Mordechai Kaplan, one of the great Jewish figures of the 20th century, said that every Jew could express their Judaism through what, in English, are the three «B’s»: belong, behave, and believe. Belonging is the most common way of identifying as Jewish, through being part of, or a member of, community organizations. Practice is especially demonstrated by observing the commandments and customs, such as celebrating Jewish holidays or eating kosher. But believing is, for many, the most difficult way to express their Judaism because it involves defining what we believe and what concepts define us as Jews.

The matter of systematically defining a group’s religious beliefs is what scholars call theology. Rabbi Neil Gillman (1933-2017) was a rabbi who dedicated his entire life to the study of Jewish theology, especially Masorti or Conservative Judaism. Gillman was born in Quebec City, Canada. He studied philosophy at McGill University and was later ordained as a rabbi at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. In 1975, he earned his doctorate from Columbia University. He taught Jewish philosophy at JTS from his ordination until his retirement. He also served on the committee that drafted «Emet Ve Emunah,» «Truth and Faith,» the official statement of principles governing Conservative Judaism. In 1990, he wrote «Sacred Fragments: Recovering Theology for the Modern Jew,» which won that year’s National Jewish Book Award.

Gillman was a student of Mordechai Kaplan at JTS. In one of his classes, he heard his teacher say, “Judaism is whatever the Jewish people say it is.” This phrase sparked an essay that led to a long conversation between him and Kaplan. That conversation led Gillman to seek his own definition of what he believed as a Jew. Gillman said, “How can I teach Jewish theology if I don’t understand it myself?” Every year, at the beginning of his course, he asked his students to write an essay about their personal Jewish beliefs, and at the end of the course, he asked them to do the same. Some continued to do so even after graduation.

Gillman said that sacred texts had to be understood beyond their literal and even historical interpretation. The Bible had to be viewed from a rather poetic and metaphorical point of view. He spoke of being a bit “naive,” not like a child or like his grandfather who believed that everything written in the Torah had happened exactly as it was, but like someone who understood that these myths had a much deeper meaning. For example, he said that one cannot believe that the dead will rise again, but at the same time, one cannot stop believing in a God who has the power to do so, because otherwise, he would be impotent in matters of life and death. The same is true of the Exodus from Egypt, Gillman said, a legend that has not been historically proven, but whose significance in Jewish theology is enormous.

With this approach, Gillman sought in each of his classes to awaken in his students that need to define their own Judaism, a task to which he dedicated his entire life.

By Marcos Gojman

Bibliography: Video lectures by Neil Gillman at JTS.