God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism by Abraham J. Heschel

Author:Abraham J. Heschel [Heschel, Abraham J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781429967624
Amazon: B005LVOG1M
Barnesnoble: B005LVOG1M
Goodreads: 12644324
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 2011-08-19T05:00:00+00:00

REVELATION IS A BEGINNING

And yet mere attachment to events does not fully express the essence of Jewish living. Event is a formal category, describing the fact of pure happening. However, to speak of a pure event, of an event in and by itself, is to speak of an artificial abstraction that exists nowhere except in the minds of some theologians. The moment of revelation must not be separated from the content or substance of revelation. Loyalty to the norms and thoughts conveyed in the event is as essential as the reality of the event. Acceptance was not complete, the fulfillment has not occurred. The decisive moment is yet to come. The event must be fulfilled, not only believed in. What was expected at Sinai comes about in the moment of a good deed. A commandment is a foresight, a deed is a fulfillment. The deed completes the event. Revelation is but a beginning, our deeds must continue, our lives must complete it.

We must not idolize the moment or the event. The will of God is eternal, transcending all moments, all events, including acts of revelation. The significance of time depends upon what is done in time in relation to His will. The moment at Sinai depends for its fulfillment upon this present moment, upon all moments. Had Israel been disloyal subsequent to Sinai, that great moment would have been deprived of all meaning. The Tablets are broken whenever the golden calf is called into being. We believe that every hour is endowed with the power to lend meaning to—or withhold meaning from—all other hours.5

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