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Resurrection
For Moderns There is a famous rabbinic saying that even a sefer Torah needs mazal. Since every synagogue has multiple Torah scrolls, there is an element of chance as to which one gets read. The point is that often success is a matter of mazal, of luck - for human beings and even for a Torah. I am beginning to think that this principle also holds true for ideas and religious beliefs. If you would have asked me just a few years ago whether sophisticated, westernized Americans would admit to believing in angels, I would have said, "no way." And yet angels are not only the heroes of TV shows, but a large percentage of Americans surveyed admitted they believe they have a personal angel. Today, I am going to discuss another topic I never dreamt would ever be of interest to American Jews. Not only that but I am going to speak about it next week, also, because the subject is too complex for just one sermon. After centuries of lying low - if not hiding, resurrection of the dead has again risen to the surface as a serious theological idea among Jewish thinkers. Until just a few years ago, this concept of body and soul coming together in a new life was considered so primitive and superstitious that religious reformers were embarrassed by it. So they either removed it from the prayer book where it appears in several prominent places as I will explain later or translated it in vague terms to disguise its real meaning. Now, the idea is in vogue again. What better proof than the success of the book, The Death of Death. Written by Rabbi Neil Gillman, of Conservative Judaism's Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, this scholarly look at resurrection has enjoyed record sales for a book on theology.` Why interest in resurrection has resurfaced in our times is the topic for next week. Today, I would like to explore how the idea came into Judaism in the first place. It should be obvious to anyone who has diligently followed the weekly reading of the Torah that the concept of resurrection isn't there. The Torah tells us Sara died and she was buried. Abraham died and he was buried. Moses died and he was buried. Yet, not one word about an afterlife. Now the torah is not reticent about expressing its beliefs. If indeed early Israelites believed in tehiyat ha'matim, as resurrection is called in Hebrew, the torah certainly would have mentioned it. The fact is that in the entire 39 books of the Bible, life after death is hinted at only three times. Two of the references are in the writings of the prophet, Isaiah. Describing God's immanent final judgment of all peoples, Isaiah says, God "will destroy death forever" (bila ha'mavet la'netzach) (25:7-8) Several paragraphs later, the prophet states: "Let your dead revive The only other reference to resurrection is found at the end of Daniel, the last book of the Bible. There Daniel tells his listeners: "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to eternal life, others to reproaches, to everlasting abhorrence." There is one other text I would like to cite. Many of you are familiar with the prophet Ezekiel's vision of dried, decayed bones coming to life again. But here he is speaking metaphorically. The revitalized dry bones symbolize the exiled people of Israel regaining national sovereignty in the land of Israel. But how much of a jump in thinking is it to go from God bringing about national regeneration to God effecting individual resurrection? What we see in these citations from Ezekiel, Daniel and Isaiah are the seeds of an idea that germinated and flowered in a later era. It is only in the post-biblical period - after the Bible had already been canonized or sealed - that the doctrine of resurrection is fully alive, is in the air. Let me illustrate this point utilizing the Book of Maccabees which tells the story of Hanukkah. The Book of Maccabees is not in the Bible. It is post-Biblical. In it, we find the moving legend of Hannah and her seven sons who undergo martyrdom rather than disregard the laws of the Torah as demanded by King Antiochus. In a speech before the king, the second son explains his readiness to accept death. "You fiend, Antiochus, you are making us depart from life, but the King of the universe will resurrect us who died for the sake of his laws, to a new, eternal life." Where did this idea come from? How did it enter Jewish thought long after the Torah had been written. Some scholars think it came into Judaism via the Jews of ancient Persia. They were exposed to this concept from their neighbors, practitioners of the Zoroastrian religion that affirms belief in resurrection. The theory is that Persian Jewry served as the conduit for this belief infiltrating and revolutionizing Jewish thinking. But it is also possible that this idea evolved from within Judaism as a natural outcome of its own monotheistic beliefs. In as much as God is the ultimate power over history and nature, surely God is capable of conquering death should he wish to. Surely an all powerful God who created the very first life, can bring back to life those who once lived. This would be God's final triumph and a grand concluding chapter to the history and drama of humanity. Finally, resurrection may have been introduced into Judaism to resolve a perplexing issue regarding God's justice. Why do the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper? How can a good God allow these inequities to happen. A response to this theological conundrum is to posit that the reward of the faithful will be in the next world. This world is only a corridor leading to a better world reserved for the righteous. It could be that Judaism incorporated the concept of resurrection as a result of many factors working together: the influence of Zoroastrianism, the emerging idea that an all powerful God will eventually overturn the finality of death and the need to assure a reward for those who suffer in this world. Whatever its origins, life after death becomes a major tenet of Judaism. It prominently appears in Judaism's most important prayer - the Amida. You know that zippy tune we sing toward the beginning of the Amida -m'chalkel hayim b'hesed. Have you ever looked to the English side of the page to better understand what you are proclaiming? Here is a translation. "You sustain the living with compassion; You revive the dead with abundant mercy . . . Whose power can compare to you, O King, who brings death and restores life? . . ." And have you ever paid attention to the words as you sang the last verse of the hymn Yigdal: Maytim y'chayei el b'rov hasdo. It means "God resurrects the dead because of his great faithfulness." Through reciting these phrases, belief in the eventual resurrection of the dead was affirmed every time a person prayed. But with the dawn of the modern world, many westernized Jews were embarrassed by this belief. It smacked of naivete and superstition. So theologians and religious reformers began reinterpreting the idea to mean that in some general way the good we do in this world, the memories we leave, live on after us. The Reform prayer book took the traditional words of the Amida, "Praised are you who restores the dead" and reformulated to read: "Praised are you, Source of life." The Conservative movement - true to its commitment both to tradition and change - kept the traditional Hebrew but translated it ambiguously in English as "Praised are you who gives life to the dead." Now what does this mean? It could be understood literally as bodily resurrection or metaphorically to mean God gives life to the dead through memory, through one's lasting achievements. (The ambiguity allows the worshiper to choose the interpretation that is most satisfying.) Let me conclude by summarizing this brief history of resurrection in Judaism. Tehiyat Ma'maytim, Hebrew for resurrection, does not appear at all in the Torah, and in fact is found only in three isolated instances in the entire 39 books of the Bible. The idea that God will abolish death and resurrect the dead, however, flowers in post Biblical times - perhaps borrowed from Zoroastrianism or perhaps evolving out of Judaism's own theology concerning Gods power and God's justice. No less an authority than Maimonides listed resurrection as one of the thirteen principles of Jewish faith. However, with the onset of the age of Enlightenment some two centuries ago, this idea becomes an embarrassment and is reinterpreted in a humanistic vein to mean this: that in some general way, the values we stand for and the worthy accomplishments we achieve live on after we die and find their place in God's eternity. Next week I will explain how trends in post modern thinking have given the original idea of bodily resurrection a new lease on life. Come back next Shabbat and find out why that has happened. Shabbat Shalom. Resurrection For Moderns
(continued) In all my previous years in the rabbinate, I never dreamed that the topic I am going to discuss with you today would ever be of interest to American Jews. Not only am I going to speak about it today, but I introduced this subject already last week because it is too vast and complex for just one sermon. After centuries of lying low if not hiding, resurrection - body and soul coming together in a new life - has become a serious theological issue again. Until just a few years ago, tehiyat ha'maytim as it is called in Hebrew, was considered so primitive and superstitious that religious reformers were embarrassed by it. So, they either removed mention of it from the prayer book where it appears prominently or translated it in vague terms to disguise its real meaning. Now, this concept is in vogue again. My reform colleague, in nearby Melville, Rabbi Marc Gellman of "God Squad" fame, has recently chastised his own Reform Movement for failing to preach and teach this doctrine. Rabbi Neil Gillman, a theologian in our Conservative Movement, has recently published, The Death of Death. His scholarly examination of resurrection has enjoyed record sales for a book on theology - proof that this topic is of wide interest to Americans. Last Shabbat I discussed how the idea of resurrection evolved in Judaism. I showed that it does not appear at all in the Torah, and is found only in three isolated sentences in the entire 39 books of the Bible. However, in post Biblical times, the idea that God will abolish death and resurrect the dead gains momentum. How did this concept make its way into Judaism? Perhaps the Jews living in Persia borrowed it from their neighbors whose Zoroastrian faith contains this notion. Or perhaps it evolved out of Judaism's own theology. Judaism declares God to be all powerful. Isn't it possible that just as an all-powerful God created life, God will one day nullify the finality of death? Moreover, Judaism states that God is just. But if that is true, why do the righteous suffer? This is a major theological complication that a religion must address. It is conceivable that the idea of an afterlife evolved precisely to resolved this dilemma. It does so by envisioning that those who suffer in this world will be rewarded with a new life in a better world to come. Whatever its origins, the idea of resurrection took such a hold on people's imaginations that no less an authority than Maimonides listed belief in resurrection as one of the thirteen principles of Jewish faith. However, with the onset of the sophisticated age of the Enlightenment some two centuries ago, this idea became an embarrassment. In order to maintain their credibility with modern thinking Jews, Reform and Conservative Judaism engaged in creative theology. It reinterpreted life after death in a humanistic vein to mean that in some general way, the values we stand for and the worthy accomplishments we achieve live on after we die and find their place in God's eternity. The question is why has belief in actual bodily resurrection as first conceived of several thousands years ago made a comeback now? What has changed in our current decade? Part of the answer is the approach of the millennium. A significant marker such as the millennium generates eschatological or end of days musings and expectations. Even though the year 2,000 is a Christian milestone, relating to the time elapsed since the birth of Jesus, we Jews naturally absorb the atmosphere of the society of which we are an integral component. Another part of the story is the sudden rebirth of traditionalism in all religious communities. Finally, the reigning scientific/technological/rationalist temper that has held sway ever since the Enlightenment two centuries ago, has proved inadequate to explain the questions at the core of human existence. In this post modern age, we acknowledge the limits of reason and science in dealing with the ultimate questions of life. As one writer put it, what the post modern era is about is the "re-enchantment of the world that modernity tried hard to dis-enchant." Resurrection - Tehiyat ha'maytim - addresses this tormenting question at the heart of the human experience: Is death the final word on the destiny of each individual? Since even the longest life ends with many aspirations unfulfilled, does death rob us forever of realizing our unconsummated dreams? Tehiyat ha'maytim makes the bold claim that our life lived in the presence of God does not end with death. Listen to what the noted Reform theologian, Dr. Eugene Borowitz, wrote, "We are coworkers with God in creation. We cannot believe that having shared so intimately in God's reality in life, we do not continue to share it beyond the grave." One of my colleagues came up with a parable to aid in understanding the debate regarding resurrection. He imagines twins in their mother's womb. Everything they know and experience is limited to their mother's internal world. Suddenly they find themselves dropping and they feel as if they are about to exit the pleasant haven they have occupied for nine months. One of the twins laments that when they leave that will be the end of them forever. The other twin believes there will be a new life to which they will be born. He can't prove it but deep down inside him he feels this is so. The idea that at some future time body and soul will reunite in a new life is something that cannot be proved. Personally speaking, I confess that the rational part of me tends to side with the reformers of the enlightenment period. Remember, they were the first to reinterpreted tehiyat ha'maytim in terms of our good deeds and our positive achievements living on after us. But I am also influenced by post modern thinking that rightly asserts that there is mystery beyond the rational, that what we intuit is no less true than what we can scientifically prove. Rabbi Neil Gillman, gives voice to this position in his book The Death of Death: "belief in bodily resurrection side-steps my critical faculties. It comes from some other dimension of my being, from my intuitive sense that my life here on earth is not my entire destiny." But why the insistence on actual bodily resurrection given the difficulty of conceiving of such an event. Why not say that the soul - that invisible part of our personality - will be called back to life in some way. It is easier to envisage and accept that proposition than molecules of the head, arms, legs and organs miraculously reassembling. Rabbi Gillman's answer is that one's body is indispensable to a sense of oneself. He says that without my body there is no 'me.' "Whatever my ultimate destiny, then, whatever God has in store for me at the end, must include my body." Therefore, any doctrine of the afterlife must deal with my physical resurrection. Rabbi Gillman and other Jewish theologians who write about resurrection make no attempt to envision the mechanics of tehiyat ha'maytim. They are dealing with an idea not with biology. How a decomposed body will be reunited with a soul is not their concern, although earlier Jewish theologians did grapple with the details. Saadia Gaon, who lived in eleventh century Babylonia, argued that the same God who created the body and the soul that animates it can, also, re-gather all the dispersed molecules and reconstruct the human body again and bring it back to life. Current theologians don't dirty their hands with the down to earth, nitty gritty details of this idea. They merely state that resurrection will be accomplished as an act of God's awesome power which is beyond human comprehension. Let me summarize my talk last week and today by recalling a song sung at the Seders two months ago. The final verse of Had Gadya is the very last thing we say at this festive meal that not only celebrates redemption in the past but looks forward to the final redemption. Here are the concluding words: v'ata ha'Kadosh Baruch Hoo vshachat lmalach ha'mavet - And then came the Holy One, Blessed be God, who slew the angel of death." So what have we here? The Haggadah closes with a statement that at the end of time, God will slay, will defeat death. God who has redeemed humankind from physical servitude in Egypt will one day free humanity from physical mortality as well. This idea, at one time dismissed by most Jews in this century as non-rational, therefore, not scientific and, therefore, not true, is enjoying a come back. This proposition that just as human history began with God creating human life, it will end in a dramatic grand finale with God returning life to every human that ever was. This idea is undergoing a resurrection in the new age that has dawned on the cusp of the millennium. Shabbat Shalom |
