Arguing with God A Jewish Tradition

by Laytner, Anson H.

• ISBN13: 9780765760258
• ISBN10: 0765760258
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-07-01
• Publisher: Jason Aronson, Inc.

Summary

As an old proverb puts it, "Two Jews, three opinions." In the long, rich, tumultuous history of the Jewish people, this characteristic contentiousness has often been extended even unto Heaven. Arguing with God is a highly original and utterly absorbing study that skates along the edge of this theological thin ice'¬ ;at times verging dangerously close to blasphemy'¬ ;yet also a source of some of the most poignant and deeply soulful expressions of human anguish and yearning. The name Israel literally denotes one who "wrestles with God." And, from Jacob's battle with the angel to Elie Wiesel's haunting questions about the Holocaust that hang in the air like still smoke over our own age, Rabbi Laytner admirably details Judaism's rich and pervasive tradition of calling God to task over human suffering and experienced injustice. It is a tradition that originated in the biblical period itself. Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and others all petitioned for divine intervention in their lives, or appealed forcefully to God to alter His proposed decree. Other biblical arguments focused on personal or communal suffering and anger: Jeremiah, Job, and certain Psalms and Lamentations. Rabbi Laytner delves beneath the surface of these "blasphemies" and reveals how they implicitly helped to refute the claims of opponent religions and advance Jewish doctrines and teachings.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgment	xi	(2)
The Law-Court Pattern of Prayer: An Introduction and an Overview	xiii
Biblical Roots	xiii	(3)
The Covenantal Relationship	xvi	(1)
The Law-Court Pattern of Prayer	xvii	(1)
The Uniqueness of Hebrew Prayer	xviii	(1)
A Comparison with the Greeks	xix	(1)
The Law-Court Pattern throughout Jewish History	xx
PART I	3	(112)
1. Arguing with God in the Bible	3	(38)
Introduction	3	(1)
Abraham	3	(5)
Moses	8	(7)
Elijah	15	(1)
Jeremiah	16	(6)
Psalms of Petition and the Book of Lamentations	22	(10)
The Book of Job	32	(6)
Conclusion	38	(3)
2. Rabbinic Use of Biblical Arguments	41	(28)
Introduction	41	(1)
The Rabbinic Model of the Law-Court Pattern	42	(2)
The Role of the Law-Court Aggadah	44	(1)
Abraham's Aggadic Arguments with God	45	(4)
Moses' Arguments	49	(8)
Arguments against the Human Condition	57	(9)
Conclusion	66	(3)
3. Arguments against the Exile	69	(18)
Introduction	69	(3)
The Arguments of Knesset Yisrael	72	(4)
The Arguments of the Ancestors in Heaven	76	(6)
Rabbinic Responses to the Exile	82	(5)
4. Personal Law-Court Prayers in the Rabbinic Period	87	(16)
Forcing God to Send Rain	87	(6)
Responses to Personal Argumentative Prayers	93	(5)
Rabbinic Opposition to Miracles	98	(2)
Conclusion	100	(3)
5. Excursus on a Bird's Nest	103	(12)
Introduction	103	(1)
The Apostasy of Aher	104	(2)
The Challenge of Gnosticism	106	(2)
Akiba's Understanding of Divine Justice	108	(2)
Conclusion	110	(5)
PART II	115	(116)
6. Argument Motifs in the Statutory Liturgy	115	(12)
Conflicting Attitudes to Suffering and the Triumph of Akiba's View	115	(2)
The Quoting God's Words Back to Him Motif	117	(3)
Past Arguments, Past Precedents, and the Merit of the Ancestors Motifs	120	(5)
Petitions with a Conditional Element	125	(1)
Conclusion	126	(1)
7. Poetry as Prayer and Protest	127	(50)
The Origins and Development of Piyyutim	127	(2)
Piyyutim of Protest: Keva and Kevanah	129	(2)
A History of Suffering	131	(1)
How a Piyyut of Protest Works	132	(7)
Long-Suffering in Her Love	139	(2)
Israel's Life in Exile: "Behold Our Plight"	141	(4)
The Struggle to Comprehend and to Speak	145	(4)
The Merit of the Martyrs	149	(2)
The Beginning of Protest	151	(2)
Questions for God	153	(3)
Where Are Your Miracles Now?	156	(1)
Why Are You Silent?	157	(1)
Accusations and Hostility to God	157	(2)
The Merit of the Ancestors Motif	159	(1)
The Past Arguments Motif	160	(2)
The Past Precedents Motif	162	(1)
The Quoting God's Words Back to Him Motif	163	(3)
Israel, the Faithful Wife	166	(2)
Petitions for Justice and Revenge	168	(3)
Conditional Petitions	171	(3)
Afterthought	174	(3)
8. Argument with God in the Eastern European Tradition	177	(54)
Introduction	177	(2)
Hasidic Tales of Protest	179	(10)
Yiddish Folksongs and Poetry of Protest	189	(7)
Poetry of the Holocaust and After	196	(18)
The Prose Arguments of Elie Wiesel	214	(13)
Conclusion	227	(4)
Personal Afterword: What Arguing with God Means for Me	231	(18)
Introduction	231	(1)
The Problem and the Need	232	(9)
Toward an Understanding of the Task	241	(6)
A Story on the Task at Hand	247	(2)
Notes	249	(48)
References	297	(12)
Index	309