Rabbi’s Message, Sept. 2011
September, 2011
In the car today, I was listening to Penn Jillette (from “Penn & Teller”) speak about his newly released book entitled, God, No!: Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales. As we approach Rosh Hashanah and the traditional reading of the Akeidah, The Binding of Isaac, he sends us an eerily alarming message, it would seem. He asks, “If God spoke to you and told you to kill your child, would you do it? If your answer is no, then I believe you’re an atheist. If the answer is yes, you need help. Or at the very least,
stay away from me.”
And if indeed we were intended to come and accept as TRUE that God actually asked Abraham to offer his son for a sacrifice at the top of a mountain in order to prove his loyalty, I might have to agree with Teller’s summation. But that would also mean that the Torah, the Bible, is meant to be understood as a literal transcription of events, with the court reporter typing away and recording everything that occurred step by step. I would strongly suggest though that this is indeed not at all what our tradition has ever intended for the manner in which we are to engage with the Torah. By insisting that it is either one way or the other, with no room in the middle to breathe, reflect or interpret, Teller’s orthodox atheism is as destructive as fundamentalist religion.
Our Rabbis taught, “Turn it and turn it and turn it again, and within it, you will find it all.” The key here is in the turning. The Torah, in this instance with the Akeidah, is meant to shock us a bit. Perhaps to ask us what indeed are the things and people in our lives that we are willing to sacrifice? And at what cost? Perhaps to warn us to be careful that there are lots of voices around us suggesting that we do lots of things that may or may not be productive, healing or meaningful. And at what cost? To perhaps remind us that at times our work, our sense of mission or purpose, our drive can become so overwhelming that the best we can offer our loved ones is some distant, far off offer of presence that is both self-defeating and undermining of the values we cherish. And at what cost?
The Akeidah, the Binding of Isaac, is a shot across the bow of our souls. It’s a reminder that time is fleeting. That we should judge very carefully the time, the things, the people that we are willing to bind to an altar and offer for the sake of something else. That each and every day, we can choose how to live and where to set our priorities. And when we choose well, know the sacrifices that are worth making. And at what cost.
Natalie, Abraham, Samuel and I pray that for each and every one of us, the new year to come is filled with a bounty of blessings of joy, celebration, inspiration and good fortune. And that our tradition rings in our ears reminders of the ways in which we seek to live, that looking back we can be so proud of the choices we made. L’Shanah Tovah! Happy New Year.
