"Sometimes God's advocates are His greatest foes. It is possible, as the sage Koheleth knew thousands of years ago, to be 'righteous overmuch.'
"There are many whose devotion to God seems matched by a disregard for His creations, and the number seems sadly to be growing. Certainty and dogma take the place of thought and devotion. Assuming that all answers have been vouchsafed, they hold that we need only search the correct book or consult the appropriate authority and we will be gifted with an answer that cannot be questioned. Those who question do so, obviously, with evil intent. So runs the zealotry of our day, different in circumstance but not in kind from the zealotry of the ages.
"Zealotry is actually a manifestation of human weakness. In a tottering world, certain standards are eagerly sought, and the questioner, the one who upsets the standards, poses a threat to the smooth insularity of the constructed universe of the believer.
"Those who preach an unyielding adherence to one standard or another should recall the wise words of Rabbi Israel of Rushin. He taught that while the Pentateuch consists of the five books of Moses, the classic code of Jewish law, the Shulchan Aruch, contains only four books. Why the discrepancy? Because the final part of the law is the person, who must himself complete and be counted in all religious activity. Too many who are wrapped up in texts, proscriptions, and prohibitions forget that most important 'fifth book,' the human being for whom all religion is intended.
"Significant as is this danger of zealotry, the greater danger for modern Jews is not zealotry but insufficient passion. The temptation to rob the God-Idea of its true depth and significance is great, because fervor appears inappropriate in our temperate times. So much damage has been done in this century by rabid devotion that we fear any glimpse of its countenance. We easily and rightly deplore zealotry. While such disapproval is surrounded by a vigorous chorus, the voice of legitimate passion about faith grows weak, and God's entry into human life is gradually, with moderation and liberality, closed.
"There exists a middle way between indifference and fevered devotion. Judaism sees the path of history as the human dialogue with God. For the Rabbis, as we have seen, it can be rightly characterized as the dialogue of lovers. As with lovers, much has been said. Those who reject history and tradition ignore the generations of ideas, words, special moments that have passed between the lovers. Each close relationship develops its unique signals and memories, and to begin each conversation anew is needlessly impoverishing. However, to assume that all has already been said, that there are no new thoughts and ideas, that the possibilities are exhausted, is equally foolish. A dialogue means that there is much to listen to from the past and much to say about the future. The zealot who will countenance no innovation and the modern who rejects the cogency of past experience both make the mistake of losing part of the content of the conversation.
"Dialogue should be ongoing in all areas and at all times of life. A God who is confined to specific ritual occasions, to the synagogue, to the occasional lecture, to the High Holidays, is not a God the Jewish tradition recognizes as its own. That God is kept so carefully compartmentalized is, in a way, a tribute to the force with which He can upset a life. For in fact, once the notion of God has broken free to accompany one's days, to walk by one's side, life appears in a different cast: not the amiable change promised by spiritual therapists who guarantee happiness and joy once God enters your life. The change is one of depth. It is a force to question and wonder. It is a call to notice that which usually escapes one's attention. To bring God closer in life is a challenge that is difficult to ignore, which is one reason why some prefer simply to avoid it."