Is Faith Even Jewish?
Tech Tribe Dispatch #263
💡 Think:
Twitter was in a tizzy yesterday. When Pennsylvania Governor Joshua Shapiro said “I am proud of my faith,” some opined on Twitter that such a declaration made them “feel icky,” and struck them as “goyish.” As one put it, “‘Faith’ is really not something you hear Jews… ever talk about.”
On one hand, faith is part of a Judaism. A big one.
As Maimonides puts it, “The foundation of all foundations and the pillar of wisdom is to know that there is a Primary Being who brought into being all existence.”1
We, the Jewish people, are described as believers, the children of believers.2
On the other hand, the phrase itself “I’m proud of my faith” isn’t the way most Jews would share their identity. Ask a Jew on the street, and odds are they’ll say “I’m proud to be Jewish” well before they describe their pride in their faith.
Therein lies a delicious dialectic:
How could something so fundamental to Judaism seems so foreign to us?
Our faith, as Jews, is an embodied one. We don’t so much as (just) believe it. We live it and it is core to our very identities.
So deeply rooted is this faith, that, at times we can almost lose site of it.
The experience of the Jewish exile, which we mourn in the days leading up to Tisha B’Av, is one not just of physical diaspora, but a spiritual dysphoria as well. It’s the extended sense of disassociation from our inner selves - so that the faith which is so deeply rooted in us, so much so that we can’t help but let it totally subsume who we are, is also one that seems foreign to us.
This Shabbat is called Shabbat Chazon, the Shabbat of the Vision. Simply, the name was chosen because of words of the Haftarah —the Vision of Isaiah— read this week in synagogue. Famously, however, Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev compared the vision of this Shabbat, on the eve of Tisha B’Av, the saddest day of the year, to a pre-game for the world to come.
On this Shabbat we are shown a vision of the Third Holy Temple, a sneak peak at the coming attractions.
Now, I can not speak for any of you, dear readers, but I for one have never seen a vision of the holy Temple in my dreams. Not on the Shabbat before Tisha B’Av and not any other particular weeks.
This revelation is not one (necessarily) of an actual G-dly Temple in a dream. Rather it’s a spiritual revelation, one that speaks to the pure essence of our souls. The soul sees it on a level that we can not comprehend — and yet it flows down to us, into out lived, embodied experience as Jews.
That vision is the sudden, unexplained yearning to connect to our Jewish souls, the deep desire to find the inner voice and let it cry out. This Shabbat is the Shabbat of integration, where we can recenter and reconnect our spiritual core with our outside selves.
So when you close your eyes tonight, listen to that voice, let it speak to you. Understand that to be Jewish is to live your faith, and to live your faith is to be Jewish. Shabbat Shalom.
🏃 DO:
🍻 Join us next week for our August Third Thursday Tech Schmooze, on Thursday, Aug 15th. We’ll sharing a conversation with Morielle I. Lotan, CEO and Co-Founder of The ADIR Challenge,
🍷 Join us for our next #FirstFriday Shabbat meal, on Friday, September 6th.
✨ SHOFAR + TASHLICH
Rosh Hashanah is coming! Celebrate Rosh Hashanah in Style! Let's bring in the blessings of a new year together on Tuesday, September 17.
🎬 Watch:
When is it necessary to speak up? Originally given for Jewglers at Google NYC on 8/4/22
🎉 Mazel:
Mazel Tov to Tech Tribe members James Beck and Julia Elhai on their engagement!
🌱 #ChaiSociety
Special thanks to the #ChaiSociety members who donate monthly to support our community!
Adam Kotok, Avrohom Margolis, Bill Dilworth, Cal Nathan, Chanoch Rosenberg, Fitz Tepper, Hershey Gutnik, Jacob Ner-David, Lev Podelko, Levi Plotkin, Mattanya Ginsburg, Melissa Davis, Mendel Konikov, Nikita Sokolsky, Scott Shapiro, Tzali Reicher
Tech Tribe is entirely community-funded - Invest in Tech Tribe (starting at $36 a month), and join the monthly #ChaiSociety!
📚 Read:
👰🏻 Help! What is the shelf life for posting wedding photos?
🏫 Why We’re Banning Phones at Our School
🗣️ Elijah Began to Speak The Zohar on the Ten Sefirot elucidated
🔥 Lit:
This week, light Shabbat candles in NYC at 7:43 PM
For Shabbat candle-lighting time in your area click here.
Like what you saw? Want more? Please feel free to forward this email far and wide!
Support Tech Tribe’s mission to build community and curate epic experiences for young Jews in tech and digital media!
Follow us on Social: Twitter | Facebook| Instagram
Find out if your company does employee matching! We’re now listed on Benevity YourCause and Bright Funds!
Tech Tribe is an affiliate of Chabad Young Professionals Tax ID 82-2619676
Yesodei Hatorah 1:1 Some Medieval Jewish philosophers not count faith as one of the mitzvot. And some commentaries note that Maimonides uses the phrase “know” not believe. Nevertheless, faith in a Creator is a necessary prerequisite to know Him… and essential part of any mitzvah we do.