The Godly Reflection

One of the foundational teachings of true Torah Judaism is that Hashem loves us. Each and every one of us. Naturally, most of us have trouble understanding this. How can Hashem love a person who is a murder, rapist, or child molester? How can He love a thief or an abusive spouse? How can He love a drug addict who has left his family behind in order to pursue his addiction? How can He love those that deny His existence?

The problem with these questions is two-fold. First fold: we compare Hashem’s love with human love. There is no comparison. Our love is far from unconditional, even for those of us who think that we do love unconditionally. It’s easy to love a dog unconditionally, but it’s not easy to love the terribly impatient taxi driver who yells epithets out of his car window at you for having the nerve to slow down so you can park your car. I can’t say I love that guy. Honestly, I don’t even like the guy. But I’m human. And that’s how we humans roll.

I think the only glimpse we get into this type of Divine love is the love we have for our children. We love them just because they’re our children! And, if they’re well-behaved, then we probably love them even more! Or, if they’re fluffy and delicious babies with little leggies covered in rolls and rolls of heavenly, smushy, silky skin, our love knows no limits. Or, if they’re little toddlers who are learning their first words and haven’t yet figured out how to say no, talk back, give us the finger, or tell us off, then our love is still arguably unconditional.

All in all, we have no idea how to grasp this concept of Godly love, since we can’t understand it with our little pea brains.

Here’s the second fold of the problem. There is a spiritual formula that equates how we feel about Hashem with how we think He feels about us. It’s totally complicated and brilliant, and I take full genius credit for it. Are you ready? Here it is.

I call it the Godly Reflection Spectrum. It works as follows: there are two extremes on the spectrum. The left extreme is those that have heretical feelings and ideologies about God. They basically hate God or don’t believe that He exists. Therefore, they think that if there is a God at all, He doesn’t care enough to be involved in this world. They also might think that He punishes at random, and undeserving people get rewarded in this life while innocent people get the raw end of the deal. When they get challenges, it is like going through Hell for them, because they see no reason or justification for their tribulations. So, they suffer tremendously. Bottom line: they think God hates them because they hate Him.

At the middle of the spectrum we have the middle-of-the-road views about God. Let’s call it the ambivalent middle. These people aren’t quite sure what to make of God. They don’t hate Him, but they don’t love Him either. They aren’t sure if He really does punish for no reason, if He’s really involved in worldly affairs, or if He’s checked out and on permanent vacation in Bora Bora. They can’t begin to understand His love for us, and have a fair amount of trouble accepting that their challenges are for the best. Most of us fall into this category. Bottom line: we’re not sure if God loves us because we’re not sure if we love God.

On the far right, the extreme far right, like almost falling off the edge of the spectrum, are those lucky few who actually really, truly, love Hashem. I envy these folks. They know with all their hearts that Hashem has a purpose for everything He does. They don’t have an inkling of a doubt that He only wants the best for us and He knows the best way to give us what we need for our soul corrections. All these tzaddikim want to do is spend their days soaring through the Heavens in prayer and deveikut (clinging to God in a deep meditative state.) Bottom line: they know God loves them because they love God.

Does anyone have any connections with the Nobel Prize Committee? Can someone forward them my info, please?

All joking aside, there’s something else to be said for this spectrum. You see, historically speaking, there never was such a spectrum. 99.9% of Jews used to be on the right end of the spectrum until about 300 years ago, when the Jewish Enlightenment movement was born. Before then, the great majority of Jews were Torah-observant, simple Jews who didn’t doubt that Hashem exists and that He knows what He’s doing. They didn’t doubt this even through suffering devastating pogroms and persecutions. They knew down to their cores that Hashem loved them and even though they had to go through painful times, they didn’t question His judgment.

But, now? Now we have to prove to other Jews that the Torah is Divine and God really does exist and care about us! Isn’t it obvious now? The further away a Jew is from Torah, the more he doubts Hashem’s love!

The more we stray from our traditional Jewish path, the more confused we get. Now we have sects of Judaism that alter Jewish law to meet the ever-changing winds of society. As a result, we get results like women lesbian rabbis and shrimp cocktails at interfaith weddings. And who says boys need a brit milah anymore? Don’t you know it’s barbaric and cruel?? And why can’t girls count towards a minyan and wear tefillin? Aren’t we all equals??

There is no end to the madness. It’s a bottomless abyss once you start sliding to the left. Every day, we are in a spiritual war, even greater than the war of Gog and Magog. This war is a war for our souls and the souls of all future generations. We must realize that the pull of assimilation into gentile culture is very deceptive. It is alluring and enjoyable, and before a person realizes it, relaxing one or two seemingly minor observances leads to a completely non-observant life. The thing we have to understand is that it’s not our lives that will end up non-observant. It’s the lives of our children and grandchildren!

Therefore, we must follow the timeless advice of Yehuda ben Tema (Pirkey Avot 5:20): “Be bold as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer, and strong as a lion to do the will of your Father in Heaven.”

How can we get from wherever we are on the spectrum to the far right? We need to strengthen our emuna and Torah observance! These two go hand in hand. If you want to have strong emuna, you have to complement it with “doing the will of your Father in Heaven,” which is learning Torah and doing mitzvot. Conversely, if you attempt to increase your level of observance without increasing your emuna, you’ll quickly lose motivation and burn out.

Get yourself a copy of The Garden of Emuna and the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch like, this second! May Hashem bless you with a fulfilling, spiritually enlightening path back to the Truth, Amen!