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Spiritual Schizophrenia
From "The Mystical Dimension", (vol. I, p. 41- 45)
An exclusive study of the "revealed" aspect of Torah,
often referred to as "nigleh", may provide one with Torah-knowledge. He
may acquire profound scholarship. Nonetheless, it allows also the possibility
that the student-scholar remain separate from the Torah itself.
On a crude level it reflects the Talmudic metaphor of
the burglar who prays to G-d and invokes divine blessing for his immoral
activity (Berachot 63b). The criminal believes in G-d. He believes in the
principle and efficacy of prayer, yet he fails to apply that on the practical or
personal level. He fails to sense the inherent contradiction in his pursuits,
the radical dichotomy between his religious involvement and his personal life
coexisting as two altogether separate and unrelated entities.
A more subtle and sophisticated dichotomy is seen in
the following incident: There was a man who had studied halachot (the
laws), Sifre, Sifra, and Tossefta, and died; R. Nachman was
approached to eulogize him, but he said" "How can we eulogize him? Alas! A bag
full of books has been lost!" (Megilla 28b, see Rashi ad loc) The man had
studied the most difficult texts; he had become very erudite, yet he did not
comprehend and absorb what he had learned. He could quote chapter and verse, yet
he and his quotations remained distinct from one another.  | | " Halacha is no less essential to the mystic than to anyone else...." | | |
The Zohar notes that the Hebrew word for donkey,
"chamor", is an acronym for the phrase "a wondrous scholar and a
rabbi's rabbi", "chacham mufla verav rabanan"
(Zohar III; 275b). One can be known as the most wondrous scholar in the world,
heading the most prominent academy to train rabbis and Torah-scholars - an
expert in pilpulistic methodology; but if unaware of the soul of the Torah, if
not touched and penetrated by the oil of the Torah, he remains an insensitive
chamor, the proverbial "donkey loaded with books."
He carries a whole library on his back,
has stupendous knowledge at his finger-tips, yet is not touched by what he has learned.
A person like that may conceivably fall into the
category of "a scoundrel and rake within the domain of Torah". He may know,
observe and practice all the codified requirements of halacha, yet be and
remain a reprobate, a lowlife. ( Ramban on Leviticus 19:2)
Halacha is no less essential to the mystic than to
anyone else. Where the kabbalist or chassid differs, however, is first
and foremost in his approach, in his consciousness of the universal importance
of halacha and its dynamic significance. To him the study of Torah is not
only a mitzvah on its own, or just a precondition for observing all other
mitzvot. It is also the means to become transformed, for himself to
become a Torah, a personification of Torah. One of the great Chassidic masters,
R. Leib Sarahs, thus said that he traveled far and wide to come to his master,
the Maggid of Mezrich, "not to hear word of Torah from him, but to se how he
laces and unlaced his shoes!" He saw in the Maggid that ideal personification of
Torah, where every act and motion is an expression of the ideals of the Torah.
(See J.I. Schochet, The Great Maggid, p. 148) | | " Mysticism...is the "oil of Torah" that penetrates, permeates and illuminates one's whole being...." | | |
To the Kabbalaist or chassid, the mitzvot
are not only categorical imperatives of formal morality, acts of obedience and
submission to G-d. The term "mitzvah" is an idiom of "tzavta", a
Hebrew term meaning "being joined together".
It implies being unified with the
very act of the mitzvah and its contents, and thus also with the the One
Who commanded it. Torah study and mitzvot thus become the ultimate
cleaving and attachment to G-d Himself, the unio mystica.
The underlying premise of mysticism is the
all-inclusive exhortation of "You shall be holy" (Leviticus 19:2. see Rambam,
Sefer Hamitzvot, shoresh IV), a sanctification of one's total being,
of the totality of life and the world. This is a premise that precludes
perfunctory study of Torah or observance of mitzvot.
It is the "oil of Torah" that penetrates, permeates
and illuminates one's whole being, and transforms man and Torah into a singular
entity. Every action, therefore, becomes a vital reality. This consciousness is
tested and verified by the concrete realization of the premise that the purpose
of wisdom is that it inspire and lead to an application of teshuva
(return to our divine roots) and the practice of good deeds.
The sterile type of life and "scholarship" of the
"donkey loaded with books" unfortunately, is quite symptomatic of the modern age
and its method of alleged rational inquiry, of "logical positivism" and its
atomizing games of linguistic analysis. The mystical dimension forcefully
counters this and bears a pervasive message of special relevance to modern man.
With this message we are able to extricate ourselves from the contemporary mind-
and soul- polluting forces that threaten to stifle us, and to find ourselves.
For the mystical aspect of the Torah is the conduit connecting us to ultimate
reality. It is the depth of man's soul calling unto the profound depth of the
Universal Soul to find and absorb itself therein.
Thus it brings forth and establishes the ultimate ideal of unity,
of oneness, on all levels.
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