Page 20 - HaMizrachi02-04( #12)2019RoshHaShanaYomKippurUSA

Not In

Heaven

hen I was a student at but here. And so it was for much of which, in Europe, they abandoned
university in the late Israel’s history during the First and Judaism was the period of
W1960s, there was a well- Second Temple periods. First came emancipation, from the late 18th to
known story about an American the era in which the people were the early 20th century when for the
Jewish woman in her sixties traveling tempted by the gods of the people first time they enjoyed civil rights.
to north India to see a celebrated around them: the Canaanite Baal,
guru. Huge crowds were waiting to the Moabite Chemosh, or Marduk In most of these cases, the
see the holy man, but she pushed and Astarte in Babylon. Later, in surrounding culture was hostile to
through, saying that she needed to Second Temple times, they were Jews and Judaism. Yet Jews tended
see him urgently. Eventually, she attracted to Hellenism. It is a strange towards adopting the culture that
entered the tent and stood in the phenomenon, best expressed in the rejected them rather than embracing
presence of the master himself. memorable line of Groucho Marx: “I the one that was theirs by birth
What she said has entered the realm refuse to belong to a club that would and inheritance, where they had
of legend. She said, “Marvin, listen to accept me as a member.” Jews have the chance of feeling at home. The
your mother. Enough already. Come long had a tendency to fall in love results were often tragic.
home.” with people who don’t love them and Becoming Baal worshippers did not
pursue almost any spiritual path so
Starting in the ‘60s, Jews made their long as it is not their own. lead to Israelites being welcomed
way into many religions and cultures by the Canaanites. Becoming
with one notable exception: their When great minds leave Judaism, Hellenized did not endear Jews to
own. Yet Judaism has historically Judaism loses great minds. When either the Greeks or the Romans.
had its own mystics and meditators, those in search of spirituality go Abandoning Judaism in the 19th
its poets and philosophers, its holy elsewhere, Jewish spirituality suffers. century did not end antisemitism;
men and women, its visionaries And this tends to happen in precisely it inflamed it. Hence the power of
and prophets. It has often seemed the paradoxical way that Moses Moses’ insistence: to find truth,
as if the longing we have for describes several times. It occurs in beauty and spirituality, you don’t
spiritual enlightenment is in direct ages of affluence, not poverty; in eras have to climb to heaven or cross the
proportion to its distance, its of freedom, not slavery. When we sea. “The word is very near you; it is
foreignness, its unfamiliarity. We seem to have little to thank G-d for, in your mouth and in your heart so
prefer the far to the near. we thank G-d. When we have much you may obey it.” 1
to be grateful for, we forget.
I used to think that this was unique The result was that Jews enriched
to our strange age, but in fact, Moses The eras in which Jews worshipped other cultures more than their
already foresaw this possibility that idols or became Hellenized were own. Part of Mahler’s Eighth
in the future Jews would say that to Temple times when Jews lived Symphony is a Catholic mass. Irving
find inspiration we have to ascend to in their Land, enjoying either Berlin, son of a chazzan, wrote
heaven or cross the sea. It’s anywhere sovereignty or autonomy. The age in the famous song: “I’m Dreaming

20 |