The Dignity of Difference by Jonathan Sacks - Essay Example

Analyze and assess the understanding of the relationship between Judaism and the modern world outlined in Jonathan Sacks The Dignity of Difference “Energy is the basis of everything. Every Jew, no matter how insignificant, is engaged in some decisive and immediate pursuit of a goal … It is the most perpetual people on the earth ….” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe In an age of abhorrence and disinclination fuelled by religious extremism an overwhelming desire for qualities such as forbearance, mutual respect and peaceful co – existence amongst the human race irrespective of their religious or cultural backgrounds has increased considerably. The pursuit of exercising dominance over the world has always resulted in clash of civilizations resulting in large scale devastation, melancholy, and disaster as is evident from the September 11, catastrophe in the United States. This sends out an unblemished message – that of the disastrous consequences of attempting to establish a single way of life in a multicultural society. Jonathan Sack’s book on The Dignity of Difference: How to avoid the clash of civilizations is based on this ongoing issue of changing face of religion in an age of globalization and its various implifications. For better or for worse, religion, has re – emerged amidst an atmosphere of heightened apprehension and uncertainty. And more often than not mankind is faced with its detrimental consequences. A careful study of religious sermons across the globe reveals that the apathy shown by the torchbearers of religion in the name of God, are often the result of the malicious intents of the highly manipulative religious leaders and their communities. A brief probe into the contemporary clashes spurred on religious grounds would reveal a series of non exhaustive and disheartening events that history has witnessed over the years, some of which are still ongoing, such as the clash between Hindus and Muslims in Kashmir, India, Jews and Palestinians in the Middle East, Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, and the fearsome Taliban in Afghanistan. Sack’s book provides a stimulating and elevated view of his religious perceptions that seek to promote inter – cultural congeniality and benevolence. The author, being a staunch follower of Judaism: an orthodox Jew is highly religious and yet disapproves of overbearing display of one’s religious beliefs and its imposition on the followers of other faiths. His position as the chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth1 and his approach towards following one’s own cultural values in a multicultural environment enables him to confront and enlighten aggravating issues concerning religious beliefs in a most diligent manner. In his book, Dignity of Difference, the author, Jonathan Sacks, explicitly conveys his thoughts and presumptions on a host of issues, simultaneously addressing his readers across the globe, appealing the members of all communities, irrespective of their faiths and cultural backgrounds to embrace the ideology of harmony and tolerance in a bid to avoid the clash of civilizations. According to the author, the world religions have a momentous and conceivable role in settling all issues related to encountering religious skirmish as opposed to the largely propagated and misconstrued belief that narrows down the role of religion as a tool for “creating” conflicts. To achieve the real potential of religion as a barrier of peace and harmony, something apparently incongruous is needed, for instance, an ingrained feeling of religiosity which has the strength and willingness to embrace the ‘dignity’ of the others, in a way that, “the more passionately we feel our religious commitments, the more space we make for those who are not like us”. 2 The prologue of the book sets a stage for the establishment of countermeasures that, Sacks, offers for preventing such religious clashes, based on an exclusive, open and unbiased debate on the role of religion involving human kind which is not exhaustive of the information or intention and operates on a profound and existential level where the audience are encouraged to express their fear and share their susceptibilities simultaneously conceiving a dawn of positivity and hope. The interaction of human race with religious communities at a global level, would, assuredly warranty an existential dialogue since faith and belief in one’s religion fuels the capacity to deal with and overcome the most heart wrenching bedevilment of human heart, as well as soothe its most passionate craving and ambitions. Religion, as viewed by many is a tool of the fraught individuals, who are vulnerable and irresolute to the vagaries of their more aggressive and demanding counterparts. The author, thus, appeals to the leaders of the various religious communities of the world to unite in a bid to prevent and obstruct the desolation and subjugation of the highly vulnerable fellow human beings. He suggests that they should voice the dejection and sufferings of such individuals who are suffering away in isolation for want of basic amenities such as food, water, shelter, medication, as well as lack of freedom. The future of the west today, is at peril owing to the ongoing wars in the name of religion and God, interlaced with political and economic considerations. The increase in human capacity for spreading widespread terror and devastation is intimidating and hence the urgency for setting up a mechanism that has the potential to deal with such rapidly changing global scenario is being felt worldwide. In the face of such unnerving incidences of terror and chaos, Judaism offers solace in the form of its principles and tradition, since some of the major religions in the world, including Christianity, Islam and American politics to a certain extent, have been largely regarded as a recreation of the Jewish tradition and way of life3. In times of expanding boundaries and multiculturalism, human miseries are magnified on account of a host of factors including displacement and lack of sense of being. This is where, according to the author, Judaism plays a significant role because of its long standing association with this phenomenon called – globalism. In order to warrant this fact Sacks states that the ancient saints of Israel initiated the thought of thinking on a global scale, to conceive the, thought, of a God, which defies geographical boundaries – national, international as well as those of humanity and propose the establishment of a community with a unique morals. However, Judaism simultaneously had to battle the actuality of worldwide dissemination which further helped the Jews as a community to contemplate the manner in which they could retain their unparalleled faith in the midst of a global commonality and cling on to it as a solitary moral congregation4. The author has also referred to Jews as the world’s first global people5. Putting forward a relatively daring conceptualization, Sacks explains that the true essence of the practice of monotheism observed by the Jews, which conventionally believes in the proposition of oneness of God, and faith, lies in the theory of unity amidst diversity. He further states that the harmony facilitates multifariousness and the actual magnificence of the established world is in its incredible diversity. The increased momentum of the world’s development, heightened by the globalization phenomenon, has held captive the peaceful dialogue of human race, under the amalgamated influence of the modern world antics of corporate globalism, consumer sovereignty and expressivism which has muted the voices proposing the concept of peaceful co – existence and in the process, ruined the chances of achieving global peace. Although the concepts of consumer sovereignty and expressivism are encroached vigorously they are neither deliberated nor examined. However, the concept of corporate globalism does succeed in advocating the waver of an undeviating model of practices across the globe contemptuous of the apparent disparities. The author argues that the world cultures especially western history, has witnessed a significant metamorphosis from generalized administrations including ancient Rome and Greece through the medium of such religions as Islam and Christianity. All these systems, fabricated into illustrious chronicles have eliminated the contemporary traditions, historic cultures, and diverse ways of conduct. Today, there exists a refreshing global regime – corporate globalism, established in the market as well as in the media which has led to its wide scale popularity thus jeopardizing all things which are historical and contemporary. He admits that if the modern phenomenon is sought to be addressed through old norms, it is destined for crisis and chaos and hence he suggests an archetypical transformation which might be required for averting the global world from being a part of a sporadic yet devastating wars. He suggests that people from all walks of life must within the boundaries of their respective religious faiths, prepare themselves to listen to the anguish, mortification and antipathy of the people and unearth the fact that their perception of us is anything but our perception of ourselves. He further states that: “We must learn the art of conversation, from which truth emerges not, as in Socratic dialogues, by the refutation of falsehood but by the different processes of letting our world be enlarged by the presence of others who think, act, and interpret reality in ways radically different from our own. We must attend to the particular, not just the universal”6 He further goes on to state that clashing of the universal civilizations shakes up the world, leading to loss of innumerable lives and peace would prevail only on the assertion of the fact that God loves and embraces difference. But the most notable fact is that God has created several cultures and faiths but only one world to live together and in harmony, which, owing to globalization is getting smaller by each passing day. Furthering this proposition, presented by him, he puts forward the Abrahamic pact that affirms the belief that God directed the Jews to be different from the others with a view to instruct the human race the dignity of difference. The contrariety between God and religion, and the profound divinity of God and the preordained heterogeneity of the specific religious faiths is apparent in this concept. To further assert this belief the author states that: “God is God of all humanity, but no single faith is or should be the faith of all humanity”7 Jonathan Sacks confronts the modernity of the western world and propounds a reflective and discerning critique. He proposes that the concept of modernity was presumably expected to be based on the idea of a solitary or unique assemblage of intertwined beliefs having science as its mannequin, and reason as its source of discourse deprived of accruement of traditions whereby it would create wealth through market exchange and division of labor, overcome nature through economic development and technological advances and capitalize contentment and bliss through serviceable estimation. On the other hand, he counters this course by establishing the fact that the world is not a ‘one single mechanism’ but a convoluted, collaborative anatomy wherein heterogeneity including biological, individual, social and spiritual is one of the intrinsic and indispensible properties. According to Sacks, all aspects of religion and culture essentially subscribe to the fundamental longing for legitimacy and veracity which radiates from the God of Abraham as well as the covenant of Noah. The soul of the Hebrew Bible, according to Sacks, is not a succession of nonfigurative commandments but in fact, it is the allurement of ‘Shema Israel’ whereby the word shema refers to an understanding or comprehending in one’s complete state of awareness. Referring to himself as an orthodox Jew as opposed to a liberal one, Sacks affirms that the contemporary challenge faced by him is most judicious in today’s times especially considering the fact that the resuscitation in a majority of the faiths followed the world over, in the recent decades, have been more on the conservative end rather than leaning towards a liberal approach. He states that the strength of such conservative religious movements are the very reason for experiencing a host of protests and demonstrations against the same, rather than consummate to late modernity. According to him: “The power of conservative religious movements has been precisely the fact that they represent protests against, rather than accommodations to late modernity. They are expressions of deep dismay at some of the side – effects of global capitalism; its inequities, its consumerism and exploitation, its failure to address wide spread poverty and disease, its juggernaut insensitivity to local traditions and cultures ……. It is religion not so much in its modern but its countermodern guise that has won adherents in today’s world, and it is here that the struggle of tolerance, co – existence and non violence must be fought.”8 The author states that the concept of modernity according to the Western world is suggestive of a celebratory demonstration of a unique assemblage of ideas and concepts wherein the ideas of economic transactions and science and technology, assume supreme acceptation. Based on this ideology the whole world was assumed to become “one giant satisfaction – producing machine 9delivering ever – larger yields of that measure – of – all – things called progress”. The Jewish biblical tradition offers a curative for this recent outrage on nature in the form of Sabbath which acts as a periodic admonisher of the righteousness of nature. Similarly the ‘chukkim’ statutes of the Bible expect the humans to acknowledge their reverence to nature by abstaining from harming the feasibility of various forms of flora and fauna. Ultimately the customary offering of prayer that guides the human race to make a blessings according to the Jewish tradition over everything we eat or drink as a measure of reminding ourselves of the God’s ownership of the world. 10 The book is an excellent presentation of the author’s perception of religious liberties and his views on achieving world piece through the basic tradition as observed by the Jews and propagated in Judaism. The presumptions made by the author and the uninhibited and noncommittal arguments presented in the book is a rarity in itself. The manner in which Sacks has appealed to the human race to indulge in an act of kindness, towards individuals belonging to other faiths and religions, shedding one’s religious biases and embracing the multiplicity of modern day life is truly commendable. The thoughts, ideas and concepts presented in the book, if practiced diligently in recent times, would help significantly in modifying the existent world which is full of chaos, destruction and turbulence and pacify the skirmish encountered the world over. In conclusion, as Sacks states: “We are not Gods, but we are summoned by God – to do His work of love and justice and compassion and peace”11 References: Jonathan Sacks, The Dignity of Difference: How to Avoid the Clash of Civilization, London and New York, 2002, Pp. ix - 208 Read More