Like the wisdom of Amy-Jill Levine in the Jewish Annotated New Testament, my rabbinic colleague's comments shed light - again - upon my own deeply ingrained antisemitism. And as much as I hate it and challenge it, like racism and sexism, it will remain a part of my being until I pass from this realm. Knowing and owning this truth is humbling - and for Christians humility is a blessing. (Well, humility is a good thing for all of us, but especially Christians engaged in the work of routing antisemitism from our tradition.)
In the first essay in the appendix of The Jewish Annotated New Testament, Dr. Levine's essay, "Bearing False Witness: Common Errors Made About Early Judaism," warrants regular review by any of us speaking publicly about Jesus. She begins, " out of ignorance many pastors and religious educators strip Jesus from his Jewish context and depict that context in false and noxious stereotypes." Kind and honest without pulling her punches, Levine lists five reasons for this problem and ten areas where such lies continue to show up in 21st century messages. They are:
+ The ten current anti-Jewish stereotypes that continue to cause wounds: 1) The Christian theology the separates grace from law - with grace celebrated as the better way - because Torah is too burdensome. In reality, not only is the way of the law a joy and delight, but Jesus himself "was halakhically obedient" in his dress, in prayer, in observances. And, of course, the Great Commandment of Matthew 22: 36-40 - love of God and love of neighbor -is taken directly from Torah (Deuteronomy 6: 5 and Leviticus 18: 19)
2) Following Torah is NOT about earning a place in heaven in opposition to Christ's way of grace. Israel's "election" has nothing to do with earning God's favor and Jews do not follow Torah to earn divine salvation. Rather, from the beginning, God loves - and liberates - and creates and the law follows as a way to organize acts of gratitude. 3) Too often the way of purification is painted as too burdensome for real people; in reality, the purity codes were and are a way of maintaining Jewish identity. 4) Many Christians teach that early Judaism was so misogynistic "that it made the Taliban look progressive by comparison." Where did the impulse in Jesus come from to welcome and embrace women - and elevate them to roles of honor and leadership - if not from his own tradition? As in all religious tradition, certain "proof texts" can be found to advance any perspective, and such texts exist that describe women as oppressed, but they are the exception rather than the rule.
7) All Jews did NOT want a military Messiah. 8) God was not a distant deity while the Lord of Jesus was the intimate "Abba:" of the Lord's Prayer. The Psalter and other texts speak of God as a tender father, too as well as a loving mother. 9) (I wrote about this yesterday) the supposed challenge Jesus brought to "the temple domination system." Not only is this anachronistic, it is an ideological projection backwards into history of the worst intellectual type. Simple put: Jesus loved the Temple and worshiped within it. And 10) more often than not Judaism is seen as narrow by Christians while Jesus is converted into a modern universalist; the Hebrew texts also contain elements of God's universal love and need to be reclaimed and celebrated.
Spending time with Dr. Levine's essay - and commentary on the Christian scriptures - is both eye-opening and useful if you are committed to living into the shalom of Christ's way. It shoulld be required reading for all of us who want to live as good neighbors. In an article from this morning's NY Times, David Brooks offers a beautiful Passover corrective to the way many Christians understand the feast: it is a celebration of story telling and music making as an antidote to fear. (check it out here: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/03/opinion/david-brooks-on-conquering-fear.html?_r=0)
Storytelling becomes central to conquering fear. It’s a way of naming and
making sense of fear and imagining different routes out. Storytellers expand
the consciousness, waken the sleeping self and give their hearers the words and
motifs to use for themselves. Jews tell the story of the Exodus each generation
to understand the fears they feel at that moment. Stories create new ways of
seeing, which lead to new ways of feeling and thinking.
Tonight, we Christians will tell part of our story, too.
While my sisters and brothers in Judaism
The
normal version of this episode is that God parts the Dead Sea, the Israelites
cross, the Egyptians are engulfed and then the Israelites sing in celebration.
But the alternate version is that the Israelites are singing at the moment of
crossing. They are not singing in celebration. They are singing in defiance of
terror.
The climactic break from bondage is thus done in a mood of enchantment. The
women, who have experienced the worst suffering, take out their timbrels and
become joyful and buoyant. According to some rabbis, Miriam, who leads the
singing, has a higher spiritual consciousness than even Moses because, with all
the bitterness behind her, she can leap into song. The song produces energy and
spiritual generosity. Borrowing from Oliver Sacks, Zornberg writes that the
people have become “unmusicked” by fear and pain. They have to become
“remusicked.”
Eventually,
the Israelites are able to cope with fear. This makes them capable of loving
and being loved. The image of fire plays a role in this transformation. At
first, fire — even in the burning bush — is just scary. But eventually fire is
semicontrolled as candlelight at the center of the meal, intimacy and home. Zornberg’s
emphasis on the role women play brings out the hidden, unconscious layer of the
Exodus story. But it also illustrates an important element in the struggle
against fear. We’re always told to confront our fears. Take them head-on. But,
in the sophisticated psychology of Exodus, fears are confronted obliquely and
happily, through sexiness, storytelling and song.
Lord, may our story-telling and singing be equally liberating, honest and real.
credits:
3) www.pbs.org
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