Judaism's Flawed Characters

I recently had a discussion with a friend of mine, who was studying the story of King David to share with students of the Sunday school class he taught at his church. He was amazed at how flawed a character King David was to be such a celebrated hero of the Bible and the Jewish people. It got me to thinking just how different the perspective of Christians and Jews can be in viewing the same story. Because of our differing backgrounds, we can learn different lessons from the tales of the Bible.

Jews have historically presented their heroes and leaders as full human beings complete with their individual flaws. King David was far from perfect, as was Moses, Jacob and others. This is a unique phenomena among the cultures of the world. Most other cultures present their heroes in mythological terms, emphasizing the good aspects while downplaying the bad. Jews, on the other hand, see their sages and leaders as human beings who struggled in both their faith and personal lives. With their monotheistic core, Jewish heroes were never seen as semi-divine. Rather, by studying their flaws and struggle, we could learn how to improve ourselves and our world by learning from their mistakes. Personal responsibility and personal growth are other key components of living a Jewish life.

Christianity, by comparison, begins with the premise that Jesus is divine and that humans are born with Original Sin and incapable of personal redemption without divine intervention. The focus is on faith rather than deed. You can be "saved" with just simple faith in Jesus as your messiah and redeemer. But your personal actions alone are not enough. This difference with Judaism is primarily due to the diverging paths our two faiths have taken historically. This is a discussion that will have to wait for another time.

So when my Christian friend looks at how we glorify King David, he doesn't understand. How is it possible that he can be the ancestor of our future messiah? Jews realize that David, like all of us, struggled with his faith throughout his life. Many of his actions were unsavory. But we can learn from his mistakes. It underscores our belief that the only perfect being is God. Even our messiah is human and will come from an impure heritage. It is also a tribute to our belief in the equality of all human beings. There is no priesthood, or aristocracy in Judaism that is somehow closer to the Divine than the rest of us.

To me, the fact that our sages and heroes are revealed in their entirety complete with their flaws is something that adds credibility to the tales we tell about ourselves. We leave nothing out and it is up to each individual to learn what they can from them. We also study and learn the historical context of the stories themselves.

We should take pride in our brutal honesty about our heritage and find personal inspiration in the stories we tell about ourselves.

Until next time....

Shmuel