Interpretation of Texts: current Jewish theology (General)

by David Turell , Saturday, March 23, 2024, 20:07 (36 days ago) @ David Turell

From a rabbi:

https://www.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/ecSn9WQJf9NwYw83oYrN-WSJNewsPaper-3-23-2...

"'As one of the most frequently cited Talmudic teachings has it, “The Blessed Holy One desires the heart."

"Juddaism is not naive or Pollyannaish about human beings; it knows how often we go astray, embracing the expedient and the self-serving instead of the right and the good, choosing hate or indifference over blove. As the philosopher David Hume memorably put it, we have “some particle of the dove, kneaded into our frame, along with the elements of the wolf and serpent.” The deeply held conviction of Jewish tradition is not that we will choose the good but that we can do so—and the height of the good is love. A traditional rabbinic story imagines that when God was about to create Adam, the angels split into factions and began to argue. “Kindness said, ‘Let him be created, since he will perform acts of lovingkindness’; Truth said, ‘Let him not be created, since he is all lies.’” How does God respond to the debate? “God took truth and cast it to the earth.” Faced with a choice between love and other competing values, God embraces the former and rebuffs the latter. God risks a lot, and puts up with a lot, all in the name of love—both the love God has for us and the love God hopes that we will embody and bring into the world."

Rabbi Shai Held is president of the Hadar Institute. This essay is adapted from his new book, “Judaism Is About Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life,” which will be published
on March 26 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Comment: this should put to rest dhw's terror of the original OT God he learned about as a child long ago. Ancient primitive Jews perhaps needed such a tough God to keep them in line. That guy is not necessary now. The God of the Talmud is today's Jewish God.