J-Quote: Mordecai Kaplan on "The Implications of Believing in G-D"
Note: This is a repost of something I originally wrote back in May of 2007 for my personal blog. I am planning on shutting it down in the not too distant future and have decided that before I do, I’m going to repost the relevant stuff here to JBC.org.
Hope no one minds.
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A couple of weeks back I found this quote by Mordecai Kaplan somewhere online and saved it for later use in a post. However it’s been so long that I seem to have forgotten just where I snagged it from. I know that it was online and I’m sure it was taken from a relatively reliable source. Come to think of it I have this vague sense that this quote may have originally been in Kaplan’s classic book “Judaism as an Evolving Religious Civilization” but I can’t say for sure.
Anyhow it’s a great quote regardless of where it came from so here it is.
“To believe in God means to take for granted that it is man’s destiny to rise above the brute and to eliminate all forms of violence and exploitation from human society.”
This quote captures with great elegance and simplicity my own recent thinking on what it means to believe in G-D as well as the implications that such a belief holds. Of course if I want to be picky I can point out that his use of the term “man” is somewhat pejorative towards approximately 50% of those who believe in G-D. However considering that it was most likely written at least 50 or 60 years ago I think that it’s OK to let this one slide.
It is a quote that speaks to me in so many ways and on so many levels. It informs me that to believe in G-D means that I must elevate myself above my own inner darkness and lower nature. I read Kaplan’s words as a call encouraging all of us to stop engaging in violence against ourselves, each other and the world we inhabit. I believe this quote pithily points out the incredible incompatibility between a truly spiritual life and the willful engagement in exploitation, no matter how small it maybe.
I read this as a simple instruction to open my eyes, mind and heart, so that I can better see how it is that I am manifesting in this life I’ve been given. Also just beneath the surface of this quote. I suspect that Kaplan is imploring us to remember that we are but stewards here for a short time and are responsible not only for our Neshamah’s work in this life but also the legacy we leave behind for future generations.
I think Kaplan’s quote grabbed my attention because not only does it speak to the parts of me that I am aware of but also to the parts of me that are just now beginning to emerge as I work my way up the ladder one rung at a time.
I like this Kaplan excerpt too. I have a wonderful Torah teacher with whom I learn on Shabbat afternoons, and she was talking about the bottom line of what it means to be monotheistic. She said (concurring with Kaplan’s sentiments, but in different words) that to be monotheistic means to have a sense of justice rooted in the belief in one God, one law, and a rejection of the appalling violence and immorality that accompanied paganism in antiquity. Before the Exodus from Egypt, the Israelites witnessed the practice of embedding a human infant in the cornerstone of all new buildings–something not unique to Egypt, but something which we were commanded to abandon (cf the Akeidah, the outcome of Abraham’s binding of Isaac).
It’s not always easy to "rise above the brute" or truly eliminate violence and exploitation, but to have the goal and seek exhaustively its fulfillment through our chief activities–prayer, study, mitzvot–is a worthy exercise.
Shimshonit wrote:
It’s not always easy to "rise above the brute" or truly eliminate violence and exploitation, but to have the goal and seek exhaustively its fulfillment through our chief activities–prayer, study, mitzvot–is a worthy exercise.
Well said!!!!!