Beautiful. I'm reading Sarah Hurwutz right now and the pages I'm on say much the same. It's deeply moving and inspiring.
When I was a teenager a musical group called "Dust and Ashes" put Amos' words to music in a beautiful way. I still have the sheet music, but can't find any trace of that group online:
Lyrics:
"I am no prophet
No prophet's son am I
I'm just a lonely shepherd boy
Who hears the lambkins cry."
I do not wear the cloth
I'm not god's man by trade
I dress the lofty sycamore
And tis for that I'm paid.
But the lion has roared
Who shall not fear
The Lord God has spoken
Who can but speak
Now therefore hear his word:
I hate and despise all your potlucks
Your solemn assemblies in church
Your prayers are as empty as deserts
You hymns are all noise, not a search
You drink wine from bowls not in jiggers
You eat of the calf not the bull
You buy off the poor with your dollars
And sell the needy for shoes
"I want justice, justice,
Like free flowing waters
And righteousness, righteousness
Like cascading streams
Love goodness, reject not the needy
The ghetto is not the Lord's dream
But you have turned justice to poison
And given the fruit to the worm
You lie on your beds of white ivory
While the beds of the poor you woruld burn
"I want justice, justice,
Like free flowing waters
And righteousness, righteousness
Like cascading streams
Love goodness, reject not the needy
The ghetto is not the Lord's dream
Let justice floor down like a steam
Well that was a trek down memory lane (like, 1970!).
Susan, Wow, what a fabulous poem/piece of music! I haven't been able to find a YouTube recording, but I'll keep trying. Can you access this music? Thanks!
Thank you Rami, my favorite iconoclastic provocateur. Dvar Acher - there are a few more rabbinic job-description options besides clerk and prophet. Like, say teacher, counselor, cohen. And iconoclast. Occasionally hiding in a coffin to escape the siege and living to fight another way, to fight with the power of persuasion rather than with threats (or actual) violence). And even the prophet wielded little power to make real change unless he could actually get the ear of the king — and even then, it was usually too late. No doubt we are in desperate need of some true prophets willing to make the sacrifice to speak truth to power and pray that they listen. And at every baby naming we pray this may be the one. And we devote most of our days trying to educate a new generation in the hopes that one or two will be assume that prophetic mantle.
May you be blessed. May all who hear you listen! May the Lord open our eyes and hearts. May we again repent. None of us is without sin, but we can again be taught by prophetic wisdom.
Isn’t it interesting how all the truth-tellers about who God is are pretty much saying the same things on so many levels! I love that. And your wisdom and perspective. Inspired!
Fabulous! Yes, stop digging! Kindness, love, community, l and spiritualit. y need no bibles/scriptures and can be included/applied in/to any religious belief!!!
I greatly appreciate your posts. As an inclusivist, post-Evangelical, post-doctrinal person continuing to choose Jesus as my primary portal to the divine, I welcome those universal truths that come from all faith traditions. You are a wise and loving broadcaster and interpreter of the Jewish faith. And you write with verve! Thank you.
Micah 6:8 is one of my most favorite passages from the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. I repeat it to myself daily, to keep from getting sidetracked by religious cult-de-sacs and by despair and pessimism, given worldly events.
You note the various passages from Scripture advocating war and cruelty even to the innocent. You state that "god" has given such commandments. Such passages bothered me greatly as a young, devout Evangelical Christian...and human being. Eventually, with the aid of theological and biblical training, and with more confidence in my own moral imagination, I came to view these passages as not coming from Yahweh, but from the Semitic culture of the time, which apparently mirrored all other contemporaneous cultures. That was just how humans viewed things. Just tough luck if you were an enemy.
I now interpret Scripture through several key hermeneutical principles, the primary principle being Love. The kind of love that comes from the true God [Tillich's "God above god"]. There are of course numerous examples of such love throughout Scripture. In the Hebrew Scripture [Tanach], the concepts of chesed [dedicated, committed love] and ahava [covenantal love] come to mind.
My question, please, for you: How do you actually interpret those awful, barbaric passages in the Tanach that advocate, even celebrate, cruelty toward innocents?
Beautiful. I'm reading Sarah Hurwutz right now and the pages I'm on say much the same. It's deeply moving and inspiring.
When I was a teenager a musical group called "Dust and Ashes" put Amos' words to music in a beautiful way. I still have the sheet music, but can't find any trace of that group online:
Lyrics:
"I am no prophet
No prophet's son am I
I'm just a lonely shepherd boy
Who hears the lambkins cry."
I do not wear the cloth
I'm not god's man by trade
I dress the lofty sycamore
And tis for that I'm paid.
But the lion has roared
Who shall not fear
The Lord God has spoken
Who can but speak
Now therefore hear his word:
I hate and despise all your potlucks
Your solemn assemblies in church
Your prayers are as empty as deserts
You hymns are all noise, not a search
You drink wine from bowls not in jiggers
You eat of the calf not the bull
You buy off the poor with your dollars
And sell the needy for shoes
"I want justice, justice,
Like free flowing waters
And righteousness, righteousness
Like cascading streams
Love goodness, reject not the needy
The ghetto is not the Lord's dream
But you have turned justice to poison
And given the fruit to the worm
You lie on your beds of white ivory
While the beds of the poor you woruld burn
"I want justice, justice,
Like free flowing waters
And righteousness, righteousness
Like cascading streams
Love goodness, reject not the needy
The ghetto is not the Lord's dream
Let justice floor down like a steam
Well that was a trek down memory lane (like, 1970!).
Still meaningful.
Susan, Wow, what a fabulous poem/piece of music! I haven't been able to find a YouTube recording, but I'll keep trying. Can you access this music? Thanks!
Thank you so much for your Being, your steadfastness and your true words. It eases my heart to listen to you.
Thank you Rami, my favorite iconoclastic provocateur. Dvar Acher - there are a few more rabbinic job-description options besides clerk and prophet. Like, say teacher, counselor, cohen. And iconoclast. Occasionally hiding in a coffin to escape the siege and living to fight another way, to fight with the power of persuasion rather than with threats (or actual) violence). And even the prophet wielded little power to make real change unless he could actually get the ear of the king — and even then, it was usually too late. No doubt we are in desperate need of some true prophets willing to make the sacrifice to speak truth to power and pray that they listen. And at every baby naming we pray this may be the one. And we devote most of our days trying to educate a new generation in the hopes that one or two will be assume that prophetic mantle.
May you be blessed. May all who hear you listen! May the Lord open our eyes and hearts. May we again repent. None of us is without sin, but we can again be taught by prophetic wisdom.
Perennial Wisdom
Very well said!
Courageous and thoughtful. Todah.
Isn’t it interesting how all the truth-tellers about who God is are pretty much saying the same things on so many levels! I love that. And your wisdom and perspective. Inspired!
Fabulous! Yes, stop digging! Kindness, love, community, l and spiritualit. y need no bibles/scriptures and can be included/applied in/to any religious belief!!!
Dear Rabbi Rami,
I greatly appreciate your posts. As an inclusivist, post-Evangelical, post-doctrinal person continuing to choose Jesus as my primary portal to the divine, I welcome those universal truths that come from all faith traditions. You are a wise and loving broadcaster and interpreter of the Jewish faith. And you write with verve! Thank you.
Micah 6:8 is one of my most favorite passages from the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. I repeat it to myself daily, to keep from getting sidetracked by religious cult-de-sacs and by despair and pessimism, given worldly events.
You note the various passages from Scripture advocating war and cruelty even to the innocent. You state that "god" has given such commandments. Such passages bothered me greatly as a young, devout Evangelical Christian...and human being. Eventually, with the aid of theological and biblical training, and with more confidence in my own moral imagination, I came to view these passages as not coming from Yahweh, but from the Semitic culture of the time, which apparently mirrored all other contemporaneous cultures. That was just how humans viewed things. Just tough luck if you were an enemy.
I now interpret Scripture through several key hermeneutical principles, the primary principle being Love. The kind of love that comes from the true God [Tillich's "God above god"]. There are of course numerous examples of such love throughout Scripture. In the Hebrew Scripture [Tanach], the concepts of chesed [dedicated, committed love] and ahava [covenantal love] come to mind.
My question, please, for you: How do you actually interpret those awful, barbaric passages in the Tanach that advocate, even celebrate, cruelty toward innocents?
Thank you, Rabbi, and Shalom,
Ted Ryan, PhD
Apartheid, genocide …very on trend, but complete BS….try facts instead of islamist propaganda…