The Role of Tradition

I'm not Jewish. I can pass (Aaron Benjamin Leavy, dark haired, bearded, vaguely semitic, neurotic) but again I'm not a Jew. I went with my dear family to their Unitarian passover seder earlier this evening. It was open and affirming, easy and short. But it left me cold. It left me wanting something with more of an epic feel, something with structure. I wanted to feel connected to the centuries (millenia) of Jews who every year in good times and more often in bad had held seders that were unified by some key elements. Instead I felt like it was a very nice Fisher-Price my first seder.

I've been to several seders. This one had a few problems. First there were different questions. Not the normal 4. Everything was in English. We quoted Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. When talking about the plagues they were "some bad things." The blood was barely explained, but when it was, it was put on the doors so people would know who the Jews were. No mention of it being used to spare the first born. And it wasn't to let some folks know who the Jews were...it was the Angel of Death. I'm all for accessible, and since this was a Unitarian service, it wasn't intended as a solely Jewish service.

I talked about this with my mother who is studying to become a chaplain. It seems, I said, that if religion is the realm of irreducible and elemental, then that truth should be applicable throughout the centuries, and that the real test of theology and clergy is how does something eternally true apply to our lives today. I don't want or need fluff, and post modern--feel good stuff. I want open and affirming--but not at the expense of tradition. I also don't want faith that fails to acknowledge that we have learned and changed as a people (writ large). So I guess I'm trying to figure out how to be progressive in my outlook while cleaving to a tradition--something that connects me and my insignificant temporary actions to something that will exist longer than I do, and has existed for centuries.

I spent most of my life rebelling against Westerville's strict and staid adherence to mainline stuffy consumerist Christianity. But I think a part of me really wants structure. An approach to understanding.