Ethical Monotheism

Tonight about a third of the world’s population is getting ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, a descendant of King David, considered by Christians to be the Messiah, as prophesied by Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible book by the same name. So even if we ignore the stuff about JC being the Messiah, according to the sources closest to him (the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) he seems like a pretty awesome guy. He had a radical vision for humanity, rooted in the radical vision for humanity brought to the Hebrew nation by the prophets Abraham, Joshua, Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and others. Basically, he told his followers to love others and love G-d above all else. Fast forward 2000 years, and we’ve got the Virgin Mary (Jesus’ mom) appearing on toast as a sign of G-d’s abundant love, and also Sister Helen Prejean (of Dead Man Walking fame) counseling death row inmates, motivated (I assume) by Jesus’ command to love G-d and love others.The rapper Daddy-O collaborated with the Jewish rapper ESHY on the track “Blacks and Jews” (which sampled The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech), singing “Hebrews they heard what Moses say/ My folks they b’lieve what Jesus say”, with the express purpose of linking black liberation theology with basic ethical tenets found in the Torah. So today many folks celebrate the birthday of Jesus, who told his followers to “Sell your possessions and give to the poor” (Luke 12:33), by buying a lot more possessions, some of which they give to the poor (take Toys for Tots for example).

Lots of Christian kids can’t fall of sleep for thinking about all the awesome stuff they’re getting tomorrow morning. I might have trouble falling asleep tonight because I just finished Joe Sacco’s powerful graphic novel Palestine. The novel takes a sympathetic look at the plight of Palestinians and Arab Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and was first published in ’93. Though it’s a shame to admit it, the political situation of the P-I conflict has…probablygottenalotworsesincethen. Dang. Without divulging too much about the book (definitely worth a look over winter break), let’s just say there are a lot of panels showing Jewish religious settlers being really mean to innocent Palestinian refugees. I’m studying in Jerusalem next semester, and all I can think of is ‘is this what it’s going to be like over there?’. Then the voice of reason reminds me that I’m going to be spending my time in Jerusalem, quite possibly in a ‘little America’, with wireless internet, copious amounts of Bisli and falafel, and English-translation siddurim to keep me company, surrounded by other peacenik American Jews raised on ‘One Saturday Morning’ and Alex Rodriguez, just like myself. Venturing outside of this bubble might take the form of trips to Tzfat and Elat, but we probably won’t get within spitting distance of no gosh-darn disputed territories.

The basis for all of this conflict and civilization is ethical monotheism. Ethical monotheism as in “there is a G-d, he wants you to be good” (credit to Dennis Prager for that one). It’s the basis of the Abrahamic religions (Islam, Christianity, Judaism). Christianity might be boiled down to the ‘Golden Rule’, i.e. “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, but that’s a restatement of Hillel’s famous reply when asked to explain the Torah standing on one foot: “that which you hate, don’t do to others”, itself a restatement of the Torah’s commandment to, “shall love your neighbor as yourself, I am G-d” (Leviticus 19:18). But if we choose to put a “because” in between the clauses of that last sentence (has hermeneutics taught us nothing?), then where does that leave us secular Jews? Humanistic Jews? Would the impulse to “love your neighbor” have to come from somewheres else, like the self?

The point of all of this is to say that the concept and frequent failure of people to live up to the ideal of ethical monotheism are major players in the development of Western civilization as we know it. Though credited to the almost certainly fictional Hebrew Bible character Abraham, ‘ethical monotheism’ probably was first developed and codified by elite members of the Yawhist cult, i.e. the guys who wrote the Hebrew Bible. This basic concept of “be good, because G-d says so” is found throughout the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Qu’ran. Now you don’t have to believe me, but this here’s the internet.