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| By John Ray |
Some Memoirs
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I went to my first seder last night. It was with a local Conservative congregation so there was lots of Hebrew chanted and sung -- and we used an Orthodox haggadah (order of service). I enjoyed it. It was a relaxed and happy occasion, as it should be. We even had some very pleasant Israelis present. The haggadah was read out loud by various people during the seder and it was mostly read in English. During the reading I was at one stage called on without warning to read a paragraph, which I was of course delighted to do and immediately did. I actually took an active part in the seder rather than being a total visitor. It is lucky I was following what was being read, though! Will I attend another seder one day? Perhaps. I am not religious so that is a counterindication. But I enjoy Biblical exegesis (rigorous interpretation) so if an opportunity came up to attend one in very scholarly company I would be keen. I have only a Christian knowledge of the Torah so I would appreciate a deeper discussion of it. But there are no Yeshivot (Jewish Bible schools) in Brisbane so I am not holding my breath. I would be particularly interested in an exegesis of Exodus 12: 43-49. On the face of it, the Lubavitchers have got it right and the seder should be restricted to Jews only. But, as with all good law, there is a loophole: verse 48. I would fail the loophole myself but there other cases where defining the exception would be interesting. I think that I should in closing express my great appreciation of the inimitable Garek Fish, who led the Beit Knesset Shalom congregation through the seder ceremonies with thoroughly admirable gusto. A note about the shul (synogogue) that I went to: Like Christianity, Judaism is very fractious, with all sorts of sects. Beit Knesset Shalom is nominally a Progressive shul but is apparently at the most conservative end of that definition. They had a breakaway or threatened breakaway a little while back from a group of members who thought they were not progressive enough. Interesting that the usual word used for a synagogue is "shul", which really means "school". It is a small hint of the intellectual orientation of Judaism. | ||
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| You wrote in a previous entry:
As the Lubavitchers are very fundamentalist, I think we might perhaps conclude that we see the basic difference between Jewish love and Christian love there. Jewish love is for Jews and Christian love is for all mankind. I couldn't disagree more. Judaism has a set of laws for all mankind, not just the Jews. It regards any non-Jew who keeps these law (the seven Noahid Laws) as a righteous person who is guaranteed a place in the world to come. The Jewish concept of heaven is potentially for all mankind, not just the Jews. In other words, Jewish love *IS* for all mankind. In Christianity, however, salvation is reserved only for those who hold Jesus Christ as their saviour. If you don't accept Jesus as your saviour, you will quite literally go to hell. The Christian concept of heaven is for Christians. Where exactly is the love? I'm not coming at this from a position of complete ignorance. I had a lot of this drummed into me at my Christian school. As a member of Brisbane's orthodox congregation, I'm sorry you were denied a place at the communal seder. You would have been more than welcome in my home. By the way, my brother, who is Lubavitch, tells me that non-Jews are not allowed, according to Jewish law, at the 1st nigt seder, but can go to the 2nd night. My father, like you, is not Jewish. He has always been warmly welcomed at schul (the few times he has been), but even at my (Jewish) wedding there were some things that, as a non-Jew, he was simply not allowed to do. For example, he was not even allowed to stand under the chupah with me. He did not take it personally. Politicians who try to be everything to everyone cannot and should not be taken seriously. The same holds true for religion. I do agree, however, that orthodox Jews should do more to be a 'light unto the nations'. Changing ancient traditions and customs is not how this should be achieved. | |||
| Posted by Simone | |||
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