A Soulful Journey

Eugene Borowitz told the story of a man who wanted to watch television on Shabbes.  So he went to an Orthodox Rabbi to find an answer.  Without hesitation, the man as told, "no."  Not satisfied, he went to a Reform Rabbi and was told, "yes."  Then approaching a Conservative Rabbi, he was told, "Well, some say you can and some say you can't"   -Rabbi Louis Jacobs This is why all traditions indicate that once have an opinion from an authority you do not go seeking a second or third opinion.  It is enough that you went to the first.

Historical Judaism does nor permit any change except from the standpoint of the law as it came down from the past.  It is averse to any interpretation or modification of the law which comes from philosophical premises.  We cannot permit majorities in congregations to decide what is permitted and what is not.  The fact that certain manufacturers approve of changes does not render them legitimate.  That has its misfortune with the Reform movement.  How then does anyone venture to lay hands on the liturgy?  It has been sanctified by the ages.  It is like a cathedral.  If the windows of a cathedral need repair, only a skilled artist would undertake to repair them.  He (Ginzberg) knows something about the liturgy.   He should have been consulted and not young boys who are totally ignorant of such matters.                               ...

“If you’re not a liberal at twenty you have no heart and if you’re not a conservative at forty you have no head.” -Winston Churchill Some things are predictable.   One of them is growth.   We change as we age.   Hopefully.

Idea: It is good to change as we learn. There’s an old expression that says, “A conservative is a liberal that’s been mugged, and a civil libertarian is a conservative that’s been indicted.” Question: Is it self-centered to develop a world view based solely on the bad things that happen to us?

Why is that we take sides?   Why do people have to choose a party or name for themselves? Or feel compelled to place a label on others? “I often think it’s comical How nature always does contrive That every boy and every gal That’s born into the world alive Is either a little Liberal Or else a little Conservative!” - Gilbert and Sullivan, “Iolanthe” As usual, the team of Gilbert and Sullivan make fun of the all-too-human proclivity to make trouble for itself.   Instead of taking an issue, mulling it over, and making a decision, we seem to prefer taking sides, choosing to identify “us” against “them”?   Must we?  Why do we continue to identify people so?

Time changes all things.   We are not exempt.   Time changes us in profound and sometimes unimaginable ways.   What was once critical becomes irrelevant.   What was meaningless becomes a cause célèbre. “A man who is not a liberal at sixteen has no heart; a man who is not a conservative at sixty has no head.”   - Benjamin Disraeli