Celebrating 60 Years of Tenacity

How do you maintain spiritual focus in a material world teeming with every imaginable distraction?

Is there a way to perpetuate a moment of inspiration, not allowing it to dissipate under the weight of our burdens?

How do we keep our values aligned when we have bills to pay, promises to keep, a workload that never seems to go away?

How can your soul’s voice be heard amidst the surrounding din and congestion?

What should we do when doubts creep in, when uncertainty and other debilitating forces weaken our resolve?

How do we overcome adversary and all those detractors who cynically dismiss our noble and virtuous efforts?

Why do some people seem to have the strength and courage to prevail over challenges, and others do not? Where does their certainty and power come from? And can we all access it?

The answer to these and many other similar questions is given to us in – what may seem to some, a surprising place – a Chassidic discourse, studied by many people during this time of year.

Sixty years ago this week (the 10^th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat 1950) my mentor’s mentor (Rebbe’s Rebbe) ascended on high. His name: Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, the sixth Chabad Rebbe. The last discourse he published in his lifetime was issued for study that very day. The Chassidic discourse, titled Basi L’Gani, Come to my Garden (a verse in Song of Songs), consists of twenty chapters.

When Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak’s son-in-law, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, assumed leadership of the movement, he began his first discourse with the same verse, and elucidated on the original discourse. Every year hence, on this day, Yud Shevat, the Rebbe would focus, in consecutive order, on another one of the twenty chapters of the discourse, in 1952 – chapter two, 1953 – chapter three, concluding with chapter twenty in 1970. Then he began the order again. Based on this cycle, this year, 2010 (5770), corresponds to the 20^th and final chapter of Basi L’Gani.

What is the theme of chapter twenty? Unwavering spiritual fortitude, determination and commitment in face of the challenges that we face living in self-indulgent material universe.

Esoteric in tone, this chapter, when deciphered, is as practical and relevant as any message you will ever hear.

Briefly, the chapter discusses the harsh challenges our pure and innocent souls face in a selfish and corrupt world. The soul, he explains, originates in a very pristine and sublime state – seamlessly bound to its Divine source. In that state no duality exists; the soul’s identity and agenda is one with the Divine plan. But then this pure soul descends into the physical body and material plane, which is dominated by different and conflicting self-interests. Your integrated soul is an alien in this fragmented world, creating radical dissonance. Yet, this drastic descent is precisely the purpose of all existence: So that the soul can repair the schism and overcome – and refine – the temptations and seductions of the physical body and the material universe.

This process demands enormous effort and exertion. The soul must fight a grueling battle to conquer the relentless pull of materialism.

Just as we become spiritually inspired, the “animal soul” unleashes its fury, assaulting our psyches and unsettling us with every type of distraction; at times, overwhelming us with baseless doubts and fears.

The only way to triumph in this battle is to muster the deepest resources of the soul – the enormous, unwavering power of Netzach – which emerges only in the face of adversary. Rooted in the core of the soul (beyond all other revealed faculties), Netzach (literally “victory”) is sheer determination – total and absolute commitment to forge ahead despite any challenge, unknown and doubt.

The energy of Netzach comes from a deep-rooted belief in who you are and what you need to accomplish; embracing what you believe in and not allowing anything to stop you from getting it.

We access this power precisely when we are under attack. When we fight to live virtuous lives in a corrupt world, when we stand up firmly for justice and morality, when we combat selfishness, our own or others, our conviction evokes the deepest Divine, spiritual resources. As demonstrated with the example of an actual war: When a leader is threatened and goes to battle, the drive to win causes him to unlock his most precious treasures and resources, ones that have never before been seen, anything to help him prevail. The challenges of life, thus, become catalysts that ignite our deepest strengths. The greater the adversary, the more powerful are the forces of certainty we awaken and the more determined we are to succeed.

Complacency is the root of weak resolve. By contrast, when we feel that our spiritual identity is threatened and we fear betraying our own highest aspirations, this danger stimulates new energies and will power, which draws out the unshakeable core of the soul rooted in the unshakeable Essence of the Divine.

There is no greater gift than the gift of determination: The absolute certainty that you are precious and indispensable; that you are on a mission championing a cause; that the place and time in which you find yourself is exactly where you belong; and that you have the power to make your unique mark on the universe.

So the secret to access inner strength and resolve is by looking at our own doubts and procrastination as an “enemy.” Define the enemy and then gather all your inner strengths to go into battle. Allow your enemy to empower you. When the challenge seems particularly formidable, act counterintuitively: Instead of retreating, obstinately commit, with suprarational tenacity, to fulfill your mission to refine your corner of the world.

When you make that netzach commitment, your inner soul, fed by the indomitable Divine, will carry you.

Where are the Beautiful and Mountainous Lands?

When a calamity strikes the public we must cry out, examine our lives and correct our ways. To say that the calamity is merely a natural phenomenon and

a chance occurrence is insensitive and cruel – Maimonides, Laws of Fasting 1:2-3

Amidst indescribable death and destruction, it may appear callous to focus on a positive side of the disastrous earthquake that ravaged Haiti this week.

Yet, it is hard to ignore the global outcry and enormous humanitarian effort to help this wretched and impoverished country – in very glaring contrast to how nations reacted to each other since the dawn of history.

There was a time when one country’s disaster was another’s celebration. Entire empires were built upon others ruins and misery. Ancient and medieval history is fraught with wars and aggression between nations. Every empire was out to conquer and humiliate its neighbor (or beyond), let alone not interested in helping another nation in need.

Today we see a radically different world. Instead of pillaging and exploiting the misfortune of others, we are witnessing an admirable outpouring of international aid – from nations and from individuals – to stricken Haiti. Obviously much more can and should be done to address the people in crisis. Yet, it is important to acknowledge every positive gesture of help.

Though hardly a consolation in face of the magnitude of today’s great tragedy, it is mildly comforting to witness nations having at least a semblance of awareness that we all are part of one human race, and we therefore share responsibility toward one another, something quite unprecedented in human history.

The mystics see our responsibility for each other in a cosmic way. All human beings – and for that matter, every fiber of existence – are part of one large organism; each an indispensable musical note in the Divine symphony. We are all integrally connected and interconnected. The loss and pain of one component affects us all. Indeed, all of time, space and spirit (man) are pieces of one seamless tapestry.

Yet, this integral web connection is hidden from our view. A great “shroud” conceals our interconnectivity and interdependence. The shroud is called the “grand tzimtzum” – a cosmic black hole that turns existence inside out, and allows us to think that we are alone and disconnected from everything else. It creates the narcissistic perception that the only thing that exists is you, in this moment and this space, with no inkling of your fundamental link with all other moments, spaces and people.

This “tzimtzum” is the startling root – both brilliant and horrific – of all human apathy, of every form of indifference and complacency that we are so capable of. Since we are all one cohesive organism, how is it possible, ask the mystical students of unity, that we should be able to go our way, sleep and otherwise disregard the suffering of our brethren?! Can one part of a body be at peace when another part is ailing?

Blindness is the answer. The great shroud masks our integral unity, and as a result we fell separate, to the point that we can actually harm each other, not recognizing that in doing so we harm ourselves as well.

Life’s great challenge – as great and even greater than the “tzimtzum” itself – is to wake up and be aware: To open the curtains and reveal the underlying unity through living an integrated life.

We cannot grasp the mystery of human suffering. Silence has always been the ultimate response to unfathomable tragedy. Not the silence of resignation. The silence of strength – of standing in overwhelmed awe of experiences that the human mind cannot contain. Not logic, not reason, not all of our other limited faculties can process the sheer senselessness of loss and grief.

Yet, men and women of deep faith always went a step further. (The story in these weeks Torah portions about the Egyptian exile and exodus is a case in point). They did not allow suffering to break them and their belief in the force of good. After silently acknowledging the mystery of pain, they forged ahead with fortitude and strength to become greater people and make the world a more beautiful place.

They understood that our integral unity infers another vital conclusion: Just as we are hurt when others are in pain, even thousands of miles away, we have the power to strengthen each other as well. In some strange way, our personal behavior in one corner of the globe has the power to repair ruptures in another part of the world.

So, on one hand we cry over the epic proportions of this tragedy. Lives have been lost, families shattered, millions traumatized. And above all, we have all been exposed to the sheer vulnerability of our lives on Earth.

Yet, at the same time, tragedy serves as a wake-up call and compels us to act and intensify our commitment to goodness – and do everything in our power to help the less fortunate.

And how we react to the disaster of others also has much to teach us. When you think about the discord between nations of old, it is not a small miracle that nations today are volunteering their assistance to pitiful Haiti.

When exactly did things change?

Charity can be traced back all the way to Biblical Abraham, who pioneered and epitomized chesed – a life dedicated to giving, kindness and compassion. Charity becomes a mainstay and a foundation in Biblical literature.

But when did collective charity begin? Which community or nation was the first to reach out and assist others?

I haven’t done enough research to conclude when this new humanitarian trend began. Perhaps one of you reading this can uncover the first incident in history of one nation offering help and expending resources to assist another. But it appears that this changed attitude began around two centuries ago. With the weakening of absolute religious authority and the emergence of the Enlightenment, new attitudes were adopted toward justice and social reform. The advent of collective respect for human rights in the 18^th century also gave rise to humanitarian social action.

Some attribute the first international act of organized international compassion to the Red Cross, which was formed in 1863 to alleviate suffering resulting from war. Following that came the birth of international humanitarian law with Hague and Geneva Conventions, international treaties defining acceptable practices while engaged in war and armed conflict.

[Interesting to note, an almost unknown but fascinating fact: Several millennia before modern international humanitarian laws were adopted, the Torah – many years ahead of its time – outlined powerful guidelines for benevolent behavior in times of war. See Religious Violence].

The United States, despite its many detractors, is lauded for its unprecedented amount of foreign aid distributed worlwide – over 22 billion dollars annually.

The deeper question is this: What underlying factors really contributed to this dramatic and radical change – that instead of battling each other, or ignoring each other, with each nation caring (at best) only for its own citizens, nations today extend their support for other nations in need?

Is it a result of modern technology allowing us the communication tools to be aware of calamities happening across the world, as well as enabling us to reach and deliver assistance to distant lands – something that was simply impossible in the past? Is it due to the fact that today’s instant media can make it quite embarrassing for us to ignore the suffering of others: With everyone watching and listening – on TV, Internet and blogs – are nations and communities feeling more accountable?

Or is this positive change due not to outside circumstances, but to the evolution of human consciousness – have we actually become more refined and compassionate people?

Cynics will have their take on this, dismissing this historical shift to all types of superficial or mundane causes – from commercial ones (Coca Cola and McDonalds in search of new global markets) to imperial ones (Empire America buying control of the world with philanthropy instead of plunder) to political ones (gaining good will amongst Haitians living in the USA, demonstrating that we can be the protector of the oppressed) or just the plain “feeling good” effect of helping others in need.

I, on the other hand, especially when the wounds are wide open, would prefer to posit the spiritual view on our changed world: Human history has indeed been evolving from an untamed, fragmented and divided world into a refined, integrated and united one. But this evolution is not a miraculous one or one due to mystical forces alone. History is a continuum. We are all our parents’ children. The good deeds of our ancestors – the prices they paid, the sacrifices they made – are all accumulative. Bad deeds get erased with time and are cancelled out through suffering; good deeds, in contrast, live on forever. We are, in effect, midgets perched on the shoulders of giants. As such, our universe – our lives, our nations – are so much more sensitive to each other.

It’s not technology that allows us to be more compassionate and virtuous. But the other way around: Our accumulative efforts – the hard work of good men and women for thousands of years – have refined the material world to the point that we are able to access the internal microscopic forces that shape our physical universe. Our virtue – our work in spirit prevailing over matter, quality superseding quantity, soul dominating over body – has opened up the innate energy within matter, allowing for the technological revolution of our times.

Indeed, as the universe hurtles toward total fusion between spirit (energy) and matter, the integral unity of our earth manifests in the attitude and relationships of one nation to another. As the prophet Isaiah foretold: “It shall come to pass in the last days… that the nations shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isaiah 2:2-4).

So while our hearts go out to the Haitians for their tremendous losses, may our newfound compassion and generosity serve as an additional consolation to all their citizens and families. Though nothing can redeem suffering and loss, the one and only thing that can perhaps counter the enormity of the tragedy is if it generates an unprecedented surge of goodness; a powerful and unprecedented commitment on all our parts – not just collectively, but also individually – to do whatever it takes to bring our lives and this world a step closer to the imminent day when “there will be neither famine nor war, neither envy nor strife” (conclusion of Maimonides’ Yad),  “they will not hurt or destroy… for the world will be full of Divine as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9), and “death shall be swallowed up forever and G-d shall wipe the tears from every face” (Isaiah 25:8).

Looking at all the images streaming out of Haiti make it quite difficult to imagine a day like the one just described. But peering into the sensitive hearts, outstretched arms and generous souls of those tirelessly helping the needy makes it easier to envision a world where beauty and love prevail – a time when ravaged Haiti will live up to its name: Beautiful and mountainous lands.

Is G-d Smiling?

The University of Warwick, Conventry, England, December 31, 2009 –

On the last day of the year 2009, I awake at 5AM to a chilly, cloud covered morning in England’s Midlands, to catch a shuttle bus taking us to London’s Heathrow Airport for my return flight to New York.

After spending a whirlwind of a week together with 2500 Jewish seekers at what is known as the annual Limmud Conference, it feels like the last day of summer camp – surrealistic and all. For six days I was surrounded by throngs of Jewish men and women of all ages from all over the world, socializing, running from session to session (over 900 sessions by 300 presenters was offered through the week), eating meals together, enjoying performances and presentations by artists, lecturers, Rabbis, educators, professors and just about anyone who wants to share an idea – celebrating being Jewish, in what amounts to essentially be a week-long Jewish festival.

Not that this conference is without its own controversies. After all, is it possible that a gathering of Jews, let alone 2500 of them, should be devoid of some tumult? Since this conference welcomes and offers a platform for all Jewish denominations, some feel that they cannot participate and in effect “endorse” what they consider untraditional and unacceptable versions of the Jewish experience.

Here is not the place – and perhaps it may never be my place – to become embroiled in this debate. I for one did not feel that I am charged with the responsibility (or even have the power) of validating or invalidating any particular persuasion. My attendance at the event represented no one but myself and perhaps the Meaningful Life Center (of which I am dean), and was in the same spirit and capacity of all my work, which consists of presenting Torah as a relevant and personal blueprint for contemporary life. As author of Toward a Meaningful Life I was blessed with the opportunity to connect with people of all backgrounds and share with them the spiritual message of hope and fortitude, applying Torah values to our lives, life skills to cope with our challenges and struggles.

What better opportunity to do so than spending a week with thousands of people who gathered together not merely for leisure – to ski, gamble or indulge in other forms of entertainment – but to study, learn and grow?

Does this conference have its flaws? Surely. No less or more than any conference. But what struck me above all, was the sheer opportunity of meeting so many beautiful souls, each with their own story, some lost, some less lost, some coming to remember, some coming to forget (to cite a popular lyric).

If we were in a critical mood, we surely could find many things in this gathering that can use improvement. Yet again, is there any event in this world that realizes all its potential? But one has to know that at times we ought to step back and appreciate the benefits of a particular experience.

The last night of the conference I sat in a corner crying. Not due to the amount of loneliness and pain I had witnessed in some people’s eyes – though that deserves its own few dedicated tears. I was weeping in joy – considering what G-d must be thinking as He looks down at His children from above. The Almighty clearly sees the trials and tribulations of the souls He has sent down to this earth. He also naturally recognizes the scars, wounds and tattoos that many of his children have endured; their sorrows and desperation, their cries and their yearnings.

But G-d also knows how little opportunity and knowledge so many of our brothers and sisters were given in our generation. We live in times of prosperity and freedom, but also in times of great apathy and ignorance. Only 10% of Jewish children receive a Jewish education today. And far less receive a relevant Jewish education. What can you expect from young men and women who may never have been taught, or taught in personal terms, the beauty of Torah and Mitzvot as a relevant guide to life? What can our dear G-d expect from a generation that followed the greatest genocide of all time, preceded by pogroms, inquisitions, crusades, expulsions and massacres of every which type?!

To see thousands of Jewish people – children and grandchildren of ancestors who sacrificed their lives for the Divine – is a living miracle. Each one of these souls is a walking wonder.

I met many wonderful people. Though one may disagree with some of their choices, it is impossible not to be taken by the sheer intensity and passion – not to mention creativity – these souls are investing in their Jewish journey. Regardless of the level of knowledge they are taking their Judaism very seriously. I inadvertently sat in one session where teenagers were play-acting reactions that they have to authority. I found it fascinating to see 15 year olds training each other utilizing Torah themes of individuality, youthful rebellion and discovering your personal identity. In another session led by Yael Unterman from Jerusalem, the Biblical story of Cain and Abel was being acted out and personalized, while in another session the audience was participating by putting themselves in the shoes of different Torah personalities – transforming these narratives into relevant experiences, in ways that I have not quite seen before.

I looked around at the faces of so many people around me all gathered here, thinking what G-d must be feeling. The Talmud tells us that the following words are inscribed in the Divine Tefillin: “Who is [special] as your nation of Israel, one unique nation on earth.”

Every soul was sent here for a particular mission. Every life is indispensable. Each soul is compared to a flame – “the Divine flame is the human soul.” As such, it has great majesty and strength.

I just feel the need to raise my cup to the dignity of each soul’s journey. We may never agree on the different ways people adapt to their life challenges; the paths they take to find relief, meaning and transcendence. But we do know that each soul’s journey is sacred. And when you meet another soul – and this week I had the privilege to meet many such souls – it is a great honor and gift. Above all, it is an opportunity. For G-d leads the footsteps of man: Every intersection in our lives carries enormous potency: Two souls that meet have the power to ignite, release and intensify the “flame” within each other’s souls and enrich each other in the process, we each can empower the other with tools to transform each other’s future.

To all those that I met at the conference this year, I share with you my commitment to reach out to you in an attempt to find ways through which we can together generate positive change to our society. It is my sincere hope that you will reciprocate.

And to all readers of this column, may I submit that this provides us with a powerful message with which we can enter into the New Year: Let us always remember that whomever you meet in the coming year will not be an accident. It will be an opportunity – a dual opportunity: For you to illuminate, inspire and warm that person’s soul, to inspire encourage that person to add and extra good deed; and for you to be illuminated and inspired in return.

When two people meet it is more than the sum of the parts; their synergy can plant a seed that will bear perpetual fruit. Let us commit to help each other carve away the clutter and distractions of our material lives and release the “angel” within.

Imagine, just imagine, of each of us applied that attitude to every person we met and to our every interaction…

A Decade in Retrospect

As the curtain closes on the first decade of the 21^st Century, it seems appropriate to look back at these ten years, and perhaps identify trends that can help us connect the dots and understand where we are headed and what we can improve to get there.

This human tendency of reviewing a period in time (a week in review, a year in retrospect, a millennium in perspective) has of course nothing to do with something actually happening at the end of the respective time period; nothing cosmic or less will occur as the clock strikes midnight on December 31, 2009. Yet, there is something to be said for contemplating upon and taking stock of a defined past period in time, with the objective being to chart a clearer course and devise a more constructive strategy for the future.

Accountability is a critical component in all growth. Like looking in the rear-view mirror to help us forge ahead, reviewing our past can be a powerful tool to moving forward.

Bookended by 9/11 at the opening of the decade and the current economic meltdown at the end – the major events, milestones, upheavals and overall pessimism of this last decade (Time coined it “Decade from Hell”) have been – and surely will continue to be – well documented in special supplements and programs in the wider media (which in itself has undergone tectonic shifts in this decade; a subject for another time). Newspapers, magazines, TV and websites have comprehensively listed all the key developments of this decade – in science, medicine, technology, politics, religion, business, economy, environment, psychology and global relations. No need therefore to reiterate what has already been thoroughly covered.

Instead this column will focus on some of the larger spiritual issues that have emerged from this decade, with the unique advantage of hindsight – let’s call it the birds’ eye view, the vision that we can achieve when we are able to step back, rise up and discern the forest from the trees.

Now listen to this. As I began researching this article to gain some perspective, I naturally turned, to my own writings at the beginning of the decade (I actually began this weekly column right after 9/11), and I discovered something uncanny. The article written in 2001 based on this week’s Torah portion could have been written today with almost no edits!

At first I thought that I was being lazy. Hey, why the need to exert myself and compose a new column, when I can just reprint an old one? (Great idea, no?). So I attempted to ignore that article in the hope of writing something fresh and relevant to the end of 2009, and not something rehashed from close to ten years ago. After all, much has changed in the last decade. But as much as I tried, something kept tugging me back to the beginning of the decade. For the life of me I could not being myself to write something more relevant than what I wrote back then. I finally realized that it may not be my own indolence, but perhaps when you don the spiritual lens, 10 years – which seems so long to us – is but a small frame in the large scheme.

So yes, my friends, I am honored to present to you the article of Vayigash 2001 – with a few edits (marked “2009 addition”) tailored for the conclusion of the first decade of the 21^st century.

JOSEPH AND MARX – WORK AND ALIENATION
How to Ensure that Your Work Does Not Alienate You: The Continuing Story of Today’s Events

And Joseph could control himself no longer (Torah portion this week – 45:1)

Joseph said to his brothers: Don’t worry or feel guilty because you sold me. Look, G-d sent me ahead of you to save lives. There has been a famine in the area… G-d sent me ahead of you to insure that you survive in the land and to sustain you through great deliverance. It is not you who sent me here, but G-d. He has made me Pharaoh’s vizier, director of his entire government and ruler of all Egypt  (45:5-8)

Joseph gathered all the money in Egypt and Canaan in payment for the food the people were buying. Joseph brought all the money to Pharaoh’s treasury (47:14)

I am the Omnipotent G-d of your father. Do not be afraid to go to Egypt, for it is there that I will make you into a great nation. I will descend into Egypt with you, and I will also bring you back and ascend with you (46:3-4)

Israel settled in Egypt, in the Goshen district. They acquired property there and were fertile, with their population increasing very rapidly (47:27)

I will take the stick of Joseph…and put it together with the stick of Judah to form one stick, so that they are one in my hand… I will make them one nation in the land…One king will be the king over them all, and they no longer will be two nations… And David My servant will be their prince forever (Haftorah this week – Ezekiel 37:19-22,25)

Finally some good news. In this week’s Torah portion Joseph and his brothers reconcile.

Macrocosm/microcosm: Just as Jacob reconciles with his brother Esau after building his family in Charan, Joseph reconciles with his brothers after building his family in Egypt and establishing himself there. He spearheads the huge business of Egypt, selling grain to the famished nations in return for their money. The great wealth Joseph generates turns Egypt in a superpower, the most powerful empire of its time.

But with one major distinction: Jacob and Esau’s reconciliation was incomplete and they needed to separate ways (See The Big Confrontation). Joseph and his brothers, on the other hand, make peace and stay together for the rest of their lives. Only later, would their rift manifest itself again, in the split between the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Jacob, Joseph and his brothers are now together. They are planting the seeds that would empower the Jews as they begin their exile in Egypt and redemption.

In spiritual terms: Jacob concludes the work of Abraham and Isaac in constructing the ‘building blocks’ of existence – the structure of Atzilus, the world of unity. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are the sefirot of chesed (love), gevurah (discipline) and tiferet (beauty and compassion) – the three primary pillars that define the vision of life; the vision of transforming existence into a ‘home’ for G-dliness, of integrating matter and spirit as it was in the Garden before the Tree of Knowledge. The twelve tribes – with Joseph at their head – actually carry this vision into the material world of Mitzrayim (which refers to all the constraints and boundaries of material existence), the spiritual worlds of biy”a, acronym for briyah, yetzirah, asiyah.

However, the real work of refining Egypt begins in the next generation, with the Egyptian bondage. The children of Jacob and the tribes would spend 210 years under very harsh conditions to refine and elevate the 202 Divine sparks embedded in the first great empire. And this work would in turn imbue in the people and ultimately in the entire human race the personality of true freedom and transcendence, the ability to face any material challenge or adversary. It instilled in future generations the power to face all the challenges posed by the empires to come, all of which are rooted in the Egyptian archetype.

The strength and ability to achieve all this work begins with Joseph and his brothers – permeated with the strength of their forefathers — paving the way during the first years following their arrival in Egypt. As G-d tells Jacob: “I am the Omnipotent G-d of your father. Do not be afraid to go to Egypt, for it is there that I will make you into a great nation. I will descend into Egypt with you, and I will also bring you back and ascend with you.”

There are therefore many lessons in these weekly Torah sections that give us both guidance and strength in dealing with different aspects of our particular crisis today, as the children of Abraham – Ishmael, Esau and Jacob – are pitted against each other.

Let us touch upon one of the lessons we can glean from Joseph as he began the process of uniting his family – both scions of Judah and Joseph – which empowers us with the ability to unite Esau and Jacob, matter and spirit.

One of the most compelling forces haunting us today is: Uncertainty. Today’s prevailing fear and uncertainty is having a particularly devastating effect on our economy. The security of this country’s basic business structure, even with its inevitable ups and downs, is now under question. We would like to believe that we are undergoing just another economic downturn – albeit a very different type, but still one that has precedent. But this premise is built on our old paradigm. And that is a big but: perhaps we are entering a new paradigm in which old rules don’t apply. Perhaps this will not just be another repeat of old market patterns. Is anyone willing to bet that this will just pass with no real change?

These and many other plaguing uncertainties cloud the business climate. And like bad weather, everyone is taking cover. People everywhere are withdrawing. As we enter this year’s holiday season, there is conspicuous lack of enthusiasm, actually lack of anything optimistic coming from any given sector of this country.

Allow me to submit the following theory: A study of Joseph in Egypt will give us a powerful forecast for the future of business in America and the world. I will allow myself to make a bold prediction: Understanding Joseph will help us create certainty in these uncertain times.

In his scathing critique of capitalism, Marx brilliantly describes how the Capitalist system devalues the worker, reducing him to no more than a commodity, thus leading to mans’ inevitable alienation and estrangement from his essential self. “Labor is external to the worker, i.e. does not belong to his essential being; that he, therefore, does not confirm himself in his work, but denies himself, feels miserable and not happy, does not develop free mental and physical energy, but mortifies his flesh and ruins his mind. Hence, the worker feels himself only when he is not working; when he is working, he does not feel himself. He is at home when he is not working, and not at home when he is working. His labor is, therefore, not voluntary but forced, it is forced labor. It is, therefore, not the satisfaction of a need but a mere means to satisfy needs outside itself” (Paris Manuscripts, 1844).

Marx asked all the right questions; he just didn’t have the answers, as we retrospectively know today after the failure of the Socialist and Communist experiments. He highlighted the flaws of capitalism without ever really providing a viable alternative.

Reading this week’s Torah portion I was thinking how Joseph, the first “Capitalist,” would respond to Marx. Joseph was faced with this very dilemma. His fathers chose to be shepherds, thus avoiding confrontation with a corrupt marketplace, allowing them to discover their true essence while meditating among nature as the docile sheep grazed in the fields. Joseph, however, was thrust into Egypt, first becoming an accountant (yes, there you have the first Jewish accountant) in the house of Potiphar, and then becoming the viceroy of Egypt, running the entire grain business of the land.

When Joseph’s brothers and then Jacob reunited with Joseph the first thing they recognized was that despite the formidable challenges he faced for 22 years, he had not in any way compromised his profound spiritual connection. The first words Joseph utters to his brothers, as he is no longer able to control his emotions: “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive? I am Joseph your brother!” Joseph sends a sign to his father that he is intact by telling him the topic in Torah (the laws of the eglah arufah) they were discussing 22 years ago when they were separated!

How did Joseph maintain his spiritual integrity – his connection with his essence – even while hard at work, in a corrupt Egypt at that?

Over all that transpired during these years Joseph never lost his connection to G-d. As harsh as it was to accept that his brothers sold him into slavery, Joseph never became bitter and was never broken. He always knew that his arrival in Egypt and the work he did there was G-d’s plan. As he tells his brothers: G-d sent me ahead of you to insure that you survive in the land and to sustain you through great deliverance. It is not you who sent me here, but G-d. He has made me Pharaoh’s vizier, director of his entire government and ruler of all Egypt.

As immersed as Joseph was in the massive Egyptian grain industry, he did not experience alienation or estrangement, because his work was not something external outside of himself; he saw it for its true nature: Divine work, as part of his Divine essence and mission in this world: to save lives, to insure the survival of his family and ultimately the entire Jewish nation. Arriving first in Egypt allowed Joseph to prepare the ground so his family could survive the great famine; it allowed the Jewish nation to be born – fulfilling G-d promise and vision to Abraham.

Throughout all his work as head of state and ruler of Egypt, Joseph never let go of the vision; he always held on to the promise; he was eternally connected to the Divine process, always recognizing the deeper spiritual meaning of his work as director of the grain industry – the biggest business of its time.

Joseph had to first be leader before Judah could become leader, because Joseph had the unique power to integrate spirit and matter in an imperfect world where materialism dominates. Joseph begins preparing the ground for a more perfect world when Judah’s faith and bittul could dominate (see The Selling of Joseph).

The message and lesson to us today is clear:

America today is suffering from some of the flaws of Capitalism that Marx describes. September 11 just amplified these weaknesses, as did the subsequent events of this decade, especially those surrounding our economic blunders (2009 addition). Joseph can teach us how to get back on course.

The unprecedented prosperity of this nation has spoiled us. We have built the greatest empire in history, with the highest standard of living, and the most powerful technology. Witness the American firepower in Afghanistan, a new type of war if it can even be called war, fulfilling its goals with virtually no casualties. (Not sure if we would quite see it this way now in 2009).

Everything seemed to be going so well. The unheard of economic boom, the information revolution, the unbelievable advances in medicine and science, promised to deliver a new world order. Consumption – mass consumption, enabled by mass industry – became the dominating driving force in our consumer driven economy.

But this great corporation lost its soul somewhere along the way. American business forgot its true mission statement.

The mission statement of this country was defined by the Founding Fathers 225 years ago when they established this great nation. They engraved it on the currency of this nation: In God We Trust.

By studying different systems and their failures, by personally experiencing the consequences of being denied basic human freedoms, by building this country’s pillars not on their own subjective whims but on eternal values rooted in the Bible – the Founding Fathers understood that the grand American experiment is only possible with a firm foundation that absolutely guarantees individual rights.

And they fought the Revolutionary War to defend this mission stated in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

A nation built on the principle that “All men are created equal” as “One nation under God” created the best business climate to allow this nation to flourish. With its promise of freedom and equal opportunity, the United States has welcomed people from all over the world and encouraged them to contribute to the growth of this country.

And flourish it did. The investment of the Founding Fathers paid off. The synergy of people from all backgrounds coming together as equals under God created the highest developed country of all time.

For 225 years our mission statement – the principles of the revolution – has never been challenged. Indeed, our sustained prosperity has given rise to a profound complacency. Now, 225 years later, on September 11, this nation has been issued the greatest challenge it has ever faced. The attacks put into stark relief the fact that we have taken for granted many of the freedoms and blessings that were contained in the vision of our founding fathers. Our newfound vulnerability and deep feelings of uncertainty expose more than ever the emptiness of financial security. It makes us realize how alienated we become when we our jobs and careers become an end in themselves, divorced from their deeper mission statement: an expression of our souls.

We are locked in a struggle to renew our contract with the soul of our nation. In many ways we now are faced with the formidable task of finishing what our founding fathers began.

One cannot be sure whether the Founding Fathers saw in Joseph the model businessperson and CEO paragon, but their extensive knowledge of the Bible definitely could not ignore Joseph’s critical contribution to balancing business and spirituality, Capitalism and compassion, matter and spirit.

Joseph offers us a new business model, a new paradigm – one that integrates our work with our essence. By recognizing that our careers and businesses are means and vehicles to fulfill G-d’s plan in our lives, we can reclaim the core beliefs that are the secret of the nation’s endurance.

But with all that Joseph accomplished, he was also fully aware of the sad reality to come. When he meets his younger brother Benjamin, he weeps over the destruction of the Holy Temple. Additionally, his descendants would split away from the Kingdom of Judah. Both these fracturing events would have profound implications in the split between matter and spirit and between work and the human essence.

Today we are faced with the challenge to finally and permanently mend the fracture. By reconnecting our material lives, our businesses with their true spiritual mission statement.

Let us learn from Joseph how this can be achieved.

The United States now stands at perhaps the most defining moment of its history. We need to fight a war that goes far beyond the military one. This is not a war against. It is a war for: For the fundamental beliefs that this nation was built upon. Our greatest enemy is not Bin Laden, or any terrorist; it is complacency. Our battle is not just against greed and corruption; it has to be for evolved spiritual standards (2009 addition).

We must balance our economy of consumption with higher values. Let us learn from Joseph how to reclaim our mission statement: What are we? Who are we? What is this company called America?

New paradigms are always difficult. That’s why they are new.

Have you ever heard of a didgeridoo?

Is it a bad cough, a mutant kangaroo, a new type of blackberry?

Here’s a hint: It’s over 1500 years old. Made from a tree. And gives off a droning sound. But there is one older instrument, made from an animal and gives off a piercing sound. What is it?

A didgeridoo, also known as a didge, is considered to be the world’s oldest wind instrument. It is usually made from a branch of the Eucalyptus tree, which has had its interior hollowed out by termites. The didge is usually around 4-5 feet long and looks like a long wooden horn, open at both ends. The didgeridoo player places his mouth on the mouthpiece end of the didge, and the droning sound it gives off is produced by his continuously vibrating lips using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The drone takes on different variations and sound effects, based on the player’s lip vibrations and tongue movements.

Why am I writing about the didgeridoo? Because by Divine Providence, our Chanukah party next week will feature this unique wind instrument, among other exotic and eclectic surprises.

One of our great challenges today is finding ways to bring our ancient traditions alive and relevant. Relevant is the key word. For many people today ritual has been rendered into a mechanical and even dogmatic routine, only serving to alienate those seeking something deeper, something more spiritual.

This is quite a tragedy, with far reaching consequences. It’s one thing if the age-old traditions had no soulful meaning beyond commemorative and nostalgic value. The fact, however, is that our holidays and customs are actually powerful spiritual tools. They allow us to access and manifest our deepest potential, and help us align our psychological and emotional lives with our existential needs, creating a balanced life – fusing body and soul, matter and spirit.

How much time and anguish would be saved – not to mention money paid to therapists – if we just knew how to tap the potent spiritual strengths within our rituals?

I have taken this schism between the ritual and the spiritual as a personal challenge – to come up with creative ways that can celebrate the profound soulfulness and energy contained in what can otherwise be seen as hollow traditions.

By no means is this an easy task. It requires a careful balance between the old and the new; between innovation and maintaining, without compromise, the integrity of the original. Our systems today often err to one extreme or the other. Many disciplines today, in their attempt to modernize religious structures, can become so contemporary that they dilute or lose the integrity and spirit of the original. Others, in their attempt to protect religion and their fear of change, can become so rigid and inflexible, to the point that tradition becomes so mechanical, routine and dogmatic, that the spirit and soul is often lost or asphyxiated.

How to create a dynamic and spiritually charged experience while upholding the highest standard of quality control is the key challenge.

You may be surprised to hear that the word “halacha,” which means law in Hebrew, can also be pronounced “halicha,” which means movement. Usually people think of “law” as rigid, inflexible, unmovable. Yet, the law of “halacha” is realizing its fullest potential, and living up to its name, only when it compels us to travel to new places!

Think of it like musical notes, which on one hand are immutable and do not change by whim, yet at the same time create majestic music, which transports us to another time and space, or even beyond time and space.

Imagine, then, a mitzvah – which means “connection” – as a vehicle that transports (and connects) and takes you on a spiritual journey to hitherto unprecedented heights.

Chanukah – a time when people celebrate and are open to new ideas – is an excellent opportunity to experiment with innovative ways to bring alive the story and holiday of Chanukah, in ways that resonate and transform our personal lives.

In this spirit, our Chanukah event this year is an attempt to do just that. Chanukah in essence is the story of discovering light within darkness, and then turning that light into a perpetual flame that prevails over all challenges. After the Temple was desecrated and all pure olive oil defiled, they miraculously discovered a small cruse of pure olive oil. Then, in another miracle, the bit of oil burned for full eight days.

What relevance does this have in our lives today? Is there more to Chanukah than commemorating an ancient miracle? Answering this precise question ought to drive us to create a deeply meaningful, as well as energizing Chanukah experience – one that stimulates our senses and our souls.

Hence, the didgeridoo…

Titled “Light In Motion: The Story of Our Lives In Three Movements: Shadow, Spark, Illumination,” our MLC Chanukah event this year will be an interactive Chanukah party and theatrical/musical experience. Through narrative, song, music and drums – and the haunting drone of the didgeridoo – this evening will play out the drama of traveling from the shadows of doubt, to the discovery of a ray of hope, to fanning the spark into an illuminating and enduring flame.

Earlier this week we ran a rehearsal of our program, which combined – in quite a fascinating way – Chassidic melodies and chants, virtuoso guitar chords, with Brazilian and Spanish inflections, African drum beats, and the primal didgeridoo.

During the rehearsal I learned that the price for didge’s range from $500 to $10,000, depending on the extent of the termites ravenous feast on the insides of the branch. Wow, I never imagined that those pesky termites could add so much value…

So, coming this Wednesday, December 16, at MLC@ 6^th, in New York City’s East Village, we will be having a an extraordinary Chanukah party, with all the “regular” components – Menorah lighting, latkes, donuts, drinks, festivities – infused with some unique and different elements – hopefully turning Chanukah into the ultimate personal experience, filled with dynamic energy, and empowering all those that attend to take on with renewed vigor all our life’s challenges.

In case you were wondering, the instrument even older than a didgeridoo, is the shofar…

Hypocrisy is in the news just as we read the Torah chapter that deals with dual personalities. This week’s story helps us deal with a major obstacle in realizing our life’s mission: Are we hypocrites when our behavior and our beliefs are inconsistent?

hy·poc·ri·sy
Pronunciation: hi-'pä-kr&-sE also hI-
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -sies
Etymology: Middle English ypocrisie, from Old French, from Late Latin hypocrisis, from Greek hypokrisis act of playing a part on the stage, hypocrisy, from hypokrinesthai to answer, act on the stage, from hypo- + krinein to decide — more at CERTAIN
1 : a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not; especially: the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion
2 : an act or instance of hypocrisy

In the continuing search for our personal mission in life, a critical issue arises, which is addressed in this week’s Torah chapter. The issue is the inconsistencies that we all have in our choices.

How disconcerting is it when we see everywhere we look—both at ourselves and at others—one constant: No one’s actions live up to their belief system. People profess many high standards. Many wax eloquent about their Divine, indispensable mission in life. Yet when it comes to behavior on a day-to-day level, we all fall short of our own standards.

Does this make us hypocrites? Or just plain insane? As one friend asked me the other day: “I can’t believe myself. Here I am dispensing critical advice to a colleague, and then I go off and make exactly the same mistake! How is it possible that I know one thing—and know it with certainty in every fiber of my being—and when it comes to action, I do the exact opposite? Am I a charlatan or just neurotic?”

“Welcome to the real world,” I told him. “The world of dichotomies and paradoxes. With the biggest dichotomy of all perhaps being the one between our beliefs and our behavior.”

And as Divine Providence would have it, hypocrisy is in the news today just as we read the Torah chapter that deals with dual personalities.

In wake of the elections, in which many people claim to have voted for “traditional values,” and with the ongoing inconsistencies between public decries of “depravity” while personally much attention is being focused on the blatant hypocrisies prevalent in our society today. Attention which I believe is so necessary in challenging our own integrity.

Did you see, for instance, the article in the NY Times (Nov. 22), provocatively titled Many Who Voted For ‘Values’ Still Like Their Television Sin? The article scathingly observes the transparent contradiction between the “values” message apparently sent by a significant percentage of voters and their television viewing preferences. By and large the most popular TV shows are “far more likely to keep pumping from the deep well of murder, mayhem and sexual transgression” than “morally driven” programming.

The article quotes TV executives, who explain: “We say one thing and do another. People compartmentalize about their lives and their entertainment choices.”

The divide between what people accept as proper in public and what they choose to enjoy in their private lives, is nothing new in the history of the world or this country, the article points out. The Pilgrims, for instance, had deep beliefs and values, as we see from their writings. “Then you look at the court records and you see all kinds of” decadent behavior.

Jonathan Alter echoes similar ideas in his weekly Newsweek column (Nov. 29), A Shabby Fiesta of Hypocrisy, about the ludicrous uproar around last week’s ABC’s “Monday Night Football” pregame show in light of all the overt sexuality and violence depicted on TV in general. Even while ABC was apologizing for the segment, and other media outlets criticized it, they were all incessantly replaying the offending scene.

This hypocrisy issue is appearing in different national and local media—many with intentions to mock the so-called “faith-based values” made so popular by the recent election—but regardless of intentions, it is healthy and productive to address this issue head-on.

So are many Americans just plain old hypocrites, yelling about values and faith in public, while being anything but in private?

And mind you, this issue is by no means exclusive to America. I’ll never forget a Friday night dinner debate over which culture is most hypocritical. A Swiss gentleman shared with us that he truly despises his country, because, as he put it, “in Switzerland you sit around a table with family and friends. Everyone is smiling and oh so polite. Yet beneath the surface the very same people are engaged in betrayal and all sorts of illicit behavior.” An Englishman popped up and begged to differ. “You’ve never been to England. I don’t think there is a more hypocritical country. Ostensibly people are so cordial, but all that smooth veneer masks a profound inner decadence and corruption.” Not to be outdone, a woman from France chuckled and said: “We clearly have the monopoly on duplicity. Many people like to believe that France is the source of chic. Let me tell you, France is the original and biggest importer of hypocrisy.”

Well, the debate raged on all night for the claim of first prize in hypocrisy. I couldn’t stop laughing. It was just so entertaining. I guess, everyone who experiences hypocrisy thinks that his version is the worst. Too bad, we didn’t have fair representation of other nationalities staking their claim on who is the most hypocritical of them all.

But what exactly is hypocrisy?

I submit that it is yet another misused-turned-cliche word that really has no meaning.

Let’s take, for argument sake, a person you know who is unarguably virtuous. He has demonstrated in the past that he is a giving and generous person, who has a natural—and nurtured—sensitivity and love for others. One day we witness him behaving uncharacteristically cruel. Would you say that all his natural virtue is in reality really one big hypocrisy, or that his cruel behavior is the hypocritical one?

Webster defines hypocrisy, as “feigning to be what one is not.” But to define “what one is not” we must first define “what one is.”

Who are we? Are we good people or selfish ones? Are we ruthless warriors or gentle creatures; sharks or lambs? Are we driven primarily by the relentless “survival of the fittest,” narcissistic and selfish, or by our Divine dimension?

As usual, when you look closely the Bible provides us with ancient yet highly contemporary insight into a dissonance that has been plaguing mankind from the beginning of time.

In this week’s portion the twin brothers, Esau and Jacob, finally and dramatically encounter each other after 22 years of profound hostility.

The brothers are ready to go to war. Indeed, Jacob has a preview of what’s coming with his all-night wrestle with Esau’s angel. Instead, when they finally meet, Esau and Jacob embrace.

“Esau ran toward him [Jacob], embraced him, fell upon his neck, and kissed him. And they wept.”

Two opinions are posited whether Esau “kissed” his brother with a “full heart or “not with a full heart.” Rashi cites both opinions, explaining that the dots above the word “and he kissed him” denote that this kiss was fraught with deeper implications.

Esau was just about to kill Jacob for stealing his blessings. 22 years later, Esau was mobilized to battle Jacob, and Jacob was ready for the worst. One has to be skeptical of Esau’s sudden turnaround and his loving embrace of Jacob.

Was Esau a hypocrite? Did he love or hate his brother? Is Esau a man of war or a loving brother? A killer or lover? Did he embrace his brother for pure or ulterior reasons? And what about Jacob, did he love his brother, or was he also driven by ulterior motives?

Esau’s duality is not exclusive to him. We also find the dual nature of Jacob, as reflected in his two names, Jacob and Israel. Jacob (Yaakov) means “at the heel,” named after Jacob was born grasping the heel of his elder twin, Esau. Later, when Jacob disguised himself as Esau to receive the blessings that Isaac intended to give the elder brother, Esau proclaimed: “No wonder he is called Jacob (“cunning”)! Twice he has deceived me: he has taken my birthright, and now he has taken my blessings.”

Israel, on the other hand, is the name given to Jacob in this week’s portion after he “has struggled with the divine and with men, and has prevailed.”

So, who is the true Jacob? And who is the true Esau?

This question takes on much larger proportions. Jacob and Esau represent the two forces of spirit and matter. Their struggle is our struggle between the secular and the sacred, between faith and modern culture.

Shall ever the twain meet? The answer is an unequivocal and resolute yes. The struggle would ensue for many years – that, after all, is the purpose of existence, to refine, sublimate and make the material world home for the Divine.

So who are we: good people or selfish ones, warriors or lovers? The answer, my friends, is that we are both and neither. We have both a warrior-like Esau and a scholar-like Jacob within our psyches. Indeed Esau and Jacob themselves have both personalities. Jacob has the “Jacob” and “Israel” dimensions; Esau is both a warrior and a son of Isaac and Rebecca. He is Jacob’s twin brother.

These two forces are in perpetual battle. An inherent tension exists between matter and spirit, as they collide. Yet, ultimately they can and will be integrated.

Did the two brothers Jacob and Esau really love or hate each other? The answer is complex. On one hand matter and spirit are at each other’s throats. On the other, they truly are “twin” forces that ultimately will unite and completely embrace each other in a healthy, non-biased, unity.

From the perspective of the tension, it may sometime appear hypocritical to act virtuously and pursue higher standards while succumbing to our lowest common denominator. But from the perspective of our true selves, it is not hypocrisy at all: It is the desperate attempt to align our inner selves with our outer behavior.

It all comes down to this: Hypocrisy depends on what we believe lies at the essence of a human being. If we are truly beasts, then it would seem hypocritical if we behaved like men. If we are Divine, then we are hypocritical when we behave like beasts.

Two short stories that demonstrate this point:

A complaint was brought to the Alter Rebbe against his chassidim: “They prolong their prayers and are careful with their performance of the mitzvos, but their efforts are superficial and they do not truly uphold that level of piety!” The Alter Rebbe replied: “Is it really so; is it really so? If it is, then they are deserving of the verdict of the mishnah (end of Peah 8: 9): ‘One who does not limp and is not blind, yet makes out as if he is, will not die until he becomes one of them!!’ Since they act like chassidim, and act with love and fear of G-d through meditation and prolonged prayer, then surely they will not leave this world until it is truly so!”

Among the chassidim of the Tzemach Tzedek was a businessman whose dealings took him to the business centers of the large cities of Russia as well as to several foreign capitals. As time went by, he became increasingly uncomfortable in these environments with his long black coat and chassidic hat. Gradually, he adopted a more secular mode of dress on his business trips. Of course, he continued to travel to his Rebbe in traditional chassidic garb.

Then, one day, he appeared before his Rebbe in his businessman’s attire. “Rebbe,” he announced, “I’ve decided to put an end to my hypocritical behavior. This is how I dress on all my travels, so why delude myself and others with my chassidic clothes?

“Reb Yankel,” said the Rebbe, “do you think that I was not aware that you dress differently in Leipzig and Paris than you do here before me? But I thought that here you showed us your true self, and there you were the hypocrite….”

Ask yourself: How do you look at yourself and at others? If you see them as Divine creatures, then no act of virtue—no matter how tainted it is by ulterior motive—is ever seen as hypocritical. (see Maimonides, Laws of Divorce end of ch. 2).

Apply this principle to your relationships and they will be transformed forever. Ask yourself: How do you see your spouse, your child, your beloved, your friends? A good gardener is fully confident that the Earth, when nourished and the weeds are cut away, will produce beautiful flowers. If you see the people around you as Divine entities—and expect that of them—you will contribute greatly to bringing out the “flowers” from among the weeds.

How you see or don’t see another person’s true personality, what we expect or don’t expect of each other, is a major factor in how that person will respond. If your child behaves inappropriately and you reinforce it by suggesting that the child is doing nothing more than living up to the “beast” in all of us, that may be the ultimate hypocrisy which undermines the emergence of the child’s beautiful nature. If however, you convey the message to your child that s/he is a pure soul, and the “negative” behavior is an aberration, that becomes a very powerful motivating force for the child to live up to his/her potential.

The same is true for therapists and clients. A good therapist is sensitive and never judgmental, but at the same time will not help “justify” low expectations. Recognizing the enormous potential and resilience of the human spirit, the therapist will do everything possible to elicit that spirit from within the client.

In our continuing journey toward embracing our mission, this week’s chapter teaches us a vital lesson. Tiferet, or balance—the domain of Jacob (as discussed in last week’s article)—requires us to recognize the two struggling forces within us, and not feel that we are hypocrites in our attempt to access our virtuous soul.

Instead of seeing hypocrisy in our inconsistencies, we should be seeing in them our struggle to discover our true selves—a struggle that inevitably creates a dichotomy between what you believe and what you do.

Now the challenge is to align the two.

Will the real you stand up?

WHERE DO JEWS COME FROM? A Study in Contrast

This week’s Torah portion contains a unique word used only once in the entire Bible. The word is “u’foratzto,” which means “spread out”. In Jacob’s famous dream of the ladder, G-d promises him “your descendants will be like the dust of the earth. You shall – “foratzto” – spread out to the west, to the east, to the north, and to the south. All the families on earth will be blessed through you and your descendants.”

Some have noted the special significance of this year in connection with this word. According to the Hebrew calendar, the current year is 5770, the 770^th year in the sixth millennium. 770 is the gematria (the numerical equivalent) of the word “foratzto” – peh (80), resh (200), tzaddik (90), tov (400).

Following the axiom that everything we encounter is meant to serve us with a personal lesson, and that every detail in Torah offers us a relevant message – the focus of this year is to place our energies on “foratzto” – to spread light everywhere we go, to the west, to the east, to the north and to the south.

We can derive many powerful directives from “foratzto.” This is the first in an annual series of periodic columns that will address the theme and motto of the year 5770 – Spread Out.

Two written pieces stand out in glaring contrast to each other: This week’s Torah portion and – I know this may sound sacrilegious – an article in this week’s New York Times.

Let’s start with the Times piece. In the November 23^rd Arts section Patricia Cohen reviews Shlomo Sand’s book, “The Invention of the Jewish People,” which spent months on the best-seller list in Israel and is now available in English. The book’s aim is (take a gulp) to undercut the Jews’ claims to the land of Israel by demonstrating that they do not constitute “a people,” with a shared racial or biological past. Cohen accurately dismisses Sand’s expertise on the subject by stating that Sand, a professor at Tel Aviv University, is a scholar of modern France, not Jewish history. Yet she herself falls into the same trap, by reporting as virtual fact that “despite the fragmented and incomplete historical record, experts pretty much agree that some popular beliefs about Jewish history simply don’t hold up: there was no sudden expulsion of all Jews from Jerusalem in A.D. 70, for instance. What’s more, modern Jews owe their ancestry as much to converts from the first millennium and early Middle Ages as to the Jews of antiquity.”

She goes on to assert that “while these ideas are commonplace among historians, they still manage to provoke controversy each time they surface in public, beyond the scholarly world.” Did you hear that elitism: A professional writer at the venerable NY Times declares for all of us to know that “the scholarly world,” “experts” – whoever that is remains undefined; it’s usually the scholars themselves that have identified themselves as “the scholarly world” – have a monopoly on the truth, while everyone else “beyond” that world simply cannot tolerate scholarly objectivity and stoop to petty politics…

The premise of Cohen’s article is to show how deep-rooted Jewish religious and political myths distort the truth about Jewish history. So despite some of the questionable ideas in Professor Sand’s book, “mixing respected scholarship with dubious theories,” the bigger story is how “the vehement response to these familiar arguments — both the reasonable and the outrageous — highlights the challenge of disentangling historical fact from the sticky web of religious and political myth and memory.”

Ms. Cohen cites in her article how Professor Sand discredits Jews’ historical claims to the territory, by showing that “their ancestry lines do not lead back to ancient Palestine. He resurrects a theory first raised by 19th-century historians, that the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, to whom 90 percent of American Jews trace their roots, are descended from the Khazars, a Turkic people who apparently converted to Judaism and created an empire in the Caucasus in the eighth century. This idea has long intrigued writers and historians.”

To her credit, Cohen corrects the record. “By now, experts who specialize in the subject have repeatedly rejected the theory, concluding that the shards of evidence are inconclusive or misleading.” Genetics also does not support the Khazar theory.

But what concerns Ms. Cohen most is the irrational “grasp that some misconceptions maintain on popular consciousness, or the inability of historical truths to gain acceptance?” Her explanation: “Sometimes myths persist despite clear contradictory evidence because people feel the story embodies a deeper truth than the facts… A mingling of myth, memory, truth and aspiration similarly envelopes Jewish history, which is, to begin with, based on scarce and confusing archaeological and archival records.”

She continues: “Experts dismiss the popular notion that the Jews were expelled from Palestine in one fell swoop in A.D. 70. Yet while the destruction of Jerusalem and Second Temple by the Romans did not create the Diaspora, it caused a momentous change in the Jews’ sense of themselves and their position in the world. For later generations it encapsulates the essential truth about the Jews being an exiled and persecuted people for much of their history.” Essentially, Jewish history as we know it is a myth.

Ok, so there you have the “scholarly” perspective on Jewish ancestry and the roots of Jewish identity – basically debunking the common view tracing Jews to their Biblical ancestors and their historical connection with the Promised Land.

The Torah has – shall we say – another take on it. As Jacob begins his arduous and painstaking journey to Charan fraught with all types of dangers – he asks G-d to protect him. In Jacob’s famous dream G-d appears to him and promises him: “Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth. You shall spread out to the west, to the east, to the north, and to the south. All the families on earth will be blessed through you and your descendants.”

Now if the NY Times, and generally, all our open-minded scientists and scholars were around when this Biblical account was written, they surely would have challenged it as a mythical dream of some wandering soul. However, the interesting thing is that the promise to Jacob was fulfilled: today, thousands of years later, Jacob’s progeny continue to mystify the world with their perpetuation.

Mark Twain put it this way, in his March 1898 Harper’s essay, Concerning the Jews: “If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of stardust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people… His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning are also away out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in the world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”

The second American president, John Adams, wrote: “I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize man than any other nation. If I were an atheist, and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that chance had ordered the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations. If I were an atheist to the other sect, who believed or pretended to believe that all is ordered by chance, I should believe that chance has ordered the Jews to preserve and propagate to all mankind the doctrine of a supreme, intelligent, wise, almighty sovereign of the universe, which I believe to be the great essential principle of all morality, and consequently of all civilization.”

And in the words of the classic Russian novelist, Leo Tolstoy: “The Jew is that sacred being who has brought down from heaven the everlasting fire, and has illuminated with it the entire world. He is the religious source, spring and fountain out of which all the rest of the peoples have drawn their beliefs and their religions. The Jew is the emblem of eternity. He, who neither slaughter nor torture of thousands of years could destroy. He, who neither fire, nor sword, nor inquisition was able to wipe off the face of the earth. He, who was the first to produce the Oracles of God. He, who has been for so long the Guardian of Prophecy and has transmitted it to the rest of the world. Such a nation cannot be destroyed. The Jew is as everlasting as Eternity itself.”

These are but three quotes, among many others of contemporary history’s writers and leaders – all testifying to the immortal power of “foratzto” promised over three millennia ago to Jacob! And many other times to Isaac, Abraham, Moses and so on.

Even if you are the greatest skeptic about who wrote the words of the Bible, can anyone deny that the words written, according to all opinions, thousands of years ago, were fulfilled to the tee?

Where is a NY Times article – or a scholarly paper – attesting to this phenomenon?!

Maybe we should offer our thanks to the Almighty that the Times and other “scholarly” papers and journals were not around when Jacob had his dream – and for that matter, when the other Biblical events transpired. As a result we now have a document that relates to us what occurred back then – the prices paid, the promises made. With that historical backdrop we have the opportunity to appreciate the extraordinary and astonishing fulfillment of the “foratzo” promise so many ages ago.

Lest anyone be mistaken, I am not suggesting that all religious beliefs are mythless and all scientific research is worthless. That is certainly not the case. One also cannot argue with the fact that some Jewish ancestry can be traced to other nations, through conversion. This article is concerned solely with this one issue of Jewish ancestry, as expressed in Professor Sand’s book and reviewed by Patricia Cohen. Its is absolutely incredulous – and yes, unscientific – to blatantly state that the Jewish people are an invention; that their ancestry is a myth; and that their relationship with the Land of Israel is a convenient distortion of Jewish nationalists!

What is most ironic is that Cohen herself is guilty of doing the same thing she accuses Sand of. Cohen criticizes Professor Sand for accusing “Zionist historians from the 19th century onward — the very same scholars on whose work he bases his case — of hiding the truth and creating a myth of shared roots to strengthen their nationalist agenda. He explains that he has uncovered no new information, but has ‘organized the knowledge differently.’ In other words, he is doing precisely what he accuses the Zionists of — shaping the material to fit a narrative.” As Nicholas Lange notes in The Illustrated History of the Jewish People (Harcourt, 1997), “every generation of Jewish historians has faced the same task: to retell and adapt the story to meet the needs of its own situation.”

Cohen concludes: “Perhaps that is why — on both sides of the argument — some myths stubbornly persist no matter how often they are debunked while other indubitable facts continually fail to gain traction.”

Had Ms. Cohen simply opened up this week’s Torah portion, and read some of the quotes cited above – and then empirically observed the absolute miracle of “foratzto” with Jews thriving across the globe – she may have reversed her descriptions as to what is myth and what is reality. Instead, Cohen herself, without even realizing it, unfortunately falls into the same trap, and shapes her opinions based on the “narrative” of her so-called “experts” and “scholars.”

I wonder whether the scholars of our times and the musings in our contemporary publications will withstand the test of time (no pun intended), and be talked about and remembered in a few thousands years from now. They say that the NY Times publisher predicted that the Times will cease being a print newspaper within five years. The question is how long will it last on the Internet? Let’s see.

So whom to trust regarding the roots of the Jewish people: Jacob’s dream or a Tel Aviv Professor’s lucidity?  If I had to choose between trusting contemporary “experts” in our  “scholarly world” or the Biblical narrative that has withstood the test of time and history – with the Jewish people still standing as promised – I know who I would place my bets on.

I would wager any day for Jacob’s sleepy dream, which has been fulfilled, over an expert’s scientific analysis, which has yet to be proven, despite his mighty credentials…

As they say: Amateurs built the Ark. Professionals built the Titanic.

Perhaps the venerable New York Times can learn a thing or two about “all the news that’s fit to print” from living with the times in this week’s Torah portion.

I know we aren’t quite there yet. But we’re on our way…

One Step that Changed the Universe

Abraham’s journey related in this week’s Torah portion changed the world forever. Had Abraham not embarked on his odyssey to the “land that I will show you,” we would not have a “promised land,” we would not have a Jewish people, we would not have Sinai, we would not have Judaism, Christianity, Islam and (according to some) Hinduism and Buddhism and other Far Eastern disciplines, we would not have the principles stated in the Ten Commandments, which define the basic human rights that gave become the bedrock of our modern democracies.

Imagine: A lonely journey by a single man (accompanied by a small group of people) taken 3747 years ago changed the entire course of history!

This summer we honored the 40^th anniversary of man landing on the moon: If Neil Armstrong’s “one small step for man” was “one giant leap for mankind,” how would we define the implications of Abraham’s first step out of Charan on his way to Canaan?!

In 1972, when President Nixon took his historic trip to China, opening up relations with that closed country, Western journalists had their first opportunity to speak with Chinese leaders. When they asked Chinese leader Zhou Enlai about the impact of the American and French Revolutions, he replied: “It’s too early to tell…”

Our myopic perspective often exaggerates the impact of immediate events happening around us. No one questions the unprecedented landing on the moon, or Columbus’ voyage to the New World, or other great steps taken by men throughout history. But greater then them all – the one that had by far the most powerful impact on history – was Abraham’s journey.

What was it about this journey that carried such potency? What can we learn from Abraham about our own journeys today? How can we ensure that our expeditions leave an indelible positive mark on our children and on generations to come?

Abraham’s journey was far more than a geographical excursion. It was a transition from the comfort zones of self-absorption to the greatest heights of transcendence; a journey from the mortal to the immortal.

Abraham lived in a world absorbed with deep self-interest (sound familiar?) – a pagan world that was consumed with its own way of doing things. Nothing new – the way of all flesh, the natural inclination of man is to serve oneself. Abraham pioneered a new path. Resisting all pressures – rejecting all the influences of his life, his family, culture and community – Abraham searched for something true and eternal, something that transcends the subjective whims of man and transient forces of nature. A lone man pitted against an entire world, Abraham discovered the only true certainty in life: The only certainty in life is the absolute commitment to your Divine calling, to the mission for which you have been uniquely chosen.

G-d’s call to Abraham – “Lech Lecha,” “Go to you, away from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you” – is the essence of mans’ calling on earth: To leave your instinctive and subjective influences, to depart from your nature and habits, to transcend the prejudice of ego, to free yourself from social pressures – to go beyond your self, your genetic and conditioned self, and achieve greatness.

Abraham was the first to take the journey. But not the last. The “Lech Lecha” call resounds through history as it beckons to each one of us: Will you live a life driven by existential interests, or one aspiring transcendence.

Each moment of our lives, at each encounter we face we have two choices: To be mediocre or to be great. Will you follow your selfish, immediate needs, or will you transcend your natural self and reach beyond yourself – to your essence, who you truly are? Will you just suffice with the confines of the forces that have shaped you, or will you go beyond your self?

As each of goes through our life journey we will come to a fork in the road and face this question many times. Reading Abraham’s story can be a tremendous inspiration. Our father Abraham’s story is our story. Abraham ‘father of all nations’ – the first man to discover transcendence – teaches us that the only real response to doubts and confusion is to embrace our unwavering calling.

Abraham began the journey 3747 years ago (Lech Lecha took place in Abraham’s 75^th year); we are poised to conclude it. Lech Lecha is the immortal call to Abraham to set out on a journey that would defy the very nature of existence – to reach heaven and beyond, and bring it back to earth.

In the spirit of Abraham, here is a humble suggestion: Let us all think and then write down what journey are we taking in our lives? Are we trapped in our comfort zones? What fears and uncertainties keep us paralyzed? And then ask yourself: What is the most certain thing in your life? What do you know is real with absolute and unconditional surety?

If you cannot find the answer, begin looking now. Listen to the “Lech Lecha” call and begin your journey. If you have the answer, cherish it and hold onto it with every fiber of your being – and above all, live up to it.

Every experience in our lives offers us the opportunity to achieve greatness. Will you rise to the occasion?

Just as Abraham was promised when he embarked on his journey, so too are we promised on our journey: “I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you great and you shall become a blessing. I will bless those… all the families of the earth will be blessed through you.”

And if the skeptic in you wonders whether you will be blessed this way, consider this:

This blessing was bestowed upon Abraham 3747 years ago, and in the millennia that followed from then till now we see its realization – despite all odds. Can one then doubt whether the same blessing can be fulfilled today in our journeys?

Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret: A Global Perspective

Autumn 1909, one century ago, was a rather uneventful time. Compared to traumatic events that took place during the previous High Holiday seasons, and the horrible atrocities that would soon be unleashed, Tishrei 5670 (September-October 1909) was relatively quiet.

As it turns out, that fall was a deceptive lull in the early years of the 20^th Century. Beneath the surface and behind the scenes, violent forces were simmering which would soon erupt and throw the benign century into bloodiest century in all of history.

Despite the apparent calm that holiday season, the illustrious Rebbe Rashab (Rabbi Sholom Dovber), a grandmaster sage and mystic, was not oblivious to the impending storm. In his classic style, the Rebbe delivered another of his timeless and timely masterpieces, which presented a cosmic snapshot of events to come, coupled with a profound perspective on how to approach and take on the challenges ahead.

That Rosh Hashana, one hundred years ago, the Rebbe Rashab began delivering the series of discourses, titled “Hemshech Eter” (eter is an acronym for the year 5670, tov resh ayin). The series would span for nearly six months, until the winter of 1910, and would consist of twenty-seven discourses, delivered both live (in Yiddish) and in writing (in Hebrew), and later published in a complete volume.

Couched in Talmudic language and mystical terms, the Rebbe laid out in the first part of this series of discourses two critical elements that allow us to understand and prepare for every situation, even the most difficult of circumstances.

We will focus on the discourse delivered exactly one century this week, on Shemini Atzeret 1909 (the sixth discourse in this series). In this dissertation the Rebbe Rashab explains the difference between the two holidays that flow one into the other, Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret. The Torah instructs us that following the celebration of the seven days of Sukkot, “the eighth day shall be a time of retreat (Shemini Atzeret) for you when you shall do no mundane work.”

What is the significance of this eighth day? And why does it follow the seven days of Sukkot?

Explains the Rebbe Rashab that the secret power of the eighth day lays in the expression “(the eighth day shall be a time of retreat) for you.”

We each have two aspects to our lives: Our outer lives and our inner lives. The things we do to affect the environment and the world around us. And the things we do within our own intimate selves.

The two consecutive holidays of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret, explains the Rebbe, represent two primary prototypes of human initiative that each one of us has to be involved in – the first external and the second internal.

The purpose for which we were placed on Earth, why our souls were sent down to this material plane, is in order that we illuminate the moral and spiritual darkness of our physical world. This is the primary focus of Sukkot, when we take on not just our own personal lives, but also the welfare of our communities and societies. We dwell in Sukkot, made of vegetation of the world, we pray and commit to improve and refine the nations of the world, we dance and celebrate in public, we engage, connect and unite with others.

Following this seven-day immersion in the affairs of e the world, we then arrive to the eighth day, Shemini Atzeret, when we enter into our intimate space, “a time of retreat for you,” when we are alone with G-d, “let them be for you alone, and no strangers with you” (Proverbs 5:17), and we are not involved in any “mundane work” of refining the world.

After refining the entire world during Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret is the single day when everything else is put aside and we are alone and intimate with the King, without any strangers present, for one last time before entering the dark, cold days of winter.

In mystical terms: Sukkot is related to the role of the “reshimu” – the cosmic residue that was created by the great “tzimtzum,” which concealed the infinite Divine energy to allow the emergence of finite “containers” that would be able to receive this energy. Think of it as letters and words that convey profound wisdom, whose intensity completely overrides and submerges the actual letters in a powerful light, which don’t allow the letters visibility. The tzimtzum conceals the brilliant wisdom, leaving a “residue” – a jumbled up assortment of letters (which are alternately compared to a summary, a blueprint, signs and hints to something deeper), which now can emerge and be revealed, but only due to the concealment of the intense brilliance. Like letters that remain visible after the light recedes, the “reshimu” is considered to be the first “container” – the root of all the “containers” in existence, which now have to begin the long and arduous process of reclaiming the hidden wisdom hidden within these residual “letters” and “containers.”

On Sukkot the main focus is to enter the world of the “containers,” in all their dimensions, from the subtlest to the most callous, to refine and illuminate them with Divine energy. After seven days we then retreat into – and retain (“atzeret”) – the inner sanctums and chambers of the infinite energy and essential light that is above and beyond the “reshimu” and the tzimtzum – a day that is dedicated “for you” alone.

Though it would not mitigate the tzimtzum-induced horrible events to come in the first half of the 20^th century, it is a bit empowering to know that we have the ability to not only not be destroyed by the darkness, but to actually illuminate it.

The Rebbe’s elucidation of the tzimtzum could help people, at least cognitively and emotionally, face the gloom to come, knowing that no darkness can vanquish the spirit. In the Rebbe Rashab’s own words (in the previous Sukkot discourse): “We cannot say that the objective of the tzimtzum is to eradicate the light, G-d forbid, because what purpose is served by the removal of light, and we are told that the world was ‘not created to be empty and chaotic but to be inhabited’ (Isaiah 45:18)… the purpose of the concealment is that the light should then be drawn into the finite parameters of our universe, and this happens when the light is filtered through the reshimu, which carries the infinite into the finite…”

As the clouds of doom were gathering over the European horizons, one can only imagine the strength and courage imparted to all those who heard the Rebbe Rashab explaining the potency of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret back in that autumn of 2009.  No words can describe or minimize the harshness of the 20^th century. But as challenging as those harsh times were, the Rebbe Rashab’s words must have gathered much confidence and power knowing that these holidays infuse us with both the ability to transcend all the world’s troubles, to enter an “inner” sanctum reserved “for you” alone, as well as to illuminate the dark universe.

In our time as well, though we are blessed to face far smaller challenges, we too have much to learn from Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret. Whether we are concerned with our uncertain economy and our future security, whether we are frightened by others fears and unknowns, whether we are anxious about our relationships and other personal ghosts, come Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret and we are told that these days bring us an unprecedented gift from above. They enable us to realize that we are not victims of circumstances; we can and must illuminate the shadows around us. And they allow us to access an inner place (which is dedicated “for you” alone) that can never be affected by the storms raging around us.

To take control of your life requires discerning a clear distinction between both parts of our beings. First, the message of Sukkot: we must know that we were sent to this world, each of us charged with the mission to illuminate our surroundings. Darkness exists for a reason – so that you can dispel it with your unique light and energy. Second, the message of Shemini Atzeret: There is a place reserved for “you alone.” In the depths of your soul resides a private, intimate essence, where no intruder – physical, psychological or spiritual – can enter. This is your inner sanctum where you and only you and G-d reside. Nothing can wound or even touch that connection.

A practical way to actualize these resources is to dedicate time, as the holidays wind down and we enter the new year, to focus on these two dimensions of your life. Identify elements that reflect each one of the two, don’t allow their boundaries to be blurred and spill into each other – know clearly when you are focusing on improving the people and the world around you and when you are entering into your intimate space. And above all, designate time to nourish both these responsibilities.

Some food for thought as we reflect on a century old discourse, that comes with warmest regards from the Rebbe Rashab. As we conclude Sukkot (this Friday) and celebrate Shemini Atzeret (this Saturday), we can glean much from these Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret thoughts.

And then – with this intimate and invincible power of Shemini Atzeret – “for you” alone – we have much reason to dance all night and day on Simchat Torah.