[Jewish] [Mindful Torah] Finding Compassion Within - a commentary on Parshat Emor

[Rabbi Steven Nathan]

I apologize for sending this yet again, but it seems that when I
published it the first time the
last word of every line got cut off on the blog itself. It seems that
this didn't happen when the
post went out as an e-mail. So I needed to change the margins and
republish. I'll figure out
why this happened and try my best not to do it again.

spn
This week's parashah/portion is Emor (Vayikra/Leviticus 21:1-24:23). In
this parashah we
find the commandments to observe the three pilgrimage festivals:
Pesakh/Passover, Sukkot
(the Feast of Booths) and Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks). All three of
these festivals were traditional pilgrimage festival when the people
would thank God for the various seasonal
harvests. Later, in rabbinical times, the festival of Shavuot became
associated with the
giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai, since the festival occurs exactly
seven weeks from the second
day of Pesakh, which represents the exodus from Egypt.Immediately
following the instructions for the festivals and the commandment to
harvest the
fields and bring grain as an offering for the Shavuot festival, we find
a reiteration of the commandment found earlier in the Torah. "When you
reap the harvest of your land, you shall
not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the
gleanings of your harvest; you
shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I YHWH am your God"
(Vayikra 23:22). The proximity of the instructions concerning Shavuot,
which becomes associated with the
giving of Torah, to this commandment to save the corners of the fields,
prompted the
following commentary in Meshekh Hokhmah (Latvia, 1845-1926):

"You are to observe Shavuot, the festival commemorating the Giving of
the Law, not only for
the sake of the statutes for which we would never have felt a need if
they had not been set
down
in the Torah, but also in thanksgiving for the laws which readily make
sense even to the
human mind, such as the laws pertaining to compassion on the
unfortunate and charity to the poor. For experience has shown that,
without faith in God, man [sic] is liable to become like a
wild beast which has not a spark of compassion and is therefore capable
of committing the
basest crimes in order to satisfy his selfish desires. "Only if you
will observe the
commandments concerning the leaving of parts of your harvest for the
poor and the stranger
are you permitted to proclaim the festival of Shavuot as a `holy
convocation' to give thanks
even for such readily understandable commandments of charity and
compassion as these.
For had the Torah notbeen given, you might never have come to observe
them" (Wellsprings
of Torah, pp. 255-56).

One might think that the author would have written that the Torah was
given primarily to
instruct us on the commandments that do not readily make sense to us,
so that we might
perform them. But, be seemingly to reversing this logic, the author
teaches that it is normal
for a law code to focus on the laws that aren’t instinctive or
seemingly rational. However, it is actually more important for the law
to focus on those acts that may appear to be instinctive,
but which we often ignore precisely because of their instinctive nature.
Just think for a moment. We all know that it is right and just to help
those in need, to give tzedakah/charity and to do gemilut hasadim/acts
of kindness. Yet, how often do we neglect
to perform these mitzvot because we get so caught up in our own lives,
or we believe that
someone else will do it if we don’t? Furthermore, as my colleague,
Rabbi Ethan Franzel
pointed out, the modern worldview of the early 20th century that prized
rationalism above all
else, and so it was easy to believe that the rational mind would lead
one to perform rational, meaningful acts, such as caring for those in
need. However, today we know all too well that the rational mind is not
all that we believed it to be. In the extreme, the rational mind
created the irrational and inhumane horror of the Holocaust, and the
genocides in Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. On a more everyday level, the
rational mind allows people to ignore those in need who
are right in front of our noses or half way around the world. It also
permits us to ignore the thousands of children who to go to bed hungry
every night in our own country and to cut allocations to crucial social
service agencies rather than, God forbid, to raise taxes or repeal tax
cuts.

Keeping these facts in our hearts and minds, it is easy to see why the
author of
Meshekh Hokhmah wanted to remind us that, were it not for the fact that
the Torah makes compassionate actions towards others a Divine
Commandment (Mitzvah), we might easily
care only for ourselves. After all, isn't that precisely what many
human beings have done so
many times in our history up until today?

Therefore, he continues, we cannot truly proclaim Shavuot as the
communal festival of the
Giving of the Torah, the moment when the people acknowledged the
covenant, the oneness
with the Divine, if we do not act compasionately. It is not the
practice of the "irrational" commandments, such as not mixing linen
with wool that gives us permission to celebrate our covenant with the
Divine. Rather, it is the observance of these seemingly rational,
intuitive commandments of leaving food for the poor, caring for those
less fortunate and having
compassion on all of God creatures that gives us permission. It is as
if he is saying, "If there is
no compassion, there is no Torah!” Perhaps that is the essence of all
the teachings of Judaism?

Of course, the cultivation of compassion towards oneself and towards
all of God's creatures is
an ultimate goal of mindfulness practice as well. We cultivate
compassion first by paying
attention to each moment as it arises. The commentary above teaches us
that the Torah is
meant to remind us to pay attention to that which seems ordinary,
mundane and instinctive
and not only to what we might label as irrational, illogical.
Mindfulness also teaches that we
must pay attention to all of the thoughts that arise in our minds
without labeling or judging
them, even those that we might be inclined to label as inconsequential
or mundane. For
paying attention to all that arises in our minds, in our lives and in
our world helps us to view
the world with compassion and not with judgment. It helps to create
compassion within us for
the suffering we cause ourselves by our actions and reactions. This, in
turn, leads us , by
extension ,to a sense of compassion for all of creation. It is this
sense of compassion that then
calls us to compassionate, kind and just action in our world.

The Meshekh Hokhmah commentary ends with the statement that "without
faith in God,
[a human being] is liable to become like a wild beast which has not a
spark of compassion …
[so that s/he will do anything] in order to satisfy his/her selfish
desires." I would like to
reword this as my closing statement. For, I believe that without a
connection to the soul, the
Divine essence that we share with all humanity, we are liable to become
cold and indifferent
to ourselves and to all of creation. By focusing only on one's
suffering, one becomes unable to
feel and acknowledge the inner Divinity of one's soul. Therefore, one
becomes increasingly self-focused and caught up in the story of his/her
own suffering. This makes it impossible to
focus on the pain and suffering of others. Over time, such a person
builds a wall that is cold, unfeeling and self-centered around his/her
soft, loving, compassionate soul. This is what the
ego desire and what we must do our best to avoid through being mindful
and paying attention.
The person who has built this wall around themselves cannot celebrate
Shavuot, or any
moment, as a `holy convocation' of the Giving of the Torah. For that
would require the person
to have a sense of connection to God, the source of holiness, and a
sense of belonging to community and of oneness, that is necessary for a
convocation. And this person can only feel,
see and connect with themselves and no one else.

When we see this we must have compassion on them and turn our hearts
towards them. By
doing so, we can hopefully help them to break through the wall their
ego has built and begin
to rediscover the soft spot of Divine compassion that we call the soul,
which is found deep
within each of us. If that happens then they will then be able to have
compassion not only upon themselves, but upon others as well. Then they
will be willing and ready to rejoin the community of the One and truly
celebrate what it means to receive Torah,
the sense of unity with the Divine.

As we count down to Shavuot, now only a little more than two weeks
away, may we do our
best to help ourselves and others find the soul, the divine essence
within, that is filled with compassion. Then we will be able to truly
join together as a holy community, at one with the Divine, with all
Jews and all of humanity to receive Torah.

Shabbat Shalom.

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Posted By Rabbi Steven Nathan to Mindful Torah at 4/29/2010 08:56:00 PM
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