Right now, I'm in High Holiday mode. That means I am spending most of my time writing, editing, deleting, retooling, and finalizing sermons. After Rosh Hashanah, I'll post my first two main sermons here on the blog, so even if you didn't catch the live-version, you can still tell me if you thought they came out ok or not.
Fingers crossed... Though my brain is mainly focused on the Jewish New Year, and all the themes and imagery that come with it, I nevertheless wanted to pause and reflect with you on this week's Torah portion. Luckily for me (and hopefully you as well), I discovered that a source I was using for something ELSE, in a holiday sermon, had something interesting to say for
Parashat Nitzavim as well.
My brother, Benjamin, gave me a book a while back, entitled "
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind," by Dr. Yuval Noah Harari. At one point in the book, Harari talks about how religion began and developed. He describes how
animalism (or zoolatry) evolved into
polytheism, which created both monotheism and
dualism.
I was especially taken with a particular observation of Harari's, namely that all theology - all thinking about Divine forces, as well as the origins and purposes of humanity - face one struggle or another. Whatever you believe, however you imagine the universe is structured, you have to wrestle with a problem, and make a choice. Monotheists struggle with the Problem of Evil, or as Harari writes: "Monotheists have to practice intellectual gymnastics to explain how an all-knowing, all-powerful and perfectly good God allows so much suffering in the world." Dualism, meanwhile, is puzzled by the Problem of Order, meaning: "When Good and Evil fight, what common laws do they obey, and who decreed these laws?" No one can answer every question; everyone has to choose.
And here's where our Torah portion jumps into the mix. Moses is reaching the very end of his monologue, the last words he'll utter to the Children of Israel before his own death. Speaking on God's behalf, Moses declares:
"I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life—if you and your descendants should live." (Deut. 30:19) On the one hand, it doesn't seem like much of a choice; more like a threat or an ultimatum! But on the other hand, it very much IS a choice. People choose death and destruction, pain and suffering, greed and hatred every single day! So much so, that it challenges the very fundamental building blocks of our monotheistic theology! If God is powerful, all-seeing, and good; how can there be this much evil in the world??? And even if you try to shift to dualism, polytheism, or some ancient animal worshiping zoolatry; ya still gotta make choices!
Just as Harari describes, we DO get distracted by the challenge of Evil quite a bit. But if we can set that aside for a minute, I think this quote from Deuteronomy actually is emphasizing the choice part. And not that it's a one-time decision,
and then you either live life as a Good Guy or a Bad Guy, but rather that life - living - is a series of constant choices. As we finish up this month of preparation, and get ready for Rosh Hashanah, we should let God's appeal to us keep ringing in our ears: "u'Vacharta va'Chayim," "Choose life!" It matters less what you believe, or even how you personally resolve, in your own mind, the eternal problem of the existence of evil. But what DOES matter are your choices - today, tomorrow, this upcoming Monday, and every day. Be a force for good in the world. Improve and inspire the community around you, and take responsibility for your actions and your behaviors, knowing when to say sorry and genuinely be remorseful. Make good choices, but perhaps even MORE importantly, recognize what a gift and a power it is to be able to choose. Respect that ability, treat it with compassion, kindness, and understanding; and together, we can all 'choose life!'
CC images in this blog post, courtesy of:
1.
Steve Johnson on
Pexels
2.
Albert Meyer on
Wikipedia
3.
andreasfuchs8732 on
needpix.com
4.
Jeremy Noble on
Flickr
Fingers crossed... Though my brain is mainly focused on the Jewish New Year, and all the themes and imagery that come with it, I nevertheless wanted to pause and reflect with you on this week's Torah portion. Luckily for me (and hopefully you as well), I discovered that a source I was using for something ELSE, in a holiday sermon, had something interesting to say for Parashat Nitzavim as well.
"I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life—if you and your descendants should live." (Deut. 30:19) On the one hand, it doesn't seem like much of a choice; more like a threat or an ultimatum! But on the other hand, it very much IS a choice. People choose death and destruction, pain and suffering, greed and hatred every single day! So much so, that it challenges the very fundamental building blocks of our monotheistic theology! If God is powerful, all-seeing, and good; how can there be this much evil in the world??? And even if you try to shift to dualism, polytheism, or some ancient animal worshiping zoolatry; ya still gotta make choices!
When one asks how a powerful and good God permits such suffering I think of something Norman Mailer once said: God is either all powerful but not all good or all good but not all powerful.
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