God of Israel - God of Reason?

Maimonides ¹ by adapting Aristotle's ² prime mover postulates that existence/reality implies or points to a greater reality that is the source of everything that exists;

In the pagan world religion is conceived in mythical terms.  Consequently people inhabiting the realm of imagination argue that the Aristotelian system excludes the possibility of scriptural revelation.⁴⁸ Maimonides intended to demonstrate that the opposite was the case.  Not only are Scripture and myth mutually exclusive but reason – Aristotelian reason in particular – necessitates a prime mover transcending the physical universe…Transcending myth and imagination involves locating a reality that is not a product of the human psyche but is the source of everything that exists. ….an existent who is not the body of the universe, who is neither corporeal or a corporeal force, who is one, continuously eternal, uncaused and unchangeable, and He is God”⁴⁹

The Arabic adverb an tamma (that is there) is used as an interjection to point at something outside the mind of the speaker. Transcending myth and imagination involves locating a reality that is not a product of the human psyche but is the source of everything that exists. By discovering his absolute dependence on an absolute reality outside himself man succeeds in breaking the grip of imagination and enters the realm of reason. At once, this discovery leads to the recognition of God and the beginning of wisdom (see Ps 111:10; Prv 1:7)³. Using the same adverb in Hebrew Maimonides began the first paragraph of the Mishne Tora: “The Foundation of [all] Foundations and the Pillar of [all] sciences is to know that is there [she-yesh sham] a First Existent. He bestows existence [mamsi] to all that which exists. Whatever exists from heavens to earth and between them, does not exist but from the verity of His existence.”⁵⁰ … The use of the active participle Mamsi (bestows existence) underscores the continuous dependence of all creatures on His transcendental existence and thereby His continuous omnipresence and omniscience ⁵¹   ….This doctrine passed from Maimonides to Newton, who in the General Scholium wrote, “that the Supreme God exists necessarily” and is “a Being necessarily existing” ⁶⁵… the scientific discovery of reality leads to the discovery of God. The ultimate reality. Viewed rationally the whole universe is perceived as a semiological entity that “points out towards Him”.^{66  4}

48 - Shemona Peraqim 6, Maimonides, Perush ha-Mishnayot, 4 378—79.

49 - See Maimonides, Guide, sec. 3, chap. 29, pp.377 (line 12), 380 (line 28);

chap. 30, p. 382 (line 18); chap. 32, p. 388 (line 4); chap. 397, (lines 5—6).
50 - See ibid., chap. 29, pp. 378 (line 8)—79 (line 26).
51 - See Kuzari 4:11, 13. For the recurrence of this type of phenomena in the

West, see Eliade, Myth and Reality, especially chap. 9. On their effect on modern

intellectual trends, see idem, Occultism, Witchcraft, and Cultural Fashions, chap. I.  

65 - Newton Principia, 546

66 - Miamonides, Guide,  sect. 1 chap. 19.  

However for Maimonides the Aristotilian rational conclusion for the existence of God is only the doorway to the realization that Gods existence and His knowledge transcend human rationality. “There is no correlation between His knowledge and human knowledge, just as there is no correlation between His beingness and human beingness”. ⁵ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.” ⁶ For Maimonides the Aristotelian mechanistic prime mover has nothing in common with the God of Israel who, through an act of will, purposefully made the universe. Thus the limits of reason bring us to Prophecy the realm within which God addresses man, “Therefore we shall stop at the boundaries of our faculties and acquiesce those matters which cannot be apprehended through judgment to him [Moses] who was the recipient of the divine and awesome flow, and who was worthy of the statement: ‘Mouth to mouth I am speaking in him’⁷ ”.⁸   

1.       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maimonides

2.       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle

3.       Psalm 111:10  - The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;

all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.  

Proverbs 1:7 - The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise

wisdom and instruction.

4.       Homo Mysticus: A Guide To Maimonides’s Guide For The Perplexed

Jose Faur pp. 98-99 (Syracuse University Press 1999)

5.       Maimonides, Guide, sec. 3, chap. 20, pp. 348 (line 28) – 49 (line 2)

6.       Isaiah 55:8

7.       Numbers 12:8

8.       Maimonides, Guide, sec. 2, chap.24, pp.228 (line 28) – 299 (line 1).

Cf. sec. 3, chap. 21, p.351 (lines 11 – 20)

Israel "The Pistol Nation"??

Last week an article entitled “Israel The Pistol Nation” appeared on the popular Israel News site “YNet”. (1)  

The article was somewhat informative on the need for Israel to be a modern military power for its survival.  However its flippant title and skimpy content did not speak to the current myth prevailing in the world of a chauvinistic Israel with its settlers armed to the teeth dispossessing the impoverished occupied so called “Palestinian” Arabs living under its rule - whether they be those living in territory under full Israeli sovereignty with full citizenship and political representation in Israel’s government or whether they be living under partial Israeli and Palestinian rule in the disputed territories occupied by Jordan until 1967.

I am an armed Israeli who lives in the so called “occupied territories” my goal is to present here something of the actual reality of Israel’s military and private gun ownership laws in contrast to those in the USA and New Zealand in the hope that the facts might help dispel the miss-information that abounds.

All Israeli citizens (men & women) are obligated to serve in one of Israels Military branches the Army, Navy or Air force from the age of 18 years. Men for 3 years and women for 2. Exemptions are granted to individuals for reasons such as age, health and religion.  Exemptions are also given to specific minorities such as Arab Muslims and Arab Christians however these minorities can choose to serve and a small number do,  the most notable group being the Bedouin Arabs. There is also an option to do permanent military service.  Alliteratively National Service is an option taken by many especially women to Military Service.  Initial Military service is followed by Reserve duty usually for men for approximately one month a year till around age 40. (2)

This military service by the whole nation gives rise to a sight that strikes visitors to Israel for the first time, many groups young soldiers in their late teens travelling on the public transport system carrying assault rifles as they travel to and from their bases all over the country home and back before and after the Sabbath.

The State of Israel does not have a constitution like America that gives it citizens the right to bear arms, so while the casual observer may be surprised to see armed soldiers traveling to and fro amongst ordinary civilians guns are not freely available to citizens outside of the context of military service.  Also hunting for sport does not exist here therefore unlike the USA and New Zealand one cannot get a Licence and go and purchase a shotgun or hunting rifle.(3)  Americans who are used to taking advantage of their Constitution to own a handgun for self protection are surprised to discover that the option to freely do this does not exist in Israel.   

Private ownership of guns is restricted to licensed people who, work in security, travel in areas considered potentially dangerous or who live in certain towns in the disputed territories that are considered potentially dangerous. In addition handguns are very expensive, usually about 3 times the price of the same weapon in the USA. Licensing is very strict and expensive with a requirement to re-license every 3 years.   Under the terms of the license the gun may only be used to protect life under a direct and actual threat, strict penalties confiscation and imprisonment are a result of misuse.

On a personal note since our town of Bet Hagai is considered one of those potentially dangerous towns I do carry a trusty CZ 85 but I don’t go out every day worrying that I may have to use it any more that I worry about having a car accident every time I put on my seat belt.  

In conclusion contrary to the propaganda often seen in the world media Israel is a modern democracy, the national home to Jewish who are the only sovereign nation to have existed as a nation on this territory since Israels establishment over 3000 years ago.  As such Israel is governed by the rule of law which protects minorities including those who would rather we had not returned to our homeland.  While one cannot avoid the reality of Arab hostility which necessitates the high level of security and its resultant inconvenience the reality is that armed groups of settlers do not go around dispossessing minorities with the support of the Military and the Law is enforced very harshly against Jewish citizens living in the disputed territories who are perceived to cross the line.

1 - http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4174273,00.html
2 - For more detailed information on the IDFsee here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Defense_Forces
3 - Apart from the lack of wild animals to hunt in our tiny country this is because hunting has never been a Jewish sport due to our understanding that the sanctity of life extends also to the animal world and the biblical Prohibition against causing pain to animals.
4 - http://www.cz-usa.com/products/view/cz-85-b/

Merry Christmas!

We Jews living in Western countries usually accept Christmas Greetings with out a fuss - after all we are a minority and most Christians do not mean to offend but simply want to spread their joy and pass on what for them is a universal holiday - the birth of the Savior of the world - a time of good will to all men.

However its strange to me how some Christian friends who know us well frankly just don't get it - its not our holiday and their refusal to recognize this fact and acknowledge our holiday of Hanukkah at the same time of the year smacks of arrogance and not good will, of their mission and not their goodhearted warmth to all.

At first glance its puzzling that the TeNaCh (The Old Testament) makes no mention of our Holiday but the Gospels record Jesus celebrating the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah) in the wintertime in the Temple in Jerusalem, not Christmas.  While this is probably surprising for both Christians and Jews those who pause to think a moment should not be surprised that Jesus a Jew was celebrating a Jewish festival and that festival doesn't appear in the TeNaCh due to the simple historical fact that the events which Hanukkah celebrate occurred after the sealing up of the TeNaCh as the authoritative scriptures for the nation of Israel, while the framework for the narrative of the Gospels is the Land of Israel during the second temple period of the Jewish State.

Below are some informative historical details about the history and development of Christmas by LAWRENCE KELEMEN which will help explain that while tolerance is an important value to embrace, we are not obligated to surrender truth or human dignity in its pursuit.

I. When was Jesus born? A.     Popular myth puts his birth on December 25th in the year 1 C.E. B.     The New Testament gives no date or year for Jesus’ birth.  The earliest gospel – St. Mark’s, written about 65 CE – begins with the baptism of an adult Jesus.  This suggests that the earliest Christians lacked interest in or knowledge of Jesus’ birthdate. C.     The year of Jesus birth was determined by Dionysius Exiguus, a Scythian monk, “abbot of a Roman monastery.  His calculation went as follows: a.       In the Roman, pre-Christian era, years were counted from ab urbe condita (“the founding of the City” [Rome]).  Thus 1 AUC signifies the year Rome was founded, 5 AUC signifies the 5th year of Rome’s reign, etc. b.     Dionysius received a tradition that the Roman emperor Augustus reigned 43 years, and was followed by the emperor Tiberius. c.       Luke 3:1,23 indicates that when Jesus turned 30 years old, it was the 15th year of Tiberius reign. d.      If Jesus was 30 years old in Tiberius’ reign, then he lived 15 years under Augustus (placing Jesus birth in Augustus’ 28th year of reign). e.       Augustus took power in 727 AUC.  Therefore, Dionysius put Jesus birth in 754 AUC. f.        However, Luke 1:5 places Jesus’ birth in the days of Herod, and Herod died in 750 AUC – four years before the year in which Dionysius places Jesus birth. D.     Joseph A. Fitzmyer – Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at the Catholic University of America, member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, and former president of the Catholic Biblical Association – writing in the Catholic Church’s official commentary on the New Testament[1], writes about the date of Jesus’ birth, “Though the year [of Jesus birth is not reckoned with certainty, the birth did not occur in AD 1.  The Christian era, supposed to have its starting point in the year of Jesus birth, is based on a miscalculation introduced ca. 533 by Dionysius Exiguus.” E.      The DePascha Computus, an anonymous document believed to have been written in North Africa around 243 CE, placed Jesus birth on March 28.  Clement, a bishop of Alexandria (d. ca. 215 CE), thought Jesus was born on November 18.  Based on historical records, Fitzmyer guesses that Jesus birth occurred on September 11, 3 BCE. II.     How Did Christmas Come to Be Celebrated on December 25? A.    Roman pagans first introduced the holiday of Saturnalia, a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17-25.  During this period, Roman courts were closed, and Roman law dictated that no one could be punished for damaging property or injuring people during the weeklong celebration.  The festival began when Roman authorities chose “an enemy of the Roman people” to represent the “Lord of Misrule.”  Each Roman community selected a victim whom they forced to indulge in food and other physical pleasures throughout the week.  At the festival’s conclusion, December 25th, Roman authorities believed they were destroying the forces of darkness by brutally murdering this innocent man or woman. B.    The ancient Greek writer poet and historian Lucian (in his dialogue entitled Saturnalia) describes the festival’s observance in his time.  In addition to human sacrifice, he mentions these customs: widespread intoxication; going from house to house while singing naked; rape and other sexual license; and consuming human-shaped biscuits (still produced in some English and most German bakeries during the Christmas season). C.    In the 4th century CE, Christianity imported the Saturnalia festival hoping to take the pagan masses in with it.  Christian leaders succeeded in converting to Christianity large numbers of pagans by promising them that they could continue to celebrate the Saturnalia as Christians.[2] D.    The problem was that there was nothing intrinsically Christian about Saturnalia. To remedy this, these Christian leaders named Saturnalia’s concluding day, December 25th, to be Jesus’ birthday. E.      Christians had little success, however, refining the practices of Saturnalia.  As Stephen Nissenbaum, professor history at the University of Massachussetts, Amherst, writes, “In return for ensuring massive observance of the anniversary of the Savior’s birth by assigning it to this resonant date, the Church for its part tacitly agreed to allow the holiday to be celebrated more or less the way it had always been.”  The earliest Christmas holidays were celebrated by drinking, sexual indulgence, singing naked in the streets (a precursor of modern caroling), etc. F.      The Reverend Increase Mather of Boston observed in 1687 that “the early Christians who  first observed the Nativity on December 25 did not do so thinking that Christ was born in that Month, but because the Heathens’ Saturnalia was at that time kept in Rome, and they were willing to have those Pagan Holidays metamorphosed into Christian ones.”[3]  Because of its known pagan origin, Christmas was banned by the Puritans and its observance was illegal in Massachusetts between 1659 and 1681.[4]  However, Christmas was and still is celebrated by most Christians. G.    Some of the most depraved customs of the Saturnalia carnival were intentionally revived by the Catholic Church in 1466 when Pope Paul II, for the amusement of his Roman citizens, forced Jews to race naked through the streets of the city.  An eyewitness account reports, “Before they were to run, the Jews were richly fed, so as to make the race more difficult for them and at the same time more amusing for spectators.  They ran… amid Rome’s taunting shrieks and peals of laughter, while the Holy Father stood upon a richly ornamented balcony and laughed heartily.”[5] H.     As part of the Saturnalia carnival throughout the 18th and 19th centuries CE, rabbis of the ghetto inRome were forced to wear clownish outfits and march through the city streets to the jeers of the crowd, pelted by a variety of missiles. When the Jewish community of Rome sent a petition in1836 to Pope Gregory XVI begging him to stop the annual Saturnalia abuse of the Jewish community, he responded, “It is not opportune to make any innovation.”[6]  On December 25, 1881, Christian leaders whipped the Polish masses into Antisemitic frenzies that led to riots across the country.  In Warsaw 12 Jews were brutally murdered, huge numbers maimed, and many Jewish women were raped.  Two million rubles worth of property was destroyed. III.     The Origins of Christmas Customs A.     The Origin of Christmas Tree Just as early Christians recruited Roman pagans by associating Christmas with the Saturnalia, so too worshipers of the Asheira cult and its offshoots were recruited by the Church sanctioning “Christmas Trees”.[7]  Pagans had long worshiped trees in the forest, or brought them into their homes and decorated them, and this observance was adopted and painted with a Christian veneer by the Church. B.     The Origin of Mistletoe Norse mythology recounts how the god Balder was killed using a mistletoe arrow by his rival god Hoder while fighting for the female Nanna.  Druid rituals use mistletoe to poison their human sacrificial victim.[8]  The Christian custom of “kissing under the mistletoe” is a later synthesis of the sexual license of Saturnalia with the Druidic sacrificial cult.[9] C.     The Origin of Christmas Presents In pre-Christian Rome, the emperors compelled their most despised citizens to bring offerings and gifts during the Saturnalia (in December) and Kalends (in January).  Later, this ritual expanded to include gift-giving among the general populace.  The Catholic Church gave this custom a Christian flavor by re-rooting it in the supposed gift-giving of Saint Nicholas (see below).[10] D.     The Origin of Santa Claus a.       Nicholas was born in Parara, Turkey in 270 CE and later became Bishop of Myra.  He died in 345 CE on December 6th.  He was only named a saint in the 19th century. b.      Nicholas was among the most senior bishops who convened the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE and created the New Testament.  The text they produced portrayed Jews as “the children of the devil”[11] who sentenced Jesus to death. c.       In 1087, a group of sailors who idolized Nicholas moved his bones from Turkey to a sanctuary in Bari, Italy.  There Nicholas supplanted a female boon-giving deity called The Grandmother, or Pasqua Epiphania, who used to fill the children's stockings with her gifts.  The Grandmother was ousted from her shrine at Bari, which became the center of the Nicholas cult.  Members of this group gave each other gifts during a pageant they conducted annually on the anniversary of Nicholas’ death, December 6. d.      The Nicholas cult spread north until it was adopted by German and Celtic pagans.  These groups worshipped a pantheon led by Woden –their chief god and the father of Thor, Balder, and Tiw.  Woden had a long, white beard and rode a horse through the heavens one evening each Autumn.  When Nicholas merged with Woden, he shed his Mediterranean appearance, grew a beard, mounted a flying horse, rescheduled his flight for December, and donned heavy winter clothing. e.       In a bid for pagan adherents in Northern Europe, the Catholic Church adopted the Nicholas cult and taught that he did (and they should) distribute gifts on December 25thinstead of December 6th. f.        In 1809, the novelist Washington Irving (most famous his The Legend of Sleepy Hollow andRip Van Winkle) wrote a satire of Dutch culture entitled Knickerbocker History.  The satire refers several times to the white bearded, flying-horse riding Saint Nicholas using his Dutch name, Santa Claus. g.       Dr. Clement Moore, a professor at Union Seminary, read Knickerbocker History, and in 1822 he published a poem based on the character Santa Claus: “Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.  The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in the hope that Saint Nicholas soon would be there…”  Moore innovated by portraying a Santa with eight reindeer who descended through chimneys. h.       The Bavarian illustrator Thomas Nast almost completed the modern picture of Santa Claus.  From 1862 through 1886, based on Moore’s poem, Nast drew more than 2,200 cartoon images of Santa for Harper’s Weekly.  Before Nast, Saint Nicholas had been pictured as everything from a stern looking bishop to a gnome-like figure in a frock.  Nast also gave Santa a home at the North Pole, his workshop filled with elves, and his list of the good and bad children of the world.  All Santa was missing was his red outfit. i.         In 1931, the Coca Cola Corporation contracted the Swedish commercial artist Haddon Sundblom to create a coke-drinking Santa.  Sundblom modeled his Santa on his friend Lou Prentice, chosen for his cheerful, chubby face.  The corporation insisted that Santa’s fur-trimmed suit be bright, Coca Cola red.  And Santa was born – a blend of Christian crusader, pagan god, and commercial idol. IV.     The Christmas Challenge ·        Christmas has always been a holiday celebrated carelessly.  For millennia, pagans, Christians, and even Jews have been swept away in the season’s festivities, and very few people ever pause to consider the celebration’s intrinsic meaning, history, or origins. ·       Christmas celebrates the birth of the Christian god who came to rescue mankind from the “curse of the Torah.”  It is a 24-hour declaration that Judaism is no longer valid. ·        Christmas is a lie.  There is no Christian church with a tradition that Jesus was really born on December 25th. ·        December 25 is a day on which Jews have been shamed, tortured, and murdered. ·        Many of the most popular Christmas customs – including Christmas trees, mistletoe, Christmas presents, and Santa Claus – are modern incarnations of the most depraved pagan rituals ever practiced on earth. Many who are excitedly preparing for their Christmas celebrations would prefer not knowing about the holiday’s real significance.  If they do know the history, they often object that their celebration has nothing to do with the holiday’s monstrous history and meaning.  “We are just having fun.”

SOURCES

[1] Addison G. Wright, Roland E. Murphy, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, “A History of Israel” in The Jerome Biblical Commentary, (Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1990), p. 1247.

[2] The first mention of a Nativity feast appears in the Philocalian calendar, a Roman document from 354 CE, which lists December 25^th as the day of Jesus’ birth.

[3] Increase Mather, A Testimony against Several Prophane and Superstitious Customs, Now Practiced by Some in New England (London, 1687), p. 35.  See also Stephen Nissenbaum, The Battle for Christmas: A Cultural History of America’s Most Cherished Holiday, New York: Vintage Books, 1997, p. 4.

[4] Nissenbaum, p. 3.

[5] David I. Kertzer, The Popes Against the Jews: The Vatican’s Role in the Rise of Modern Anti-Semitism, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001, p. 74.

[6] Kertzer, p. 33, 74-5.

[7] Clement Miles, Christmas Customs and Traditions: Their History and Significance, New York: Dover Publications, 1976, pp. 178, 263-271.

[8] Miles, p. 273.

[9] Miles, p. 274-5.

[10] Miles, pp. 276-279.

[11] John 8:44  

In closing;

Christmas for Christians celebrates the incarnation - god becoming man and the Mass or Eucharist  for classic Christianity is a sacrament, an initiation in which man is some mystical way internalizes god.   These ancient cosmic ideas are found in various forms in pre-Christian pagan cults and their rites. 

Hanukkah was the historic re dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem and the relighting of the Menorah the seven branched Lamp Stand which adorned its Holy inner sanctuary.  The light of its ongoing annual celebration is centered in the Jewish home and family.  It celebrates two primary aspects of that re dedication which we strive to keep alive.  The national victory over the superior Greek military machine and the preservation of our national identity, and more importantly the re establishment of the spiritual ideals proclaimed by the Torah that had been eroded by the powerful influence of the culture of Greece.  

The values revealed in the Torah which we as a nation have been chosen to preserve are not only a light for us but a light we have been chosen to proclaim to the nations of the world.    

   

Beginnings

The purpose of this blog is to enable interested family and friends (especially those living far from us) to keep in touch with the Etzhasadeh family - our life and the issues that face all of us here in the Land Israel.