Abstract
Life can be a difficult phenomenon to acquiesce to, much less embrace. Tragedy is seemingly around every corner, and very many philosophies and faiths both ancient and modern have championed the exit from existence over its entrance. Existentialism and nihilism proclaim the seizure or suicide of one’s undesired birth, moksha and nirvana the blessed non-return of a wandering soul. Yet against these currents the Jewish ideational approach to being, with its ever-old and newness, has consistently given the world a ‘yes’, and this apparently despite having every reason not to; although perhaps “because” is more appropriate to that prior clause than “despite”. In what follows we therefore consider how we might uncover from within Judaism an abstracted “spirituality” for our times, a numinousness that is not necessarily a “belief”: a “faith” that is more in line with a hope. Our objective is to learn how to think differently rather than to convert, and thus towards this more modest goal we set out to explore some images from Hebrew poetry and narrative, attempting to bring forth core conceptualities which could then be applied to an affirming notional framework befitting anyone who would ponder—who would feel—a way through. How might we state this ‘yes’ for our lives?
Highlights
Life can be a difficult phenomenon to acquiesce to, much less embrace
Our objective is to learn how to think differently rather than to convert, and towards this more modest goal we set out to explore some images from Hebrew poetry and narrative, attempting to bring forth core conceptualities which could be applied to an affirming notional framework befitting anyone who would ponder—who would feel—a way through
We are here concerned with finding, framing, and learning from an ancient ‘yes’, an echoing ‘yes’ that is no quieter for the centuries between its initial enunciation and today. This ‘yes’, we will argue, is something that might be found within the spirit of Judaism: it is a gift—a potential—interior to Judaism but yet open, we think, for everyone; it is an attitude (a “theology” or “spiritualism” perhaps; more than anything a type of being-in-the-world) that is there to be grasped but must first be found; a comportment visible from the horizons of Jewish thought and approach while not being Jewish properly
Summary
Life can be a difficult phenomenon to acquiesce to, much less embrace. Tragedy is seemingly around every corner, and very many philosophies and faiths both ancient and modern have championed the exit from existence over its entrance. 5 said the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live again.
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