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From the Rabbi:
I think I've told you the story how I ended up a Christian Theology major at Oberlin, but here it is again...
On my first day of of college, like all students I met with my academic advisor, and he gave me some splendid academic advice. "Don't study what you're interested in". Huh? "Nope. Invariably, you'll end up with a professor who you don't like, who makes your homework a chore and your grades and overall experience will suffer. Instead find a professor who stimulates your curiosity and excites your mind, making your work joyful. Whatever they teach, study that!"
So I did. Dr David Kamitsuka inspired me (still does!) to no end and I ended up focusing in modern and contemporary Christian thought. Most of my papers were along the lines of "how would this thinker's theology apply within Judaism?" I even ended up winning a prize for 'the graduating religion major most likely to have a positive impact through Christian ministry'. LOL.
The theological method Dr K taught us he called "Mr Potato-Head" theology. Meaning that like Mr Potato-Head, God allows us to pin upon him whichever conceptual framework we want and willingly wears for us whatever constellation of ideas we attach to the reality of His existence. The challenge for us to assemble a consistent and thematic set of ideas which will allow for a coherent theological system which serves our needs from God. If we need liberation, we can make liberation theology. Embodiment theology, feminist theology, ecology theology, you name it! It's a great kindness God shows us to let us dress Him up in all our crazy ideas and through whatever set we attach, He's always there for us. Not because of the ideas, and not really despite them, but through them.
So in Parshat Netzavim we can see a particular theological construct taking shape. We could call it something like "Covenantal Identity Theology." Let's try on this axiom: Being that there's only one God, we ALL have God in common, and it's that shared relationship which forms our very identity. Who are we? We're WITH God. God's identity (Yes, identity is also a body part God wears) then is also bound to us. He is OUR god. And in fact we call Him that in the Shma and in every Bracha.
אַתֶּם נִצָּבִים הַיּוֹם כֻּלְּכֶם לִפְנֵי ה' אֱלֹקיכֶם
You are all stood up here today before Hashem your God...
I translated it as 'stood up' because Netzavim is a passive verb. We didn't do it to ourselves. None of us made ourselves. God made each of us, and He made ALL of us. He is OUR God. All of ours together. That makes us inherently all together. Together is who we are. This is the idea of Covenantal Identity. Our very deepest truest self is our shared relationship and interconnectivity. And God is who binds us all together. In this theological rubric, the mandate to responsibility is the very essence of Divine Command. Everything we do effects everyone else. So, choose life!
This Shared Identity theology also gives us a very distinct conception of idolatry. Since relationship with God is our prime identity, idolatry becomes not only worship of another being, but also a separation of identity from the whole in which we participate. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" ends up meaning, don't let any other identity come between us. Someone who has a private agenda other than the Highest Good of the whole and all its constituent parts is worshipping an idol. Someone who has an identity which supersedes their participation in the Covenantal whole in which we're all participant (whether we acknowledge it or not) is an idolater. If your national identity, religious identity, political alignment, or favorite sports team is more important to you than sharing God with Everyone, you might be an idolater.
This is one piece of the greatness of Rosh Hashanah. The day of the creation of Humanity. All of Humanity. As we say in the Unetaneh Tokef prayer we say on Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur in mussaf: All mankind pass before You like young sheep. As a shepherd inspects his flock, making his sheep pass under his rod, so do You cause to pass, count, number, and review the soul of every living being, determining the life-span of every creature; and You record the decree of their judgment.
God sees us all together. Do you want to be that idolatrous sheep who says "I'm not with THEM"? On Rosh Hashanah there is no 'them'. There's only US. We all stand together before God.
Shabbat Shalom,
Reb Shlomo
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