Ahz mah (So what)

Life is messy and fundamentally out of our control. Over and over, we learn the lesson - I certainly do, pretty much on a daily basis - that efforts to control situations and other people are largely efforts in futility. The mind continually generates images of how things ought to turn out, and life continually turns out differently. Other people (and nature) stubbornly do what they feel is best, rather than what we are certain that they ought to do. How much energy do we expend each day - physical and emotional energy - on attempting to have life turn out the way we think it ought to - only to receive the humbling lesson that Life had other plans for us? The words of our prayerbook on the High Holidays, and on Shabbat as well, point to this truth - there is a bigger picture within which we live, which is beyond our control. And the liberating message is: that's okay - it doesn't have to be a problem. We can loosen our grip a little. Now paradoxically - and the rabbinic traditi...

Sometimes we meet someone, or learn something, and in the process we are changed. We are not the same person as we were before this encounter. The trajectory of our life has shifted - sometimes subtly, sometimes profoundly. When someone or something opens our eyes to a reality that has been there all along, thereby providing us with the opportunity to act in response to a human need, some say this is God acting in the world. Whatever our understanding of God might be, we are transformed by such encounters. Rosh Hashannah is about transformation. It is not just about saying "I'm sorry" and promising to do better (although that's an important start). It's about believing in the possibility of being re-created. The prayer book reminds us, today is the birthday of the world! We are each of us being re-born. We have the potential to change in ways we cannot even imagine. We have the potential to encounter someone or something that blows our mind, that cracks our heart ...

In a way, the Jewish High Holidays are about spiritual housecleaning. Think about it. Much of the focus of the liturgy as well as the many commentaries written to accompany us during the holiday season are about taking stock of who we are and how we behave, and doing an honest self-appraisal of what we need to throw away. The "tashlich" ceremony of throwing crumbs or pebbles into the water on Rosh Hashanah is a perfect example. As far as anyone knows tashlich was not instituted by rabbis. Tashlich was something that ordinary people developed hundreds of years ago as a very physical way of showing our intention to throw away those aspects of our behavior and our personality that are no longer serving us well. Whether you use the term "sin" or not, the concept is the same as it has been for hundreds if not thousands of years. So we could say that the High Holidays are about spiritual housecleaning. What we experience on the material plane, we can experience on the spi...

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 ...

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?