Elazar-DeMota 1

The Idea of Time and Return in the Jewish Tradition in the Modern World
The post Haskalah, or Jewish Enlightenment period harbored a time of many
changes in Ashkenazi Jewish epistemology in the West. After many centuries of
disdain in regards to secular education, in the spirit of Spinoza, they emancipated
themselves from the religious dogma that challenged their divine endowment of reason.
The scientific approach to the study of the Jewish texts led them to place value on
secular culture and philosophy at the core of their epistemology. Thereafter, the
philosophies of Hegel, Freud, Marx, and Nietzsche laid the groundwork for postmodernist Jews. In addition to these philosophies, after World War II, many Jewish
refugees discovered that they had lost faith and meaning of their chosenness. Today
in a rapid-changing world, the philosophies of Sigmund Freud, Judith Butler, and Michel
Foucault, among others, provide post-modernist Jews with a psychological cushion. This
paper uses Mircea Eliades concept of regeneration of time in order to explain how
post-modernist Jews can find meaning and purpose in celebrating the weekly, monthly,
and yearly rituals. Consequently, the kawannah (focused intent) on the holy day rituals
can lead the Jew to Maimonides concept of imitatio Dei.

THE HEBREW CALENDAR AND COSMOGONY

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The Creation myth of the Hebrew Bible begins describing the creative works of
God, from one day to the next. On the fourth day of Creation, God says, Let there be
lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will mark events,
sacred seasons, days, and years (The Jewish Bible, Ber. 1:14). The rising and falling of
the Sun would serve to mark the day, the phases of the moon to mark the months, and
the constellations to mark the seasons. According to this verse, the celestial bodies
would mark the moedim (appointed times). Interestingly, the Hebrews related their
calendar to the cosmogony. Eliade states, In fact, the sacred year ceaselessly repeats
the Creation; man is contemporary with the cosmogony and with the anthropogony
because ritual projects him into the mythical epoch of the beginning (Eliade 22).
Furthermore, the Rabbis declare that everything that was brought forth, created,
formed, and made, everything that God did, was for the sake of His holy people Israel
(Bereshith Rabbah 12:9). Eliade points out that there is a correlation between the
historical peoples and a repetition of their Creation myths:

It is further of interest to note that the New Year scenarios in which the Creation
is repeated are particularly explicit among the historical peoples, those with
whom history, properly speaking, beginsthat is, the Babylonians, Egyptians,
Hebrews, Iraniansthese same peoples also appear to have felt a deeper need
to regenerate themselves periodically by abolishing past time and reactualizing
the cosmogony. (Eliade 74)
Hence, the Jewish consciousness is maintained alive through the reactualization of the
mythical moment when the archetype was revealed for the first time (Eliade 76).

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HOLY DAYS

The Sabbath. Probably the most significant holy day Jewish ritual is the observance of
the Sabbath. The Hebrew essayist Ahad Haam asserts, More than Israel has kept the
Sabbath, the Sabbath has kept them. According to the Hebrew Bible, God sanctifies and
establishes the Sabbath as His hallmark:
The heavens and the earth and all who live in them were completed. On the sixth
day God completed all the work that he had done, and on the seventh day God
rested from all the work that he had done. God blessed the seventh day and made
it holy, because on it God rested from all the work of creation ( The Jewish Bible,
Ber. 2:1-3).
Every seven days, Jews have an opportunity to stop all time by ceasing from creative
works. The Sabbath rest allows Jews to reenact two events, namely, the Creation and
the redemption of Egyptian bondage. Eliade believes that humans can become active
participants in the ontological constitution of the Universe through faith. This idea is
echoed in the Talmud when Rabbi Hamnuna says He who prays on the eve of the
Sabbath and recites and the heavens and the earth were finished, the Writ treats of
him as though he had become a partner with the Holy One, blessed be He, in the
Creation" (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbath 119b). Upon reciting the qiddush (benediction
with wine) Friday evening, Jews remember the act of Creation and redemption. The
juxtaposition of the two conveys the central theme that a slave does not have control
over time, and by remembering and keeping the Sabbath, the Jew imitates God, who is
outside of time and space.

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Rosh odesh. The next cycle in the Hebrew calendar depends on the phases of the Moon.
Every twenty-nine to thirty days, the moon waxes and wanes. After disappearing and
reappearing, the ancient Hebrews viewed each month as a rebirth. Eliyahu Kitov states,
Every month, the people of Israel hope that the strength of their youth will be renewed
either naturally or supernaturally (Kitov 471). Moreover, Eliade agrees by stating, This
means that the lunar rhythm not only reveals short intervals (week, month) but also
serves as the archetype for extended durations; in fact, the birth of a humanity, its
growth, decrepitude (wear), and disappearance are assimilated to the lunar cycle
(Eliade 87). Some kabbalists ascribe allegorical meaning to the phases of the Moon by
noting a parallel with the kingdoms of Israel. For example, assuming that Abrahams
generation is the new Moon, fourteen generations later takes one to King Solomon, i.e.
the full Moon. Thereafter, the Davidic dynasty waned, just as the Moon wanes after the
fifteenth day of its cycle. The next thirty-day cycle begins with King Yoshiyahu, reaches
its peak with King izqiyahu, and terminates with King idqiyahu and the Babylonian
captivity of the Jewish People. Some assidic Jews have the custom of fasting on the day
before the new Moon as a way of repentance. Kitov states, The reason for the custom
of Yom Kippur Katan (Little Day of Atonment) is that Rosh odesh is considered a day of
atonement for the sins of the preceding month (Kitov 231).
Another important aspect of Rosh odesh is that the holy days depend on the
precise calculation of the month of Nisan during the spring barley season. In fact, the
discrepancy between the solar and lunar years, offsets the seasons about every four
years. In order to solve this problem, an extra month called Adar sheni is added so that

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the month of Nisan may coincide with the spring harvest. In addition, astrological
implications for the month of Nisan remind the Jews of their redemption from Egyptian
bondage. Kitov states:
The astrological sign for the month of Nisan is the lambwhich serves to remind
us of the lamb which each household would bring for the Pesa sacrifice. However,
even before Israel was commanded to take a lamb for the sacrifice in Nisan, the
nations of the worldand especially the Egyptiansused the lamb as the symbol
for this monthThe month of Nisan, the beginning of spring, symbolizes the wealth
and bounty of the entire year; hence, the appropriate sign of the zodiac is Aries the
ram. (Kitov 473)
Thus, when the Jew sanctifies Rosh odesh every month, according to Eliade, he or
she lives in an atemporal present (Eliade 86).

Pesa. At the core of the Jewish tradition is the commemoration of Pesa (Passover). In
fact, the exodus myth is said no less than ten times in the daily prayers. Jews reenact
this experience through the daily prayers, the laying of efillin (phylacteries), and the
recitation of the Shema (Declaration of the Universal Oneness). Nonetheless, even the
most secularized Jew makes arrangements to participate in the recounting of the
Haggadah (Recount of the Passover story) with friends and family once a year. God
commands the Hebrew people, You should observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread,
because on this precise day I brought you out of the land of Egypt in military
formation. You should observe this day in every generation as a regulation for all time
(The Jewish Bible, Shem. 12:17). Pesa refers to the lamb that was offered, and whose

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blood was placed on the doorposts to protect the death of the firstborn children. It is of
no coincidence that a lamb was sacrificed during the zodiac of Aries; the Egyptians
worshipped the lamb during that month. Hence, this precept represented the antithesis
of Egyptian mythology. Also, God commands the Children of Israel to sanctify that month
as the first of their year. Moreover, the consumption of unleavened bread has a twofold
meaning, namely, to remember that the Hebrew people left Egypt in haste, and the
metaphysical significance that the Sages ascribed to it. Every year, the consumption of
ame is prohibited to the Jewish people for seven days during the spring barley season.
The Sages explain:
ame is a symbol of the evil inclination; thus the search for ame and its removal
is symbolic of mans struggle to conquer this inclinationThis is true of the evil
inclination as well; it attracts a person to the pleasures of the world, it makes him
more attractive in his own eye, and makes him seem greater than he really is in
the eyes of those who see him. This is the ame that man must dispose of
completely. (Kitov 539)
In addition to the historical and metaphysical meanings, the ancient Hebrews
understood this season to be a time period of judgment. Thus, Kitov states, Our Sages
taught that Pesa is the time when God judges whether the worlds crops will be
successful or not. As such the day is also a period of judgment for mankind, whose very
existence is dependent upon there being adequate sources for food (Kitov 672).
Consequently, Jews pray for a bountiful year of rain and sustenance. In light of this
inclusive spirit, Alan Mittleman asks a rhetorical question:

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How, then, does Judaism contribute to the religious progress of humanity?

Judaism's contribution to progress is twofold. It has produced (and continues to
nurture) institutions (such as the Sabbath) and attitudes (such as hopefulness in
the face of suffering and persecution) that have influenced or inspired
cosmopolitan humanity, thus spurring people to further idealization and morality.
(Mittleman 40)
However, what is significant to Eliade is that In these archaic systems is the abolition
of concrete time, and hence their antihistorical intent (Eliade 85).

Shabuoth. In the third month of the Israelites leaving the land of Egypt, they arrived at
the Sinai desert. At that time, Moses went up to the mountain to receive the divine
instructions:
The ETERNAL ONE called to him from the mountain, This is what you should say
to Jacobs household and declare to the Israelitesyou saw what I did to the
Egyptians, and how I lifted you up on eagles wings and brought you to me. So
now, if you faithfully obey me and stay true to my covenant, you will be my most
precious possession out of all the peoples, since the whole earth belongs to
me. You will be a kingdom of priests for me and a holy nation. These are the
words you should say to the Israelites (The Jewish Bible, Shem. 19:1-4).
Exactly seven weeks after the Passover sacrifice, the Hebrews arrived at Mount Sinai,
where they were constituted as the chosen Nation. This event is reenacted every year
on Shabuoth (Feast of Weeks) during the synagogue service, when the Torah scroll is

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displayed before the entire congregation, and the Decalogue is read publicly. In
addition, Kitov asserts that God likewise chose not to give the Torah in Nisan or in
Iyar, for the mazalastrological signof Nisan is a lamb and the sign of Iyar is an ox
and neither is capable of singing praise. Rather, He gave the Torah in Siwan, for the

mazal of Siwan is twins, who have hands with which to clap and legs with which to
dance (Kitov 794). The Rabbis teach that the Decalogue given at Sinai corresponds to
the ten declarations with which God created the world. Furthermore, the Rabbis note
the inclusion of the definite article for the sixth day in the Hebrew Creation myth (The

Jewish Bible, Ber. 1:28). They link humanity with the sixth day of Siwan, i.e., Shabuoth.
Some are of the opinion that the world was created so that humanity would keep the
Torah precepts, whereas nullification of the Torah necessitates the worlds destruction
(Bereshith Rabbah 1:1). The kabbalists have the tradition of staying up all night in
Torah study in hope of receiving a special blessing. Kitov adds, Those who completely
purify themselves merit the revelation of the Shekhinah (divine presence) (Kitov 787).
Unfortunately, this is the most neglected holy day of the Jewish tradition in the West.
Perhaps many post-modernist Jews believe that Religion was developed by humans in
order to explain Chaos (Geertz, 99). In contrast, the yearly commemoration of

Shabuoth allows Jews to renew their covenant with the Divine, by pretending that time
does not exist, for the sake of the Torah.

Rosh haShanah. The Jewish civil New Year begins with the new Moon of the seventh
month. This month is called Tishri, whose name the Jews adopted during the Babylonian
captivity. Eliade explains, The ceremonial for the Babylonian New Year, the aktu, is

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sufficiently conclusive in this respect. Aktu could be celebrated at the spring equinox, in
the month of Nisan, as well as at the autumnal equinox, in the month of Tirt (derived
from urru, to begin) (Eliade 55). Interestingly, the Torah does not establish this day as
the New Year, but rather ordains it as a holy occasion marked by a trumpet signal
(The Jewish Bible, Wayy. 23:23-25). It appears that the Jews were influenced by the
Babylonian and Persian cosmogony. Thus, the Talmud states, REliezer said that the
world was created in the month of Tishri (Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 11a).
Hence, the Rabbis considered the first of Tishri as the Judgment Day. Moreover, they
teach that:
On Rosh Hashanah all of mankind pass before Him like sheepthey pass by Him
one by one, one after the other, yet He scrutinizes them all with a single
glanceRCruspedai said in the name of RYoanan: Three ledgers are opened
on Rosh Hashanah: one for those who are entirely wicked, one for those who are
entirely righteous, and one for those who are in the middle. The entirely righteous
are immediately inscribed and sealed to live. The entirely wicked are immediately
inscribed and sealed to die. The fate of those in the middle is held in balance
between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. If they have merit, [i.e., if they repent],
they are inscribed to live. If they do not have merit [i.e., if they fail to repent], they
are inscribed to die. (Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 16a,b)
In addition, Kitov states, Rosh Hashanah was ordained as a day of judgment for two
reasons: The first is that on this day the creation of the world was completed and it was
the Divine intention that the world be ruled by the trait of strict justicethe second reason
isthat on this day Adam was judged, he repented, and he was forgiven (Kitov 10). In

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the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides gives insight to the precept of the sounding of the shofar
(Rams horn): Although the sounding of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is a Divine decree,
nevertheless, we can discern a purpose in doing so. It is as if it tells us: Sleepers, arise
from your slumber, and those who are dozing, awake from your lethargy (Laws of
Repentance 3). In light of this, it is customary for Jews to make amends with those whom
they have offended throughout the year; for those grievances can only be atoned for when
one becomes reconciled with the person whom he has wronged (Kitov 57). On this
account, the late minister of New Yorks Spanish and Portuguese Jewish congregation
asserts:
Judaism has ever clung to the vision of mans boundless potential for good. It
has never abandoned the Psalmists faith (8:6) that man can be little less than
divine and crowned with glory and majesty. Because of this optimistic teaching
of human potential I wish to remain a Jew. I rejoice that I am not led to seek
bliss through a suppression of my normal personality on the one hand, and on
the other through dependence on a life to be. (De Sola Pool 65)
Hence, Eliade would agree that the development of the Rosh haShanah holy day
expresses the idea that man has felt the need to reproduce the cosmogony in his
constructions, whatever be their nature; that this reproduction made him contemporary
with the mythical moment of the beginning of the world and that he felt the need of
returning to that moment, as often as possible, in order to regenerate himself (Eliade
77).

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Yom Kippur. Just as with Pesa, even the most secularized Jew feels the need to
perform some religious act on Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement). Eight days after

Rosh haShanah, observant Jews have the custom of fasting and praying at their local
synagogue. The Eternal One commanded Moses, saying:
Note that the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It will be
a holy occasion for you. You must deny yourselves and offer a food gift to
the LORD. You must not do any work that day because it is a Day of Atonement
to make atonement for you before the ETERNAL ONE your God. Anyone who does
not deny themselves on that day will be cut off from their people. Moreover, I
will destroy from their people anyone who does any work on that day. You must
not do any work! This is a permanent rule throughout your future generations
wherever you live. This is a Sabbath of special rest for you, and you must deny
yourselves. You will observe your Sabbath on the ninth day of the month from
evening to the following evening. (The Jewish Bible, Wayy. 23:27-32)
In Ancient Israel, the high priest would offer fifteen sacrifices by himself. He would say
two prayers within the Holy place of the Temple: one for himself and his family, and the
other for rain and for material sustenance and for Israel, that expectant mothers not
miscarry, that the trees give their fruit, and that the kingdom of David never be
abrogated. (Kitov 98) After the destruction of the Temple, the Sages ordained that the
sacrifices be substituted with prayers, as the Prophet Hoshea had suggested, And the
oxen [offered as sacrifices] shall be replaced by our lips (The Jewish Bible, Hos. 14:3).

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At the climax of the Yom Kippur ritual was the expulsion of the scapegoat, after which
the Israelites would be forgiven all of their transgressions. Interestingly, the idea of
judgment and atonement is hinted at in the zodiac for the month of TishriLibra the
scales. Kitov explains that, The blowing of the shofar at the end of the Neilah (Closing
prayer) service confuses Satan. On Yom Kippur, he has no permission to accuse Israel.

Therefore, at the days departure he wants to start again, but the blast of the shofar
makes him apprehensive [lest this be the shofar of Mashia (Messiah), and Israels
redemption be at hand] (Kitov 108). Joshua Liebman stresses:
Verbal expression of these deeply repressed impulses actually does lead to a
diminution of the urge of action. Although it may appear strange and paradoxical
at first, it has been established that when normal men and women learn how to
express in words their deep-lying desires and rages, their destructive and
immoral compulsions become controllable. (Liebman 29)
Consequently, Eliade agrees that ...the man of the archaic civilizations can be proud of
his mode of existence, which allows him to be free and to create. (Eliade 157). Overall,

Yom Kippur is considered the holiest day of the Jewish calendar because of its
regenerative nature of time.

Sukkoth. Perhaps the most peculiar holy day is Sukkoth (Booths), when Jews make their
houses secondary homes for a week. To many outsiders, this tradition seems irrational
and antiquated. However, Sukkoth represents the time of happiness par excellence for
the Jewish people. This festival commemorates the wanderings of the Hebrews in the
wilderness upon leaving Egypt. They were exposed to snakes, scorpions, and the danger

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of dehydration. Amazingly, Kitov states, some three million people left their homes and
their cities, abandoned their possessions and followed God into the wilderness, where
there were neither homes nor shade, neither food nor water (Kitov 119). The Biblical
commandment stipulates, You shall dwell in sukkoth (booths) seven days, every citizen
in Israel shall dwell in sukkoth, so that your descendants shall know that in sukkoth I
caused the Children of Israel to dwell when I brought them out of the land of Egypt
(The Jewish Bible, Wayy. 23:42,43). The Sages teach that the abandonment of ones
home for seven days, instills trust and joy in the Almighty. Also, the theme of agriculture
is impregnated with the miwah (Divine precept) of waving four species in the booths
throughout the holy day. Hence, the Rabbis teach, It is as if he is taking them [the
species] and bring them to Him who owns the four directions. He raises them and lowers
them to Him who owns the heavens and the earth (Babylonian Talmud, Sukkah 37b).
Furthermore, Kitov states, The four species, and all that is connected to them, are an
allusion to Gods creation of all that is, and that there is none besides Him (Kitov 156).
The taking of the four species also demonstrates an appreciation and blessing for rain.
Next, Jews pray for the well-being of the entire world during the morning prayers, in the
same spirit of the ancient Hebrews, which sacrificed seventy bulls on behalf of the seventy
nations of the world. Kitov notes that:
When speaking about the Festival of Sukkoth, the Torah uses the term yearThis
teaches us that while time moves in seven-day cycles, like the seven days of
Creation, and every new week is but a repeat of the previous cycle, there is one
week of the year, howeverthe seven days of the Festival of Sukkothwhich is
the essence of all the other weeks of the year. (Kitov 205)

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At the finalization of Sukkoth, is Simath Torah (Rejoicing of the Law), when Jews end and
begin anew the annual Torah readings. Thus, this demonstrates that life is a continuous
cycle. Hence, Jews have ceased becoming historical through the study of the Torah.
Once again, Eliades theory of linking the cosmogony with the regeneration of time,
astrology, and agriculture, is evident through the Jews observance of holy days.
POST-MODERNIST JEWISH PHILOSOPHY

Freud. Sigmund Freud has a problem with religion in that he believes that it imposes
equally on everyone its own path to the acquisition of happiness and protection from
suffering. Furthermore, he states, Its technique consists in depressing the value of life
and distorting the picture of the real world in a delusional mannerwhich presupposes
an intimidation of the intelligence. At this price, by forcibly fixing them in a state of
psychical infantilism and by drawing them into a mass-delusion, religion succeeds in
sparing many people an individual neurosis (Freud 56). This same concept is portrayed
in the trilogy The Matrix, where humanity acts out life in a world of delusion; parallel to
the unreal world is, Zion, the place of those that have awakened from the matrix.
This would imply that the matrix or the delusion is necessary to maintain order in
society. Freuds problem is that the individual is forced with a sole option imposed by
civilization and/or culture. Moreover, Freud states:
The people of Israel had believed themselves to be the favorite child of God,
and when the great Father caused misfortune after misfortune to rain down
upon this people of his, they were never shaken in their belief in his relationship

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to them or questions his power or righteousness. Instead, they produced the

prophets, who held up their sinfulness before them(Freud 119)
Some people during the days of the Prophet Isaiah said, Let us eat and drink, for
tomorrow we shall die (The Jewish Bible, Yesh. 22:13). This demonstrates the attitude
of many Israelites who were disillusioned with the rules and regulations of their
government. Freud states that the prophetic voice was the result of not wavering in the
belief in Gods relationship with IsraelInstead they produced the prophets, who held
up their sinfulness before them; and out of their sense of guilt they created the
overstrict commandments of their priestly religion (Freud 119).

Marx, Geertz, and Nietzsche. Since the time of Hegel, Western Jewish epistemology
experienced the influences of reductionists such as Marx, Geertz, and Nietzsche. Marx is
known for his statement that Man makes religion; religion does not make man. Also,
Geertz states that, Religion was developed by humans in order to explain Chaos.
(Geertz, 99) Yet, Nietzsche argues that there are many beginnings in history with their
details and accidents. He claims that man wanted to feel special, therefore he invented
the idea of being created in Gods image and likeness. He also claims that Zarathustra
is the basis for the conflict between Good and Evil, which became the lens by which
man perceives himself in the Abrahamic traditions. Overall, he asserts that The
genealogist needs history to dispel the chimeras of the origin (Foucault 373). On
account of this, Eliade states, From Hegel on, every effort is directed toward saving
and conferring value on the historical event as such, the event in itself and for itself

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(Eliade 147). Apparently, Central European and American Jews presented an existential
challenge to the traditional Jews.

Durkheim and Liebman. Both Emile Durkheim and Joshua Liebman were Jews of the
Central European tradition. They offer a different perspective to the previous
reductionist theories, which affected many Jews, post-World War II. Durkheim explains
that the Rites and symbols of these religions express a human need or some aspect
life; one cannot assume that they are based on error. Hence, there are no false
religions. They all have their truths and answer the conditions of human existence in
different ways (Olson, 217). Thus, he offers a response to agnostic and atheist Jews.
Next, Liebman states, Ancient Judaism understood the healing value of inner
contemplation and devised many of its great holy days to serve as vehicles for the
encouragement of self-communion and confession (Liebman 9). Moreover, Liebman
notes a dangerous reality in that:
The overall strategy employed by religion in the struggle against evil can be
defined in one word: repression. With few exceptions, Western religion has
insisted that men and women can become good only through the stern
repression of sensual thoughts and impulses. And this mechanism of repression
by which we mute the horrid voice of sin is responsible for much of the grief,
illness, and anxiety that lash the soul of modern man. (Liebman 26)
In regards to the holy days, he asserts:

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The older forms of the Jewish religion intuitively understood the part played by
emotion in the collective life of Israel. The builders of Judaism utilized emotion in
order to sublimate the passions, the angers, the dreams of the people. Let us
look for a moment at the great holydays and festivals of Judaism; how artistically
they arranged for the expression of feeling and the harnessing of emotion. The
New Year and the Day of Atonement were occasions for the collective expression
of sin and guilt; the participation of the entire group in this verbalization did
bring cleansing and inner peaceSukkoth, [sic] celebrating the harvest season,
was a great festival of rejoicing, the collective expression of gratitude
accompanied by the dance and group ecstasyPassover represented the passion
for freedom, and Shabuoth [sic] the joy and the acceptance of the Law.
(Liebman 198)
Rachel Adler offers her insight by stating:
Opportunities for renewal and transformation occur in special events, such as
liturgical rituals, which open access to the antistructure. These events are
characterized by liminality; that is, they happen away from or the edges of the
usual order of social structurethey are bound to other participants by a feeling
Victor Turner calls communitas, a human bond more fundamental than those of
status and role without which other social relationships and obligations could not
endure. For Jews who pray, it is kawanah, prayerful intention/attention, that
opens access to antistructure, transporting the worshipper to realms of meaning
that are fundamental and yet suddenly new and revelatory. (Adler 84)

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Apparently, Ashkenazi Jews had been suffering from the fanaticism of the assidic
ideology on one side, and on the other side, from the skepticism of the Haskalah
thinkers. Therefore, Liebman affirms, It has been much of modern Judaism, under the
spell of an idolatrous rationalism, which has tended too often to negate and sterilize the
emotional life of contemporary Jews (Liebman 199). Reverend David De Sola Pool
rightly states:
Mysticism and rationality in religion are reciprocals that should mutually control
one another. As a religious faith, Judaism has held itself clear of extravagant
emotionalism through a balancing emphasis on the intellect expressing itself in
study and learning. The literacy of the Jewish people made available not only to
the rabbi but to every individual the study of the Bible and its derivative
literature. (De Sola Pool 68)
Overall, both Durkheim and Liebman agree that religion is a necessary phenomenon in
the contemporary world in order to answer existential questions and promote
psychological health.

Progressive Jewish Thinkers. The Reconstructionist Jewish movement is known for its
rationalistic approach to the tradition. In fact, within its philosophy, no emphasis is
placed on divine Providence. Also, the precepts, as explained by the Talmudic Sages
have minimal to no value in contemporary times. Alan Mittleman states:
Although not entirely irreconcilable with some understandings of divine
Providence, progress has a built-in secular bias that complicates its translation

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into a religious context. Furthermore, any suggestion that God acts in history by
influencing human action, and thereby infringing human autonomy, would be
completely inadmissible on the account of modernists such as Kant or Cohen.
Progress is purchased at the cost of Providence. (Mittleman 39)
Furthermore, the post-modernist Rabbi Shmuley Yanklowitz writes:
In an age of postmodern identity, I am no anomaly. Under modernity, one must
choose one identityseeing oneself as both Jew and American was too
challenging. Secondary identities were all too easily subsumed in the event of a
conflict and thus one had to choose to primarily be particularistic or
universalistic, spiritual or rational, religious or skeptical, progressive or
traditional. For better or worse, we are no longer in that era. (Yanklowitz)
He also states that the Jewish identity is constantly under construction. Moreover,
Yanklowitz argues that 21st century Jews' epistemology must be grounded in ethics
and deep responsibility to help the vulnerable. Such a paradigm demands that we
escape from pure ideology and metaphysical abstraction, and embed the ethical
impulse in the concrete and particular (Yanklowitz). He also argues that Jews should
emancipate themselves from a particularistic identity that is grounded in language and
ritual.
As appealing as this philosophy may appear to the modern man, the reality is
that those Jews that take hold of it, eventually assimilate to the point of extinction.
Since there are practically no limitations, no emphasis is placed on the Jewish identity.

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In fact, approximately eight million Jews entered the United States via Ellis Island,
between 1880 and 1940. However, today there are roughly six million self-claiming
Jews in the U.S. This happened primarily to intermarriage. Perhaps post-modernists
Jews should focus on integrating into Western society without assimilating, as their
Sephardic brethren did under Moslem rule for many centuries.

IMITATIO DEI AND CHOSENNESS

It is noteworthy that the Torah states that God made humanity in His image
and likeness (The Jewish Bible, Ber. 1:26). The Medieval Sephardic Sage, Maimonides
explains that this image refers to the rational capacities endowed to human beings.
Onkelos, the translator of the Torah, interprets that humanity became a speaking
being when God blew the spirit of life into Adams nostrils (The Jewish Bible, Ber.
2:7). Liebman asserts, Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, really had a
spiritual purpose, even though he may not have been aware of it. For if each man is
created in the image of God, and God is onethen it follows that if man allows himself
to become a split soul, and inwardly warring personality, he actually denies his Divine
image (Liebman 19). Apparently, Liebman would agree with Eliades statement:
For traditional man, modern man affords the type neither of a free being nor of a
creator of history. On the contrary, the man of the archaic civilizations can be
proud of his mode of existence, which allows him to be free and to create. He is
free to be no longer what he was, free to annul his own history through periodic
abolition of time and collective regeneration. (Eliade 157)
Furthermore, Reverend De Sola Pool states:

Elazar-DeMota 21

The highest purpose of mankind in the present must be to help establish a future
of Messianic blessingJudaism does not tell man to resist evil, and attitude
which may pave the way for societys falling into the power of the unscrupulous.
It summons everyone to combat evil and set up good on the earth, not in a
heavenly hereafterJudaism finds no compensation for evils on earth in the idea
of transmigration, nor in the lure of a heavenly recompense for the wretched and
unfulfilled lives, nor in the anodyne of personal withdrawal into contemplative
otherworldliness. Man is summoned to remake this world through action with the
vision before his eyes of God and lifes potential goodness. (De Sola Pool 58)
The manifestation of this Messianic Age depends on humans acquiring a higher
consciousness. On account of this, Howard Kreisel states, Maimonides' answer
suggests that perfect political leadership, a leadership translating knowledge of physics
and metaphysics into a set of rules and directives for human society, is the ultimate
human expression of imitatio Dei (Kreisel 177). He explains further, Imitatio Dei thus
takes on two aspects which on the ultimate level overcome the tension between them
and complement each other. When Maimonides speaks of assimilation to God as an
end, he refers to the realm of action or character traits. This is the perfection that one
attains as a corporeal creature ruling oneself and others in the best possible manner
(Kreisel 190).
So how can contemporary Jews fulfill their role as the Chosen Nation in the 21st
century? The very same God that revealed the Torah to the Hebrew people at Sinai, is
the same one that demands the Jews to become like Him. This is the idea behind the

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juxtaposition between the divine precepts and the phrase, I am the Eternal One your
God. Interestingly, in the Torah, the holy days are not called Jewish holy days, rather
appointed times of the Eternal One. This would imply that they were ordained by Him,
and also hint at another metaphysical reality. According to Einsteins theory of relativity
and the expansion of the Universe, if one were able to perceive the Universe from the
perspective of the Universal Spirit, one would see that all of Creation and history is but
one moment of vibration within a confined space. In fact, the name of the Supreme
Being, YHWH, revealed to Moses in the burning bush, testifies of Infinity (He who was,
is, and will be). Hence, Rabbi Eliezer said, Repent one day before your death
(Mishnah, Aboth 2:15). This would require one to be outside of time and space, as God
is. Therefore, true emancipation is to imitate God, by liberating oneself from time and
recorded history, through active participation with divinity on a daily basis. Thus, the
post-modernist Jew is invited to serve as a model for humanity in becoming godlike
through the regeneration of time.

Works Cited
Adler, Rachel. Engendering Judaism: An Inclusive Theology and Ethics. Pennsylvania:
Philadelphia Jewish Publication Society, 1998. Print.
De Sola Pool, David. Why I am a Jew: Boston: Beacon Press, 1957. Print
Eliade, Mircea. The Myth of the Eternal Return. Trans. Willard R. Trask. New Jersey:
Princeton University Press,

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2005. Print.
Foucault, Michel. Aesthetics, Method, and Epistemology: Essential Works of Foucault,

1954-1984, Vol. 2. New York: The New Press, 1999. Print.

Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents. Trans. Christopher Hitchens. New
York: W.W. Norton & Company,
2010. Print
Geertz, Clifford. Religion as a cultural system. New Jersey: Tavistock, 1966. Print.
Kitov, Eliyahu. The Book of Our Heritage: Phillip Feldheim; Expanded Edition, New York:
Feldheim Publishers, 1979. Print.
Kreisel, Howard. Imitatio Dei in Maimonides Guide for the Perplexed AJS Review 19.2
(1994): 169-211. Print.
Liebman, Josh Loth. Peace of Mind. New York: Simon and Schuster Inc. 1946. Print.
Marx, Karl. Critique of Hegel's 'Philosophy of Right. United Kingdom: Cambridge
Mittleman, Alan. The Significance of Judaism for the Religious Progress of Humanity
Modern Judaism 24.1 (2004): 36-58. Print.
Olson, Carl. Theory and Method in the Study of Religion: A Selection of Critical Reading.
Massachusetts: Cengage Learning, 2002. Print.
The Babylonian Talmud. Ed. Schottenstein. New York: Artscroll Mesorah Publications,
1997. Print.

The Jewish Bible: Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures -- The New JPS Translation According to
the Traditional Hebrew Text: Torah, Nevi'im,Kethuvim. New York: The Jewish
Publication Society, 1985. Print.
The Midrash Rabbah. New York: Artscroll Edition, 1992. Print.
Yanklowitz, Shmuly. Post-Modern Jewish Identity. The New York Jewish Week. n.p.,
17 Nov. 2010. Web. 23 Nov. 2014.

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