Mark: When I was preparing for my rabbinic school interview, one of the questions I felt I would certainly be asked about was my belief in God and, the nature of that belief. I was prepared to be challenged on my belief, to gain a window into the depth and sincerity of that belief.
But the question never came up. How could that be? How could that query and its adequate response not be among the most critical of questions for determining my competency and readiness for a proper rabbinic seminary education?
To further the point, I was never asked any related questions regarding my belief in God by any of the various search committee interviews I experienced throughout my thirty-six years in the congregational rabbinate. How could this be?
Nevertheless, I spent much of my career feeling as though I always needed to have one concise, cogent, and consistent answer, whenever or wherever the question might arise.
As the years went by, I realized the idea of just one answer or of one simple, unwavering response was no longer satisfactory to me, nor could it be after all I had learned and all I had witnessed as a rabbi, nor would it be an honest answer for them. I had developed many concepts of God, and as I grew more comfortable expressing a multiplicity of answers and beliefs, I felt it might open the possibilities of beliefs for others as well.
Here’s what I believe: I believe in the God that exists within each of us; I believe in the God that is found in the relationships between us; I believe in the God that formed and sustains the world around us; and, at times, I even believe in the God above us, the most anthropomorphic God we acknowledge most through prayer. I call that version of God, the God of the Airplane Runway.
Here is why: There are times in each of our lives when the rational explanations for things cease to work for us. For me, one of those times is when I am seated on an airplane waiting for takeoff at the edge of the airplane runway. At those moments, as I contemplate the unbelievable miracle of flight along with what it means to be propelled through the sky in a heavy metal tube, I believe in and pray to a very anthropomorphic type of deity, whom I call the God of the airplane runway. I take comfort in the image of the arms of my Creator, which lifts that plane and, defying the laws of gravity, carries it across miles upon miles, and then sets it down, ever so gently, once again, often halfway across the world. To that God, I offer the same prayer before takeoff, taking great comfort in the belief and hope that my God of the airplane runway will listen and keep the plane aloft and keep me (and my other fellow passengers) safe.
Frank, does anything about this make sense to you or resonate with you?
Frank: Yes, Mark, that makes incredible sense to me and is what I believe works for me as well.
Jews often recite the Shema prayer before they die including Jewish martyrs who, throughout the ages made it their final profession of faith before being put to death. My parents told me when I was young that the Shema prayer was what they believed were the last words a dying Jew should recite and while this may not be an absolute Jewish law, it is one that I have embraced. “Hear O Israel: The Lord is our God the Lord is one. Praised be His name whose glorious kingdom is forever and ever,” are words I have recited in Hebrew and English many times in my life. I have recited them at religious services and at times that I needed spiritual courage, which for me, is just before I am put to sleep for a medical procedure or as you have explained so eloquently, just before the airplane, I am on is about to take off. These words comfort me and allow me to feel that if something untoward happens during surgery or my trip into the air, I will have fulfilled the act my parents told me was important to do. I am not sure that these words will protect me, however, I do know that they comfort me.
I am also comforted by the fact that the religious views you delve into are in so many ways the same as my scientific ones. Albert Einstein said it best, “Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.”
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Rabbi Mark Schiftan can be reached at mschiftan@aol.com
Dr. Frank Boehm can be reached at frank.boehm@vumc.org
