Last Sunday, August ,23rd, Rabbi Isaac Sacca, Chief Rabbi of the Community of ACISBA and President of Menora, was interviewed by Radio Eretz, a program for the Jewish Youth on Radio Jai, by Fabián Zilberman and Sebastián Grajewer, the hosts.
Curiosity and spontaneity are the guide and the engine of youngsters. Rabbi Sacca, who dedicates his time to training young people, answered each of their questions.
The questions that were asked to the Rabbi were: Why doesn’t G’d have an image according to the opinion of Judaism? What is your position on abortion? What happens when you divorce and re-form another couple with the concept of union of souls or halves? How are we going to experience the Jewish New Year in this time of pandemic?
Why doesn’t G’d have an image in the opinion of Judaism?
The lack of image is a fundamental theme for the Jewish religion. At the giving of the Torah, when God revealed himself to the people of Israel, he presented himself without any image and said that this must be remembered. The image as well as the words both written and oral, are limiting. The lack of the image of God is because God is unlimited, He is enormous, He is infinite. When something is indescribable, when something is non-transferable to an image, it means that it is infinite.
What is your position on abortion?
Rabbi Sacca stressed that Judaism considers it negative to allow abortion to be practiced without any type of control, motive or valid argument. Since life is the fundamental value of religion, everything that tends to interrupt it is rejected. As a general rule: abortion is contrary to the essence of the Jewish religion. However, in Judaism there are contemplations in specific situations where the Talmud clearly states that the life of the mother is made to prevail over the life of the fetus, when she is in danger of life, since a fetus is not considered by religion a human being but a being in process, which, in any case, carries holiness.
What happens when divorcing and re-forming another couple with the concept of union of souls or halves?
The Rabbi clarified that this is simply an allegory or metaphor of the sages, in order to understand that when two people marry, they unite and form a life and are united in a joint mission. It is a poetic way of describing that two people now face their life together. When they get divorced, they stop having those goals in common. Each one will make his life with another person, and will face the union, the objectives, with the new person.
Next, Sebastián asked Rabbi Isaac for a message of encouragement for young people at this difficult time that we have to go through because of the pandemic.
The Rabbi explained that we can take advantage of these moments to get closer to God, improve our qualities, help others, reflect, become aware of how to treat our parents, our partner, our children. He explained that although it is not a pretty or pleasant situation, it is an opportunity so that when God sends us a solution, we will be better on track.
As regards the last question, how we are going to experience the Jewish New Year in this time of pandemic, the Rabbi explained that we can focus more on the essence of the holiday: the contents, the meaning, the prayer, the shofar, than in the outside: the preparations, the clothes, the large family gatherings, the massive congregations in the synagogues. As there is less interaction, we can take advantage to make a better reflection and balance. He stressed the importance of complying with health regulations and caring for health above everything else. Concentrate on the essence of Rosh Hashanah, which is to make a Yom Hadin, day of own judgment on our actions to change or improve them for the next year.
Finally Rabbi Isaac blessed the members of the radio for their outstanding job on working for young people, giving them content, taking advantage of their strength, intelligence and will, to rebuild the world.
Watch the full interview here:
