On a trip to Israel, when I was 21 years old, I had my first religious experience. I was standing on a balcony overlooking the Western Wall (aka "The Wall") in the in the Old City of Jerusalem when it happened.
At that point in my life I was not very fond of religion (I looked at religion as an irrational throwback to humanities primitive and fearful past), and I wasn't planning on having a religious experience. In fact, moments before as I was descending the steps to the Western Wall Plaza, where the Wall is located, I said to myself, "I am going to see a really big wall, made of really big bricks, that is really old, and nothing is going to happen." Upon entering the plaza I had decided I didn't even want to buy into the silly "religious" tradition of going up to the Western Wall, which is why when I got there I went only to the balcony. So what came next was a surprise to me.
I had walked there with a new friend with whom I was arguing (it's a form of Jewish bonding), and when we reached the balcony overlooking the Wall I suddenly lost my desire to speak (for me this is a big deal). I stood in silence looking at the huge stones, took in the the people praying, and I sensed the presence of something that made me pause, something which I would now call "Holiness." Then I looked down at my hands and I saw they were shaking, and I thought to myself, "Wow, this place is really effecting me." Soon afterwards I began to feel what I could only call waves of "energy" rolling off the Wall, and I felt within myself a stirring to be closer to it. So, putting aside my skepticism, I stepped off the balcony and walked down the entry ramp and up to the Wall. I saw other people leaning on it, cradling their head on their arms and pressing their faces close to the stones and I decided I would do the same. As I leaned my arm and head against the Wall, a very deep part of me woke up, a part of me that I didn't know was there, and it said "I am home." Although I didn't know at the time, I was fulfilling the collective prayers said for thousands years by the Jewish people to come out of exile and to return to Jerusalem.
Before that night if you had asked me if I was Jewish, I would have said I am "culturally Jewish" but I am not "really Jewish." I grew up a very unaffiliated and uninformed Jew (bacon, egg and cheese on a bagel was a favorite breakfast as a kid ), so this "inner knowing" was a surprise for me. Since then I have met many people who come to the Wall and spontaneously start crying, have powerful heart openings or other "religious" experiences. That night at the Western Wall, I heard my first call to God, to explore Judaism as a spiritual path. I ended up staying in Israel longer than planned, studying Torah in yeshiva and beginning the process of of reclaiming my Jewish spiritual lineage.
I didn't know much about Judaism when I first got to Israel, so I thought the Western Wall was just that -- a wall. Then I learned it was much more. The area known as "the Wall" was just a small section of a retaining wall of a much bigger structure, which was called the the Beit HaMigdash ("The Holy House" in Hebrew) but which is referred to as the "Temple." The Temple stood on what is now called the Temple Mount and was the center of Jewish life in ancient Israel. The three major Jewish holidays of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot were marked by national pilgrimages to and celebrations at the Temple. According to kabbalistic sources, it was built at the spot where time and space first came into being, and it's said that God's presence rested in the Temples sancturary.
The Temple was destroyed on the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av (from the evening of July 27-28 of this year 2012). The Temple wasn't just destroyed once but twice, both times on the ninth of Av. The last time it was destroyed was by the Romans in 70 C.E., which began the second Jewish exile from the Land of Israel. The ninth of Av, and the three weeks leading up to it, is considered a time of mourning in Jewish practice. The ninth of Av also marks the Jewish expulsion from Spain in 1492, and start of the mass deportation of the Warsaw ghetto in 1942, among other tragedies in Jewish history and is another example of the spiral-like nature of Jewish history.
It says in the Talmud:
"Why was the first Temple destroyed? Because the three cardinal sins were rampant in society: idol worship, licentiousness, and murder ... And why then was the second Temple -- wherein the society was involved in Torah, commandments and acts of kindness -- destroyed? Because baseless hatred was rampant in society. This teaches that baseless hatred is equal in severity to the three cardinal sins: idol worship, licentiousness, and murder."
One of the most destructive ways baseless hatred manifests itself is through judging others. Many a time I have seen someone play the "what's wrong with you" game, looking for any flaw or weakness to put another person down. Baseless hatred dehumanizes us, until we lose our empathy and no longer see the "other" as people like us, who feels like us. As a result, we lose our ability to be vulnerable, to be students of life, to open our hearts and to share our weakness. Instead people adopt defense mechanisms, wearing facades of perfection, trying to appear as if they "know" and are "in control" even when they aren't. This armoring leaves a person feeling numb, exhausted, alienated and isolated while underneath yearning to be able to say, "I'm not perfect. I dont know. I'm doing the best I can, and I want to be loved for who I am."
It is easy to destroy, and it is hard to build. A few cruel words from a parent can destroy a child's self confidence. The Twin Towers of NYC took years of sweat, intelligence, time and effort to build and were destroyed in a few tragic hours. The Holy light of a human life can be extinguished in less than a second by a bullet. Every day the Jewish people pray for the time of redemption as described by the prophet Isaiah when "They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." It is taught that during these miraculously ideal times, the Third Temple will be rebuilt.
But praying is not enough.
The Talmud also says, "He who does not rebuild the Temple in his generation is considered as if he has destroyed it." We have the means today, if we will it, to create a world where all human beings can live with the dignity which is their right as creations who are made in Gods image, but if we dont actively build, if we choose the easy path of accepting baseless hatred and a fallen world as a given, it is as if we have destroyed the Temple ourselves. Rav Abraham Isaac Kook taught, "If we were destroyed, and the world with us, due to baseless hatred, then we shall rebuild ourselves, and the world with us, with baseless love -- ahavat chinam."
The consciousness that is going to rebuild the Temple is one of baseless Love. Love predicated by no reason. Love that gives selflessly. Love that serves life for the sake of Love. It means seeing the good in others and building people with our words. Strengthening the lives of the people we meet, and loving our neighbor as ourselves. It means playing the "what's right with you" game. It's up to us to collectively create the consciousness which will rebuild the Temple and bring about a time where all the politics and divisiveness will be set aside and we will be able to come together as One.
That night in Jerusalem, I wasn't just leaning my head against a wall, I was leaning my head against a dream. For me the ninth of Av is a day of mourning, because the world is still so broken, and I am still so broken. So I fast and refrain from food and drink, adopt the practices of mourning and read the book of Lamenations, but it's not a day to sink into despair. The ninth of Av is a day to feel that brokenness and to yearn for something higher, and to give our yearning up to God, until we experience a wholeness beyond the brokenness, or as Rebbe Nachman of Breslov says, "There is nothing more whole than a broken heart." From there, we can begin to build.
May Hashem bless us to love for no reason and to build with the secret that comes from knowing what it feels like to be broken.
Check out a slideshow of views of the Western Wall in Jerusalem:
Amazing Temple art by Baruch Nachshon
Follow Eitan Press on Twitter: www.twitter.com/eitanquest
Rabbi Yonah Bookstein: From Burnings to Celebration: Lessons in Learning and Jewish Unity
We are all members of one human family, we are all connected to each other & everything else. We are all part of The Magical Mystery Tour, one infinite mind & soul, within it & with it.
"Simply see that you are at the center of the universe, and accept all things and beings as parts of your infinite body. When you perceive that an act done to another is done to yourself, you have understood the great truth." Lao Tzu
"Lack of truth translates to lack of consciousness, disconnect and division. Understanding of the truth leads to a developed conscience, a connection to our source and the wisdom of oneness; only in this state will we catalyze the unity of purpose that marks the end of humanities prolonged state of collective insanity." Kenneth O'Keefe
"All matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration,
we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively.
There is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, & we'r the imagination of ourselves."
Bill Hicks
"All you need is love" by The Beatles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXL08IoNKiE
From the album 'Love', enjoy.
This sounds like some of the restrictions that ego causes. Ego impedes our elevation to the wisdom of oneness & unconditional love. Pride & envy have been listed as 2 of 7 deadly sins, & for good reason. Being proud of yourself or having pride in ones nation can sound like a good thing, but it can be very destructive. Pride & envy are closely connected to the ego.
Of coarse this is not quite the same as loving yourself, which is essential & healthy.
"Ego is a too much thing, ego is a too much thing,
it'll make you fool yourself you'll think you're somebody else, oh the trouble it brings.
Makes you want to jump on up & fight, & you cant stand not to be right.
It'll make you lie make you cheat just so you wont be beat.
You get afraid you gonna act like a clown, & you get mad when somebody puts you down,
your heart's a-pumpin' and your paranoia's jumpin' Look out ego is a too much thing,
When everything seems goin' so fine, old ego puts itself on in a bind,
your certainty turns to doubt then you start flippin' out then you ease on out of your mind."
'Ego' by Charles Manson.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ssTvmziTDc
The idea, he says, relates back to Buddhist & other religious texts: "Its a concept, an abstract thought, an ancient thought." To achieve ego death, you must slow down, stop being the person you tried to be for the people you felt you had to please, & ultimately, be yourself.
It amounts to changing your definition of 'self', which others have undoubtedly doled out to you. "This process", Graywolf explained, "is a kind of death, because you die to your old self. You may fast, or meditate, or place yourself into a high-danger, high-fear, high-suffering situation, like a long trip through the desert or a journey to some other place previously unknown to you, perhaps even a back alley in a violent city. You then have to face your fears, what you perceive to be dangerous, threatening, & come out on the other side, reborn."
This, says Graywolf, is what the entire planet must do in order to save itself."
From 'Charles Manson Now' by Marlin Marynick.
From 'Charles Manson Now' by Marlin Marynick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SfUbtEXDOU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaOoLP1daCc
The final quote "There is nothing more whole than a broken heart" is actually attributed to Rabbi Menachem Mendel Of Kotzk, and not Nachman of Breslov as you state http://bit.ly/P4Qnqq
Today I learned that Judaism is much more applicable to my life than my actual religion.
What are they going to do, raze the two mosques that are there now, start a big war, so that they can maybe get some phony-baloney temple built and start sacrificing chickens and geese and calves, and burning spices, and sprinkling blood, and rubbing myrrh. Are they nuts? What century is this?
If Israel would destroy its 100+ nukes, that would be a good start toward fixing the world. Then, sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty like Iran did. Israel is not in good company with North Korea, Pakistan and India as non-participants. Allow nuclear inspectors in to examine the state of Israels nuclear defenses, just like Iran has done. Quit building homes on Palestinian land. Quit unilaterally invading Muslim countries. Above all, quit saying that Israelis are God's chosen people - they aren't.
The goal of the Zionists is to conquer 'Greater Israel', the land theft, invasions, & illegal settlements are the means to achieving this goal. This has been the plan all along, it is not a change in Israel's 'motion' (plight) that has been compelled by external forces (Palestinian violence) acting upon it.
The violence 'Israel' garners is a reaction to the hostility it dishes (cause & effect).
It would be nice if 'Israel didn't do just about everything it can to bring hatred upon itself while acting like the victim.
Depraving, collectively punishing, stealing, destroying, bulldozing, blockading.
If 'Israel' projected genuine love instead of hatred, then love would instead be reflected back (the laws of attraction).
This would be better for 'Israel', its neighbours, Judaism, & everybody else.