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May 21, 1999/6 Sivan 5759, Vol. 51, No.34
Evil prevails when fantasy triumphs
RABBI WILLIAM C. BERK
Special to Jewish News
When I heard last month that two high school kids had shot 15 people in Littleton, Colo., including themselves, I said to myself, "another outbreak of paganism." Then I learned about the trenchcoats, the fantasy games, the racist ideology, that the crime was done on Hitler's birthday, and I had no doubt. Then the Arizona Republic quoted the motto of these two boys - from the German rock band KMFDM:
What I don't say I don't do
What I don't do I don't like
What I don't like, I waste
Paganism is about fantasy and death. It's the opposite of Torah. Torah is about engaging the real world and affirming life. People often ask when studying Torah, why were the ancient Jews so down on the pagans? How can we justify this attitude that pagans and paganism had to be eliminated? The answer was brought home to us from Littleton. Paganism always leads to death.
Paganism is the adoration of a part of something as if it is the whole. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris worshipped their little fantasy world, their little fantasy games, their fantasy lives - as if these were the end-all and be-all. You might go so far as to say that this world of ours is a struggle between fantasy and Torah.
Fantasy says that image is everything. Torah says that images must not be worshipped. Fantasy says that power is yours for the taking. Torah teaches that power is a sacred gift and must be handled very carefully. Fantasy leads you to think that human beings are play things, not fully real. Torah insists human beings are tzelem Elohim, connected to the Most High, and therefore of infinite worth. Fantasy says law has no meaning. Torah says law is sacred and always, without exception, must fend for the sacredness of life.
Fantasy says, "What I don't like, I waste." Torah says, in the portion for the week when the tragedy took place (Aharay Mot-Kedoshim), "You shall keep my laws and my rules, by the pursuit of which man shall live" (Leviticus 18:5).
Our grandfathers and grandmothers know the danger of pagan fantasies. They created in opposition a world of Torah - a world of God-wrestling, a world of mitzvot (commandments), a world of wisdom. Those who explore this world and struggle to live by its values strengthen the life force and put fantasy on the defensive. Amazingly enough, you don't have to be Jewish to be in the Torah world.
"R. Jeremiah used to say - from where do we learn that even a non-Jew who keeps the Torah is to be regarded as equal to the high priest? The Torah, (which says that by the pursuit of God's rules, man/woman shall live)" (Sifra).
It's also true that you can have the outer trappings of a Torah life and still engage in fantasy. Baruch Goldstein murdered 29 Arabs at prayer in Hebron. Despite his Jewish garb and mitzvot, he obviously had not performed the inner God-wrestling, the struggle necessary to shake free of pagan fantasy.
Have the courage to learn and follow the Torah of life, and you will experience life at its fullest. You don't need fantasy.
Rabbi William C. Berk is the spiritual leader of Temple Chai in Phoenix.
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