To Live in Freedom

by Audrey Lichter

I recently read Rabbi Yitz Greenberg’s new book, The Triumph of Life, on his theology of Judaism in the third stage of the covenant. Yitz’s writing stems profoundly from his immersion for many years in holocaust studies. He concludes that we are entering another stage of our relationship with the covenant that God made with the Jewish people. In this stage, God retreats even further in a loving act of tzimtzum to allow humans to freely choose and act to fulfill our mission as being “Or HaGoyim,” a light to the world. He expands the notion of what it means to live a holy life to all areas of our existence… from food management, energy consumption, child-rearing, and education to how we interact with others and our family relationships. All areas of existence become the landscape that we can paint for a vital and meaningful Jewish life.

This expansive view of Judaism invites all streams and ways of expressing Jewish values
as bonafide paths to living an authentic Jewish life.

This expansive view of Judaism invites all streams and ways of expressing Jewish values as bonafide paths to living an authentic Jewish life. He contends that in this stage of the evolution of the covenant, we are no longer under an authoritarian God or a punishing God, but a loving God who believes in the human capacity for flourishing by leaving space for mankind to exhibit their noblest of talents. It is a life-affirming and expansive view of Judaism’s potential for ushering in a messianic age through human effort guided by the teachings and wisdom of our tradition. May it be so.