It is, of course, a well-known fact that Karl, Marx, the founder of Communism, was a Jew. Volumes have been written about his ideas and the events that happened to him in his lifetime. Until now, however , nothing, has been written about what happened to him after he died! I am now in a position to reveal all! Travel back with me to 1883. In a bedroom in London, a dying Karl lies In his death-bed and, listens to the sobs of his-friends and disciples who are gathered round him. A great wail goes up as Karl breathes his last.
Meanwhile, K. Marx deceased, finds himself ( much to his amazement and surprise ) hovering over his body, watching the whole heart-rending scene. After a few seconds, accompanied by a Supersonic Whoosh, he finds himself hurtling heavenward. He breaks through the cloud barrier and is surrounded by scores of comrades, gliding to and fro and twanging blissfully at harps. Marx can hardly contain his astonishment when he is approached by a burly big chap who sports a white nightgown and sprouts feathers. He tells him to enter a building. Warily, Marx does so.
Inside, seated behind a table, are three men of extremely bleached appearance. On the table is
a book with, of all things, his name on! The middle fellow opens the book and inquires: "It is Karl
Marx isn't it?" Karl nods. "'We see here, Karl, that you lived to be sixty-five. Is that correct?"
"Yes," says Karl, "I've just died, actually."
Leafing through the book, the chap continues: "According - to our calculations, you could have
done in those sixty-five 'years ... um ... 12,500,196 mitzvot. Is that correct?". "If you say so,"
replies Karl; rather sheepishly.
We see here, Karl, that you did in fact do... um... 3. Is that about right, Karl?" Karl shrugs
his shoulders, embarrassedly. "Well," says the big chap, "I'm afraid it's the fiery furnace. Off you
go."
"Wait a minute!" explodes Karl, as he thumps the table. "You don't seem to know who I am. I'm
Karl Marx, Karl Marx, the founder of Communism. Listen comrade, I didn't believe in God,"
he laughs nervously, "I can see now I was wrong, but honest injuns, I didn't. believe; I looked into it
and I just didn't believe!"
"Sorry," replies the judge, and Karl finds himself being hauled away, still shouting about his being
Karl Marx and "Who are these angels-anyway, with their, holier-than-thou attitude?"
Now, the question arises, what was wrong with Karl's argument? It would seem, nothing!
especially as Maimonides declares in his "Hilchot Teshuva"- that God, has given everyone freedom
of choice. Freedom of choice means having just as much reason for believing in God as not: it
must be 50-50.
Everyone knows of ..great, thinkers who have come to the conclusion that God does not exist. Aristotle, whom Maimonides described as "One of the greatest intellects of all," did not believe in God and yet, if it is provable, how did he miss it?
This question is put forcefully by Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman. He points out that Maimonides
declares that knowing God exists is a mitzva. How, then, can we expect a twelve year-old girl
and a thirteen-year-old boy (the ages at which the observance of mitzvot becomes obligatory)
to achieve an insight. which escaped even the great Aristotle? . A prerequisite to finding the truth must be a willingness to accept the possibility of the proposition. A strongly held opposing standpoint inevitably invalidates an investigator's conclusions. A logical-thinking Jew, faced With the two possibilities as to the existence of God, would make
the following conclusion. "If G-d doesn't exist, I'm not loosing anything by, trying to find out
and if he does exist I stand to gain."
This person would therefore address a
hypothetical prayer to a potential G-d: "Do you exist? I don't know, but I'll try to find
out . He, would then
seek a Rabbi whom he found intellectually stimulating and begin to study, perhaps once a week.
He would start to read and to go to shul. At this point, the balance of possibility of God's existence is
50-50. But if he is sincerely trying and approaching the subject with an open mind, would it be
logical for God to maintain the balance at 50-50? Clearly not! .Freedom of choice is only given so that one has the opportunity of choosing correctly. Once that choice has been made, God would hint to
you that you're on the right path and the balance would slowly alter to 51-49 and eventually to I 00 per cent.,
So Maimonides is correct. You can prove that God exists, but only to yourself It isn't possible,
however to prove it to anyone else: others may well have reasons for not Wanting it proved.
The key lies in launching a sincere investigation, which is the first duty every Jew.
Perhaps, however, you will argue that one should Start off by investigating Christianity or perhaps
Islam. The logical starting point of anything is at the beginning. Both those religions accept
Judaism as a predecessor, which, according to their viewpoints, has been superseded and made
redundant by them. To test this claim, one has to test Judaism - to see if it can be superseded.
A Jew who simply can't be bothered to make the effort to, discover his religion should not be
surprised, if like Karl Marx, he gets a rather warm welcome when he arrives upstairs.