Permit me to rant for a few minutes. I so rarely do.
One of the most hypocritical, destructive lies ever perpetuated in human history is the lie that Christianity is the religion of love, in contrast to Judaism which is supposedly a religion of dry “legalism.”
From the fourth century, when Roman emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and turned it into a lethal weapon -- from then until the present day, the Christian Empire has wrought horrific destruction and suffering throughout the world.
That this arrogant, power-driven empire has had the chutzpah to claim love as its banner would be laughable if it weren’t so frightening.
We Jews have known only too well what it means to be in the path of the destructive force of the Christian Empire, a power structure which at its core, by definition, is anti-Jewish.
Christianity has masqueraded as the religion of love, while systematically seeking power and control over non-Christians worldwide.
Why am I ranting about this now? I don’t know about you, but I have been waking up more and more to the reality that this is a Christian country. We need to see that clearly. The Christian Empire -- obviously evolved in sophistication since the middle ages -- manifests in this country as the elite power structure underlying our government as well as our economy. And while it is true that Jews have fared extremely well here, there is ample evidence that this country is still fundamentally, at its core, part of the Christian Empire. The dominant culture, which we imagine we have so successfully assimilated into, is a culture of domination and control. We may have assimilated, but at what cost to our souls?
Listen to this quote from Christian scripture. In the famous sermon on the mount, Jesus is quoted as saying: “You have heard it said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you: Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.”
“You have heard it said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” Really? Where was his audience hearing that said? “Love your neighbor” is from Torah, obviously, and was a fundamental rabbinic teaching at the time. But nowhere in Torah does it say “hate your enemy”! In fact, we are actually instructed not to hate.
Now, some Christian apologists may say that Jesus wasn’t actually referring to Torah here, but rather to a popular saying at the time about hating the Romans, or hating some other Jewish minority group… but I imagine that most Christian readers of the gospel throughout history haven’t heard it that way. They hear it as saying that Judaism taught “love your neighbor and hate your enemy,” and that Christianity teaches only love. And there are many other similar messages in Christian scripture and later church teachings pointing to the supposed superiority of Christianity over Judaism.
How hypocritical is that, given that the Christian Empire went on to be one of the most violent and murderous in human history! While Judaism is, and always has been, a religion rooted in love. As Boston author James Carroll sought to educate his fellow Catholics in his monumental book Constantine’s Sword, Judaism was fundamentally rooted in love, from before Christianity even existed.
Judaism is fundamentally rooted in love.
Love between God and the Jewish people.
Love between God and all of humanity.
Love of our neighbors.
Love of the stranger.
Love for our partners and our families.
Love for our community.
The list is long.
And Judaism doesn’t just pontificate about love in the abstract. Our tradition has developed explicit, practical teachings on how to love. We don’t just say “love your neighbor,” we wrestle with what that could mean and develop practical guidelines for how to do it.
One of my favorite sources for Jewish learning is a book called Orchot Tsadikim / Paths of the Righteous. Orchot Tsadikim is an anonymous, medieval collection of ancient teachings on character development, a field of study known in Judaism as mussar.
In Orchot Tsadikim, the chapter on love is a long one, filled with practical advice about parenting, marriage, business, God, and more. Listen to this excerpt on how to love all people:
How does one come to love all people?
This is the path: to help them with your soul and with your possessions, as much as you are able.
[What does it mean to love all people] with your soul?
By serving all people, whether they are rich or poor, and exerting yourself on their behalf.
[What does it mean to love all people] with your possessions? By lending to a rich person in their time of need, and to a poor person in their time of trouble.
You should also occasionally give gifts as you are able, both to the poor and to the rich.
You should loosen your grip and let go of that which is yours.
Notice that there is nothing in this teaching about “liking” all people. Nothing about affection or sentiment. Love is about giving, serving, and exerting ourselves for other people. Love is also about loosening our grip, letting go of what is ours -- which I understand to mean not just our money and possessions but also a more general letting go of our protective identity as “Me” separate from “You” or “Them.” Giving, serving, and exerting ourselves for others, we shift the focus away from our own little egos.
And notice that this practice of love is framed as a “path.”
Serve people, and you will come to love them.
Exert yourself on behalf of people, and you will come to love them.
Do what you can to help others in practical ways, and you will come to love them.
The path of loving action both leads to and is the destination.
There is one voice in Christianity that I trust when it comes to love, and that is the voice of the African American prophet, Martin Luther King, Jr., may his memory be a blessing.
King spoke and wrote repeatedly about the moral power of love. He took pains on many, many occasions to clarify the kind of love that is called for in the non-violent movement for justice. For King, the Greek concept of agape defined the kind of love that is necessary for transformation of an unjust society. His understanding reaches back to the early practices of the followers of Jesus, long before their movement was conquered and co-opted by the Roman Empire.
King wrote this explanation back in 1958:
In speaking of love at this point, we are not referring to some sentimental or affectionate emotion. It would be nonsense to urge men to love their oppressors in an affectionate sense. Love in this connection means understanding, redemptive good will… for all men. It is an overflowing love which is purely spontaneous, unmotivated, groundless, and creative. It is not set in motion by any quality or function of its object. It is the love of God operating in the human heart… Agape is not weak, passive love. It is love in action.... (An Experiment in Love)
And in 1961 he wrote this:
When one rises to love on this level, he loves men not because he likes them, not because their ways appeal to him, but he loves every man because God loves him. And he rises to the point of loving the person who does an evil deed while hating the deed that the person does. I think this is what Jesus meant when he said “love your enemies.” I’m very happy that he didn’t say like your enemies, because it is pretty difficult to like some people. Like is sentimental, and it is pretty difficult to like someone bombing your home; it is pretty difficult to like someone threatening your children; it is difficult to like congressmen who spend all of their time trying to defeat civil rights. (Love, Law, and Civil Disobedience)
This really is a Christian country -- a white Christian country -- founded and based on the Christian Empire’s drive for domination and control. Thankfully, Dr. King and other moral voices within Christianity have not forgotten the original teachings of their religion, which grew out of what their founders understood to be the best of our religion. Fundamentally rooted in love.
And so perhaps we can acknowledge that both traditions have something powerful to offer as tools for dismantling and transforming the empire of domination and control. A complete definition and practice of love needs to include both the Martin Luther King perspective and the Orchot Tzadikim perspective. Both the emphasis on radical acceptance and the emphasis on practical action.
As we enter into Yom Kippur as a time of self reflection, may we find ways to manifest more love... both through our hearts and through our hands.