PUBLISHED EVERY ROSH HODESH

Sivan 5763

June 1, 2003

Theme: Revelation KOACH director Rich Moline compares leaving your dorm room for the year with Avram's journey. KOC Editor Audrey Shore examines the awesome occurrence of revelation. Russel Neiss (CUNY Honors College) uses the microscope of modern scholarship to examine Revelation. Rena Dinin (UC Berkley) says the Covenant is A Vision of 'Perfection' YOUR OPINIONS READ: What really happened with Moses and God on the mountain? Students give their opinions in "Five Questions, Five Minutes." WRITE: Now that you're in college, how important is your family to you? Give us your opinions.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

COMPLETE ARTICLE INDEX

Link to responses from non-Jewish students

(Sivan 5763/June 2003)

Compiled by Audrey Shore
KOC Editor

OUR QUESTIONS:

1. What's your name?

2. Where do you go to school?

3. What do you think happened at Sinai?

4. Are you opposed to the idea of Biblical criticism? (In other words, how do you feel about claims that the Bible is or isn't history?)

5. Do you think the Jews are "the chosen people"? What does that mean to you?

YOUR ANSWERS:

1. Michal Raucher

2. Columbia and JTS

3. I believe God handed down the Torah to Moshe and the people at Mt. Sinai. Perhaps a group of people known as the Israelites composed a law book for a new cult-community.

4. Biblical criticism is an important part of biblical scholarship. It's not essential for faith...in fact, faith should probably be devoid of any connection kind of biblical criticism because it doesn't matter. Faith is about believing without evidence. Biblical criticism, however, gives insight into how the Torah became such a vital part of our religion and how it has changed and adapted over time. This is equally important when being educated about one's history.

5. I do believe the Jews are the chosen people, but that we aren’t the only chosen ones. All of us (meaning everyone in the world) have been chosen to contribute to this larger community. Just because we practice and believe differently from others doesn't mean we've been chosen as the more elitist religion. We've simply been chosen alongside everyone else.

1. Danielle Brodsky

2. University of Florida

3. I really don't know

4. I believe that the Bible is a tool to understanding who we are as people and how we should act. Regardless of its veracity, the Bible has an obvious message just like any written work and whether or not we choose to follow it is up to the individual.

5. I find this to be a difficult question...generally I don't consider myself any better or worse than the next person of a different faith. For me faith is more important than religion.

1. Sara Niedz

2. University of Florida

3. I believe that what happened at Sinai is that God gave someone, maybe Moses, the ten commandments. Sinai is also the name of the temple my family belongs to, so another answer to what happened there would be: my bat-mitzvah and endless hours of Hebrew school.

4. I think that everyone has their own interpretation of the Bible and all its literature. I myself do not take the Bible as an exact account of our history because I believe there may have been some exaggeration.

5. I’m not sure what it means to be the “chosen ones” but maybe that we’re to follow certain commandments from God.

1. Michael Knopf

2. Columbia University/JTS

3. I dunno...a massage, a little aromatherapy... In reality, I'm not convinced of the historicity of the Sinai account. I take it to be more of a metaphor for how Israel attained its national identity and consciousness of God through the revelations and development of their national religious and cultural tradition, the Torah.

4. Criticize the Bible all you want, as long as you don't miss the point: The Bible is not a history book, it is a lesson book. It is a guidebook. It is a book that teaches us as Jews what the best and right life is, and how living that life ties us back to our past, which is essential for human existence. But Biblical critics often ignore that key point in a reckless attempt to disprove and discredit the Bible. They are unfortunately missing the point and their irreverence towards the Bible--which should command our utmost respect--is astonishing at times.

5. I think we are the "chosen people" but chosen often gets misconstrued. It doesn't mean best...it means responsible. Jews are responsible for enabling God's message and questions for humanity to endure throughout time.

1. Seth Ringold Haas

2. Kent State University

3. I feel as though God gave us our Torah, and our rules to live by.

4. I believe that it is history, and it should be accepted not criticized.

5. I feel as though God has created all people, therefore; everyone is chosen....we are the select few.

1. Rebecca Sneider

2. Simmons College

3. I think that God spoke to Moses and gave down the Torah.

4. I disagree with the idea of Biblical criticism. I think that the entire Torah was written by God because how does it have the meaning that I feel that it does if people wrote it.

5. I think that we were chosen, but not in a way that makes us better than anyone else. I think in a way that makes us worthy to carry out God’s commandments and I think that other people are just as "chosen" but in different ways and to do different things.

[Posted 5/30/03]