by Nancy Gould
This week’s parasha, Vayikra, is the beginning of the book of Leviticus. Now, the book of Leviticus is arguably the most boring book of the Bible because most of what it discusses are ritual sacrifices. All of these sacrifices involve slaughtering animals.
Why don’t we perform sacrifices any more? Is it because people finally came to their senses and got rid of this barbaric custom? Unfortunately, the answer is no. After the Temple was destroyed, prayer became the substitute for animal sacrifice. It’s important to keep in mind that if the Temple is ever rebuilt, the sacrifices will need to start up again—at least according to traditional Judaism.
As a modern person, I find this appalling. Fortunately, Reform Judaism rejects the whole idea of animal sacrifice. There are many reasons I am glad to be a Reform Jew; however, I sometimes worry that if we lose respect for traditional Judaism, then many beautiful customs will be lost.
For example, keeping kosher. Ironically, the whole idea of keeping kosher comes from the emphasis that Judaism places on kindness to animals. Orthodox Jews don’t mix milk with meat because of the commandment not to cook a kid in its mother’s milk, a practice that was common in ancient times. In order for meat to be considered kosher, the animal must be slaughtered in such a way as to minimize pain and suffering. A blessing is said to remind us that another life had to be sacrificed in order to sustain ours. I have often flirted with the idea of keeping kosher. Sometimes I’ve even considered becoming a vegetarian. I look into the eyes of my cats, and I see a soul there. The more time I spend with animals the more difficult it becomes for me to eat meat.
Another beautiful tradition is keeping Shabbat. I worry that this, too, will become lost. Ironically, if anything, Shabbat seems even more relevant today than ever. There’s a lot to be said for taking time out from our computers, cell phones, TVs, and various electronic devices and focusing on the things that really matter. I can’t help but to feel that if I took time out every week to contemplate the act of creation or my relationship with G-d, I’d be a calmer, more relaxed person.
Thus, I admire Orthodox Judaism for its emphasis on observance of kashrut and Shabbat. Deep down inside, I believe that these traditions are the right thing to do. The problem is that, when it comes to Orthodox Judaism, you have to take the bad with the good. If you’re going to insist on following the Torah to the letter, then in addition to keeping kosher and observing Shabbat, you also have to be open to the idea of animal sacrifice. Would any modern person really want that?
Orthodox Jews frequently talk about the concept of the “slippery slope”, the idea that if we start sliding in our observance, we will cease to observe anything. And yet why the particular emphasis on rituals rather than ethics? Even in ancient times, the Prophets raised this very question.
For the women’s group, we read a book called “Miriam’s Kitchen”. Like the Prophets, the author wonders if traditional Judaism places too much emphasis on rituals rather than ethics. At one point she reflects on the fact that her parents were civil rights activists: “It seemed the Jewish thing to do. I could never understand people of the Book lapsing on this front. Better you should eat bacon.” She also reflects on the difficulties of observing Shabbat: “Maybe the world would be better off if I spent Saturday mornings cooking breakfast at a shelter for the homeless or fishing plastic trash out of Long Island Sound.”
One issue I had with the book is that I felt the author had an idealized view of the Eastern European Jewish immigrants. She seemed to think that ALL traditional Jews observed every single commandment ALL the time. Yet, even among Orthodox Jews, the level of observance varies—and it always has.
When my father was growing up, the only option he knew was Orthodox Judaism. The Reform community was almost exclusively German, and he was Russian. Conservative Judaism didn’t yet exist. So he and every Jew in his immigrant neighborhood considered themselves to be Orthodox. Yet he told me stories about how, even though they kept kosher in the home, they would go out to restaurants and eat crabs. When he was a child and had scarlet fever, his mother cooked him bacon because the doctor believed that it would be good for his health. They were Orthodox Jews, but they, too, made their own choices. In that respect, they really weren’t so very different from modern Reform Jews today.
Today Reform Judaism is no longer just for Germans. Not only do you have the children and descendants of Russian immigrants, but you also have converts and intermarried couples. The fact is that it’s impossible to follow every single commandment, and even Orthodox Jews pick and choose. What is important is to learn from our history and to understand our traditions. Only then can you make informed choices about how to live your life.
Shabbat Shalom