Ani Uveyti Naavod Et H"
Not on mortals do I rely, nor upon angels do I depend, but on the God of the Universe, the God of truth, whose Torah is truth, and who abounds in deeds of goodness and truth. In God do I put my trust; unto God’s holy, precious being do I utter praise. Open my heart to Your Torah. Answer my prayers and the prayers of all Your people Israel for goodness, for life, and for peace. Amen. - Zohar, Parashat Vayakhel

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Love Struck

As I have been both meeting everyone at synagogue and rearranging my life so that I can attend, I have had to talk a lot about why I want to be there so much.
I don't want to be an evangelist. I try to hold back my enthusiasm outside of synagogue but one answer I give is that I am in love. Like a man in love I am also prone to foolishness. I do not want to be in love with love, burn out, or be obsessed by beauty.
Grace and Love are familiar themes from my Christian childhood. In this respect, I don't want to sentimentalize or romanticize G*d; nor does Judaism.
It is people who love G*d, G*d's love is beyond our ideas of love. For example, ideally when we love we give ourselves completely and completely get another. This can't happen with G*d because we would go flying off the teeter-totter.
Intellectually, as well as emotionally, I feel the overflowing abundance which signifies the unimaginable fullness of G*d's holiness. I do not doubt G*d is worthy of my love but it is my own heart which can fail. The problem is love makes one hopelessly impractical.
Like a man in love, I want to neglect my other responsibilities. I want to give up my possessions and just wonder off into the text or prayer. This I know I cannot do. Even if I had the opportunity; my study would be of little merit in an ivory tower.
I am sure that I will have to make all the mistakes a person does until they learn to love unconditionally.
The greatest mystery is that the fear of being misunderstood, alone, and unfulfilled because of my disappointment in loving people, I feel no longer just beyond the words.
I pray for balance and to eliminate what I do not need as well as to thank G*d for sustaining my loved ones and I.
When I worry about the idea of love and whether it is good enough for G*d I hear the Shema
... And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (Deu 6:5)

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