When a wise mentor with selfless intent speaks in earnest to a disciple, it behooves that disciple to listen with reverence. You may not see things from the view up high, therefore you may not visualize or grasp the knowledge offered.
When it came to my mentor, I did not always agree or follow, but I did always remember. His words were indelible, even the ones I cast aside and for decades ignored. Many of his sage words I did embrace, and the direction of my life was altered as a result. He would repeat some concepts multiple times, and some jewels were only offered once.
One time in his office, the fall of 1972, noticing my proclivity and my enthrallment to the spirituality of the East, he offered me this advice: “ You were born Jewish, you could grow into the same Truth you are seeking with the tradition you were born to. There is a reason you were born Jewish that is inscrutable to you. It makes no difference. If Jewish be like Moses, if Christian be like Jesus, if Hindu be like Krishna, if Buddhist be like Buddha. It doesn’t mean you follow all the rituals or go to temple every day for neither did all these masters. It means you be like them. You emulate their virtues, their Truths, and try to experience it, to live it.” I responded with something like “ I have no feelings for Judaism.” That was the only time he uttered that to me and it was one of his pithy insights that I seldom thought about, and even when I did I quickly put it out of my mind.
During the previous half year, three different friends during the course of three disparate conversations, i had the occasion of stating myself as a non-observant Jew. They all knew that already. But this time each uttered the phrase “yes, but it’s in your DNA.” Every time that was said I flashed back to that moment in 1972 and then promptly put it out of my mind. However one of my friends gifted me the book Rebbe, a biography of Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, leader of the Lubavitcher Chasidim based out of Crown Heights in Brooklyn,New York.
The rebbe held this position from 1951-1994 being only the seventh rebbe in this sect. There has yet to be named a successor though the group continues to grow.
At first I struggled reading it, but as I read on I sensed the compassion, the empathy and the selfless wisdom even on issues that I would intellectually disagree. It was than I was starting to feel a connection. Once my ideology or my preconceptions were suspended something started to resonate.
It was at that time the mass murder occurred in Pittsburgh against Jewish people worshipping in the Tree of Life temple. If I lived in Pittsburgh I would not have been at the Temple but I felt the extreme pain of this tragedy. This was personal to my being.
I’ve started reading the Kabbalah- a fascinating, daunting read. My past study of Eastern spirituality has assisted me greatly in relating to Jewish mysticism. The words are different but the essence is the same: reaffirming that it all derives from the One.
As I reflect back over this past year I realize I have had the great fortune to reconnect with very meaningful people from my past with whom I hadn’t for quite a while. This has been a year of reconciliation, spiritually and personally and for this I am grateful.
Hello Jeff, and thanks for sharing your deepening understanding of “in the beginning…….”. Perhaps one day we can pursue this subject together. You probably don’t know that when Deva was a young girl and going to Hebrew school, I was also an active participant in a Boulder H’avurot within the framework of Reb Zalman’s Jewish Renewal program. Anyway, another book that may prove very helpful is aptly called GOD: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism by Jay Michaelson and perhaps we can include that in a future conversation.
Hope you’re well,
Michael
This must feel like finding the trail marker or pulling into the quiet cove Jeff’. I feel grateful that after all you did for so many – you have connected with this sense of being.
Great thoughts, I understand for many reasons.
Thanks Doc. Hope you are well.