Wednesday, May 27, 2009

"We tend to forget that there is something beyond reason"


“One of the problems facing this generation is that we have perhaps become too ‘intelligent’ too knowledgeable, or too rationalistic, to be able to experience the total and spontaneous allegiance of our ancestors.

Worse still, we tend to forget that there is something beyond reason.

Jews need to face this question both as individuals and as a nation.

How can we recover this ability to transcend the particular and seize reality in its totality, without performing fancy calculations beforehand, without asking, ‘Do I understand?’ ‘Do I want this?’ “Am I ready?’

This is why the sages say that every day we need to place ourselves at the foot of Mount Sinai.

This can take place on Shavuot or on any day of the year.

The face-to-face encounter at Sinai involves an encounter with Oneness and willingness to accept things that are beyond our faculties of comprehension.”


--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz


From The Seven Lights, p. 231-232, by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz