Community Views

Editor's Notebook

Separation Is The Key
ToPersonal Freedom

When 'I Don't Know'
Is The Only Answer

RABBI SHERWIN T. WINE SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSOCIATE EDITOR

The
Religious
Right is strong and
rising again. The
Christian Coali-
tion has replaced
the Moral Majori-
ty. Pat Robertson
has taken center
stage from Jerry
Falwell, but the
message remains the same: The
separation of religion and gov-
ernment is bad.
The idea of separation of reli-
gion and government is a com-
paratively new idea. It is not a
traditional one. Most religions
and cultures, including Judaism,
could not imagine the success of
any government without divine
help. Public worship received gov-
ernment support and participa-
tion. Public welfare was
conducted by religious institu-
tions. The clergy were appointed
to government positions. In the
Torah, the highest
government official
was the high priest.
Separation was an
idea that arose in
Western Europe 300
years ago. It grew out
of the Renaissance,
the Enlightenment,
and the personal free-
dom which the afflu-
ence of the new
capitalism brought.
Capitalism also stim-
ulated the growth of
cities and the mixing
of populations of dif-
ferent cultures and re-
ligions. Separation
was enforced by the
development of
Protestantism which
broke up into many
competing sects, es-
pecially in England
and Holland. None of
these sects could
claim a strong major-
ity.
Jews in Western
Europe benefited from the sep-
aration of church and state. Since
they were an oppressed religious
minority, the merger of religion
and government worked against
their vested interests. They had
discovered, much to their cha-
grin, that the establishment of
religion works both ways. When
you are the majority and part of
the establishment, the merger
benefits you. But when you are
part of the dissenting minority,
the merger intrudes on your be-
liefs and dignity. One of the first
defenders of separation was a
Jewish philosopher named Spin-
oza.
Most Jews in the West, in-
cluding the United States, came

Sherwin Wine is rabbi of the
Birmingham Temple.

to support the idea of separation,
sometimes passionately. They felt
that their safety and the safety
of all religious minorities de-
pended on a legal separation.
This strong feeling was reinforced
by the active Jewish participa-
tion in the new free-enterprise
system and in the free public-
school system which it fostered.
The First Amendment to the
Constitution may not have been
consistent with traditional Jew-
ish law, but it was consistent with
Jewish self-interest and with the
growing appreciation of person-
al freedom which Jewish pros-
perity provided.
In time, the Jewish leaders in
the Western world became ar-
dent champions of separation. In
America, they joined together
with both liberal and conserva-
tive Protestants to resist state
support for parochial school edu-
cation. And when the Supreme

religions acknowledged that the
ethical conclusions of revelation
could also be arrived at through
the use of reason and common
sense. In the end, the public
schools became the central focus
of separationist effort because of
the dangers of indoctrination.
But in recent years, the Jew-
ish community has become less
passionate and more divided on
this issue. There is anxiety about
the perceived decline of family
values and the inability of public
schools to prevent that decline.
More and more Jewish parents
are opting out of public education
for their children and are choos-
ing private schools, whether for
secular or religious reasons.
The Christian Right support-
ed the Likud government in Is-
rael and offered consistent
support for granting military and
economic assistance to the Jew-
ish state. The growing pressure
of Orthodox Jews re-
vived the traditional ac-
ceptance of the
desirability of the merg-
er of religion and gov-
ernment, especially as it
applied to the State of Is-
rael and to American
government support of
Jewish parochial schools.
This division in the
Jewish community is _
real and unfortunate. It -
can lead to harmful con-
sequences to the Jewish
community, as well as to
the American democra-
tic system. The public
schools are the major in-
struments of social uni-
ty and solidarity in our
nation. They bring to-
gether students from di-
verse cultures and
diverse religions. With
all their problems, they
remain the only signifi-
cant shared experience
for most people in a mul-
ti-ethnic America.
Court forbade public prayer and
Their survival depends on
Bible reading in the public their ability to accommodate mil-
schools, they applauded this de- lions of students who are not con-
velopment.
servative Protestant Christians
As the practical implications like Newt Gingrich.
of the separation doctrine un-
Money for Israel is no substi-
folded, Jewish leadership in tute for the defense of democra-
America accepted the following cy through social unity and
guidelines. State schools must through the promotion of a free,
avoid religious indoctrination and scientific and civically moral ed-
religious celebration. There must ucation in our public schools.
be no public prayer, no scriptur-
When Newt Gingrich calls for
al lessons, no theological teach- prayers in our public school, he
ing, no display of religious is also asking for Bible readings
symbols. There must be no state and for the teaching of creation-
financial support for denomina- ism. He has forgotten that the
tional elementary and secondary reason organized religion is so
education.
strong and powerful in America
The values of good citizenship is that it is the child of personal
should be taught in a rational freedom, personal choice, and the
and secular way, appealing to the strict separation of church and
consequences of behavior and to state. 0
personal conscience. Most great

Just about every-
body has a soft
spot for a certain
topic.
I recycle every-
thing from paper
to cans to glass,
but the environ-
ment is not the
issue that most

troubles me.
I hope for world peace, too, but
I confess my first response is to
roll my eyes every time I hear
some granola-eating, guitar-tot-
ing, bell bottom-wearing, Grate-
ful Dead-loving '60s leftover tell
me to "give peace a chance."
"Get a job," I always want to
respond, regardless of whether
he is actually working or not.
World peace and the environ-
ment are important, but I'd be
content and without complaint if
I lived in a constant state of war
and had to put on a gas mask
every time I walked out the door
— if only I could be certain there
would be an end to children suf-
fering.
I have to be careful when I
watch the news. Sometimes, I
hear about children being beat-
en and killed and I can't sleep. I
wake up in the middle of the
night and I'm dizzy and sick.
I think I have always been like
this, though more so, of course,
since I had my own children. Pve
been looking for answers for all
these years, too.
The problem is that there are
so many theories, based on ab-
solutely nothing but speculation,
out there.
One rabbi postulates that per-
haps God doesn't really know
what is going on in the lives of
each and every one of his crea-
tures. Other so-called scholars
suggest that God is punishing
Jews and gentiles alike for not
following His commandments.
Still others say the fact that God
does nothing in the face of human
suffering proves He does not ex-
ist.
I don't buy a one of those.
I believe that God has the pow-
er to act in each of our lives and
that he does so regularly. This,
in fact, is a basic tenet of Ju-
d8ism. Say, if you want, that God
is too busy elsewhere to know
what is going on in my life — but
don't call it Judaism.
I do not believe, however, that
God has been sending memos,
with detailed plans of whom He
punished and why, to any rabbis.
So unless those rabbis can prove
otherwise, I wish they would
keep their mouths shut.
And finally, I resent those eter-
nal skeptics who insist God does
not exist simply because there
are people who suffer. Nowhere
does God promise that life will be
free of pain, or that He will step

in every time we are hurting.
Why, then, do we imagine that
He will?
The only answer I have found
that makes any sense to my most
troubling question is: "I don't
know."
This doesn't mean I've decid-
ed to take this lying down. I will
continue, for the rest of my life,
to wonder painfully at why chil-
dren are hurt and die. I have ex-
cellent examples to follow: both
Abraham and Job asked God
about unjust suffering.
But I refuse to accept some an-
swer, any answer, simply be-
cause I want so desperately to
have one.
When I was in 9th grade, I
was forced to take a class in al-
gebra. I hated math, absolutely
hated it, and certainly algebra
was the worst math of all.
My teacher was a big, burly
man who wore white shoes and
had an upturned nose and a
crewcut. He was the only person
I ever knew, had spoken to, had
been in the same room with, who
actually supported George Wal-
lace for president.
This teacher, I'll call him Mr.
C., used to give us what I believed
were unworkable algebra prob-
lems. There were so many Xs and
Ys and numbers squared and di-
vided and multiplied. We were
supposed to look at all this and
make sense of it.
My father spent hours trying
to help me understand algebra.
Friends offered to tutor me. I
read the math books, worked the
problems, listened carefully in
class.
My report card reflected my
progress: D.
Mr. C. was not a pleasant per-
son, but his class taught me a
valuable lesson: no matter how
hard we try, there are things in
life we will never be able to un-
derstand. It isn't that the answer
isn't out there. The problem is
that our capability is limited.
When I think of children suf-
fering, I imagine a large black-
board with a problem with
millions, literally millions, of Xs
and Ys and math symbols. Cau-
tiously, I approach, chalk in
hand.
`The value OfX is 3," somebody
says. "Now you know the an-
swer."
"Y is equal to 10," another ad-
vises. "The puzzle is solved."
But these are, of course, just
tiny bits of a vast complex of con-
fusion. And I realize quickly that
this terrible problem is not for me
to understand. Setting the chalk
down, I walk from the board.
It is a difficult thing to say,
do not know," to the questions
that plague us most. But it is bet-
ter, and more honest, than mak-
ing peace with a lie. 0

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