Just know that I take a lot of time discussing the actual affirmations with the students, more to explain to them the meanings across the years and, perhaps more important, to have a give-and-take. Above all, they should know that every Jew has an issue with at least one precept of our tradition if not more than one, and that one interpretation is, more or less, as good as another. Now sometimes what is brought up doesn’t make sense and I try to explain that, but if they don’t agree with Reform’s position…or that of Maimonides…or the line of Chabad rabbis…that’s fine…provided they agree with ME. (I hope you’re laughing). After all, we’re trying to create thinking, caring, committed Jews, not cookie-cutter automatons.
Here are the affirmations:
1. That God sustains creation in love…
There is no capriciousness in God’s relationship with mortals. As opposed to other faith community’s idea of “love,” Judaism sees it as the Divine knowledge that we need societal structure to survive. How we treat each other, how we treat the earth is not up for grabs; there are mitzvot defining that treatment.
2. God does not hide the Divine light from anyone yearning for guidance…
Other people had to leave the “truth” to those in charge, either the secular or religious Rulers. They – not the hoy polloi – were the ultimate source. They “knew” and those who were told, for all intents and purpose, that they were nothing in God’s eyes, had to get the information from them.
3. God created us in the Divine image, endowing us with the gift of thought and freedom of choice…
Free will is a major concept in Judaism. In Deuteronomy (read on Yom Kippur morning, to show you the significance of this idea) God tells us, “I have given you life and death, the blessing and the curse…” and then the very strong “suggestion,” as it were, “Choose life that you and your offspring may live!”
4. God commanded us to affirm our faith through our actions and our words…
Once again, I remind you that ours is a religion of deed, not creed. It’s what we do that matters, not what we believe. A few weeks ago, I gave you Habakkuk’s potent statement, “The righteous person shall live by his/her faith.”
Part II Tomorrow: Affirmations 5-8
(Speaking of affirmations, a religious-school teacher was checking her students’ knowledge of proverbs. “Cleanliness is next to what?” she asked the class. One of her young charges replied, “Impossible!”)