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The
Accent of Faith
by Rabbi David Zaslow
October, 2003
I
remember being at the film "Schindler's List" with
an Israeli friend who pointed out that everytime Hebrew was
spoken a different accent was used. Jews from German pronounced
a Hebrew word one way, Jews from Poland pronounced the same
word differently. But my Israeli friend pointed out that the
accents in the movie differed within the same family, and
she did not think it was a "continuity" error on
the part the film's director, Steven Speilberg. Rather, she
thought, that it was a subtle statement that all Jewish people
are unified, even when there are differences in accent.
A
personal story: I remember in Brooklyn that some of us with
heavy accents pronounced the word "oil" as "earl."
My dad, for example, would be in a restaurant and say, "Pass
the earl and vinegar." Then in the early 60's a pop song
came out called "Duke of Earl." And how did my father
pronounce the title of the song? He'd say "Duke of Oil."
Like any good teenager I pointed the contradiction out to
him. "Dad," I said, "You say 'Oil' when you
should say 'Earl' and you say 'earl' when you should say 'oil.'
Can't you get it right?" He laughed and jokingly said,
"Mind your business. It's my accent!"
I
got the point, and today I get the point at an even deeper
level than my father may have intended. A spiritual journey
has an accent. One of us may prefer rituals and formal services,
another prefers deeds of loving kindness. Each mitzvah is
part of the accent of our souls. Some of us prefer communal
prayer, others prefer to perform g'milut hasadim (deeds of
loving-kindness). Some prefer quiet meditation, others prefer
ecstatic davvenen (prayer). There is no right or wrong about
our choices, there is no better or worse since these choices
are not in the category of morality.
A
spiritual accent is simply the way we filter the Divine commandments
and shape them to suit our own individual and communal needs.
Each accent has its own innate beauty. But the secret to deepening
our spiritual path is to keep reformulating the way we speak
and to permit our metaphorical accent to take on new shapes
and sounds. In Judaism this means to continually take on new
mitzvot and add them to our repertoire of Divine responses.
In this way we better ourselves, better the world, and make
deeper and deeper connections to the world of the soul.
The
world we live in is but one dimension within many worlds.
There are worlds above this world, worlds below this world,
and worlds within this world. Some call these worlds realms,
others call them dimensions, and some prefer to call them
levels. The labels are but metaphors pointing to the depths
of reality. Not just the simple reality of our day-to-day
lives, but the totality of reality which encompasses everyday
existence and the transcendental.
Studying
Kabbalah we learn (Mee-malay kole ole-meen v'so-vayv kole
ole-meen) that G-d "fills all worlds and surrounds all
worlds." There is no "outside" G-d to worship
and believe in. There is no artificial split between the transcendence
of G-d and the immimance of G-d. Worlds within worlds. Dimensions
within dimensions. It is all part of a single fabric. May
Hashem bless each and every one of us to fix the personal
fabric of our souls where it needs to be fixed. May we blessed
with the courage to adjust our behaviors in ways that put
us more and more in touch with the Divine.
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