What's wrong with David Gottlieb, or why we should stop G-d's advocacy

In a recent discussion on Facebook someone brought up David Gottlieb's brochure, named " Living up to the Truth" - as your Final Argument for the Absolute Truth of Torah and Judaism.
Before we examine some of the ideas in this brochure, let me explain to you why am I even bothered to address it, and why I think this issue is so critically important.
Gottlieb represents a particular tendency in the outreach world, that despite it's many failures and obvious wrongs ( both moral and factual ) - is still viewed by many of its adherents as some sort of a Magic Tool, that really "gets you there". Basic idea is this- let's " prove Judaism " to uneducated masses, and bring them forth to become true believers! And since we live in the age of science, all sorts of arguments are used, proving authenticity of the Torah from archaeology and history from natural sciences and statistics ( think of Torah codes and Discovery seminar )
Proponents of this approach fail to see, how often they cross the line of " end justifies means "- when your goal is so holy ( "making people frum" ) that you can use all sorts of arguments in the process, even if only partially true, or biased and selective at best- often going against consensus in the mainstream scientific community, and almost never accurate, if you examine them carefully.
On philosophical grounds, suggestion that We know all the Truth is simply delusional- you are not going to find anyone among major philosophers of today who would even take it seriously. Beginning with Kantian refutation of all "arguments for G-d", that were so popular in medieval philosophy, we are moving further and further away from this absolutist, one-truth-only picture of the world, and here comes a challenge to our conventional religious worldview- are we willing to become a bit more humble in our attempts "to figure out G-d" ?
These questions and tendencies of our Post-modernist world seem to pass unnoticed by our Kiruv Apologists. But my argument against "gottliebs" goes much deeper- I believe that such an approach is  theologically inconsistent and morally wrong ! 
And let me illustrate my point, by bringing a few ideas from Gottlieb's treatise " Living up to the
Truth ", which we shall analyze.

At first he makes an interesting argument that we can't ask a question whether "Torah is relevant"- and here's his reasoning
The only way in which I can ask if the Torah is relevant or not is to have already decided not to treat it as true, not to take it on its own terms, in terms of its own self-conception, but rather to set 
something else up as a standard of what shall or shall not be relevant. 
The Torah is that to which other things have to be relevant, if they are to be relevant at all. 
The question then becomes not: Is the Torah relevant to me, to mankind, to society? and so forth, but the question then becomes: Am I relevant to the Torah? Is my life a relevant life? I become the subject matter of the question, not the one who asks of the question.
Hmm, basically he says that Torah ( before he even brought us any arguments to support his claim that it can be proven True rationally )- is an absolute standard, by definition- and we humans must look at ourselves as mere "tools" to accomplish what the Torah tells us, basically turning our very
existence into machine-like Obedience to the Eternal Law.
 While I must admit that such way of thinking is becoming more and more popular in the Ultra-Orthodox circles ( to which Gottlieb himself belongs ), I strongly reject his claim that this is an authentic Torah-true view, which he clearly suggests.
Two points to consider-
1). Judaism starts with Abraham, who questions G-d and even argues with him, for the sake of humanity and loving kindness - something Noach failed to do, when he simply followed the orders, allowing  the Flood to happen- in other words, he was Gottlieb's role-model of Obedient "subject matter of the question", he didn't question G-d, and it didn't disturb him at all that all of humans are going to die - if G-d wishes so it must be right, he argued. But that's certainly not a Jewish way of thinking.
2). Rav Wolbe at the beginning of Aley Shur, ( volume 2 ) discusses this question, of "who comes first"- Torah or Man- and comes to clear conclusion from the Jewish sources, that although many think "man was created for the sake of the Torah ", in truth the opposite is correct- " Torah was
created for the sake of man" ! At the end of the day, we know this principle ( man comes first ) in our
Halacha- sages interpreted Torah's verse that man should "fulfill the law and live by it" as an
underlying principle- Torah Law is here to allow us live in this world- and should there be 
conflict between the Law and Life- Life comes first ! 
( many Halachic consessioms are based on this understanding- not just in laws of Shabbat )
Gottlieb continues his argument wth the following proposal-
The search for truth requires the rejection of falsehood. Religions contradict one another, so not more than one can be wholly true; to find one wholly true means the others are not. The idea of a common core to all religions fails since the contradictions between religions prevents the proposed core from having any content
This argument would lead him to prove that Judaism is the only true religion, and I'm not even interested in showing an obvious bias and selective thinking he's so notoriously showing there- rather I suggest to look into his argument above. There is just one Truth, he claims, and since religions all
contradict each other, there is only one true religion !
This desire to put G-d into "my box" clearly belongs to the past, and current paradigm in the multicultural world of today is that although we are all very different, we shouldn't look at the world as US and THEM! This way of thinking brought so much destruction and conflicts into the world, and  still continues to do so, by making that arrogant claim that " We are the only holders of the Absolute Truth"- and to make it really easy for us to see, let's think of ISIS for example-
  the only explanation to their violence and butchery lies in their absolute confidence that they are holders of Absolute Truth, and all others are simply heretics 
Rabbi Sacks in his "Dignity of Difference" made bold suggestion ( for an Orthodox Rabbi ) that other religions could also be True. We don't have monopoly on G-d, or as some would put it- G-d has no religion. Does it make us weaker in our claim for Truth? I personally don't think so- Judaism is our unique language and yet there are other languages in the world. Each tradition makes a claim to get all the way to the top of the mountain- and I think, if we share some moral and ethical ideas about what it means to do Good and bring Love and Justice into this world- we should judge them favourably. I may even suggest the following Paradigm of Coexistence between different religious
 traditions- consider Schools of Shammai and Hillel and their disputes. Famously,  Talmud concludes- these and those are the Words of G-d, however the Law follows the school of Hillel.
Hillel and Shammai represent conflicting points of view, and their argument according to Gottlieb should have only one side as True, the other being False. That's exactly the opposite of what Talmud suggests- G-d's Truth is much bigger than our limited perception of it, and even though logically it seems inconsistent ( how come both are right, aren't they saying opposite things? ) - yet that's the World of G-d- and will remain an Enigma, often going beyond our limited human logic.
At the same time, we cannot live in such paradox ( both are right ) when it comes to practice- and here we need to have certainty - Law follows the School of Hillel
Same principle can be applied in our conversation with the bigger non-Jewish world, and it's different religious traditions- we don't have to reject them in order to prove ourselves right  ( especially if we find their values compatable to ours )- however, we should follow our tradition, and nourish its great
and unique language of Truth, as it was revealed to our fathers!

Finally, although I'm not getting into details of Gottlieb's work, here's my last point- besides being philosophically outdated, theologically questionable at best, his approach is also morally wrong! 
In order to make things "that simple", proponents of this approach always have to cut corners to fit the world into their limited pattern of thinking where there is just one truth- and they know it all.
In his attempt to bring an "objective scientific argument " to support his claim,  Gottlieb resides to archaeology- very problematic field indeed, of which I happen to know ( I took a few courses as part of my tour guide training ). It's so problematic when it comes to factual part of the Torah that you have many religious archaeologists asserting that Exodus never happened- that's their scientific position - which I'm not sure how they're reconciling with their beliefs. I asked this question one of these professors, but his answer didn't comfort me- " I put religion aside when I'm dealing wth science"- he said . Not the best answer, I admit, but I think it's more intellectually honest than an attempt to persuade your audience that you possess an Absolute Truth, using in your argument very carefully selected and biased record of " scientific proofs "
My punchline here is really simple- let's stop being G-d's advocates, he really doesn't need it ! 
Nowhere in the Torah it says " be my advocates". Especially in view of Rav Kook's idea ( inspired by our Kabbalists ) that G-d is constantly renewing this world and gives each generation new insights, as this world undergoes constant process of evolvement and growth- we must carefully listen to his voice in the contemporary world, instead of attempts "to prove Him right "

Religion as Force of Change

Religion is often criticized for being dogmatic and resisting the change. Religious people find their inspiration in the great images of the past, and are often told to look up at them as role models for today. " If previous generations were like angels, we are like humans. But if they are deemed humans, than we are compared to donkeys "- famous and popular Talmudic quote.
Such mindset of looking back into the past naturally brings with it little desire to search for new ways of expression and generate new creative thoughts and ideas. Does it mean, that religion will always be "stuck in the past", only reacting to changes in the world - usually resisting them, and never initiating anything new?
If we examine this phenomena in a historical context,we should see that this was not always the case.
Judaism started with the great revolution of monotheism- and our forefather Avraham was certainly not looking into the past to keep the status quo - he became almost a synonym of a new type of religious leader- not your typical "yes-man", simply following the instructions, he had enough hutzpah to argue with G-d, standing for his ideals and principles- even if it meant defending those evil-doers of Sodom.
What kind of world would we be living in, if Avraham remained just a loyal servant of G-d, and not his sincere partner?
We would have been robbed I believe, and our religion would not teach humanity great ideals and concepts, that lately became known as "Judeo-Christian values "-
Individual Freedom, Sacred nature of humanity , Social justice,
Pursuit of Truth and Harmony - both in the world and in personal life- these ideas are so fundamental that should you take them away, and you will decent into abyss of darkness, where "might is right" of human greed is the only language
So why is it that today's Judaism is so often seen as an obstacle to progress ?
While there could be many answers to this difficult question, let me suggest mine.

We became self-assured that we "have all the answers".
And if you have all the answers, you don't need to grow, and you will resist any change.
Rav Kook gives very innovative definition of "Teshuvah"- usually translated as repentance and understood as a process of personal transformation from a "sinner" into a "righteous person". He says, that the energy of such transformation is an all-encompassing Divine yearning for perfection which is constantly changing and renewing this world. So when an individual "sins" he simply detaches himself from this Divine Source- and when he realizes his solitude and detachment, strong desire to reconnect to the Source of Life brings him back!
In this beautiful picture of the world portrayed to us by Rav Kook we cannot escape one clear observation- G-d WANTS CHANGE! In fact, He is the Eternal Change himself!
People of different faiths, Judaism including, saw G-d for a very long time as Static Big Father (SBF) - such G-d demands obedience, and encourages all sorts of dogmatic beliefs, that would never change- as change is the very opposite of the SBF!
Nowadays such concept of the Divine is seen as archaic and cannot attract any following- using the language of Ken Wilber, our understanding of the Divine evolved to a higher level - and we can't accept limited vision of the past anymore.
In other words, we have all the right to look into future and embrace change that makes us more aware of the Divine Presence in the world . Dare I say, this is our calling and religious responsibility !
However, we must establish clear criteria to distinguish "change for the sake of Heaven", one that will bring more Divinity into this world, and "change not for the sake of Heaven"- motivated by our egoistic desires ( greed, lust and power ) . Even as we cannot objectively see "the whole picture", we can test ourselves and others with a simple question-
Should you or anyone in your circle come to an idea of change- ask yourself ( or that person) - " Where is G-d in all of this? "
Ego always keeps G-d out of equation. Communism promised people equality, freedom and justice- and brought them terrible slavery and injustice of the Gulags! How could it happen? Maybe because G-d was never considered a factor!
Even religious institutions often fail the test, but in a more subtle way- think of the Crusades or modern day Islamic terrorism- both done in the name of G-d, and both pretend to put Him on the throne - so how are they wrong?
When we fail to listen to the subtle voice of G-d speaking to us in nature and history, and also in our own mind - it's because we are obsessed with Ego ( greed, lust and honor) And Ego of the religious person would wear very religious clothing, and would look super religious! Back then and now, Ego wants control and power, and it would use all instruments to get it- that's how religion can turn into monster!
Our task, it seems, is to bring the change that G-d wants us to bring- more Love, Unity and Harmony in this broken world, full of suffering and human tragedy.

Jewish Explorer- being a Jew in post-modernist world

These days I keep thinking of what it means being a Jew in the 21st century. Our times of almost unlimited access to information with very limited capacity to adequately absorb this vast ocean of knowledge bring about a significant paradigm shift in our thinking- all possible theories of "know-it-all" become obsolete, as they obviously seem to ignore the present reality.
Somehow humanity became more humble it seems- no one is making a claim that he possesses the Truth anymore - or at least, should be make such a claim, he most likely would be perceived as somewhat naive at best, or simply ignorant and almost irrelevant.
And yet, our religious tradition is based to a large extent on precisely such a claim-
We stood at Sinai, G-d gave us the Torah- the Book that represents the Ultimate Truth and gives us a clear path to follow it ! And despite all the difficulties with such an approach in our times, you can still find significant number of teachers that follow it, times and difficulties notwithstanding
Sure enough, Judaism opposes moral and intellectual relativism, that became so common in our days.
Yet it seems, we can't ignore the challenge of Post-Modernism, which is here to bring us to a point of greater understanding of the world and the mystery behind its Creation. As Rav Kook pointed out each new era brings with it new aspects of Divine Revelation, and if we live at such exciting times of the internet, time that gives us rather unique opportunity to explore the world without even making a step outdoors- basically putting the whole world at our fingertips- it should certainly be seen as a great challenge to our religious worldview, formulated and shaped to a large extent in times when our interaction with the world was very different.
Does it mean that we shall simply reformulate our religious credo and ignore all the aspects of our tradition, that seem to be in conflict with current understanding? As an Orthodox Rabbi I certainly cannot suggest such an approach. In fact, I believe any honest Jew who cares about his faith and tradition wouldn't accept such a suggestion- the moment something in your tradition doesn't seem to fit into "mainstream" of the world around- just dispose of it, as of outdated and irrelevant burden.
Some tried this in the past, and to a large extent they are totally lost to Judaism and to our people.
And if we believe in eternal message of the Torah and our destiny in this world - to make this world a better place, by bringing Divine Presence here, making  it manifest in all aspects of our life- we should certainly think again!
So here we have two extremes that are still so common in our attempts to deal with the ongoing crisis of Faith-
First approach suggests to ignore the challenge of today and deems it irrelevant, locking Judaism firmly within the walls of intellectual and spiritual ghetto. In my opinion, such an approach doesn't allow us to grow and in its desire to adhere to most "authentic" traditional forms, it often ignores the need to EXPLORE and SEEK G-d in this world !
On the other hand, we see various attempts to "water down" traditional Judaism, presumably making it more palatable for human consumption- but as a result, such "parve" Judaism fails to inspire
people, and doesn't give you any valuable message that you can implement in your life- nothing new, that you don't know from your mainstream culture.

We are the nation of Explorers and Seekers, starting all the way from Abraham. Our tradition should GROW and EVOLVE- as a tree, that grows all the way from its roots. This way we can make sure that it stays both authentic ( loyal to its own foundations ), and vibrant at the same time !
We desperately need a PARADIGM SHIFT in our thinking- and here's my suggestion.
In all our sources we find no clear definition of G-d, as here's BEYOND such definitions. We are called to emulate G-d and follow his ways- but how do we accomplish such a lofty mission ?
First of all, we need to consider our understanding of G-d- limited of course, and yet pointing out at our level of connection with Him. If in the past G-d was seen as STATIC- unchanging and unmoving ( Aristotelean view ascribed movement to imperfection - and Maimonides famously accepted this position ) - in our times we understand reality as a process of constant evolvement, orchestrated and managed by G-d. So G-d is not an unmoving Absolute, seating on his Throne of Glory ( something we can hardly emulate at all, with our very limited human qualities )- rather, he's an ULTIMATE
EXPLORER, constantly changing and renewing his world- " renewing with His goodness every day the Original Creation " ( my translation of the words in Siddur ).
Such dynamic G-d of change and renewal is calling us to EXPLORE the world, and make it a better place- this way we can truly fulfill the dictum of "in the Image of G-d" !
What does it mean practically speaking?
If we usually think of religious role-model as some sort of a " I know all the answers " type - here we 
come to discover fundamentally different character- I wish to call him JEWISH EXPLORER ( JE )
JE is in a constant state of BECOMING, he seeks to learn from everyone and sees his interaction with G-d in everyday Life, carefully listening to His subtle Voice- both in the outside world ( "what is this man doing in my life?" "Why am I here? " ) and in his inner world ( notice your "gut feeling", be in touch with yourself ).
As opposed to the great role models of the past, who were perceived as almost super-human, JE IS WELL AWARE OF HIS HUMANITY - which makes him humble and yet encourages him to keep growing !
JE values a good and honest question MORE than a half-honest answer, that pretends to "explain it all", cutting corners in the process.
JE is that part of us that wants more Truth, more Love and more G-d in this world

Thoughts after Israel's Independence Day - embracing the future

Israel just celebrated its independence, with many great accomplishments to be proud of- we are the only democracy in the Middle East, surrounded by hostile and militant neighbors, who deny our very right to exist. Not only we secured our almost indefensible borders, allocated to us by the the UN partition plan- we emerged strong and confidant, so that no one in the region can threaten our security, as Arabs did in 1948 and 1967 ( promising to throw the Jews into the ocean).
Israel of course can be proud of its more recent successes in economy and science and technology - with the highest number of start-ups in the world, low unemployment and top-notch medical services available to all it's citizens.
But as in the past, Israel is facing most difficult challenges it must overcome for its very survival.
Recent elections were mainly focused around internal issues- putting security and foreign affairs at the backstage ( possibly first time ever since the inception of the state ). This indicates, that Israel managed to assure its survival and is now facing new challenges- pretty much like in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, we are ascending from the most basic levels of survival ( this includes food, shelter and security ) to the upper strata- that of emotional and spiritual needs. Maybe this would explain current obsession with the " equal burden" demand, which brought different groups of Israeli public together- the new political forces of the recent elections, and the main winners are precisely those who articulated this demand. Bennett and Lapid are representing new face of Israeli politics that's just emerging- reaching beyond the accepted sectoral boundaries, and formulating new goals and aspirations for the country- NATIONAL UNITY. And it's precisely this that all those who're left behind ( Ultra-Orthodox, Ultra-Left etc ) fail to realize.
What is it that lies at the core of Israeli identity, what is going to unite us as a nation- is the question that emerges. And undeniably, this is the highest level on Maslow's scale- that of Self-Actualization! Here we are struggling to address it on a national level- something really breathtaking, possibly a project that was never taken before!
But following Maslow's scheme, we need to remind ourselves of a missing step- before one can address self-Actualization, says Maslow, he needs to face emotional issues- love, belonging, self-esteem. In other words, before we formulate our National Goal, we need to deal with National Reconciliation.
Israel today is torn and divided, with many different groups of society not only living very different lifestyle- but in fact, almost never coming across each other. One cannot simply ignore this- it's a painful recognition of those who not only live a different lifestyle, but in fact don't share your value system- yet share this country with you. Religious and secular, Right and Left- dare I say-
Jews and non-Jews - we ALL BELONG HERE! This process of Reconciliation would challenge us on many levels, and as a result something truly beautiful would emerge-
"They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of G-d as the waters cover the sea.
( Isaiah 11:9)

Awakening

Following Purim we are approaching Pesach- time of Freedom and Awakening, as everything in the world is yearning for the new beginning. It's difficult to see the change when we are part of it, and it happens in a slow course of natural evolution, but I guess it's easier to notice in such a vibrant and dynamic country as modern day Israel. Living here since 1991, moving to Australia in 1996 and coming back four years later, and finally, leaving to New York in 2004, and coming back two years ago, in 2011,gives me perspective of the last 20 years plus, still not much for a state, but quite enough to notice the difference - when I first came here in 1991, as a young lad hardly speaking any Hebrew, I found myself in a large melting pot of Israeli society, that was struggling to absorb huge Russian Aliya. Ultra-Orthodox sector, where I was going to be " absorbed", was particularly " troubled" by the newcomers, who brought with them new reality of shops open on Shabbat and selling pork, and general disinterest to religion. It's not surprising then, to learn of the strong dislike towards Russians in the Ultra-Orthodox community. It went both ways- with Russian newspapers often attacking " backward Haredim " and publishing all sorts of stories of their corruption, etc. Secular-religious war was always an issue in Israel, but on the wave of Russian Aliya of early 90-ies it came to a new high! I found myself in a weird position of someone who belongs to both camps- which probably pushed me to think how to bridge the huge gap between them. In early 90-ies, Russian-speaking religious Jew was still a rare sight, and most of my Russian-speaking friends and family had a very hard time accepting my religious identity.
On the other hand, Russian influx also had tremendous effect to change the status-quo of Israeli politics- shifting it to the Right. If in 1992, following successful campaign of Rabin, many Russians voted for him, they wouldn't give their votes to the Labor again-following the shock of Oslo accords and the unleashing campaign of hatred to the settlers after the assassination of Rabin.
This was a time of great division in Israel- between the Right and the Left, the religious and the secular. Time of great hatred, one must admit, coming from all sides of the spectrum.
I'm far from saying that we cured this issue- and we saw some remnants of that old hatred played on again to gain some political dividends ( think of the notorious Shas ad, using conversion for incitement against " Russian goyim ") - but Israelis in large didn't buy it- and it was strongly rejected as non-kosher by all major parties. Disillusioned by the promises of the existing political powers, many Israelis voted for the new voices- Yesh Atid party of Yair Lapid, representing mainly the Secular Left, and the new National- religious party of Naftali Bennett. These two have much in common despite their obvious differences- both are arguing for the necessity of a major change and restructuring in Israeli society, to allow the struggling middle class to benefit from the good shape of Israel's economy, both are representing large groups of Israelis who wish to go beyond the existing conventional "rules of the game" - saying no to political maneuvering and sectoral politics of the small parties who only act as lobbying groups for their sector of society ( Ultra- Orthodox, National- religious, etc ). It's significant that Bennett managed to get large number of the secular voters, and Lapid got supported from both Right and Left.
New Israel is emerging in these elections- Israel that is seeking to redefine itself. Who are Israelis, what are they standing for, and what's our national identity based on? We don't have clear answers to these questions- but I think, we start to realize that THESE QUESTIONS ARE VERY IMPORTANT- and maybe, this understanding is going to BRING NEW AWAKENING!
Finally, I can't overlook something that deeply moved me- the recent speech of MP Calderon, which already became famous. She pulled out the volume of Talmud, and said-
This book changed my life!
She argued that secular Zionists were building this country largely unaware of our Jewish heritage- and it's time to claim it back! Her remarks were both personal and sincere, and many MP's came to give her a warm hug afterwards. Granted, one speech is not enough- but let's hope it's a sign of a new beginning!

Fresh look at Amalek within us

These days we are commanded to remember the Evil of Amalek- often viewed as the Arch-enemy of G-d and his people. As we remember from the Torah, Amalek attacked the Jews at the point of their journey from Sinai to the Land of Israel, demonstrating his total rejection of any Divine intervention into human history, and even willing to cross the desert and confront the Jews, solely to show his animosity. Later we meet Amalek's descendant Haman in the story of Purim, and Haman's hatred of the Jews pushes him to seek the first Final Solution in the Jewish history. We celebrate our victory but should still remember what Amalek and his descendants did to us, fulfilling the Mitzva of " Mechiyat Amalek"- erasing his memory.
Here comes the question- by remembering Amalek, we seem to be doing just the opposite- we NEVER FORGET! So how are we erasing his memory then?
Another important question is " Who is Amalek? " With Sennacherib ( ancient Assyrian conqueror) mixing the nations of the world, we don't have any way to trace the original tribes of the past, so says the Talmud ( and our common sense strongly agrees ) So WHOM are we supposed to " erase" anyhow?
Answering this question, most contemporary Rabbis point to Amalek as a symbol- symbol of Evil, such Evil that acts out of no benefit, simply motivated by blind hatred. In our times of the horrors of the Holocaust many came to associate this with Nazism, and the like. Others explain, that we must eradicate Evil from our hearts and minds ( various explanations given usually pointing to different bad character traits that we must eradicate - Pride, Anger, etc )
I think we can actually combine both perspectives, if we ask the following question-
HOW THE HOLOCAUST BECAME POSSIBLE?
How otherwise decent people committed such acts of violence and despicable brutality on a massive scale? During the Nuremberg Trials, many Nazis claimed that they simply followed the orders. This brings forth another question- To what degree are we humans capable of doing Evil, when we are " simply following orders ", not seeing ourselves as personally responsible for the outcome of our actions?
This very question was asked by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram, who conducted his world famous experiments on obedience to authority figures. His experiment was conducted in 1961, right after the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. Eichmann’s defense that he was simply following instructions when he ordered the deaths of millions of Jews roused Milgram’s interest. In his 1974 book Obedience to Authority, Milgram posed the question, "Could it be that Eichmann and his million accomplices in the Holocaust were just following orders? Could we call them all accomplices?"
Milgram was interested in researching how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person- how easily ordinary people could be influenced into committing atrocities for example, Germans in WWII.
In his experiment, the volunteer was asked to help in study of the effect of pain on human memory- and for this purpose was supposed to give an electro shock to the " learner" - each time increasing the voltage for every wrong answer. There were 30 switches on the shock generator marked from 15 volts (slight shock) to 450 (danger – severe shock).
Before conducting the tests, Milgram polled fourteen Yale University senior-year psychology majors to predict the behavior of 100 hypothetical teachers. All of the poll respondents believed that only a very small fraction of teachers will be willing to administer severe levels of shock.
Yet the reality proved truly shocking results- about 65% of the "teachers" in the test administered the maximum level of shock ( potentially lethal ) to their " students" - this despite the fact that they clearly heard them screaming, knocking on the wall etc. This experiment was repeated in different countries, with similar results.
Here's what Milgram wrote about it in his book -
Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority.
This experiment seems to tell us something frightening about the human nature- when confronted with difficult moral questions, we often choose not to take responsibility and simply yield o authority.
Judaism brought into the world the idea of Man created in the Image of G-d, his Freedom of Will and thus Moral Responsibility for his actions. If this is what Judaism stands for, we can understand what the essence of Amalek is- essential Doubt that Man possesses such Greatness, stripping him from any G-dlike identity. After all, we are simply more advanced animals. It's not a coincidence, that Hitler actively promoted this vision ( later referred to as Social Darwinism )
“Truly, this earth is a trophy cup for the industrious man. And this rightly so, in the service of natural selection. He who does not possess the force to secure his Lebensraum in this world, and, if necessary, to enlarge it, does not deserve to possess the necessities of life. He must step aside and allow stronger peoples to pass him by.” - Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf.
And possibly this would answer our first question- we OUGHT TO REMEMBER, WE MAY NOT FORGET- what such vision of man and such philosophy does to humanity!
We ERASE Amalek's memory by recognizing the traits of his philosophy in our own hearts and minds! This paradox of remembering to erase the memory in fact is teaching us another lesson-
AMALEK WILL NEVER DISAPPEAR! Our human nature is in constant conflict between Good and Evil, and this would continue on- to help us make the right moral choices, and to elevate us to serve G-d with Love and Compassion, with our Free Will and desire to do Good, eradicating cruelty and herd mentality from our midst!
Happy Purim!

On Integrity and harmony

This post comes as a result of my reflection on the subject of Integrity- something we discussed recently on my facebook group, Jewish explorer. Integrity is an important value for me personally (possibly, I would put it on top of the list- which in fact, I did during my recent coaching session). In fact, I believe, Integrity and honesty on all levels is an essential ingredient of any meaningful interaction- and most important factor in bridging the gap between different cultures, and different people. So, naturally, I was challenged to look for a Jewish answer to the question of Integrity.
And here's my understanding of one of the fundamental teachings of Rabbi Yehuda ha Nassi (the Prince-that's the usual translation-although Nassi was an equivalent of a President those days). The author of this teaching, as you know, was most prominent Torah scholar (so no one can tell me, we are dealing with some "marginal case" here) , and also the compiler and codifier of the Mishna- huge undertaking never to be repeated in Jewish history in the scope of what was done [up until that point, Oral Torah remained oral and was never recorded]
Here's the text-
Rabbi [Judah HaNassi]* would say: Which is the right [Yashar] path for man to choose for himself? Whatever is harmonious [Tiferet] for the one who does it, and harmonious for mankind.
I included Hebrew words here on purpose, as this translation, although very close to the original, still fails to express all the power of the Hebrew text
So, Rabbi (that's how they call him- simply Rabbi- rabbi 'by default' is R'Yehuda ha Nassi)- is asking an important question- I'd say, if there's one question we are to ask ourselves- it's probably this one! How to live your life, which path is right, which one to choose? Notice, however, in the original Hebrew, this RIGHT path is called YASHAR- so to speak, something we can visualize as STRAIGHT path, something that we can follow
Maybe YASHAR also implies that it's relatively straight-forward- so, the answer has to be simple and clear!
Simple and clear it is- very YASHAR- Whatever is TIFERET (harmonious) for the one who does it ( stress is on the word DOES), and TIFERET for mankind
First, notice how straight this answer is- here you have an equation, on both sides of which is TIFERET- usually translated as beauty, but more accurate translataion will be Harmony. Harmony is supposed to be beautiful, but it's much more- it also has depth! It's a 3D beauty, beauty with the sense of purpose and direction! Here we have all three dimensions of life, based on Kierkegaard- aesthetic (beauty), ethical, and religious [although at this point we can only recognize the first two, we'll get to that later]
This equation presents us with the real challenge though- how often do we find, that our Internal Truth, our Tiferet of the first part of equation, comes into conflict with the second part- what society expects us to do?
Notice, however, that the word does appears only in the first part- whatever is Tiferet for the one who does it! One would expect, that the first part, which speaks of man to himself and recognizes this as an important sphere of life, would be more focused on thoughts and emotions, rather than action- and in fact, should we read- Whatever is harmonious for the one who follows it would probably make more sense- after all, one follows the path, and  is not doing it! This stress on action is imho, very precise here- it's NOT enough to have harmony in your mind and in your emotional world- the OUTCOME of that in the World of Actions is what counts in the final analysis!
With that in mind, let's move to the second part- here we have Tiferet for mankind- and if I'm not mistaken, this Tiferet for mankind is coming as a result of his actions- for that reason, no need to emphasize action again-it's been already accomplished in the first part! What counts now, is check and balance mechanism- and the word Tiferet, by the way, certainly is associated with balance- the challenge here is to see, how your actions, coming from your Inner Truth (there's a very deep connection between Truth-Emet- and Tiferet- harmony- which is well-known to all who are familiar with the Sfirot- Divine emanations- there Tiferet and Emet are interchangeable!)-how your Tiferet-based actions bring Tiferet to mankind? And we all understand, that this is not self-evident- what's good for me, and even right and straight in my eyes, may clash with the inner truth of others, thus bringing DISHARMONY- the very OPPOSITE of Tiferet!
So we have strong ethical considerations on both sides of the equation, i.e- Are my actions in tune with my Inner Truth (first part), but also- Are my actions in tune with the World? And this doesn't mean, of course, to simply become comformist- as this would compromise the first part! What it means, is to find the RIGHT BALANCE- not a compromise (again!)- but the TRUE TIFERET! We simply add an extra dimension to TIFERET- it has to be both Self and World- centered, in true harmony with the dual calling of Man- be true to yourself, and be true to your calling- and also, look at your mission AS PART of a GLOBAL WORLD evolution- thus, your calling will become even more noble, stripped of the layers of your Ego, that so often doesn't allow us to see, how all conflicts and all struggles in the world are but different colours of the rainbow, representing one True Colour of G-d! But of course, to get to this point of Transcending Unity, one needs the third dimension of Tiferet- Religious one!
This article is meant to be some sort of an 'appetizer', and I hope we will be enjoying the 'main course'soon!