Some of our lack of connection has to do with how we are educated as Jews. Judaism is a complicated tradition, with lots of different actions to learn to do, and on top of it all, much of it in a strange language. From the outside, the minute we start to teach children Hebrew it seems that we give the impression that Judaism is about "getting it right." And when we don't "get it right," when we have trouble with Hebrew, when what we are taught in Religious School never is practiced at home, then we acquire a feeling of incompetence. Many who rarely "get it right" feel that they are "bad Jews." They simply don't feel like capable Jews. And, if you don't feel capable you are hardly likely to explore a spiritual path that assumes lots of Jewish compitence.
Fortunately, and in spite of the prevelant opinion, Judaism is not much about "getting it right." Judaism is about a variety of paths to the Divine, each of which is a mix of actions, ideas and traditions. One of the problems with the study of classics of the Kabbalah, like the Zohar, is that twenty-first century Jews find it is very difficult to understand. The Zohar presents a world of ideas very strange to us. It omits living traditions and it omits actions. So, when most of today's Jews pick up a work of classic Kabbalah, they become discouraged and put it down again.
To sum up, Jews often feel they lack the necessary competence to explore a Jewish spiritual path. And, when they pick up a classic of the Kabbalah in translation this feeling of incompetence is compounded by their difficulty in understanding its symbolic world, especially in the absence of living traditions and mitzvot or Jewish actions that connect them with the Kabbalah's symbolic world.
A number of members of our congregation have suggested that we find an easier way in to Jewish spirituality. It is my intention to try to initiate "spirituality circles" in both congregations, in which congregants can explore a variety of spiritual paths: meditation, movement, chant...
Rabbi Steve
