A Spiritual Health Check

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I’m going for my annual health checkup next week. I wonder if they also do a spiritual check up. I wonder what tests they would do.

They may look at my soul and see some deep tears that weren’t there at my last checkup. They may ask how my heart is doing and comment that it seems a little more broken than it was last time.

They may make a little gasp as they look at the intergenerational wound that is weeping and bleeding so much more violently than recent years. 'Yes', I imagine, I’ll respond, 'It’s been getting worse and the symptoms are devastating'.

They may examine my connection to the collective soul and feel the need to refer me as I seem untethered, ungrounded and unsure of my belonging. They may say, that 'as a unique human being, feeling part of a larger group of people people, the human family, is vital'. I would respond - 'what can you do?' And I imagine there would be silence.

After a while they may say, 'the best thing I recommend is to talk openly'. I might cry a little. 'It doesn't seem that is possible', I would say though ragged breathing. 'Such harm is being caused but there is so much fear of what it would mean to say that out loud. Conversations which could lead to connection and courage are stifled by claims of 'not being loyal', 'not being Jewish' of 'not holding the pain of our people'.'

They may say, 'I still think talking is part of the treatment. Have you tried text study? What do your ancestral texts have to say?' 'Well', I say, sitting up and wiping a tear away. 'Some of them are weaponised and used as evidence for separation and destruction. But the core teachings we have demand we recognise the pain, that we are deeply connected to one another and that we are obliged to take action.

One ancient text wonders why Genesis records bloods pouring from Abel's body, and not the singular 'blood'. This Mishnah posits it is either because not only was Abel killed but all of his potential children - all of the children - the blood becomes bloods. Or it says, that the violence is so bloody that blood was splattered everywhere. Violence affects us all.

The proof for this is as we found with Cain, who killed his brother, as it is stated concerning him: “The voice of your brother’s blood [demei] cries out to Me from the ground” (Genesis 4:10). The verse does not state: Your brother’s blood [dam], in the singular, but rather: “Your brother’s blood [demei],” in the plural. This serves to teach that the loss of both his brother’s blood and the blood of his brother’s offspring are ascribed to Cain. The mishna notes: Alternatively, the phrase “your brother’s blood [demei],” written in the plural, teaches that that his blood was not gathered in one place but was splattered on the trees and on the stones. Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5 (Koren Steinsalz translation)

Violence begets violence and the consequences affect more than just one life.

The text continues and warns us against the narrative of someone saying, out of this violence, I am more worthy than you.

And this was done due to the importance of maintaining peace among people, so that one person will not say to another: My father, i.e., progenitor, is greater than your father. And it was also so that the heretics who believe in multiple gods will not say: There are many authorities in Heaven, and each created a different person. And this serves to tell of the greatness of the Holy One, Blessed be He, as when a person stamps several coins with one seal, they are all similar to each other. But the supreme King of kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He, stamped all people with the seal of Adam the first man, as all of them are his offspring, and not one of them is similar to another. Therefore,since all humanity descends from one person, each and every person is obligated to say: The world was created for me, as one person can be the source of all humanity, and recognize the significance of his actions. Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5 (Koren Steinsalz translation)

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There, did you hear that - we are all stamped by the same seal, we are all connected. There is no hierarchy of lives. And we are obliged to recognise our ultimate responsibility that the world was created for me, as it is for you. There is only oneness. We are obliged.

What does it all mean, ultimately?

It means:

לֹ֥א תַעֲמֹ֖ד עַל־דַּ֣ם רֵעֶ֑ךָ אֲנִ֖י יְהוָֽה

Do not stand by at your neighbor's blood. I am YHWH. Leviticus 19:16

May we tend to our broken souls and hearts. May we begin the treatment for our spirtual ills by talking honestly, by courageously taking action in alleviating suffering and against injustice. May we remember and enact the core of our teachings. May our treatment commence. Ken Yehi Retzonah - May it be Her will.* Amen.

*With thanks to RavJericho Vincent for using this phrase in a recent vlog.