Parasha Tetzaveh: G-d Behind The Curtain

A man came up to a rabbi, "Rabbi , can I ask you a question? If someone does not believe in G-d, is that person still Jewish? The rabbi said, "Since Jews tend to answer a question with another question, I'll ask you: Have you either converted to Judaism or was your mother Jewish?" "Yes" he replied, "Okay" said the rabbi, "then you are a thousand percent Jewish, no matter what. Now, regarding the issue of belief, the Talmud says that all Jews are believers. Furthermore, the great rabbi known as the Alter Rebbe wrote that our ancestors passed on a "gene of faith" to everyone of their offspring. So even if you say that you don't believe in G-d, you really do." "Rabbi!" the man exclaimed with excitement, "that's unbelievable.!"

Believer or non-believer, can both be Jewish? Let me start by telling you that there is a lot out there about Jewish atheists. There are Jewish atheist websites, there is Humanistic Judaism and Secular Humanistic Judaism. These movements support the premise that a Jew can live as a Jew without belief in a god and they should believe in themselves and other human beings instead. They are Jews ABG - all but G-d and they are all part of our Jewish mishpocha.

The topic comes to mind this Shabbat before Purim, because in Megillat Esther, the story we read on Purim tomorrow evening, there are very Jewish elements. Geula: Salvation - our people are saved from destruction. Chometz Lev: Courage - individuals who demonstrate supreme bravery in the face of danger. Seder: orderly plan by Mordechai to position his cousin Esther as wife of King Achashverosh and Sechel - brilliant insight by Esther to fabricate dinner parties that sweetened the heart of her husband, the king, while at the same time framing Haman as the bad guy.

But what is missing in the actual text of Megillat Esther is G-d. Not a word, not a whisper, nada.

The rabbis say that G-d is behind the scenes, planting the courage within Mordechai, the insight within Esther, the timing of it all, a Divine Plan. Yet other argue that the Book of Esther supports Atheism, suggesting that reason was the method for getting to the truth, that morality came from human need and ultimately the Jewish people had to rely on people, not G-d. The Atheist might argue that Jewish history as seen in the Purim story is a testimony to the absence of G-d and the necessity of human self-esteem to do what needs to be done to preserve dignity.

On a theological basis, one of the differences between Judaism as a religion and Christianity is that "belief' is extremely important in Christianity. One needs to believe to participate in the religion and that is about all one need do in reach salvation. Moral behavior is preferred, of course, but one who makes immoral mistakes but then repents and comes to believe, is forgiven and accepted. Christianity thus modeled itself as a religion for the world, where anyone can join by professing belief.

"Belief" in Judaism, while enriching and certainly essential to Maimonides in his 13 articles of faith, is almost irrelevant. Abraham is not told to believe in G-d, but to walk with G-d. What is important in Judaism is action first, not belief. Doing the right things for the wrong reasons is viewed as sinful or at best ambiguous in Christianity; but in Judaism, doing the right things for the wrong reasons still is a mitzvah, although we recognize that intentionality, kavannah, raises it to a higher level. Think of the Maimonides ladder of giving charity; giving reluctantly is still giving, but we know that giving a person the skill to survive or his or her own is the higher level.

In the book, Athiest Manifesto by Michael ONfray, Onfray suggests that atheism is actually the restoration of mental health and that belief in a supernatural deity is a crutch for the weak. At the same time, there are others who argue the opposite saying, that atheism is a mask worn to cover up the face of spiritual poverty.

One of the problems that has beset interpreters of the Book of Esther down the centuries is that complete absence of G-d. What is such a book that doesn't even mention G-d or have any religions dimension to it whatsoever, doing in the Bible at all? What does the Bible want with such an apparently "unbiblical" book"

This "no-G-d" in the Book of Esther problem troubled Jewish commentators to the extent that those Jews who translated the books of the Hebrew Bible into Greek prior to the Common Era inserted a number of passages into the Book of Esther where G-d makes a direct appearance, communicating with Esther and Mordechai. But in the Hebrew scroll, G-d is absent.

Some commentators seized on the words of Mordechai that "help will have to come from another place" - 'm'makom acher' - as an allusion to one of the names of G-d - MAKOM, but that is a bit of a stretch.

Interestingly enough in our Torah portion, Tezaveh, Dr. Lisa Grant, in an article in the Women's Commentary points out a connection that this is the only Torah portion where the name of Moses doesn't appear. While the plots of the Torah portion dealing with the construction of the Sanctuary and the story of Esther have very different purposes, each in its own way asks us to confront an absence.

Is G-d there behind the curtain in the book of Esther or is there no G-d? This is really the crucial question. In one sense there can be no definitive answer through a lack of material proof, yet the cumulative 'coincidental' evidence leads some to a clear affirmative. The atheist will disagree, but to others, the nature of the coincidences stack up to a tower of compelling points.

1. How come Vashit is deposed just at the point when Esther is of eligible age and status to be considered a wife contestant?
2. How come Esther is chosen from all the women whom the king considers?
3. How come Mordechai is the one who discovers the attempted and is able to inform the king through Esther?
4. How come the king cannot sleep on the very occasion Haman comes to seek Mordechai's death?
5. How come Haman happens to be in the court at the precise moment the king wants to honor Mordechai?
6. How come the edict to annihilate the Jews ends up being reversed?
7. How come the king's old favorite, Haman, ends up hanged on the gallows he had made for Mordechai?

Can we write off the remarkable sequence of events which takes place in the book - as just a bunch of coincidences? How many coincidences have to happen in the Book of Esther but also in our own lives, before we will say: thank you G-d?

The debate about the existence of G-d is as viable today as it always has been. Yes we can officially be Jewish without a belief or relationship with G-d. All Jews - regardless of theology will always share a history, an ethic and striving for goodness.

We are people of action who connect with something greater than ourselves, through the performance of mitzvot, acts of loving kindness, rituals to help us stay on the holy path, and rigorous study and discussion over sacred texts. I am reminded of the words scrawled on the cellar wall where Jews had hidden in World War II in Cologne, Germany.

I believe in the sun

when it isn't shining.

I believe in love

when feeling it not.

I believe in G-d

even when G-d is silent.

Amen