Leon's No News Bulletin 80 Wed 25th June 08

Shalom everyone,

I'm sure that at some time or other you have asked yourself or you've heard the question asked, if a certain figure in history really existed.

Admittedly it's interesting to know what is real and what isn't but when you think about it, it's much more important to know why certain things and certain people are remembered while others are forgotten, especially in the case of Biblical figures and events.

Memory is a function of necessity. We remember things we need to remember. We forget thing which are unnecessary or which we consider unnecessary. We remember people and deeds of the past not simply because they happened but because remembering them is vitally necessary to our existence.

These are usually events and people associated with God, whom many people consider to be in charge of their lives. Their lives depend on remembering events involving God and people associated with Him.  The memory of them is so important to them that they don't doubt that they were real.

Religion considers these events so important that it created customs to ensure we'd never forget those events.

For example all the customs of Sabbath, lighting candles, resting, eating two loaves of bread etc. were all created so that we'd remember that God created the universe. The custom of circumcision is to remember that God made a covenant with Abraham. Eating unleavened bread is to remember that God brought us out of slavery in Egypt. I could carry on giving many more examples both from Christianity and Islam but I think I've made my point.

The question is what aspect of existence is so desperately dependent on these memories that we need religious customs to compel us to remember them?

I will take one custom which is common to all three religions, namely the custom of bathing or immersing oneself in water. Judaism has the mikveh, Christianity has baptism and Islam has washing the orifices of ones body and washing the feet on entering the mosque.

The need for this custom originates in ancient man's belief that the world continues to exist because the sacrifices he makes in a state of cleanliness causes God to pour holiness from heaven down to earth. Ancient man believed that if he didn't make sacrifices and wasn't clean when he made them the holiness wouldn't come down from heaven and the world would simply come to a disastrous end.

According to Judaism the Garden of Eden was vital for the existence of the world because there God's holiness poured automatically and continuously. Adam and Eve didn't have to make any effort to receive God's holiness and the world existed in perfect harmony.

According to this idea in Judaism, however, by sinning they put the existence of the world in danger. After that there was no more automatic, continuous holiness. Now the continuation of existence through holiness pouring down from heaven depended on them making sacrifices. That's why one of the first acts of man outside the Garden of Eden was a sacrifice to God.

According to this belief the temple and the priests replaced the Garden of Eden. With the Temple standing and the priests making sacrifices the continued existence of the world was assured. Holiness poured down on all the earth as it had done in the Garden of Eden. All that mankind had to do was to clean himself by immersing in natural water so that he would be in a clean state to enjoy the blessings which the holiness brought upon him.

Unfortunately the destruction of the Temple, first by the Babylonians then by the Romans brought an end to the daily sacrifices made by the priests and once again placed the burden of bringing holiness from heaven on the shoulders of individual man. The Babylonians and the Romans had brought about the imminent destruction of the world by the foolish act of destroying the temple.

The Babylonians at least tried to repair the damage by sending Nehemiah to rebuild the temple. But the Jews themselves had to find a solution to the problem that the Romans weren't going to let them rebuild the temple.

Judaism solved the problem by creating 3 daily prayers with a quorum of at least 10 men over the age of 13. By this method daily prayer by every individual man replaced sacrifices and they caused God to send holiness to earth by their prayers.

The Jews also created an alternative solution which became Christianity. This method was to believe in Jesus as the one time, once and for all, ultimate sacrifice, instead of the 3 daily sacrifices, to replace sacrifices in the temple and bring holiness from heaven.

Islam saw the problem in a different light. The Moslems were totally absorbed with the problem of who is to blame for the destruction of the temple. They come to the conclusion that it's the Jews; therefore the solution to the problem is to classify them as second class citizens awaiting God's final punishment which they can avoid by adhering to Islam.

Islam places Christianity in a similar category to the Jews; awaiting God's mercy or punishment. The rest of the world, namely non Jews and non Christians are to be eliminated.

All three religions prescribe immersion before prayer.

Wishing you a great no news day

Yours truly

Leon Gork