הַכֹּל צָפוּי, וְהָרְשׁוּת נְתוּנָה, וּבְטוֹב הָעוֹלָם נִדּוֹן. וְהַכֹּל לְפִי רֹב הַמַּעֲשֶׂה:
Everything that will happen has already been revealed AND we have been given free will.
Pirkei Avot 3:15
One of the expectations of religion is that it will provide answers. I do not think it does. Rather, I would say that Judaism helps us pose and explore the best questions. In fact, one could argue that the Jewish stereotype of answering a question with a question goes back to when Job laments to God, and God replies, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” (Job 38:4) In addition to asking questions, one of the strengths of our Jewish tradition is that it lifts up the dichotomies of existence, and brings them into the light for us to examine.
Dr. Michael Zeldin, of the Rhea Hirsch School of Education at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and my teacher, brings up the concept of “Enduring Dilemmas” (see this article with Dr. Lesley Litman, in regards to Jewish institutions, re-opening, and COVID). “Enduring Dilemmas are managed; unlike problems, they cannot be solved. This means that when an issue arises again, it does not happen because you have not adequately addressed it the first time or because the leader has failed in any way. Rather, it is baked into the nature of the issue because it is an Enduring Dilemma.” Enduring Dilemmas are endemic to the situation. They are naturally in opposition. The Sages of the Mishnah understood this when they indicated (as quoted above) that we both have free will and can determine our own actions, and yet, everything that will happen was known from the beginning of creation. (I argued this one in my Confirmation class for hours.) How can both things be true? Not only does Judaism not try to reconcile these Enduring Dilemmas, it embraces them. In the interplay and opposition of two (or more) equally true statements, we see more deeply the complexity of being human.
At a recent planning session for our new Temple Sholom Sichot Conversations (monthly open conversations about issues in our world - watch for more publicity), we confronted two truths: First, wee have all been deeply affected by the COVID pandemic and its accompanying quarantine, and we need help to process what we have been through and to carry on. Second, and equally true, we are sick and tired of talking about COVID.
We as a congregation are trying to manage this Enduring Dilemma - we desperately want to be together again, in person, laughing, celebrating, and supporting each other. We also care deeply for the health of the members of our community and do not want to put anyone at risk. When opinions fly on what we need to do, those on one side often characterize the other as caring for only one of these values, not for both. What we try to do, in making our congregational decisions is not (as Zeldin and Littman warn) balance between these two - failing one in lifting up the other, but in finding a new way that acknowledges both of these difficulties and finds a new solution. Hybrid services are only one example. More activities outside are a way to do both. We have to re-imagine what we have done, in order to do better in the future.
Even if the (secular) New Year leads to more freedom, as we hope, we still have a new world to build together. Let us embrace all these dichotomies of our community and find a way to give and to get, to be together and to build up. As always, life will be different, but some of the basic dilemmas will endure - we are strengthened not by how we fight against them, but how we find ways to understand.
