Christmas Stories - Part 3
December 19, 2021Today's message was the third in a series called Christmas Stories. The message is here.
I decided to latch onto Patrick's reference to what's "most important." What would the Torah, and Old Testament generally, say are most important? The following is about what comes after you place God first or most important...
For starters, most folks would say, after acknowledging the Torah as the basic building block, that the "two pillars" of Judaism are Creation (Genesis 1-4) and the Exodus (Exodus 1-20).
Let's start with Creation. What are the most important things to understand about the first verse of the Bible? Here's what Dennis Prager suggests in his commentary on Genesis (pages 1-3):
- The universe has a Creator, which gives meaning to existence.
- Only God "creates" (bara); man "makes" from pre-existing stuff.
- Everything except God had a beginning.
- There is but one Creator (unique in history); monotheism is born.
- Unlike other creation stories, no mention is made of how God came to exist.
- God is completely separate from nature, not part of nature. There is order and separations.
- The Creator and Creation are totally desexualized, also a first in history.
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God; the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). This is another candidate for "most important." It's part of the shema, the Jewish prayers said daily. Given all the suffering in the world, it is not easy to love God. But it's most important. Loving God takes a desire/will to do so, and practice. It's a bit like learning to love classical music - most people don't take to it right away. Kids don't take to their green vegetables right away either. It's also interesting to note that in ancient Hebrew, the heart was the seat of the mind, the kidneys were the seat of feelings, and what they called the mind (nephesh) was your essence or muchness. Regardless, note that it takes all three. The phrase could be translated today, in order, "mind, soul, and muchness."
Generally speaking, when the Old Testament (OT) says something like "with all your heart," it is actually refering to your mind. Today's placement of such import on what one's heart says, one's feelings, would not have been shared in OT times. It was thinking that mattered. I think we need to get back to that.
Here's another possible answer, albeit outside the Torah proper. "He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8). One candidate for most important word in the Old Testamnt is hesed, translated above to "love kindness." Other translations of hesed include: mercy, love, loving-kindness, steadfast love, faithful love, or unfailing love.
Let's look at it from our point of view, particularly a parent's point of view. What does a parent most want from the kids? To love each other! Now, just extend that thought to God and all his children. (Prager-ism)
Directly related to "God wants us to be good" is that God gives us opportunities to repent from not being good. The most holy day in Judaism is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:26-32). An opportunity to repent.