Winter 1984 - 1985 - Quarterly Review
Winter 1984 - 1985 - Quarterly Review
Winter 1984 - 1985 - Quarterly Review
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QUARTERLY REVIEW, WINTER <strong>1984</strong><br />
activities are where God is most present. When God is most hidden,<br />
God is present everywhere. If when God was hidden after the<br />
destruction of the temple, one could find God in the synagogue, then<br />
when God is hidden after Auschwitz, one must find God in the street,<br />
in the hospital, in the bar. And that responsibility of holy secularity is<br />
the responsibility of all human beings.<br />
Similarly, apply the rabbis' analysis of why God did not stop the<br />
Romans to the question of why God did not stop the Holocaust.The<br />
question is not: Where was God during the Holocaust? God was where<br />
God should have been during the Holocaust. God was with God's<br />
people—suffering, starving, being gassed and burnt alive. Where else<br />
would God be, when God's people are being treated that way?<br />
The question is not: Where was God during the<br />
Holocaust? . . . God was with God's people—suffering,<br />
starving, being gassed and burnt alive.<br />
The real question is: What was God's message when God did not.<br />
stop the Holocaust? God is calling humans to take full responsibility<br />
for the achievement of the covenant. It is their obligation to take arms<br />
against evil and to stop it.<br />
The implication of this model is that Judaism is entering a third<br />
stage, or at least a new level of covenantal development. This is the<br />
ultimate logic of covenant: If God wants humans to grow to a final<br />
perfection, then the ultimate logic of covenant is for humans to take<br />
full responsibility. This does not mean the human arrogance that<br />
dismisses God; the human arrogance that says more human power is<br />
automatically good. "Covenantal commitment" implies the humility<br />
of knowing that the human is not God. The human is like God but is<br />
ultimately called by God to be the partner. This implies the humility of<br />
recognizing that one is a creature as well as a creator. Using this<br />
covenantal understanding, one can perceive God as the Presence<br />
everywhere—suffering, sharing, participating, calling. But trust in<br />
God or awareness of God is necessary but not sufficient for living out<br />
faith. The awareness moderates the use of power; trust curbs power<br />
ethically. But the theological consequence is that without taking<br />
power, without getting involved in history, one is religiously<br />
irresponsible. To pray to God as a substitute for taking power is<br />
blasphemous.<br />
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