 |
|
|
The Bible as fiction
By Rabbi Berel Wein
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
A number of articles over the past
few weeks clearly delineated the basic fault line that exists in
Jewish life today. It is from this difference that I believe that all other
basic differences in the Jewish world today stem. And that fault line
concerns the divinity of scripture --- the holiness of the Hebrew Bible.
The Bible is very old-fashioned and much of it today is politically incorrect.
One of the aforementioned articles was a slashing attack on the Book of Esther for being
male chauvinist and not feminist enough to meet the standards of today's
avant garde society. The second article, written by a Conservative rabbi,
dealt with the problems of us moderns in dealing with the story of the
destruction of Amalek as prescribed in the Bible and as described in the
Book of Samuel. These articles come on top of a number of other articles,
written before the recent Israeli elections, disclaiming the importance of
Jewish sovereignty over the Temple Mount and Jerusalem. What all of these
articles share in common is a basic denial of the holiness of the Jewish
scriptures of the Bible.
The basis of the divide between Orthodox Jewry and the other sections
of the Jewish people -- Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, secular,
etc. -- lies in this basic issue. The holiness of the Bible was and is the
basis of the faith of Israel. The slogan of Rav Sadya Gaon "Our nation is a
nation only by virtue of the Torah" reverberates down the corridors of our
history. It was the belief in the divinity of our Torah and therefore in
the destiny of Israel that it outlined that preserved the Jewish people in
its long and often tragic history. Once the divinity of the Bible is
denied, the reason for Jewish existence and the struggle to maintain
Judaism and the Jewish people essentially disappears.
Why should anyone remain Jewish if the entire story of Israel as portrayed in the Bible and
our oral tradition is a lie? If the Bible offends our current modern
civilized sensibilities, then of what value is it? These are hard questions
and Jewish history provides even more stony answers.
German Reform in the eighteenth century was almost swept away, not by
effective Orthodox responses to the enlightened world of Germany, but by
the wave of conversions and intermarriage that Reform
itself engendered in its attack on the Bible. The pseudo-science of
Biblical Criticism and the beliefs of both social and physical Darwinism
were adopted as being true and the Bible as being false. No facts,
scientific objections or archeological discovery and evidence could change
the minds of the intellectual elite. Well, if the Bible was false, then why
should not the Jews convert or marry out of the faith?
Hitler supplied an answer to that question, but by then the question itself
was only academic to a large section of the Jewish world.
David Ben-Gurion, far from being an Orthodox Jew himself, repeatedly
stated that "The Bible is our deed to the Land of Israel." The Zionist
movement was founded and prospered on biblical basis and justification. But
the grandchildren of the original Zionists no longer believe in the Bible
as anything significant. The faculties of Biblical Criticism still flourish
in Israeli and Jewish universities, long after they have closed shop in
most other schools. The post-Zionists see themselves as without
justification in living and ruling in this country. Our modern
sensibilities are offended by the fact that we have to shoot back at people
who are shooting at us. Such recourse to force to save ourselves is so
"biblical" and not in tune with the fantasy world of the intellectual
elite.
Observance is one thing, but belief in our Bible and our past is quite
another thing. The Bible, if taught by scoffers and non-believers, as is
unfortunately often the case in many "Jewish" schools, will not inspire. And if there
is anything that our society needs today it is inspiration, tenacity,
dedication and a self-confident belief in the justice of our cause. The
place to acquire these necessary emotions and national character traits is
to be found in the sanctity of our scriptures --- in the belief in our Bible
and what it represents.
Modern sensibilities, political correctness, social
mores, come and go with different times and societies. Our grandchildren
will certainly live in a world far different than ours. But the words of
our Bible, which alone have stood the test of time in human history, will
remain to guide and inspire
JWR contributor Rabbi Berel Wein is one of Jewry's foremost historians and
founder of the Destiny Foundation. He resides in Jerusalem. You may contact Rabbi
Wein by clicking here or calling 1-800-499-WEIN (9346).
03/08/01: A Purim fable
02/22/01: Why history
12/01/00: Those stubborn Jews
09/29/00: Of gifts and judgements
08/25/00: Diversity and unity
08/18/00: On Wagner and Chacham Ovadia
07/12/00: The return of a Torah scroll and confronting painful memories
06/27/00: Single issue fanatics
05/22/00: Strength and Weakness
04/04/00: The message of spring
04/25/00: Ritual's role
03/09/00: The hubris trap
02/28/00: Denial
02/17/00: The individual and the state
02/04/00: Going it alone
01/27/00: Hang together or hang alone
01/11/00: Hope and good sense: A Jewish recipe for survival
12/06/99: Trendy vs. tenacious
11/15/99: Legacies and remembrances
11/08/99: The joy -- and responsibility -- of being a grandparent
10/28/99: Imperfect solutions
10/21/99: 'Holy loafers'
10/07/99: Earthquakes --- 'natural' and otherwise
09/28/99: Beauty
09/17/99: Blessing the children
09/10/99: A good year