We all know the feeling of being under siege.
It may be as innocuous as being the only other vegetarian at the family
reunion dinner, or one of the few pro-Bush guys in the office. Or as disquieting
as being the only person of your skin color in the subway car, or the only member
of your gender in a crowded elevator. Or as terrifying as being herded into a
room with the rest of the embassy staff by masked gunmen, or your country being
attacked by a powerful foe. These scenarios share little in common, of course --
except for the common situation of finding yourself part of a distinct group of
people who are outnumbered or otherwise overwhelmed by a common adversary.
An interesting thing happens in these situations: we begin to feel a kinship
with our fellow besieged. People who ordinarily would not interest us in the
least -- people who, in ordinary circumstances, we would perhaps even despise
-- become our brothers and sisters. We begin to care about them; their suffering
becomes our suffering, their triumphs become our triumph. An attack on them
becomes an attack on us -- after all, we're in this together.
A hallmark of Chassidic teaching is to seek out the kernel of truth buried
in even the most blatant lie, to search for the spark of joy hidden
within the most oppressive sadness, to unearth the core of goodness languishing
within the most sinister evil.
The point of this is not that the lie now becomes less false, or that the
evil is less vehemently opposed, or that the sadness is thus diminished. On the
contrary: a falsehood it is all the more perfidious for its corruption
of the truth it has commandeered, evil is all the more to be battled
because of the goodness it enfolds within itself and feeds upon,
a tragedy is all the more tragic
because it represents a potential joy in malformed garments.
The point is that even as we denounce falsehood,
fight evil and mourn tragedy, we simultaneously engage
the negativity in our world on another,
more inner plane: by reclaiming its positive core.
When we are faced with a lie we renounce it. But we also dig deeper. We ask
ourselves: what gives this lie its sham of credibility? What truth has it
hijacked and twisted? How can we reaffirm this truth so that it shines forth
in its purity, thereby revealing the hollowness and fallacy of the lie that has
impersonated it?
When faced with evil, we battle it. But we also dig deeper. We ask ourselves:
What is the source of its power? What good and positive force has it tapped into
and exploited? How can we redeem that captive good so that the husk of evil that
conceals it melts away as darkness melts away before light?
When faced with a tragedy we mourn. But we also dig deeper. We ask ourselves:
what positive element lies buried within this negative experience? For we
believe that the essence of every thing, force or phenomenon in G-d's world is
good. We cannot always see it. But we always look for it.
The 10th of the month of Tevet on the Jewish calendar is a fast day. On this
date -- in the year 425 BCE -- the armies of the Babylonian emperor Nebuchanezzar
laid siege to the city of Jerusalem. This was the first of a
series of events leading to the destruction of the Holy Temple and the exile of the
Jewish people from the Land of Israel. It is thus a day of fasting and
repentance -- a day in which we mourn the tragic events of the day, contemplate their
deeper causes in our own souls and deeds, and work to correct them.
But the Chassidic masters teach us to seek also the positive aspect. Without
detracting in any way from the need to mourn and rectify the negativity of the
events of Tevet 10, we must also zero in on the positive core at its heart.
Coming under siege is a horrible experience. A literal siege brings famine,
plague and bloodshed. But also figurative "sieges" are predominantly negative,
engendering feelings of helplessness and victimization. Beneath all that
negativity, however, lies the liberating and empowering realization: We're
in this together! Despite our differences, despite the animosities and quarrels
that strive to drive us apart, we share a common fate, a common identity, a
common goal. Being under siege brings to light a truth that was always there
but which we had hitherto been prevented from or have avoided seeing -- the
truth that we are all one.
The trick, of course, is to grasp this truth, to hold on to it and possess
it, without its negative trappings. To rid ourselves of the negativity of Tevet
10 and retain only its positive core.
May it be speedily in our day.
