Followers

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Philosophising with Rabbi Jacobson

While sailing along in Cyberspace, I happened upon this letter written by Rabbi Jacobson, which struck me to be rather Profound, Proliffic, and perhaps Pivotal--and definitely in line with the Lay of the Political Landscape in todays War-Torn Greed-Infested Cold-Hearted World. Enjoy.



Dear ,

Since you mention anarchy, I must make a confession. I have always been obsessed with anarchy, and I must admit, that I have been accused in my time of being an anarchist. One fellow angrily dismissed my words by saying that I simply can’t handle authority. While that may be true, that doesn’t mean authority per se is always a good thing. As they say, “Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean nobody wants to get me.”

Ok, so what exactly is anarchy. Webster’s defines it like this:

Etymology: Medieval Latin anarchia, from Greek, from anarchos having no ruler, from an- + archos ruler. Date: 1539.

1 a : absence of government b : a state of lawlessness or political disorder due to the absence of governmental authority c : a utopian society of individuals who enjoy complete freedom without government
2 a : absence or denial of any authority or established order b : absence of order

No doubt that there is an unhealthy form of anarchy – especially in context of one who simply has no rules in his/her life and just follows his own heart’s desire, destructive or not. They call that nihilism.

Etymology: German Nihilismus, from Latin nihil nothing. Date: circa 1817
1 a : a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless b : a doctrine that denies any objective ground of truth and especially of moral truths
2 a (1) : a doctrine or belief that conditions in the social organization are so bad as to make destruction desirable for its own sake independent of any constructive program or possibility (2) capitalized : the program of a 19th century Russian party advocating revolutionary reform and using terrorism and assassination

But allow me to submit another translation of anarchy: Rebelling against corrupt systems and the mediocre status quo, in search for truth. Not accepting the way things are just because people and so called ‘authorities’ say so. In other words: the search for G-d – not anything man-made – but a true G-d, Who transcends all our structures and definitions.

Not an anarchy that is driven by reckless abandon or plain narcissism. Not an anarchy that is a smoke screen for doing whatever you like. But an anarchy that is revolutionary. It may not always know how to be channeled, but it is driven by the desperate quest for something higher – something more – than our conventional pedestrian diet.

Conformists don’t change the world. Anarchists do. That is, anarchists according to my definition, when they channel their energy into positive revolution.

There is a thin line between true faith and true anarchy – a very thin line. Just like there is a thin line between genius and madness, between faith and heresy, between tragedy and comedy. That’s how extremes work. Passion can go both ways. In Hebrew it’s called shtus d’kedusha – holy insanity, separated by a thin line from unhealthy insanity. [In another context, the Talmud says: The greater the person, the greater his yetzer hora (evil inclination)].

Though this doesn’t answer your question, I just couldn’t resist the temptation to get in a few words about anarchy.

Now to your actual question.

Let me begin with a great analogy I just heard from my old time friend and colleague, Rabbi Yossi Shemtov, the Chabad shliach (representative) in Tucson, Arizona. After chastising me for not calling him when I was in Scottsdale, he shared with me the following reply he gave someone who asked him about the distinction between different Rabbis.

Some Rabbis, he said, are like surgeons and others are like pilots. What is the difference between a surgeon and a pilot? When someone is in need of surgery, G-d forbid, he will be very cautious and search around for the best possible surgeon. Why? Because his life is at risk, and he wants to ensure that whoever is cutting him open is the most qualified expert in performing this particular surgery.

Why then is it that when the same person books an airline flight, with all the risks of air travel, he doesn’t go searching for the best pilot in the world?

The answer is because the pilot is flying together with you on the airplane, and he is exposed to the same risk as the passenger. The surgeon, on the other hand, is not lying on the slab with the patient. If the surgery doesn’t go well, G-d forbid, the surgeon remains intact [except for possible malpractice suits].

Some Rabbis are like great surgeons. They are brilliant scholars, erudite legal experts, eloquent orators. Many of us who see a Rabbi as an ‘outsider,’ one who is not in the ‘same boat’ with us, will go searching for the best surgeon. We will look for the greatest scholar and expert. However, there are Rabbis who are like pilots – they may not be the best, but they are in it with us. Our problem is their problem. Our celebration is their celebration.

We are not looking for ‘perfect’ Rabbis; we are in search of Rabbis who humbly appreciate the value of Divine souls and know that we are all sacred souls struggling in an agnostic world.

As I wrote in the first part of How to Find a True Rabbi, we are never given a challenge that we cannot overcome. The mere fact that we live in a world like ours and that many of us are confused as how to recognize a true mentor, this in itself tells us that G-d has built in an ‘immune system’ that allows us to overcome this challenge and that we can and must be able to find the rights answers and the true mentors.

Perhaps this is the calling of our times – to ask the right questions and discover our true Rabbis. I would even go one step farther. Even if we don’t have all the knowledge, even if we are ignorant and were not given the best educational opportunities, our calling today may be at least to use the knowledge we do have to understand the criteria for a true Rabbi, and demand – yes, demand – that standard for our communities and families.

I for one can simply not accept the resigned approach that because of public ignorance we have to suffice with mediocre Rabbis. Yes, I would prefer anarchy to that choice. But I don’t believe that we need to resort to anarchy. We must believe in the ability that our generation can discover truth, and do not have to be brainwashed or programmed like blind sheep.

Nothing is more dangerous than the elitist approach, which insecurely believes that a few ‘keepers of the flame’ must dictate the rules for the ignorant masses. We must respect the dignity of each person’s individual soul and believe in the fact that we are all together ‘in the same boat’ and the ‘same plane.’

Frankly, if you don’t believe in that, what then do you believe in? To believe in G-d and not believe in the Divinely ordained spirit within each human being and that each person can access this soul is, at least in this humble writer’s opinion, ludicrous. If you don’t have confidence in G-d’s creatures you basically don’t have confidence in G-d.

So, yes, we are in need of teachers, leaders, Rabbis, but we also have the ability to identify the true standard of a Rabbi and demand of our rabbis to live up to that standard.

If you call that anarchy – so be it.


--Rabbi Jacobson

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