May 18 2009
How I Got Here- Part 8: The Continuation of How History Showed Me I Would Disappear
Last time I wrote about how various historical groups rose up against the mainstream beliefs and practices of the Jewish people, and somehow or other this seemed to remove from them the mystical power, if you will, of the Jewish people to survive everything, and to last forever.
Some other groups that rose up against the center were the Sadducees, the Jewish Christians, and the Karaites.
The Sadducees (Tzedukim, in Hebrew) fought long and hard against what might be called the rabbinic camp of the Jewish people. The rabbis believed that the Torah was given to the Jewish people by God, and He simultaneously (and orally ONLY) handed us the interpretations as well. The Sadducees, perhaps because they sought power, perhaps because they deeply held by their beliefs, vehemently opposed this oral Torah, and caused tremendous suffering to the others.
They lost the argument.
They no longer exist.
They are gone from history forever.
But the centrist camp, and its oral Torah, lived on and continue to do so.
And I, a reform Jew, sat in class, silently cheering on the victors.
And some Jews came up with another crazy idea. We’re done! No more waiting for the messiah. He’s here.
And his name is Jesus.
This group was small, and never became large. Most Jews felt the candidate was, well, underqualified. And efforts to convince Jews that the messiah had landed failed so abysmally, Paul had to go take to the fields and turn it into a whole new religion altogether.
The Jewish Christians came and went.
And the Karaites came into the world, with beliefs not all too dissimilar from that of the Sadducees. The saga continues. The Karaites caused a whole heap of trouble, and now are so insignificant as to be almost unnoticable.
All these many groups stood up against the Judaism that traced back to the earliest, earliest practices of the Jewish people. Something seems to always keep the Jewish nation alive. It would seem that whatever divine power watches over and protects the Jews in every generation, most certainly does not extend this gift to Jews who pull away from Jewish tradition.
And then there was me.
I sat in class rooting for the home team time and time again.
If they didn’t win, it would be a shame, right?
I cheered on as I watched the Hellenists and Sadducees disappear forever from history. I was on my seat jumping as the Samaritans and Karaites took an eternal background role. And I held my head up with pride when Jewish Christianity ceased to exist as having any part of the Jewish people.
Enter modernity.
When we learned about the reform and conservative movements, one of which I was still an active and proud member, I couldn’t shake these thoughts:
Am I a part of just another example of a temporary fringe group?
Am I just a mistake waiting to disappear forever?
I broke away, albeit unintentionally, from the mainstream. Do I lack divine protection? Am I going to disappear as quickly as I came?
I couldn’t shake these thoughts.
They became a part of me.
They helped in coloring so many of my future decisions.
How else could I possibly interpret history?
