Theology, Based on a Comment I Wrote to gimmelgirl

I think my notion of chosenness has been indelibly shaped by my mother's bat mitzvah sermon (give when I was in 3rd or 4th grade). Her class's parsha was Shlach-lecha, and she talked about how G-d seems to behave like a parent with a first child: testing things out, and clueless about how Israel will react to G-d's parenting techniques. And in many ways, I see chosenness as being G-d's oldest children (it is probably not irrelevant that I am, as you know, also an oldest)- we generally get there first, so G-d is still trying things out for the first time, in some sense (which yes, doesn't mesh well with the way that I think about G-d's relationship to the dimension of time...), and therefore we get both the miraculous successes that shouldn't be expected to work- and also the rough spots. Doesn't make us more (or less) loved- just possibly a little more the result of experimentation rather than practice.

Thinking a bit more about the afore-referenced idea about G-d and time: I have lately been of the opinion that it seems a little bit naive of me to have thought about G-d as bound by linear time in the precise way that we, humans, are. Just because we are bound to interact with time in a set-rate, one-directional manner, that doesn't mean that G-d is limited in the same way. This presumably also has ramifications for the freewill versus predestination debate, since presumably G-d would be able to know what will happen to us in the future without necessarily be binding us to that fate- because that's not the way that G-d perceives time. The closest metaphor I get is a spacial one- that looking at all of time would be similar to looking at a map, or the world from a plane that could land anywhere, i.e. any-when.

In one sense, this works very well for notions that G-d had a more hands-on approach in the biblical era, and has had less and less of one lately. That would just mean that G-d [is] more actively "looking" or "being" in the biblical time period than the modern era. On the other hand, it doesn't deal with, or in fact causes active problems for the idea that I started off with, that G-d chose/choses Israel in the same way that a parent deals with their first child. If G-d isn't time-bound (to recklessly borrow a piece of halakhic terminology for a radically different purpose), then the whole notions of "first" or "lack of practice" just aren't relevant or applicable. I guess they then bring up all the classic time-travel paradoxes and conundrums.

So perhaps it makes more trouble and confusion, rather than less. However it just seems like a concept of G-d that strikes me as more likely realistic than some of my previous conceptions. I also have no idea whether or not this has been dealt with significantly anywhere else. I think I sense a question to a professor coming up in the near future...

Yontif, Part 4 and (for now) final

Yontif part 4, aka Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, was much, much nicer than anticipated. (Now I can anticipate a case of Oh-My-Goodness-Shabbos-Again instead.) I'd been getting rather fed up with JTS for long davenings (although Hoshanah Rabbah was quite nice, and the following baby naming was lovely and heartfelt, and conducted by the parents themselves, and involved a seriously adorable baby), so I was at JTS only for a few of the shorter services. Otherwise, I was at another relatively local Conservative shul, which was quite nice- I should get there more often and get to know the place a little better, a few times to very nice personal effect, and this morning at the minyan affectionately (I think) referred to by jakal88 as the congregation of the rabbi's closet. The last was both delightfully homey and comfortable (no one gave me funny looks for coming up with various short patterns of dance steps and using them, because I was bored with walking and mayim steps, and people talk to me at kiddush etc) and frustrating (serious, serious lack of a minyan for a long time. I arrived almost 30 minutes late, and they hadn't started yet.).

Meals were also much nicer than expected. I had some classmates over for dinner the first night, and fed them mostly leftovers, because I was lazy- but we still had a really good time (or at least I did, and they seemed to). Then I had lunch at the home of some folks who've invited me a few times, but always when I had other plans. It was an odd crowd, but quite pleasant over all- and I met some nice folks who also bop between Conservative and Orthodox shuls, and are even *gasp* over 40 and still find that acceptable behavior. On the other hand, someone there mistook me, briefly, for being married to another guy at the meal- one whom I tend to perceive as coming across like he's in high school still. Luckily, I mentioned jakal88 enough that her perception was broken pretty quickly- i.e. I only heard about it after the fact, rather than as a question or continued presumption. Simchat Torah meals were with variations on the usual crowd, and I at least enjoyed their company, and the food, etc, etc.

Now than yontif is over, I can start thinking about scheduling that mad-lib and word-game party- but it won't be for a while, while I recover from all the meals, get caught up on homework, etc. (Also, there's still Shabbos in a couple of days...)