Life is Strife…Anyone Who Says Differently is Selling Something

Life is Strife…Anyone Who Says Differently is Selling Something
Rabbi Ari S. Lorge Sermon

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, of blessed memory, was one of the most important Jewish teachers of our time. He was a once in a millennium scholar. More than any other individual, he made classical Jewish and Hasidic texts accessible. His driving passion and mission was to enable as many as possible to access the ocean of Jewish tradition. On the 17^th of Av, a few days after Shabbat, we will mark his fifth yahrzeit.

I’ve found myself re-reading one of his essays in recent weeks, as I’ve tried to find a framework for my feelings – a resonant chord in our thousands of years of wisdom. Sharing some of his Torah as we approach his yahrzeit is always fitting, but knowing that his Torah has helped me, I share it in hopes that it may be a balm to some of you as well based on the many conversations we’ve shared together in recent months.

He opens one of his essays, saying “Peace of mind has come to be regarded in our time as one of life’s highest ideals. Clergy…psychologists, advertisers – all seem to agree that this is the thing most to be desired. And of course all of them…are prepared to provide it.” It reminds me so much of a quote from the classic film The Princess Bride – “Life is Pain…anyone who says differently is selling something.” Rabbi Steinisaltz would amend the line to be “Life is strife…anyone who says differently is selling something.”

Deeply skeptical of the voices who are selling us on the pursuit of peace of mind, Steinsaltz argues to live a moral life, a Jewish life, a life of faith, we can’t help but feel, what he called, Strife of the Spirit. The phrase itself captures my state of being – and perhaps you feel it too.

I’m not a pessimist. I’m not a gloomy person. And spiritual strife doesn’t require that. Rabbi Steinsaltz was a deeply joyful teacher. He was famously funny. Everyone describes the characteristic twinkle in his eye - and his elfin grin. Strife of the spirit isn’t about unhappiness.

It is about discontent. It is the appropriate response to the world, Rabbi Steinsaltz suggests, if we’re paying attention. What does paying attention mean? It means that we’re listening.

Listening is, after all, the fundamental Jewish act.

We find this call throughout Jewish texts, but nowhere as expressly as in the book of Devarim, the book of Deuteronomy. The verb of shema – listen - occurs around 92 times in some form in this book. Moses' final words to the people of Israel are suffused with a pleading that they will listen to God and to one another.

This week the Torah provides us with the quintessential Jewish declaration of faith.

Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad.

Listen Israel...

What are we to hear? Two things: God’s commandments – and our fellow human beings.

Through God’s commandments, through Torah, God showed us the blueprint for the redeemed and perfected world. This is a great gift. But, it proves to also be a burden. Why? We are forced to live with constant reminders of what our world should be, while spending our days surrounded by brokenness. That dissonance causes spiritual strife.

And then we are confronted with the cries that come from the people who suffer because of the brokenness. And we know that God commands us to tend to those crying out.

“For our God is a God who hears the cries of those who are in pain,” says the Psalmist

And listening to the cries leads us to say: It shouldn’t be this way. It isn’t right. It isn’t fair. We should know better. We could do better. I don’t understand how we got here? I don’t recognize what I see in society anymore.

I’ve heard so many of us express some version of that. We have heard from so many of you share your angst, agita, anxiety, fear, anger about what you see happening: in our city, in our country, with our politics, in our beloved Israel, to our beloved Israel, in Gaza, with Jew-hatred on the rise everywhere. And this all feels different because the distance between the vision we carry of what our world ought to be and the reality of what we’re living through is increasing in scope and impacting so many areas of our concern.

On this Shabbat I want to affirm that spiritual strife is an appropriate response to our world. It is a religious response - as long as it is an empowering response. It should not lead us to despair, or escapism, or fatalism, or gloominess. It should spark a fire within our souls.

While others seek peace of mind deciding to believe that this is simply the way the world is, or we are powerless to change anything, Rabbi Steinsaltz said that our “question should not be how to escape the perpetual struggle but rather what form to give it…”

We should ask ourselves where we can turn our strife into acts of empowerment. The religious response is to turn our strife into action. Where do we begin? The answer will require more listening.

While we are called to hear all those crying out, only God is truly capable of that. We cannot respond to them all. Our souls are varied and beautifully unique. We resonate and react to the cries around us with different intensities. And some pull at us more strongly than others. That is okay. It is human. I believe each of us has a cry that is ours to hear and heed.

This is the shabbat of comfort, Shabbat Nachamu. The prophet Isaiah begins his speech, “Comfort them, comfort My people, says God.” I believe God is addressing each of us. Where, in the week ahead can you bring comfort, strength, support, sustenance? If you find some way to act, not only will you be an agent of comfort, you, yourself will also be comforted.