A Leap of Action

Though the great Abraham Joshua Heschel's theology places him firmly outside the view of nondualistic conceptions of God, his writing remains a constant source of inspiration and challenge to me. The following are two quotes from him which, while not theological, present a deep sense of the struggles of observant Jewish life. Both regard prayer, an activity with which I struggle frequently in two ways: 1. because of my nondual theology, I do not suppose that my prayers are efficacious in any external sense. In a traditional Jewish view of prayer, especially from the Hasidic perspective, an individual's prayer can cause cosmic change. I miss that power even though that power comes with much philosophical and ethical baggage that I cannot abide. 2. Given my understanding that prayer is really an internal meditative practice, it is often difficult to "make" myself pray the three daily Jewish services (shacharit, mincha, and maariv) even though I know that my resulting mindset will be improved. The question of, course, is: why do I feel obligated to "make" myself do them in the first place? This leads to a discussion too long for this particular post, but suffice it to say that I have adopted halacha as the basis of order and meaning in my life and seek to live by it and for it and through it and of it. In any case, I think that Heschel's words speak to both of my concerns:

1: "A Jew is asked to take a leap of action rather than a leap of thought: to surpass his needs, to do more that he understands in order to understand more than he does..."

2: "I am not always in the mood to pray. I do not always have the vision or the strength to a say a word in the presence of God. But when I am am weak, it is the law that gives me strength; when my vision is dim, it is duty that gives me insight."

Shabbat Shalom.