A conversation with my old friend Arne

Arne,

My basic philosophy of life, to make an abrupt change of tone, is that life so unstable that You Cannot Take Anything for Granted. Therefore I have created the concept I call NTAG (Never Take Anything for Granted).
I have found support for this philosophy in Jewish Wisdom which does NOT mean that I am in any way a traditional Jewish person. I am using applicable parts of Jewish Wisdom to support my NTAG philosophy. As a simplified and very simple example, I think that keeping Kosher is a way of reminding oneself that food is not something millions of people in the world can take for granted. I realize that this is a very simple example but illustrates the principle in a clear way.

As ever Yours,

Richard,
Well, when it comes to your profoundly sounding NTAG philosophy of life (two of my close friends died in their fifties, which make me feel that I never know what awaits me around the corner), I'm not sure whether it necessarily requires Kosher and other kinds of self-restraints. Couldn't it as well imply the opposite, a hedonistic approach to life: Enjoy today what may be out of reach tomorrow? Or, rather something in between?

Arne.


Arne,
I really don't have time to write now, but I love to discuss this topic, so I will TAKE the time.

First of all, I don't see keeping Kosher as self-restraints. It is a pure joy! (I could write a separate book about that, but back to matters at hand).

And, as I wrote, (and I really meant BOTH simplified and simple), Kosher was but one example. On this Blog there is a whole list of Jewish “phenomena” (rituals, from birth to death, literally) which all, according to my thinking, illustrates my NTAG concept.

I don’t see my Jewish involvement as a problem; I see it as a privilege to have access to this very rich and stimulating culture, enormous history, some of history’s most impressive people, books, studies, music, theater, movies and so on. I am obviously not saying that you cannot take part of this even if one, as you write, has a “a hedonistic approach to life”. I just believe that I - as an “insider” - have more access to the rich history, the humor, and that wonderful feeling of “belonging”, both “horizontally” and “vertically”. With the latter, I don’t mean vertical between “heaven and earth”. What I mean is that – horizontally – one feels “belonging” with others in this tradition – whether they live in Smygehuk (the southern most point of Sweden), Shanghai, Tel-Aviv or St. Louis, and vertically, with all those who came before us, from Moses to Moses Mendelssohn. There is a Midrash* that says that when the Torah was received at Mt. Sinai (according to the fairy tale) all living and future living of the Jewish tradition were present. In other words, we all (including you) stood at the foot of Mt. Sinai and received the Torah.

* = (A Midrash (Hebrew: מדרש; plural midrashim) is a Hebrew word referring to a method of exegesis of a Biblical text. The term "midrash" can also refer to a compilation of Midrashic teachings, in the form of legal, exegetical or homiletical commentaries on the Tanakh (Jewish Bible))

The idea is that all are connected through time and even if Judaism has changed (specially after the destruction of the Second Temple in the Year 70 CE, but that’s another story) there are still some fundamental concepts which have remained constant.
An example of the former phenomenon (horizontal): In 1984 when my mother passed away, I wanted to follow the age-old tradition to say Kaddish (a prayer that is not about death but life, but – again – that is another story) and that summer Annki and I went to Austria to attend the Salzburg Festival. I tried to say kaddish at least on Shabbat during the first 11 months, so when Shabbat rolled around in Vienna and I went to the Synagogue of Vienna and participated in the service and was thereby able to say Kaddish (The requirement that there are at least 10 people is another example of Judaism’s thoughtfulness) – and despite that I knew NO German or knew anybody there.

The same thing happened when Linda’s grandparents passed away – two weeks apart – in 2000, and we were in Tampa, FL. Same story there.

So, it is a privilege to belong to this “horizontal” and “vertical” family.
When we grew up in Sweden, and especially those of us who attended Hillel School (The only Jewish Day School in Sweden), as some of our common friends did, the emphasis was on what you MUST do and what you WERE NOT ALLOWED to do. And that’s why you write “self-restraints” and our common friend often says “I don’t have to follow that anymore” (verbatim quote), simply because they accentuated the “MUSTS” and the “MUST NOTs” - so to say. Almost none of the beautiful, stimulating, progressive, environmental-conscious, socially responsible, funny, thought-provoking parts.

To compare the Judaism that was presented in Sweden – in general – and at Hillel School – in particular – with the one I experience here is really – as I wrote many years ago – like comparing the climate in Kiruna (the northern most point of Sweden) and Kenya. (I wrote this long before Global warming was such a hot topic, so the metaphor may no longer work).

Here in America the majority of the Jewish population progressive (Yes, there are exceptions like some people in the Bush Administration), they are leaders of the American Environmental movement, pioneers in the Civil Rights movement, and so on. (74% of Jewish voters did not vote for Bush in 2004). They are strong supporters of a woman’s right to have an abortion if she chooses, strong supports of Stem Cell research, separation of Church and State, strong opponents to education of so called Creationism and so called “Intelligent Design” in public schools. It is a whole other country, as they say in the commercials for Texas.

Very eye opening.

I wrote above about the “receiving of the Torah” (according to the fairy tale) – this is another hot topic here. Who wrote the Bible? There is a wonderful book by a researcher in San Diego, called “Who Wrote the Bible?” by Richard Elliott Friedman, - I am writing about this elsewhere on this blog as well . Again, NO modern person of the Jewish “family” believes that “God” wrote the Bible/Torah and “dictated” it to Moses. That is old wives tales.

A modern researcher like Professor Friedman builds his thesis on work that was done in the 19th century by two German researchers, Graf and Wellhausen, who named their theory The Document Hypothesis. It is based on the thought that the Bible was written by essentially four authors over a period of more than a 1000 years.

Certain religious authorities, like the Pope, don’t like this at all! Their grip of people is based on that the Bible’s laws are founded on “The Word of God” – and if regular, normal human beings had written the Bible, wherein lies its authority?
That question is not a problem for a Jewish researcher. That’s because Judaism is viewing the Torah as a metaphor, a guide book, (The noted Jewish “prophet” Abraham Joshua Heschel, - who marched with Martin Luther King and who lived until 1972 - even said “as a report on revelation, the Torah itself is a Midrash” - a mind-boggling statement.), and not something “sacred” that one has to believe in “because it says so”.
An example of this – of course – is that for the last 25 years or so, the Conservative movement has ordained female Rabbis. (Like my sister-in-law). (Try to find that in the “holy Bible”).

Friedman has expanded on the Graf-Wellhausen hypothesis and his research has identified the redactor - that is the person who finally took the four’s work and edited and put it together and made it into what we now know as the Torah, the Bible. He said that Ezra – a prophet who lived 400 BCE – was the redactor and it is his combining of the four stories that we have today.

More to follow.