Recently, I was on an interfaith panel with a Jewish rabbi and a Muslim scholar. To be with the two of them was a privilege. It made me realize again how much of our time we spend with people we know and who typically are just like us. That is not bad, but it can lead to a more limited view of the world. And I also know that we are much less likely to be creative or innovative if we only hang out with people like ourselves.
Another awareness that came over me during the evening of the panel was how friendships like this can develop that leads to working together to make the world a better place. For example, during the evening of the panel, it was clear that all three of us had a commitment to working for peace. Indeed, I do think all three major religious traditions---Judaism, Christianity and Islam---have a peace component. But it is also easy to see how each of the three traditions have yielded some people who would rather make trouble---and make trouble in violent fashion. If the three of us can be friends and add other friends, we have a better chance of dealing with the trouble-makers of any tradition.
That night with the interfaith panel was still on my mind when I read some pages in Abraham Joshua Heschel’s classic book, Quest for God. I use this book in one of my classes. I suspect students have no idea how important Heschel was as a twentieth century figure. He was important in the Jewish community, to be sure, but he was equally important in the larger religious scene. He as an important ally in Martin Luther King’s work for civil rights. And he was a critic of the Vietnam War. Truly, Heschel is someone I wish I had personally known.
In Heschel’s book we can read some good stuff about good deeds. I often tell students that one of the key differences between Jews and Christians is Christians tend to start with doctrine---what they believe. Jews tend to start with action---the deeds they are supposed to do simply because they are Jews. So it was I was especially interested in what Heschel would tell me about deeds.
The Jewish word for deeds is mitzvah and the plural is mitzvoth. When we see these two words in the Heschel writing, we know how to translate and interpret them. In order to understand the importance of this concept of deeds, we do well to remember the core of the Jewish experience with God in relationship. Simply put, God reached out to the Jewish people---the people of Israel---and called them into relationship. This relationship was established in a covenant. In the covenant God said God would be the God of the people and the people would be related to God. As a people of the covenant, Israel or the Jews would do deeds of the covenant. The deeds would be things like the Ten Commandments.
Heschel gets at this point when he says, “Moses was not concerned with initiating a new cult, but with creating a new people. In the center of Jewish living is not a cult but observance…” I like the way Heschel describes the duty of the people: they are to observe the relationship. In this case, to observe means to do. Observe means more than simply looking at something. Observe means to keep the deal---to maintain the relationship by doing our part. That is what it is like to be part of a new people. We are a people of God.
I say “we” because Christians appropriate this idea when we make the Hebrew Bible our Old Testament. We also are a chosen people. Or better yet, we are part of the chosen people. The Jews are our brothers and sisters. We too are supposed to do a mitzvah---a good deed. Heschel tells us, “A mitzvah is performed when a deed is outdone by a sigh, when Divine reference is given to a human fact.”
Doing this good deed is more than a ceremony. Again Heschel tells us, “Ceremonies are performed for the sake of observers; mitzvoth are done for the sake of God. Ceremonies must be visible, spectacular; a mitzvah is spurious when turning impressive.” On the surface this seems fairly simple. But it can be misunderstood.
Heschel offers us further help when he clarifies that “The purpose of mitzvoth is not to express ourselves but to express the will of God.” To be a covenant people is to be in relationship with God. And the covenant comes with commandments---with guides for what being a people of God looks like and what it demands. Simply put, the commandments of the covenant reveal the will of God. They express God’s desires for us.
Heschel says as much when he declares, “The mitzvoth are the words of God which we try to understand, to articulate.” This is important to all of us Jews and Christians---and I am certain to our Muslim friends as well. We live in a culture that is full of words, but often the matching deeds are nowhere to be found. Talk is cheap; action is key. The will of God requires more than nodding of the head in agreement. The will of God requires action---good deeds.
Another awareness that came over me during the evening of the panel was how friendships like this can develop that leads to working together to make the world a better place. For example, during the evening of the panel, it was clear that all three of us had a commitment to working for peace. Indeed, I do think all three major religious traditions---Judaism, Christianity and Islam---have a peace component. But it is also easy to see how each of the three traditions have yielded some people who would rather make trouble---and make trouble in violent fashion. If the three of us can be friends and add other friends, we have a better chance of dealing with the trouble-makers of any tradition.
That night with the interfaith panel was still on my mind when I read some pages in Abraham Joshua Heschel’s classic book, Quest for God. I use this book in one of my classes. I suspect students have no idea how important Heschel was as a twentieth century figure. He was important in the Jewish community, to be sure, but he was equally important in the larger religious scene. He as an important ally in Martin Luther King’s work for civil rights. And he was a critic of the Vietnam War. Truly, Heschel is someone I wish I had personally known.
In Heschel’s book we can read some good stuff about good deeds. I often tell students that one of the key differences between Jews and Christians is Christians tend to start with doctrine---what they believe. Jews tend to start with action---the deeds they are supposed to do simply because they are Jews. So it was I was especially interested in what Heschel would tell me about deeds.
The Jewish word for deeds is mitzvah and the plural is mitzvoth. When we see these two words in the Heschel writing, we know how to translate and interpret them. In order to understand the importance of this concept of deeds, we do well to remember the core of the Jewish experience with God in relationship. Simply put, God reached out to the Jewish people---the people of Israel---and called them into relationship. This relationship was established in a covenant. In the covenant God said God would be the God of the people and the people would be related to God. As a people of the covenant, Israel or the Jews would do deeds of the covenant. The deeds would be things like the Ten Commandments.
Heschel gets at this point when he says, “Moses was not concerned with initiating a new cult, but with creating a new people. In the center of Jewish living is not a cult but observance…” I like the way Heschel describes the duty of the people: they are to observe the relationship. In this case, to observe means to do. Observe means more than simply looking at something. Observe means to keep the deal---to maintain the relationship by doing our part. That is what it is like to be part of a new people. We are a people of God.
I say “we” because Christians appropriate this idea when we make the Hebrew Bible our Old Testament. We also are a chosen people. Or better yet, we are part of the chosen people. The Jews are our brothers and sisters. We too are supposed to do a mitzvah---a good deed. Heschel tells us, “A mitzvah is performed when a deed is outdone by a sigh, when Divine reference is given to a human fact.”
Doing this good deed is more than a ceremony. Again Heschel tells us, “Ceremonies are performed for the sake of observers; mitzvoth are done for the sake of God. Ceremonies must be visible, spectacular; a mitzvah is spurious when turning impressive.” On the surface this seems fairly simple. But it can be misunderstood.
Heschel offers us further help when he clarifies that “The purpose of mitzvoth is not to express ourselves but to express the will of God.” To be a covenant people is to be in relationship with God. And the covenant comes with commandments---with guides for what being a people of God looks like and what it demands. Simply put, the commandments of the covenant reveal the will of God. They express God’s desires for us.
Heschel says as much when he declares, “The mitzvoth are the words of God which we try to understand, to articulate.” This is important to all of us Jews and Christians---and I am certain to our Muslim friends as well. We live in a culture that is full of words, but often the matching deeds are nowhere to be found. Talk is cheap; action is key. The will of God requires more than nodding of the head in agreement. The will of God requires action---good deeds.
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