A few new religious ideas to consider..

Greetings from the Southern hemisphere! Today, the all stars of Liberation in Southern Africa made an appearance in the form of Peter Jones, a prominent leader of the Black Consciousness Movement in the 1970's. Once again, I was truly awed by the amount of pride and dignity that he conveyed. Listening to all of these leaders of the liberation struggle has really proven to me the power of ideas, the power of action and the power of a desire to do what is right and just for all, especially those who do not recognize the power of their own voices. He discussed the formation and the actions of the BCM and his own experience and through it all conveyed an appreciation of his minority identity that must have been so difficult to uphold in the face of such blatant and cruel dehumanization. That, in my mind, was the most amazing thing about Black Consciousness, it was centered around the self and how the individual has the power to free themselves from the shackles of white oppression that continue to deem them not good enough. It was an ideology that gave power to those deemed powerless. While all facets and efforts of the liberation struggle were necessary and unfathomably brave, I think that the reconstruction of a positive self image in the face of severe degradation was one of the most important feats in the era of Apartheid.

Insensitively moving on to the privileges of my life and opportunities in South Africa... Shabbat was quite fun and interesting. A friend and I stayed at the house of a young couple hosting a Shabbaton for 13 sixth grade girls. Again, I was amazed at the amount of effort and creativity constantly present within the Cape Town Jewish community in attempts to cultivate a sense of Jewish pride and knowledge. I do not know how many of these kids have weekly Shabbat experiences at home, but they seemed to really enjoy the Shabbaton. Expressing my Judaism and taking pride in that identity and has always been so easy for me and I think I am starting to realize how for most Jews, it is difficult to want to be Jewish when it leads to losing, to sacrificing something else. It is so much easier to take pride in your existence as a Jew when you are provided with opportunities that make you want to be Jewish and express whatever that means to you. I thankfully never had to say “oh I had to do X when everyone else got to do Y.” For most kids, if this is reality, it is going to be hard to find the value in X over Y. But when settings and programs are established where X becomes the Y, where being Jewish gives you access to places and people you didn’t have before as well as the value and wonder of what it is to be Jewish and have that characteristic connect you to other amazing people, then this can produce a significant gain rather than a frustrating sacrifice. All of the amazing people, programs and organizations in the Cape Town community really seem to be trying to make the X into the Y and show that appreciating your Judaism can be because of how much you benefit from it and not despite what you are missing.

On the subject of appreciating religion, I don’t know how many of you have ever learned about Buddhism, but it is the focus of my Religion, Sexuality and Gender class last week and this week and it happens to be extremely interesting. I think the reason I have become so intrigued by it is because all of the religions I have learned about and been exposed to until now all fit within the same Western, monotheistic framework. Even though Judaism (which is my reference point if you have not yet realized) is quite different from Christianity and Islam, they are centrally focused on the idea of one God, a biblical text and the process of authoritative interpretation that succeeded it, messianic afterlife, rituals, historical prophets etc etc. But Buddhism does not possess any of these things. It is more a state of being that a religion in the way we understand it. We all exist within a ring of samsara which is suffering. This does not necessarily refer to physical pain but rather meaninglessness and emptiness which at times can take on a physical form. The reality we live in has produced a dichotomy between happiness and sadness but all of the constructions of the world reside in the ring of samsara. Things cannot make us happy or determine our success, rather we must identify and destroy the three poisons of the world upon whose axis the wheel of suffering stands upon, greed (desire), ignorance and hatred with wisdom and compassion. The ideal then becomes living an ascetic existence in the mountains or the forest and ridding yourself of desire for physicality outside of the self. By focusing on the attainment of the two things that have the power to reverse the wheel of samsara and arrive at enlightenment, nirvana, one must employ wisdom and compassion which can be attained through the teachings of the Buddha who is the father figure of Buddhism but not a god. Gods in Buddhism exist but they are not transcendent, eternal or superior to humans, instead it is best to be human for then you have the capacity to search for salvation. All of the other forms of existence do not possess the same drive for salvation and thus humanity is the summit of being. When the cycle of reincarnation happens over and over, being born a human is perceived as a reward for righteousness in the previous life. (I may be mixing some of these concepts up so do not take this as an actual explanation of some of the primary Buddhist ideas)

The idea of reincarnation in Buddhism is extremely interesting because it is the foundation of wisdom and compassion, the two tools of salvation. Because each person is perceived to have lived countless previous lives, it is believed in Buddhism that each being was once the brother, father, sister, mother, dog of every other person and as a result we are all interconnected. There is no focus on the individual but rather the fullness of the world. While I do not necessarily believe in reincarnation I think that this idea has really infiltrated my thought process. I think it is quite similar to the belief of b’tzelem elokim, that we are all created in God’s image. While I am aware Buddhism does not introduce a god like the God of Judaism, I think that the larger force of each belief system and way of life can be used as a means to see ourselves in others and to feel responsible for their well being as a result.

Another belief system that I have recently been introduced to that I find so interesting and have tried to connect to different Jewish ideas is black theology; an ideology created in the time of the civil rights movement to empower black people within a Christian context adopted by many of the leaders of South Africa’s Black Consciousness Movement. The basis of black theology was that whites monopolized Christianity and created a religion that could not be followed by people who were being oppressed in its name. Instead, one of the fathers of black theology, James Cone, wrote that god is a force that can only be associated with the oppressed since revelation of god can only take place in liberation. He said that it is not possible for persecution to be religiously justified, but rather that god has always been associated with those who are fighting persecution. As a result, the Christian god must therefore be a black god, for god cannot be associated with the oppressor, but rather he or she who is being oppressed.

Simultaneously though, in black theology the human being can only be free if they are one of the oppressed. Only then is there mind at odds with the norms of a tyrannical society and understands that the world can and needs to be better. For those who have the luxuries of support from this system, they are incapable of understanding what is wrong with the world and thus remain imprisoned in their minds. This idea reminded me a great deal, going way way back, to the discussion of the two kinds of freedom in Judaism, chofesh - a freedom from restriction, and cherut - a freedom of consciousness, a freedom to understand the world and elevate the mundane through laws and beliefs that facilitate this process. Black theology seems to present a version of cherut, a freedom that is not easy to attain or in many cases is not actually desired but it leads to a greater understanding of the self, how one relates to others and why such interactions are so valuable.

I found these ideas to be extremely reflective of Judaism especially as we approach Pesach. I keep hearing d’var torahs about how this is the most important, most observed holiday because that which we are commemorating, ye’ztiat mitsraim (our freedom from Egypt), is one of the defining events in the history for the Jewish people. So often in prayers and in the Torah, this event is referred to in describing God (God who took you out of Egypt). This is what led to receiving the Torah and to receiving our own land, this liberation from slavery and oppression is what produced the development of Jewish life, belief and culture. Today, it can also be seen, according to my favorite Rabbi of my favorite shul in Cape Town (in his Friday night sermon), as an opportunity to not only clean ours houses of chametz, but rid ourselves of the “filth” within us, the situations in which we have not treated others well, the times when we have spoken badly about another; it is a time to free ourselves of all that restricts us from being the best versions of ourselves. Pesach is our freedom as a people as well as a blueprint that teaches us how to function within that freedom as an individual. The source of our communal liberation and our individual understanding of how to be certain that all those around us never feel as though our actions and words put shackles upon others in our lives is God. This God could never be one that supports hatred and human hierarchy, one that is used to justify persecution. I believe that the God who took the Jews out of Egypt is the same as the God who frees other groups of their oppression. I agree with James Cone that when that process occurs, then God is revered, believed in, loved and feared; freedom is the defining moment in the relationship between a God and those who follow that God.

I really think that we can learn so much from learning about other religions, belief systems and cultures. For me, doing so has often complemented my Judaism rather than opposing it. While at times different ideas have made me question various Jewish tenets, I believe that engaging in these debates in my mind have made my faith and understanding stronger.

South African Ulpan, you get two!

widget - noun - widge-et - a remote

soapy (this might not be the correct spelling) - noun - soap-ee - soap opera

Sally and Jirard fought over the widget as Sally watched the rugby match and Jirard desperately wanted to regain power and watch his favorite soapy.

Happy Pesach cleaning! Cheers!