5764 could mark the beginning of a major new Reconstructionist initiative, the bringing together of the Reconstructionist vision of “Judaism Without Supernaturalism” and the enormous spiritual power of the natural sciences. Reconstructionism’s early thinkers proclaimed that a Jew did not have to hang his/her mind in the cloak room before entering a Jewish sanctuary. Jewish religious education and belief did not entail jettisoning the extraordinary vision of the cosmos and the possibility of relief from hunger, suffering, and premature death that science has laid at the feet of the human race. But we Reconstructionists have not used that freedom to open up our liturgy and our teaching to the wonder that is science. We have woefully neglected the opportunity for spiritual, even mystical, excitement that scientists often experience in their work and that a layman can grasp, and, I might add, grasp with much greater facility and for far better reasons than, say, kabbalistic numerology, which is so much in vogue these days. Nor do we recognize the religious character of the struggle to free science from the snares of “fundamentalist” religious organizations or the dangers lurking in the renaissance of superstition in our time.
In 5764, and here at Adat Shalom, we hope to begin the wonderful work of embracing science. We hope to reach up not just to the stars, but to the galaxies and black holes and down to the genome to pour new content into the Psalmist’s exultant cry “how manifest are your works, O God.” Our hope is that some of us will be moved to write new liturgy in response, and that we will be able to provide a setting for that endeavor. We plan to infuse our educational program with an understanding of the values and the disciplines that Judaism and science share —and, where appropriate, those that divide us. We shall invite the scientists —amateur and professional— in our congregation to share the vision and hope that underlies their commitment, and the encounters they and others have had with the mysterious realms of the human spirit and the Thou in the universe. And we shall wrestle with whether and how the vision of a Creator God fares in light of the world that scientists have found or built —take your pick— upon the surprising, paradoxical, and to most of our eyes, strange world that scientists have encountered in the last one hundred years. To do that we plan to adopt a multi-media approach from text and the spoken word through videotape, including, we hope, humor, poetry and, if we can find it, music.
You are invited to participate actively in this bracing new adventure in religious thought and action. Those of you who have come to services during the summer when I was “on” have gotten a taste of how we might —and how Reconstructionism in the past did— embrace science. I will be speaking about the importance of this effort and its promise for us all during our erev Rosh HaShanah service (see inside for date, time, and place), and during the intermission on Yom Kippur we will have a workshop to afford you an opportunity to explore and add to the thinking on this subject that is only now getting underway. Those of you who want to have a headstart on the subject may do so by picking up a copy of “Embracing Science: A Reconstructionist Vision For The Twenty-First Century” on the pamphlet table to the right of the sanctuary entrance next time you’re at Adat Shalom. It’s written by a rabbi some of you know well.
Rabbi George Driesen