Among the most interesting responses to yesterday’s post about the Bible and Jewish views on abortion was Leah’s, who commented:

Rabbi Brad,
Everyone cherry picks through the Bible. We have to, because it says so many things that we could only wish it didn’t say. The whole rabbinical tradition is based on scholars deciding what is good to teach and what is not.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that you haven’t taught your congregation to cut off the hand of a woman who grabs a man’s testicles during a fight. But you probably have taught them to welcome the stranger and love their fellow.
Cherry picking?

Leah,
There is a difference between choice-making and cherry picking. And it’s actually pretty easy to delineate the difference. We all make choices, about how to read, hear and live the traditions we most love, whether we admit it or not. In fact, informed choice making is a deeply spiritual process that is the basis of all inner growth – it has been for Jews since we stood at Sinai and declared our desire to hear what Exodus describes as the word of God.
But cherry picking is different.

As I wrote in my original post, it is a process of picking out only those verses, ideas, and positions which confirm that which one already believes. There is no creative tension in cherry picking, no genuine discovery. And without that wrestling and excitement which comes from it, religion is nothing more than a non-pharmaceutical sedative which numbs us both to others and to our deepest selves.
If the religion we practice never tells us anything we don’t like hearing, then we are listening neither to it or God, we are simply worshiping ourselves and using ancient footnotes to make it appear a little less narcissistic. That’s what I tell those with whom I study. And because the country is my congregation, be it on TV, radio, or right here, that’s what I am telling you.
Thank you Leah, for your important and insightful question.