The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays
The Rabbis were a more secular leadership than priests or prophets. Priests were born to holiness and were bound to ritually circumscribed lives. The Rabbis won their status through learning; unlike the priests, they were not bound to sacramental requirements different from the average Jew.
Irving Greenberg • The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays
After the churban (destruction), the Rabbis taught that there would be no further prophecy. God had self-limited again. But through Talmud Torah (study of Torah), God’s will could be discerned.
Irving Greenberg • The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays
In faithfulness to that commitment, the people of Israel pledge to teach the way of justice and righteousness as best it can; to remain distinctive and unassimilated in the world and thus hold up the message for all people to see; to create a model community showing how the world can go about realizing the dream; and to work alongside others to mov
... See moreIrving Greenberg • The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays
In Judaism, theology, dogma, and values are encapsulated in gestures; ultimate truths are expressed in what appear to be external and everyday acts.
Irving Greenberg • The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays
when all was said and done, the Rabbis’ work represented a profound discovery: The covenant was being renewed. The original covenant remained, but humans became more active and responsible. The Destruction was a call from God for a fundamental shift in the paradigm of the human role in the covenant. The Rabbis’ faithfulness showed itself in followi
... See moreIrving Greenberg • The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays
Human beings instinctively strive to build solid walls of security. People shut out life; they heap up treasures and power and status symbols in the hope of excluding death and disaster and even the unexpected. This search for “solid” security all too often leads to idolatry, to the worship of things that give security. People end up sacrificing va
... See moreIrving Greenberg • The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays
The liberated person is the one who learns to accept the daily challenges of existence as the expression of self-fulfillment and responsibility. Sukkot
Irving Greenberg • The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays
Purim “reruns” the Exodus story. This time its result is not a happy ending in the Promised Land but peace and prosperity in the Diaspora.
Irving Greenberg • The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays
the holy days of Purim, Hanukkah, and Tisha B’Av.