Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on December 30, 2010 by Mosheh
The Psalmist is in love, with G-d, with his earthly lover, with being fully Alive.* The Prophet is intimately connected with the Divine Plan and with his community, he / she is deeply pained by our distance, fear, shame, inadequacy, and disconnect from our souls and the Divine Spirit. So he engages, she calls us out – where are you? wake up? take your rightful place as the children of G-d, as a nation of priests, or even higher (as Moses suggested), why not a nation of prophets?
So each person has and can access these two archetypes, the lover/psalmist, and the leader/ethicist/social-activist/Prophet. It’s a high calling and a scary challenge. We are asked to allow ourselves to fully fall and be in-love with the life we breathe, to just as fully feel its pain, and with a zealous chutzpa stand up for what we know in our hearts to be good and true. We’re asked to be honest about our potential and inadequacy, about our shame and our hope, and act. May we all take baby steps and leaps in this directions, each day.
*Inspired by Heschel’s “Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity”
