Published February 2025
REAL RELIGION IS ‘UNDER THE SADDLE
There has been so much anti-Semitism in the world and in America lately, one wonders, “What is a Jew to do?” I would also like to know: “What is religion all about?”
Religion should be a means, not an end. The purpose of religion is to encourage men and women to live better lives, to create a just and responsible society, and to love God. Actually, there is no such thing as a Jewish God, a Christian God, a Muslim God, a White God, or a Black God. God is God and above everything. Religion is simply one way to approach God.
There is a very beautiful statement by a rabbi in the 7th century who declared: “We have come into this world not to argue or to dispute but in order to help one another.” If we really want to be religious, then let us do so -says the Jew- by cooperating to eliminate poverty, to decrease discrimination, to help the sick, the aged, and the young who suffer.
How do we really judge a religion? There is a Jewish answer. The Talmud contains a story about a Jew who bought a camel from a pagan. The business arrangement was that the Jew purchased for a fixed amount of money the camel and the saddle which happened to be very ornate and beautiful. When the Jew took the camel home he chanced to reach under the saddle and found a bag of diamonds. Quite obviously the pagan had put it there for safekeeping and forgot about it. The buyer took the precious gems and immediately ran to the seller’s house and said: “I think you made a mistake, and I want to return these diamonds for they belong to you. I only purchased the camel and the saddle and nothing else.” The pagan was stunned and said: “Blessed be the religion of this man that makes him so honest.”
The pagan taught us that you judge the religion of a human being, not by what he says, but by what he does. It matters little what one professes, but it does matter how you live. Religions in this world ultimately are judged not by their theology but by the things their believers do. I will always respect anyone’s faith but I will only honor him if his faith teaches him to become a better person.
The Bible instructs us that we should do and say exactly what our ancestors did (Micah 4:5): “For let all peoples walk each in the name of its god but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.”
Rabbi Alvin Kass
Chief Chaplain of the NYPD