Rami Shapiro has been a creative explorer within Judaism for years. But a while back, he experienced a period of dryness and desolation. He went to his spiritual mentor, Reb Zalman Schachter Shalomi for counsel. The response was not what he expected. He was told: "You have completed your work among the Jewish people. Whatever you had to say to them has been said. The reason you are feeling lifeless is that you are repeating yourself. Your present world is an echo of your past. It is time to move on…I am suggesting that you offer a Judaism for people who wish to learn from it as they do from Buddhism or Sufism. I am telling you to create a Judaism for everyone, not just the Jews."
Shapiro took his advice and came up with this soul-stretching work in which Reb Yerachmiel ben Yisrael, a fictional elderly Hasidic master from Eastern Europe, responds to the author's great grandfather, Aaron Heschel, who has many questions about Judaism, God, creation, humanity, evil, Torah, Shabbat and the Holy Days, intermarriage, soul, spirituality, prayer, dreams, finding a teacher, and much more. These letters, which have emerged from the Shapiro's imagination, as a whole make a fascinating and edifying presentation that consistently opens our hearts and minds to the tremendous spiritual riches of Judaism for all people.
"Repairing the world by bringing our attention to each moment and engaging that moment in a godly manner" is at the hub of Reb Yerachmiel ben Yisrael's vision of Judaism. It's all about the practices of tikkun and teshuvah. For this sage, evil is not the opposite of God but a manifestation of God. We experience it as the universal experiences of accident, sickness, old age, and death. And we bring it about when our ego divides the world and brings on separation, hatred, and fear. What is the antidote to evil? "Tilling the soil of self and selfishness; letting in the breath of life that awakens the self to its true nature as a being created in the image and likeness of God whose purpose is to serve life through love. Unless and until the self is broken open before the Greater Unity of God there is no hope for real compassion, justice or love." Now there is something that mystical Christians and Muslims could agree to and put into practice.
One of the most helpful and healing passages in this paperback is Reb Yerachmiel ben Yisrael's understanding of the Torah, which he calls the Jewish people's diary of its early encounters with God. The following letter helps us put into proper perspective some the dark passages in the Scriptures that have disturbed us for years:
"Torah is not from God, but from human beings. It contains divine wisdom, but also human folly. The wisdom is the voice of God's love, and speaks for the principle of l/chayyim. The folly is the voice of human fear, and speaks for the principle of death, violence, division, exploitation, and the rest of the madness that we humans can inflict upon one another.
So, for example, when Torah says we are not to take advantage of the powerless — the widow, the orphan, the stranger, the blind — it is speaking from love of life; this is divine revelation. But when it commands us to murder the Amalekites, then it speaks from fear and is no longer a revelation. . . .
Please do not imagine that I am suggesting you ignore the ego's Torah, the Torah that speaks from fear. This would be a terrible error. All of Torah is to be studied, but for different reasons. Study the Torah of Love to learn how to act. Study the Torah of Fear to learn how not to act. Both Torahs speak to you because both love and fear are part of you. Honor the first by imitating it. Honor the second by recognizing it in yourself and then controlling it.
Why study the Torah? Study Torah because it mirrors the whole spectrum of human truth and behavior from the most sacred to the most sinister. Study Torah because you can see in the violence of our ancestors the evil of which you yourself are capable. Study Torah because you can see in the saintliness of our ancestors the spiritual heights to which you can aspire. Study Torah because you can see in the sorrow and repentance of our ancestors the way to correct error by living justly and with compassion."
Be sure to read carefully the sections in this book on religion. Shapiro presents a sturdy interfaith perspective and rightly puts the accent not on belief or the forms of religion but on spiritual practice:
"Things are very different when we look at the wisdom teachings of the different religions. For example, Torah says that peace comes to those who are just, kind, generous and honest; who rest on the Sabbath, and curb their desires by keeping kashrut and giving tzedakah. This is not a matter of faith. This is a claim that can be tested. Live the way of Torah and see if the claim is true.
"Christians say the same about taking Jesus into your heart. Moslems speak similarly about adhering to the teachings of the Prophet. Test them and see. Not that you have to enter into every religion personally. Look to its followers. If they are kind and loving, their claims that their faith makes them so are true. If they are violent and fearful, the claim that their God brings love is obviously false."
Open Secrets beautifully fulfills the challenge offered by Reb Zalman's charge to Shapiro — to share with the wider world soul-stretching riches of Judaism -- its keen insights into human nature, wonderful rituals, and diverse spiritual practices.
