As we celebrate the launch of Spirituality and Psychiatry, I would like to talk about our theme – the challenging question of whether religion and spirituality are friends or foes. Views on this differ, and I would like to suggest ways in which the orthodox Jewish community might see this question.
I will describe the recent emergence of spirituality on the scientific scene. Then I will offer a description of the strictly orthodox Jewish (chareidi) community, its wariness of contemporary spirituality, and some rabbinic views on spirituality
The emergence of spirituality on the scientific scene.
Since the 1990s, the study of spirituality has been added to the study of religion, as a contemporary phenomenom normally understood to involve people who prefer to define themselves as spiritual but not religious.
Prior to this, the scientific study of religion had been emerging from disrepute to a somewhat shaky level of respectability. By the end of the twentieth century, dozens of measures of religiosity were anthologised in Hill and Hood in 1999. But the measurement of spirituality was only just beginning to develop. A good and popular example is accessed 15.11.2009).
Note here that while women play strong leadership roles in strictly orthodox Judaism, they may not function as rabbis. Moreover the strictly orthodox would disagree that Judaism needs reclaiming as a spiritual practice, they would say that it already is.
A final note is that the teaching of kabbala is widely practised nowadays in conjunction with the Jewish spirituality movement. Kabbala isJewish mysticism based on a tradition usually associated with Rabbi Isaac Luria (16th century), although there are earlier texts. The teaching of kabbala by those without adequate grounding in traditional learning, and/or by the non-observant, is not at all positively regarded.
Wariness of contemporary spirituality movements: the strictly-orthodox community and the spirituality/religion distinction.
It should be clear that among those who have heard of the growth of spirituality in the “outside world”, and of “spiritual” forms of Judaism, there is strong suspicion. There is no acceptance of spirituality in the Heelas and Woodhead sense, with feel-good experiences as a primary aim, without the ties of obligation.
Nevertheless, among the strictly orthodox, prayer, meditation, mystical experience and religious observance can and should be enjoyed. Serving G-d with joy is a religious obligation in its own right – but obligations cannot be dispensed with.
Judaism has a clear approach to spirituality and its relations to religious ritual.
In Judaism, religion expresses itself in tangible ways in to daily life. It is understood that this has infinite spiritual effects. However for most the quest for intimation of such effects would be secondary to the creation of these effects.
The Hebrew term for (religious) commandment is mitzvah, which has the same etymology as binding to the divine, ie performance of the commandments results in spiritual union.
There are some schools of thought in Judaism where more conscious attempts are made to heighten spirituality by contemplative prayer and the study of mystical teachings, which can both lead to heightened consciousness. The hasidic movement is particularly known for this. (e.g. Loewenthal, 1990).
Rabbinic views on universal spirituality
So far, this paper has looked at strictly orthodox Judaism, and the ties between religious observance and spirituality. It might be thought that these views on religion and spirituality are confined to a very small target group – the Jews. In fact, rabbinic thought on religious obligation and spirituality has a strong universal aspect. Judaism is not a proselytising religion, but rabbinic thought claims that all can merit the world-to-come (“heaven”) by the performance of religious obligations Clorfene and Rogalsky, 1987). There are seven groups of obligations for non-Jews (the seven laws for the descendants of Noah), including the unambiguously spiritual obligation to believe in one G-d and not to worship idols.
Other groups of obligations are frankly practical. These are prohibitions against : Genesis 9:6), theft, sexual promiscuity (not to commit any of a series of sexual prohibitions, which include adultery, incest, bestiality and male homosexual intercourse), and blasphemy (it is required to believe in the unity of G-d). There is also the dietary law not to eat flesh from a living animal ( laws, to set up a legal system and law courts.
It is understood that these basic requirements will enable harmonious societies in which people live spiritually purposeful and contented lives.
Conclusions
Heelas and Woodhead (among others) have clearly contrasted religion - involving obligation, apparently tedious and unpleasant - and spirituality, with feel-good, experiential connotations. Strictly orthodox Jews clearly live a life invested with religious obligations. They are likely to be wary of contemporary spiritual movements, since such movements (within Judaism) often have non-orthodox features.
Within orthodox Judaism, practical religious obligations are regarded as intrinsically spiritual – the religion-spirituality split is not valid, in this view. Some strictly orthodox Jews encourage meditation, contemplative prayer, spiritual enthusiasm and other spiritual practices. The hasidic movement is noted for this.
For the orthodox Jews, religion and spirituality are friends, very close partners indeed.
This view may be held in other religious groups: in a USA study by Zinnbauer et al (1997), while there were participants who identified themselves as spiritual but not religious, all those identifying themselves as religious, also identified themselves as spiritual.
References
Chaim Clorfene, C. and Rogalsky, Y. (1987) The Path of the Righteous Gentile. New York: Feldheim.
Danziger, H. and Sonnenfeld, S.Z. (1986) Guardian of Jerusalm: The Life and Times of Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld. New York: Artscroll Mesorah.
Frosh, S., Loewenthal, K.M., Lindsey, C. and Spitzer, E. (2005) Prevalence of emotional and behavioural disorders among strictly orthodox Jewish children in London, Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 10, 351-368.
Hill, P.C. and Hood, R. Jr. (1999) Measure of Religiosity. Birmingham, Alabama: Religious Education Press.
Holman, C. and Holman, N. Torah, Worship and Acts of Loving-kindness: BaselineIndicators for the Charedi Community in Stamford Hill. Leicester: De Montfort University.
King, M., Speck, P. and Thomas, A. (1995) The Royal Free interview for spiritual and religious beliefs: development and standardization. Psychological Medicine, 25, 1125-1134.
Lindsey, C., Frosh, S., Loewenthal, K.M. and Spitzer, E. (2003) Emotional and behaviour disorders among strictly-orthodox Jewish pre-school children, Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 8, 459-472.
Loewenthal, K.M., Goldblatt, V., Gorton, T. Lubitsh, G., Bicknell, H., Fellowes, D. and Sowden, A. (1995). Gender and depression in Anglo-Jewry. Psychological Medicine, 25, 1051-1063.
Loewenthal, K.M., Goldblatt, V., Gorton, T. Lubitsh, G., Bicknell, H., Fellowes, D. and Sowden, A. (1997) The social circumstances of anxiety and its symptoms among Anglo-Jews. Journal of Affective Disorders, 46, 87-94.
Loewenthal, N. (1990). Communicating the Infinite: The Emergence of the Habad School. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Schneerson, M.M. (1994) HaYom Yom (From Day to Day) ( An anthology from the writings of Rabbi Y.Y. Schneerson). New York: Otzar Hachasidim Lubavitch.
Taylor, C. (1991) The Ethics of Authenticity. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Wieselberg, H. (1992, online 2003) Family therapy and ultra-orthodox Jewish families: a structural approach 14, 305 – 329.
Zinnbauer, B. J., Pargament, K.I., Cole, B., Ryle, M.S., Butter, E.M., Belavich, T.G., Hipp, K.M., Scott, A.B., & Kadar, J.L. (1997). Religion and spirituality: Unfuzzying the fuzzy. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 36, 549-64.
Figure 1: Ages of books on Religion and Psychiatry/Psychology, and Spirituality and Psychiatry/Psychology: mean age, % pre-1999, and oldest(Source: Amazon.com, using the first eight academic texts listed under each set of search terms)