A word on Mary's behalf

I have a Jewish friend named Mary (for purposes of this post). She sometimes gets frustrated, even angry, with me when I write about Judaism. Mary would never put anything in the comment box, so I want to give her point of view equal time here.

I believe the crux of Mary's anger/argument is this: it's not fair to fault Judaism for failing to be something it doesn't even aspire to be, namely, historical truth. Judaism, Mary says, is a system for connecting people with God. (She wouldn't put it that way, but I lost her most recent email on this, so I'm doing my best.) Whether or not it's historically true/accurate doesn't really matter. What DOES matter is whether it's useful for helping people understand and commune with the divine. Accordingly, the lack of evidence for the historical accuracy of Judaism is not a legitimate grounds for criticism/skepticism.

(Gratuitous sports analogy: imagine we were talking about the Suns, and I said, "Shaq's an okay player, I guess, but he can't hit the three." If you knew anything about basketball, you'd say: "He's not supposed to hit the three, nimrod. He's a center. A big body. He lingers in and around the paint, blocks shots, grabs rebounds, and hits five-footers. He's not even supposed to BE outside the arc, let alone shoot from there. If you want to criticize him for other things, fine. But you can't really criticize him for his three-point shooting.")

My response to Mary? I'll give you another analogy.

You show me a detailed map purporting to give directions to the Fountain of Youth. It requires a lot of decoding, but if we COULD decode it, we'd be young forever.

Awesome...unless there's no Fountain of Youth. If that's the case, what good does the map do us? Now, you might tell me, "The person who drew the map actually saw the fountain with his own two eyes, so I know it exists." Then I would ask, "Really? And how do you know this person actually saw it?" And you would tell me, "Well, among my people, that's the tradition that's been handed down from generation to generation for a few thousand years." Then I would say, "Hmmm...that doesn't sound like that much to go on. I mean, no one who's still alive actually knows if this guy saw the fountain, or if he drew an accurate map, or if the map was copied and recopied accurately over thousands of years, or if the fountain is still there (assuming it ever was)." And then you would say, "Well, you might be right, but the quest for the fountain is the thing that gives my people its identy." And then I would say, "Okay, good for you...but that's probably not something I want to spend my time on."

Judaism's the same way for me. If it can't even help me get over the threshold question of whether God exists, what good does it do me? And even if I'm to assume that God does exist, how do I know that Judaism in any way accurately captures God's essence and man's relation to God? And if I can't have confidence in those things, again, why does Judaism deserve my attention as a legitimate, meaningful system for communing with God?

I suppose Mary's answer would be, "because it works." (Her answer would also be, "It's not just about God. It's also about how we deal with one another.")

I don't doubt that Judaism does work for many people. I just know it wouldn't work for me. The starting point for me has to be a (fairly large) kernel of truth. Otherwise, why would I pay attention?

Comments

[Sherry]

Mary here, your source for everything Jewish.

Clarification: I don't only get frustrated when you write about Judaism; I get frustrated when you write about all religions. Religions don't provide evidence that God exists, which seems to be what you're seeking. Instead, they presume that God exists & then present, each in its way, how to emulate, honor, and listen to God. I really think you're going to have to look elsewhere for proof, and for a long time.

I skipped over the sports stuff.

Gotta get back to my kitchen as Passover first seder is tomorrow night. You may recall that Passover celebrates the Hebrews' departure from Egypt and journey to freedom. They left their homes in haste and only had time to take with them unleavened bread (giving us matzoh, the flatbread of affliction). They did, however, seem to have time to take with them matzoh ball soup, rosemary garlic chicken, gingerspiked beef brisket, various side dishes, macaroons, and chocolate nut matzoh brittle. Hence, the miracle of Passover.

[Special Agent Johnny Utah]

Thanks, Mary/Sherry: quick thought, though. When asked how they know God exists, many people will say, "Because he has revealed himself to us." If you ask, "How so?", they will point you to scripture, which they claim is divinely inspired, a claim made by the religions themselves.

So, I guess I'm not expecting Judaism to include a "proof" of God's existence. I'm saying that the very existence of the Torah can be, and is, invoked as evidence of God's existence.

Do you not see it that way?

Anyway, I am getting quite close (you'll be pleased to know) to saying, "Okay, assume God exists. What are you going to do about it?" That's where religion (among other things) comes into play.