I ceased to worship the flag, the state, or the army when I realized the evil had been done in the name of all three, and when I saw how the Hebrew media — controlled by a tiny minority of secular Jews who hate Judaism ands who run away from their heritage like ants run from chlorine — practically celebrated the evil of turning productive citizens into refugees within their own homelands.
All that slides by the question and doesn't answer it. Why change focus now?
The truth is I'm scared. I'm not scared of death. Death is not an issue. We all face death, and in that last moment, we will all face the same fear; fear not only of the unknown, but the realization that we are never coming back. Those of us who have already died on an operating table and come back to life probably have a considerably lessened fear if we saw a white light welcoming us to the world to come, pushing us back to the world we inhabit, and telling us, "it is not yet our time."
No.
I'm terribly short of money. I'm forced into the realization that either I seek economic security (shelter within the world of lies) or shelter from the G-d I say I believe in. I'm forced, by time and necessity, to choose the latter, even though the former would be far more comfortable. I'm being forced to do what is right, even though I would prefer to do what is easy. This is why the long message I read last night was so compelling and so scary. I have no choice but to recognize its truth.
This is not a matter of arrogance. I'm honestly scared, and will have to make changes in my life and in the way I write and do things.
Life gets so interesting at times.
Article comments
1 - Dan Miller
Ruvy,
I must admit that I don't entirely understand what you are trying to say. That is not surprising, because there are lots of things I don't understand, entirely or even partially. Like the autistic young man you mention, I seem to lack certain abilities most people have. For example, I don't see colors very well, and lack the appreciation most people have of shades of red and green. I have no religious feelings at all. That may also be a deficiency.
I recently read a book written by a mildly autistic woman. Despite her condition, she managed to get her Ph.D. in animal science from, I believe, the University of Colorado. She has far better insights into animal behavior than "normal" people. She seems to "see" things the way many animals -- horses, cows, dogs, sheep, etc. -- see them, and has been extraordinarily successful in her chosen career: working with slaughter houses to make the process less traumatic for the animals by eliminating various terrifying things which she, but most people, can't sense. Unfortunately, I let a friend borrow the book and so I can't even give a link to her name.
You say, really there isn't any Arab-Israeli conflict. The conflict is between us and our G-d, and this is the source of all of our problems. I question whether, perhaps, the conflict is instead between your God and theirs, or perhaps between your respective perceptions of God. You also speak of an evil inclination, which is part of free will and which is evidenced by a desire to exploit. Assuming that we actually have free will, can't we elect to exploit or not to do so? And if we don't actually have free will, what can we do about it?
I can understand the idealization of the Dalai Lama and reverence for our perhaps erroneous feelings about Tibet. When I was in Panama's Kuna Yala for about a month, I was very impressed with the ways of the Kuna people. They have a culture very different from that common in Panama and elsewhere in the world. Unfortunately (to me) their culture is dying and efforts by a few Kunas to save it will doubtless fail. On one of the islands, a Kuna Indian bemoaned the failure of the young people to learn the skills of their ancestors. There was only one old woman who still made the traditional hammocks, and none of the young desired to learn the skill from her. My thought was, it is a terrible thing to see a culture vanish; preservation would be a wonderful thing -- quite possibly more so that I could revisit it, than for the Kunas.
You say, power and money are part of the world of lies. Love, learning, and kindness are part of the world of truth. Obviously, if that is the dichotomy (and I am not convinced that it is), we should select the latter. You also say, I'm being forced to do what is right, even though I would prefer to do what is easy. I wish you well. What I guess I don't understand is how you decide what is right. That something is easy does not necessarily mean that it is "right," and the converse also seems to me to be true. For example, that it would be very difficult to murder the Pope, and that it would be very easy not to do so, does not immediately suggest that it would be "right" for me to murder the pope.
Having no significant religious guidance, I find that I fall back on a rather pragmatic answer to the question of right and wrong, involving Kant's Categorical Imperative and a version of the golden rule, combined with adherence to whatever sense of right and wrong I learned as a small child. I suppose that when I try to apply these precepts in deciding what is right and wrong, I would get a different answer than one who as a youth learned that killing infidels is a good and high purpose, to be rewarded in the afterlife. The CI would suggest that since killing infidels is a good thing, it would be a good thing if everyone killed infidels. The the golden rule would perhaps suggest the same thing, since were I an infidel, I should want to be killed so that I could learn the Truth.
Even though I do not understand exactly what you are trying to say, I wish you well in changing your life in a manner consistent with it.
Dan
2 - Ruvy
Well, it wasn't my intent to befuddle you, Dan. Part of the problem is that the way I wrote the article, the editor confused some of what Daniel said for what I had said. First. let me give you the full quote from Daniel.
Many Jews feel strongly that in spite of all this, the Israeli Defense Force is the determining factor in war, or it is the Prime Minister. The Bank of Israel determines the fate of the economy. Maybe Wall Street and the foreign markets in the world still believe in the capabilities of the private person to determine his fulfillment and to succeed in every circumstance. They still believe that finances are in man's hands, that everything will work out, and the world will return to pre-9/11. The world will not go back to be how it was. G-d slaughtered the "Golden Calf"; and even the economy will not be like it was. The world is standing in the face of a very complicated war.
Remember that Avraham our father was called ha'ivrí, (ivrí means "on the other side"). He was against everyone in his time. He gave us the strength to stand against the whole world and to be on the other side, apart from all of the people who err, each one in his own way. Come, let us use this strength that is embedded within us. If not now, when?
We must know the truth in all matters connected to the war: really there isn't any Arab-Israeli conflict. The conflict is between us and our G-d, and this is the source of all of our problems. Don't let us fool ourselves that there is some nationalistic solution; there isn't. The sand in the hourglass is running out, and there isn't anywhere to run.
That ends his quote.
I then continue: "The issue is between the good inclination within us, and the evil inclination, which is to be destroyed in the coming war. The evil inclination is doing what is easy as opposed to what is right. The sign of the evil inclination is exploitation.
It is not exploitation to charge money for a bottle of milk or a liter of gasoline, or to charge for one's labor. Being recompensed for the products one sells or the labor one does is only fair. It becomes exploitation when one charges more than is reasonable, for any of these things. It is not exploitation to love a girl and to want to sleep with her. It becomes exploitation when sleeping with the girl, getting her to say yes to pulling her panties off, is the main object of communication; or when one uses her as a checkbook, maid, or cook while slurping beer and watching football.
The question is very simple. The evil inclination, which is part of "free will," is set to be destroyed. Do we allow ourselves to be destroyed with it?"
As for the veterinarian who is especially good with animals, this too is a Divine Gift, obtained precisely for the same reason that some autistic people can pick up Divine Messages - the webbing that filters the Mind of G-d from the mind of man is somewhat lacking. Not all Gifts have to be prophetic.
In essence, Daniel's message was one calling on Jews to repent. And the bottom line is that the real battle is not between us and the Arabs, or even between Israel and the American regime, but between the evil in one's own soul and the good. Many Sufis define jihad in the exact same way. Under Sufi guidance, Islam might well be a religion of peace, where jihad would be an internal struggle. But under Wahhabi guidance, where murder is the rule, the evil inclination of man is let loose to run wild. You see the result.
Daniel calls upon Jews to seek G-d and to forget about the illusions of gashmiút, the material world. And what is the essence of the material world? Money, wealth, power - all the things open to an ambitious man who thinks only of material things. And what is the motto of such a fellow?
"Life's a bitch and then you die."
How can you look beyond yourself - really look beyond yourself - if material things have you in their thrall?
If you have money to pay the bills, all this is comfortable speculation, a philosophical view of life that you can agree or disagree with. But when you don't have the money, and when the bills are due - today - this ceases to be a philosophical debate undertaken in the comfort of one's study while sipping on a cup of coffee. Suddenly, it becomes a question of focusing between the world of financial security - another part of the World of Lies, and trusting in G-d - the essential path of the World of Truth.
When I came here, I had the option to choose to exchange my Minnesota drivers' license for an Israeli drivers' license. It would not have been a major problem at all - except that in order to do so, I would have had to lie on the medical part of the questionnaire. I filled out the form - lies and all - and felt extremely uncomfortable. I finally realized that I hadn't come here to be under Divine Protection and then lie. In Minnesota, these lies went on the paper with a minimum of conscience bothering. Here, I couldn't do it. I tore up the form and threw it away. And I felt great.
I did what was right and not what was easy.
Now, given that I do not have money to cover bills that I must cover soon, I have to do what is right, and not what is easy. Asking for money is easy, for example, is easy. But is it right?
No.
That is why this article scared me so and had the effect it did.
3 - Irene Wagner
Dan Miller. The name of the animal specialist to whom whom you refer in comment #1 is Temple Grandin. Her story is quite inspiring to those who volunteer with or are employed in service to "the disabled." Maybe your partial color-blindness has an as-of-yet upside, just as Temple's autism--or different way of seeing life--does.
Ruvy in Jerusalem -- Your article is a sobering reminder about the foolishness of always "living for the minute." It's always a good idea to be ready to react to at least a 72-hour interruption of access to water and food. That's probably a bare minimum for someone who's taking responsibility for his family's short-term well-being in a crisis. Beyond that, it's hard to know how to carve up one's discretionary time: what should be the ratio of time devoted to personal emergency preparedness and political crisis intervention--which is how I've managed to justify or should I say rationalize PART of my time on blogcritics!-- to time spent on recreation and relationships.
It's good to keep the example of Elijah and the ravens in mind, not to avoid responsibility, but to keep things in perspective when the fear of the future and change you mention gets in the way of savoring the precious "now" with the family and friends in whose midst the Almighty has placed you. What might the "ravens" might look like, miraculous physical provision or supernatural peace and bravery in the face of horrors, even torture and death, or both? Never discount the possiblilty that they'll be there.
And I thought more about Dan Miller's comment.
Micah 6:8 He hath shown thee, O man, what is good (He's shown Dan Miller and countless others in remote times and places the Golden Rule) and what does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.
Some, as Dan Miller mentioned, lack a natural inclination to be drawn to the pursuit of the Divine. Psychologist William James described this phenomenon in his book "The Varieties of Religious Experience" before he was surprised by the manifestation of that inclination himself. The MOST humble approach to God would probably be one followed by one who 1) submits a superior intellect and its theodicy-related reservations to a heart and will that chooses (sometimes against reason's dictates) to live by the Golden Rule 2) is honest and sorrowful about his own tendency NOT to live by the Golden Rule 3)wants to believe--especially in light of the second point--that a wise, loving, frequently ignored and offended but forgiving Creator exists, and 4) continues, despite his natural inclination, to be open to evidence, not just through his intellect--but via other ways of perception suggested by Temple Grandin's experience--a Creator's existence and even his proximity. Those are the things a loving Creator desiring the love of the willing not automatons, would want most. The horrors of this world, no matter how horrible things get, Ruvy, are nothing compared to the wonders of getting to know him in this life, and an existence face to face with Him.
4 - Irene Wagner
And Ruvy, that's not to discount what it must be like to be unable to pay bills. It's just encouragement to keep following your Lights.
5 - Ruvy
Thank you, Irene. Your Biblical knowledge is heartening to an ignorant Jew like me. I had to read your comment out loud to get its full impact. And I read it to my wife, the true spiritual bedrock of our household. She is the one who really talks to G-d. She's the pro at that. I'm just the amateur who tries.
That is why I sit on the computer reading the stuff I do. I knew most of the message that I read a couple of nights ago. I didn't need to read it again, davka. And if you look carefully, you will see that it isn't even recent. But, in the circumstances I was in, suddenly it hit me that I had to change focus altogether.
Articles like these, articles that I write are, among other things, notes to myself to organize my own thoughts - and partially a message to my fellow Jews to wake up.
I seem to need a louder alarm clock.
The few people really who appreciate articles like these appear invariably to be non-Jews like yourself. I suppose that there is a message in that - one I'd rather not contemplate right now.
Thanks again. Now, you know why I worry little about your spiritual health, even though we disagree on a detail or two....
6 - Irene Wagner
I may know more Bible than you do, but you can read it in Hebrew. Ruvy, your wife and your other family members will be in my prayers tonight.
7 - Ruvy
Well, Irene,
Evidently your prayers have had some effect. Things have gone better than I expected them to. But much work (on my part) remains to be done, so please keep praying that I remain strong.
Thank you, madame.
Have a good Thursday.
8 - Ruvy
These are not my words, but from a Jewish list I'm on.
Having read the OT specifically Gen 21 and 22, I find that Ishmael and his decedents were given their inheritance and sent away, and Isaac was three times declared to be the one and only son of Abraham. I am amazed at the stupidity of fellow Christians who should know the OT will still insist Israel must compromise with Islam.
Think on that for a while....
In the End, there will be no compromises. But there will be a reconciliation. See Isaiah 60:7.
9 - Irene Wagner
I'm amazed that Americans who should know the U.S. Constitution better are insisting the same thing. I agree, Ruvy, it's all going to be worked out, one day, per Isaiah, and it's something only the Almighty will be able to do. Won't everyone be amazed when He does it?
Well Ruvy, I'm so glad that things are looking up for you and your family! Today I, too, will be beginning a new task (with kids home for summer to boot!), and it will require me to stay out of blogcritics for awhile. I've always enjoyed getting in these arguments/discussions with folks--so don't write anything TOO provocative in blogcritics e.g. anything with the phrase "Ron Paul" in it :) to make me break my promise to myself.
'til next time,
Shalom to you, your wife, your kids!
10 - Dr Dreadful
don't write anything TOO provocative in blogcritics e.g. anything with the phrase "Ron Paul" in it :) to make me break my promise to myself.
In that case, Irene, stay away from pretty much anything Dave writes. He's on a serious Paul binge right now!