[Avodah] Judaism is not a religion

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Sep 05, 2018 at 02:56:50PM +0000, Professor L. Levine wrote:
: It may sound strange to some to assert that Judaism is not a religion,
: but this is precisely what Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch says in his
: commentary on Shemos 6:7

Not really. (And I can't believe we're doing this yet again.) What RSRH writes
is:
: [Li le'am:] These two short words are the first statement of Israel's
: destiny. They express the quality that makes Judaism so unique. It is
: entirely inappropriate to refer to Judaism as "the Jewish religion"; it is
: thoughtless to define Judaism as a religion, to classify it with the other
: religions, and then to be amazed that this "religion" includes so many
: elements that transcend the conventional bounds of "religion."

Notice, here he says that Judaism is not to be classified with other
religions, and that it transcends the bounds of "religion". As I tried
to show by quoting Merriam-Webster's definition of the word religion;
RSRH would have to agree that Judaism qualifies.

I argued (1) he was using the word in a specific way; and (2) to say
that Judaism is more than a religion. IOW, I have been claiming (for
around a decade now) that RSRH's words mean: Judaism's ritual system is
only part of what Judaism is, and not even the most central part.

What I wrote fits the words of the next paragraph perfectly:
: This statement alone already makes it clear that Judaism, as established
: by God, is not a religion at all. True, Judaism also embraces
: elements generally characterized as "religion," but the term "Judaism"
: is completely different and infinitely broader. In "religion," God has
: only temples, churches, priestly orders, congregations, etc. Nations, peoples,
: are subject only to kings and governments; they are founded on
: the concept of statehood, not on religion and God. In Judaism, however,
: God founded not a church, but a nation; a whole national life is to be
: fashioned by Him. Israel will be His people, not just a congregation of
: believers.

But are we not also a congregation of believers? Don't we still offer
HQBH our synagogues, kohanim and rabbanim, and as for congregations...
what does the "K" in KAJ stand for?

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Education is not the filling of a bucket,
micha at aishdas.org        but the lighting of a fire.
http://www.aishdas.org                - W.B. Yeats
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