromallthevariousstreamsofcontemporaryJudaism. Andthisisso,despitethefrequentlyradicaldifferencesbetweenthesevarious schools of thought with regard to what constitutes an authentic Jewish ap- proachtothedilemmasofexistenceandthepathtobefollowedthroughthem. The general approach of these thinkers, in my opinion, is fundamentally andultimatelyfatallyflawed.Itistruethatthereisnogenerallyacceptedfor- mal dogma in Judaism, notwithstanding the highly controversial efforts of somereligiousauthoritiessuchasthevenerableMaimonidestostipulateone. However,thisisbynomeansthesameassuggestingthat,asaconsequence,any theologyisasvalidasanyotheris.Iwouldarguethatsuchasuggestioniswith- outabasisinJewishintellectualhistory,regardlessofwhetherornotoneac- cepts a dogmatic set of beliefs set forth by some thinkers in the past. ThefactisthatJudaismasithasbeenknownformorethantwomillenniais predicatedonanumberofbasic,albeitnotpreciselydefined,assumptionsand valueconcepts,withoutwhichitwouldbecriticallyundermined.Itisthese crucialideasthatarecurrentlyunderrelentlessattack,bynumerousessentially agnostic and atheist rabbis and theologians of various religious persuasions, undertherubricofredefiningJewishbeliefasanecessarysteptothepreserva- tionofJudaisminthepostmodernera.Thereis,however,littleifanyevidence x INTRODUCTION thatthisfreewheelingapproachislikelytoachievethisgoalandsomerather disconcerting evidence that it will not. ThecentralargumentofthisbookisthattraditionalnondogmaticJewish thoughtdoesnotrequireradicalrevision.Indeed,therearesolidgroundsfor suggestingthattherabbinicJudaismofthelasttwomillenniaprobablycould notsurvivesuchrevisionandremainthehistoricalforceithasbeensincethe destruction of the Second Jewish Commonwealth and its central religious shrine,theTempleinJerusalem.Instead,whatisrequiredisamatureandsym- pathetic understanding of the theological assumptions and ideas of the past coupled with a sincere and respectful attempt to reformulate them in terms moreattunedtothemoderntemper.Thatis,weneedtobuildonthoseideas andnotsimplyrejectthemoutofhandasunsatisfactorybecausewefindtheir implicitexplanationsofhoworwhyGodlettheHolocausthappendisagree- able. Eventhoughonecertainlywillfindinthetraditionalliteraturesomerather simplisticstatementsofbeliefinapersonalGod,thesearerarelyifeverformu- latedasformaltheologicaltenets,andjustasrarelytakenatfacevaluebyseri- ousthinkers.Thesagesofold,aswellastherabbisandphilosophersoflater times, were acutely sensitive to the difficulties inherent in such beliefs but, generallyspeaking,didnotattempttosimplydiscardthemassomanyseemea- gertodotoday.Theyunderstood,asmanyofusappeartohavegreatdifficulty indoing,that,asPascaloncewrote,thehearthasreasonsthatreasondoesnot know.Enamoredwithourpowersofdeductionandreasoning,weseemtobe preparedtodiscardanythingthatwecannotdefineorlabeltooursatisfaction, forgettingthatideasmayhavemeta-logicalvaliditythattranscendsthecon- ventionallogicthatgovernswhatweusuallyconsidertoberationalthought. InthisbookIattempttograspanddescribehowsomeofthegreatissuesof Jewishthoughthavebeenunderstoodandaddressedthroughouttheages.Per- hapsforemostamongtheseisthequestionofapersonalGod,theideathatwas universallyacceptedbythosecommittedtonormativeJudaism,butwhichwas understoodinawidevarietyofways.NotraditionalJewishthinkerpriortothe twentiethcenturywouldhaveconceivedofrejectingtheconceptoutright,as demandedbythenewradicalrevisionists,becausetodosowouldhaveunder- mined the entire edifice of rabbinic Judaism. WithoutbeliefinapersonalGod,eventhoughthatnotionhasneverbeen defineddogmaticallyinJudaism,therecanbenobeliefindivineprovidenceor indivinerewardandpunishment,andwithoutthelatterJudaismisdeprivedof much of the basis for its normative content. It could, as suggested by some modernthinkers,berecastasaformofrationalhumanism,butonecannotbut seriouslydoubtthatthissortofvaguevestigeoftraditionalJudaismcouldcarry theemotivepowertokeepitortheJewishpeoplealiveforverylonginthefu- ture.ThiswasattemptedbyFelixAdlerwithhisfoundingoftheEthicalCul-
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