So my last "Introduction to Judaism" class took on one of the big Judaic topics (or at least big for me). Namely, God. To say the subject was a tad intimidating would have been a gross understatement. All my previous spiritual backgrounds have framed their deities in very visible and (pun intended) concrete forms. Judaism will have none of that, thank you for very much.
For instance, Paganism has long been rift with anthropomorphic renderings of the (at the time) unknown. Ancient cultures dealt with the natural/supernatural worlds by dressing up their mysteries in flesh and bones. Stroke of lightning? Cue the angry bolt-tossing cloud god. Wild seas? Must be that annoyed Poseidon dude. The love in someone’s eyes? Blame a mischievous arrow-wielding cherub. Need to explain the fates? Bring in the trio of thread-weaving crones. What could a wife/mother call upon to aid her during the daily grind? Enter Hera, the paradigm of all long-suffering Wives and Mothers.
Of course, what seemed perfectly acceptably back in the day (e.g., Ancient Rome, Greece, Egypt) is a little harder to simply take at face value today. (Broad generalization warning here:) Modern Paganism teaches that its gods and goddesses are really manifestations of universal gender-polarized energies that can all be traced back to a single cosmic source. Those same energies are in us at all times, also. It is all connected. As such it would only make sense that as much as we are made in the Gods’ images we have in turn made Them in ours as well. As above, so below..
Catholicism is different - well, kinda. Historically, if not spiritually, Christianity seems to have borrowed liberally from both the Pagans and the Jews when sculpting its Higher Power for the masses (another pun intended). It rolled out a Zeus-like father figure who gladly accepts sacrifices, grants favors (miracles) and dispenses final judgments from a throne at the center of a cloud kingdom. Always in the male form (traditionally, if not annoyingly, the dominant culture always gets the privilege of making paradigms) he is considered the One - except of course when he’s the Three, as in Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (And you have to know there are no coincidences when examining this particular dynamic and the use of trinities in earlier Pagan cultures.)
While God has not always been the spokes-icon for The Catholic Church, where he has shown up has left little to the imagination (or to the gender of those who have been doing the imagining). Again, he is often portrayed as an elderly (and therefore supposedly wise) male, bearded, dressed, presumably muscular, seated in a position of ultimate authority and judgment. (Or not: Family Guy)
So spread the Tarot deck and take your pick: did you need The Disappointed-Daddy God or the Merciful Throw-You-A-Bone God? The Ruler of Olympus or The Heavenly Sovereign-as-counter-point-to-that-thoroughly-evil-Lobster-God-of-below?
Judaism offers something entirely different: nothing. Of course, I don’t mean an atheistic void but rather a monolithic (ha ha! yes I'm here all week) Question Mark, an Unknown, perhaps the greatest of Unknowns. There are no stained glass portraits or altar statues of the Sovereign of the Universe in any temple or even a preschooler’s sketch of HaShem in your local synagogue. And good luck trying to find some archeological evidence of Judaism's El Shaddai. Sorry, doesn’t exist. Never did. In fact, a great many Jewish thinkers from across the ages believe that to apply any human characteristics to God - even in terms of gender and emotions - is to be guilty of idolatry.
And, you know what? I get that, I really really do. Because I truly believe the moment we humans believe we can imagine something we try to categorize it/tame it/control it/render it impotent against us. You might reason that after thousands of years of matrimony we would kinda think otherwise. Evolution, apparently, is slow.
Still, what makes perfect theological sense can be quite the conundrum in reality. I don't know about you but in there have been plenty of times in my life when I have needed to imagine my Higher Power in the flesh per se, have some sort of mental picture to either hug or throw darts at, wanted some cosmic coat-hook to hang my fears or joys or praise upon. Sometimes I have needed the universe’s largest shoulder to lay my weary head upon, or have the Eternal Protector watch my back, or just have the Cosmos's oldest entity as a traveling companion along Life’s more lonely paths.
So what does Judaism’s faceless and genderless G-d leave for me to hold onto instead? If I can't pull a ready card out of Judaism's Tarot, what am I left with?
Coming from someone who is converting, my answers may sound limited. Or, if you will, evolving.
Here’s what I know. Instead of imagining a deity whom I can physically recognize and therefore think of as one day being equal to I am forced to reexamine my humble place in a larger cosmos. Instead of figuring out how to please/supplicate/satiate (and therefore second guess) some cloud-based supernatural being/pantheon I must now learn how to relate to my human community, of which I am inescapably a part of, here on earth. Instead of focusing attention (and money) on statues/tapestries/stained glass I am left to direct my thoughts and emotions on Torah and my Jewish family.
Hmmm. Is that what HaShem intended all along?
But then as a Jew I know better than to think I would have that answer.
No comments:
Post a Comment