Protest as Prayer (Part 15): Did he blow out the candles?

Protest as Prayer (Part 15): Did he blow out the candles?2023-06-22T08:06:44-07:00

Protest as Prayer (Part 14): Three Truths

Protest as Prayer (Part 14): Three Truths2023-06-22T08:08:14-07:00

Protest as Prayer (Part 13): There is a Spirit in Man

Protest as Prayer (Part 13): There is a Spirit in Man2023-06-22T08:08:15-07:00

Protest as Prayer (Part 12): On Secrets

Protest as Prayer (Part 12): On Secrets2023-06-22T08:08:15-07:00

Protest as Prayer (Part 11): God’s Language

Protest as Prayer (Part 11): God’s Language2023-06-22T08:08:15-07:00

Protest as Prayer (Part 10): God’s Emotions

Protest as Prayer (Part 10): God’s Emotions2023-06-22T08:08:15-07:00

Protest as Prayer (Part 8): Ten Sefirot

Protest as Prayer (Part 8): Ten Sefirot2023-06-22T08:08:15-07:00

Protest as Prayer (Part 7): The Second Ayeh Story

Protest as Prayer (Part 7): The Second Ayeh Story2023-06-22T08:08:15-07:00

Protest as Prayer (Part 6): The Ayeh Stories

Protest as Prayer (Part 6): The Ayeh Stories2023-06-22T08:08:15-07:00

Protest as Prayer (Part 5): Certainty of Rage

Protest as Prayer (Part 5): Certainty of Rage2023-06-22T08:08:15-07:00

Protest as Prayer (Part 4): Where — is God

Protest as Prayer (Part 4): Where — is God2023-06-22T08:08:15-07:00

Protest as Prayer (Part 2): The Answer

Protest as Prayer (Part 2): The Answer2023-06-22T08:08:15-07:00

Dr. Marc Gafni: Protest as Prayer (Part 1): A Response to Tragedy the World Over

God = The Infinity of Intimacy: From the Infinity of Power to the Infinity of Intimacy

Part 1:

By Marc Gafni

The mandate of biblical consciousness demands that the human being enter into partnership with God in the task of perfecting the world. The classical expression of this in the lineage of Kabbalah is the obligation of Tikkun. Tikkun means not merely to hear or to fix but to be co-creative evolutionary partners with the divine.

This evolutionary mandate to co-create and to heal the world with and as divinity emerges, paradoxically, not out of answers but out of questions. The fact that the human being can challenge and that God accepts the human challenge implies a covenantal partnership between the human being and God. Both the human being and God share an understanding of the good, and thus God can turn to the human being and say: “I invite you, nay, I demand that you be my partner, my co-creator in the perfection of the world. I began the process of creation; I established the moral fabric of the world. It is up to you to take that cloth and to weave it fully. It is up to you to complete the tapestry, it is up to you to risk to grow and to create a world in which good, love, justice and human dignity flourish and are affirmed.’ A human being who cannot be trusted enough to challenge evil can also not be a partner in fostering the good.

It is true that God very often seems silent in response to our challenge. Yet Jewish consciousness, expressed through biblical text and tradition, affirms that God accepts the validity of the question. In doing so God affirms our role as God’s partner in history. If I am able to recognize evil for what it is, then I am ipso facto obligated in tikkun olam – the obligation to act for and with God in the healing of the world. Man is the language of God. We are God’s adjectives, God’s adverbs, God’s nouns and sometimes even God’s dangling modifiers. We are God’s vocabulary in the world. When I love, when I am able to be truly vulnerable and intimate with another human being, when I am able to share the pain of another and to rejoice in their deep joy, I am acting for God. I become God’s chariot in the world.

More than this: if I can wrestle with God, if I can express my uncertainty with God in the intimacy of challenging relationship, then paradoxically, I convert my doubt into the core certainty of divine relationship.

Note: This post is part of a 15-part paper.

Download the PDF Version of the Whole Paper HERE

Read More Parts Here:

Part 1
Part 4
Part 7
Part 10
Part 13
Part 2
Part 5
Part 8
Part 11
Part 14
Part 3
Part 6
Part 9
Part 12
Part 15
Dr. Marc Gafni: Protest as Prayer (Part 1): A Response to Tragedy the World Over2023-06-21T10:22:40-07:00
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