Is Judaism Boring? The role of symbols in

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Is Judaism Boring?The role of symbols in
imagisticJewish movements in the nineteenth
century

• Tamás Biró
• ACLC,
• University of Amsterdam
• Groningen Centre for Religion Cognition

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Overview

• The McCauley-Lawson model, tedium and Judaism
• Jewish movements in the 18th and 19th century
• Why were these movements successful?A frustrated
  mental activation model.
• The role of symbols in this model

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Tedium McCauley Lawson

• McCauley-Lawson model
• Action representation scheme agent, patient,
  instrument (etc.?)
• Ritual if and only if at least one slot is filled
  by counterintuitive agent (CIA)
• Special agent rituals vs. others
• Balanced ritual systems need both
• Tedium if no special agent rituals

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Judaism is boring

• Mitzvoth (commandments) religious acts and
  non-acts
• (Almost?) no rituals according to the definition
  of McCauley Lawson
• Hence, no special agent rituals, either
• So, McCauley Lawson predict tedium
• Solutions mystical movements (Kabbalah),
  popular magic, messianic movements (e.g.,
  Shabbatai Tsvi),

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18-19th century 2x2 movements

• (NB the analysis below is meant to complement,
  and not to replace traditional historical,
  economic, sociological, etc. explanations.)
• Reaction to traditional rabbinical elitism
  counter-reactionChassidism vs. Yeshiva movement
• Reaction to modernity counter-reaction Reform
  Judaism vs. Orthodoxy
• Additionally each is also reaction to
  tedium!Four strategies are used (at least).

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Strategy 1 Introducing special agents

• Chassidism rebbe charismatic
  leaderHigh-arousal special agent rituals, such
  as tish
• Non-orthodox Judaism the rabbi as a priest
  with special blessing capacities
• 20th century ultra-orthodoxy even non-chassidic
  leaders often turn into rebbes

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Strategy 2Intellectual emphasis on existing
religious acts

• Existing mitzvoth (religious acts and non-acts)
  performed more consciously
• Equivalent to arousal?
• Yeshiva movement (et al.) emphasis on study (to
  increase consciousness)
• Musar movement emphasis on ethics as part of the
  system of religious acts and non-acts (i.e.,
  halakha e.g. lashon ha-ra evil tongue,
  gossips)
• Cf. L. Naccache Quatre Exercices de pensée
  juive pour cerveaux réfléchis Le Judaïsme à la
  lumière des neurosciences, 2003.

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Strategy 3 Religious dimension to high-arousal
phenomena

• Arts
• Chassidism music chassidic niggunim (tunes)
• Western-Europe and non-orthodox movements
• Music cantorial art à la Romanticism
• Synagogual architecture
• Artistic sermons, rabbis cloths, etc.
• Orthodoxy in Eastern Europe strong opposition!

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Strategy 4New acts and new non-acts

• Each Chassidic group followers of the Vilna
  gaon, etc. introducing their own minhagim
  (customs).
• Reform introducing their own practices
• Strict orthodoxy (esp. Hungary) strict
  prohibitions to avoid any similarity with reform
  and with Christianity (no choir, no rabbinic
  dress, no towers on the synagogues,)

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WHY THESE STRATEGIES SOLVE TEDIUM???

1. Introducing special agents
2. Intellectual emphasis on existing religious acts
   and non-acts.
3. Religious dimension to high-arousal acts.
4. New acts and new non-acts

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Symbols in a network of concepts
What fires together, what fires in the opposite
condition? (Cf. psycho-logical and linguistic
experiments.) NB this is not a neural network!
dove
dove

white
white

white flag
white flag

-
black
black
harmless
harmless

-

peace
peace
death
death
war
war
-

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Network of religious acts and concepts

kosher
eating
music



liturgy
shabbat

CIA

-
architecture


lighting fire
synagogue
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• NB Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888, founder of
  German neo-orthodoxy) commandments are symbols,
  for instance
• Shabbat, phylacteries, circumcision covenant
• Pesach and much more remembrance
• Aim of all mitzvoth to increase the ethical
  level of those observing them
• Our interpretation performing mitzvoth also
  activate other nodes, such as CIA, history,
  ethics.

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Network of concepts vs. solutions to tedium

• Hypothesis Tedium node CIA not activated.
• Introducing special agents the agent of the
  special agent ritual directly activates node
  CIA.
• Emphasis on religious acts / non-acts a.)
  stronger activation of nodes w positive
  connection to CIA b.) strengthening connections
  between nodes.
• Religious dimension to high-arousal acts
  indirect, though strong activation of node CIA.
• New acts / non-acts more paths to activate CIA.

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Mental network reflecting social network
-
-
Person 3
Person 3
Person 4
Person 1
Person 2
Person 1
Person 2
Person 4


-

?

Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism

Orthodoxy
Orthodoxy
?
Christianity
Christianity
-
Judaism
Judaism
?


?
MYSELF
MYSELF
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Frustrated networksNetwork inhibits adding
religious dimension to arts

?
synagogue

Tower onprayer place
CIA
?




Reform Judaism

Orthodoxy
-
Christianity
-

Judaism


MYSELF
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Frustrated networks

• Optimisation under contradicting constraints
• Spin-glasses (statistical physics)
• Simulated Annealing (e.g., artificial
  intelligence)
• Linguistics Optimality Theory (Prince and
  Smolensky 1993, aka 2004), etc. (especially
  Smolensky and Legendre 2006 Bíró 2006)

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Summary

• Application of McCauley Lawsons model to
  Judaism (more cf. SBL)
• New ways to overcome tedium
• A mental network-theory to explain these ways
• Connected to social networks
• Frustrations related to other cognitive models

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Thank you for your attention!

• Tamás Biró
• http//www.birot.hu
• Download this presentation from the Archive for
  Religion Cognition
• http//www.csr-arc.com