Deuteronomy Cycle 7 Shoftim

 Shoftim

How do we discern between our thoughts of God and God, between that which God creates…even ourselves…and God Himself? How do we discern between (as Heschel says) the universe and its maker? This question in this era is specifically important. It shows us a new twist of Torah…or, if you like, it adds a new texture that reminds us of our growing power and dangerousness, our fantastic creations in communications and social media, our plastic connections and man-handled produce.  It reminds us of the refinement of our abilities to become (only on a superficial level) mini-gods, each and every one of us, and to praise each other and ourselves for our very superficiality.

As far as I know this is not what God wanted.

So we need to look at this carefully. 

We are not placed in an easy position these days. The line between creator and that which is created is so subtle, so thin, so vulnerable. We continually confuse our God with our calling.  We support a downward trajectory of consciousness caused by the embarrassment of creation. After all, isn’t it true that all creation loses its juice when confused with the creator?

 Think of the new BMW you might buy. Once you start “creating” it and driving it with your mind, your hands, your simple will to speed, your love, your image in your head, your slam on the breaks and your expensive wheels and detailed wash, you begin to confuse yourself with it and nothing anymore stands distinct and whole. We turn ourselves into a car, and we turn the car into us. The car (of course as all cars do) loses value and we see our net worth decline along with it. It’s nothing less than absurd:  Our very confusion infuses car-value into human-value.  After all what is Car but a machine, a welding together of various metal  pieces and parts. If there exists a car-soul then I apologize if any car owner is offended. But I think not.

And so it is if we (in the above situation) turn ourselves into the BMW and God into the new owner. We end up losing value in time (as we go right and left)) and, just as in our quotidian reality,  God as well experiences a decline in net worth.  For me this is a frightening thought. 

Let’s look at another dichotomy. That line between mercy and judgment is equally thin.  We call it justice. The manifestation of that balance… of justice…. is the mundane parallel to the balance between creator and created. The juxtaposition of  judges and law enforcement…with trees (creations) and altars (modes of praise)…says it all (see Deuteronomy 16:20-21).

No doubt if we look at this section of Torah we see quite clearly that the movement from one subject to the other is shocking on a literal level. What (we ask ourselves) do judges and enforcement have to do with trees and altars?

Well, one dichotomy mirrors the other. One dichotomy is the other simply on a different level. The things described as we move from 16:20 to 21 are not at all within relation. What is within relation are the schisms and similarities between the things described and how easy it can be (as humans) to confuse one with the next. Finally,   judgment/enforcement and creations/ modes of praise are two polarities that equally seek out that path of moderation. What do they have in common therefore? The work we need to do as we approach them.  We do not confuse one within a pair for the other. We keep each separate and distinct so that we know the boundaries within which we must walk.

We must know what each thing is.

What then (Heschel asks) is the ultimate? What then is worthy of our supreme worship? Is it ourselves? Is it our ideas? Our manipulations? Our work? Our money? Our meditation? The creek flowing through the desert soil?

This is the question we must ask ourselves continually. God did not make us to replace Him. He didn't make us to de-value Him.  There are powers that be out there…whether they are leaders of Israel or the leader of our divine path…and it is our responsibility and obligation to know who we are not so we can be below but so we can refrain from taking on some superficial form. This will happen if we confuse ourselves with either that which we create or He who creates us.  Honestly, I can think of many things I have wanted to be in my life. A lawyer, a playwright, and I think at one time, an astronaut. But I never had an ambition to be a BMW. 

To finish, Heschel speaks of the fallacy of isolation:  Things and events (Heschel says) man and the world, cannot be treated apart from the will of God, but only as inseparable parts of an occasion in which the divine is at stake. In pointing this out Hechel is certainly saying that there are parts and that their inseparable quality causes the divine to be at stake. Why? This is what I think:  Because their inseparable quality linguistically reminds us of their possible eternal separation. And when we confuse one part for the next we damn them each and therefore ourselves to it.