The Meaningful Life Center

Tag: peace

  • Ki Tissa: A Bold New Peace Initiative

    Ki Tissa: A Bold New Peace Initiative

    The World is Round Part 3

    From the latest tremors rippling through the Middle East you get the sense that we are living in historical times, and we are in the midst of a tectonic global shift, that will only be appreciated and recognizable in time.

    Is there anything that we can do to precipitate these changes – and help ensure that they are peaceful, with the minimum of tension and uncertainty natural to all upheavals?

    After addressing how the recent Middle East uprisings demonstrate the volatility of the region necessitating Israel to be especially vigilant in its negotiations (The World is Not Flat), and then how this crisis reflects the difficult but promising history of reconciling freedom and faith, defining our challenge today to allow these events to bring our world to a better place (The World is Round) – I would like to now, with your permission, address what we can do about the situation, and the leading role Israel can take in this process.

    When President Anwar Sadat (Mubarak’s assassinated predecessor) traveled to Jerusalem with his gesture of peace, it was considered a bold and historic move (and indeed, it ended up costing him his life). Never before had an Arab leader, no less one who had just attacked Israel in the Yom Kippur War, reached out and actually came to the holy land with an outstretched arm.

    Some considered it a brilliant move – that is for Egypt. After all, in return for a peace treaty Egypt received the entire Sinai and all its resources, plus the billions of dollars in US aid – now accumulating to over 600 billion dollars (you read that right)! Not a bad deal, would you say?

    Whether it was equally brilliant for Israel is another story. Without getting into a debate about the issue (especially considering the new situation on the ground in Egypt today), I submit that Israel now has an opportunity to launch a far bolder peace initiative – which can actually transform the entire region.

    *  *  *

    Last week’s column discussed the fact that there is nothing fundamentally new about the current difficulties facing Egypt – and the entire Middle East – in trying to establish a free society. This has been the human race’s challenge from the beginning of time: How to establish freedom and respect human rights in a world dominated by power, control and greed.

    Indeed, this battle is part of the inherent existential tension between matter and spirit, between a life driven by self-interest or by a higher calling; between survival or transcendence.

    We addressed the long difficult history of discovering freedom and balancing it with order. How the solution is not the millennia old model of totalitarian leaders controlling the masses, or religious authority imposing its will one the people. Neither is the answer the other extreme option of secularism without faith (espoused by the thinkers of the Enlightenment). Because, as the founding fathers so clearly understood: Without the absolute, inalienable rights guaranteed to us by our Creator, Who created us all equally, all freedoms will be arbitrary. The challenge is to balance the two – faith and reason.

    Yet, finding this balance is a long process, a slow but consistent evolution of emerging individual rights. And the journey is fraught with hardships: The friction between faith and modernity, reconciling religious passions with free inquiry; the struggles to integrate spiritual values in a secular world; and the greatest challenge of all – to bridge heaven and earth and ultimately make our peace with G-d.

    Similar to the maturing of a child into an adult, history is the story of an old order (of autocratic rule and denial of human rights) growing and maturing into a new order (of freedom and social justice). Maturity is a long painstaking process, as the old gives way to the new, and a lost world grows up and tries to find its balance, between morality, self interest, corruption, faith, and all other forces unleashed by the dissonance between what we do and who we are.

    Every nation, every religion, every community, even every home and family – from the beginning of time till this day – faces and will be faced with the challenge of finding a balance between individual interests and common good, between personal freedoms and G-d. We all will have our day of reckoning – to make our peace with G-d.

    And that time of reckoning has now come full force to the Middle East.

    Islam today is at a crossroads. Just as Christianity, earlier in history, evolved from oppressive leaders tyrannizing the masses, until it arrived at a place of restoring human dignity (in a country like the USA), Islam too is now faced with the challenge of embracing the core principles of its faith – honoring and celebrating the dignity of every human life – while balancing and integrating it with the forces of modernity and coexistence with others.

    With the new emerging Middle East landscape the entire world is entering into a new stage of maturity – to discover balance between the passions of faith and the sobriety of reason, an integration of spiritual values and material success.

    Israel’s Historic Role

    Here is where Israel can play a crucial leadership role:

    Of all the nations throughout history struggling with the balance between the Divine and the mundane, the Jewish people are the first and the oldest. More importantly, in their struggle they have endured the harshest of circumstances – “paid a heavy price” – and are here to tell about it.

    As war-seasoned veterans with unparalleled credibility, the Jewish people living in the Biblical Holy Land of Israel, are perfectly positioned to now lead the way in proposing a bold new peace initiative – and the timing couldn’t be better.

    Before presenting this radical peace plan, a short introduction is in order.

    Many different Middle East peace plans have been attempted and have failed. All those plans were predicated on a flat world mentality: Land for peace, economic agreements, cultural exchanges, sharing technology and resources. What all these plans did not take into account was the religious factor: The Muslim world is saturated with faith and passion. Many in the Muslim worlds disdain the West (including Israel, whom they perceive as part of the West) for its blatant secularism, consumerism and decadent indulgences. This contempt – for good or for bad – has been exploited by some, and has also bred radical Islamism, which calls for jihad – holy war – against the Western infidels, the “Crusaders and the Zionists” (as the Western world is derisively referred to), to the point of literal war.

    The Western world’s response has always been a defensive one – either conciliatory efforts, trying to find some common ground, attempting to isolate and weaken radical Islam’s sway, or outright hostility, waging battle against terrorism.

    The world may be flat politically, economically and technologically. But spiritually and religiously – the world is round, very round. The Western intellectuals who obstinately hold on to the idea (of the Enlightenment) that faith will succumb to reason are simply living in denial. Let them visit the Muslim world and see what dominates there. Religion should not be confused with radicalism. Faith plays and will always play a major role in society. As such, the diversity – the roundness, so to speak – of world cultures will and should always remain intact, and indeed, enrich the human experience.

    Assimilation and dilution of our diverse paths would be a tragedy. G-d created us a diverse people, and we should not attempt to annihilate the uniqueness of different faiths, each should shine with it own distinct light. Yet, at the same, they are all bound to one g-d, with each one recognizing that we are all complementary parts of one grand cosmic composition. Each needed and each needing the other.

    We don’t need a flat and square universe. We need a round one – a circle, as it were, which has no top or bottom, no beginning or end – every one is equal, contributing his indispensable strengths, all united by the Divine circle.

    In a flat word all that may be needed to create peaceful coexistence is equal rights and economic opportunity. But in a round diverse world – where at work are also powerful forces of religion and passionate voices of faith – humility and commitment to a higher calling is the vital ingredient in achieving global harmony.

    This “round” factor – which is driven by faith and passionate religion – has never be addressed in any of the peace talks. Indeed, due to the fears associated with religious issues, diplomats and peacemakers deliberately ignored it, but it always remained the invisible “elephant in the room.”

    Since all previous peace efforts have failed, why not try an entirely new approach?

    No one has ever attempted a “religious” solution, or better put, a solution that takes into account the religious passions of the Muslim/Arab world.

    The New Peace Initiative

    The new peace initiative described below solves that issue: Instead of the defensive (and even apologetic) mode of the past, one that smacks of weakness, and certainly does not address the religious issues, Israel should come out with an offensive (the best defense is offense) and declare:

    Dear brother and sisters. We are all children of Abraham, “father of all nations.” Our great common ancestor, Abraham, pioneered a path that would integrate material life and G-d, a life in this physical selfish world that would be aligned with G-d’s plan for us all. Just like today, Abraham and his children struggled to find the formula for this exact balance.

    In Abraham’s home, and then in his son Isaac’s home, brothers battled over these issues: First Ishmael and Isaac, then Esau and Jacob.

    So you see my dear brothers and sisters, we share ancestors who also battled with each other. Ishmael – the father of the Muslim/Arab world. Esau – the father of the Western/Roman/Christian world. Isaac and Jacob – the father of the Jewish world.

    We, the Jewish people, received the Torah at Sinai – which formalized G-d’s mandate to the human race, teaching us how to reconcile and fuse our material and spiritual lives.

    1300 years later Christianity was born, followed 700 years later by Islam – embracing the core values of Sinai, which were first initiated by Abraham.

    From then till now, history is witness to the battles that you and all of us have fought through the ages. Much blood has been shed in the religious wars that have plagued the last two millennia.

    But we as Jews – living in the holy land of Israel – can tell you, that though it is a difficult and arduous journey, we have endured. And despite the difficulties, we have learned through hard earned experience that there is a path of shalom – of peace and balance.

    But balancing faith, freedom and integration in our material world is a long and  extensive process; one that takes time to achieve maturity.

    Yes, dear friends, it’s been a long journey.

    But now, we have an unprecedented opportunity. As you fight for social justice – and take to the streets of Cairo, Bahrain, Tripoli (and whatever cities will erupt in the coming days and months) – as you emerge and demand your G-d given rights and freedoms, we reach out to you offering any support we can in finding the right balance of freedom and order, faith and modernity.

    Second, we extend our hands to you in peace – not artificial peace (based on fear, money or other external and superimposed forces), but a true peace, in which we live together, side by side, as children of Abraham, disciples of Sinai, learning how to find Divine harmony within our diversity.

    We reach out to each of you to make true peace – out of strength, not weakness and pressure.

    Your faith and values can teach the world many vital things. But we all can learn from Abraham how to temper our faith and allow it to saturate the secular world, not through aggression and destruction, but through inspiration and love.

    Because, after all, marrying heaven and earth is a process, one that takes time to mature to find the right balance.

    As Jews we have been here, done that. We have seen it all, and stood at the abyss many times. Like no one else, we have suffered the brunt of history’s battles – the wars between religion and paganism, faith and reason, and we have found the balance.

    Why Will this Succeed?

    Why does this peace initiative have a great chance of success? Because it takes the bull by the horns and addresses the core issues at stake, above all – the Muslim hostility to Jewish control over the Holy Land.

    As long as Israel remains in its status quo, and makes feeble attempts at achieving peace with its Arab neighbors – and doing so like a modern Western nation (distrusted by the Muslim world) – Israel will always remain a scar, an open wound on the landscape of Muslim sensibilities and territory; a demoralizing reminder of their shame and fall of the Ottoman Empire and the great Muslim civilization that was meant to emancipate the world. Every time a new Arab/Muslim child will look at the map of the Middle East, he or she will see a vast seamless expanse of Muslim lands, with one black eye – the sliver of Israel – darkening the horizon.

    Under such humiliating circumstances, the most you can expect from Israel’s Arab neighbors is a cold and artificial peace (like the 30 years of peace with Egypt). And even that – a peace bought with money or arms. Or one sustained by the deterrence of superior Israeli arms. Is that true peace? Can a peace driven by fear or other external forces be maintained?

    But imagine if Israel were to rise to the occasion (not as another modern Western country on the Mediterranean) as the eldest nation in history, and declare for all to hear: We are the children of Abraham and we call on all our brethren to embrace Abraham’s vision of global harmony, all nations united under one G-d. Here is a time-tested path to that takes into account our diversity and differences, and yet allows us to be at peace with each other and with G-d. A proven method that integrates faith and freedom, religious passion and refined empathy – in ways that do not burn another, but warm each other.

    Abraham walked through this region close to 4000 years ago. He began his journey in what is presently Southeastern Iraq, traveling northwest, until he arrived, guided by G-d, in the Promised Land.

    The time has finally come for Israel – a country that is almost 4000 years old – to fulfill its calling, something that the entire world will respect, and is surely (at least unconsciously) waiting for: To be a light unto nations.

    Just like the Bible remains the greatest best-seller of all timed, continuously outselling any other book ever published, Israel is the Biblical land that everyone looks toward, and waits for it to fulfill its duty and lead the way to world peace.

    With the current upheavals rocking the Middle East, the timing couldn’t be better.

    Israel exports many important commodities to the world at large. Much has been written about Israeli innovation in technology, and how Israel has the most companies on Nasdaq, second only to the USA.

    But its most valuable export by far still remains hidden and unknown (or locked in insulated yeshivot).

    And that export is captured best in the words of Isaiah (2:3):

    From Zion shall go forth Torah; and the word of G-d from Jerusalem.

    Here is the full context: It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of G-ds house shall be established on top of the mountains and all the nations shall flow unto it. And many nations shall go and say, let us go up to the mountain of G-d and we will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths, for from Zion shall go forth the Torah; and the word of G-d from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations and they 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.

    This is Israel’s greatest export – Abraham’s global vision, which accounts for all nations living under one G-d.

    Imagine what would happen if Israel charted this new course today – becoming the number one exporter of this vision? How would that affect the region? The world?

    Is there a leader that is bold enough, daring enough, courageous enough, wise enough to rise and offer us this spiritual vision?

    You may call me a dreamer, but I’m not the only one…

  • Shelach: Six-Day War

    Shelach: Six-Day War

    Fearing the Promised Land

    The 40th anniversary of the miraculous Six-Day War victory (June 1967-2007) corresponds with this week’s Torah portion in which we read about Moses sending scouts to survey and discover the best way to conquer the Promised Land.

    And now, just as then, great opportunities were squandered; grave mistakes were made. Then, just as now, a people rose to great heights only to fall into dark depths.

    Following their miraculous deliverance from Egypt and the unprecedented Sinai revelation, the Jewish people were ready to enter the Promised Land. The scouts were sent to help pave the way for Israel’s easy conquest. Had they stuck to their mission, they would have facilitated the process and within a few days the Jewish people, led by Moses, would have entered Israel with pride, victory and celebration. The sages tell us, that had Moses entered the Promised Land, the world would have been brought to complete redemption.

    Instead, the scouts returned with a terrifying report, “slandering” the land and inciting the entire nation to mutiny, against marching onward into the Promised Land. “We cannot go forward…they are too strong for us,” it is a “land that consumes its inhabitants.”

    As a result, instead of a smooth entry, the Jewish people had to wander for forty years in a desolate wilderness – one year for each of the forty days the scouts spent exploring the land with slanderous intent. And the entire nation, including Moses, would end up perishing in the desert, never to enter the long-sought Promised Land.

    A tragedy of immense, yes, Biblical, proportions.

    Now, over 3200 years later, an uncanny similarity of extremes cannot be ignored. The Six-Day War fought in June 1967 – close to the same time period when the scouts were sent to explore the land (end of the month of Sivan) – marked one of the highest points in modern Jewish history. Twenty-two years after Auschwitz, the fledgling Israel was surrounded from all three sides – Jordan to the East, Egypt to the South and Syria to the North – all determined to drive it into the sea. Mass graves were dug and fear consumed the land; would there be a second holocaust, this time in the Promised Land?

    Then in a mere six days, Israel triumphed and tripled in size. The unprecedented victory of a tiny country, the size of New Jersey with a population of under 2 million, over the surrounding Arab countries numbering hundreds of millions, stunned the world. The miracle became the source of unparalleled Jewish euphoria and pride. Religious and secular alike, believers and cynics, could not contain their tears when touching the stones of the newly reclaimed Western Wall.

    What happened next remains one of the tragedies of Jewish history. From a state of euphoria, today Israel is embroiled in enormous conflict from within and without. Peace seems as distant as ever. Israelis themselves cannot agree what sort of Israel they want. Israel’s vision – so powerfully celebrated 40 years ago – is now in shambles. Hope has turned into resignation.

    What transpired during the last forty years? What mistakes were made following the victory in 1967 that allowed for the never-ending downward spiral that has led to the stalemate in 2007? How was such great victory and pride squandered?

    Many answers can be gleaned from studying the events that took place 3318 years ago and their parallels to today’s situation. The mistakes made then by the scouts were meant to be lessons not to be repeated in 1967 and in the forty years hence.

    Here are some of the lessons:

    G-D’S PROMISE

    1) The only right that Jews have to Israel is because G-d granted them the Promised Land.

    Why else would several million Jews insist on planting themselves in a small sliver of land surrounded by hundreds of millions of Arabs and Muslims who don’t want them there?

    HOW NOT WHETHER

    2) We do not have the power, and were not given the right, to challenge the mission we are charged with. Our role is to figure out how to fulfill our calling, not whether to do so or not.

    Jewish leaders then, leaders in 1967 and leaders today have allowed their own subjective perceptions and philosophies – and doubts – to dictate policy whether to hold on to and advance into the Promised Land. Your role as leaders is to explore ways to ensure security and peace; not to question your right to the land.

    Before and during the Six-Day War Israeli leaders were questioning whether to proceed forward. The Israeli Defense Minister at the time declared unwillingness to conquer the Old City of Jerusalem, stating “who needs this Vatican city?” The miraculous conquests continued despite the initial opposition of the leaders.

    After the war, these same leaders declared a policy of returning “land for peace.” In one of the greatest historical ironies, it was President Nasser of Egypt and the other Arab leaders – humiliated in defeat – that rejected the offer, arguing that taking back land for peace would be a declaration of… defeat.

    No one asked for or wanted the Six-Day War. But once it was fought and won, behave like winners not like losers.

    [Moses’ scouts refused to enter the land because they feared it would compromise their own deep spirituality. Today the reasons are far different; some actually fear that Israel’s spirituality will compromise their “free” lifestyle. But regardless, both positions, as different as they may be, are rooted in personal agendas overriding the Divine command to enter the Promised Land].

    CONFIDENCE

    3) In opposition to their ten colleagues, Caleb and Joshua declared

    “we must definitely go up and take possession [of the land], we are definitely capable of it;” “the Land through which we passed in our explorations is a very, very good land. If G-d is satisfied with us and brings us to this land… He can surely give it to us. But don’t rebel against G-d. Don’t be afraid…G-d is with us.”

    HUMILITY

    4) When we are blessed with miracles, we must never ever become arrogant. Blessings must elicit in us humility. Humility enables us to review our own previous positions and perhaps change them, instead of stubbornly holding on to old attitudes. And humility leads to sensitivity, instead of aggression, which is the only sure way to true peace.

    VISION

    5) Entering and living in the Promised Land is not somebody’s whim or personal desire. It reflects a global vision for life – the Divine promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to give them the Land of Israel – the Holy Land, a place that would be sanctified and transformed into a spiritual haven. A land that would be a “light unto nations” – “a house of prayer for all people” – illuminating the entire world, serving as an example to all nations, peoples, races and cultures, how to live a life according to the highest spiritual standards. The Holy Land is meant to inspire every man, woman and child on earth to fulfill his or her Divine calling, and civilize his corner of the universe into a home for G-d.

    As the prophet Isaiah foretold:

    “It shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of G-d’s house shall be established on top of the mountains and all the nations shall flow unto it. And [they] shall go and say, let us go up to the mountain of G-d and He will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths, for from Zion shall go forth the Torah; and the word of G-d from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations and they 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).

    The scouts back then, and the “scouts” entrusted with Israel’s security today must never forget the purpose and mission of the Promised Land.

    When leaders are driven by faith, confidence, vision and humility, they combine both fortitude and wisdom to face every challenge that will come our way. No where is this more important than in the hotbed of the Middle-East – a vortex that has been consumed with battles over the last three millennia.

    “Leaders” who lack these vital features will waver from doubt to aggression (to compensate for the doubt), to paralysis and more aggression – fluctuating extremes – as  witnessed in the Israeli approach to last year’s Lebanese war. Instead of leadership, we end up at best with “administrators” and “fire-fighters,” offering temporary band-aids for deep rooted wounds.

    We cannot turn the clock back to 1967, but we can learn from past mistakes – and from errors made thousands of years – and adopt new policies and approaches, and perhaps finally offer Israel, the Middle East and the entire world the vision it expects and deserves to see emanating from the Holy Land.

    Do we have such leaders? And if yes, will they rise to the occasion and make us aware of their presence?

    * * *

    Question of the Week: How do you anyalyze the events of the Six-Day War and its aftermath?

  • Matos-Massei: Why is Jerusalem Still Burning

    Matos-Massei: Why is Jerusalem Still Burning

    Consider and reflect upon an astonishing thing: Everything happens in its time for the good. The [Torah] portions which we always read during the Three Weeks, Matos, Massei and Devorim, discuss the victory of Israel over the nations and the division of the [Promised] Land – the diametric opposite of the terrible events that happened during this time [the destruction of the Temple]. Sometimes we also read Pinchas during this period, which discusses all the holidays… related to the fact that in the future “these days will be transformed into joy and gladness and holidays” (Zechariah 8:19) – Shaloh Mesechta Taanit

    As the Middle East enters a second week of war with Israeli troops expanding their operations in Southern Lebanon launching a ground assault against its sworn enemy Hezbollah – and our hearts and prayers go out to all innocent lives being lost – its hard to ignore the connection to this period in time when we remember the war destruction of Jerusalem two millennia ago by the Babylonians and then again by the Romans.

    No one is disputing the fact that the Hezbollah attack against Israel – and indeed the entire existence of the Hezbollah – is founded on the principle of conquering Israel and is being fueled, funded and armed by Syria and Iran – the location of ancient Babylon, which at its height included the land that is now Syria and a large part of Iran (Persia).

    Babylon of old attacked Israel. So did the empires of Assyria, Persia, Ptolemy, Rome, Byzantine, the Crusaders, the Arabs and Ottomans. And the same story is now being replayed in the same geographical area – is this a coincidence?

    After 2428 years since the Babylonian destruction and 1938 years since the Roman destruction of the Holy Temple why is Jerusalem still burning?

    And what can we do about it?

    As we compare this most recent conflict with previous ones, striking parallels and differences stand out.

    The most obvious parallel is the never-ending battle over this small piece of geography called Israel.

    But what is far more striking – and disturbing – are some of the unique differences that distinguish the current battle from previous ones.

    One of the most obvious issues today is the lack of strong leadership and clear moral direction. Yes, every normal person or country agrees that Israel has a right to defend itself from wanton attacks on its innocent citizens. But is that enough?

    We still hear questions whether Israel is responding in “disproportionate” measure. For some reason, many people are questioning whether this is a justifiable war? Why? Would the same be said if, for instance, terrorists were launching unprovoked missiles from Algeria to France, or from Mexico to the United States?

    Is it possible that Israel is being second-guessed because Israel itself is suffering from an identity crisis and lack of clarity? Yes, under attack all of Israel is united in the commitment to defend itself at all costs. But the haunting questions remains: The six million Jews living in Israel are surrounded by hundreds of millions of Arabs and Muslims most of whom (if not all) do not want Israel there. If they had their way, and there was no military deterrent, a large number of them would actually support the elimination of the Jewish State (G-d forbid) and even those that may not go to war against Israel would not be greatly disturbed if Israel ceased to be.

    In such a hostile environment what good reason is there for Jews to live in Israel, surrounded by millions of enemies? If you moved to a neighborhood with high hopes for a comfortable life and then the neighborhood deteriorates, what would most people do? They would move to another neighborhood.

    Is it possible that many are wondering the same about the Jews in Israel? Do Israelis themselves have this question? And if they do, what is the answer.

    Another unprecedented factor in the current battle is the new type of war being fought. Previous wars involved defined nations, with defined borders and clear targets. A war against terrorists – whether it is in Baghdad, Lebanon, Gaza, London or New York City – poses a new set of challenges: Whom exactly are you fighting? Where is the enemy located? This type of war requires new terms of engagement.

    Why is it that Israel’s victory in 1967 against four major countries, Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq took only six days, and now their battle against one upstart terrorist organization is already over 9 days old and far from ending?

    Some would argue, that a war against defined countries is far easier to fight than one against terrorists embedded in tunnels and caves within a country’s infrastructure, hiding behind civilian shields, with arsenals dug in beneath hospitals and schools. Other may contend that the six-day war was A Divine miracle.

    Another factor may be that it is far easier to win a war when there is strong leadership, and an army passionately motivated by a defined vision and goal – as it was in the war of 1948 and 1967. Does that passion exist today?

    Years of slow-bleeding battles and relentless terrorist attacks have worn down many people. The ultimate question is this: Why in the first place are Jews living in a hostile neighborhood?

    And even if you have an answer, what is the game-plan? How will this all end?

    Questions abound. Many questions indeed.

    But we are never abandoned in our questions and doubts. The Jewish people have been here before. Throughout their long history of persecution, their ultimate solace and strength came from the Torah, called the Torah of life – a blueprint to face every challenge in life.

    During the Three Weeks of destruction we read in the Torah chapters that address the issues swirling around Israel and Jerusalem under siege – as the Shaloh writes in the opening quote of this article:

    The [Torah] portions which we always read during the Three Weeks, Matos, Massei and Devorim, discuss the victory of Israel over the nations and the division of the [Promised] Land – the diametric opposite of the terrible events that happened during this time [the destruction of the Temple].

    Barely a consolation, yet the battle over Jerusalem is not new. And by looking at the past we can learn much for the present and future.

    This Shabbat we also bless the month of Av. Av consists of two letters: Alef and bet – an acronym for the two nations that destroyed the two temples: Adom (the Roman Empire) and Babylon.

    Our troubles in the Middle East did not begin today. They are an extension of unresolved forces unleashed millennia ago – events that set in motion a series of conflicts that plague us to this very day.

    Edom (Rome) is the Western, Christian world – descendants of Esau. Babylon is the Eastern, Arab, Muslim world – descendants of Ishmael. All global confrontations are a result of the strange bedfellows created back in the home of Abraham.

    So what does all of this have to do with current events? How do historical roots help us deal with our present challenges?

    The three chapters we read during these Three Weeks contain some answers:

    Pinchas – Healthy Passion

    Pinchas is the only zealot ever condoned in the Torah. Pinchas took a stand against a public atrocity and killed the perpetrators, consequently saving thousands of lives. Pinchas is subsequently rewarded with the “covenant of peace.”

    What does this teach us about modern day zealotry and its dangers? Haven’t we learned our lessons over history of the grave destruction perpetrated in the name of G-d by religious extremists?!

    As discussed at length in a previous article, Pinchas was the ultimate model of a peaceful warrior: When confronted with cruelty some people shy away in fear, others become morally ambivalent and yet others become radical zealots, mercilessly killing innocent people in the name of (distorted) faith.

    Comes Pinchas the man of peace and tells us that there is another option: No extremes, no bringing in your own personal prejudices and feelings of aggression or passivity, violence or comfort zones. Pinchas teaches us simple selflessness to protect and defend innocent lives. Zealousness – but in peace.

    What we learn from Pinchas is the exact opposite of killing in the name of religious zealotry. Violence against other people, especially innocent ones, can never be tolerated – no matter what its cause. Any justification of violence, whether it is in the name of religion or in the name of fighting for a cause, is unequivocally deplorable and goes against the laws of G-d. Anger and murder resulting from religious feelings is perhaps the most dangerous of all, because the “holy war” helps mask the venting of personal aggression.

    On the other hand, Pinchas teaches us, just because religion has been abused and used to perpetrate atrocities we shouldn’t fall to the other extreme of not fighting for any values. We must never lose sight of right and wrong, but at the same time we must learn from the past how to fight for it with selfless passion.

    What is needed today is passion – but guided by humility. G-d – but guided by love and compassion. We need a zealot today. A true Pinchas that will rise and defy conventional thinking. Not a murderous zealot but a zealot of peace.

    Today we are called to join forces in a zealousness and passion against all forms of extremism and violence, including those perpetrated in the name of religious zealotry. To counter the passion of misguided souls ready to blow themselves up, we need to zealously defend and promote the Divine principles of justice and peace – and all in the spirit of unity and love fueled by selflessness.

    Matos-Massei – Fortitude in the journey

    “Matos” (in Hebrew) are stiff, firm rods. “Massei” are journeys, referring to the forty-two journeys of the Israelites through the Sinai Wilderness on their way to the Promised Land.

    Life is a journey – a series of journeys – toward the Promised Land. Indeed, the Baal Shem Tov explains that each of us goes through 42 journeys in our lives.

    The journey toward the Promised Land (even when we may be living there) is a difficult one – as witnessed time and again throughout history. We therefore need the “Matos” in our “Massei” – an unwavering fortitude, based on deep faith that gives us the relentless power to forge ahead regardless of and despite the adversary.

    Life can be difficult, very difficult. The only power to counter all our hardships and enemies comes from a profound, unwavering, connection to knowing the purpose of our lives and knowing without a shred of doubt that our fight is just; an absolute, unbending (“Mattos”) moral certainty in our calling, and the resulting absolute determination to see the journey through.

    Where do we get this fortitude? From-

    Devorim – Divine words

    “These are the words which Moses spoke…”

    The fifth book of the Torah documents the words that Moses spoke to the people in the last 37 days of his time on Earth:

    “These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah over against Suph, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab.”

    Moses was the ultimate leader. Knowing that he has a short time to live, and recognizing the difficult challenges laying ahead, Moses – as a true leader – delivers his final words in order to imbue the people – then and in all generations to come – with the strength and confidence to forge ahead and tackle every possible issue. Moses examines the events that occurred over the last 40 years since they left Egypt, he discusses the relationship the Jews had established with G-d, G-d’s instructions to them, and he encourages them to carry on these teachings for the generations to come.

    More specifically, Moses reviews the difficult journey of the Jewish people toward the Promised Land and reaffirms the reason for their journey – to forge an invincible bond with G-d that will empower the people to transform the material universe into a Divine home. Moses offers the Jewish nation strong words of encouragement and direction that by holding on to their connection to the Divine they will be able to face any challenge, no matter how difficult.

    Moses’ words live on forever. Especially in time of war and challenge we need the powerful, unwavering words of Moses to infuse us with hope, courage and direction.

    Above all, Moses’ words state the ultimate – and only – justification for the Jewish presence in Israel today:

    “Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which G-d swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them” (Deuteronomy 1:8).

    “Israel, listen to the laws and rules that I am teaching you to do, so that you will remain alive and come to occupy the land that G-d is giving you (4:1). Safeguard and keep them since this is your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the nations (4:6). Only take heed and watch yourself very carefully, so that you do not forget the things that your eyes saw. Do not let [this memory] leave your hearts, all the days of your lives. Teach your children and children’s children” (4:9).

    And the end game?

    “G-d will then bring back your remnants and have mercy on you. G-d will once again gather you from among all the nations where He scattered you… [and] bring you to the land that your ancestors occupied. G-d will be good to you and make you flourish even more than your ancestors” (30:3-5).

    Meanwhile – Moses concludes – “be strong and brave” (31:6).

    It’s amazing that after all these years the secret to redemption eludes us but still remains in our hands: “Zion will be redeemed with Law and its captives with righteousness” (Isaiah 1:27. Haftorah of Shabbat Chazon).

    Torah study and charitable righteous deeds will redeem Zion and its hostages.

    How much longer will Jerusalem burn? That’s up to us.

    * * *

    Question for the week: How far should Israel go in its war against Hezbollah, and what should be the “end-game”?

  • Pinchas: Back to Reality

    Pinchas: Back to Reality

    After a rather lengthy sleep we have suddenly been jolted back to reality with the latest conflagration in the Middle East.

    Is anyone shocked?

    We children of the West, born in freedom, have been spoiled by the façade of our many distractions that have allowed us the luxury of denial of the stark battles of good and evil, creating an illusion of false security.

    The reverie of a peaceful siesta is far more comfortable, but one need not be very intelligent to recognize that the Middle East is a combustion chamber, a fermenting hotbed of noxious toxins always ready to explode.

    September 11 and other attacks remind us sporadically from time to time that there are powerful brewing forces that must be reckoned with before we enter an age of true peace, but it is so easy to sink back into our comfortable cushions. Such is the nature of the beast of denial.

    Just a bit of history can surely wake you up:

    Hezbollah, which means the Party of G-d, views the conflict with Israel as “an existential struggle” as opposed to “conflict over land” (as Lebanese scholar Amal Saad-Ghorayeb underscores in her book, Hizbu’llah: Politics and Ideology). In the words of Sheikh Naim Qasim, Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general, “Even if hundreds of years pass by, Israel’s existence will continue to be an illegal existence.”

    Although Hezbollah has denounced attacks on Western civilians, they make an exception in the case of Israel. As Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, head of Hezbollah puts it,

    “in occupied Palestine there is no difference between a soldier and a civilian, for they are all invaders, occupiers and usurpers of the land.”

    After Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, some analysts predicted—and many Lebanese hoped—that Hezbollah would soon wind down its military operations and become a purely political party. But Nasrallah has greater ambitions than to win more seats in Lebanon’s parliament, and he has had the firm backing of Iran and Syria. At once a determined radical and an astute pragmatist, he views Hezbollah both as a Lebanese party committed to assuring the welfare of its constituents and as a vanguard in the pan-Islamic struggle to destroy Israel and restore Palestine to its native inhabitants.

    By no means did this restrict Hezbollah’s action to Israel alone. In the early 1990s, Hezbollah members were connected to two notorious attacks in Buenos Aires: the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy, which killed twenty-nine people, ostensibly in retaliation for Israel’s assassination of Sheikh Musawi; and the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center, which killed eighty-five civilians.

    Tragically, it doesn’t end there. In March 2004, after the Israeli assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas, Nasrallah said to Hamas: “We are under your command. Your blood is our blood; our fight is one.” Hezbollah demonstrated its solidarity with the Palestinian group by firing more than sixty-five rockets at six different Israeli military positions in the Shebaa Farms in southern Lebanon.

    You may recall that Hamas, now controlling the activities in Gaza and the West Bank, initiated the current crisis by kidnapping an Israeli soldier. Hamas clearly views the Arab-Israeli conflict as a religious struggle between Islam and Judaism that can only be resolved by the destruction of the State of Israel, and thus opposes any Arab-Israeli peace talks.

    If you’re still asleep, here are a few quotes from the Hamas covenant (or charter):

    Preface: “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” (A quote by Imam Hassan al Banna)

    Article 6: “The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinguished Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine, for under the wing of Islam followers of all religions can coexist in security and safety where their lives, possessions and rights are concerned…”

    Article 7:”The Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realisation of Allah’s promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: “The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharqad tree would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews.”

    Article 11: “The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up.”

    Article 13: “There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with.”

    Article 28: “The Zionist invasion is a vicious invasion … It relies greatly in its infiltration and espionage operations on the secret organizations it gave rise to, such as the Freemasons, The Rotary and Lions clubs, and other sabotage groups. All these organizations, whether secret or open, work in the interest of Zionism and according to its instructions… When the Jews conquered the Holy City in 1967, they stood on the threshold of the Aqsa Mosque and proclaimed that “Mohammed is dead, and his descendants are all women.” Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Moslem people. “May the cowards never sleep.”

    Article 32: “After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying.”

    What to be done?

    As in all serious confrontations one needs a short-term plan and a long-term one. Obviously, first and foremost everything possible must be done in the short term to protect innocent lives and never allow anyone – terrorists or sovereign states – to violate the security of a peace-loving nation. A show of strength is often necessary to serve as a deterrent.

    We all would wish that this short-term approach would be enough. But the fact remains that even when these immediate fires are quelled (hopefully sooner than later), the region is festering with centuries of old toxins, driven by religious passions and often fanatical faith (misguided or not), and the resulting hostility to Israel will not just go away. It is built on a philosophy and unwavering belief system of millions.

    Thus, one thing is for sure: Until we don’t come to honest terms with the brutal truth about the true nature of the conflict – religious and spiritual as opposed to political – we will not know how to fight this war and we will never win it. Fires may be suppressed, but the underlying forces will not be tamed.

    It is no surprise therefore that the current outbreak began on the 17th of Tammuz, the day when the Jerusalem walls were breached, leading three weeks later, on the 9th of Av, to the destruction of both Holy Temples in Jerusalem, the first Temple 2428 years ago, the second one 1938 years ago.

    This saddest time in the year, called ‘The Three Weeks’ (Tammuz 17-Av 9), is a national period of mourning for the holiness that was lost with the destruction. The Western Wall in Jerusalem – which symbolizes, more than any other object, the Jewish presence in Israel today – is the only remaining remnant of the wall surrounding the Temple.

    During the Three Weeks we traditionally increase our Torah study, prayer and charity. Above all, we intensify our love and kindness to each other – counterbalancing the baseless hatred that was the ultimate cause for the Temple’s destruction.

    What exactly are we mourning over for close to two millennia? Why do we pray for the Temple’s restoration? And what connection is there between human hatred and a Holy building’s destruction?!

    The answer is that the Temple wasn’t a mere structure of bricks and mortar. It was a window – a literal gate – between heaven and earth. “Build Me a Sanctuary,” G-d says, “and I will rest among you.” The Temple’s destruction marked the closing of the window between spirit and matter, between the Divine purpose of existence and existence itself. Think of it as a traveler losing sight of his destination, an entity losing touch of its mission – a world losing direction.

    The first symptom of a dichotomy between matter and spirit – the misalignment of existence and purpose – is expressed in personal disunity. When an individual loses touch with his own raison d’etre, his fragmented self has to cause anxiety and ultimate insecurity and erosion of self-respect. In its extreme it escalates into a self-loathing (the purposeful soul loathing the aimless life). This inevitably spills over into our relationships with others: When you hate another it is a projection – or deflection – of hating yourself. A secure person can co-exist with anyone. Even if he may disagree with or be attacked by another, the secure person distinguishes between the actions of the enemy and his person.

    From the personal, divisiveness carries over to the collective: To the splits between communities, religions and nations.

    Once divisiveness infected the people, the Holy Temple – which bridged spirit and matter – could simply no longer stand. There was no room for it in a fractured world. It no longer was appreciated and no longer served its purpose…

    Just as divisiveness destroys the Temple, unity rebuilds it. And mind you, unity here means on a universal scale. Indeed, the Midrash tells us that had the nations of the world known how the Temple protected them, they would have built legions around it shielding it from any harm!

    How uncanny and ironic is it that the current battles in the Middle East – over Israel and Jerusalem at its heart – began and continue in the Three Weeks?!

    It only underscores the true nature of the war.

    As mentioned, everything must be done in the immediate to protect the innocent. But in the long term big picture, we must remember that this – as in past battles in Israel, all the way back to the Babylonian and Roman destruction of the Temples – is ultimately a spiritual and religious battle, reflecting the battle of all life.

    The true battle of life is not for land, honor or wealth. It is for the dominance of spirit over matter. Our greatest challenge is not political but spiritual. It is about finding purpose and direction.

    And that is why we grieve over the Temple’s destruction and pray for its restoration: We are yearning, aspiring and doing everything in our power to reconnect with the direction, mission and destination of our lives – something we lost close to two millennia ago.

    And we thus intensify our efforts in reconnecting with out inner purpose, through our increased study, prayer and charity, thereby creating internal harmony. Above all – we do all we can to battle divisiveness and foster love between each other.

    As long as we do not understand the current confrontation – some call it a “clash of civilizations” – we will continue to be its victim, and putting out fires in a never-ending, slowly bleeding vicious cycle.

    The ultimate victor will be not the one with the most powerful weapons. It will be the one with the most powerful spiritual vision.

    What exactly this battle entails has been discussed at length in this column.

    So while all peace-loving people grieve over the tragic loss of any life, and pray for the end of all hostilities – we must always remember that even while we are forced to deal with the short-term challenges, there looms a much larger picture.

    The universe is at war and has always been at war – the raging battle between materialism and spirituality, between personal gain and higher purpose, between matter and spirit. Center stage of this war – now and throughout history – has always been Israel.

    So ladies and gentlemen: Time to wake up. “Everybody up, up, up, up” was the annoying sound of the reveille call we would hear each morning in summer camp, abruptly disturbing our peaceful sleep. Annoying indeed.

    Perhaps this is the power of the promise “hineh lo yonum v’lo yishan shomer Yisroel,” “Behold, the protector of Israel does not slumber nor sleep” – even when we may.

    * * *

    Question for the week: What should be done about the never-ending Arab-Israeli conflict?

  • Vayeitzei: Before the Battle

    Vayeitzei: Before the Battle

    Laban and Esau: Two Stages of Development

    To fight and win any battle one needs training and resources. If life is a battle, when do we get trained and how do we build our arsenal?

    This is the theme of our weekly Torah portion, as explained in the continuing Hemshech Samech Vov discourses.

    Last week’s article discussed how Jacob’s life story related in these week’s Torah portions is actually the story of our own lives.

    The battle between Jacob and Esau reflects the struggle of life resulting from the tension between matter and spirit. Esau the warrior represents the body, the material world, whose untamed elements need to be conquered. Jacob the wholesome scholar symbolizes the soul, the spiritual world. Initially these two worlds clash and fight for control.

    In mystical terms the struggle between Jacob and Esau represents the process called Avodat ha’Birurim. Everything in our material existence contains Divine ‘sparks,’ i.e. spiritual energy, and we are charged with the mission to extricate, redeem and elevate these sparks, to uncover the spiritual opportunity embedded in every experience, and thereby refine the material universe and transform it into its true purpose: a vehicle for spiritual expression.

    This conflict takes on many shapes: The struggle between selfish goals and the greater good; between the demands at work and home life; between survival and transcendence; between instant gratification and long term objectives. In our own psyches we often struggle with a fractured past and the wish to build a healthy life. How much time do we spend on our fears and insecurities, battling demons (real or imagined), when what we really want is the peace and calm to pursue higher aspirations?

    Yet, this battle, whatever shape it takes on in your life, is precisely the purpose of existence: To redeem the spiritual opportunities (“sparks”) that lie within these struggles. And the stronger the resistance, the more powerful is the energy generated. Every moment of our lives, every act and interaction poses for us the challenge: Who will triumph – the selfish forces of matter or the selfless forces of spirit?

    But what resources do we have at our disposal to wage our wars? How can we prepare to fight them? Armies spend years training, stocking supplies, developing strategies and building resources in preparation for a battle that one day may be fought. What equivalent training do we receive to face combat in our own lives?

    Last week’s Torah chapter laid the ground for the overall conflict. The body and soul (Esau and Jacob) are initially adversaries; each has their unique strengths. Indeed, the body and material life has enormous power that lifts the soul to unprecedented heights. However, the soul must harness this power. Hence, Isaac’s blessings pass on to the body (Esau) via the soul (Jacob), thereby empowering the soul in its work of refining and elevating the sparks within matter.

    Now that Jacob is empowered with the blessings why then does he not proceed with his work to reconcile and refine Esau, and instead escapes to his uncle Laban in Charan, and only after 22 years does he return to face Esau?

    The delay is in order to allow the soul (Jacob) to reinforce itself and develop the necessary tools to face the challenges ahead.

    And this is the story of this week’s portion: How Jacob – and each of us – trains and builds the strength to then go fight the primary and harsher battle with the heart of the material world (Esau).

    After receiving blessings and instructions from Isaac and Rebecca to go to Charan, Jacob sets out on his way. “Jacob leaves Beer Sheba and goes toward Charan,” where Jacob works for two decades in the employ of his conniving uncle, Laban, in the midst of a corrupt and debased society. Throughout it all, Jacob remained true to G-d and man, serving Laban honestly, even as the latter repeatedly swindled him, scrupulously observing all 613 commandments of the Torah and retaining all that he had learned in his years of study. He even prospered materially, amassing considerable wealth. In Charan, Jacob also married and fathered eleven of the twelve sons who were to yield the twelve tribes of Israel.

    But this stage is not devoid of battle. As in any good training, real battles, albeit smaller ones, must be fought (or at least simulated) in order to prepare for the larger battles. Laban was deceitful and difficult. And indeed, Jacob is afraid of going there, and prays that G-d be with him and protect him from harm. G-d promises Jacob to be with him and that he will return intact and complete to his father’s home back in Israel.

    Jacob’s journey to Charan is the story of every soul’s descent to earth. At the outset the soul is ordered and empowered to descend into the difficult material world (“Charan” – a place of wrath). And then the actual descent begins.

    But the descent itself is in stages. In the early, formative part of our lives we go through the education process and learn the “ropes” of survival. Living at home and being provided for protects us from the world at large. At this stage we also encounter battles, but they can hardly be compared to the harsh realities we face once we leave home and school and enter the “real” world and selfish marketplace.

    Then comes stage two: Once we have built up our strength and resources and established a family and secure home – a solid ground base – then we are ready to enter combat with the difficult “Esau” based warrior-like world.

    In Kabbalistic and Chassidic terms these are two stages in the “Avodat Ha’Birurim” process. First you refine the lesser or more subtle forms of impurities. What is then left spills over to the next stage of refinement in which you refine the coarser elements.

    The first stage in the home of Laban consists of the refinement of the sparks in the world of Tikkun – in the domain of goodness and holiness, which is achieved primarily through Torah and Mitzvot. This was the primary work of Jacob in Charan, tending to the sheep, which symbolizes the three dimensions of Akudim, Nekudim and Verudim (see Cosmic Sheep).

    The next stage facing Esau entails the refinement of the chaotic world of Tohu, whose fallen “broken shards” are embedded in the material universe. This stage requires us to battle the forces of darkness and evil to uncover the “sparks,” refine and elevate them. This work is achieved primarily through Teshuvah, which has the power to transform the darkest places.

    And though the “birur” (refinement) of Esau is far more difficult than the “birur” of Laban, it has the power to reach the “hidden essence of the supra-conscious,” as discussed in the previous article, and infuse even the work of holiness with unprecedented dimensions.

    Macrocosm microcosm. Just as our lives are divided into these two stages, we also have them both each day of our lives. Upon awakening each morning the first thing we need to do is reinforce our souls through prayer and study before taking on the challenges of the workplace. Then we can enter the coarse world and sensitize it, through our mitzvot – with virtue, integrity and ethics.

    Practically speaking, parents must ask themselves: “Am I doing everything possible to provide for my children stage one – a secure and nurturing environment filled with holiness – to prepare my children to face the harsh world?”

    As children we must ask ourselves whether we were adequately trained to go to battle; whether we have the necessary resources and tools. If the answer is no – which sadly is the situation may people are in today, growing up in families that did not provide the basic training, or dysfunctional homes or worse – do not despair. You always have the ability to begin at whatever stage you are in your life. True, it’s much easier do in the natural order discussed, via a healthy childhood, but even under other circumstances, there are methods to compensate for a lack of proper training. (We can learn the lesson from Rabbi Akiva who at age 40 began his studies, after seeing the effect that a persistent drop of water can have on a stone, only to become the greatest Talmudic scholar of his times – upon whom is based the entire Talmud).

    One of the ways is to begin now. Whatever age you are, incorporate into your life the two elements of the “refinement” process: 1) Designate time each day for prayer and study to build up the “kedusha”-sanctity in your life. And if you lacked this in your youth, compensate now by adding a bit more. Then 2) when you enter the material world be aware that you are there not just to “make a living” but to transform your corner of the world into a Divine home, by uncovering the “sparks” in your domain and utilizing your skills and opportunities for a greater cause than just your own survival.

    Always remember: Your success in battle will be only as good as you prepare for it. Once in battle you cannot begin proper battle training. Once you are engaged in conflict, you simply don’t have the time and energy, and above all, can’t afford to step back and prepare. At that point you have no choice but to fight, whether you are ready or not, equipped or not.

    What is most vital is to create a peaceful oasis – a space, a moment, a corner, in which you have the ability to stock up, gather strength and reinforce yourself before you face the harsh realities around us.

    Each one of us was given the power, by virtue of your soul, to find inner peace and create an environment – a home – for your soul, your family and loved ones. And this also serves as a solid base and station from which you can engage the often difficult world around us, and do what it takes to transform it and reveal its inherent unity and Divinity.

  • Chaya Sarah: Tattoos

    Chaya Sarah: Tattoos

    Samech Vov Unplugged

    Around 15 years ago I was invited to serve as the guest speaker at a weekend Shabbaton in a small city in the United States (names and details have been omitted to “protect the innocent”).

    As is the custom in such weekends, the local Rabbi hosted a Friday night dinner and Saturday afternoon lunch. During the meals various volunteers helped set up and serve. Among them I noticed one well built man who was being particularly helpful. With a congenial smile and no airs about him he was doing everything possible to make all the guests comfortable.

    During my talks I observed that this gentleman (we’ll call him David) was extremely attentive, absorbing every word. And when discussions ensued after the talks his engaged curiosity was extraordinary. At every possible opportunity David would approach me with more inquisitive questions. His insatiable thirst for knowledge, his sincerity and innocence of heart touched me deeply.

    Someone very pure was clearly in our midst. To satisfy my curiosity I quietly asked the host Rabbi about David.

    His story goes like this. David was a Viet Nam veteran. After being discharged from the US Navy, where he served several years, he began a search for his Jewish roots. He visited different synagogues, attended various classes, and finally ended up in this particular synagogue. David grew up in a completely secular home, with absolutely no Jewish education. Now he embraced his heritage and began observing Torah and mitzvot. The Rabbi tells me that David has unquenchable thirst for study, doing everything possible to compensate for his years of no Jewish education.

    Then came the punch line. Nonchalantly the Rebbe whispers to me, “You should know that David is a tzaddik nistar,” a hidden righteous person (tzaddik nistar is an expression used to describe hidden tzaddikim that exist in the world. The concept originates from the thirty-six hidden tzaddikim). “You see,” the Rabbi continues, “when David was in the navy he had his body tattooed, as many sailors and marines do in the navy. From head to toe, his body was covered with tattoos. When David began becoming observant he had some procedures done to remove his many tattoos. Besides for the fact that David now learned about the Torah’s prohibition of mutilating or scarring the body, including the etching of tattoos, he also felt that his tattoos were not in the spirit of where he wanted to be.

    “But some tattoos were simply impossible to get rid of. One tattoo in particular irked David. It was a tattoo that was etched on his left bicep, where a right handed individual places his Tefillin on the arm. This particular tattoo was – how shall we say it? – not exactly the Star of David. It therefore deeply disturbed David that this tattoo stared him in the face every morning as he donned his Tefillin.

    “He presented the question to a Rabbi. Besides the problem of ‘chatzizah,’ an obstruction between the Tefillin and the arm, the tattoo was also a distraction and contrary to the entire spirit and kavanah (intention) of Tefillin, which is about binding your heart and mind in service the Divine. An authoritative Rabbi told David that since he did not know better when he had himself tattooed and being that the tattoo was irreversible, he shouldn’t worry about it and just put on Tefillin and ignore the tattoo.”

    The Rabbi then added: “After becoming observant five years ago, David immerses himself in a mikveh (a ritual bath) every morning [a custom embraced by many males]. Because he doesn’t want anyone to see his remaining tattoos, David wakes up each morning at 5AM and goes to the mikveh before anyone else arrives…”

    “What do you think G-d is feeling,” the Rabbi innocently asks me, “when He sees the holy mikveh waters spilling over and covering the tattooed body of this Viet Nam veteran each morning?”

    I sat stunned. In awe. I looked at David pleasantly going about his way helping everyone in sight, considering himself a simple person, asking questions as though he was inadequate due to his lack of Torah education – with no clue of the sheer power and beauty of his deep connection to G-d, a connection that transcended his tattoos.

    I was deeply moved. There is nothing as powerful as witnessing the human triumph over a handicap. And I said to myself, “This is the power of Judaism, which celebrates the ultimate majesty of life: We don’t escape our scars and tattoos; but we can immerse them in deeper experiences, and thus transcend them.”

    The Torah teaches and trains us all to look at the inner core of human beings. Never to be distracted by the outer tattoos, scars and other superimposed states. No matter how deeply etched they are, no matter if they may even be naturally irreversible, the fact remains that the inner essence of a person is beautiful and can prevail over any difficulty.

    We all have our tattoos – physical or metaphorical – the scars, wounds and bruises we carry, some from the abuse of a dysfunctional childhood, others from errors of judgment, ignorance or inexperience. Some of these tattoos may be irreversible. Once we have lost our innocence, by imposition or by choice, and tasted from the “forbidden fruit,” we can’t always turn the clock back.

    But that doesn’t mean that things are lost. It means that we have to dig deeper. Even if our tattoos are etched into our skins and beings, even when our wells get clogged, we have the power to burrow beneath them and discover deeper reserves.

    This is the unplugged rendition of last week’s Samech Vov theme: At the core of human unconsciousness, or “supra-consciousness,” lies a deep-seated reservoir of profound calm and pleasure – an innate sense of belonging and indispensability.

    In today’s society we have been programmed to think that we are dysfunctional “damaged goods,” most of us living lives of “quiet desperation” (as Thoreau put it). As we project this desperate attitude (quiet or loud) it then becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy of doom, and any scars we assume just feed our resignation, with temporary bouts of respite.

    Judaism teaches us – and this is perhaps its single greatest message and contribution – that this attitude is categorically wrong. At the heart and soul of the human being lies a supra-conscious state which transcends the common laws of society and the limited resources of our conscious faculties. The only way to free ourselves from the psyche of our desperate universe is to access this dimension within ourselves, and align our conscious lives with our supra-conscious identity, so that our daily activities are infused with the vision and clarity of our inner selves.

    Left to our own, without this Torah perspective, the default state of social attitudes is a negative one, if for no other reason than simple empirical observation. Perspective defines everything. If we see man as inherently greedy and selfish, ready to do anything to survive, then our scars only feed into this depressing view of ourselves. We can work around our tattoos but we can’t ever transcend them.

    Freud, Darwin and other contemporary thinkers saw man this way. Essentially animalistic by nature – Freud’s id – with superimposed moral laws to keep society from falling apart.

    If however we see man as inherently Divine in nature – created in the “Divine Image” and carrying at the core a higher “supra-conscious,” than any scars or wounds only affect the outer layers, not our essential state. This perspective challenges us to submerge our tattooed “outsides” in pure waters and bind them with “Tefillin” like commitments, which allows us to transcend the tattoos.

    In context of this week’s Torah portion, one can say that it comes down to how you see your mother and parental influences in general:

    Freud must have seen his mother a certain way, and thus was born a psychological model that defines to this very day social attitudes to parents and their influence on children, the Oedipus complex and all the other modern day maladies. These childhood influences of course shape how we develop our own distorted relationships – we choose mates that are either like our mothers or the exact opposite. Basically, parents are at the root of our distortions.

    By contrast, Isaac saw his mother Sarah as a role model that guided him to recognize what refined features to look for in a spouse. Thus, Isaac brings his potential bride, Rebecca, into the tent of his mother and sees that she has similar dignified features as his mother did.

    How many of us can say the same about our mothers and fathers?

    Back to the story. What does G-d think when he sees the purified waters of the mikveh spill over a tattooed body, or the donning of Tefillin on a tattooed arm?

    Or for that matter, innocent Jews with numbers tattooed on their arms marching to the gas chambers singing Ani Maamin (I believe with complete faith)?

    Says the Talmud (Berochot 6a), that G-d also dons Tefillin. What does it say in G-d’s Tefillin?

    “Who is like your nation Israel, one unique people on Earth.”

    In our Tefillin we are reminded that G-d is one. In G-d’s Tefillin He is reminded that Israel is one and that they reveal the Divine Unity on earth.

    In certain ways we humans were given a power that even G-d chooses to depend upon – the power to transcend our scars and tattoos. G-d created a universe governed by laws of nature. According to these laws certain wounds are irreversible. Animals could never change their destinies. Yet, man has the unique ability to transcend – and thus change – even unchangeable tattoos.

    The Viet Nam veteran’s story is the story of a walking example of possibility – how each of us can access places that are beyond even the deepest scars.

    Possibility – that is the ultimate message of empowerment that Torah offers the human race.

  • Vayeira: The True You

    Vayeira: The True You

    Who You Are and How You Express Yourself

    — Samech Vov 100 Years – Part 4 —

    What is the driving force of all human behavior? What lies at the core of the psyche? What is the Kabbalistic/Chassidic view on the unconscious? Which is stronger – willpower or pleasure? How powerful are these two forces in our lives?

    This week’s essay, as part of our continuing series discussing central themes of the Rebbe Rashab’s magnum opus, Hemshech Samech Vov, attempts to tackle an incredibly complex discussion on the psychology of the soul. 100 years ago this week, in one of the most profound analyses ever written on the nature of the psyche, the discourses of Lech Lecho and Vayeira 5666/1905 take us on a journey into the innermost recesses of our souls.

    Most of us most of the time are immersed into the minutiae of our lives. Our struggle for survival, whatever shape it takes on, requires that we dedicate a disproportionate amount of our time and energy to the means rather than the ends: We work hard to earn money so that we can buy the things that make us happy. We eat, exercise and visit the doctor to maintain our health.

    Just take your average day and count how many hours you spend commuting, preparing, cooking, shopping, traveling, socializing, sleeping – all to hopefully achieve certain goals, some immediate, most long term.

    The process to achieve our goals so consumes our lives that for many of us it becomes our lives: We live to work instead of the other way around. To the extent that we can even forget what our goals are in the first place – so distracted we become by our plans. In a take-off of a famous cliché: Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans. We make elaborate plans to achieve certain objectives, and at the end of the day the process wears us down to the point that we no longer have the strength and time to remember the objectives, let alone benefit or enjoy them.

    It therefore should be no surprise that we don’t have much time to focus on our souls – on our inner lives, the lives of our loved ones and the pursuit of our higher values. To temporarily relieve our existential desperation and enjoy a quick fix of transcendence many us compartmentalize: We carve out moments – weekends, vacations, holidays – which we dedicate to prayer, reading, meditation, music, arts, romance and religion – which help us reconnect. But these are fleeting moments in comparison to the hours that we spend on the means.

    The plot thickens. Perhaps the most devastating effect of our being inundated by the mundane means of life, preparing, preparing and preparing, is that it distorts our perception of reality.

    What is real: The tangible deluge of the daily grind of our quotidian lives which utterly consumes our time and focus, or the invisible world of our souls and the inner dimensions of existence?

    Who has the time and energy to even focus on this question? So, by default our immediate preoccupations dictate our reality and our priorities. The means of our lives first conceal our end goals, and then replace them, like an impostor masquerading as the real thing.

    How refreshing is it then when we hear someone uncover the mask and describe for us in intimate detail the nature of our true selves, the nature of reality and the purpose of our existence?

    This is precisely what the Rebbe Rashab does in his classic Hemshech Samech Vov. He takes us on a trip into the inner workings of the universe, and you return a different person.

    In the first part of this series, we discussed that the purpose of existence is to introduce into the world a dimension that is beyond the world; to transform the material universe into a Divine home.

    Samech Vov breaks down the anatomy of existence into three dimensions: 1) The inner force of existence (memaleh kol almin). 2) The force that transcends existence (sovev kol almin). 3) The force that transcends both existence and non-existence, which has the power to integrate existence with transcendence.

    In order to achieve this on the macrocosmic level, we have to generate this process within our microcosmic selves, which also consist of these three dimensions:

    1) Our personal, specific intelligent and emotional faculties (ten faculties in all, corresponding to the ten sefirot: three intellectual ones – chochma, binah, daat, and seven emotions – chesed, gevurah, tiferet, netzach, hod, yesod and malchut. Click here for a detailed explanation of these levels). The spectrum of human conscious experience is defined by our intellect and emotions, as they are expressed through (the three “garments”) thought, speech and action.

    2) Our transcendent faculties (corresponding with the level of Keter), sometimes referred to “all encompassing faculties,” because they but reflect and affect the entire person, not like the ten individual self contained faculties (in the first category) which express only one part of the individual.

    3) The essence of the soul (etzem ha’neshomo), which transcends and therefore has the power to integrate the previous two dimensions.

    One distinction between the personal faculties (category one) and the transcendent ones (category two) can be understood as the difference between the conscious psyche and the unconscious one.

    A disclaimer should be made that this “unconscious” state should not be confused by the one described by Freud, Jung and other contemporary psychologists. The Kabbalistic/Chassidic “unconscious” is actually more like “supra-conscious,” in the sense that it reflect the person’s inner identity and vision, while the specific faculties express limited and particular aspects of life, which is what we call “conscious” life.

    For instance, you can use your intelligence to analyze football statistics (in case you were wondering: this is my own example, not one used in Samech Vov), or to build your business, or you get emotional over a moving scene in a film – and it may be completely fictional or tangential, with no connection at all with your soul’s identity or purpose. In other words, your conscious life can be disconnected (or milder: unaligned) from your “supra-conscious” being. Essentially, this is what happens when we live our days consumed with the means and neglecting our higher goals – a psychological dissonance, what Marx called “alienation” when there is a dichotomy between who you are (your identity) and what you do (your activities).

    A good analogy to explain this is the creative process of any given production. Whether it is a new business venture, a book, a film, a composition of music or the construction of a building every effective creation begins with a vision, which reflects the identity of the creator, and then the vision is translated into a specific plan which is then implemented piece by piece, until its conclusion, when the initial vision comes to fruition.

    If you were to enter a construction zone you can see the plumbers laying pipes and the electricians wiring the joint, with no clue as to the vision, let alone the identity, of the architect. The same with a book or another production: If you read the first draft of one chapter of a new book, you may not have inkling as to the greater objective of the author. “Never show a fool half a job” is a Yiddish euphemism (“a naar veizt men nit kayn halbe arbet”). Even after the conclusion of the project, it is no small feat to understand the bigger picture, and not be distracted by the obvious details, especially if it is a complex and comprehensive creation.

    Every business needs a mission statement to begin with. The mission is usually an expression of the creator’s vision and dream, which goes back into his/her supra-consciousness.

    For conscious life (our conscious faculties) to be lived to its fullest, it needs to be informed and directed by the supra-conscious, transcendental faculties.

    Just imagine the said plumbers and electricians deciding mid-course to follow their own instincts instead of the blueprint created by the architect! No matter how skilled they are, their specific strengths are only as good as the direction they receive from the vision of the project. Indeed, the more skilled they are the greater damage they can cause should they choose to wander off their own way.

    So what does the transcendental “supra-conscious” look like? What faculties does it contain?

    A centennial ago this week, the Rebbe Rashab explains this “supra-conscious” state in the discourses beginning with verses in these weekly chapters about Abraham’s journey and commitment – perhaps because in history Abraham reflects the transcendental roots of spiritual life in a material world. Abraham set into motion the vision, becoming, as it were, the historical “supra-conscious” state which informs the rest of history to follow.

    The vision, mission, goals, end – as opposed to the means (the ten conscious faculties) – consist of two components: Taanug and Rotzon. The literal translation of these two Hebrew words, respectively, is pleasure and will. But these English words/concepts hardly convey the true meaning of the original, which requires a short introduction.

    The soul, before it expresses itself through any of its faculties, has a personality – a unique identity. When you say, for example, that a melody touched your soul or that you feel loved, you in effect are describing your soul’s experience as opposed to one of its faculties (e.g. plumbers, electricians) at work. This is not to say that the soul cannot express its inner identity via its faculties; however the faculties can have a “life of their own” if they are not being directed by the “supra-conscious” identity of the soul.

    The most natural state of the soul, when it is at its deepest peace, is a state of pleasure (taanug atzmi). Not objectified pleasure, not pleasure as an experience, focused on some specific goal – but simply a state of being, a state of utter calm and belonging.

    In addition to the essential state pleasure, the second dimension of the supra-conscious state is will (rotzon), which is the soul extending and expressing itself. Will, in effect, reveals the interests of the inner pleasure (which always remains hidden in its essential form) and reaches outside of itself seeking something on the outside to fulfill its inner self.

    Both supra-conscious pleasure and will stem from the same source in the essence of the soul. They are not two distinct faculties, but one. The only difference between them is that pleasure is the internal dimension and will the external one, which expresses the inner pleasure.

    Supra-conscious pleasure is who you are – your essential identity; Will is how your identity expresses itself, seeking to fulfill and realize your inner self (pleasure).

    It’s critical to distinguish this supra-conscious pleasure from conscious “pleasure” as we know it. Conscious pleasure – regardless of its cause, healthy or unhealthy – is object oriented: You have pleasure in a certain feeling, activity or experience. You therefore desire the things that bring you pleasure.

    The same with will: Conscious will reflects the different things we want, whether they are informed, healthy and productive or not. Supra-conscious will reflects the soul in search of its destiny – the “will of all wills,” the “essence will” or the “will to will,” which precedes all attributes and faculties.

    This also explains the apparent contradiction about pleasure or will – which is more dominant? On one hand we find that pleasure is the root of all. If you have no pleasure in something you won’t want. Clearly, will is a product of desire. On the other hand we also see that if you set your mind that you don’t want something you won’t have any pleasure in it, even if it’s a natural pleasure.

    Samech Vov explains that this interplay between pleasure and will is only on the conscious level. Because both pleasure and will are two sides of the soul’s essence, that’s why they are interchangeable: In certain instances pleasure affects the will, in others willpower can affect pleasure. But even when it does, it only affects the conscious level of pleasure, not its essential state, which always remains more intimate and fundamental than will; even when will overrules conscious pleasure it has within it the essential supra-conscious pleasure (which remains concealed).

    No doubt that this subject matter requires much more elaboration. But even on an ostensible level it gives us a fascinating insight what we are capable and the infinite possibilities we have before us.

    It is an absolute breath of fresh air (to say the least) to hear that we all have at the heart of our soul a deep calm and profound pleasure.

    In today’s society we have been programmed to think that we are all dysfunctional “damaged goods.” And then our self-fulfilling prophesy of doom is fulfilled. Looking around we see a cruel world, greed and corruption the norm, with the occasional glimpses into human nobility, but only occasional. The wicked prosper and good suffer, people hurting each other all the time, even those they presumably love, children scarred by parents, long term committed relationships the exception, inhumane behavior of senseless murders around the globe – all this feeds our fears and insecurities that we will never attain lasting, meaningful pleasure, only bouts of escape.

    Comes Samech Vov, written one hundred years ago, in most difficult times with bloody progroms and more (see Rise Up), and tells us that we each have within a deep-seated state of pleasure – an innate knowledge that we belong and have an indispensable role to play.

    The only way to free ourselves from the inbred psyche of our desperate universe and its regurgitated message is to access the supra-conscious dimension within ourselves, a force that transcends the common laws of society and the limited resources of our conscious faculties. And then align our conscious lives with our supra-conscious identity, so that our daily activities are infused with the vision and clarity of our inner selves.

    How do you align your inner and outer life?

    Through a multi-fold plan:

    1)     Free yourself of some of the trappings that hold you hostage and keep you from seeing the end from the means. Transcend your conscious wills and pleasures that offer superficial satisfaction.

    2)     Recognize the “peace at the center” that lies at the core of your being – the pleasure in the essence of your soul.

    3)     Actualize the supra-conscious pleasure of your soul with your willpower: To want and desire to realize your soul’s mission in this world, and then act upon it.

    4)     Practically this means, as the Rebbe Rashab eloquently concludes, that by living a virtuous life filled with mitzvot we have the power to uncover the essence of Divine will and pleasure (see The Power of a Mitzvah) and actually reveal it in this universe.

    That is the ultimate achievement: The ability to defy paradoxes and consciously experience the supra-conscious, to reveal the unrevealable and express the inexpressible – in a total fusion of that which is beyond, and beyond beyond, with the here and now.

  • Matos: Religious Violence Part II

    Matos: Religious Violence Part II

    Radicalism in a Shaking World

    As we come to the conclusion of the book of Numbers, we read in the Torah chapters how the Israelites are preparing to enter the Promised Land and wage war with the nations living there.

    Don’t the Biblical battles set the precedent for all the religious wars fought throughout history, including the violence we are experiencing today?!

    This essay – second of a series – debunks some fundamental myths about Biblical violence, and actually reveals quite a surprising fact: That the Torah offers a blueprint for a violent-free world.

    Religious Violence Part I elicited quite a few reactions about the issue of religious violence, or better phrased: violence perpetrated in the name of religion.

    The most obvious question was about my premise that the Torah is filled with the message of love and compassion, and that G-d would never sanction the killing of other people in the name of religion. “Never, ever use religion as a weapon,” I wrote. “No one ever was commanded by G-d to form a “lynch mob” and kill the infidels.”

    Some readers were up in arms:

    “Doesn’t the verse clearly state that when it comes to the seven Canaanite nations living in Israel ‘you shall not allow any people to remain alive…you must wipe them out completely as G-d commanded you’ (Deuteronomy 20:16-17)?! And regarding Amalek – ‘obliterate the memory of Amalek from under the heavens’ (25:19)?!”

    Even in this week’s Torah portion war seems to be sanctioned, as G-d tells Moses “take revenge for the Israelites against the Midianites.”

    Good questions. Very good ones. However, as usual what appears on the surface does not at all reflect the complete story, and actually may even distort it. Furthermore, any topic, especially a controversial one that occurred thousands of years ago and is briefly documented (in Hebrew) in the Torah, requires context. Context, context and more context is the only way to get perspective on the entire picture, and to recognize the “forest from the trees.”

    How much more so when addressing a topic that is fraught with a blood stained history of religious wars – Crusades and Jihads, which is continuing to take a toll on lives today.

    Consider as well the millions of books being sold today that describe the upheavals of Tribulation and the apocalyptic wars to be fought in the end of days. Some even argue that this “end of days” apocalypse is foretold in the Biblical prophecies.

    All this underscores the critical importance of understanding in context Biblical references to war and violence.

    First of all, it must be stated that life is not a movie and the Torah is not a screenplay. The Torah’s premise is that the material universe was created for the purpose that the human being, as a partner with G-d in creation, should transform his/her life and surroundings into a Divine home, by spiritualizing the material and thereby integrating spirit and matter.

    G-d did not create the universe and all its dark dimensions in order that we destroy each other and the world in which we live. The world as we know it conceals the Divine challenging us to reveal it. We are sent into a dark and cold world to illuminate and warm it through our commitment to virtue and goodness – through our mitzvot.

    The end of days, when the universe will realize the purpose of its being, will be a time of ultimate peace. As Maimonides concludes his magnum opus of Torah Law:

    “At that time there will be no hunger or war, no jealousy or rivalry, for the good will be plentiful, and all delicacies available as dust. The entire occupation of the world will be only to know G-d… As it is written: ‘For the earth shall be filed with the knowledge of G-d, as the waters cover the sea.’”

    This future world is not created in a vacuum. All our work today, and throughout history, builds the world of the future. Every mitzvah, every act of self-control, every deed that demonstrates the supremacy of spirit over matter, every virtuous gesture, reveals the Divine in the universe and is a building block of the Messianic age (Tanya ch. 37). The accumulation of all the billions of good deeds throughout history finally will erupt into a transformation of consciousness, in which materialism is no longer an end to itself but a means to spiritual growth and Divine knowledge.

    Divisiveness, discord and any conflict is anathema to the model of unity aspired to in the Torah. “The entire Torah was given to bring peace (shalom) to the world, as it is written (Proverbs 3:17) ‘Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace’” (Maimonides end of Laws of Chanukah).

    War is despised in the Torah. Even when King David fought justifiable wars, he was not allowed to build the Holy Temple because of the blood on his hands. As G-d said:

    “You have shed much blood and made great wars. You will not build a house for My Name, [and repeats again] because you have shed much blood upon the earth in My sight. Your son, Solomon, man of peace, will build the Temple” (Chronicles I 22:8-10).

    Thousands of other references – and above all, the entire foundation of Torah thought – all testify to the underlying theme of the entire Torah: Love thy neighbor (as elaborated upon in last week’s article). This is the entire Torah; the rest is commentary. The mission of the human race is to bring light into the world, not shed blood and fight wars.

    This of course is built on the premise that the human being – and the world – is fundamentally and inherently good. If we were at the core narcissistic beasts, then the only way to tame a beast is through fear, discipline and aggression. If the universe were essentially an evil place – controlled by original sin, the Id, or natural selection by virtue of “survival of the fittest” – then war would be the norm and peace would be an aberration. After all, we are all struggling to survive, and in this “dog eats dog” environment may the best man win.

    However, Torah psychology radically rejects this malevolent notion of human nature. Though we have a selfish side (which was instilled in us as the evil inclination) for us to overcome, at the heart and soul each of us is created in the Divine Image, with a soul that is inherently good. Thus, peace and love is the norm and war the aberration.

    With this background, let us return to the story of the Canaanites and Amalek, and for that matter, any other episode that appears violent and war-like.

    All references in the Torah to violent battles and struggles must be looked at with the backdrop of the love and compassion weaved into the very fabric of Torah, and the world of peace that will come about when it reaches fruition.

    Thus the question is really the other way around: If the Torah – called Torat chesed (Torah of love) and Torat Chaim (Torah of life) – is fundamentally driven by a compassionate mission to expose the Divine Image within all human beings and transform the world into a peaceful place (“with no hunger or war”), then how can the Torah condone any killing and any war?!

    Clearly, we are missing something.

    Reminds me of the argument against a universe of design because of natural aberrations and mutations. The argument goes like this: Since the human body, for example, has wisdom teeth and an appendix that don’t seem to serve any apparent function, this proves that the rest of the body was not shaped by intelligent design.

    However, this argument has one major flaw. The fact is that the multitude of systems and organs in the human body all are driven by brilliant design. Indeed, billions of cells in billions of people are all functioning in the most elaborate structure ever witnessed. So which is more logical: To say that the entire body is random because we don’t know the function of two of its parts (wisdom teeth and the appendix), or the other way around: Since everything else is driven by design, perhaps these two parts also have a function that we are not yet aware of. (After all, the tonsils were also considered negligible in the 1950’s, until they discovered its contribution).

    The same is in our case. Since all the Torah’s ways are “pleasant” and “peaceful,” and the infrastructure of the entire Torah consists of love and against war, we have to conclude that these isolated episodes, in context, must have a deeper meaning.

    Indeed, the mere fact that the Torah has to specify the need to go to war against the Canaanites, Amalek and Midian, tells us that this was not the norm, and it had to be spelled out.

    Furthermore, history is the greatest witness of all. The Torah and the Jewish people brought civilization to this world, as testified by numbers of scholars and political leaders. The moral principles of the Ten Commandments remain the first and greatest statement of virtue and ethics. Thomas Cahill in The Gifts of the Jews and Michael Novak in On Two Wings powerfully explain how the Torah gave us a new vision of men and women with unique destinies; a vision that life has purpose and progresses forward toward a destination. Everything in creation is suffused with reason. This vision, as they write, would thousands of years later inspire the Declaration of Independence and our hopeful belief in progress and the sense that tomorrow can be better than today.

    Is it then logical to say that the same Torah – whose values stand out till this very day as a shining example of the noblest standards that man can ever attain – could contradict itself in a call for genocide?!

    And finally, consider this fact: As opposed to other religions, Judaism never pursued a religious crusade to impose on others its beliefs – through wars, inquisitions, jihads and other violent means. Torah actually dissuades conversion to Judaism. Because every person has the ability to access G-d in his/her own way, and a non-Jew can reach his greatest heights in spiritual growth without becoming Jewish. The righteous gentiles have a share in the world to come, Maimonides writes.

    Indeed, countless verses tell us that at the end of days the nations of the world will all serve one G-d.

    “For then I shall turn to the nations a pure tongue, that all shall call upon the name of G-d to serve Him as one.” “The entire occupation of the world will be only to know G-d.”

    All nations – without converting to Judaism – will all be united, without compromising their diversity.

    So what do we make of the Biblical statements about wiping out the Canaanites and Amalakites?!

    Within the context of all the above, the answer is right there in the Bible.

    As prelude to the verse “you shall not allow any people to remain alive,” the Torah unambiguously states: “When you approach a city to wage war with it, you must propose a peaceful settlement with it” (Deuteronomy 20:10). Based on this Maimonides rules accordingly:

    “One does not wage war with anyone in the world until one seeks peace with him. Thus is true both of authorized and obligatory wars… If they respond positively and accept the seven Noachide commandments, one may not kill any of them and they shall pay tribute” (Laws of Kings 6:1)[Even according to Rashi, who is of the opinion that a peaceful overture is not required in an obligatory war, Joshua sent overtures of peace before crossing the Jordan and entering the land].

    Now accepting the seven Noachide laws does not imply a religious crusade, but quite the contrary. These laws are the basis of all civilization, which are meant to govern all members of the world and form the basic groundwork for moral behavior and mutual respect. In other words, an integral component of peace is the commitment to ethical values. The Torah is telling us that even in war the primary obligation is to achieve a peaceful solution with the obligation to ensure that the adversary lives by the universal ethical laws, which include acknowledging G-d; prohibiting idol worship; prohibition of murder; prohibition of theft; prohibition of incest and adultery; prohibition of eating the flesh of still living animals; and the obligation to institute a system of law and order.

    This is not about imposing G-d on to anyone; it is about the foundation of all morality and ethics. No different than say, the United States Declaration of Independence establishing that

    “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…that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

    In other words, ready to wage war to defend the principles of liberty, justice and equality.

    This commandment to initiate a peaceful settlement was not just academic. In fulfilling this commandment, Maimonides continues (6:5),

    “Joshua, before he entered the land of Israel sent three letters to its inhabitants. The first one said that those that wish to flee [the oncoming army] should flee. The second one said that those that wish to make peace should make peace. The third letter said that those that want to fight a war should prepare to fight a war.”

    When none of the nations (except the Chivi of Giveon) responded to the peaceful overtures, Joshua and the people had no choice but to wage war.

    But even when the inevitable war is waged, the benevolent standards only intensify. As Maimonides continues (6:7):

    “When one surrounds a city to lay siege to it, it is prohibited to surround it from four sides; only three sides are permissible. One must leave a place for inhabitants to flee for all those who wish to abscond to save their life.” [The Minchat Chinuch (527) holds that this is true also in a case of an obligatory war].

    Nachmanides explains the moral obligation of this law:

    “We learn from this commandment to deal with compassion even with our enemies even at time of war; in addition by giving our enemies a place to flee to, they will not charge at us with as much force (Supplement of Nachmanides to Maimonides Book of Commandments Positive Commandment 4).

    Essentially Torah law completely rejects the notion of a “siege” as understood by military tacticians and acceptable by contemporary standards of international law. Secular law and morals allows the using of the civilians as pawns in a siege. Torah prohibits it and mandates that non-combatants who wish to flee must be allowed to flee the scene of the battle.

    Now consider this: The Jewish people are returning to their Promised Land after 210 genocidal years of bondage at the hands of the Egyptians, and 40 more grueling years wandering through the wilderness. When Jacob left to Egypt due to the famine, the seven nations living in Canaan knew full well that the land belonged to Abraham and his children. They were only too happy that the Jews left, as they moved into their homes and property.

    Now the Jewish people are finally returning (to everyone’s surprise and chagrin). The Jews give them ample warning. They make sincere peaceful overtures, which are all rejected (Joshua 11:19).

    What would you do if someone moved into your home and refused to leave after every attempt you made?! What did nations do throughout history in situation where they wrongly decided that another’s land belonged to them?

    And after all that, the Jewish people are still commanded to make peaceful overtures and not lay siege and surround the city – everything possible just to achieve a peaceful solution!

    And this is true not just for the Canaanite nations but also for Amalek, as Maimonides makes clear, even though Amalak, like Nazis, mercilessly attacked the vulnerable Jews as they left Egypt!

    Tell me if you find any benevolent parallel in our entire human history!… Was there ever a war fought with such high standards?

    One additional point: All these laws regarding the Canaanites and Amalek is, as stated earlier, an exception. Both instances were one-time events in Biblical times, and never repeated again! As Maimonides writes: “Their identity has since disappeared” (5:4). Due to their utter corruption they did not accept the overtures of peace and embrace a universal ethical system, thereby bringing upon themselves their own destruction.

    No nation in the world would ever have tolerated such contempt and destructiveness.

    [Allow me to add that above all, the Torah is a spiritual book. It “talks about things above [spiritual] and alludes to things below [physical].” In this context, the Torah’s language of violence, wrath and vengeance take on an entirely new meaning, as do the wars with the Canaanites and Amalek which contain profound psychological and spiritual significance in dealing with our inner psyches and emotional struggles. But this we will leave for another time].

    The use of violence in the name of religion has tainted our history and our view of G-d. No wonder that so many people see religion as that cause of so much anguish and pain in the world. We have been hurt by thousands of years of violence perpetrated in its name.

    Islamic Jihad and Christian Rapture take the Torah out of context and turn it into a book of violence.

    But when we go back in time, transcend the past and read the Torah in its pristine form, untainted and unbiased by the history of religious aggression, we find the most eloquent perspective ever offered on the sanctity of life, the rules of engagement and the co-existence of diverse nations – unprecedented and unparalleled in any document ever written.

  • Pinchas: Religious Violence Part I

    Pinchas: Religious Violence Part I

    Radicalism in a Shaking World

    In an unprecedented act of sanctioned zealotry, we read in this week’s Torah portion about Pinchas being commended for taking a stand against a public atrocity and killing the perpetrators, consequently saving thousands of lives. Pinchas is subsequently rewarded with the “covenant of peace.”
    What does this teach us about modern day zealotry and its dangers? Haven’t we learned our lessons over history of the grave destruction perpetrated in the name of G-d by religious extremists?!

    Item: Another slew of bombs explode in London.

    Item: One more daily car bomb goes off in Iraq (are there any cars left in Baghdad?).

    Item: Israel is at the brink of civil war, as Jew stands up against Jew, while the Arabs smile to themselves.

    Item: A growing Muslim population is slowly changing the shape of Europe and the world.

    Item: Most of us are sleeping quite peacefully, immersed in our midsummer night dreams.

    Item: Some of us grieve over the loss of loved ones. Others are dancing at their children’s weddings.

    Cynics conveniently explain it all away using the wise words of Solomon:

    “A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains standing unchanged… That which has been is that which shall be; and that which has been done is that which shall be done, and there is no new thing under the sun.”

    Yes, that sounds like a good way to maintain the composure of our reverie. But one need not dig far beneath the surface to recognize that we are sitting on a boiling pot.

    Forces are simmering. A one billion plus Muslim population is not complacently waiting for America to sell them Coca Cola and Big Mac’s (even if they were halal meat). The Muslim world is driven by a philosophy and a passionate belief system. Many of its ideas are quite noble and therefore appealing. Beyond all the distortions and the violence, it is not unfair to argue that the core of their belief system is the Divine message of the Bible of sublimating and spiritualizing the material universe.

    However, like all strong belief systems, that same Muslim world is also a breeding ground for radicalism. At its extreme there is a powerful movement – no one knows the numbers, but it encompasses many elite, affluent Muslims – that advocates violence struggle against Western secularism. They see Christian and Jewish influences as corrupt forces that need to be vanquished.

    Islamic intellectual hero, Sayyid Qutb, one of the primary philosophical fathers of Muslim fundamentalism today (he was executed by Nasser in 1966), has an extensive corpus of writings that advocates the philosophical underpinnings of the Islamic war against secularism.

    “If we look at the sources and foundations of modern ways of living, it becomes clear that the whole world is steeped in Jahiliyya (pagan ignorance of divine guidance), and all the marvelous material comforts and high-level inventions do not diminish this Ignorance.” “It is essential for mankind to have a new leadership… It is necessary for the new leadership to preserve and develop the material fruits of the creative genius of Europe, and also to provide mankind with such high ideals and values as have so far remained undiscovered by mankind, and which will also acquaint humanity with a way of life which is harmonious with human nature, which positive and constructive, and which is practicable. Islam is the only system which possesses these values and this way of life.”

    Do not be seduced by the ideological tone. Qutb then calls for a militant revolution that will, violently if necessary, annihilate the Jahiliya.

    This is not to suggest that all Muslims feel this way. But however you want to analyze it, one mistake we should not make is that the Muslim world is indifferent. It has deep passionate beliefs that are not just going away (and should not necessarily go away) because the Western world is uncomfortable with them.

    And this belief system is a hotbed of fermenting radicalism, which is giving birth and continues to give birth to thousands (if not more) of faithful individuals ready to sacrifice their lives in their Jihad against a world (in their minds) opposed to G-d.

    No one wants to hear this fact because then our battle is just too formidable of a task. How will a Western world, complacent with its comforts, ever face the violent passion of thousands of religious zealots?

    Therein lies the powerful message of Pinchas. The Torah clearly and consistently abhors zealotry. When Abraham hears about the impending destruction of the infidel city of Sodom – criminals by all accounts – he doesn’t celebrate or join the attack, even though it was led by G-d Himself. Instead, He argues and implores G-d to not destroy the city. The same with Moses after the Jews built the Golden Calf, openly defying the commandment against idolatry they had just heard and accepted at Sinai. Moses insists that G-d forgive them, and after 80 days he ultimately prevails, evoking the powerful thirteen Divine attributes of compassion, thereby opening the door of teshuvah (return) to all souls – the ultimate power of the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur.

    The Torah is filled with the message of love and compassion. Indeed, this is the entire undercurrent of Torah “Love you neighbor as yourself – is the fundamental principle of Torah,” said Rabbi Akiva. “This is the entire Torah; the rest is commentary” (in Hillel’s words). Indeed, the Torah warns of the dangers of being “more religious” than G-d, acutely sensitive to the fact that people can create “Torah sanctioned” outlets for their own personal aggression.  “Erase My Holy Name,” G-d declares, “to preserve peace between husband and wife.” Never, ever use religion as a weapon. No one ever was commanded by G-d to form a “lynch mob” and kill the infidels. When the Egyptians were drowning in the sea for their obstinate crimes against mankind, G-d rebuked the angels for singing praise: “My creatures are drowning and you sing?!”

    Even when King David fought justifiable wars, he was not allowed to build the Holy Temple because of the blood on his hands. His son, Solomon, the man of peace, built the Temple. The Talmud tells us that a Sanhedrin (Rabbinical supreme court) was labeled a “murderous” court if under their tenure one verdict of capital punishment was issued even once in 70 years! Not because they are accused of being biased or corrupt, but to emphasize how abhorrent death is, even when it may be justified.

    The only exception of sanctioned zealotry is Pinchas. Why would the Torah allow for the celebration of this one instance of zealous behavior when it knows the risks of how it can be interpreted?

    The answer lies in the opening verse of this week’s chapter: G-d says “Pinchas, the son of Eliezer, the son of Aaron the Priest, turned away My anger from the Children of Israel by zealously taking up My cause and thus preventing me from destroying them.”

    The additional attribution to his grandfather Aaron the Priest (and not the usual reference to “Pinchas son of…”) is in order to emphasize Pinchas’ personality. Aaron was a man of love and peace. The Mishne tells us “be of the students of Aaron, love peace and pursue peace. Love all creatures [even if they have no other obvious quality except that they are G-d’s creatures] and bring them closer to Torah.”

    Had Pinchas been an aggressive personality, had he been an advocate of religious radicalism, that would have boded trouble. Pinchas was a man of peace, a quiet man. Even this act of zealotry was not to kill, but to protect innocent people from being killed. When Pinchas saw that the people were dying as a result of the public atrocity and desecration that Zimri perpetrated, he went against his own quiet nature to defend G-d and save lives. Selflessness, not personal prejudices, was Pinchas’ driving force. The moment personal interests and inclinations are involved, one ceases to be a zealot.

    It was actually Zimri, of the house of Shimeon who was the aggressive one, as was his grandfather Shimeon who was rebuked by Jacob for his violent and heated behavior.

    Pinchas teaches us an invaluable and powerful message today.

    The mistake we are facing today is in two extremes: Either extreme religious radicalism, or its’ counterpart – extreme libertinism, where everything goes. Indeed these two positions actually feed off of each other, thus making them close cousins. Years of abuse in the name of religion have created a backlash and knee-jerk reaction to anything that even “smells” of religious bigotry or imposition. Even if this may be understandable, it still doesn’t make it correct. Often, the reaction born out of an unhealthy situation is equally unhealthy.

    What may be even worse than fanatical moral relativism (borne out of religious fanaticism) is passive apathy, or even radical apathy (if that’s possible). As one fellow asked his friend: “What’s worse, ignorance or apathy.” His reply: “I don’t know and I don’t care.”

    A deep apathy – quite invisible – has arisen as a result of all these battles of extremism on both sides. Some call it the “silent majority,” others the “ignorant masses” ‘(“olam golam” in Yiddish), and yet others the large number of people who live “lives of quiet desperation.” You can add into the mix the cynics that cite the abovementioned reference in Ecclesiastes: “Nothing new under the sun.” Thus it was and thus it will always be.

    Comes Pinchas the man of peace and tells us that there is another option: No extremes, no bringing in your own personal prejudices and feelings of aggression or passivity, violence or comfort zones. Pinchas teaches us simple selflessness to protect and defend innocent lives. Zealousness – but in peace.

    G-d forbid for anyone to use Pinchas as a model of aggressive to hurt another person even in the name of religious beliefs. Self-defense and protecting other lives is another story. If you are quiet when you see other people being slaughtered, then you are not a man of peace; you are a coward.

    What we learn from Pinchas is the exact opposite of killing in the name of religious zealotry. Violence against other people, especially innocent ones, can never be tolerated – no matter what its cause. Any justification of violence, whether it is in the name of religion or in the name of fighting for a cause, is unequivocally deplorable and goes against the laws of G-d. Anger and murder resulting from religious feelings is perhaps the most dangerous of all, because the “holy war” helps mask the venting of personal aggression.

    Some prominent writers have suggested that terrorism in Israel can be justified because they are fighting there for a cause, but it cannot be justified in London. It is laughable if it weren’t so tragic to suggest that terrorism is acceptable in one region but not in another. Imagine someone arguing that he can “understand” Nazi atrocity against Jews but not against Americans… If violent terrorism is “acceptable” (or more pc: “reprehensible but understandable”) in Jerusalem, then it becomes “acceptable” – and just a short step away – from violence in London, Paris, Moscow, New York and Beijing.

    The Nazi terror made it abundantly clear that injustice in one place is injustice everywhere. Hatred to one race is hatred to all. And the biggest revelation of all: Indifference to violence and brutality against one group of humans is indifference to brutality against all humans. We are in this together – for bad and for good. Churchill put it best: “Appeasement in time of aggression is feeding the crocodiles in the hope that you will be eaten last.”

    On the other hand, Pinchas teaches us, just because religion has been abused and used to perpetrate atrocities we shouldn’t fall to the other extreme of not fighting for any values. We must never lose sight of right and wrong, but at the same time we must learn from the past how to fight for it with selfless passion, not with violence.

    We face today a major confrontation between religious and secular forces. In the Middle East and spreading through Asia, Africa and Europe, this battle is only accelerating. September 11th was a reminder to America of the festering forces at work.

    On a subtler scale similar tensions are brewing in the United States. Whether it be around evolution and creationism or the right to live and die, abortion or the display of the Ten Commandments, the long history of the battle for dominance between religious and secular voices continues to rage.

    To borrow a phrase – a specter is haunting the world. Not the specter of communism but of making our peace with G-d.

    Leaders rise in times like this.

    A new vision is needed. Or is it a timeless vision that simply needs to be rediscovered?

    What is needed today is passion – but guided by humility. G-d – but guided by love and compassion.

    A specter is hanging over us – the specter of freedom. The violence perpetrated around the world today offers us an unprecedented opportunity to wake ourselves up from complacency and embrace a zealous battle for justice and truth.

    We need a zealot today. Not a murderous zealot but a zealot of peace. A true Pinchas that will rise and defy conventional thinking.

    Today we are called to join forces in a zealous and passionate against all form of extremism and violence, including those perpetrated in the name of religious zealotry. To counter the passion of misguided souls ready to blow themselves up, we need to zealously defend and promote the Divine principles of justice and peace – and all in the spirit of unity and love fueled by selflessness.

    Nations of the world, communities across the globe, need to zealously unite with one powerful message: We will not tolerate or accept any form of violence, not in Jerusalem and not in London. Religious beliefs must be used not to fight wars, but to promote spiritual values, to establish laws that respect basic human rights and allow for diversity.

    We must demand of the Muslim world – and for that matter of the Christian and Jewish world, as well as of all religions and creeds – to embrace the principles established by Abraham, father of all nations, to promote the deepest values of virtue and integrity, all with love and inspiration. To fight the pagan forces of the universe, not with violence, but with spreading light and warmth.

  • Korach: The Journey Part II

    Korach: The Journey Part II

    — In Honor of the Shloshim (thirty-day period of mourning) of my dear father, Gershon Jacobson —

    And the living shall take to heart

    The journey of life has many twists and turns. Our travels will take us on many strange roads, lead us through uncharted terrain and bring us to many unknown places. We will each encounter a number of unexpected surprises.

    Yet we don’t come unprepared. We were blessed with a roadmap to help us navigate our way through the labyrinth.

    The Torah is this roadmap. As a cosmic blueprint of existence, it illuminates for us the dark pathways of our life passage and helps us find direction in an otherwise confused maze.

    Bamidbar, the fourth book of the Torah, which we now are in midst of reading, is particularly focused on the journey of life. The Book of Bamidbar, literally desert or wilderness, outlines the journey of the Jewish people through the Sinai wilderness. Each chapter in this book conveys another vital message to us, in an accumulating sequence, about how we must travel our journey.

    Last week we reviewed the first five portions of the book, Bamidbar, Nasso, Behaalotcho, Shelach and Korach. Briefly, the chapters tell us that life’s journey is traveling through a “terrifying” desert, with the objective to transform it. We have the power to be lifted to great places and to illuminate others, and inspire them to become emissaries in refining the world.

    Yet, challenges abound, as this week’s chapter Korach reminds us. Lacking bittul (selflessness) rebellious voices turn us arrogant, and we can forget our mission, or even defy it for many “good” reasons.

    This week we will continue with the latter five portions.

    Chukat: “Chukah” refers to the body of supra-rational laws that we accept as axioms (in contrast to “meshpotim,” the rational laws, and “eidut,” the commemorative ones). “Chukah” therefore, is also rooted in the word “chakikah,” engraving. The axioms of life are not superimposed, but engraved in the very core of our foundations.

    Chukat teaches us that there is only way to overcome the challenges of life’s voyage – and G-d knows that there are many, much more than we would prefer. That way is to accept, with unwavering determination the mission we are on; accept it as a given reality – as real and more real than the challenges themselves. Only such an internally engraved “chukah”-axiom can counterbalance the demoralizing fears and inhibitions, the gnawing doubts and misgivings, the voices of apathy and cynicism, imposed upon us in the weary desert journey.

    And when we do, even death itself – the ultimate blow to mans’ conceited self-importance – can be conquered. Chukat reveals for us the secret of the Red Heifer to “purify” from death’s stranglehold: The purification came about through combining ash and water. The Chassidic mystics explain, that the power of life – and of all energy – comes from the firm commitment to the ebb and flow of life’s two poles, tension and resolution (fire and water).

    To travel through this challenging world we need to learn how to swim the rhythms of life. To know when to thrust forward and when to pull back, when to go against the tide and when to allow it to carry you. A good swimmer knows when to not attempt to fight the powerful waves, and then when to surge ahead.

    But all this technique is predicated upon the unshakeable “chukah” commitment to the mission itself.

    Balak: Then comes a new challenge. Envy and the thirst for power. Balak attempts to hire the prophet Balaam to curse the Jewish people and prevent them from concluding their journey in the wilderness. Ultimately, Balaam ends up blessing the people instead.

    Some of the greatest difficulties in life’s journey are the forces that surround us and demand our conformity. As you march forward with firm resolve, many lurking “Balak’s” will attempt to stop your advance. If you remain strong and resolute in your Divine mission, you have the power of the Divine that protects from all “curses,” and indeed transforms them into the greatest blessings.

    But then, Balaam makes a “curtain call” and tells Balak to send the Moabite women to seduce the Jews. “You cannot destroy them. But they can destroy themselves,” is Balaam’s essential message.

    The only response to self-destruction from within is —

    Pinchas: Ultimate self sacrifice (mesirat nefesh). With zealousness and absolute humility, Pinchas defended the honor of G-d and stood up against His desecration.

    Zealotry is not condoned in the Torah, for all its obvious potentials for abuse. The Torah’s method is to serve with gentleness not with aggressive zealousness. Torah is meant to bring peace to the world, not violence even in the name of G-d.

    Yet, there are times that require a Pinchas to stand up to blatant abuse and preserve spiritual integrity. The condition for this type of zealousness however is selflessness, to ensure that the zeal has not tinge of self-interest. Thus, Pinchas was blessed with the covenant of peace; his zeal brought peace, not aggression.

    Matot: The tribes are sometimes called shevatim, “branches.” At other times they are described as matot, “rods,” expressing their nature as offshoots from a common stem. While shevet and mateh are both synonyms for “branch,” the shevet is a pliant, flexible bough, while mateh connotes a stiff stick or rod.

    In this chapter the titles “matot” is used to underscore the need for firmness and determination in carrying out the mission of our journey.

    Yet there is also a need to balance firmness with flexibility, lest we get caught in the trap of stubborn obstinacy that does not allow us to grow and move forward. Coupled with firmness we need to have the ability to yield. A strong tree has both firm roots and growing branches.

    Matot therefore has to be complemented by —

    Massei: Movements. As the last portion of this book “Massei” (journeys) sums up all the forty-two journeys in the desert.

    The bottom line is that whether you’re traveling through a desert or a garden the key is that you are traveling. You’re not stuck or paralyzed. Not frozen or locked – but on the move.

    Movement, mobility is the sign of life. Not just physical movement but spiritual movement. There are people who move about all the time – and have racked up millions of “frequent-flyer” miles – but intellectually, emotionally, psychologically they may not have budged from their locked psyche.

    Then there are those – some of whom I have witnessed – that can sit for hours in one place, but their minds, hearts and souls are traveling “billions of miles.”

    Watch a true chassid pray under a Tallit (prayer garb). For hours on end he may remain in one physical place, while he travels through universes.

    So there you have it, a book of journeys that tells us about our journey through our psychological wildernesses.

    A ten-point plan that can help anyone of us make it through the toughest wastelands and the driest deserts.

    And not just survive, but flourish.