G_d With Us

In the beginning was the Word.   In the beginning there were Stories, written thousands of years ago by members of small tribes caught up in a struggle to survive.  Was G_d with them?  Did He interact with them?  Did those people have free will and make decisions? 

Historians often say “Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it”.  Those who are not allowed to forget the past however, may be applying the wrong lessons in a changed environment.  We are not the small tribes roaming and foraging for food.  The Story must change. 

One can now understand what Golda Meir meant when she said “We cannot forgive them [Arabs] for forcing us to kill their children.”  It was not Golda, of course, but Golda’s grandchildren, the 20 year-olds in the IDF who are trained to kill.  Instead of studying Literature and Art, young Jews are indoctrinated on the use of deadly weapons.  Instead of using Science and Engineering to create, they drop bombs on their neighbors who are also descendants of Abraham.  Jewish children as young as 10 are loaded onto busses daily and driven to food check points where they are told to block food and water and medicine, causing starvation on a massive scale.   Expecting these children to then come home and do their homework must produce a schizophrenia.  In this case a paranoid schizophrenia.  One can only hope that these children do not turn on their leaders and parents.  Can such a society survive? 

There is a way out.  It is through the creation and telling of a new and different Story.  We all need a Story to live by.   But who will tell such a Story?   Our usual story tellers are politicians, religious leaders, and Hollywood.  These are people climbing some social ladder of success – and they all have a fear of falling.  It may be that social structures have become rigid and inflexible because, despite amazing advances in communication technology, people at the top are still not getting the message. 

Is the same G_d with us today?  Do we have free will and can we make decisions?  Christians made a break with Old Testament rules and created a New Testament.  A New Torah might keep Jews in touch with the Old Testament while charting a new direction, starting on the current path but making abrupt and real changes.  If current leaders are unable to do this, then seed groups of mixed composition can, if watered sufficiently, come to understand the need and direction for change.  They will figure out how to find or make a new path.   

Jo Suter

March 2024