GE'ULAH: THE JEWISH PERSPECTIVE WITHTHE HELP OF A CONTRAST

GE'ULAH: THE JEWISH PERSPECTIVE WITHTHE HELP OF A CONTRAST

TheXian understanding of ge’ulah [redemption] is "getting to Heaven",i.e., the eternal salvation of one’s soul - an olam haba fixation.

Theproblem with that understanding, according to Jewish tradition, is that itendows God with the functional definition of serving humanity in the role of “summumbonum-provider”, aka "the savior", of man. Judaism, in contrast,insists that man has been created by God in order to serve Him, and not, Godforbid, vice versa. God's primary functions in the life of a Jew, therefore,are:

1.to reveal behavioral values; to teach Israel, and humanity as well, how toconduct our lives, and,

2.to enable humanity to live according to those values, if it so chooses. *

Judaismthus views ge'ulah not as a self-serving goal, but rather as a means forserving God; it is the Divine gift of human autonomy - as actualized, andsymbolized, by the Exodus from Egyptian slavery. This autonomy constitutes theGod-given currency with which to purchase a free-will commitment to devoteone’s life to the realization of God’s will in the world. Currency is always ameans to an end, its value is realized only when it is spent. Our freedom fromEgyptian bondage, therefore, was actualized when we "spent" it atSinai by committing ourselves forever to His service.

* Note that function #1 is the theme of theblessing which precedes Kerias Shema and #2 is the theme of the blessing thatfollows Kerias Shema, both in the Shacharis and in the Ma'ariv liturgies.