Shalom, my beloved brothers and sisters,
When you become a Follower of the Way, it’s not possible to remain the same person you were before; I know that I for one am not the same person as I once was. One cannot hang onto undesirable character traits and say, ‘This is how God made me!’ If you were to use that as a justification not to change, then you would be justified in remaining a drooling, cooing mumbler all your life, crawling around on all fours, having to be fed, washed and clothed by others. Just as a baby grows into an adult, so also an unreformed human being is changed by the Glory of Yahveh to become a spiritual adult. The nature of what a human being is therefore, is that we grow and change.
Change in ourselves
A couple of decades ago, I was invited to visit a number of evangelical congregations in the interests of interfaith dialogue. There were quite a few pleasant and congenial individuals there, but there was also a disturbing proportion of sociopathic and noticeably unkind individuals. These individuals had been Christian for many years, and it seemed to me that their faith had taught them nothing about how to treat others – especially those who were not of one’s own faith. It felt as if I were being bullied by psychopaths, and it was a blessed relief when each visit was over – every congregation was like this. It was apparently enough for these people to proclaim ‘Jesus as their lord and saviour’; it seemed that the content of their personality and its betterment, was irrelevant to their faith.
I recently had a discussion online with an atheist who claimed that ‘Religion allows you to make excuses for your wrongdoings, and pray it away, so that you don’t have to deal with your wrongdoings’. I responded that sadly, yes, certain religions do indeed behave in this way, allowing their followers to make excuses for their cruel actions, but not all. I related to him how, in Talmidaism, it was an important teaching that we should not make excuses for our own wrongdoings or those of others, and how in our community, doing evil in God’s Name was considered a grievous sin. His response was very telling: ‘Dude, the Bible says that ‘Thou shalt not kill’, but the crusades still happened!’ Apparently, in his mind, all religious people were responsible for the sins of all religions. All religious people were just as bad as each other. In his eyes, Religion was so evil, that he could see nothing illogical in blaming a Jew for the crusades!
These experiences – and others over the years – have brought home to me how important it is for Talmidis, as religious people, not to behave in the same unconscionable way that other religious people behave. Religion has gotten itself such a bad rep, that all religious people are tarred with the same brush by atheists. Yeshua taught us to ask ourselves, What’s different about how we behave? ‘What more are we doing than others?’ (SY 70:4b / Mt 5:47b)
Jacob the Pious wrote how when we compare ourselves only to what we see of ourselves, there is little desire for change (Ig. Yaaqov. 6:2-4 – cf Letter of James, 1:23-25). We look into a mirror and merely see ourselves as we are, and whatever imperfections we find, we tend to overlook. But when we use Yahveh’s perfect Teaching as our mirror, we see what we are supposed to be – what God wants us to be – and we are moved to change.
Some parts of our personality are genetically inherited, some are controlled by our hormones, and yet others are moulded by our upbringing. However, we cannot make the excuse that we cannot change because of what we have been made to be. Maybe a lower animal, one of the lesser creations of God can put forward this excuse – that they are only acting according to their nature, but not so a human being. We have the faculty of reason. We have the ability to override our inherent programming. We have free will. We have the choice to do right or wrong, the choice to go against what the inherited side of our natures tells us to do.
Through Torah, Yahveh teaches us to fight our baser natures. Torah often tells us to fight our instinct – our feelings, our genes and what we were born with.
For example, Yahveh teaches us, “When you encounter the ox of one who hates you, or his donkey wandering about, you must take it back to him. When you see the donkey of your enemy collapsed under its burden, and your natural reaction is to refrain from raising it, you must nevertheless raise it with him.” (Ex 23:4-5)
What God is trying to say, is that our base feelings and prejudices should not form the basis of our ethical standards. We must never let our resentment or anger get in the way of doing what is just and right. We must never let our hatred hurt the innocent. Whatever your natural biases and inclinations, you must never let what you want override what God wants. When tempted to give in to your dark prejudices, remind yourself of God’s Will, God’s principles and values, and follow them instead.
Our instinct tells us to hurt anything that belongs to our enemy, but we have to fight such an instinct in order to do our heavenly Father’s will. We have to fight the instinct to be vindictive against those who hate us – doing an unjust thing purely in order to spite our enemy. We may not like who or what our enemy is, but we should not let an innocent suffer for it – in the above case, the animals that belong to our enemy. And if we should show this kindness to animals, how much more so should we show this kindness to human beings.
Proverbs 25:21 says, ‘If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.’ This type of godly compassion is not just contained in the teaching of Yeshua`; he was calling us back to the Way of Yahveh, whose compassion and mercy is boundless.
I recently watched a video about a Ukrainian captor allowing a young Russian conscript to call his mother. The young Russian was crying and sobbing, while trying to tell his mother that he felt his Russian army superiors had sent him and his fellow conscripts into Ukraine to die as cannon fodder, and how they weren’t given any food by their superiors, as if they weren’t expected to live that long in the conflict. The Ukrainian captor did not treat the young lad like an enemy – in the most emotional moments of the phone call, the Ukrainian tried to comfort the Russian soldier by giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze, or putting his hand on the young lad’s head, as if he were trying to reassure his own son that things were going to be OK; even though the Russian was a prisoner of war, he would be fed, and he would live.
Returning to the theme of ‘changing our programming’: there are quite a few science-fiction stories of androids – artificial life-forms – that gain sentience, or seem to acquire something near to what we would call a soul. They do this in most cases because they break or exceed their programming. We too have to break our programming. We need to exceed what we were genetically programmed by millions of years of evolution to be. There are some atheists who say that all we can do in life – all we can ever be – is to follow our gene-encoded natures and do what our genes tell us to do, but surely, isn’t being human about going beyond what our genes tell us to be! Surely, what sets us apart from the lower animals is that we can do this! Responsible religious faith tells us that we have to go beyond our natures, and be more than what we are. In effect, God’s desire for us, is to rediscover the heavenly side of our natures, and be what God wants us to be.
We cannot seek to be a part of God’s Kingdom and live it, without also having the desire to change ourselves to fit into God’s Kingdom.
Change in society
God desires change, not only in ourselves, but in society as well. An important concern in the Israelite religion is the stability of society. There are some religions that are waiting for their saviour to come, so there is no need to do anything to improve society, because it will all be swept away anyway when their saviour comes. After all, isn’t it in the nature of societies to become corrupt and fall? So what’s the point in doing anything about it?
Human beings are part of society – humans are social animals. One cannot glorify the connection between human beings, and then say that what that connection creates – our wider society – is irrelevant, or that we shouldn’t be concerned about its future or functioning. One transforms society, by transforming the hearts of the people within it. The biblical prophets didn’t only speak to ordinary people; many also spoke to kings and governors – they addressed not only the actions of individuals, but the actions of rulers and those in authority as well. After all, a ruler’s way of thinking can either bring suffering to their people, or their thinking can bring prosperity to their people. In the Israelite mindset, the ways of rulers are not beyond criticism.
In the Israelite religion, a prophet’s warnings were not only for the common people, but for the rulers of the Land as well.
In mainstream Christianity, there are some who look at Yeshua’s teaching and ministry, and tell themselves, ‘That’s all we need – we don’t need to consider anything else. Everything I require in my life is to be found in Jesus’s teachings alone – his teachings and what he did is applicable to every situation in life.’
Yeshua’s ethical teachings covered very specific topics – mostly interpersonal relationships, treatment of the poor, religious hypocrisy, the intent of the heart, forgiveness and mercy, and so on. He didn’t say anything about the treatment of animals, how to run a government, conduct in war, or how to run a business. This might be the reason why so many people who claim to follow him, don’t actually see these areas as being covered by religion – that religious principles are of no concern in these areas.
For such individuals, it is enough to look to their own lives and problems, and put their own house in order, keep their head down, and everything will be fine. What people in power and politics do is of no concern to religion.
This is not how it is in the Israelite mindset – in fact, it couldn’t be further from it! Apart from at the ballot box, most of us have little influence on those in power. However, there are those who are able to speak to power by pointing out the wider problems in society. They are also able to influence how ordinary people think, and so en masse, speak louder to those in power.
How a large enough group of individuals think will ultimately affect the outcome and fate of a society. One cannot say that what society at large does won’t affect you, because it will. Democratic decisions which affect the future course of an entire nation, have the power to positively or negatively impact the lives of the individual.
I recently watched a lecture by Ray Dalio, based on his book, ‘Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order.’ He talked about how all civilisations rise and fall, and over centuries you can chart how past civilisations rose, all following predictable patterns, and how they also fell, following predictably bad choices.
If more influential people in our society are unconcerned with the dangers of the fall of their society, then it will inevitably hurt those of us lower down the power-chain, who are just trying to get by in life. If an influential person has any compassion for those who have little influence on society, then they will do their best to influence its course for the better. The mindset of, ‘what happens in society at large is not my concern, it’s going to fall anyway,’ isn’t helpful to those who are struggling, because often a change near the top – or a better awareness of social ills by the people near the top – will indeed make lives better for those lower down the ladder.
The principle of, ‘You shall not stand by the blood of your neighbour’ (Lev 19:6b) doesn’t only apply to when someone is attacked; it also applies to situations in life where we could have done something about the suffering of others – even done something to avoid events taking a wrong turn where people would suffer – and we didn’t. We simply stood by and did nothing; we stayed silent, and didn’t speak out.
If enough people think, ‘What I think and do matters’, then eventually it will reach the top, and rulers will have to pay attention to what their people think. Populists are unfortunately aware of this, and manipulate people into turning their society into a pleasant place to live only for those who can afford it.
According to Dalio, one of the regular factors that start the decline of a civilisation, is that prosperous and wealthy people become decadent, becoming too comfortable in their luxury to care about anyone else. Another regular problem in the cycle of the fall of societies, is that the wealthy do not invest in the betterment of their society, only in their own material comfort. This results in the gap between rich and poor growing wider and wider. This in turn results in widespread discontent, and after a few more (avoidable) missteps, that society falls and loses its status as a world power. However, not without a lot of suffering for those at the bottom.
If we can understand Yeshua within his Jewish context, we will realise why he didn’t say much about the treatment of animals, how to run a government, a soldier’s conduct in war, or how to run a business – simply because it wasn’t his remit to speak about them; that wasn’t what God called him to do. All these things are already covered by God’s Torah, and by the writings of the biblical Prophets. Yeshua’s teaching was meant to be understood in the wider context of the Jewish faith and Israelite ethics, rather than being completely divorced from it. The fact that Yeshua didn’t speak about certain things, does not mean that we shouldn’t, if God moves our conscience to do so.
Torah covers many more things than are covered in Yeshua’s life and ministry – too many people use the lack of certain concerns in Yeshua’s life to do nothing. It is true that his teachings were more devoted to the individual than society as a whole, but that was because that was his calling, his personal remit. On the other hand, Torah does cover kindness to animals, the ethics of running a government, the ethical conduct of war, the ethical conduct of business, and so on.
Dalio’s principles in his book about how societies and civilisations fall, are covered in Torah too – and to me, this shows God’s amazing wisdom and foresight. Torah gives rules and guidance on how to stabilise society – how to prevent Israelite society falling and becoming forgotten by history, and being lost to time. It also shows us how we can pick ourselves up again, if we should decline or fall. Torah’s laws are meant to lessen the gap between rich and poor, and encourage all levels of society to contribute and take an interest in the society in which we live, because that way, all levels of society will have a vested interest in their society – their civilisation – continuing.
If the connection between human beings is so important, then make it mean something for a better and more stable society.
Mutual responsibility in society
God’s will for society in general is therefore to transform it too, so that the ways of God’s Kingdom reign throughout society. Society has a responsibility to its members, but its members also have a responsibility to society. If we wish to derive benefit from living in a society, and live in a peaceful and pleasant land, we each need to contribute in some way to build the society that we want to live in; we cannot just sit back and expect someone else to do it all for us.
Now, no one expects us to change the world by ourselves, but there are small things that we can do each day which will add to the sum of change. We can refuse to go along with the majority when they do wrong, or when they make bad decisions; we can disagree with someone when they express a view or comment which is manifestly unjust, hateful, destructive or evil; and we can show kindness to those who are put upon by others through no fault of their own, other than they are different.
When you become a Follower of the Way of Yahveh, the arrogant person has to learn how to practise humility; the angry person has to learn to embrace peace, forgiveness and reconciliation; the judgmental person has to learn to trust in the mercy of Yahveh; the superstitious person has to learn to believe in the supremacy of Yahveh over all things; and the selfish or inconsiderate person has to learn charity and concern for others. We have to be willing to allow the power and presence of God to take hold of us and transform us, so that we become a people who will better serve the cause of God and God’s Kingdom on earth.
Blessed be the Holy Name of Yahveh!
your brother in service and humility
Shmuliq
“I have set Yahveh clearly before me always” (Ps 16:8)