Recently, I came across a short video of a Rabbi posted on a Jewish learning Facebook page. It's a snippet of a speech made by Rabbi Manis Friedman, titled 'Judaism is NOT just another religion'. I don't remember hearing of this Rabbi before so I am not familiar with or dealing with his general outlook. I can't account for everything he may or may not have said or meant throughout his entire career as a Rabbi. I can identify with most of what he says in this video and I love his style of humour. And I don't think it's just because he's Czech. Here, I'll just be sticking to his views expressed in this particular video, namely on the uniqueness of Judaism and how it is different from every other religion. Furthermore, Rabbi Manis Friedman is steeped in a very old-fashioned approach to Judaism so he is closer to an Early Modern concept and purpose of Judaism than many Rabbis today, making his views on why one would identify as Jewish more relevant to an analysis of the 17th century Jewish philosopher, Spinoza.
For some, there may be a linguistic barrier: he throws in Yiddish words and the subtitles can misspell things. Here's an essential word you'll hear: kvetch - Yiddish for having a moan, grumble. It doesn't mean complaining as in making a complaint. My granny was always kvetching and taught me that word by acting it out, other than she had a slightly different accent, it wasn't such a crisp German accent for it. It's a key word in Jewish culture.
I shared this video on my timeline and I commented on the main ideas to grasp in the Rabbi's speech on my Facebook post.
Here I shall expand on my Facebook comment about what I found exciting about this speech. I shall highlight Rabbi Friedman's points in bold, red italic while adding my thoughts in black standard font.
Religion amounts to "behaving in a certain way to gain something from heaven....when you get past all the theology and philosophy". Religion is "a way of life that gives you some benefit from heaven. You'll get something from G-d". But that's not Judaism - Jews have a different destination!
People don't run around shopping for a religion. 🛒 🕉️☸️☯️☪️✝️☦️✡️🕎
What does Rabbi Manis Friedman mean by this? Why not shop around religions? Because each religion has a different destination in life so only one religion will fit where you are going as a person. There's no need to try out religions for the sake of it, despite them not fitting with who you are and where you are going in life. He clarifies this with an airline analogy.
Rabbi Friedman is the Dean of a Chabad educational institute for girls (15+) and women where he teaches those with various backgrounds who have no knowledge of Judaism. He's packaged his explanation in such a way that means anyone of any prior education, ignorance, bias, social and religious background can grasp his point / argument.
Furthermore, it's even an explanation that's designed to elucidate Judaism to a guy who has somehow ignored the fact that it's a women-only students educational institute to attend the women-only class on Judaism and then have the nerve to badger Rabbi Manis Friedman with daft, repetitive questions about why he's only teaching Judaism?! 🤷🤦 Just goes to show that the TERF's claim that men crossdress and claim to be trans just to access women's spaces is a total myth! I digress. My point was - if the Rabbi expects even this random man to understand it, no excuses for anyone else! 🤣
After this video and airline analogy you should understand:
1 what's unique about Judaism that means it's not (just) a religion
2 and that Judaism is not particularly structured like a religion
3 each to their own destination - we don't all have to use the same airline! There is such a thing as religious plurality, as Spinoza points out.
Is Judaism the only or the best? Why not try other religions? The airline analogy: it's all about the destination not the airline.
Rabbi Friedman used Northwest Airlines (he's from Minnesota) because he needed to go to New York. He's particular about the destination not the airline. Imagine if someone asked him - Have you tried the Southeast airline? But it goes to Florida. Should he take a flight to see if it really goes to Florida? No, he doesn't care about Florida, he doesn't want to go there. If he needed to go to Florida he would TAKE the Southeast airline but he wouldn't TRY it. The reason would simply be because it takes him to Florida, if that's where he wanted to go.
Religions as airlines:
🧘The destination of Buddhism is Nirvana, bliss and enlightenment (no not as in the age of enlightenment in philosophy). These are the objectives of Buddhism so if you want this destination, take the Buddhist airline! ✈️🧘⛰️
But you are Jewish and don't want to be that happy! 🤷🙂 No kvetching?! 😮 So perhaps you don't want that airline.
✝️ The destination of Christianity is to go to heaven 🌫️ to be saved from Satan 👹 and not go to hell 👺🔥- salvation!😇 If you want this destination, take Christian airlines. ✈️✝️☦️🌫️
Neither I nor this Rabbi can relate to this Christian mentality. It's not who we are or where we're going in life. So we don't want this airline. And this is equally true of Spinoza!
What is the destination of Judaism?
Mostly nobody Jewish knows or cares! 🤷 Anyway, there's a virtue in being loyal to who you are, without stopping to think - where am I going? What am I getting from it? A Jew is a Jew. Why keep Jewish holidays? Because it's Yom Kippur! It's Pesach! etc.
True! I can identify with what the Rabbi says here. I am not a (Humanistic) Jew in order to get something from it now, at any point in this world or after death. Therefore, I don't have a 'use' as such (e.g. psychological, practical, emotional) for Judaism or G-d in my life. I am just simply Jewish and it fits with my sense of who I am and my destination in life. As a Humanistic Jew, I don't see Judaism as just a religion, I see it as first and foremost an identity, that sits alongside and coheres with my other identities.
What airline was Spinoza on?
As can be seen in the letters between Albert Burgh and Spinoza (September 1675), and some letters between Spinoza and Oldenburg, Spinoza was never going to take or even try out the Southeast airline/Christian airline! Burgh was trying to put Spinoza on the wrong airflight for his destination when he attempted to convert Spinoza to Catholism. Burgh used many of the concepts depicted in the Christian destination: devil, sin, hell/heaven, needing to be saved and praying for the sinner. Indeed, Burgh did more than just attempt proselytising, he was astringent and insulting about it, and, in the apt words of Curley, Burgh's tone was "highly abusive" (Curley 2010, p11). This was especially disgusting behaviour from someone who had tried to be Spinoza's close friend and admirer! 😡
Spinoza was unhappy that Burgh converted to Catholism, even though Burgh was merely converting from one branch of Christianity to another. Perhaps this is because it had unpleasant connotations for him of Catholic conversion during the Spanish Inquisition, which forced his family to flee their homeland. 😢 When pushed to answer Burgh's hysterical insistence that Spinoza should become Christian, all Burgh received back was Spinoza adamantly telling him that he can take a very long walk off a short plank! 👍
Spinoza is making philosophical points that every philosopher should be able to understand. But when it comes to Spinoza's religion, beyond philosophy and theology, he's on a different flight from his Christian contemporaries in his day as well as Christians these days. And because this informs his thought, even though every philosopher should be able to understand his philosophy through reason alone, misunderstandings are more likely to occur because his philosophy is based on a different airline than the one the Christians are on. So it's possibly harder for Christians to wrap their heads around Spinoza's philosophy.
And now, for Destination Judaism: ✈️✡️🕎
As Rabbi Manis Friedman rightly points out: Most Jews keep the holidays on the Jewish calendar 📆 🧐. But not because they are convinced that they are going to heaven if they do. They are not necessarily observant. But it's Pesach and you don't mess around with it. They are not rushing to a synagogue 🕍 🏃on Yom Kippur in order to get to heaven. They are just going because it's Yom Kippur - and there's something simple and beautiful about that. 🙂
What am I going to get from keeping mitzvahs and being a good Jew? 🤔 Persecution? ☹️😕😢
✡️🕎 The destination of Judaism is: G-d gives me everything I have, and when I'm lacking I kvetch to G-d and ask for more. But it feels wrong to always take and not give back so what can I give G-d? So 'destination Judaism' is what can I do for G-d? Why does G-d need that I can give?
This sounds like a much more religious, heavy-going task than it is. But as Rabbi Manis Friedman explains:
Judaism wants to do something for G-d but G-d is interested in earth not heaven. This can be seen in the Torah: in the beginning, G-d created heaven and earth, and that's the first and last time we hear about heaven. So G-d wants ungodly earth to become godly, "as a result of our efforts" - make it a comfortable home for G-d.
Looking at it another way: What can I give G-d?
There's 3 different answers for 3 different religions
🧘The Buddhist answer: the ultimate is bliss, happy and content as possible. 'G-d' doesn't need anything. But we'll teach you how to be happy.
✝️The Christian answer: you were born in sin 👺, you are in trouble,😱 you need to be saved😇. God doesn't have problems, thank you very much. 🤨 And then they'll pray for you. 🙏
Then you ask a Rabbi: Isn't there one thing I can do for G-d that G-d really needs?
✡️🕎 So the Rabbi (a good one, ie. not a dull-witted one🤣) gives you a typically Jewish style answer by replying with a question - why just one thing? 🤷 There are 613 things you can do. 🙂
So here's a major difference between Judaism and Religion:
Religion is about getting something from G-d now and after death.
Whereas Judaism is about giving something to G-d, doing something for G-d now in this world (which includes acting in ways that benefit fellow human beings).
All other religions: the reward is:
1 some other place, outside and above this world in some nebulous transcendent space
2 at another, later, future time, once you're dead and it's now beyond earth-time
This video shows why, I think, Spinoza is not a materialist or too this-worldly to be considered a religious Jew. He's just being a good Jew because Judaism is focused on this world not some heavenly world beyond. If this aspect of Judaism is not understood, then much of what Spinoza writes appears to endorse materialism and naturalism, because superficially, there seems to be an overlap of content and argumentation. Consequently, this leads to the erroneous assumption that Spinoza isn't in line with Judaism because materialism and naturalism are the opposite of religion. Well, yes, but not Judaism because it doesn't function the same way as other religions.
Judaism is home-focused so Spinoza can happily carry on being observant and continue his journey to his Jewish destination. The synagogue doesn't disrupt the airflight or his destination. He can still observe Shabbat, put on Tefillin, tallit, tallit katan, kippah, pray from his Siddur, keep festivals, fasts, do mitzvahs, keep kosher, and study Torah. And at the end of his life, he still held that reverence for Hebrew.
Again, Christians possibly fail to appreciate this aspect of Judaism because their faith is centred on the Church and going to church on a weekly basis. ⛪🏃You often hear Christians argue that Spinoza could have fought his way back to his synagogue. That's assuming he only had to put his back into it and they would have embraced him wholeheartedly. Unlikely! And what if Spinoza decided it was too dangerous to do so since someone had made an attempt on his life on the steps of the synagogue?
He also, like Hume, was not too enamoured of institutional religion. Neither am I! Unlike Spinoza, I didn't attend any religious institution growing up. But, just because a person doesn't attend a place of worship it doesn't automatically mean they don't have a personal belief or don't express that belief through prayer, observing festivals or reading Scripture and so on. Neither Hume nor Spinoza were keen on superstitious beliefs. This does not, however, mean they were atheists. Conversey, the notion that Spinoza was a God intoxicated philosopher makes no sense whatsoever either. He was far too rational for that. Zealotry was not something he would subscribe to. Spinoza was just sticking to his airline which took him where he wanted to go and that was to be the best Jew he could be!
Curley, E. (2010). Spinoza's exchange with Albert Burgh. In Y. Melamed & M. Rosenthal (Eds.), Spinoza's 'Theological-Political Treatise': A Critical Guide (Cambridge Critical Guides, pp. 11-28). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511781339.002
