Last week, our group concluded its discussion of Part 2, Chapter 5 of To Be A JewToday. We focused how Feldman handled his question of whether “divinely inspired social justice can be reconciled with real Israel” (Israel as seen based on practical, pragmatic, and material factors). Feldman previously asserted that turning our backs on Israel in favor of Jewish life in the diaspora is not “theologically viable.” He makes clear, however, that this position is not equivalent to absolute loyalty and support (an attitude of “Our ancestral homeland–right or wrong!” Feldman notes that “refusing to see that Israel can ever do wrong is an indefensible theological assertion.” We discussed how the Jewish principles of You shall not oppress a stranger and Justice, Justice, thou shalt pursue ran counter to what Rabbi Brant Rosen identifies as the “Biblical conquest tradition,” conquering and settling on land occupied by others. Rabbi Rosen advocates reading Biblical texts through a decolonial lens–not through the lens of the conquerers (i.e., develop an understanding and empathy towards those who have been displaced). Feldman goes a step further by advocating taking responsibility for criticizing actions that are unjust. Although Feldman doesn’t mention Jewish sources about this responsibility, we briefly discussed the principle of tochachah (rebuke) found in Leviticus 19:17. This is one of the 613 mitzvot; it requires us to confront others about improper behavior. We noted that Feldman tactfully doesn’t specify particular sins that Israel could currently be charged with, he had earlier alluded to the sin of pride/arrogance/ chutzpah when it came to boasting about one’s power. Such pride, Feldman notes, causes us to forget about the interests and needs of other people.
For the second half of last Friday’s meeting, we addressed the first chapter of the third section of To Be A JewToday. In that chapter, Feldman considers what he labels the “contested concept” or “vexed question” of “What are the Jews?” We began by offering our personal responses to questions posed by Feldman early in the chapter: What do you think the Jewish people should be? for what purpose? How do Jews contribute/how will Jews contribute to world culture and civilization? How are those contributions distinctive and valuable? Some of us balked at these questions arguing that Jews cannot be considered as a monolith (there are many different cultures subsumed under the rubric of Judaism), that even our individual responses could vary from day to day, that it’s questionable to think about whether any people should be thought of as existing for a particular purpose, or whether its useful to consider a people’s contributions distinctive? Some of us offered responses such as
Jews are models of survival and resilience in the face of centuries of anti-semitism, enslavement, oppression, attempts at annihilation
Jews demonstrate the value of looking at the world from multiple and sometimes opposing perspectives (Numbers Rabbah 13:15, indicates that the Torah has 70 facets, or multiple valid interpretations; in Pirkei Avot Rabbi Ben Bag-Bag advises us to “Turn [the Torah] over, and [again] turn it over”)
Following this discussion, we had just enough time to begin considering Feldman’s concept that Jewish peoplehood can be described as being a “large extended family” that somehow serves to meet each other’s intellectual, spiritual and practical needs. We will pick up this discussion when we meet this Friday.
This week, we will continue our discussion of section 3, chapter 1, “What Are the Jews?”(pp. 261-287). If there is time, which is unlikely, we may dip into the beginning of chapter 2 in this section: “The Chosen” (pp. 288-301)
Our informal discussion group, which is currently in its 26th year, meets via Zoom every Friday from 12-1 (check CBI’s web site or weekly announcements for updates and a link). All are welcome to attend. Feldman’s book is available through a variety of internet book dealers. If you have questions, contact Jay Jacoby atjbjacoby@charlotte.edu.
