A Full-Figured Faith - The Expanding Effects of Doubt & Skepticism on an Evolving Jewish Faith

INTRODUCTION

One Friday evening, the Shabbat service ended as it typically did, with the singing of the hymn, Yigdal. There are any number of melodies for Yigdal, and that night, Cantor Frei, the cantor at Midway Jewish Center in Syosset, NY, chose an upbeat and cheerful melody. By the hymn’s completion, the service had come to a successful conclusion, the worshipers rose from the pews, greeted one another, and made their way to the social hall for tea, coffee, and cookies. I was about to do the same when I was approached by Mel Morgenstein who asked, “Rabbi—when are we going to finally do away with Yigdal?” I was puzzled.

“Mel, what do you mean?”

“It’s ridiculous. Half the statements in this prayer no one believes! If we’re going to sing together, shouldn’t we be singing about beliefs we hold to be true, and not beliefs that we have rejected?”

Mel, a man well into his eighties, who took his Judaism seriously and was intent on understanding the words of the prayer book, was questioning the relevance of a hymn penned over 700-years ago and that held a time-honored position in the prayer book. Mel was cordial and polite in his dialogue with others, forever open to understanding the particulars of Jewish tradition, and very involved in synagogue. He even led a monthly discussion group on issues of Jewish significance. He was a thinker. And when Mel voiced a criticism, I listened.

“But Mel,” I countered, “it’s a happy tune and a traditional statement of faith. Do we have to believe everything we sing? Can’t we just sing it as a long-standing tradition, even if we no longer accept each of its principles one hundred percent?”

Mel replied without a trace of conceit or irony, “No.” He continued, “It’s a prayer service, Rabbi. We should believe in the words we say and say the words we believe.” He wasn’t wrong.

One Shabbat morning, a woman and her daughter showed up at services. During the kiddush, they asked me why the Conservative prayer book was so different from what they were accustomed to in their Orthodox synagogue. I suggested that actually there weren’t that many substantive differences, but that the Conservative prayer book was edited to reflect certain sentiments of a 21st century Judaism in order to be relevant to 21st century Jews. The woman asked for an example, as she questioned why anything within the prayer book would require an upgrade. I gave as an example the prayer about animal sacrifice. The prayer book of our synagogue included the ritual as a cherished memory of a past practice, unlike the Orthodox prayer book which called for its reinstitution in a rebuilt Jerusalem Temple. The woman and her daughter were indignant. “Our [Orthodox] prayer book would never have us pray to sacrifice animals!” At that point, it became clear that she was actually unfamiliar with what she was saying in her prayers. Furthermore, it seemed as if she had comprehended the meaning of the Orthodox version of that prayer, she wouldn’t have been too happy about it. For a person of faith, especially one who wants to pray with sincerity, knowledge of the prayer and some agreement with its sentiments ought to be key. One of the beautiful prayers of the siddur is “May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to You (i.e., God).” Yet before we request that the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to God, they ought to first be acceptable to us.

Yigdal is a hymn based on the “Thirteen Principles of Faith” as authored by Rambam, an acronym for one of the greatest Jewish philosophers and legalists of the 13th century, Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (1135-1204), also known simply as Maimonides. Yigdal itself was penned by Daniel ben Judah of Rome, around the year 1300. Yigdal is a synopsis of how Maimonides answered the ultimate questions of our lives. He sought to crystallize Jewish belief into a neat thirteen-point package. His thirteen principles of faith read as follows:

I believe with perfect faith that…

1. the Creator, blessed be His name, is the Author of and Guide for everything that has been created, and that He alone made, makes, and will make all things;
2. the Creator, blessed be His name, is one, and that there is no singularity in any manner like His, and that He alone is our God, who was, is and will be;
3. the Creator, blessed be His name, has no body, and that He is independent of all material properties, and that He has not any form whatsoever;
4. the Creator, blessed be His name, is the first and the last;
5. to the Creator, blessed be His name, and to Him alone, it is right to pray, and that it is not right to pray to anyone besides Him;
6. all the words of the prophets are true;
7. the prophecy of Moses our Teacher, may he rest in peace, was true and that he was the greatest of the prophets, both those that preceded and those that followed him;
8. the whole Torah, now in our possession, is the same that was given to Moses our Teacher, may his name be blessed;
9. this Torah is unchanging, and that there will be no other from the Creator, blessed be His name;
10. the Creator, blessed be His name, knows every deed and thought of humanity, as it is said, “The One who fashions the hearts of them all, who discerns all their doings;”1
11. the Creator, blessed be His name, rewards those who keep His commandments and punishes those who transgress them;
12. the messiah will come, and even though he tarries, I will be waiting for him the day of his arrival;
13. when it shall please the Creator, blessed be His name, that the dead shall return to life; may God’s name and fame be exalted forever and ever.

These principles—not all but many—are the same ones that Mel was struggling with. Are all the words of the prophets true? Why must Moses be the greatest of all the prophets? Is the Torah forever unchanging, and if so, why don’t we consult the local rabbis about our skin ailments, as the Torah directs? Does God really reward the righteous and punish the wicked? How does that synch with all we know about the prevalence of injustice and suffering? How can we wait for a messiah if we don’t even believe in a messiah? Do moderns believe in the resurrection of the dead? Why must Judaism rest on these thirteen principles?

Maimonides would not be at all offended by these questions. He also dealt with a questioning Jewish community and sought to upgrade Jewish belief to fit with the prevailing philosophy of the day. Additionally, he knew that his thirteen principles were not above dispute. Jews have rarely been on the same page when it comes to defining the essence of Judaism. Maimonides was not the first to compose a statement of Jewish faith, or even the most ambitious. Some had sought to reduce Judaism to a single principle. For example, Hillel, the great sage of the early first century CE, famously said: “That which is hateful to you do not do to your neighbor. This is the whole of Torah. The rest is commentary. Go and study.”2 Fast forward about 150 years, and the famed Rabbi Akiba would declare the Torah’s dictum, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” a klal gadol, a major principle of Jewish tradition.3 In this case, we need only strive to love our neighbors, and the details will naturally fall into place.

Many have claimed Judaism to be a tradition of deed, not creed. There is a heaping spoonful of truth in that maxim. Jewish traditions are generally focused on doing, not dogma. Then again, the notion that Jewish tradition is without principles is completely spurious. There really is no case for belief in three gods, and we cannot observe the Sabbath on Wednesday, even if Saturday is inconvenient and Wednesday is a day off. So many questions! And often, the answers to these questions, emanating themselves from a vast and sacred and ancient literature, are themselves unsatisfying, particularly because we live in an age when religion is treated with more suspicion than veneration.

Judaism isn’t the only religion with this problem. Many Christians are alienated from the traditional doctrines of the church. The denizens of western, liberal democracies are the heirs of the Enlightenment, a movement beginning in the 17th century that sought to elevate reason and science to a position the equal of or greater than the predominant ecclesiastical authority of the day, the Church. The proponents of the Enlightenment were hugely successful, primarily because their ideas worked. Their claim that over time, reason and science would generate greater gifts for humankind than religion ever did seemed to bear fruit. Between the 17th and 21st centuries, the advances in medicine, transportation, communication, agriculture, and mass production all combined to bring benefits to humanity that could only be the stuff of wild dreams in all of human history prior to the Enlightenment. Religious leaders naturally resented the attack on their authority and ideas, fulminating against the godless hawkers of reason over God’s revelation. Their vindication of religion was more defensive than thoughtful or creative, yet in the end, even they could not deny the progress or the benefits that the Age of...