{"id":2314,"date":"2013-06-05T15:58:40","date_gmt":"2013-06-05T15:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/?p=2314"},"modified":"2013-06-05T15:58:40","modified_gmt":"2013-06-05T15:58:40","slug":"magical-thinking-in-reform-judaism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2013\/06\/magical-thinking-in-reform-judaism.html","title":{"rendered":"Magical Thinking In Reform Judaism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

As a (still) dues-paying member of the Reform movement\u2019s Central Conference of American Rabbis, I receive the magazine \u201cReform Judaism.\u201d Some of the articles are useful and interesting like a recent one about \u201cReinventing the Synagogue<\/a>.\u201d Some are even spot-on historically accurate like the article about the Exodus<\/a> that I commented upon in a previous post.<\/p>\n

Others are more problematic.<\/p>\n

Almost two years ago I took the magazine to task<\/a> for running a piece by a lay leader who sees angels in the \u201ctwists and turns\u201d of life.<\/p>\n

It seems that Reform Judaism is not done with angels.<\/p>\n

In the Spring 2013 issue, Rabbi Cary Kozberg write about the patients he works with<\/a> who suffer from dementia. In the interests of full disclosure, I know the rabbi; he performed my wedding to my ex-wife. He is a good man who I\u2019m sure is loving and supportive of the people in his care at the senior housing facility where he works.<\/p>\n

His ideas about some of them \u2013 the worst cases suffering from dementia \u2013 are decidedly wacky:<\/p>\n

\u2026Alzheimer\u2019s can actually be a boon to someone\u2019s \u201cpersonhood\u201d\u2026 because it is a boon to his or her spirituality. I have witnessed heightened feelings of joy, spontaneity, enthusiasm, and gratitude in people with dementia, because these feelings no longer pass through the cognitive filter of the rational mind. Sometimes I marvel that folks like [these] seem more fortunate spiritually than those of us who have that filter [emphasis in original].<\/p>\n

\u2026In a curious way, I have come to view persons with advanced dementia as assuming the role of \u201cangels.\u201d \u2026[T]heir task (whether they are aware of it or not) is now to sing praises to God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It should not surprise anyone that many readers were deeply offended by this inanity. Their concerns were noted in the next issue. \u00a0One reader characterized the piece as \u201ccompletely devoid of even the most basic scientific\/medical facts\u2026and replete with magical thinking and appalling personal opinion\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same issue with that complaint also features\u00a0a debate about the controversial practice of physician-assisted suicide<\/a>. Like the vast majority of Humanists, I favor it under certain circumstances. \u00a0We see it as an issue of ultimate personal autonomy and freedom of choice.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Phil Cohen, adopting a position that recalls the importance of personal autonomy in historical Reform Judaism, agrees with me:<\/p>\n

\u2026[F]or some, even treatment at the most supportive hospice or palliative care unit does not alleviate their physical and psychological pain. In these dire circumstances, it is not right to force a human being to suffer against his\/her will. We should instead honor one of the hallmarks of Reform Jewish thinking\u2014individual autonomy\u2014and grant a patient the right to end his or her own life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rabbi Barry Block takes the opposite side. \u00a0Like Kozberg, Block favors magical thinking as the organizing principle of an ethical system that opposes physician-assisted suicide:<\/p>\n

If we do not hasten death, we also have more time to explore each patient\u2019s individual emotional and spiritual needs. We can ask, \u201cDo you feel right with the people in your life, and with God?\u201d We can discuss Judaism\u2019s rich teachings about everlasting life, which can be as comforting as any palliative care. And when we pray together with the person who is dying and his\/her loved ones, we can help our fellow human beings face eternity with faith and hope.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I give you modern Reform Judaism: \u00a0Alzheimer\u2019s patients are spiritually enlightened angels. People with horrific and painful terminal diseases should prolong their suffering so that they can wrestle with feeling right about God and face an imaginary eternity with their faith intact.<\/p>\n

Reform Judaism honors human dignity by claiming that it stems from humanity\u2019s creation \u201cin the image of God.\u201d When this leads to every day acts of kindness and progressive stands on human freedom, then I say, \u201cKol hakavod \u2013 good for them!\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem with their philosophy, though, is that even in this most liberal of Jewish traditional approaches, the ultimate standard remains God, understood as the measure of all things. This works fine when you imagine a God who wants us to treat people well. It\u2019s a little more awkward when that God, and the legends that surround him, are elevated and given preference over the dignity and needs of actual human beings.<\/p>\n

As for me, I\u2019ll place people over legends any day. It\u2019s just one more reason that I am a Humanist.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a (still) dues-paying member of the Reform movement\u2019s Central Conference of American Rabbis, I receive the magazine \u201cReform Judaism.\u201d Some of the articles are useful and interesting like a recent one about \u201cReinventing the Synagogue.\u201d Some are even spot-on historically accurate like the article about the Exodus that I commented upon in a previous […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17,24,27,38],"class_list":["post-2314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogentries","tag-humanism","tag-liberal-judaism","tag-morality","tag-science-and-reason"],"yoast_head":"\nMagical Thinking In Reform Judaism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As a (still) dues-paying member of the Reform movement\u2019s Central Conference of American Rabbis, I receive the magazine \u201cReform Judaism.\u201d Some of the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2013\/06\/magical-thinking-in-reform-judaism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Magical Thinking In Reform Judaism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As a (still) dues-paying member of the Reform movement\u2019s Central Conference of American Rabbis, I receive the magazine \u201cReform Judaism.\u201d Some of the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2013\/06\/magical-thinking-in-reform-judaism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Atheist Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-05T15:58:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeffrey L. 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