TheBanyanTree: Letter to the Talmud/Torah teacher

[Tobie Shapiro]

November 18, 200000000005


Dear Seekers,

	A few years ago, Meyshe, Feyna and I started studying for our 
Bat and Bar Mitzvahs.  We all went together to see the glowing and 
wondrous woman, Julie Batz, whose presence emits an aura of calm and 
well being.  When Villainman walked out on us in 2004, we could no 
longer concentrate and study the Hebrew, but we were unwilling to 
give up our lessons with Julie.  We transformed our Hebrew lessons 
into some form of Jewish lessons.  Every time we'd see her, we'd 
cover some new topic brought to us from the makers of the Torah or 
Talmud, the history of Jewish practice, the care and feeding of a 
Jewish household, customs, rituals, philosophical questions.

	Yesterday, Meyshe came to Julie's house with a book of 
Buddhist sayings and wanted to know what Judaism had to say about 
some of them.  This was fascinating.  In Buddhism, you strive to live 
a life without "attachments", accepting that life can be suffering. 
In fact, one of the quotations that Meyshe read from his book on 
Buddhism was, "Life is suffering."  Being Jewish, Julie explained, we 
are told to rejoice, celebrate, make each day good, be involved. 
It's about community and lots of attachment.  We are very much in 
this world.  But Buddhism and Judaism can be quite compatible.  There 
are many Jews who are also Buddhists.

	Then Feyna asked, "Is Atheism a religion?"

	Good question, Feyna.

	Julie was delighted.

	We talked about that for a bit.

	We left Julie's house feeling sweeter about life than when 
we'd arrived.  And this morning, I wrote her a letter to tell her 
what she triggered in my mind, and how she affects us.  Teachers need 
to know.

	This is the letter:

 
)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(


November 18, 20000005


Dear Julie,

	I loved Feyna's question:  Is atheism a religion?

	Some practice it as such.  My father was an atheist with such 
angry fervour that you knew he must believe in the entity he hated so 
much.  Certainly, God was affecting his life.  He would make fun of 
believers with a great deal of derision, and lecture at the dinner 
table about how stupid and harmful a belief in God has proven to be 
in history and the present world.  His face would turn red, and he'd 
make fists, although I'm sure he wasn't aware.

	It wasn't just the Jewish God he was angry at; it was all 
gods.  I remember some Jehovah's Witnesses coming to the door one 
day.  There they were with their suits and ties, scrubbed and clean, 
their magazines and pamphlets at the ready.  It's hard for me to know 
what to do with door to door religious proselytizers.  I stand there 
looking at the business end of a big black bible and all I can think 
about is how much in common we have while we are completely 
different.  I tend to be nice to them, while letting them know that 
I'm taken care of in the religious heritage department.  But my 
father was of another cut of cloth.  He was overly sweet to them, 
invited them inside to sit on the couch in the living room, offered 
them refreshments, played a better host than he'd ever played to 
anyone I'd witnessed.  And when they'd settled in and started to ply 
their trade, he cut them into a million pieces with his razor sharp 
tongue.  Pulled them through tiny holes in their own logic, and tore 
their belief system apart.  He enjoyed every moment with a 
schadenfreude that was both awesome and chilling.  He sent them 
flying away out the front door, shouting after them that they were 
the ignorant cause of all the world's ills.

	In his way, he practiced Atheism devoutly.

	So Feyna's question was a good one, a strong one, an ironic one.

	Here's my religious poem.

Fishes thrash upstream
Don't ask why.
Sun glint and death gleam avoid the true eye.
We do this.
We do this because we do this.
Because we do this, we do this.

	May your day be filled with blessings.  It was wonderful to 
see you yesterday.  I eat up the minutes.  We were all replenished.

	Love,

	Tobie
-- 




Tobie Helene Shapiro
Berkeley, California   USA

tobie at shpilchas.net