Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thank you for joining me. I'm Rabbi David Lyon from
Congregation Beth Israel in Houston. When I was a child,
I learned that I was afraid of heights. It came
to me after an Imax theater experience ended. My parents,
who brought us there, led us from the dark theater
through the exit door and into the bright light outdoors.
(00:24):
With a pressing crowd behind us, we quickly approached three
flights of stairs that would take us to the ground level.
What I realized immediately, but without much time to react,
was that the floor and the walls of this walkway
was all open steel. I could see all the way
to the bottom below us, and I remember instinctively reaching
(00:48):
for the walls and holding on for dear life. I
couldn't move. I was frozen. My fearful reaction even scared
my parents. I remember my mother asking David, what's wrong
with you? Are you okay? When I explained it and
couldn't take my hands off the wall, they carefully peeled
(01:10):
my hands off that wall and we moved together down
the stairs to the ground. Now, if you suffer from
this or another fear, you already know that it isn't
always easily overcome. It triggers a response. The solution is
to avoid it or to find a stabilizing force. Even today,
(01:31):
my wife knows that stares without risers between the steps
or a glass elevator, requires to find another way up
or down. Such phobias or fears are similar to a
suddenly unfamiliar event we might experience, or an earth shattering event.
There are times that require for us to find a
(01:52):
place to sit, a hand to hold, or reason to believe.
In Neil McGregor's book Living with the Gods, he wrote
about religious works of art. He cited Rowan Williams, a
former Archbishop of Canterbury, who explained originality is not what
(02:13):
you prize, what you look for and value is reliability
for a way of entering into the ongoing stream of
common life. Neil McGregor's book Living with the Gods talks
about many artifacts and ways that cultures and religious communities
participated in faith traditions, and Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop
(02:36):
of Canterbury, addressed these two terms originality and reliability to
help us understand what it's possible to grasp and what
it's also possible to continue to hold. He explained, originality
can create awe. As a rabbi in Judaism, I would
(02:56):
say that it can happen when we look at an
old Torus scroll from the Middle Ages, or even a
vac simile of the Sarah Yebo Hagada. It happens because
the original thing, like something from Mount Sinai, holds the
source of all that power depicted in our expectations of faith.
But its rarity is what moves Rowan Williams to conclude
(03:21):
that originality is not what we prize. It can't be.
We can't rely on originality for faith. It's too rare
and unreachable. In Judaism, the Torus Scroll, which many attribute
to the very word of God given to Moses in
Mount Sinai, to others, is inspired by God but written
(03:43):
by man, and so the oldest Tora that one could
possibly find and read and identify would bring us back
to some original source, but still not to the original
moment between God and Moses, even if one believes that
those words that appear in the Torus Scroll were spoken
(04:03):
by God and given to Moses. Whereactors and scholars have
identified places where over time, as tours have been copied
and created one hand to another that some mistakes where
some alterations were made, not intentionally, but they have been
identified over time. So originality is something that we prize,
(04:28):
but we can't claim. It's too rare and unreachable. The
Torah is one example. But rather than focus only on
originality and give up because we can't claim it or
find it, Rowan Williams and Neil McGregor identify that we
should value instead reliability. When a religious experience connects us
(04:52):
to an ongoing stream of common life, as Williams describes it,
we are part of what was passed and what is
present in Judaism, we might call them mitzvote the good
deeds that we do, the commandments that our covenant obligates
us to consider, how we will conclude and complete them.
(05:13):
Engaging in tous study, for example, or participating in a
passover satyr with a hagada that tells the story of
the Exodus are just two examples that are familiar to
any Jew and to you if you're not Jewish. These
reliable Jewish experiences provide connection, community, and stability. Similarly, Jewish objects,
(05:37):
though not icons or idols, connect us too. It happens
when we make the Sabbath with our grandparents candlesticks, or
our bar mitzvah or back mitzvah Kiddish gup when we
say the blessing over the wine. Likewise, regular participation in
mitzvahs in good deeds, such as our own annual mitzvah
(05:57):
project to serve meals to families that run McDonald House
on Christmas Day, is a reliable religious experience that engages
us in the ongoing stream of an otherwise common life.
All these reliable religious acts transform common events into wholly
(06:17):
or elevated deeds because they respond to our covenant with God,
past and present. As a rabbi, I can explain this
all day, but I would also urge you and invite
you to consider, in your own faith, tradition, or in
the way that you view your life, what is the
reliable act or the reliable part of your faith understanding
(06:42):
that connects you to your family, to your neighborhood, to
the world around you. Is there a deed that you perform,
an item in your home that connects you to something
that is sacred from the past and reminds you how
to take what is common in life and familiar and
elevates it to something important and something that you would
(07:06):
wish to transmit to future generations. I imagine in the
Christian community that holidays such as Christmas and Easter do
exactly what our special Jewish holidays do for us. They
create not an original moment, but a reliable experience that
connects you to community and family and culture, so that
(07:31):
the traditions that are passed on from one generation to
the next become the reliable faith that helps you to
imagine or think about the originality of the holiday or
the experience, and within that you find meaning, belief and faithfulness.
(07:51):
And one who is Muslim or Seek or another faith tradition,
you have books and holidays and other traduation objects too,
which bring you into a reliable experience that allows you
to hang onto those reliable moments as connectors that bring
(08:11):
you back to what your parents or grandparents or ancestors
knew and experience and ultimately gave to you. There is
no expectation that what we do today with what we
were given should be exactly the very same as our
ancestors did with it when they had it. That's why
we don't rely on originality but rather reliability. There is
(08:35):
some resemblance, some connection that we have with what we've
been given to what they had in the past. Even
the candlesticks that my grandparents used at their Sabbath table
to light the candles to welcome and honor the Sabbath
might be used on my table too. Do I use
them exactly in the same way? Do I use my
(08:56):
hands or recite the blessing exactly as they did? Perhaps?
Perhaps not, but participating the act of lighting those candles
is certainly a reliable demonstration of faith that brings us
back collectively conceptually to an original obligation that is even
(09:17):
recorded in the Torah, to keep the Sabbath and to
remember it. Like my fear of heights, fears and phobias
requires safe places from which to regain our bearings, but
the ambiguities of daily life also require safe places where
we can center ourselves and revive hope in our outlook.
(09:38):
Reliability and not just originality, can propel us to seek
and find in religion what we need. And It's true
I believe that not every moment of our life is
spent in a religious act or in a sacred moment.
Not that we couldn't elevate something common to something sacred.
(09:58):
But in the goings on of our daily life, we
do like to rely on certain places, people, activities that
give us a sense of routine and familiarity. That reliability
is really no different than the reliability that we expect
to find in a religious setting or in a sacred act.
(10:21):
That's the stuff that gives us the courage and the
confidence that get up in the morning and do what
we need. Originality has very little to do with it.
We know it's connected to something that we did yesterday
and the day before, and perhaps years ago. And that connection,
that thread that ties us all the way back, is there.
(10:44):
We feel it and we rely on it, but we
don't have to always see it or know exactly where
the thread is tied. Way back in the beginning, my
father opened a business many years ago, and it still
exists today that he died many years ago, and the
thread of that business continues to give us a great
(11:06):
sense of joy. That we don't benefit financially from that
business anymore. It was sold, we do appreciate that his
name endures and the company endures, so that the sense
of reliability of a world that we can feel an
experience where his name continues to bring us a sense
of honor and goodness when we think of him. That
(11:29):
reliability is what is so essential, the originality of it.
Going back to something that doesn't exist for us anymore
is meaningless, it's too rare, it's unreachable. And so you
begin to understand how the role of reliability can play
an important part of helping you to feel established, secure
(11:51):
and safe, even when there are times or places to
cause us fear, even through a phobia or just general
insecurity or anxiety. I'm Rabbi David Lyon from Congregation Beth
Israel and Houston. To listen again or to share this message,
which I hope you'll do, please find it at Sunny
ninety nine dot com. My podcast is Heart to Heart
(12:14):
with Rabbi David Lyon, which can also be found on
the iHeartRadio app. My Predecessor by Samuel Karf a blessed
memory used to teach we're all spiritual. The greatest expression
of that spirituality is participation in one's own religion. It's true.
(12:35):
I believe that even somebody who doesn't adhere to, or
belong to, or claim to have religion is still potentially spiritual.
They feel and into it, They appreciate nature. They may
have certain customs and rituals that they observe because it
gives them comfort and reliability. And so, if we are spiritual,
(12:59):
then participation in one's own religion or one's own faith
direction should be a very important part of the routine
of that person's life. And so, as Rabbi Craft teaches,
we're all spiritual, the greatest expression of that spirituality is
participation in one's own faith direction, religious experience. And as
(13:23):
the world grows ever more complex, we have the best
materials in rich inheritances of our faith traditions respectively. As
a rabbi, I would say, I have the rich inheritance
of Torah and Covenant and my faith in God. And
you have in yours your faith, your objects, your rituals.
(13:45):
In our own respective faith traditions, we find our reliable faith.
And so as someone asks you, how do you prove it?
How do you believe in it? Let's not focus on originality.
I can't take you back to Sinai. I can't take
you back to the very ancient places that once we're
(14:08):
thriving with Jewish life. There are remnants of some. But
non Sinai is not identifiable for sure, and so we
don't abandon our faith or understanding, but we do inherit
and rely on what we've been given. What's more, we
continue to unpack and interpret it to be sure that
it isn't just something of the old times, but also
(14:30):
something of the new times. Our interpretations are what makes
our faith, our belief, and our sense of reliability relevant, modern,
and joyful for us and those who participate with us.
And so as the weak unfolds, I urge you to
look around and find your reliable elements and descriptors of
(14:52):
faith and experience for life, for your joy, and for
greater peace. Thank you for joining me today. I look
forward to being with you again next time.
Thank you for joining me. I'm Rabbi David Lyon from
Congregation Beth Israel in Houston. When I was a child,
I learned that I was afraid of heights. It came
to me after an Imax theater experience ended. My parents,
who brought us there, led us from the dark theater
through the exit door and into the bright light outdoors.
(00:24):
With a pressing crowd behind us, we quickly approached three
flights of stairs that would take us to the ground level.
What I realized immediately, but without much time to react,
was that the floor and the walls of this walkway
was all open steel. I could see all the way
to the bottom below us, and I remember instinctively reaching
(00:48):
for the walls and holding on for dear life. I
couldn't move. I was frozen. My fearful reaction even scared
my parents. I remember my mother asking David, what's wrong
with you? Are you okay? When I explained it and
couldn't take my hands off the wall, they carefully peeled
(01:10):
my hands off that wall and we moved together down
the stairs to the ground. Now, if you suffer from
this or another fear, you already know that it isn't
always easily overcome. It triggers a response. The solution is
to avoid it or to find a stabilizing force. Even today,
(01:31):
my wife knows that stares without risers between the steps
or a glass elevator, requires to find another way up
or down. Such phobias or fears are similar to a
suddenly unfamiliar event we might experience, or an earth shattering event.
There are times that require for us to find a
(01:52):
place to sit, a hand to hold, or reason to believe.
In Neil McGregor's book Living with the Gods, he wrote
about religious works of art. He cited Rowan Williams, a
former Archbishop of Canterbury, who explained originality is not what
(02:13):
you prize, what you look for and value is reliability
for a way of entering into the ongoing stream of
common life. Neil McGregor's book Living with the Gods talks
about many artifacts and ways that cultures and religious communities
participated in faith traditions, and Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop
(02:36):
of Canterbury, addressed these two terms originality and reliability to
help us understand what it's possible to grasp and what
it's also possible to continue to hold. He explained, originality
can create awe. As a rabbi in Judaism, I would
(02:56):
say that it can happen when we look at an
old Torus scroll from the Middle Ages, or even a
vac simile of the Sarah Yebo Hagada. It happens because
the original thing, like something from Mount Sinai, holds the
source of all that power depicted in our expectations of faith.
But its rarity is what moves Rowan Williams to conclude
(03:21):
that originality is not what we prize. It can't be.
We can't rely on originality for faith. It's too rare
and unreachable. In Judaism, the Torus Scroll, which many attribute
to the very word of God given to Moses in
Mount Sinai, to others, is inspired by God but written
(03:43):
by man, and so the oldest Tora that one could
possibly find and read and identify would bring us back
to some original source, but still not to the original
moment between God and Moses, even if one believes that
those words that appear in the Torus Scroll were spoken
(04:03):
by God and given to Moses. Whereactors and scholars have
identified places where over time, as tours have been copied
and created one hand to another that some mistakes where
some alterations were made, not intentionally, but they have been
identified over time. So originality is something that we prize,
(04:28):
but we can't claim. It's too rare and unreachable. The
Torah is one example. But rather than focus only on
originality and give up because we can't claim it or
find it, Rowan Williams and Neil McGregor identify that we
should value instead reliability. When a religious experience connects us
(04:52):
to an ongoing stream of common life, as Williams describes it,
we are part of what was passed and what is
present in Judaism, we might call them mitzvote the good
deeds that we do, the commandments that our covenant obligates
us to consider, how we will conclude and complete them.
(05:13):
Engaging in tous study, for example, or participating in a
passover satyr with a hagada that tells the story of
the Exodus are just two examples that are familiar to
any Jew and to you if you're not Jewish. These
reliable Jewish experiences provide connection, community, and stability. Similarly, Jewish objects,
(05:37):
though not icons or idols, connect us too. It happens
when we make the Sabbath with our grandparents candlesticks, or
our bar mitzvah or back mitzvah Kiddish gup when we
say the blessing over the wine. Likewise, regular participation in
mitzvahs in good deeds, such as our own annual mitzvah
(05:57):
project to serve meals to families that run McDonald House
on Christmas Day, is a reliable religious experience that engages
us in the ongoing stream of an otherwise common life.
All these reliable religious acts transform common events into wholly
(06:17):
or elevated deeds because they respond to our covenant with God,
past and present. As a rabbi, I can explain this
all day, but I would also urge you and invite
you to consider, in your own faith, tradition, or in
the way that you view your life, what is the
reliable act or the reliable part of your faith understanding
(06:42):
that connects you to your family, to your neighborhood, to
the world around you. Is there a deed that you perform,
an item in your home that connects you to something
that is sacred from the past and reminds you how
to take what is common in life and familiar and
elevates it to something important and something that you would
(07:06):
wish to transmit to future generations. I imagine in the
Christian community that holidays such as Christmas and Easter do
exactly what our special Jewish holidays do for us. They
create not an original moment, but a reliable experience that
connects you to community and family and culture, so that
(07:31):
the traditions that are passed on from one generation to
the next become the reliable faith that helps you to
imagine or think about the originality of the holiday or
the experience, and within that you find meaning, belief and faithfulness.
(07:51):
And one who is Muslim or Seek or another faith tradition,
you have books and holidays and other traduation objects too,
which bring you into a reliable experience that allows you
to hang onto those reliable moments as connectors that bring
(08:11):
you back to what your parents or grandparents or ancestors
knew and experience and ultimately gave to you. There is
no expectation that what we do today with what we
were given should be exactly the very same as our
ancestors did with it when they had it. That's why
we don't rely on originality but rather reliability. There is
(08:35):
some resemblance, some connection that we have with what we've
been given to what they had in the past. Even
the candlesticks that my grandparents used at their Sabbath table
to light the candles to welcome and honor the Sabbath
might be used on my table too. Do I use
them exactly in the same way? Do I use my
(08:56):
hands or recite the blessing exactly as they did? Perhaps?
Perhaps not, but participating the act of lighting those candles
is certainly a reliable demonstration of faith that brings us
back collectively conceptually to an original obligation that is even
(09:17):
recorded in the Torah, to keep the Sabbath and to
remember it. Like my fear of heights, fears and phobias
requires safe places from which to regain our bearings, but
the ambiguities of daily life also require safe places where
we can center ourselves and revive hope in our outlook.
(09:38):
Reliability and not just originality, can propel us to seek
and find in religion what we need. And It's true
I believe that not every moment of our life is
spent in a religious act or in a sacred moment.
Not that we couldn't elevate something common to something sacred.
(09:58):
But in the goings on of our daily life, we
do like to rely on certain places, people, activities that
give us a sense of routine and familiarity. That reliability
is really no different than the reliability that we expect
to find in a religious setting or in a sacred act.
(10:21):
That's the stuff that gives us the courage and the
confidence that get up in the morning and do what
we need. Originality has very little to do with it.
We know it's connected to something that we did yesterday
and the day before, and perhaps years ago. And that connection,
that thread that ties us all the way back, is there.
(10:44):
We feel it and we rely on it, but we
don't have to always see it or know exactly where
the thread is tied. Way back in the beginning, my
father opened a business many years ago, and it still
exists today that he died many years ago, and the
thread of that business continues to give us a great
(11:06):
sense of joy. That we don't benefit financially from that
business anymore. It was sold, we do appreciate that his
name endures and the company endures, so that the sense
of reliability of a world that we can feel an
experience where his name continues to bring us a sense
of honor and goodness when we think of him. That
(11:29):
reliability is what is so essential, the originality of it.
Going back to something that doesn't exist for us anymore
is meaningless, it's too rare, it's unreachable. And so you
begin to understand how the role of reliability can play
an important part of helping you to feel established, secure
(11:51):
and safe, even when there are times or places to
cause us fear, even through a phobia or just general
insecurity or anxiety. I'm Rabbi David Lyon from Congregation Beth
Israel and Houston. To listen again or to share this message,
which I hope you'll do, please find it at Sunny
ninety nine dot com. My podcast is Heart to Heart
(12:14):
with Rabbi David Lyon, which can also be found on
the iHeartRadio app. My Predecessor by Samuel Karf a blessed
memory used to teach we're all spiritual. The greatest expression
of that spirituality is participation in one's own religion. It's true.
(12:35):
I believe that even somebody who doesn't adhere to, or
belong to, or claim to have religion is still potentially spiritual.
They feel and into it, They appreciate nature. They may
have certain customs and rituals that they observe because it
gives them comfort and reliability. And so, if we are spiritual,
(12:59):
then participation in one's own religion or one's own faith
direction should be a very important part of the routine
of that person's life. And so, as Rabbi Craft teaches,
we're all spiritual, the greatest expression of that spirituality is
participation in one's own faith direction, religious experience. And as
(13:23):
the world grows ever more complex, we have the best
materials in rich inheritances of our faith traditions respectively. As
a rabbi, I would say, I have the rich inheritance
of Torah and Covenant and my faith in God. And
you have in yours your faith, your objects, your rituals.
(13:45):
In our own respective faith traditions, we find our reliable faith.
And so as someone asks you, how do you prove it?
How do you believe in it? Let's not focus on originality.
I can't take you back to Sinai. I can't take
you back to the very ancient places that once we're
(14:08):
thriving with Jewish life. There are remnants of some. But
non Sinai is not identifiable for sure, and so we
don't abandon our faith or understanding, but we do inherit
and rely on what we've been given. What's more, we
continue to unpack and interpret it to be sure that
it isn't just something of the old times, but also
(14:30):
something of the new times. Our interpretations are what makes
our faith, our belief, and our sense of reliability relevant, modern,
and joyful for us and those who participate with us.
And so as the weak unfolds, I urge you to
look around and find your reliable elements and descriptors of
(14:52):
faith and experience for life, for your joy, and for
greater peace. Thank you for joining me today. I look
forward to being with you again next time.
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