The Kabbalah Kronicles 6 – Who’s Crazy?
By
Uncle Zally, Zalman Velvel
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It’s the day before Shabbos and Rabbi Itchy sent me this email:Dear Zalman:
Regards from Israel.
I prayed this Morning at the Kotel @ 4:30 am I prayed for you & your family.
Please let me know if there is anything else specific that I shall pray for.
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Minkowicz
If Rabbi Itchy was at the Kotel, the Wailing Wall, at 4:30 AM, then I knew he was praying with the Netz Minyon, and ending at sunrise, 5:30. (Some may think it’s Nutz, but the Netz people think it’s the holiest time of day.)
Here is how I answered Rabbi Itchy:
Pray for Gil Locks, that he may get a sense of humor.
If there is a Netz minyon, then Gil Locks, the Kwasimoto of the Kotel, was there, setting it up, and taking it down. Here is how Itchy answered me:
Zalman atah Tzadik ….. Anachnu ohavim otchah.
Which means, “Zally you are a righteous man, and we love you.”
So, in the absence of a Kabbalah Klass this week, this loveable, semi-righteous writer will discuss a question that bothered him all week:
Are you crazy if you talk to God?
My friend, Stuart, from Kabbalah class, refined the definition. He said, “You’re not crazy if you talk to God, Zalman. That’s what we do when we pray.
You’re crazy if you hear God talking back.”
Alas, Stuart’s probably right.Most of us believe God loves us as much as possible, even though He doesn’t speak to us. But if another person claims to have better communication with Him than we do, it’s like saying God loves them more. That’s when we roll our eyes, and use our fingers to trace circles around our ears.
If you read the old Testament, then you know many of the problems of the world were created when one person believed God favored another over them (Cain slew Abel), or a parent favored one child over another (Abraham favored Isaac over Ishmael, Isaac favored Jacob over Esau, and Jacob favored Joseph over all his other sons.)
I have been wondering lately if the audience of this blog thinks I am one of those crazy people who hears God talking back.
I was concerned because everyone I have known who said they heard the Almighty was “a bit crazy”, for example : 1- A woman who was awakened one night by a tapping on her sliding glass door. She got up and let God in, and He said, “Become a minister.”
2- A friend who prayed before each sales call for God to give him success, so he would stay married. His wife divorced him anyway.
3- A woman I hired who, when I gave her tasks to do in my business, she would go into a trance and pray, and then tell me whether God agreed or did not agree with what I asked her to do.
In case you are not aware, dear Reader, of what I want to do in this blog, it’s trying to find a way of using Kabbalah that allows God to communicate back to us. I have been acting as the mouse in the experiment, so to speak, running through a maze, seeking a path we all can use.
What I do not want is to be placed in the “a bit crazy” group. I am privileged to have a communication with God, but I don’t hear God’s voice in my prayers. Repeat:
I do not hear God’s voice.
Sometimes, but not all the time, I have thoughts jump into my head during, and right after, prayer that I didn’t put there and I believe God did. These thoughts are surprising, and profound (strong evidence it wasn’t me who put them there.)
But what if there really are people who God speaks to in prayer, and they receive Divine Help in their endeavors, and Divine Guidance in their decisions about the future? Does that mean that God loves them more?
My own answer is No. If we are all part of God, and we are all part of the One, as Kabbalah teaches, then how can God love one part of Himself more than another, when all the parts are connected?
It’s like loving your face, but not being so thrilled with your nose.
Tune in next week, when I discuss, “Was Einstein a Kabbalist?”
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