Sermon: Sukkot

Title: “What I Admire In Other Religions”

Metuchen 5771 / 2010

Rabbi Gerald L. Zelizer

I want to speak about a subject which we Jews seldom reflect on: “What I admire in other religions.” We Jews, and many adherents of most religions, generally stay away from that subject because with good reason we give priority to our religion, our own mitzvot, our own tribe, so to speak. And we should, because Judaism is our primary commitment and mission. When we do talk of other faiths, our talk should not be unkindly or with cartoon-like stereotypes. We Jews are certainly not accustomed to say “Their religion is heresy, Ours is the truth,” because Judaism is more inclusive of the idea that all religions share a piece of God’s revelation.. But in contrasting the best of our religion with the worst of other faiths, do we ever say, among ourselves, explicitly or implicitly stereotypes like; “Catholicism is excessively beholden to the Pope.” “Islam is violent.” “Evangelicals are pushy.” “Goyim are goyim.”

This morning I would like to tale a different viewpoint, by telling you what I admire in religions other than Judaism. What would such recognition accomplish? At the very least, it allows us to affirm Judaism on its own merits, rather than contrasting it with caricatures of other religions. It allows us to open our eyes to the best that is in other faiths, even if their theology is very different than our own. Actually, it is Sukkot itself, more than any other Jewish Yom Tov, which encourages us to pay attention to the strengths of religions other than our own. It starts with the Torah readings of the intermediate days of Sukkot, where on each day a decreasing number of sacrifices are brought. It goes from “Shloshah Asar Eilim” – thirteen sacrifices on the first day, two “Shivah Eilim” on “Hoshanah Rabbah” on the seventh day of Sukkot. That adds up to seventy sacrifices over all. Rashi comments (on Numbers 29 v. 18) that the number seventy is “Kneged Shivim Umot Ovdei Gilulim” corresponds to the seventy nations of the world, each of course with their own religion. The tradition concludes: “Shivim Parim Makrivim Behag Kneged 70 Umot” that the 70 sacrifices are brought on Sukkot by the 70 nations, with their distinctive religions. Sukkot points not exclusively to our nation and our religion, but universalistically to all nations and their religions.

So what do I admire in faiths other than my own? Some of what I admire are qualities which are theological, others are programmatic.

Islam – is the closest to Judaism in its affirmation on one God minus intermediaries; in the total absence of icons within the mosque; and in its detailing a way of life, a kind of Halachah, like prescribing even what one eats.

Catholicism – shares our own faiths passion for Tikkun Olam – repairing the world through social justice. Because of its shear size though, Catholicism’s impact on the ground is much greater than that of Judaism. For example, Catholic Charities USA services nine million consumers. It’s budget is in the billions.

Evangelical Christians – I admire the fervor with which adherence donate so much time into their faith! Yes, I am annoyed when Jehovah’s Witnesses knock on my door on a Saturday afternoon and interrupt my Sabbath nap, but I have to admire and even envy their dedication. The estimated average of canvassers in Jehovah’s Witnesses is twelve hours per month donated to that activity. There are even what they call “Pioneers,” those who adjust their material aspirations, working and earning less money in order to devote seventy hours a month going door to door. When it comes to giving money, Evangelicals are taught to “give sacrificially” of their wealth to their churches. It shows. Measured by many indexes, Fundamentalists and Conservative Protestants give more to their churches than either main line Protestants or Catholics. Their generosity – because they give sacrificially, - even trumps the well documented abundant largesse of us Jews.

What about Mormons? I envy their clean living. Their health code requires no consumption of alcohol, tobacco, tea or coffee, or premarital sex. It’s no wonder that Brigham Young University was for the thirteenth year named the number one “Stone Cold Sober” school by the Princeton Review. Beyond the college years, a twenty-five year UCLA study completed in 2010 found that Mormons who follow their code have a much longer life expectancy than the general white population in the US – five plus years for women, almost ten years for men.

Within the religious spectrum, the farthest from our own Judaism are main line Protestants. One of Ptotestantism’s core principals is called “Sola Scriptura.” That means that the Scripture – “the Bible is the highest authority. There is no hierarchy in the church which can add or contradict to what Scriptures says.” Judaism does exactly the opposite. As you know it goes well beyond Scripture to make Judaism timely. The ingredients of the etrog and lulav which we so enjoy in our observance, are not commanded in the Torah exactly the way we have them in our hands. It was the post-Torah rabbinic tradition which understood them this way. But as I look at Protestants I often wonder what it would be like to fashion ones religion strictly on Scripture alone.

Anything I admire in Atheism? Plenty. To begin with I admire its untrammeled, critical questioning of religion, even if I can’t subscribe to its denial of God. For example, the TV political satirist and non-believer Bill Maher is quoted as saying “Religion is a bureaucracy between man and God that I don’t need.” Sound advice for those of us including rabbis who are so invested in our synagogue bureaucracies that they clutter sometimes a direct relationship to God. The Atheist Sam Harris told CNN that he objects when religion claims to know subjects with certitude that are unknowable. It distracts us from those issues that we can know and try – like how to relieve human suffering. Harris’ welcome advice to keep our religious priorities straight. Sounds like our own Biblical Prophet Micah who says that all God requires of us is to “do justice, love goodness, and walk humbly with God.” Theological speculation about what God is or how God acts can wait.

There is a program in one church in New York which carries out this posture of not only promoting Christianity, but admiring other religions. In the Park Avenue Christian Church in Manhattan is what they call a center for spiritual inquiry. The church employs a rabbi – Leonard Schoolman to direct the program. A Muslim scholar teaches an introduction to Islam. Rabbi Schoolman also plans courses within the church in the classics books of Judaism. So that students in the church will have the chance to learn about other religions directly from certified spokesman rather than an edited version from the church’s pastor.

We talk a lot about inter-faith activity. But this kind of exercise to write down to ourselves what we admire in other faiths goes beyond the normal niceties of inter-faith activity. It removes caricatures of other religions. It allows us to celebrate our own Judaism without contrasting it to the worst of others. It acknowledges the value of “Shivim Parim Makrivim Bechag Kneged 70 Umot.” “The seventy sacrifices celebrate the place of seventy other nations and their indigenous forms of worshiping God.” The value of all seventy nations and religions in a universalistic understanding of religion.

My teacher Rabbi Jacob Agus compared religion to a prism. One light enters a prism and is refracted in diverse colors. The colors of different religions are certainly very distinct and different. But the beam which enters the prism is the same one light. The seventy sacrifices of Sukkot celebrate the one light and the multiple refractions. I encourage you in the spirit of Sukkot in your own mind and heart to take note of what you admire in religions other than our own.