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To Progress We Need
Direction Says Thinker
MICHAEL BERENBAUM
W
ashington — More
than 800 Washing-
tonians sat
mesmerized a few weeks ago
as they listened to Rabbi Min
Steinsaltz speak on the
Jewish idea of progress. Stein-
saltz, the 1988 Israel Prize
winner for his work on the
Talmud, was in Washington
to launch a series of lectures
as the visiting scholar of the
Foundation for Jewish
Studies.
Steinsaltz is widely regard-
ed as one of Israel's premier
interpreters of the Talmud to
a non-Orthodox audience, in
a society where religious
leaders are regarded as op-
ponents of progress. His work
includes the first commen-
tary to the Babylonian
Talmud in 900 years, as well
as modern, punctuated
Hebrew translations of 19
volumes of the Talmud. Ran-
dom House plans to publish
the first three volumes of his
modern English translation
by 1990.
Speaking -at Adas Israel
Congregation, a Conservative
synagogue, the bearded rabbi
quoted liberally from contem-
porary sociology, psychology,
bio-ethics, genetic engineer-
ing, Mao Tse-tung, as well as
classical texts to underscore
his main point: "Judaism," he
said, "welcomes progress!'
Nevertheless, Steinsaltz
said, now that we are pro-
gressing at a rapid rate, "the
need to evaluate that progress
becomes not a luxury, but a
necessity!'
The issue of progress is in-
herent in the incompleteness
of God's creation, he said,
citing Talmudic texts and
Sabbath liturgy. "God invites
humanity to become a part-
ner."
"No Jew would ever argue
that 'if God intended us to fly,
he would have given us
wings! God provided us with
the means of making better
wings. Thus the question: In
what direction do we wish to
fly?"
Unlike Christian Science,
which opposes the interven-
tion of a physician, Judaism
requires human intervention
to perfect the divine creation.
By planting crops or baking
bread, we improve God's
world, Steinsaltz told his
audience.
A product of a secular and
Michael Berenbaum teaches
theology at Georgetown
University.
progressive Israeli home,
Steinsaltz turned toward
traditional Judaism while
still a teenager and soon
became regarded as a boy
genius. Unlike many Israeli
Orthodox rabbis, he has
deliberately remained
apolitical and open to secular,
scientific and humanistic
learning.
Steinsaltz dismissed those
forces in Judaism that are
resistant to progress: "The
notion that new is good has
exactly the same value that
old is good. It comes from the
same narrowness of mind, the
same inability to do any kind
of thinking."
Steinsaltz has earned his
reputation not only as a
Talmudist but as a storyteller.
"He is seemingly both a Lit-
vak and a Chasid" is the way
one listener described his
presentation.
Characteristically, he began
his lecture with a story.
"Suppose I was walking
here as a stranger in this
beautiful town and I en-
countered one of the in-
habitants and asked him,
`What is the shortest way for
me?' Obviously, the first ques-
tion he will ask is: 'Where do
you want to go?' " The choice
of direction, he said, precedes
the question of means and the
assessment of power.
Steinsaltz painstakingly il-
lustrated the contemporary
dilemma of progress. "Man's
capacity is not in question.
We can do so many things to-
day. Our power is taken for
granted. The major challenge
is not what we can do, but
what we should do!'
But, Steinsaltz argued,
"Judaism focuses not only the
notion of paradise lost but the
notion of paradise regained,
on the concept of the
Messiah!"
Judaism, like the secular,
atheistic and Marxist
ideologies that evolved from
it, builds toward the future.
Unlike Nordic or Greek
thought, it refuses to negate
both present and future and
focus solely on a Golden Age
long past.
"When progress was slow
and gradual," Steinsaltz said,
"we could rely upon all kinds
of known wisdom because
people encountered problems
their grandfathers had faced
and they knew more or less
how to respond to them. Now
that we have much wider
horizons, the need for learn-
ing becomes more important.
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
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