Alef: The NEXT Conversation
Good enough for the Jews?
by Isaac Shalev
Last week’s episode of Family Guy featured Lois, the mom, discovering that she was Jewish. Amid the hilarity, Lois mused at one point: “I don’t care about being Jewish – or about being Christian either! I just want to be a good person on my own.”
As a professional Jewish educator who sometimes even wears a beard, I’ve heard that from a lot of people, usually in the form of a question. “Isn’t it enough for me to just be a good person?” In truth, it’s not a bad question, and I think we’d all agree that if we all could just be good people, we’d live in a pretty sweet world. It’s just that the question usually gets asked right after I tell someone about some Jewish ritual or observance, particularly one that seems arduous or odd, like, for example, waving a lulav and etrog, or sitting in a sukkah.
Jewish wisdom teaches us that we humans are no good at dealing with big abstractions. We don’t grasp large numbers, we can’t relate to statistics, and we don’t bridge great distances. Even as we know in our minds that every single human life is sacred, we struggle to rally for Darfur or the dozens of other places where human life is cheap, and bread is dear. The homeless in our own cities escape our gaze, even as they lie plainly in our view.
Judaism suggests that we look into our own history to appreciate the struggles of others and open our hearts to them. We were slaves in Egypt. We were strangers, exiles in a land not our own. We were wanderers in a desert, where none would give us water. God’s grace brought us to our homeland and sustained us, and created a responsibility in us to do the same for those in need. Judaism then asks us not just to look, but also to feel, and to learn by experience through acting and symbols. On Passover, we eat matzah, the bread of the poor man. On Sukkot, like the homeless, landless man, we build a crude hut and gather together the barely edible leavings of the harvest, symbolized by the sour etrog and the date-palm frond we call a lulav. The Torah reminds us that our celebration must include everyone: our family and friends, and also the stranger and the impoverished.
Is it enough to be a good person? I think so. How can we get there? By reflecting back on our Jewish history, and by placing ourselves into the shoes of those without. The path from knowledge to compassion and, finally, to action is a Jewish journey, and it’s one that I hope we will all take this holiday season.
Chag Sameach.
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Between Sukkot and Thanksgiving be on the look out for other stories on food issues and giving back in our own communities. Learn more about Harvest to Harvest here.
3 Responses to “Good enough for the Jews?”
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I agree with you – we need some kind of guidance, so the (seemingly) silly practices and the lessons from our history are there as an instruction manual… it’s up to us to take those lessons and translate them into action.
There is no doubt that “being a good person” in the abstract is definitely good – but how can we know what a “good person” is when we are really put to the test? What standard are we using?
Judaism teaches us that “being a good person” is not an abstract, passive state of being; rather each action and each moment, no matter how private or public, is a direct conversation with our Creator. When we have faith in G-d and truly think about our actions in the framework of the Torah, we are no longer afraid to part with what is “ours” to help others because we realize that we are being sustained by a kindness that we cannot repay!
I come to you as a fellow believer in a Creator-God; however, I am not a Jew. I am a Christian. A such, we have a lot in common. I would like to draw your attention now to one such commonality.
Psalm 14:1 tells us that atheism would indeed be foolish: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God,’” but it goes on to warn, “They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good.”
That last part is repeated in verse three of that same book and chapter: “There is none who does good, no, not one.”
I think it is very important to realize that while we are capable of doing good things, such deeds do not make us good people.
In other words, compared to God we are not good at all. Elsewhere He tells us that “we are ALL like an unclean thing, and ALL our righteousnesses are like filthy rags!” (Isaiah 64:6 in part, emphasis added)
Clearly, we are not good enough to earn our way to heaven. And that is where I must diverge from our common ground. That is why I see my need of a Savior – for my sins. That is why Jesus Christ had to die on my behalf.
I hope that you will sooner rather that later understand that the idea spouted off by Lois Griffin is nothing more than a deceptive false doctrine.
People will inevitably succumb to that lie, as Satan is very good at what he does. He’s been doing it for a long time. But you don’t have to count yourself among those people.
Don’t trust in your own good works for the salvation of your soul. You will find out on Judgment Day that they have failed you. You need to be redeemed, or else they be as valueless as filthy rags.
Besides, no one is righteous, no not one. God bless you, and thank you for reading.