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Showing posts from July, 2009

Missing the Mark

This past year I unearthed a large stack of old letters from my best friend. She and I have been friends since we were about twelve years old! These letters date back to when we were teenagers in high school and college, in the 1970s. Re-reading these letters has been a remarkable experience. Not only is it a relief to find that the various exploits which once brought us so much angst no longer hold any emotional juice - but even more gratifying is the joy I experience, feeling the depth of my friend's love for me. All these decades later that voice of love comes through in these letters loud and clear. There is one letter in particular which moved me to tears. Apparently responding to something I had complained of in my previous letter, my friend wrote an intense apology and pledge to change her behavior - because, she said, she valued my friendship so highly. Teshuvah - which literally means returning, or turning back - involves the honest admission that we've done something ...

God is in the Obstacles

The people stood at a distance, and Moses approached the thick cloud where God was. - Exodus 20:18 Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav's spin on the Torah verse (my translation): "When you have been going through your whole life in the material world, and you get inspired and want to be on God's path - God's judgmental side puts obstacles in your way. But God's loving side hides in the obstacles! If you are knowing, you will look into the obstacle and find God within it. But if you are not knowing, you will simply see an obstacle and will immediately turn around and go back.... And this is how to understand the Torah verse: The people saw only the thick darkness of the cloud, and turned away; but Moses knew to seek God within the thick darkness." Okay, so name one thing in your life that you are experiencing as an obstacle, or that you are witnessing is an obstacle for someone you know. What might it mean for you that God is within the obstacle?