2002-11-10 - 10:09 p.m.
WHAT PARENTS THINK
One of the differences I�ve observed between Christians and Jews is that if you ask a Christian child what his parent thinks about God, you most likely will get an answer. It�s possible that the answer will be over-simplified, but you�ll get an answer and it will be fairly close to what the parent would say. If you ask a Jewish child, at least a Jewish child of a Reform Jew, most likely the child will look at you blankly. Even the children who attend services reasonably regularly and follow a lot of the rituals at home will pause. What do their parents think about God? Is that something that they really are expected to know?
A casual observer would suspect that what is going on here is an absence of centrality of religion. While that casual observer might be right, there is more than that occurring and, at a minimum, we need to explain that fact to our children before they mistake it for not caring. What�s going on here is that the central focus in Judaism tends not to be on who or what God is. One can be a �good� Jew in the absence of strong belief. The central question is not what one believes God to be but what one does.
Two events pointed up this difference to me today. The first came when I subbed for one of the teachers at our synagogue�s religious school. I subbed in a ninth grade classroom and had to throw out the lesson plan because an out-of-town youth group activity and something in the air reduced the size of the class from thirteen to three this morning. The lesson plan the teacher gave me required at least six students to work.
I began by using the history lesson that the teacher had given me as a back-up. With only three students and no discipline problems at all, we rapidly whipped through that lesson and ended up with a twenty minute block with no lesson plan. So I fell back on one of my favorite lesson plans. I first asked the kids what they would say about God if someone asked them what they believed. I then asked them what their parents believed. We wrapped up with a quick discussion on why they had such difficulty telling me what their parents believed.
The second event was an e-mail. Jim wants to discuss the trinity of Christianity with me. I wondered what his reaction would be if I asked him the piece I�ve never understood. Why would one need a trinity? Why couldn�t a God in one piece be enough? Then it struck me. �Well,� I thought. �If I were part of a religion in which what I believe about God were so central, at least I would know what those around me in worship believed about God.�
Well, I don�t know what all the people around me at services believe. I like the freedom to stand in front of a room of teenagers and tell the child who is experimenting with being an atheist that Jewish reaction is not the horror he�s hoping for. No, one Jewish answer is simply �do and the rest will follow.� Observe the rituals, follow the rules, and see where you are then in your relationship with God. I like being able to stand in front of that classroom and mildly say, �I�ve never been certain enough of anything in the area of faith to be a good atheist.� I like being able to say, �Tell me about this God that you don�t believe in� without feeling I have to tell him about the God he should believe in.
I�m sure Christianity has its rewards and its comforts but, practical soul that I am, I get rewards and comforts from stressing doing. I�m not convert material�and I�ve had plenty of opportunities to find that out. I can discuss the differences but I�m content to let them stay differences.
Oh, yes, and I�m one of those rare Jewish children who has a pretty good idea what my parents think about God. And so are my children.
LAST YEAR: United We Stand
LAST FIVE ENTRIES:
Not Keeping Up With the Cohens
Fighting Over Money
Terribly Sad Just the Same
The Man I Married
The Blister
previous - next
|
Copyright 2006 by Ellen |
