This week’s Torah portion is Tetzaveh, which means, Command. It contains the instructions for the Eternal light, the New Tamid, to be continually kindled at night. God describes the design of the eight priestly garments and tells Moses to dress the priests, the Kohanim, in them and to inaugurate the priests during a seven day consecration ceremony. The specifications for an incense altar are given, as is the commandment not to offer any alien incense.
Early in the portion, the Torah says, “Now you, bring near to yourself Aaron your Brother and his sons with him from among the children of Israel…to minister to me. (28:1)” This is the creation of the Priesthood in Judaism. Moses, Aaron his brother, and his sons, were of the Tribe of Levi. A very few of the Levites, just Aaron and his four sons and their male children were to become priests. At this time, the priests were to carry out the service of sacrifice. This necessitated coming into daily contact with the holy objects within the Tabernacle: the altar of sacrifice and the big bowl, called the laver, which was filled with water for washing; and in the Tent of Meeting: the ark, the menorah, the table for show bread, and the incense altar. Because these objects were in close proximity to God’s presence, manifested as a cloud shaped like a pillar, over the Tabernacle, It was important for the priests to purify themselves and to be as holy as possible; because it could be physically dangerous to them to be in an impure state while offering sacrifice or being near the holy objects. The priests protected the people from dangerous contact with a level of purity they could not match. The Priesthood was abolished during Roman times, at the time of the destruction of the second Temple in 70 CE. But this is not quite the end of the story.
Before the giving of the Ten Commandments, in Exodus, God says to Moses, “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation,” This was to be a new system for human kind, which could only be fully realized after the abolition of a formal priesthood. Clearly, the original desire was that each of us be our own priest; and that is the system we have right now. It is the direction in which we are moving and being led. What does being a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, mean today? When we say in our prayers, Baruch atah Adonai, we address God as atah, YOU, before we address God as Melech haOlam, Ruler of the Universe. This YOU, is the God who is as close to us as breathing, as close as our own hearts and feelings. The commandment, “Bring near to yourself,” reinforces this desire for intimacy. The Lubavitcher Rebbe points out that the Hebrew word, Command, is related to the root for the word “connect.” And the Koznitzer Rebbe says that it’s also related to the root meaning “befriend.” So the intent of the priesthood was the creation of a group of people who were not supposed to be higher than everyone else, necessarily, but to be more connected to God, in more of an intimate, familiar relationship with the aspect of God we address as YOU: the loving God who is always our friend, always there for us. How did the priests achieve this? The priests prepared themselves for their office in a seven day inauguration ceremony that required them to be separated from the community, dwelling in the Tabernacle boundaries and not leaving them for any reason. They maintained their purity by drawing near to God through the elaborate and precisely defined rituals of sacrificial service; in short, through dedicating their actions to a holy purpose and being scrupulous in following directions exactly, a form of subjugating their will to God’s will. Anyone who could not follow directions was bound to come to grief.
We, as modern priests, have a slightly different path to the same end. In the book, Living Mussar Every Day, by Rabbi Zvi Miller, he quotes a teaching by the Alter Rebbe of Kelm who said: “The Divine service we are charged with is preparation to receive spiritual treasures. All that is required of us is to prepare and purify ourselves through Torah and Mitzvot. If we strengthen ourselves in this, God, in great love, will bless and help us in the most wondrous of ways.” Our task is to find that inner fineness and purity that will allow us to experience our connection to God and to be able to recognize and accept Divine friendship. Like the ancient priests, we do this through service. The Zohar says, “Blessed are the Israelites, who entered and came out and comprehended the mystery of the ways of the Torah, to walk in the way of truth. .. because only from there is unity possible, for the children of Israel stand here below as emissaries of the Most High, to open the gates, to shed light upon the ways, to kindle the radiance of the heavenly fire, to draw all things that are below near to them that are above, in order that all may become a unity Zohar II:181b.” The purpose of our service is healing and harmonizing in the world: kindling inner radiance and bringing truer values to our lives; helping to create a society that is more connected to its spiritual source. By identifying and aligning ourselves with that which is most God-like in us, and by service: being of use and of help in the universe, we bring ourselves near to the source of goodness, the source of love, friendship and intimacy that nurtures and supports us and our well being. The Zohar says, ‘The Place which You have made for Your dwelling place, God, for the Sanctuary, God, which You prepared.’ “This implies the necessity of building a sanctuary below, corresponding to the Sanctuary above, wherein the Holy One is daily served and worshipped. Zohar Raya Mehemna: 59b.” This describes our task as modern priests: to heal, to help, and to teach ourselves, others, and ultimately give back to the world by our commitment to purification and closeness to our Divine connection: to make a dwelling place in this world for the part of God that can be rooted here. May we take upon ourselves this sacred mission, and experience the harmonizing power of holiness in our lives.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Taking and Giving
This week’s Torah portion is Terumah, which means a portion or an offering. God asks Moses to inform the people that they can bring freewill offerings of precious metals, precious stones, colored fabric, wood, and animal skins for the grand project: the construction of the Tabernacle in the wilderness, that will allow God’s Presence to dwell among them. The portion also gives precise instructions about how the Tabernacle should be constructed. The Israelites were to build a tent of meeting and an outer courtyard for the service of worship and sacrifice. They were also to make the holy furniture: a golden ark to house the tablets of the Ten Commandments, a golden menorah as tall as a person, a tall golden table that looked like a baker’s rack, to hold 12 special loaves of bread; and a copper altar for sacrifice.
The portion begins, “God spoke to Moses saying, Speak to the Children of Israel and let them take for me a portion from every individual whose heart is willing, shall you take my portion.” As in the Torah portion, Bo, also from Exodus, which begins, “Come to Pharaoh,” not Go to Pharaoh, we have a linguistic mystery. Why does the Torah say, Take, a form of the Hebrew word, Kach, and not, Give, Tein, as in Natan and Notein? You might say, well Moses is taking the offering; but that’s not what the Torah says. The words indicate that the Israelites will be dong the taking. What is the Torah trying to tell us? In Rabbi Elimelech’s Torah commentary, in a note at the end of this week’s portion, it says, ”My Father said at a gathering, God created the Universe and all physical objects – something from nothing. Jews must transform the something into Nothing. They must transform the material into the spiritual.” Rabbi Elimelech refers to Job, who said, “Wisdom comes from ayin, from Nothing.” This mystery of taking, not giving, is a window into one of the great secrets of the Torah. The Zohar expresses it like this: (II: 127a) “in this Foundation is the fabrication of the whole, of all the world, of souls and spirits; this is the hidden force behind the creation of the heaven and earth, and this is also the hidden force behind the building of the Tabernacle, which was erected in the likeness both of the world above and of the world below. This is the significance of the words: “that they take me an offering”: two grades become united as one in the Tabernacle which is the emblem of that union.” Something is being united. The Zohar speaks about the Tabernacle uniting earth and heaven, however, this also occurs for the individual who gives. In Kedoshim, from Leviticus, it says, “You shall not indulge in sorcery and you shall not believe in lucky times (19: )” This verse delineates the relationship between us and the Divine. By hearing the words of a fortune teller, we create a blockage or an impediment between us and God, who is sending us information and experiences, based on our free choices The choice to give initiates an intimate relationship between the material and the spiritual, allowing this circle between us and God, or this opening of a channel between us, to be a pathway for the flow of blessings, which then can reach us. Such a thing happens in the material plane in the same way as a loving or caring interaction with another person equips the first person to receive love back from the second. In the Midrash it says, (Ex Rabba 33:6) “Ordinarily, when one buys an article in the market-place, is he then able to acquire its owner, too? But the Holy One, blessed be God,, gave the Torah to Israel and said to them: ' You are taking Me, as it were! ' Hence, THAT THEY TAKE ME AS AN OFFERING.” What we are receiving is Divinity: more Divine blessings. Since everything is God, what we receive is a quality of God. The Leadership and Management consultant and author Ken Blanchard has spoken about receiving blessings as a result of his giving. He writes, “I absolutely believe in the power of tithing and giving back. My own experience about all the blessings I've had in my life is that the more I give away, the more that comes back. That is the way life works, and that is the way energy works.” I, in my own life, have witnessed that my giving initiates blessings being able to flow to me. I never worry about giving to charity anymore. I know, because I have seen it: that whatever I give will mysteriously be replaced. Giving is the way to unite earth and heaven – to initiate, maintain, and deepen our relationship to God. It is one way to become a little more holy. And giving does not have to be money. As the V’ahavta tells us, giving can be love in our hearts. Giving can be actions, giving with all our hearts, souls, and might. The Apter Rebbe speaks about the Tabernacle being a representation of God’s giving and sharing with the Jewish people, of sharing God’s Kingdom with us In Terumah we are being asked to give – if, and only if, the giving comes from our hearts with free will – in order to allow us to take: to take the blessings we are being sent, through our own giving. The secret of taking is giving. God commands us to give so that, in God’s love, God may give to us. May each of us be among those that nurture the world through our giving: and in this way, to unite earth and heaven.
The portion begins, “God spoke to Moses saying, Speak to the Children of Israel and let them take for me a portion from every individual whose heart is willing, shall you take my portion.” As in the Torah portion, Bo, also from Exodus, which begins, “Come to Pharaoh,” not Go to Pharaoh, we have a linguistic mystery. Why does the Torah say, Take, a form of the Hebrew word, Kach, and not, Give, Tein, as in Natan and Notein? You might say, well Moses is taking the offering; but that’s not what the Torah says. The words indicate that the Israelites will be dong the taking. What is the Torah trying to tell us? In Rabbi Elimelech’s Torah commentary, in a note at the end of this week’s portion, it says, ”My Father said at a gathering, God created the Universe and all physical objects – something from nothing. Jews must transform the something into Nothing. They must transform the material into the spiritual.” Rabbi Elimelech refers to Job, who said, “Wisdom comes from ayin, from Nothing.” This mystery of taking, not giving, is a window into one of the great secrets of the Torah. The Zohar expresses it like this: (II: 127a) “in this Foundation is the fabrication of the whole, of all the world, of souls and spirits; this is the hidden force behind the creation of the heaven and earth, and this is also the hidden force behind the building of the Tabernacle, which was erected in the likeness both of the world above and of the world below. This is the significance of the words: “that they take me an offering”: two grades become united as one in the Tabernacle which is the emblem of that union.” Something is being united. The Zohar speaks about the Tabernacle uniting earth and heaven, however, this also occurs for the individual who gives. In Kedoshim, from Leviticus, it says, “You shall not indulge in sorcery and you shall not believe in lucky times (19: )” This verse delineates the relationship between us and the Divine. By hearing the words of a fortune teller, we create a blockage or an impediment between us and God, who is sending us information and experiences, based on our free choices The choice to give initiates an intimate relationship between the material and the spiritual, allowing this circle between us and God, or this opening of a channel between us, to be a pathway for the flow of blessings, which then can reach us. Such a thing happens in the material plane in the same way as a loving or caring interaction with another person equips the first person to receive love back from the second. In the Midrash it says, (Ex Rabba 33:6) “Ordinarily, when one buys an article in the market-place, is he then able to acquire its owner, too? But the Holy One, blessed be God,, gave the Torah to Israel and said to them: ' You are taking Me, as it were! ' Hence, THAT THEY TAKE ME AS AN OFFERING.” What we are receiving is Divinity: more Divine blessings. Since everything is God, what we receive is a quality of God. The Leadership and Management consultant and author Ken Blanchard has spoken about receiving blessings as a result of his giving. He writes, “I absolutely believe in the power of tithing and giving back. My own experience about all the blessings I've had in my life is that the more I give away, the more that comes back. That is the way life works, and that is the way energy works.” I, in my own life, have witnessed that my giving initiates blessings being able to flow to me. I never worry about giving to charity anymore. I know, because I have seen it: that whatever I give will mysteriously be replaced. Giving is the way to unite earth and heaven – to initiate, maintain, and deepen our relationship to God. It is one way to become a little more holy. And giving does not have to be money. As the V’ahavta tells us, giving can be love in our hearts. Giving can be actions, giving with all our hearts, souls, and might. The Apter Rebbe speaks about the Tabernacle being a representation of God’s giving and sharing with the Jewish people, of sharing God’s Kingdom with us In Terumah we are being asked to give – if, and only if, the giving comes from our hearts with free will – in order to allow us to take: to take the blessings we are being sent, through our own giving. The secret of taking is giving. God commands us to give so that, in God’s love, God may give to us. May each of us be among those that nurture the world through our giving: and in this way, to unite earth and heaven.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
When the Parts Work Together
This week’s Torah portion is Mishpatim, judgments or laws. These laws were given to Moses by God, after the 10 Commandments. The experience of the Revelation, being so close to God, was too frightening for the people; so they asked Moses to hear the laws from God and to tell them what God wished to say. There are over 50 laws in this portion, ranging from laws concerning murder, injury, theft, care for and destruction of property, negligence, and social justice. There are laws about the punishment fitting the crime, integrity of words and actions, and also about not oppressing a stranger, a widow, or an orphan, those weakest in society. Finally, there are laws about the 3 agricultural pilgrimage holidays and a vision of God, seen by the Moses, Aaron, his two sons, and the 70 elders. In the Zohar, the book of Splendor from the Middle Ages, in the commentary for Mishpatim it says, “when one (Section 2, Page 124a) observes the ordinances of the Torah and diligently studies it, it is as though that one diligently studied the Divine Name. For the whole Torah is an enfolding of the one Divine Name, the most exalted Name, the Name that comprehends all other names;” This poetic comment is at the opposite pole from the actual words in this portion. We can study the laws as they are here given; and either agree with them or disagree with them; and either do them or decide that they have been superseded by advances in society. In this portion we can find the best of the Torah: the striving for social justice; and also the worst of the Torah: those laws about slavery or the possibility of the death penalty for lesser offenses than premeditated murder. This portion begins with laws: with reasonable demands that we can all understand; but ends in a mystical vision: gazing at the appearance of God, God’s throne, and the purity of the sapphire brickwork under the feet of God. Between these two poles: the logical and the mystical, lies the question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” which comes from the story of Cain and Abel in B’reisheet, the first Torah portion. Taking into account the reality stated in the quotation from the Zohar about the Divine Name; everything that is “named” in this portion, in the whole Torah, is God’s Name. Everything that is named, described, and taught, is God, because that’s all there is. The people in this portion: the widow, orphan, and stranger are God. The slave, the pregnant woman, the thief, and the virgin; the seducer and even the donkey crouching under its burden are all God. We are all a tiny part of God; “the name that comprehends all other names.” God is immanent in us, but transcendent over us. So what is the problem that is being set out for us? This portion is, in a sense, not only about action but also about peace. The S’fat Emet quotes the Psalm (29:11), “God will bless God’s people with peace,” and we say in the second Torah blessing, “God has implanted eternal life within us.” Then the S’fat Emet goes on to say, “this well is opened by the peace wrought by these statutes. For this reason the Midrash quotes here, you have established uprightness (Ps 99:4) because these statues lead people to love one another. The problem we must solve, then, is one of coordination: of getting all the parts to work together as a well oiled machine in which all the components are all operating harmoniously toward a productive end. If God is one, then everything is God and the challenge is to have it all working as if we are all one. That can only happen when we take care of each other, are fair to one another, and understand that the welfare of the whole is what we need to be aiming for, not just our own welfare; because our welfare is God’s welfare, is our neighbor’s welfare. When we cause pain, or create untruth, we cause a tear or a hole in the fabric of existence. We cause a breakdown in the oneness and harmony of the working parts, and we, ourselves will experience the pain we cause to another. We ourselves will fall into the hole we have dug or torn. It is all God, and that is why harmony is so important. Disharmony works against existence, against life, against us. Untruth severs the source of the electric current from the light bulb, so it can’t light up. The commandments are given to purify us and the Torah ties them all together so that we have a chance to understand it all. Torah is a reflection of the Oneness of all existence. It explains how all life should work, when it’s working properly. That understanding is so precious for us, because it gives us a chance to be part of a universe that is pulling together and not pulling apart. When we are focused on the welfare of the All, we are given glimpses of Divinity; intimations of the purity that is God and the harmonious, productive place that the world is meant to be. May each of us strive to realize these truths, so that the design of Oneness can become the reality; so that we can work happily, being at One with existence and expressing the harmony of all life.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Are we leading or being led?
This week’s Torah portion is Beshallach, which means, when he sent. When Pharaoh sends the Israelites out of Egypt, God leads them, with a pillar of cloud, away from the coast of the Mediterranean: not North but South. Hemmed in by the Sea of reeds ahead of them and the pursuing Egyptians behind them, the people despair that their lives are over. They cry out of God, who urges them to go forward. And you know the rest. God splits the water. They travel through the sea in safety, but the pursing Egyptian chariots and horsemen drown: the Divine retribution for throwing all male Israelite babies into the Nile. Then the people sing a song of gratitude to God. The beginning verse of this portion reads: “God did not lead them by way of the Philistines, though it was near, for God said, perhaps they will be led, when they see war, to return to Egypt.” And later it says, “God went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to have them led along the way.” And in the song of the Sea, the people sing, “With your kindness you have led this people that you redeemed. You led with your might to your Holy abode.” We can see that being led: God leading us, is prominently featured in this portion. It also says that God took the people around toward the Sea of Reeds. The word around, ya-save, connotes a circle, and in fact, we originated in Canaan and eventually returned to Canaan. The question is, how does all this leading fit in with our conception of Free Will? Are we really choosing or are we being led? We know that we do have free will. We can choose what to say and what to do. We change our reality every day by our choices. The Torah, even at the very beginning of Genesis, takes a stand for the beginning of history and linear progress over the passive acceptance of the ancient idea of the wheel of life: that nothing ever changes and we are merely repeating lives that have been and will ever be the same. There is a story in Midrash about “a king who had a son to whom he wished to bequeath an inheritance, but he argued: ' If I give it to him now that he is small, he will not know how to take care of it; I will therefore wait until my son learns how to write and can understand the value, then I will bequeath it unto him.’ This is what God said: … I had better give them the Torah first and then bring them into the Land.” Midrash Rabbah - Exodus XX:15 This passage speaks about learning and future choice. The Talmud (Er 53b) talks about this too. It says, “I was once on a journey when I noticed a child sitting at a cross-road. By what road, I asked the child, can we go to the town? This one, he replied, is a short way that is long and that one is a long way that is short. I proceeded along the short but long road. When I approached the town I discovered that it was hedged in by gardens and orchards. Turning back I said to him, ‘My child, did you not tell me that this road was short?’ — ‘And’, he replied: ‘did I not also tell you: that it was also long?’ The statement “there is a long way that is short and a short way that is long.” leads us to believe that the destination is the same, but that there are two ways to get there; and choice is at the heart of the difference. The seemingly easy way out of a situation may, at first look more promising than a scrupulously moral, ethical decision. And yet, though we may think it’s the easy way, we are really being led, like pharaoh, to our doom; or like the Israelites who could have gone North, to an insurmountable barrier. In a Biblical sense, we could ask, are we choosing life or choosing death? Perhaps what we are being taught is that certain of our choices are pro-life and lead to progress, while other choices will send us circling back on ourselves so that we end up stuck: unable to make that freeing forward movement that feels good and right. I’ve been speaking about choice seen through a personal lens, but it can also be seen through a collective lens. Martin Luther King said, “On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?" Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?" And Vanity comes along and asks the question, "Is it popular?" But Conscience asks the question "Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but we must do it because Conscience tells us it is right.” Heschl spoke about choice in two essays quoted in the collection Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity. He says, “the tragedy of man is that he is so great and that he fails to recognize his greatness. Jean-Paul Sartre has said ‘Man is condemned to be free.’ God has given us choice, the greatest obligation of freedom. God is waiting for us to exercise that choice. (P 218) …This is the decision we have to make: whether our life is to be a pursuit of pleasure or an engagement for service. The world cannot remain a vacuum. Unless we make it an altar to God, it is invaded by demons. This is no time for neutrality (P. 75).”
What is true of the aggregate is also true of the individual. How are we to decide which choices will propel us forward and not back? When the Israelites were paralyzed with fear of the past, represented by Pharaoh’s pursuing army, and also of the future, represented by the Sea of Reeds, they cried out to God, the correct response in this situation. God’s answer was, “let them journey forth.” Choose the future, not the past: not old patterns or going backward. Choose with courage! The Rimanover Rebbe said, “Belief and trust are linked. One who firmly believes also trusts.” We are being led, but how soon we get there and in what way is up to us. Free will determines how our life feels. Does it feel free with the freedom of forward movement, or does it feel like the slavery of being stuck in old patterns and the hopelessness of the repeating wheel of life? The Torah tells us that we are being led toward movement and progress, out of our metaphoric Egypt. The details, the scenery, and the comfort of the journey are in our hands. We are on the way. How long will it take us to get there?
What is true of the aggregate is also true of the individual. How are we to decide which choices will propel us forward and not back? When the Israelites were paralyzed with fear of the past, represented by Pharaoh’s pursuing army, and also of the future, represented by the Sea of Reeds, they cried out to God, the correct response in this situation. God’s answer was, “let them journey forth.” Choose the future, not the past: not old patterns or going backward. Choose with courage! The Rimanover Rebbe said, “Belief and trust are linked. One who firmly believes also trusts.” We are being led, but how soon we get there and in what way is up to us. Free will determines how our life feels. Does it feel free with the freedom of forward movement, or does it feel like the slavery of being stuck in old patterns and the hopelessness of the repeating wheel of life? The Torah tells us that we are being led toward movement and progress, out of our metaphoric Egypt. The details, the scenery, and the comfort of the journey are in our hands. We are on the way. How long will it take us to get there?
Friday, January 14, 2011
Coming Back
This week’s Torah portion is Bo, which means, Come. God commands Moses to go to Pharaoh to warn him of the last three plagues. Later in the portion, the Israelites are given instructions about the Pesach offering to God, in preparation for departure; and the protection of marking the doors with the blood from the pesach offering; and also staying inside, away from danger. We are given our own calendar and the commandments concerning Passover, to celebrate it with matzah and bitter herbs as an eternal decree; the consecration of first borns to God. Then Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt.
The beginning of the portion reads, “God said to Moses, Come to Pharaoh, for I have made his heart and the heart of his servants stubborn, so that I shall place these signs of mine in his midst; and so that you may relate in the ears of your child and your child’s child how I made a mockery of Egypt and of my signs that I placed among them; that you may know that I am God.”
This portion is notable for many reasons; among them is something it does not say. Moses has repeatedly come before Pharaoh with the plea that Pharaoh let the people go on a three day journey to bring sacrifices to God. Perhaps the request is a ploy to allow Pharaoh to save face, but in any case, Moses’ request is unsuccessful. What is never said is: enslaving and subjugating people is wrong. God never says to Moses, Tell pharaoh that cruelty to other human beings, that making people suffer, is wrong. The question is, why is this never said? The first few phrases of this portion may allude to why. One reason is that we already know that cruelty is wrong. But how do we know? A clue in the text speaks about the heart. The S’fat Emet points out that the heart is always mentioned, never the mind. Also, the text says, “that I may place these, my signs in his midst.” But “In his midst” b’kirbo in Hebrew, also means within him. We are being directed to think about our inner selves. What is being addressed here is often called Natural Knowing: the emotions, the intuition, the gut, and not the conscious, intellectual functions of thought and reason.
It has been suggested that all wisdom is like a hologram rather than a photograph. In a photograph you can snip off a small price and that piece contains just the part of the picture that you cut off. But even the very tiniest piece of a hologram contains the entire picture. So it is with spiritual wisdom: we each contain the whole of spiritual wisdom in some way, whether we are conscious of it or not. Rabbi Arthur Green says, in a commentary to the writings of the S’fat Emet, “Truth is already implanted within us.” The Chassidic teaching is that the Torah is within us – those ethical commandments and deeds of loving kindness that help us to feel good about ourselves and know we are doing the right thing in the world. It’s a perfect system. What is good; what is right, feels good. Love feels good. Food feels good. Unselfishness feels good. The text gives us more clues about how to continue in this line of thinking. If we consider the name of the portion, Come; Come to pharaoh, in light of natural knowing; the word, Come, rather than go, begins to make some sense. Bo begins to mean, Come to a union, even with pharaoh. Disunity must cease. I am leading you to a new place; a place of coming together. The commentary also suggests, “I, God, am with you.” We are going on our mission together. Perhaps the opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love may be winning; domination; subjugation. We are being led back to unity – to peace – to harmony, the fundamental nature of God. This is the completion of the cycle of creation. First there was One. Then creation occurs. Out of a multiplicity of forms, objects, forces, people; out of the many comes a re-union, on a different basis. Not undifferentiated Oneness, as before creation, but differentiated Oneness: the ultimate multiculturalism on the grandest scale possible, with no one and nothing left out. Forced to leave the Garden of Eden, because we have become fully conscious and responsible for our choices, we are given the mission of striving to create a new garden, based on the natural knowing that love and unity are correct and subjugation incorrect. May God help us to stay on the path that leads back to singularity. May our ability to choose love over winning, respect over disdain, and unity over separation, help us to be of those who embody the vision of eventual Oneness. May we be agents of positive change as we create harmony in our relationships, understanding and appreciating that we are playing a part in the redemption which, we hope, will occur long after we are gone. In Pirkei Avot, Rabbi Tarphon said: It is not up to you to complete the work, but neither are you free to refrain from it either. Bringing goodness and unity into the world depends upon us. Come, and we will do it together, and you will know, and your will feel that it is good.
The beginning of the portion reads, “God said to Moses, Come to Pharaoh, for I have made his heart and the heart of his servants stubborn, so that I shall place these signs of mine in his midst; and so that you may relate in the ears of your child and your child’s child how I made a mockery of Egypt and of my signs that I placed among them; that you may know that I am God.”
This portion is notable for many reasons; among them is something it does not say. Moses has repeatedly come before Pharaoh with the plea that Pharaoh let the people go on a three day journey to bring sacrifices to God. Perhaps the request is a ploy to allow Pharaoh to save face, but in any case, Moses’ request is unsuccessful. What is never said is: enslaving and subjugating people is wrong. God never says to Moses, Tell pharaoh that cruelty to other human beings, that making people suffer, is wrong. The question is, why is this never said? The first few phrases of this portion may allude to why. One reason is that we already know that cruelty is wrong. But how do we know? A clue in the text speaks about the heart. The S’fat Emet points out that the heart is always mentioned, never the mind. Also, the text says, “that I may place these, my signs in his midst.” But “In his midst” b’kirbo in Hebrew, also means within him. We are being directed to think about our inner selves. What is being addressed here is often called Natural Knowing: the emotions, the intuition, the gut, and not the conscious, intellectual functions of thought and reason.
It has been suggested that all wisdom is like a hologram rather than a photograph. In a photograph you can snip off a small price and that piece contains just the part of the picture that you cut off. But even the very tiniest piece of a hologram contains the entire picture. So it is with spiritual wisdom: we each contain the whole of spiritual wisdom in some way, whether we are conscious of it or not. Rabbi Arthur Green says, in a commentary to the writings of the S’fat Emet, “Truth is already implanted within us.” The Chassidic teaching is that the Torah is within us – those ethical commandments and deeds of loving kindness that help us to feel good about ourselves and know we are doing the right thing in the world. It’s a perfect system. What is good; what is right, feels good. Love feels good. Food feels good. Unselfishness feels good. The text gives us more clues about how to continue in this line of thinking. If we consider the name of the portion, Come; Come to pharaoh, in light of natural knowing; the word, Come, rather than go, begins to make some sense. Bo begins to mean, Come to a union, even with pharaoh. Disunity must cease. I am leading you to a new place; a place of coming together. The commentary also suggests, “I, God, am with you.” We are going on our mission together. Perhaps the opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love may be winning; domination; subjugation. We are being led back to unity – to peace – to harmony, the fundamental nature of God. This is the completion of the cycle of creation. First there was One. Then creation occurs. Out of a multiplicity of forms, objects, forces, people; out of the many comes a re-union, on a different basis. Not undifferentiated Oneness, as before creation, but differentiated Oneness: the ultimate multiculturalism on the grandest scale possible, with no one and nothing left out. Forced to leave the Garden of Eden, because we have become fully conscious and responsible for our choices, we are given the mission of striving to create a new garden, based on the natural knowing that love and unity are correct and subjugation incorrect. May God help us to stay on the path that leads back to singularity. May our ability to choose love over winning, respect over disdain, and unity over separation, help us to be of those who embody the vision of eventual Oneness. May we be agents of positive change as we create harmony in our relationships, understanding and appreciating that we are playing a part in the redemption which, we hope, will occur long after we are gone. In Pirkei Avot, Rabbi Tarphon said: It is not up to you to complete the work, but neither are you free to refrain from it either. Bringing goodness and unity into the world depends upon us. Come, and we will do it together, and you will know, and your will feel that it is good.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Planting Suggestions
This week’s Torah portion is Va’eira, which means, and He appeared. God speaks to Moses about the Divine Name and promises to redeem the Israelites, which reassures him. But when Moses tells the people of a coming salvation, they don’t listen, because of their servitude and hard work. Moses again has doubts about the success of his mission and brings his frustration to God. God is patient, repeatedly speaking to Moses and Aaron, to give them insight and also a positive outlook. God says, “I shall harden Pharaoh’s heart and I shall multiply my signs and wonders.” Then later God says, “Pharaoh will not heed you,” and later, “Pharaoh’s heart is heavy.” Here, God is giving Moses a window into the process of redemption, a psychological view of what needs to happen before Israel is freed.
Commentators have struggled to reconcile how God could harden Pharaoh’s heart with the principle that God never takes away our free will. I have explained this to myself with the thought that increasingly cruel decisions produce increasingly more drastic results; power meeting power; and that rule still applies, but additionally there is another way to look at this contradiction.
Did you ever get ready to leave for work in the morning when an idea popped up in your mind like: should I take an umbrella, or did I put my phone, my keys, or my papers in my briefcase or pocketbook? Do I have my gloves? I have a feeling it will rain.. Of course, we all have. And some of these little thoughts we ignore and some we pay attention to. Some are warnings, and one of the principles of Torah is that there is usually a warning before something unfortunate happens. But also, some of these little thoughts are suggestions, and I believe these suggestions are planted there to help us and also to be tests. We always have free will as to whether to pay attention to them or not. Our free will is never taken away. We have the ability to choose freely – to decide and to act, or not to act, on these suggestions. These suggestions are opportunities in disguise: the opportunity to pass tests which is really grasping onto rungs of a ladder put there for us; to lead us to increased understanding of the reality of our relationship to God and to the world; to open our eyes to a deeper reality than the one with which everyone is familiar. We all have many voices inside – not only the two common ones, the optimist and the pessimist, but also the soul’s yearning voice, the generous, and the selfish voices, and many more. The suggestions that occur to us test us and allow us to choose which voice to pay attention to: the voices of conventional and logical reasonableness or the voices of joy and aliveness, faith, hope, and understanding.
It is interesting that God instructs Moses in this psychological way of thinking. God says, Pharaoh’s heart is heavy. In other worlds, Pharaoh is an unhappy person. He is suffering. I have sent him suggestions about what to do. He won’t choose to listen to the voice of kindness or compassion because of his own misery. It’s obvious, God seems to be saying. Even you, Moses can see it’s true. Even you can predict what Pharaoh will do. It will take a tremendous show of power to get him to pay attention to you. He will be very, very hard to educate.
It is a well known Jewish teaching that no one is given a test unless they can pass it. Not that we always do pass tests, but that we can; that we are capable right now, just as we are, of passing them. So in this New Year, let us all be aware of the possibility that the little thoughts that pop up in our minds are suggestions planted there for us, for our benefit – as tests – that we can evaluate; and that can lead us to increased understanding and to a more active relationship with God. The choice is up to us. May all of our choices lead us to great blessing in this New Year.
Commentators have struggled to reconcile how God could harden Pharaoh’s heart with the principle that God never takes away our free will. I have explained this to myself with the thought that increasingly cruel decisions produce increasingly more drastic results; power meeting power; and that rule still applies, but additionally there is another way to look at this contradiction.
Did you ever get ready to leave for work in the morning when an idea popped up in your mind like: should I take an umbrella, or did I put my phone, my keys, or my papers in my briefcase or pocketbook? Do I have my gloves? I have a feeling it will rain.. Of course, we all have. And some of these little thoughts we ignore and some we pay attention to. Some are warnings, and one of the principles of Torah is that there is usually a warning before something unfortunate happens. But also, some of these little thoughts are suggestions, and I believe these suggestions are planted there to help us and also to be tests. We always have free will as to whether to pay attention to them or not. Our free will is never taken away. We have the ability to choose freely – to decide and to act, or not to act, on these suggestions. These suggestions are opportunities in disguise: the opportunity to pass tests which is really grasping onto rungs of a ladder put there for us; to lead us to increased understanding of the reality of our relationship to God and to the world; to open our eyes to a deeper reality than the one with which everyone is familiar. We all have many voices inside – not only the two common ones, the optimist and the pessimist, but also the soul’s yearning voice, the generous, and the selfish voices, and many more. The suggestions that occur to us test us and allow us to choose which voice to pay attention to: the voices of conventional and logical reasonableness or the voices of joy and aliveness, faith, hope, and understanding.
It is interesting that God instructs Moses in this psychological way of thinking. God says, Pharaoh’s heart is heavy. In other worlds, Pharaoh is an unhappy person. He is suffering. I have sent him suggestions about what to do. He won’t choose to listen to the voice of kindness or compassion because of his own misery. It’s obvious, God seems to be saying. Even you, Moses can see it’s true. Even you can predict what Pharaoh will do. It will take a tremendous show of power to get him to pay attention to you. He will be very, very hard to educate.
It is a well known Jewish teaching that no one is given a test unless they can pass it. Not that we always do pass tests, but that we can; that we are capable right now, just as we are, of passing them. So in this New Year, let us all be aware of the possibility that the little thoughts that pop up in our minds are suggestions planted there for us, for our benefit – as tests – that we can evaluate; and that can lead us to increased understanding and to a more active relationship with God. The choice is up to us. May all of our choices lead us to great blessing in this New Year.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
The Path to Becoming a Tzaddik
This week’s Torah portion is Vayeishev, which means, and he settled. Jacob settled in Canaan with his wives and 13 children. The teenage Joseph, second to the youngest, used to tattle on his older brothers. Joseph was the favorite son, the one given the coat of many colors or coat of fine wool, denoting family leadership; the dreamer who dreamed of future leadership, and let everyone know it. In this Torah portion, the brothers are pasturing their father’s flock and Jacob sends his young son, Joseph, to bring back a report. In essence, he is sent to tattle. When they see him coming, his brothers conspire to kill him. Reuben, the eldest, steers them away from murder, suggesting they throw him into a pit, with the intention of rescuing him later. Judah, the fourth son, advocates selling him to a passing caravan, agreeing with Reuben, saying, “Let our hand not be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh (Gen. 37:27).” The brothers decide to follow Judah’s lead and they do put Joseph into the pit. While they are eating a picnic lunch, traders sell Joseph before they can make a profit themselves, and he is eventually taken to Egypt and resold, ending up as a slave to Potifar, a high official.
This story pivots on hatred and jealousy – two emotions that are in every human heart. At this season of social and family gatherings, it may come up for us, making an unwelcome appearance in our lives. Why are we given these attributes? How do they serve us and, from a spiritual perspective, why are they wrong? The verse, “He is our brother, our own flesh,” is very enlightening. In a sense, all hatred is self hatred. This can be seen in the well known situation of the self hating Jew. But also, since the truth of reality, which the Torah teaches, is that we are all one: we are all part of each other. We are all brothers, sisters: family; and we are all part of the Divine Oneness. So we recognize in others that quality that is part of us: hatred or jealousy, and return it outward. Or we find a lack in ourselves and blame another person for it.
Hatred and jealousy come from a faulty understanding of the world. Rashi comments: snakes and scorpions were in the pit. The brothers placed Joseph physically in the place where they were emotionally: a place of snakes and scorpions. They separated themselves from Joseph, trying to get rid of their own negative feelings toward him. In a sense, all sins are sins of separation: separating us from one another and from God. If the truth of existence is that we are One, then any separation goes against the way the Universe is made. It is a step backward, toward the corruption of society in the time of Noah, rather than forward, into the messianic vision of the future.
One of the underlying principles of the Torah is that one who separates will herself or himself be separated. This was true of Rebecca, who was separated from her beloved son Jacob. It was true of Rachel, who was separated from Jacob, her husband, Joseph and her newborn son Benjamin, and from life itself, by her early death. And it was true of Judah in this Torah portion, whose wife and two sons died untimely deaths. Hatred and jealousy are challenges within us that we can strive against. They are prime attributes that we can decide to overcome, providing rungs on the ladder leading toward spiritual progress. They can spur us to goodness when re recognize them and honestly admit to their source within us. They can show us a path of action to redress wrongs or injustice in our relationships and in the greater society; and they can help us to achieve and attain for ourselves what we have always wanted to be, IF and only if, we put these attributes in the service of unifying and not separating. The world looks separate to us and is not. People look separate from us and are not. Hatred and jealousy hurt us, not others. The path to becoming a tzaddik, a righteous person, is long, but Joseph the tattletale achieved it. The brothers: Reuben, Judah and the others achieved it. And so can we. May jealous and hatred not find a place to lodge in our hearts, and may we grow in goodness and righteousness, acting out of and choosing the truth of our unity.
This story pivots on hatred and jealousy – two emotions that are in every human heart. At this season of social and family gatherings, it may come up for us, making an unwelcome appearance in our lives. Why are we given these attributes? How do they serve us and, from a spiritual perspective, why are they wrong? The verse, “He is our brother, our own flesh,” is very enlightening. In a sense, all hatred is self hatred. This can be seen in the well known situation of the self hating Jew. But also, since the truth of reality, which the Torah teaches, is that we are all one: we are all part of each other. We are all brothers, sisters: family; and we are all part of the Divine Oneness. So we recognize in others that quality that is part of us: hatred or jealousy, and return it outward. Or we find a lack in ourselves and blame another person for it.
Hatred and jealousy come from a faulty understanding of the world. Rashi comments: snakes and scorpions were in the pit. The brothers placed Joseph physically in the place where they were emotionally: a place of snakes and scorpions. They separated themselves from Joseph, trying to get rid of their own negative feelings toward him. In a sense, all sins are sins of separation: separating us from one another and from God. If the truth of existence is that we are One, then any separation goes against the way the Universe is made. It is a step backward, toward the corruption of society in the time of Noah, rather than forward, into the messianic vision of the future.
One of the underlying principles of the Torah is that one who separates will herself or himself be separated. This was true of Rebecca, who was separated from her beloved son Jacob. It was true of Rachel, who was separated from Jacob, her husband, Joseph and her newborn son Benjamin, and from life itself, by her early death. And it was true of Judah in this Torah portion, whose wife and two sons died untimely deaths. Hatred and jealousy are challenges within us that we can strive against. They are prime attributes that we can decide to overcome, providing rungs on the ladder leading toward spiritual progress. They can spur us to goodness when re recognize them and honestly admit to their source within us. They can show us a path of action to redress wrongs or injustice in our relationships and in the greater society; and they can help us to achieve and attain for ourselves what we have always wanted to be, IF and only if, we put these attributes in the service of unifying and not separating. The world looks separate to us and is not. People look separate from us and are not. Hatred and jealousy hurt us, not others. The path to becoming a tzaddik, a righteous person, is long, but Joseph the tattletale achieved it. The brothers: Reuben, Judah and the others achieved it. And so can we. May jealous and hatred not find a place to lodge in our hearts, and may we grow in goodness and righteousness, acting out of and choosing the truth of our unity.
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