“Jews don’t do inner peace”.
Peace is an essential condition of existence.
This past week, I was delighted and surprised to find teachings
about inner peace in the writings of Rabbi Yitzchak Arama (1420 – 1494). Arama is
regarded as one of the great rationalist commentators on the Torah. He frequently
quotes Maimonides’ guide for the perplexed. Yet, he regards peace as essential
to all of existence including Jewish life[iii].
He explains that every being in the universe, other than God, is a composite of
different components that must coexist in peace. The moment that peace is lost
to a body, is the moment it is destroyed. The word ‘disintegrate’ captures his
thinking. To disintegrate means to decay but also signals that it is opposite
to being integrated or at peace.
Peace with God is synonymous with living the covenant.
For Arama, peace with God is synonymous with living true to
the covenant with God. To obey the commandments is to be at peace with God. The
gift of peace brings healing of all our faults[iv].
The opposite is also true. Regarding the verse “there is no peace for the
wicked[v]”,
Arama comments that there is no punishment needed for the wicked, other than
losing peace. To lose peace is to lose
hope and to close off the channel of God’s blessings.
The resolution of inner strife involves inner peace.
In Jewish and Chasidic writings about the battle between
body and soul or between animal and divine souls, there are allusions to
cooperation and peace between them. Every morning and evening, Jews read the ‘Shema[vi]’,
which
calls us to love God with all our hearts. The word for hearts has an extra
letter Bet[vii],
which alludes to Jews loving God with our two inclinations, the evil and good,
or with both the animal and divine aspects of ourselves. The animalistic evil
inclination cooperates with the Godly - good inclination to love God - putting
aside their competition to conquer and control the body[viii]. Instead
they are at peace with each other in joint love of God. The animal soul’s passion
in the hot-headed person is harnessed by their divine soul to perform great acts
of compassion beyond their ability[ix].
The two parts of the person working in harmony. Our souls are redeemed in peace[x].
Peace through pausing on Shabbat.
The practice of Shabbat is one of the great Jewish vehicles
for peace. In the ten commandments we read, “Six days you shall work and do all your
work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath for your God you shall
not do any work”[xi].
The Torah instructs us to do all our work in six days. This is interpreted[xii]
as God commanding us to imagine that, in fact, all our work has been done by
Friday afternoon and to rest from even thinking about work. All the piles of
papers in the in-tray, all the unanswered emails are as if they don’t exist. Vanished
by a swish of the Shabbat angel’s wand, if I may mix my metaphors.
This approach is based on faith. If God wanted all that work
done this week, He would have found a way for us to get it done. The fact that
he didn’t ensure that it got done, means that it was not destined to be this
week’s work. It belongs to another time. On Friday at sunset, all the work that
mattered is either done, or as good as done, because Shabbat is a sacred time
in which that work is irrelevant.
This attitude has been an amazing gift for me and my family.
I don’t check emails or social media or lift a pen or read a work report. It is
truly a holy time. Unfortunately, thoughts are harder to control than actions,
and I confess that my thoughts sometimes wander to work on shabbat. But it is
still a powerful way of achieving inner peace, to a significant extent, at
least once a week with a flow-on effect for the rest of the week.
Accepting others and self – the ugly man
One of the great obstacles to peace is an unwillingness to
accept people, either others, or to accept ourselves as we are. I have had my
moments with both. Enter the ugly man story.
Rabbi Eliezer was once riding on a donkey on the coast,
he was feeling very happy because he had studied a lot of Torah.
Then he noticed a very ugly man, not just in the physical
sense but it was clear to the Rabbi that the man had an ugly character.
The ugly man greeted him, "Shalom, Rabbi!"
Rabbi Eliezer did not return the greeting.
Instead, he said, "Empty (headed) one! Are all the
inhabitants of your town as ugly as you?"
The man replied: "Why don't you tell the craftsman
who made me, “how ugly is the vessel you made?"
Rabbi Eliezer realised that he had done wrong. He went
down from his donkey, prostrated himself and begged the man for forgiveness[xiii]...
A believing
person has no business condemning anyone for what they are. Yes, we can object
to someone’s behaviour. But I have found that sometimes what annoys me more
than behaviour is another person's essential nature. This is wrong, as they
have not chosen to be the way they are. They were created that way.
The same
principle applies to me. It is ok for me to be disappointed with my behaviour
or choices. But I should never be ashamed or frustrated with myself for what I
am. I did not create myself[xiv]!
Forgiveness
We can lose peace within ourselves and with God through our
choices and walking away from God and our covenant with Him[xv].
When this happens, we can seek resolution with God. Once we seek forgiveness,
we are encouraged to be confident that God will instantly forgive us. God’s
capacity for forgiveness is infinite, not like humans, who might find it hard
to forgive someone for their repeated mistakes[xvi].
I’ve found that sometimes by focusing on my belief that God has forgiven me, I
can more easily forgive myself. At a Catholic school spirituality day, I
recently invited teachers to consider trying this approach on grudges they held
against themselves - perhaps for ten years or twenty years - and to consider whether
God’s forgiveness might allow them to forgive themselves as well.
There is also great power in forgiving others, which Jews
are encouraged to do every night before going to sleep[xvii].
Forgiving others not only releases the object of our resentment, it also allows
us to feel at peace in ourselves.
Conclusion
Being at peace and in sync with God, through living out the
covenant and bringing the different aspects of ourselves into harmony with God,
allows us to have hope and brings with it its own kind of inner peace.
[i] Steinsaltz, A. (1997), The Strife of the Spirit, Jason
Aronson, it is an adaptation of the Tanya the foundation book of Chabad Chasidism, by Rabbi
Schneur Zalman of Liadi, who is one of the most significant figures of Hasidism
[ii]
Tanya, by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi
[iii]
Arama, R. Yitzchak, in Akedat Yitzchak, gate 87.
[iv]
Arama, based on Isaiah 57:19
[v] Isaiah 46
[vi] Deuteronomy 6:5-9
[vii] Sifey Chachamim on Rashi’s
commentary to Deuteronomy 6:6
[viii]
Tanya, chapter 9
[ix] Rabbi
Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, Sefer Hamaamorim Hakuntresim, Vol 1, Naase Na Aliyas
Kir Ktana
[x]
Psalm 55:19,
as interpreted by Rabbi MM Schneerson, see also http://www.chabad.org.il/Magazines/Article.asp?ArticleID=11930&CategoryID=2010
[xi]
Exodus 20:9
[xii] Mechilta
[xiii]
Talmud, Taanit 20a–b
[xiv] Tanya, 31
[xv]
Arama, ibid
[xvi]
Tanya, Igeres Hateshuva chapter 11
[xvii]
Siddur, order of shema and prayers before going to sleep, section hareni mochel
Orthodox Christians are also absorbed in the struggle. What you write make sense to me. Maximos.
ReplyDeleteThank you Maximos for comment.
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