{"id":45334,"date":"2018-12-08T09:00:10","date_gmt":"2018-12-08T07:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=45334"},"modified":"2022-07-03T18:12:32","modified_gmt":"2022-07-03T15:12:32","slug":"there-is-such-a-thing-as-too-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/there-is-such-a-thing-as-too-close\/","title":{"rendered":"There is Such A Thing As \u201cToo Close\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":50634,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[370,533,384],"acf":{"old_id":"45334","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33992,"related_cahpter":"106","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Ego can drive us to searching for the wrong sort of intimacy or transcendence: Our insecurity, vanity, and narcissism can hide behind the loftiest of religious sentiment","content":"

How passionately some people long for enlightenment, for intimacy, for a spiritual union with the divine. Wisdom traditions from around the globe offer enticing stories of holy men and women who find their way into the very center of being, to a level of reality more true, more real, more beautiful than any earthly experience can hope to offer. Jewish tradition tells us that in paradise, even the columns of marble are so shimmering that they appear to be moving waterfalls, and the great scholar of holiness, Rudolph Otto, speaks of a sense of the \u201cnuminous,\u201d a realm characterized by its awe-inspiring otherness, its urgency, and its irreducible mystery. Moses in the cloud, Buddha under the Bodhi Tree, Jesus in the desert, these are but a few examples of holy people who practiced what Jewish tradition knows as <\/span>Devekut<\/span><\/i>, clinging to the divine.<\/span><\/p>\n

Such yearning is a refining fire, pointing sensitive souls toward the pure, the good, the true. To some degree, we correctly view the path of mitzvot as a training ground to cultivate our aspiration, a technology designed to bring greater intimacy with God.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who wouldn\u2019t want to be close?<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet, our Torah goes out of its way to remind us that there is such a thing as too close, or at least the wrong kind of close. Acharei Mot opens by reminding us of the tragic death of Nadav and Avihu, Aaron\u2019s sons, \u201cwhen they drew too close to the presence of the Lord (Lev 16:1).\u201d \u00a0In the light of their offering an alien fire, and themselves being consumed, Aaron is instructed \u201cnot to approach at will (16:2).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It is too easy to wear our intimacy with God as a badge of superiority, an adornment that inflames our egos rather than serving our spirit. To come and go at will highlights the vigilance needed to combat our own self-absorption. Our insecurity, vanity, and narcissism can hide behind the loftiest of religious sentiment if we don\u2019t stand on guard.<\/span><\/p>\n

So our Torah warns us: strive to grow closer to the holy, by all means. Do it through deeds of righteousness, through hallowed paths of observance and mindful practice, through prayer and contemplation, through tzedakah and justice. But know that ego lurks just behind the door, crouching and ready to pounce.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is such a thing as too close, too much. Be on guard.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"There is Such a Thing as \u201cToo Close\u201d","main_caption":"Ego can drive us to searching for the wrong sort of intimacy or transcendence: Our insecurity, vanity, and narcissism can hide behind the loftiest of religious sentiment","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":false,"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45334"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50634"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45334"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106135,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45334\/revisions\/106135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}