Shabbat Gathering: All is one.

Gud Shabbos Khaveyrim, as is our custom, we will gather tonight at 5.45p ct to welcome Shabbat. These are the coordinates:

Zoom
Meeting ID: 883 8469 4181
Password: 822665
Phone: +1 312 626 6799

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Among the things I do to make this newsletter is read what may be too much of the US-based Jewish press. Just the other day, I saw a headline in My Jewish Learning that looked interesting: “Ask the Expert: Do All Religions Worship the Same God?” Hoo-boy, I thought sarcastically, it will feel nice to have that question finally sorted out. I was pleased that MyJewishLearning ran the article but was a bit disappointed in some of the conclusions.

In a brief but thorough article, Rabbi Eric Woodward of Congregation Beth El — Keser Israel in New Haven, Connecticut doesn’t shy away from the hard questions. Rabbi Woodward starts out by noticing that there are theological and historic reasons why Muslims, Christians, and Jews do, and do not, worship the same G-d.
In one of the plainest texts from Torah about G-d being one single entity, Rabbi Woodward cites the story about Balaam in which a gentile prophet is able to speak with G-d but with the qualification that Balaam can not curse the Jewish people.
Rabbi Woodward concludes that “What this means is that Jews don’t have a monopoly on access to God, but we do privilege and prefer our own access. This also means that we do not have to grant truth status to the claims of other religions in order to affirm that they still can have a relationship with God. This is important, because many Muslim and Christian texts make theological claims about the Jews that we might not want to accept. Jewish theology has created space for others to have their own religious experiences without putting a dent in ours.”

I go back and forth on this position. On the one hand, I think we owe Judaism enough respect that we might want to acknowledge there are well documented reasons why we might believe that we follow the way of the one true G-d. But regarding the rights of other faiths to worship as they please, well, just as I would resist someone from any other faith tell me who / what I can pray to, I would resist telling a Muslim or Christian who they can pray to as I really don’t think it’s any of my business.

And may it be for all of us a blessing.

See you tonight!
Mit vareme grusn,
(With warm regards,)

All my love,
brian.

PS

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