{"id":73913,"date":"2020-04-29T13:32:29","date_gmt":"2020-04-29T10:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=73913"},"modified":"2020-04-29T13:32:29","modified_gmt":"2020-04-29T10:32:29","slug":"overturning-outmoded-theologies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/overturning-outmoded-theologies\/","title":{"rendered":"Overturning Outmoded Theologies"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"73913","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":38322,"related_cahpter":"470","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"From Ezekiel to the Holocaust, and beyond\r\n\r\n","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to one Rabbinic tradition, what Ezekiel proclaims in this chapter radically reformed a theology established by God himself in the foundational Ten Commandments (Makkot 24a). As its Exodus version asserts, God visits the guilt of the parents on the children until the fourth generation. Ezekiel however rejected this manner of divine governance that holds the innocent liable for what the guilty have done. In language that unmistakably pushes back against such patent injustice, Ezekiel declared a child shall not share the burden of a parent\u2019s guilt, nor shall a parent share the burden of a child\u2019s guilt (v 20).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another rabbinic passage depicts this even more boldly, pitting Moses\u2019 sense of individual justice against God\u2019s of vicarious responsibility, provoking a reconsideration of His self-proclaimed manner of providence- \u201cIs it appropriate for the righteous to be punished for the sins of their fathers?\u201d Moses rhetorically asks. God acquiesces to Moses\u2019 logic, admitting, \u201cYou have taught Me something. By your life, I will nullify My decree and establish your word, as it says: Parents shall not be put to death for children, nor children be put to death for parents (Deut. 24:16) (Numbers Rabbah 19).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What these striking portrayals of prophetic iconoclasm reflect is a strong current in rabbinic thought that obliges critical thinking to determine the propriety of any rule or a law over blind submission to authority. If Moses and Ezekiel could challenge no less a supreme authority than God then surely the ethical quality of any earthly authority\u2019s governance must be subject to the same careful scrutiny.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This revolutionary break with long accepted theologies thought to be sanctioned by God also offers a precedent for how religion should respond to historical events against which those theologies prove to be tired and worn. Ezekiel\u2019s innovation addressed a widespread sentiment against divine injustice popularized in the proverb \u201cParents eat sour grapes and their children\u2019s teeth are blunted\u201d (v.2). Rather than his characteristic condemnation of the people\u2019s immoral conduct, the prophet also needed to be sensitive to their own crises of faith. Facing the unique catastrophe of exile and the Temple\u2019s destruction the proverb justifiably articulated resentment with a theology of suffering as a consequence of past generations\u2019 misdeeds. The prophet conceded, overturning a decrepit theology that was no longer sustainable for the future of Israelite faith.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Though Ezekiel may have set the precedent for rethinking theologies, he did not put an end to it. In the aftermath of the Shoah an aspect of Ezekiel\u2019s own theological recalibration must now also be rejected. His endorsement of individual responsibility drew a causal link between sin and punishment, \u201cThe person who sins, only he shall die.\u201d A theology that considers catastrophe divine punishment for sin now too is bankrupt in the shadow of over a million murdered children. Though there may never be an adequate theology that responds to such unprecedented consummate devastation, Moses\u2019 and Ezekiel\u2019s legacy of challenging \u2018authorized\u2019 theologies at the very least demands the dismissal of blasphemous ones.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2018Dedicated to the memory of Adam Friedman who privileged me with his friendship and Torah \u05d9\u05d4\u05d9 \u05d6\u05db\u05e8\u05d5 \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05da\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p>image:\u00a0Faces, Jewish Museum Berlin (pikrepo)<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":73914,"id":73914,"title":"ez18-faces-jewish-museum-berlin","filename":"ez18-faces-jewish-museum-berlin.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez18-faces-jewish-museum-berlin.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/overturning-outmoded-theologies\/ez18-faces-jewish-museum-berlin\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ez18-faces-jewish-museum-berlin","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":73913,"date":"2020-04-29 10:32:17","modified":"2020-08-13 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