Selected Religious Writings
by
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On one particular day a man named Moses made a great
leap of discernment. Standing alone in the wilderness in front of a burning
bush, a part of God was revealed to him that had never been revealed before. In
a blinding flash he saw past the Egyptian rituals, gifts, bribes and sacrifices
intended by them to influence their gods to act on their behalf. He saw
past their human desire to have their gods empower them so that they may
realize their own ends. He met a God Who requires equality, justice and
morality, a God Who requires that these qualities be part of peoples' everyday
lives. Moses was soon to see that power was transient, that without justice it
could never endure. From the moment he met his God Moses' life became
God-centered. And so it remained to the day of his death.
Before Moses appeared some unlikely very occurrences
had taken place. God had revealed to Abraham that there is but one
God. This was a new vision for the times. The One God, creator of all
existence, had singled out Abraham to follow God's direction and "Go
forth" (Heb. lech lecha) from the land of his fathers to follow an
individual destiny. For the first time in the story of humankind an individual
was more than simply a tiny part of an eternal continuum. This eternal circle,
the great wheel of fate with neither beginning nor end, had trivialized the
importance of individuals leaving no room for human history.
God also revealed that he, Abraham, would have many
descendents and that he would be the father of many nations. But Abraham
and his wife, Sarah, were beyond childbearing age and God had promised them a
child. As God said, they did have a child, a son, Isaac. Wondrously,
Abraham's progeny also continued Abraham and Sarah's tradition of living their
lives in obedience to the One God.
Abraham and Sarah had a great-grandson named Joseph
who was sold into slavery by his brothers and taken to Egypt. Through
God's intervention, Joseph became Pharaoh's Grand Vizier. Then, in order to
help his family escape a widespread famine, Joseph brought them to Egypt where
they settled and prospered. There they became fruitful and multiplied. Several
generations later, a new Pharaoh came to power "who knew not Joseph"
and who enslaved all of the Hebrews now living in Egypt.
Still later and through extraordinary circumstances,
Moses, one of the Hebrew slave children, came into the royal household.
Pharaoh's daughter had adopted him and raised him as an Egyptian prince. But
Moses was a lonely child who was raised in the royal household apart from his
people. He grew up, however, to be a man of action with a stormy temperament.
Wherever he saw injustice he was so moved that he had to do something about
it. A crisis was inevitable.
If Jesus Came Back
If Jesus came back
What would you do?
He'd probably be
An itinerant Jew
Completely unknown,
Of course.
Perhaps he'd wander
Into your church
Or more likely
Into your shul
And perhaps
Finding a pew
Sit down
What would you do
If he sat next to you?
Suppose
He leaned over
And sadly said,
"Do people repent,
Or
Is the anguished cry of Johanan
Still dead?"
And then, moving closer,
He wanted to know,
"My friend,
Is it true?"
What would you do?
"And Jacob,
My brother
Whom people call James,
Beloved,
But murdered
Just the same
Like me, some say."
Had you been wondering
About that today?
Perhaps he'd talk
Of Mattathias and of Theudas
And of names more remote,
And other disciples
Like Peter, perhaps,
And would ask,
"Do people speak kindly of Judas?"
You remembered, he hoped,
And not once
Would he mention
The name of a Pope
Would you wonder?
Verily then,
Sisters and brothers,
Let us mend what is broke
Let in Jesus
The Jew
He's one of our folk
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About the Book
Starting with the premise that God can only be
apprehended in human terms, Dr Rettek has brought together a group of his
religious writings that are quite original. In the chapter, Faces of God,
for instance, after discussing ways of knowing God as guide and as giver of
life, he discusses God as mystery and God as the unrecognized and writes about
spirituality in simple understandable terms. Included, too, is an intriguing
section, A Word to Benevolent Skeptics.
This original approach extends to a series of three
dialogues two of which deal with the question of healing the spiritual damage
resulting from living in an unholy dysfunctional society. The third dialogue
confronts the question with which all observant people of all denominations
must deal. Will they be a “people who shall dwell alone” (Nu. 23:9), as Moses
told the Israelites, for “the Lord has chosen you to be a peculiar people unto
Himself (Deut. 14:3)? Or, following John Donne’s “No man is an island, entire
of itself every man is ... a part of the main.” will observant people accept
that they are part of a community comprised of people of diverse values and
backgrounds?
There is a poignant story about a young girl, brought
by her frantic parents to Bal Shem Tov, a healer and founder of an important
mystical movement of the 18th century CE. Natasha,
their daughter, is dying and in spite of their skepticism, out of desperation they bring
her to the Bal.
Dr. Rettek has included over twenty poems, some
scripture based, all dealing with religious themes, many of which include Ruach
Adonai, the Spirit of God as part of their themes. Included are several
amusing poems including You Gotta Be Practical and a poem entitled, If
Jesus Came Back. In a lighter and creatively original way, the lengthy poem
Return Unto Me And I Shall Return Unto You, based on Malachi 3:7,
sketches the salient features of the modern renewal movements we see today.
Included, too, is a Passover Seder Service for our
times and a fresh look at Moses’ encounter with God.
About the Author
Dr. Rettek has been writing fictionalized accounts
of his experiences, seemingly forever. Like Marco Polo with whom he likes to
identify, he always wanted to share the wonder and excitement he experienced in
finding himself involved in fulfilling and often bittersweet, adventures. This
time he has taken us on an unusual journey across the centuries following the
vicissitudes of The Kingdom Of Heaven throughout the ages.
It is not unusual for his interests to evolve into
literary pieces. He wrote a series of articles, for Private Practice, a
magazine for physicians, including, How I found An Old Cure For New
Problems. His interest in photography evolved into a three-act play, Valentine,
a supposal about Eugene Atget who was among the world’s greatest photographers.
Stemming from his longstanding involvement with painting, he wrote the
screenplay, Molly and the Wine Dark Sea, portraying the conflict between
the purism of art and the demands of practical reality.
He has written two fictionalized biographical
accounts, Myron’s World, a collection of short stories about a
twelve-year-old boy growing up on the Lower East Side of New York during the
Great Depression and The Calling, a book dealing with the tribulations
of a medical student wrestling with both life and the challenges of studying
medicine in a foreign land. Bring God into Your Life and Unexpected
Turnings, a group of short stories, are his most recent works.
Almost forty years of involvement with people at
their most open and vulnerable moments as a family practitioner, psychiatrist
and psychoanalyst has given him the experience that enables him to write about
people with a considerable degree of authenticity in addition to the analytical
skills he has effectively put to use in this book.
Trained by the US Air Force as a specialist in
Aerospace Medicine, Dr. Rettek’s trouble shooting assignments included bases in
the United States and Europe. When he separated from military service as
Colonel, he was in command of a Medical Service Squadron and the oldest
crewmember on flying status with prior World War II service.
He and his wife, Susan, a jewelry designer, live in
New York by the sea where they enjoy their children and grandchildren and live
each day in joyous celebration of God’s many gifts.