This week we meet the famous portion that deals with the spies. One group scouts out the land and returns with the message of do not go while the second, smaller duo return with more positive response. A classic interpretation of this is, of course, that we see what we wish to see at various times in life. The people resist the positive report and God vents anger in 14:11ff. Once again, the majority of the Israelites seem to have no faith, despite what they have already experienced. The punishment for that lack of faith, as written at the end of chapter 14, is that the generation of the Exodus would perish in the Wilderness.
That seemed to me to spark a question that has also come up in some recent classes and discussions. That is the role of faith and, what exactly do we mean by it? Likewise, does our “faith” have to be conditional, or in other words, does the threat of death condition our beliefs?
Aspects of many religious structures posit a system of what some would say control. The “threat” of eternal punishment or damnation is tied to a system of beliefs and actions. Faith derived from coercion is not faith but, in many ways, a type of spiritual slavery. Likewise, how has your faith changed as you have grown older and what do you have faith in now?
This Shabbat I ask all of us to consider what that idea of faith means. What do we have faith in? Does real faith begin within us? Does faith in our own self provide a solid spiritual foundation upon which we can build a positive life? Do we have faith I n some outward idea, or value or ideology? Judaism, even in our darkest moments, never has lost its faith I in the concept of hope. The “Alenu” prayer at the conclusion of services states this. Hope requires some aspect of faith. How do you define that faith?
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Richard F. Address
Rabbi Richard F. Address, D.Min, is the Founder and Director of www.jewishsacredaging.com. Rabbi Address served for over three decades on staff of the Union for Reform Judaism; first as a Regional Director and then, beginning in 1997, as Founder and Director of the URJ’s Department of Jewish Family Concerns and served as a specialist and consultant for the North American Reform Movement in the areas of family related programming. Rabbi Address was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1972 and began his rabbinic career in Los Angeles congregations. He also served as a part time rabbi for Beth Hillel in Carmel, NJ while regional director and, after his URJ tenure, served as senior rabbi of Congregation M’kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, NJ from 2011-2014.
Be the first to comment