Worship of the Self

If spirituality is about ``whatever turns you on,'' then why be Jewish? Appreciating the poetry and devotional intensity of their faiths is commendable, but religious syncretism is a dead end. If ``spiritual'' is whatever you need it to be, then the entire notion of peoplehood becomes outmoded and parochial.

In a ``Doonsbury''cartoon the hip reverend is reviewing the church schedule. ``OK, flock, I thought I'd run through this week's activities. This Monday, of course, we have a lecture on nutrition from Kate Moss's personal chef. Tuesday and Thursday will be our regular 12-step nights ... Sex addition ... [is] on Friday at 6:30 pm, right after organic co-gardening. Also, a special treat-Saturday night will be aerobic male-bonding night! So bring your sneaks. Any questions?'' ``Yes, is there a service?'' ``Canceled. There was a conflict with the self-esteem workshop.''

We Jews may not be running self-esteem workshops in our synagogues, but the cult of ``me'' is quietly present. Many contemporary Jews find spirituality in the life cycle rather than in the festival cycle. They believe the synagogue exists exclusively for their own life moments --- especially bar/bat mitzvah.

Reform Jews who struggle with the meaning of spirituality would do well to hear the cautionary words of writer Cynthia Ozick: ``The Jewish way is to feel responsibility to the Creator, not to fancy you own a piece of the Creator, or that the Creator inhabits you; to be responsible to your fellow-creatures, not to be lifted above them by special intuitive or magical gifts of Divine apprehension; to express the Covenantal relationship by fellow-feeling in peoplehood, in duty, and in deed, not to make it secondary to subjective longings; to distinguish between the holy and the profane, not to wash away the holy by finding it everywhere in a great flood of undifferentiated and ubiquitous magical appearance; to attempt to control the self, not to follow the unyoked self's demand for equation with the forces of the universe.''