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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/18085/full/18085/turn-to-the-wisdom-of-the-torah-for-guidance-on-everyday-hassles/ <br /><br /> <b>Turn to the wisdom of the Torah for guidance on everyday hassles</b> <br /> Friday, July 12, 2002 | by <p>Rabbi Amy Eilberg </p> <br /><br /><p>Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22<br /><br /> Haftarah: Isaiah 1:1-27<br /><br /> One day last week, I found myself engaged in a struggle with someone I love. We tried and tried to untangle the threads of our disagreement, but the more we talked, the deeper we sank. It became clear that it was wise to let the issue rest.<br /><br /> The next morning, I found a remarkable passage in a favorite book, Jack Kornfield's "A Path with Heart." As if addressing me directly, Kornfield asked his readers to imagine being in the midst of conflict with a loved one. This part was not hard to do! Then, he suggested imagining that there was a knock on the door, and that a sacred figure (he suggested Jesus, Mary or the Buddha) had come, offering to step into my body, so I could observe how this holy creature would respond to the situation in which I was locked. Then, I was to imagine this figure leaving, inviting me to re-enter the situation again, bringing with me the wisdom I had been given in the encounter. Then, Kornfield reminded his readers that really, no one showed up at the door. That wisdom was within you all along.<br /><br /> I was captivated by the visualization. It struck me as an extraordinary tool for inviting sacred wisdom into the midst of a difficult life situation. For a moment, though, I got stuck on a question: Who might be the Jewish figure that I could imagine bringing me personal guidance in the midst of my life? Moses? Aaron? As Jews, we don't respond to those characters in this way. The Shechinah? Maybe, though it is a stretch to think of the Shechinah in such a personally involved way.<br /><br /> The next day, studying the Sefat Emet on Parashat Devarim, among other things, I found the answer to this question. The wisdom I need in the midst of everyday encounters is the wisdom of the Torah Herself.<br /><br /> The Sefat Emet ponders the connection between Moshe's statement, "I am not a man of words," (Exodus 4:10) and the beginning of Deuteronomy, "These are the words which Moshe spoke to Israel." (Deuteronomy 1:1) According to the Sefat Emet, "Moses longed to be entirely Torah; that is why he said: 'I am not a man of words.' [He sought to be] 'a man of [only the Torah's] words,' to be entirely Torah." (The Language of Truth, p. 285)<br /><br /> We generally think of Moshe's self-effacing statement in Exodus as a description of his speech impediment. Understood this way, Moshe was telling God that he felt inadequate to the task of leading the Jewish people. The Sefat Emet, by contrast, understands Moshe's statement as a description of his own core spiritual commitment: to speak only words of Torah. In this reading, Moshe is expressing his deepest spiritual aspiration: that every word he speaks be inspired by words of Torah. Moshe was praying to make his own personal concerns dim in the light of his overriding commitment to have his entire life be an eloquent expression of Torah. Putting it another way, "the Shechinah spoke from within his throat."<br /><br /> What a stunning description. This is an image of completely letting go of our own plans, desires, gifts and limitations, to allow something much larger to move through us. Living this way would mean to give far less energy to the details of our own small lives, rather to let ourselves be guided by the wisdom of the divine, to allow our God-given holiness to speak through us.<br /><br /> This reminds me of the extraordinary line that introduces the Amidah/Silent Prayer in the traditional prayer book: "O God, open my lips, that my mouth may speak Your praise." That single line of prayer expresses the conviction that speaking words of praise, of gratitude and of holiness are the natural state of our being. We need only allow our lips to be opened, and godly words will automatically emerge.<br /><br /> Most remarkably, the Sefat Emet comments, "Something like this happens to everyone who studies Torah; such a person is transformed into a 'master of Torah.'" That is to say, the practice of studying Torah is not only a way to develop our minds and our connection to our people. Studying Torah is our people's honored way to attend to the divine and to become the people we were created to be. It is no less than a transformative spiritual practice, a ritual that will profoundly change our orientation to life, making us into beings who will naturally do God's work in the midst of our lives.<br /><br /> For the Sefat Emet, to be immersed in Torah is always to have the guidance that we need to face any situation, large or small. May it be so for us.</p> <p> </p>

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