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October 19, 2001/Cheshvan 2, 5762, Vol. 54, No. 6
Making sense of troubled world
VICKI CABOT
Contributing Editor
Still trying to make sense of the world after Sept. 11, we're struggling to comprehend the reality of evil in our midst and the very real possibility, as evidenced tragically with the crashes at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, of its eruption in violent attack. Beyond the "how could it have happened" looms the even larger question of why - and how can we reconcile such endemic evil with our basic purpose in life and belief in the innate goodness of the world.
Synagogues and temples, churches and mosques report record attendance as Americans confront the wrenching devastation and ongoing military response. Many are searching inward, looking toward their religious traditions for comfort in these troubled times.
Several new books by distinguished religious thinkers can help assuage the need for spiritual reflection, drawing on the wisdom of our sacred texts to provide a healing balm.
"Living a Life that Matters" by Harold S. Kushner (Alfred A. Knopf, $22 hardcover) confronts life's essential questions while providing a road map for resolving conflicts between the spiritual and the material.
Kushner, rabbi laureate of Temple Israel in Natick, Mass., and the author of more than a half dozen best selling Jewish self-help books, including "When Bad Things Happen to Good People," reduces the issue to a tension between "doing well" and "doing good."
"Our souls are split," he writes, "part of us reaching for goodness, part of us chasing fame and fortune..."
Writing simply, he takes the reader through the process of reconciling fame and fortune with goodness and provides a means of creating a sense of wholeness in our lives. He confronts our yetzer hara, the inclination to do evil, and deals with such human reactions as aggression, manipulation and revenge. Yet he notes that "without a modicum of selfishness and aggression the world could not go on."
Drawing on the stories of biblical heroes, ranging from Jacob, who wrestled with his conscience as he wrestled with the angel, to Jeremiah, the prophet whose angry prognostications of destruction probably saved the Jewish people, he carefully makes his points.
Kushner's premise is that we must aspire for integrity in our lives, noting that the Hebrew word for wholeness - shalom - is the same word for peace.
"Shalom means wholeness," the rabbi writes, "everything fitting together, nothing missing, and nothing broken. Just as peace on the world scene means no fighting between nations ... shalom for you means no fighting with yourself, no quarreling between the two halves of your divided soul. To wish someone shalom is to wish him or her the blessing of wholeness and integrity."
Kushner's wish is especially apt now.
One would hardly expect Adin Steinsaltz, one of the leading scholars of the modern era, best known for his multi-volume translation and commentary of the Talmud, to offer a formulaic treatise on how to define ourselves in an increasingly complex and dangerous world.
Yet, while "Simple Words, Thinking About What Really Matters in Life," (Simon & Schuster, $12 paperback) will probably not be shelved under self-help in local bookstores, it takes a number of abstract concepts and reduces them to digestible ideas. With a little patience, the reader can glean the essence of Steinsaltz's message and come away with a few life-enhancing nuggets of wisdom.
Simple words are really not all that simple. That's how Steinsaltz begins, explaining that it is our ability to express ourselves in words that distinguishes the human species - and our control over how we use them that distinguishes each of us as individuals.
He goes on to explain how simple words frame what he calls the "essential religious question" - the meaning and purpose of life. Particularly now, those questions plague us.
"Walking through life is like wandering in a labyrinth," he writes, using an analogy that resonates, "constantly probing and searching for an opening."
Taking the reader from faith to family to love to God, with detours along the way to Hollywood, envy and death, Steinsaltz probes and searches for those openings. He echoes Kushner on the inherent duality of our lives and the need to integrate the material and spiritual. He emphasizes the importance of relationships and the need to be connected.
"When the world collapses physically, financially or personally, we have a great need for something that will not be destroyed along with the general destruction. That 'something,' though not always a comfort, and not always an answer, nevertheless meets the need for permanence and reliability."
He urges the reader to "edit out (the) extra, useless words and ideas" in our lives, suggesting that once we strip life to its fundamentals, we may uncover its inner meaning.
"We may discover that God has always existed within us," he writes.
But how to get to that essence? Los Angeles psychologist Leonard Felder suggests that Jewish prayer, with its ancient words and rhythms, its wisdom and teachings, can help us discern what's important in life. "Seven Prayers That Can Change Your Life," (Andrews McNeel Publishing, $12.95 hardcover) is an easy-to-read explanation of seven Jewish blessings and the potential they have for enhancing life. Interspersing translations and commentary on the meaning of each prayer with real life experience, Felder displays both the depth of his Jewish knowledge and the breadth of his 20 years experience as a practicing psychologist.
Beginning with the Modeh (modah) ani, the prayer said upon arising, Felder suggests that reciting the prayer during that "half-awake" moment in the morning can impact the course of the day. The prayer thanks God for the very fact of our existence.
"This prayer of only 12 words can open your heart and mind to a day of profound clarity and purpose," he writes.
In succeeding chapters, he deals with prayers to help us refocus, to relieve tensions, to unwind, to heal.
In his discussion of the Meshebeirach, the prayer for healing, he confronts the very real issue of "walking the fine line between false hope and realistic wonder."
"Sometimes even the most passionate and profound words of prayer cannot change a situation that is beyond reversal," he writes. "Since illness and physical death are part of the overall design of the universe, our task as humans is to search for meaning and purpose in even the most difficult moments."
And he displays an equally realistic worldview in his chapter on prayer for breaking free from a hurtful habit.
He quotes from the Talmud: "There is an honored place where an individual who is transforming a personal failing can stand and where a thoroughly righteous individual is not entitled to stand."
Such compassion and understanding threads its way through Felder's discussion on each of the prayers he has chosen.
He encourages readers to try prayer, inviting them to incorporate it into their lives in an individual and meaningful way.
"Jewish prayer is not a fixed or rigid system but a rather constantly evolving process that invites us to offer up our personal prayers," he writes. "Dig deeply inside to find your truth and speak it. ... Prayer (can) give us strength and focus."
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