HUMILITY AND INCLUSION
A humility derived from a deep awareness of the Oneness of God irrespective of how many forms, descriptions, and metaphors we use to create images accessible to our limited intellects, is key to accepting and fully realizing the tasks, the deployments, that are ours. Closely related is the extension of this consciousness to include those with whom we disagree or, more intensely, relating to the ways in which others express their disagreements with us. In his book Yishm’ru Da’at, written in Hebrew, Reb Zalman wrote the following:
Actualizing this teaching in the daily grind in the world of physical assiyah is a difficult assignment. We live in a world where klei kodesh are often the recipients of people’s anger, frustrations, and pain. They draw us close to them in times of crisis and then push us away so that we can no longer remind them of painful periods in their own lives. We are held responsible for the actions of the Israeli government, for those of other Jews who may be on the opposite side of whatever issue bothers them at the moment. We draw the joy and suffering of others into our beings in empathy, only to discover that we lose clarity about our own inner selves. In short, we are drawn into what is called עולם הפרידה, the world of division. Our sense of inclusivity and unity is challenged and using the language of conflict and self defense becomes a temptation which is hard to resist.
Before personal computers, Reb Zalman used to fill pages with typed poems and translations. In my collection of those papers, I found this poetic rendering:
The Swinger
Becoming emerges in pendular rhythms
Small feedback motions is all that man can achieve
Either to make it swing wider or less wide.
But arrest – static immobility at any one point –
Is impossible
When some things zig – others must zag
Each convexity courts its concave.
Stop straining against the swing of the pendulum
And soon you will be where you want to be ––
–– Only to be taken from there again.
Better than he who consoles himself
With an occasional moment of delight
Is he who delights in the Pendulum’s motion
He and the pendulum become one
And he is the swinger.
(Based on Sutra 29)
To truly think “Jewish,” we need to rediscover and deeply absorb that we do not think in either/or so much as both/and. Remember the famous saying: “אלו ואלו דברי אלהים חיים.” The choice between following Hillel or Shammai is not one between right and wrong but rather between two options, both of which are acceptable but only one of which can be done to fulfill a mitzvah given the limitations of the world of assiyah. Finding the balance place is an ongoing effort and, in the end, can truly only be experienced when one can apprehend the full range of the possibilities at play. This means including those options with which we most strongly disagree and as one who, in the tradition of the early rebbes of Chabad, is focused on bending the sitra achra so that even the dark side enters into conscious service of the One. And, of course, this is a most difficult task.
Therefore, I ask you not to engage in either/or and static, noun-based thinking. When we put our concepts of God up against those of Reb Zalman and others; we are not really being open-minded and we see debate as challenging and correcting. We think that this is an authentically Jewish way of being; you know, the shul I wouldn’t go to. But this is not really what talmudic discourse is. It’s not about right and wrong but more about listening carefully, taking the time to truly absorb what another is saying and thinking, and then looking at what appear to be the weak spots and seeking to strengthen them. More importaint than, “How do I use perceived weaknesses to bolster my own, already held position?” is the question “What can I learn from you?