Personal Holiness vs. End of the World

Some years ago I heard an interview with Rabbi Harold Kushner on the radio. He is the author of books like “When Bad Things Happen to Good People” and “To Life”. During the interview he said, “Christianity is focused on getting to heaven, and if you happen to become a good person in the process, great! But Judaism is focused on being a good person, and if you happen to get to heaven, great!”

This statement is clearly an oversimplification for both groups. Yes, some streams of Christianity seem to be overly focused on the hereafter and they act as if life on this earth isn’t important. But there are also Christian traditions that emphasize spiritual growth and social justice. For example, the Methodist movement of the 1700s heavily emphasized personal holiness and devotion to God. The Salvation Army movement of the early 20^th century focused a lot of their attention and efforts on helping the poor and also helping people grow more deeply in their walk with God. And there are also streams within Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy that have emphasized becoming a good person and seeking to make the world a better place.

There is a story from the early church that says, “One of the brethren who possessed nothing but a copy of the Gospels, sold it, and distributed the price in food to the hungry, uttering this memorable saying—'I have sold the book which says, "Sell that you have and give to the poor."'

The Catholic group Opus Dei is founded on the idea that everyone is called to personal holiness and that ordinary everyday life here on earth is holy.

Eastern Christians talk about “Theosis- Divinization” becoming like God in attitude and behavior. It states, “As God became Man in all ways except sin, so God can make Man God in all ways except His divine essence”.

Likewise, it is a clear oversimplification to say that Judaism isn’t interested in the hereafter. While some liberal forms of Judaism (and some Christian too) may have given up looking for the Messiah and seeing God’s reign on earth, you only have to look at the whole breadth of Jewish tradition to see that it is infused with Messianic hope for the future.

In the Amidah, a set of prayers said three times a day, we say:

“Et tsemach david av-d’cha m’hey-rah tatz-mi-ach…”

“Speedily cause the offspring of David, your servant, to flourish, and lift up his glory by your divine help because we wait for your salvation all the day.”

The ending of the prayer service we chant the Aleynu. In it we say,

“We hope therefore, LORD our God, soon to behold Your majestic glory, when the world shall be perfected under the reign of the Almighty; when all human beings will call upon Your Name, and all the wicked will be turned to You; when all inhabitants of the earth will know and recognize, that to You every knee should bend and every tongue should swear.”

I just recently observed my father’s 4^th yahrzeit (anniversary of his death) and as I was saying Kaddish I was reminded of how this prayer which is in the very midst of mourning and grief, is not a prayer for my father or comfort to me; instead it is a prayer calling for God to bring an end to time, to establish His kingdom, and to bring peace to the whole world.

Maimonides’ thirteen principles of faith declare this faith that God will bring an end to the world. The twelfth principle states, “I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah; and, though he tarry, I will wait for his coming daily.”

These are just a few examples from many yearnings for olam ha-ba (the world to come) that can be found in the siddur.

So we have these two focuses which appear to be a dichotomy; a vision for a restored creation and becoming a good person. I would like to propose to you that these two are not a dichotomy; they are in fact, one and the same thing!

It all has to do with your view of salvation. Is salvation just not going to hell? Some would say so. But I think that it goes much beyond that. God says “Be holy as I am holy.” Salvation entails us becoming more and more like God. It is us growing into our destiny, our vocation. As human beings we are called to be like God.

In Genesis 1: 26 it says “And God said, “Let us make Man in our image, after Our likeness”. There are two words used here, image and likeness. The Hebrew word for image is “tselem” and for likeness is “demut”. The rabbis asked, “Why did God use two different words to describe His creation of Man to be like Him?”

The answer that they gave is that these two words denote two different aspects of being in God’s image. The word tselem refers to the reality that we are indeed created in the image of God. This is something that we cannot avoid. Like it or not, we are created in His image, we have no choice in the matter. By fiat God has given each human being characteristics that are consonant with His being. God has certain attributes; He is personal, he has a specific identity. He is social, He desires to live with others. He is emotional, God feels. He is Moral, He has the ability to make moral choices. He is rational, creative, and so on. So it is with us. Woven into the very fabric of our being is the fact that we too are personal, social, emotional, and moral beings.

But, the rabbis said, demut speaks of another aspect of God’s image. This word speaks of our potential to be like God in our holiness. Scripture describes God to us as One who is loving, compassionate, gracious, peaceful, good, and forgiving. The goal of our creation is for us to join Him in this, for us to achieve His image, His demut. Like God we can be loving towards others, compassionate, gracious, lovers of peace, holy, good and forgiving. But God gave us free will too. This is part of being a moral being. We have the right to choose that which is not of God. Because we are His children, we cannot avoid the fact that we are created in His tselem, His form, but we can choose to ignore His call to holiness and never achieve His demut, His likeness. We have the ability instead to be cruel, selfish, evil, hateful, and nasty. God created us in His image but He calls us to be in His likeness. This is our destiny, this is our vocation.

In Philippians, Rav Shaul (Rabbi Paul) says “…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” He is writing to believers of Yeshua. So if your view of salvation is that it’s just getting to heaven, this statement makes no sense. However, if you understand that salvation encompasses becoming more like Yeshua and God then it does. The beginning of redemption is turning to God. The continuing of redemption is learning to become more like Him in character and behavior. The finalization of redemption, however, is when we are perfected at the end of time. All three of these are underneath the umbrella that we would call “Salvation”. They are stages in the process of us being conformed in His image.

This is a significant part of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchek’s thesis in his book, “Halachic Man”. Halacha (Jewish Law), which has a very practical and ethical focus, which seems to be focused on the here and now, must be seen as eschatological; it must be viewed through the eyes of eternity. We are not working just to be good people now but towards a future in which this move towards holiness will be completed in the world to come. He describes God as standing at the end of time, calling us forward into our vocation. Through halacha, we are moving towards this future reality by conforming ourselves into His image.

And we see both of these aspects coming together in a passage in Ephesians.

For he chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Messiah Yeshua, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Messiah, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even the Messiah. (Eph 1:4-10)

Our future hope is that God will bring Creation to its fullness, restoring God’s sovereignty over the Earth, through the coming of Mashiach. However, this is the very thing that we work towards when we strive for personal holiness, for being a good person! We are striving to overcome our evil inclination and to become more like God, to be restored in His likeness. Is this not what we will be in olam ha-ba (the world to come)? God’s restoration of Creation encompasses our being holy!

As we strive to make ourselves better people, we are also participating in the culmination of history. We are looking forward to; we are leaning into that future day when we will be completely holy and like God! The same Voice that calls us to hope and long for the end of time also calls us to be good and holy.

So, what does all of this mean for us today?

First, it calls us to take comfort that things will not always be the way that they currently are now. It is easy for us in this day and age to get despondent over all the troubles in the world; for us to wonder if it will never end. We need to take comfort that it will indeed come to a close. We don’t know exactly when but we know it will happen. There is a midrash on our haftorah reading today that asks, “Why is the word nachamu, comfort, repeated?” The answer is that it points to the fact that there were two Temples destroyed. But more than that, it points to the fact that there will be a Third Temple. Just as the second temple was more glorious than the first, we can look forward to that even more glorious Third Temple which will be built by Hashem Himself. Another Messianic midrash, given by that great rabbi, Chana, says that this repetition also points to the coming of Mashiach. The first coming was more humble and quiet. But we can look forward to that Day when Yeshua will return as a conquering King and Lord of History.

It also calls us to renew our vision for the future, for the world to come. It is easy for us to become caught up in the busyness of everyday life and forget that we are part of a much greater drama in salvation history. It is also easy for us to get complacent and to not take these prayers for redemption seriously; to give up that eschatological hope and not really pray for the coming of the Almighty. The call for us during this season is to renew our yearning for the coming of Olam ha-Ba, the world to come; and to pray for it daily with great kavannah (spiritual intent).

In our parsha (weekly Torah reading) this week, Moshe longed to enter the Promised Land but was unable to. He could only stand on the mountaintop and look out over the horizon, grasping a faint hint of the Land. Likewise, we are standing on the mountain, looking into eternity. We have the scriptures, and the traditions, and the holidays, which give us but a hint of the reality that God is in control of history and will some day, return to assume His rightful throne over Creation. Like Moshe, we should long to see that day come.

Second, it calls us to strive with ever more energy and commitment to make ourselves better people, and to contribute to making the world a better place. We need to see that our personal holiness is a part of God’s culmination of history. As we enter into the High Holidays, a time when we reflect on our actions and behaviors, and also a time when we think about the end of human history, let us carry with us this realization that our personal holiness is indeed intertwined with the great drama which is unfolding in the cosmos. And let us all look forward to that glorious Day when Mashiach Yeshua shall return!

Fluttering Wings

This is a short talk that I gave this past weekend. Enjoy.

*********

In Genesis 1:2 it says, "The earth was astonishingly empty, with darkness upon the surface of the deep, and the Divine Presence hovered upon the surface of the waters."

This word translated as "hovered" is "mi-rah-khefet" in Hebrew. It can mean hovered, or brooded. In Isaiah it is used to describe a mother eagle fluttering her wings as she feeds her young. It can take on the meaning of "tender care".

God is like the deep dark water. He is mystery. We cannot comprehend Him. In Isaiah 55, God declares, "My thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways."

But we are created in God's image and are also like the deep dark waters. We are mystery. All of us have struggled to understand our motivations, attitudes, and desires. We are complex beings. In Psalm 139 it says "I praise you Lord, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

But God knows us. We tend to think of God as being out there beyond the stars, which is indeed true. But He is also closer to us than we are to ourselves. God is also deep within us. He hovers over the deep dark waters of our soul. He broods over all of us like a mother eagle. He stirs these deep dark waters calling us to greater growth and healing.

We tend to think of God calling those who are far away from, those who don't know Him. But this is just the beginning. We are still in much need of healing and growth. He hovers over the deep dark waters of our soul, fluttering His wings, stirring us.

But have you ever heard a bird flutter its wings? It is a very soft sound. We have to strain our ears, we have to pay attention, to hear the soft fluttering of a bird's wings.

So, too, God's fluttering over the depths of our soul is the faintest of sounds. We have to train our ears to hear it. We do this through practicing silence, solitude, prayer, and meditation. We can also hear those faint flutterings in sermons, songs, friends, art, or nature. In all of these, we can hear God brooding over us if we but pay attention.

And just as God's hovering over the deep dark waters of primeval earth was the beginning of creation, so too can His hovering over us be the beginning of our re-creation each and every day! All too often, we blunder through life, making way to much noise to notice the soft flutterings of the Spirit's wings. I urge all of us to take up the practices that will allow us to hear them and thereby hear God's call to greater growth and healing.

I would like to end this today with a poem that I wrote:

Ah restless Spirit,
who hovers over
the deep dark waters
of my soul.

With the faintest stroke of Your wings,
You stir the waters.
Faint ripples radiate across
the surface of the deep.

I strain to hear
that faintest of sounds.
What are You calling me to,
O Holy Wings?

What is the next step of my creation?