Wide-Eyed Faith
by Andreas Wittenstein
אָנֹכִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים: לֹא־יִהְיֶה לְךָ אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים עַל־פָּנָי:
“I, YHWH, am your G‑d who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of slaves:
You shall have no other gods before Me.” [Exodus 20:2..3, Deuteronomy 5:6..7]
לֹא אֶת־אֲבֹתֵינוּ כָּרַת יְהוָה אֶת־הַבְּרִית הַזֹּאת: כִּי אִתָּנוּ אֲנַחְנוּ אֵלֶּה פֹה הַיּוֹם כֻּלָּנוּ חַיִּים:
“It wasn't with our parents that YHWH made this covenant, but with those of us who are here today, all of us who are living.”
[Deuteronomy 5:3]
Many people believe one should have blind faith in G‑d and Torah.
Should one?
Is that what G‑d wants of us? Is that what the Torah demands of us?
Is blind faith even ethical?
In the first commandment, G‑d commands us to forsake other gods.
Why?
Not just on blind faith in G‑d's or Moses's authority, but because G‑d brought us out of the house of bondage.
The second commandment contrasts G‑d with idols, whom we mustn't worship or even create.
The difference?
G‑d isn't a hollow idol.
Through plagues and miracles, G‑d gave the early Hebrews reason for faith in G‑d.
The golden calf they then worshipped instead had done nothing to earn their faith.
Many other biblical figures, such as Jacob [Genesis 28:20..22] gave a list of preconditions before accepting G‑d.
But that was them, there, ages ago; What about us here today?
Moses prefaced the commandments by stressing that G‑d made the covenant with “those of us who are here today.”
This is just as true for us, so every Passover we recall personally being led out of our own metaphorical Egypt.
If your faith in G‑d is unjustified, don't just shut your eyes and pretend;
demand a sign, give G‑d preconditions, and keep your eyes wide open.
Believing in G‑d on another's authority reduces G‑d to an idol!
Before praying, we first praise G‑d “…בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה” “Bàruch ’atàh…” —why?— not just to butter G‑d up,
but to remind ourselves why we believe.
G‑d doesn't want us to have unquestioning faith in any authority —not even G‑d's own.
G‑d wants us to grow up and act ethically by ourselves, without being commanded,
without obeying unless we believe the reason.
By wrestling with an angel of G‑d, Jacob earned the Hebrews the name יִשְׂרָא אֵל Yisrà’ ’Él Israel, —the people who “fight G‑d” [Genesis 32:25..29].
As Israelites, our religious duty is not blind obedience,
but continual wrestling with G‑d to reëvaluate our ethics as we grow wiser.
Jacob's grandfather, whom G‑d “singled out that he may instruct his children and his posterity
to keep the way of the Lord by doing what's just and right” [Genesis 18:19],
on occasion strayed from “what's just and right” by neglecting to fight with G‑d.
Abraham did bargain with G‑d for the Sodomites [Genesis 18:22..32].
Yet he failed a critical test of faith by refusing to question G‑d's baseless demand to murder his own child,
as we see in the Torah reading for Rosh Hashanah [Genesis 22:1..18].
Blind faith so crippled Abraham that he didn't even consult Sarah,
of whom G‑d had said in an earlier parental spat about Isaac: “Whatever Sarah tells you, do as she says” [Genesis 21:12].
Though G‑d opened Abraham's eyes in time to spare Isaac,
and though patriarchal tradition stresses G‑d's blessing Abraham for loyalty,
Abraham paid dearly for his blind faith, losing the wide-eyed faith of his beloved wife Sarah,
who then left him, as several feminist scholars have pointed out [Genesis 22:19,23:2].
If blind faith in G‑d can lead to unethical behavior, how much more dangerous are blind obedience to humans,
blind allegiance to institutions, and blind adherence to abstract ideas!
By reminding us that G‑d rescued us from slavery before demanding that we renounce other gods,
G‑d set the standard for judging others (including ourselves) by their behavior,
not by their faith or their position of authority.
If a would-be savior's actions return us to the house of bondage, it's time to rebel.
If a job promising economic freedom enslaves you instead,
if a militant government protecting its citizens exposes them to greater terror instead,
if a philosophical ideal supposed to yield prosperity and justice increases disparity and corruption instead,
it's time to wrestle with authority, depose idols, and reconsider “what's just and right”.
To be ethical, faith must be wide-eyed and justified.
—from our September 2002 Newsletter
Copyright © 2002 Andreas Wittenstein
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