Ghosting God, Ghosting Self
Day 140
“Today is the day Adonai has made, I will rejoice in it”! Today is the 7th day of Sukkot, Hoshanah Rabbah, when the willow from the Lulav is beaten on the ground to symbolize the ‘final’ penitentiary gesture as some say, we the people have until Hoshanah Rabbah to be redeemed, it isn’t ‘really sealed’ on Yom Kippur. The Sefat Emet, a leader of the Gerer movement and a mystical master, teaches that Hoshanah Rabbah comes to remind us that even the lowly are worthy and able to achieve redemption. This is cause for celebration in my estimation-NO ONE is too low, too far gone, too high and mighty that they are unable to achieve redemption if they are willing to ‘beat the bullshit’ out of them by participating in beating the willows on the floor. NO ONE is incapable of seeing themselves in truth or at least seeking the truth from another person about themselves.
“Today is the day Adonai has made” is all about rejoicing in the truth, connecting with the truth about oneself, about the world around them, about their authentic connections and the ones which are inauthentic, about the lies/bullshit one tells oneself and the truth one hides from until another human being, having great faith in the one who is hiding, confronts this person and change occurs. While this doesn’t happen all the time, We the People can see that it occurred with King David, it is called out by the prophets, it happened with the people of Nineveh, it happens each and every day in recovery and in life. People have a spiritual awakening and the blinders come off, the cotton comes out of the ears and a whole new world is opened up to we the people and change is no longer a dream/fantasy, it is a reality that We the People can live into.
The beating of the willow branches can also be a metaphor for not beating oneself up for one’s mistakes - a common exercise among we the people. Maybe what we are beating is the hubris that we should get it perfect/right all the time-a terrible burden that I carry and, while I am well aware of my imperfections, I still believe that I should get it right when I know how to, negating the truth that I am fallible, I will make ‘dumb’ mistakes, I will not be the best bridge player, the best ceramist, the best anything. I know this and I still fall for the bullshit and lies I tell myself- UGH!! “Today is the day Adonai has made and I will rejoice in it” reminds me, tells me, hits me over the head to realize my missing the marks help me grow and are examples for another human being to learn from, not to hate myself, get down on myself, berate myself because I make the same ones over and over in different forms, with different nuances:)!
This is the challenge of leadership in all forms, institutional, governmental, business, communal, familial, and personal: see oneself as if you need to be redeemed, you will make mistakes, you are imperfect, and you can be forgiven, you can be redeemed, you can be authentic and true to your inner callings, you can rejoin the covenant with God, with family, etc. The challenge is to admit “I am not my worst action”, “I am worthy and do not have to be in shame over mistakes I make”, “I don’t have to hide my SELF from me, nor anyone else”. It is so hard for human beings to do these actions even though the Bible, the New Testament are replete with examples of our heroes doing this, knowing this, engaging in the work of beating the bullshit out of themselves every time they hit the willows on the floor today.
Unfortunately, most of these ‘good religious jews’ will not see this experience as a spiritual one, they will be beating their enemies, their fellow Jews who don’t agree with them, who don’t worship like them, who don’t drink the same kool-aid as them. This is the sadness I am experiencing this morning. We the Jewish People have this beautiful ritual to remind us of our humanity, of our fallibility, of our imperfections and our compassion for not only ourselves, for everyone because the human race is, by design, IMPERFECT! By nature and nurture, We the People will make the same mistake in one form or another many times over till we conquer that one only to move on to the next area! There is no THERE, there, there is only here and now, imperfect as We the People are, it is mandatory to beat the lies and the bullshit out of us, at least for today, so we can make a new plan, choose a person to help us see truth when we are incapable of vision, and accept our imperfections as part of being a ‘perfect human being’.
ACTION STEP:
Write down the 3 main lies/bullshit you buy into and make a plan to let them go
God Bless, Stop Ghosting God, Ghosting Self, Rabbi Mark