The Kofer's Credo

“Besides the term "min" ( מין ) for "heretic," the Talmud uses the words

"ḥiẓonim" (outsiders), "apikoros," and "kofer ba-Torah" (R. H. 17a), or "kofer

ba-ikkar" (he who denies the fundamentals of faith; Pes. xxiv. 168b); also

"poresh mi-darke tzibbur" (he who deviates from the customs of the

community; Tosef., Sanh. xiii. 5; R. H. 17a). Of all these it is said that they

are consigned to Gehinnom for all eternity (Tosef., Sanh. l.c.; comp. ib. xii.

9, apparently belonging to xiii. 5: "He who casts off the yoke [of the Law],

and he who severs the Abrahamic covenant; he who interprets

the Torah against the halakic tradition, and he who pronounces in full the

Ineffable Name—all these have no share in the world to come”).”

(Wiki)

In order to salvage the text

We invite kofrim

Our holy brothers in disbelief

Those whose conscience forbids them

The facile easy answers to theology and the like.

We invite them

Because they are within us too

In moments of lucidity

And allow us permission

To disbelieve

To disinherit the worn out truths

But as for the text, neither of us shall forsake

The text is sacred to both of us

And in it and around it we shall gather

Struggling in our own separate ways

To make sense of someone else’s path

A bygone era’s trace and etchings in history

Those before us who also kneaded the sacred words

In this effort the black letters form platforms

Where we dive into the space between the letters

Allowing our imaginations to roam freely

Producing new Torah

True to tradition

For own children to see our struggles

Our etchings in the parchment

The crowns and jots and tittles

Are thorns in our sides

Forcing us to remain in discomfort

With the received tradition

To always questions and benchmark

Those values against our own equity

Holding their values to the sunlight

Of our new dawn.

We share the belief that the undifferentiated Divine radiance shines down

Incarnating our souls

In both light and dark shades

In a speckled shadowy hue

Both Schechina as well as Satan/Samael incarnate in our hearts

And our task is to be present to both, as they manifest themselves

And struggle within us.

Not to explain rationalize theologize or moralize

Rather be present and endure the process

Watch and gaze intently

As the oscillations of Shabbat and Chol permeate us

As the holidays, births, tragedies and life transitional rituals

Are played out with wonder.

Mindful ever of our light and dark sides

The evil within and without.

Across the sacred text we both sit

And babble the Talmudic folio after folio

With commentaries and super commentaries

One of us is satisfied

The other seeks parallel worlds

Mythological similitudes from other cultures

And eagerly rushes to critical analytical tools

That open the text to its semantic and ancient

Roots like an archeological dig.

But both remain faithful to the integrity of the word

And the notion of sacred text

Hallowed by a millennia of scholarship

And beloved, and cherished,

by its readers and students of all ages.

Sacred not because of some external deus ex machina

Rather the incarnated divine in all of us

Studying and struggling with its words

And arcane ideas

Making sense of it for our own road maps.

In this space we share common ground

The Torah binds us

Despite our difference

Despite our polar opposite views

It matters not!

Come and sit by me

Share with me the wonder

And in doing so heal the world.