tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552001755225276231.post1580069885915497887..comments2023-05-30T08:51:21.549-04:00Comments on Blog Am: What, exactly, am I pledging allegiance to?Rabbi Jason Rosenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03718650670542762857noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552001755225276231.post-54880497596707612532010-03-19T11:55:06.190-04:002010-03-19T11:55:06.190-04:00Mike - you're right on about Heschel, and what...Mike - you're right on about Heschel, and what he was getting at. All religions are (hopefully) trying to be useful tools by which we get at something more profound. Too often (and Judaism is as guilty as any), we let the means become the end. The institutions become more important than the principles. We can all think of a million examples - it's in the news constantly. The trick is to have people around who will call you on it, and to have leaders who, at least some of the time, will admit when they've gone wrong. Easy to say; far harder to do!Rabbi Jason Rosenberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03718650670542762857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4552001755225276231.post-17363920526716262462010-03-18T13:34:16.349-04:002010-03-18T13:34:16.349-04:00More than idle (idol?) punditry to be sure, and ac...More than idle (idol?) punditry to be sure, and actually something very much worth thinking about. Heschel's admonition to focus on "religion" (by which I assume, having never read him, he means something like higher notions of "faith") over institutional/doctrinal "Religion" should be very well taken. Take this for whatever it's worth, but in my "outsider looking in" experience -- and admittedly with "Religions" other than Judaism -- it's an admonition honored as often (if not more) in the breach than the observance. Some "r/Religions" seem to me to be entirely inseparable in this respect.<br /><br />With respect to the Pledge of Allegiance itself, I suppose there might be an argument that the bit about "to the flag..." is in there for prosody or poetic meter purposes as much as anything.... And of course, my issues with the Pledge have more to do with the two words added in 1954 than anything to do with the flag.<br /><br />MikeMike Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17041905314320756875noreply@blogger.com