Redemption and the Cycles of Existence (4)

     The ultimate aim in Judaism, which we find expressed in Hassidism (among others), is that at the end of the process of development a person will not fulfill his or her obligation through a struggle and conquest of the internal self; ultimately we hope to see a person fulfill religious obligations through a drive which stems from this inner self. This is expressed in the Hassidic idea that each and every one of us has an inner world which is essentially good.

     In order to understand this, I would like to draft three models of prayer. The first model depicts free prayer, as though I were to go to a person and say: Take this flute and play what comes out of your heart. The flute is an expression of spontaneous prayer. And indeed we find a great emphasis upon prayer that comes from the heart in Hassidism.

     It would seem that this first type of prayer is the greatest and most important. However, there is a different kind of prayer in which everything is turned around. The siddur plays its music through us, and we become its instrument. As we see in a choir, no single person can sing all that comes out of his heart nor all of the song. Each person has to sing within the framework of an arranged group.

     The music produced in the second model is beautiful, but not spontaneous. Rav Kook describes these two states in the language of the Kabbala as inner light and surrounding light. The inner light comes from within the person, while the surrounding light is received from the outside, just as the conductor of a choir or an orchestra stands before me and sets the pace. However, Rav Kook defines the essential quality of prayer, as it was expressed by A.J. Heschel, through the idea of resonance. Sometimes a certain musical instrument will strike a note, and then another instrument which is in tune with the first, will begin to play on its own. The trick is for there to be agreement between the surrounding light and the inner light. One day, at a certain stage of our development, we will reach the recognition that the obligations imposed upon us from without, agree with our inner dictate, and that there is harmony between them. We have melodies within us that ought to be aroused by the music from without. This is true prayer.

     What is hidden within Man's inner world? This has been a topic of debate for generations. Freud claimed that the inner world is similar to what we find when we lift up the carpet - dust and dirt. There were also ethicists of the school of Rabbi Israel Salanter who felt the same. And we find other ethicists, particularly in Hassidism, and Rav Kook among them, who inform us that we are really in a house that has a carpet, and under the carpet there may be "dirt," but if we continue to dig, we will reach a spring of fresh water. There are various levels in the "inner world." Many things which happen within us are actually "dirt" which comes from outside. The great Hassidic thesis, as found for example in the writings of the Sefat Emet, and the approach of Rav Kook, is that behind this inner world there is a deeper inner world. This is a kind of spiritual umbilical cord that unconsciously connects us to a different world. The Torah is not merely a commandment coming from the outside. It grants Man the opportunity to uncover inner levels of his personality. This is what is termed by many thinkers, "achieving authenticity."

Education as a Tool

The example of the melody, which we used to illustrate the meaning of prayer, is the best model for a further reason. Sometimes we take a child, put a violin in his hands and force him to do tedious exercises. What will be his response? He will be angry at me, he will work with many difficulties, and he will, justifiably, see in my actions not only coercion and robbery of his freedom, but also cruel limitation of all kinds of other activities that he wished to do. We only hope that the day will come when the child will realize he has been given an instrument for the expression of his inner world that he did not posses before. The violin, which was a symbol of coercion from the outside, will become an expression of the inner self. He will then feel that the music which was inside him, can be expressed - a thing which was not possible before. He will have an instrument to express his inner self, as well as fame and fortune, if he is successful.

     Of course these things should be done without coercion, but rather, gently and pleasantly.  Yet, despite this, it is clear that any human advancement is connected first of all with self discipline. One must be honest with oneself and clarify whether this self-discipline causes one to give up, or if it allows one to gain new ways to discover one's inner world. We can also fall into the opposite trap. To borrow an allegory from the Chanuka story, all the oils have been defiled, except for the one small flask. Many times we use holy things for unholy purposes.  A great idea such as the idea of education has often been used for evil. In various countries and cultures education has been used to make people into animals or robots. These dangers exist, but they cannot make us forget the true educational ideal. Coercion is not a goal; it is sometimes the only means to try to give a person freedom, to help him to create channels that will give expression to his true freedom, to his inner world, and to the truth. People have always used beautiful and ethical ideas to defend evil actions. This is the reason for the great commandment to distinguish between the holy and the profane, between the pure and impure. With regard to our issue, we must differentiate between different types of education and freedom.

     We have learned from Hasidism and from the writings of Rav Kook, that freedom is one of the basic ideals of Judaism: political freedom, social freedom and also individual freedom.

     Political freedom means the liberation of the nation. The month of Nissan is the month of Spring. Rav Kook sees it as the month of the "Spring of Nations". This name refers to a period, in 1848, when many revolutions broke out in Europe. This was the Spring of Nations, however like the Spring of Prague more than a hundred years later, this Spring that predicted change in the world, ended in utter failure. Rav Kook teaches us that the Spring of Nations is actually Pesach, the holiday of Spring. It is the national symbol of a nation's liberation, and a social symbol of freed slaves, a successful slave revolution. Individual freedom is an ideal as well. Sometimes we have to give it up for the sake of the other freedoms, however we must aim for integration. Just as we must be aware of the supreme value of martyrdom, we must also know that life is a value, and we must strive to live, as we were commanded, "and you shall choose life;" similarly we must understand that in every act of self-discipline there is a type of martyrdom for the sake of Heaven. However, the final goal of these acts is an integration and melding of truth and freedom.