Jeremy Rosen
Israel: A Nation in Mourning
Summary
Rabbi Jeremy Rosen explores what’s happening in Israel today.
Jeremy Rosen
Manchester-born Jeremy Rosen was educated at Cambridge University England and Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He has practiced as an orthodox rabbi, as principal of Carmel College in the UK, and as professor at the Faculty for Comparative Religion in Antwerp, Belgium. He has written and lectured extensively in the UK and the US, where he now resides and was the rabbi of the Persian-Jewish community in Manhattan.
No, we are told not to ask for revenge. The Torah says very, very clearly, we must not act out of revenge. We should punish if somebody deserves to be punished. And so what we’re talking about is not vengeance. We are talking about punishing people for doing the wrong thing. So we shouldn’t confuse the two. Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord, but in fact, we are told not to seek vengeance or revenge. Remain the paradox of the Jewish people seeking peace while having to defend ourselves.
I think we should very much stress the idea of not being dehumanised. We must recognise that every soul has the capacity to be a divine soul, even though some souls are distorted and are evil. But I don’t know how you can pray specifically for dehumanisation as opposed to praying to be a good human being. And all the time we are told to pray for and for kindness and to be good human beings.
I don’t think so. I don’t think we should think of God as a person. I also, to be honest, when I pray to God, I pray to God for good. I never pray to God for bad. Now, some people like to curse. Some people like to pray for bad. I don’t. But anyway, I believe petitionary prayer is basically me saying what do I care about? So when I pray or give a blessing to my children on Friday night, I’m not guaranteeing that they’re going to succeed in life. I’m just saying, I hope you will do well in life. I hope you will have peace. I hope you will have kindness. It’s an expression of feeling rather than please may I have. I put a penny in the slot, and I pull the lever. Prayer is not ask God for something, and you might be lucky and you’ll get it. In which case please, may I win the lottery, but I never buy a ticket.