Judaism

Judaism has brought us some of the central ideas that have informed the continually evolving sense of our humanity, of life and of God.

The prophets of Judaism asserted that there is only one God for all peoples and nations. The earth belongs to God; the heavens are his garment. All beings are his creatures, his children.

God is not remote, but present with us, living among us. God enters our world of space and time to speak and act. God speaks to any human heart and mind that will listen; God steps into history and acts on behalf of those who love him and seek to live in harmony with the eternal truth from which God has formed the universe.

The relationship with God is one of love: the love of a mother and child, of a husband and wife, of dear friends. It is a love capable of consuming the whole heart, the whole mind, all of one’s strength and all one’s soul. It is a love that manifests as actions in the world, that seeks at each turn to act in the world as God desires of us.

What God requires of humans is ethical behavior, mercy and justice toward others, and kindness and responsibility toward the earth and its creatures.

God seeks out those who will love and serve him, binds them to himself and binds himself to them. He asks us to be his hands in the world, his heart, his compassion and righteousness, his goodness and courage.

God is continually seeking those he can count on, the ones he can trust to stay with him through all the changing uncertainties of life, the ones who trust and obey.

It is a primary responsibility of our humanity to respond to God’s love by living according to the laws of righteousness, compassion, forgiveness, generosity. We are asked to remain faithful to God even through the darkness of the shadow of death, destruction, abandonment, and exile, because God remains with us. It is the uniquely human calling to continually search, in each different time, place, and circumstance, the ways to remain faithful to the trust God has placed in us; faithful in the face of whatever suffering that comes.

We have the incomparable capability to find the presence of God, even when God is apparently absent, to listen for his silent voice within, even when God is apparently silent. It is in pursuing such a life that we become truly human.