Free will, Martin Buber, Zen Mockingbirds, and Rabbis for Human Rights on Israel/Palestine
Greeting SW readers,
This has been a horrific week as we watch the struggle over Sheikh Jarrah, a neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem, spiral into civil war between the Jews and Arabs of Israel and open conflict between Hamas and the Israeli state. I’ve included a statement from Truah, the North American arm of Rabbis for Human Rights, below.
I encourage everyone wanting to understand the conflict to be sure to read the voices of Israelis fighting for human rights within Israel as well as, more importantly, Palestinian voices. I urge that especially if you are not in the habit of reading Palestinian writers and journalists.
That said, I have some interesting articles for those needing a break from our engagement with that tragic struggle, which we all do.
Spinoza In Plain English pt 8: On Determination
With Proposition 27, Spinoza begins his famous (or infamous) assertion of determinism: that there are no such things as objective contingency or free will. Even God does not have free will except, as we shall see, by one narrow definition of it.
Two interesting essays: Is Authenticity a myth? and some that Artifical Intelligence is neither intelligent nor artificial.
Some beauty:
A scientific study on the intricate structure of Mockingbird songs which ends with a quote from Zen master Norman Fischer
Martin Buber
I am preparing a four week class on Martin Buber and his classic “I and You” which I’ll be teaching through Or Shalom’s Zusia Bet Midrash. There have been a number of classic meditation manuals written by Jewish mystics from Abraham Abulafia to the Shomer Emunim or the Rebbes of Chabad. I consider Buber’s text to be the classic 20th century Jewish meditation manual, whose power is under-appreciated. We’ll be taking a deep dive into this transformative text, which aims to transform our relationship to reality itself. You can register here.
In the meantime here is an older essay I wrote on a different short classic of Buber’s:
What Is The Human Way? A Report From Martin Buber (Medium, 2018)
Rabbis Respond to Escalating Violence in Israel and Gaza
RELEASE DATE: May 11, 2021
T’ruah: “There can be no justification for aiming missiles at civilians, which is a war crime.”
NEW YORK — In response to escalating violence in Israel, including rockets from Gaza that have killed two Israelis and injured others, retaliatory attacks that have killed more than two dozen Palestinians in Gaza including children, and protests in Jerusalem and in mixed Jewish/Palestinian cities throughout Israel, T’ruah, a rabbinic human rights group representing over 2,000 rabbis and cantors and their communities in North America released a statement calling for an end to violence.
Rabbi Jill Jacobs, executive director of T’ruah, released the following statement:
“There is no justification for attacks on civilians. Our prayers are with everyone in Jerusalem, Sderot, Ashkelon, and elsewhere in Israel facing the threat of Hamas rocket fire, as well as with Palestinians in Gaza who are under fire from retaliatory strikes by the IDF. This violence, which has killed 28 people in Gaza, including 10 children, as well as at least two Israelis, does not keep anyone safe. There can be no justification for aiming missiles at civilians, which is a war crime. We call on the Israeli government and on Hamas to move quickly toward a ceasefire, before any more lives are lost.
“We need a political, not military solution. This return to violence does not serve the interests of Israelis or Palestinians. In the long term, only a peace agreement including an end to the occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian state to exist in mutual respect side-by-side with Israel will end this decades-long cycle of violence, which causes such unbearable suffering for residents of Gaza and for Israelis living within range of Hamas rockets.
“Above all, we must prioritize the infinite value of each unique human life. The Sages taught that while a person stamps several coins with one seal, and they are all similar to each other, the Holy Blessed One stamps all people with the same seal of Adam the first man, and not one of them is similar to another (Sanhedrin 38a).
“T’ruah rabbis and cantors will continue to be moral voices committed to defending human rights for both Israelis and Palestinians. We stand with our Israeli partners, including human rights and civil society organizations, as we pray for and work toward an end to violence and occupation.”
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights mobilizes a network of more than 2,000 rabbis and cantors from all streams of Judaism that, together with the Jewish community, act on the Jewish imperative to respect and advance the human rights of all people. Grounded in Torah and our Jewish historical experience and guided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we call upon Jews to assert Jewish values by raising our voices and taking concrete steps to protect and expand human rights in North America, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories.