With special thanks to my chevruta Baruch, my friend Ruth, and Mom.
It has seemed to me that "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players" (As You Like It, Act II, Scene 7, line 139), that we enact a drama on a cosmic scale and spin forward the will of our Author, and that all the sorrows and plights which found our scenes exist only to glorify The One. However, our knowledge of the script is limited, and so the unity of our play is not perfectly clear. Thus, this global perspective becomes problematic. On one hand, there is the magnificent sense of the oneness of all; and on another hand, there is the actual acting in a world of two, a shifting dominion of contending multiplicities. The conflicts which arise from the interaction of this intuition of Being and this necessity of being human compose what I've come to call "the two-one dilemma": How do we act like two and know that one?
In Ashrei (Tehilim 145), we say, "Your kingdom is a kingdom [spanning] all worlds-eternities, and Your dominion is through every single generation", from which we might infer that all existence and action is the will of HaShem; but then, in the psalm's penultimate verse, we say, "HaShem protects all who love Him, and the wicked He will destroy", suggesting perhaps that the dominion is not totally authoritative or that the kingdom is not all-encompassing. Is creation at one with the Creator or not?
In the first paragraph of Aleinu, we say, "ein od", there is none other, implying perhaps that there is nothing beside from HaShem; but then at the end of the second paragraph, we say, "ba-yom ha-hu yihyeh HaShem echad", on that day HaShem will be one, implying it seems that on this day there is some other. Is there only One, or is the world fragmented by multiplicity?
In the Shema, we conclude, "HaShem echad", HaShem is One; but we begin, "Shema Yisrael", Listen Israel, announcing outright that there is something separate from HaShem which needs to learn of HaShem's unity. If Yisrael learns that HaShem is singular, simple, and all-encompassing, has she learned that she herself does not exist?
This week's parashah, Vayigash, addresses these questions. Yosef ha-Tzaddik reveals himself and reassures his brothers who are ashamed (Rashi): "Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Yosef your brother whom you sold into Mitzrayim. Now be not grieved nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for Elokim sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years has the famine been in the land, and there are five more years in which there shall neither be plowing nor harvest. And Elokim sent me before you to preserve you as a remnant in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now, it was not you that sent me here but Elokim." (Bereishit 45: 4-8). Yosef ha-Tzaddik clearly distinguishes between the acting of the brothers in the world of oppositions and the action of HaShem, in the world of unity: two times he refers to the brothers violence with "m'khartem" (you sold), and then three times he refers to HaShem's purpose with various forms of the verb "shale'ach" (HaShem sent). The brothers, says Yosef ha-Tzaddik, performed the means through which HaShem manifested a particular end.
Turning back to the question from Ashrei, is creation at one with The Creator, does The King fully rule the world, Yosef ha-Tzaddik gives a resounding Yes! Despite first appearances, even the horrific deeds of the brothers serve The Sovereign. As it is also written in Ashrei: "HaShem is good to all; and his tender mercies are over all His works. All Thy works will praise Thee, HaShem; and Thy pious ones shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom and talk of Thy power; to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom" (pasukim 9-12). May we merit to know that all which comes to us comes from HaShem.
But wait, not so fast.
Pronoucing in the abstract that all comes from HaShem (as I just did) and announcing with the benefit of hindsight that such-and-such was the will of HaShem (as Yosef ha-Tzaddik did) may be commendable and even important actions but are also remarkably easy when compared with the realization of HaShem's perfect rule "in the heat of the moment". Yosef ha-Tzaddik gives an answer on a question of ontology, but the moral problem of the two-one dilemma still stands: How do we act in accordance with HaShem's oneness? How do we assert "ein od" -- the total unity and perfection of The Creator and his cosmos -- when we need to act, when we need to make changes, when we still must pray "ba-yom ha-hu yihyeh HaShem echad" -- on that day HaShem will be one.
The Talmud tells a story about Rabbi Nachman Ish Gamzu (Taanit 21a, Sanhedrin 109a; there's more to the story than included here, but I've retold the relevant parts):
Rabbi Gamzu was sent from Eretz Yisrael to Rome to pay homage to the Roman government. He was sent with a chest full of gold and jewels. On the way to Rome, he stopped at an inn. In the middle of the night, the crooked inn-keeper stole the gold and jewels, and filled the chest with sand. When Rabbi Gamzu was brought before the ruler of the empire, the chest was opened and only sand was found. Furious, the ruler cried out, "The Israelites are mocking me!" Rabbi Gamzu did not fear, he trusted in HaShem. He said to himself, "Gam zu l'tova" -- this too is for the best. Just when the aghast ruler had caught enough air in his chest to condemn Rabbi Gamzu to death, a Roman soldier, who was really Eliyahu ha-Navi in disguise, spoke, "Sire, perhaps this sand is from their patriarch Avraham who threw sand and it turned into swords." Tempted by the possibility of possessing a great weapon, the Roman ruler decided to test the sand in battle; and -- hinei -- when the soldiers threw Rabbi Gamzu's cargo into the air, it became swords. Rabbi Gamzu returned safely to Eretz Yisrael, his chest filled with treasure by Rome.
Do we learn from this story of Rabbi Nachum Ish Gamzu that whenever trouble comes to us we should accept the situation and as manifesting "the best", the oneness of HaShem's creation, and simply say "gam zu l'tova"?
Another story is told about another rabbi facing death (the source is unknown to me):
There was a flood in a small town. When the water was just past the ankles and still the rain came down, the tailor and his family passed by the rabbi's house. They had decided to hike out of town up the neighboring mountain. "Rabbi," called the tailor, "We're hiking out of town to escape the flood. Will you come with us?" But the rabbi would not. "No, thank you, I place my life in the hands of HaShem. HaShem will save me." When the water was just past the knees and still the rain came down, the butcher and his family rode by the rabbi's house on their horses and cows. "Rabbi," called the butcher, "We're riding out of town to escape the flood. Won't you come with us?" But the rabbi would not. "I place my life in the hands of HaShem. HaShem will save me." When the water rose up to the rabbi's neck, the rabbi climbed to his roof. The president of the shul floated by with his family on a raft made from their beds. "Rabbi," called the president, "Come quick! Before you're swept away and drowned! I think we can handle a bit more weight." But the rabbi refused. "I place my life in the hands of HaShem." As soon as the president and his family had drifted out of sight, the rabbi was swept away and drowned. Then he came before the Judge of judges of judges. Before The Exalted One could say one word, the rabbi exploded with anger, "Why didn't You save me?! Haven't I been faithful to You?! Didn't I put my life into Your keeping?" Saddened, The Great One answered, "I tried to save you. The tailor encouraged you to leave with him. The butcher asked you to escape. Even the president of the shul begged you to come; and if that's not a miracle, I've never seen one…"
Both this rabbi and Rabbi Gamzu rely on the unity of creation, but the rabbi of the second story is not saved. The messages of the stories seem to conflict, the story of Rabbi Gamzu teaching reliance on the ultimate purpose of HaShem's creation and the story of the other rabbi teaching that one should act with the means given. In fact, the stories do not contradict. The rabbi who drowns is presented with means through which he can save his life, and by refusing to see the gifts of HaShem, he manages to kill himself; but when the Roman ruler was prepared to kill Rabbi Gamzu, Rabbi Gamzu had no further means for glorifying HaShem and saving his life. Rabbi Gamzu's resignation is separate from his assertion of the Creator's unity with creation in "gam zu l'tova". Living in accordance with the reality "ein od" -- that it's all HaShem -- is not necessarily passive living, -- it just turns out in the story of Rabbi Gamzu that he can't be active. What would be of us if Rabbi Akiba had not defied the death-threat for teaching Torah, if Rabbi Yehuda ha-Nasi had not written down Oral Torah? The sanctification of creation often -- and perhaps generally -- requires our acting.
Now there remains a problem: How do I determine means of glorifying HaShem's unity (in acting for salvation) that are indeed possible and proper? First, How do I ascertain if there are possible and proper means for salvation? I.e., when do I say "Shema Yisrael, HaShem Elokeinu" -- Listen up You who instantiate harmonies, HaShem is present in these means which are ours, and when do I say "Shema Yisrael, HaShem echad" -- Harken You G-d-wrestler, HaShem is all-encompassing? Second, How do I select means from among these, the manifold of the conceivable? E.g., How do I determine how I should eat and exercise, and in which jobs and causes I should labor, and which relationships I should develop, and what I should study, and what are the words I should pray? Deciding that one will do what is halakhic narrows the field of decision slightly, but this is only a beginning; and beyond this, we seem to have only poetry and rules of thumb. . I have no answers. I'm not even sure what forms answers should take. But perhaps halakhah, poetry, and aphorism suffice
May Your will, HaShem, be to increase our receptivity, our discernment, and our wisdom. Shabbat Shalom