Philosophy

The more I study a topic, any topic, the more I realize how little I know about that topic.  There’s so much more to learn.

Being active Jewishly, the question of Reason vs. Religion comes up frequently, although that dialectic isn’t as sharp in Judaism as it is in other religions.  And yes, one has to study both Reason and Religion, deeply, to fully appreciate that.
In other words, and put bluntly, if you “have to” belong to a religion as an atheist, then Judaism is your easy pick!
Of course, it would take volumes to fully explain this statement, but in short:  Study both Reason and Religion and you’ll see.

The short answer to this riddle – as it must seem to many – is that religion is about three B’s.  Believing, Belonging, and Behaving;  One can say, then, that being an atheist only addresses the first of these B’s, Believing. 
In other words, 2/3 of the foundation of religion has nothing to do with how you feel about a supernatural being.  The Belonging is by far the most important “B”.  Behaving is nice too but has nothing to do with your belief in, or rejection of, the notion of a god.    If it did, we would still stone women to death if found  to be non-virgins at their weddings.  That part of “Behaving” has been thrown on history’s ash heap, thankfully. 
But Belonging is the key, the sense of a common history, common culture, common jokes, common food; 

Yes, I know that Catholics have this too;  and that’s exactly my point!  We belong together, because our history culture, jokes and food are separate from those traits Catholics have in common with each other. 
Peoplehood is not about belief systems.  And the great thing about Judaism is the fact, with a few exceptions, Judaism is tolerant!  Various views on Belief can co-exist.  Yes, I know, I said there were a few exceptions but they are revealing more about themselves than about Judaism.
   

The eyes of history

When examining history, the history writer is studying the past through the lenses of the times in which he/she lives and therefore the study is a reflection of the time he/she lives in at least to the same extent as the time he/she describes.

An example. My Synagogue's Adult Education committee is presenting a lecture on the European Origins of Conservative Judaism. In the middle of the 19th century, primarily in Germany, various people reacted to the spread of Reform Judaism (a branch of Judaism that denied "all" tradition and wanted to abandon all but the name of Judaism). These people said: We are not Orthodox but we are also not Reform. We want to formulate something in the middle. A book I am reading now called "From Text to Context: The Turn to History in Modern Judaism" - the title says it all. These people who later were to become known as Conservative, basically transformed Judaism from a "religion" to a "science" ("The Wissenschaft der Judentums") (German for the science of Judaism). They said: Don;'t just read the text, see the context!! (In other words, the historical context).

So, why are we talking about this now???? What's the relevance??? What's the contemporary meaning? Well, the Conservative Judaism is in crisis. And yes, there are a whole long list of reasons for this. But because it is in crisis, talking about the movement's origins makes sense.

 Again, we are studying history through the lens of today!

A new brilliant article by Sam Harris

This article is really worth reading!