|
This is the final in a three-part series covering the spring Evening of World Faith presentation at Oblate School of Theology.
SAN ANTONIO • An imam, a hazzan and a Catholic professor of theology delved into the subject, “Authority: Used or Misused?” in their respective Abrahamic faiths during the spring session of Oblate School of Theology’s Evening of World Faith series on March 7.
Under the topic, “On Whose Authority? How Religious Authority is Developed and Used in Judaism, Christianity and Islam,” the night’s focus was on “Authority: Used or Misused?”
Imam Omar Shakir, spiritual leader of Masjid Bilal Mosque, spoke on the Islamic tradition, with Hazzan David Silverstein, J.D., leader of the new Congregation Israel, representing Judaism and Scott Woodward, D.Min, assistant professor of pastoral theology at Oblate School of Theology, speaking on the Catholic/Christian tradition. Imam Shakir’s and Scott Woodward’s presentations were covered in previous issues of Today’s Catholic.
|
|
Hazzan Silverstein began with a review of the role of hazzan, which shares similar but contrasting heritages of tradition with that of rabbi. Legal aspects of Judaism fall primarily to the rabbi, he noted, while the spiritual is primarily delegated to the hazzan or cantor, who is a musical presenter. He added that a hazzan can inherit both aspects of those services, something which is true in his own case.
“Judaism essentially is a lay-led religion in all of its rites,” he said. “The exception might be where the imposition of secular law for marriage and, in some cases, burial would require me or a rabbi to officiate because we are ordained to do so.”
Viewing these offices as professions had been very foreign to Judaism, he noted, but professional schools have arisen to help clarify the boundaries for the community, enabling them to know who is in charge. “Generally, it’s the rabbi,” he said, “because that is the closest thing the public can think of in terms of a CEO.” He pointed out, however, that the office of hazzan began 500 years before that of the rabbi and the “job descriptions” have changed over the years.
He further noted that both men and women can hold all positions in the Jewish tradition, except in the Orthodox community, where women may not serve as hazzans, but can be called rabbis, as a rabbi, by definition, is a teacher.
Silverstein pointed out that any Jew knowledgeable in the Jewish tradition can perform the rites. “You don’t need me or a rabbi,” he said, “to be a full and complete Jew,” adding that technically a father is supposed to circumcise his own son, but generally that is performed these days by a mohel, who is qualified in that surgery.
As Jewish “professionals,” he said, rabbis and hazzans are sometimes consulted by the non-Jewish community to offer a Jewish perspective on Jewish issues with regard to ecumenical relations and on events involving Israel. He noted the latter is actually more a political question than a religious one. They are also called on to comment on Jewish holidays and rites, bless community events, participate in military memorials, participate in ecumenical events and serve as consultants on films with a Jewish character.
“We speak in the name of the Jewish community,” he said, regarding hazzans and rabbis. “The hazzan is an emissary of the congregation,” he continued. While not the same as priests, he noted their role is “to pray the prayers in the Hebrew tongue, with music, before the Almighty.”
While the role can be as heady as marching with Martin Luther King, it can also be uncomfortable when called on to comment on such issues as abortion or stem cell research, since a hazzan cannot speak for all Jews. “To do so would do a disservice to many communities,” he said. “So that’s a very fine line one walks.” What he can do is give his personal view, based on his scholarship and knowledge, and it is possible another Jewish representative would give a view that is the opposite. As in other faiths, he noted, sometimes those representing the Jewish faith “have gone afoul of what we’ve trained in the Torah.”
Every Jew, he said, is supposed to serve as “a light unto to the world of nations” by their behavior, since they have, according to Scriptures, been chosen “from among all peoples” and called “a nation of priests.” However, statistically, they fall far short of regular participation in Jewish rituals and events, he noted, with only around 20 percent participating.
On the misuse of authority, Silverstein observed that there is no word for sin in the Jewish tradition. Rather, there is a word used instead that means “missing the mark.” “It’s, ‘You miss your goal of living as a full and complete Jew,’” he said.
There is also the Jewish concept of not doing anything that might be misread as being inappropriate, even if, in itself, it is appropriate, as this has consequences for other persons beyond yourself. “That’s how we misuse our authority,” he said. He noted, as in other religions, unfortunate scandals have arisen involving Jews, including ones of sexual abuse.
In closing he described the sacred clothes prescribed in Exodus for the high priest, who served as a representative of the entire community before God. The names of the sons of Israel were engraved on lazuli stones affixed to his vestments. “It is like, on his shoulders a father carrying the child to keep it safe,” he said. “He’s got all the names of Israel that he wears into the Holy of Holies to say, ‘I am human too. And I am bringing you the names of Israel.”
The colors of the high priest’s vestments also showed his humanity, the linen representing the domain of white and purity and the wool dyed a purple shade representing the animal world and dark crimson for human blood. Its blue symbolized God.
“Humans,” added Silverstein, “represent the combination of all four of these levels.” He added that at one time or another an individual may be living at the lowest or highest levels of human existence or somewhere in between — all described in the colors worn by the high priest.
“We don’t have priests anymore,” he said, “but when Israel sees those colors, they are reminded that the community is comprised of all of these individuals. At one time or another, the priest must serve them all too.” It is the idea, he said, that all our communities are made up of the good, the bad and those who are in between.
Commenting on ecumenism, he observed that Abraham had been held in great respect by his non-Jewish neighbors. “There were Jews and non-Jews existing very, very well in the time of the Bible,” he observed. “And we pray God we’ll see that again.” |