I first congratulate Aharon Wexler on a call for an adult treatment of the concept of God. I show below a simple way to fully answer his request, through teaching *the* biblical book on adult experiences and adult emotions, Psalms, in our high school curriculum.
Before doing so however, I must first question Aharon's use of the term "adulthood." What is "adulthood?" Aharon cites "the balance between the immanence and transcendence of God? Where are the questions of theodicy? Is there nothing new to say about Holocaust theology?"
Is complaining about theodicy adulthood; is childlike trust infantile? I would argue the opposite. A beautiful example occurs in this week's parshah. Hagar had been promised that she would bear a son, a leader of a great nation. She returns to Abraham's house excited about this prospect. But then she is expelled; her child gets sick; she is without water.
In Aharon's language, she has questions about theodicy. The Midrash Rabbah elaborates, "Hagar asks God, where are Your promises to me about making Ishmael a great nation?" The verse continues: she sits down or more precisely breaks down.
She appears to be going through adult exercises of doubt. But the bible considers her behavior infantile not adult. The angel snaps at her, "What is bothering you?" implying she has no grounds for complaint. The verse emphasizes that although she is crying God hears Ishmael's tears, not hers. Beneath the lines, we are in effect being told that she had no right to cry.
And indeed, when she merely opens her eyes she says and takes action instead of philosophizing she immediately sees a well and things get moving. The Rav (Rabbi Jospeh Baer Soloveitchick) in one of his essays (Kol Dodi Dofaik?) also says that the Jewish response to theodicy is not theology but action. By focusing on halachic practices, we redeem our soul from the quicksand of philosophical inquiry.
Returning to Aharon's request: I fully agree we have to prepare our students for adulthood; but I disagree that adulthood consists of experiences of doubt and questioning. Rather I would argue that Jewish adult response to adverse adult experiences is transformative prayer. To illustratively elaborate on this I comment from a beautiful recent book, "The Religious Experience of the Psalms," by Shamai Gelander.
Gelander shows three themes throughout the varied book of Psalms. Remarkably, these three themes resemble the themes brought by Aharon; more precisely, they *are* the themes brought by Aharon. With one crucial difference: The themes are solved. The three themes are:
1) CONVERSION: "This is to one extent or another, the starting point of all prayer themes. At its most extreme, it involves a complete reversal of reality, whereby the speaker's true circumstances appear to give way to his desired condition, as if it had actually come true. Although, he is still in distress, he experiences the fulfillment of his hopes as though it has already happened." (Gelander, an accomplished Bible scholar, show linguistic forms in the Psalms confirming this for example the sudden shift from a present distress to a statement of salvation in the past.)
2) IDENTIFICATION: The speaker becomes aware of the attributes that sets him and his fellow believers apart from the rest of humanity. He sees himself as an integral part of a community that shares his feelings and outlook.
3) THE DICHOTOMY (what Aharon calls "the balance between immanence and transcendence.") Gelander explains, "This involves the feeling of closeness to God - which at times, seems almost physical - versus a sense of Him becoming more distant or hidden, or man's feeling of insignificance in relation to the sense of power that he receives from God."
I could elaborate further but instead strongly recommend this book to everyone on this list. In conclusion, I emphasize that it is not enough to prepare children for adulthood, we must prepare them for the right type of Jewish adulthood. We must teach them our heritage: We must show that we identify with a long and beautiful tradition that knows how to balance God's closeness and distance and that this balance can be achieved through prayer which transforms our perception of reality and transforms reality itself. I would recommend that every High School have a Psalms' course in which students are taught not WHAT is in the book of Psalms, but HOW its contents can transform us and save us from adult infantile behavior; how its contents can facilitate successes.
Respectfully;
DR. Russell Jay Hendel; www.Rashiyomi.com/
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2016 08:58AM by mlb.
