Nitzavim. Shabbat mevarechim. Effortless effort

“It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?”” 

Devarim 30.12

לֹ֥א בַשָּׁמַ֖יִם הִ֑וא לֵאמֹ֗ר מִ֣י יַעֲלֶה־לָּ֤נוּ הַשָּׁמַ֙יְמָה֙ וְיִקָּחֶ֣הָ לָּ֔נוּ וְיַשְׁמִעֵ֥נוּ אֹתָ֖הּ וְנַעֲשֶֽׂנָּה

Moshe teaches us something essential in this week’s parasha: the torah, divine instruction, is not far away from us.

In fact it is ‘very close to us.” in our mouth, and in our mouth.

This is such a revolutionary statement.

And then it seems like we keep forgetting it.

What is it telling us?

Yes there is a torah.

There is a text; there is instruction, there is extrinsic wisdom.

And this is the text we are reading.

But this text is also telling us another truth, which is like the other side of the same coin.

And this truth, although more discrete, is a profond testament to human spiritual autonomy:

The wisdom we seek for is also, and perhaps first and foremost, within us.

This doenst mean we don’t kneed to make an effort to contact it.

This is why the spiritual life is a practice.

Rashi says something very interesting about this verse. He says: it is not, but even if it was beyond the sea, or up high in the sky, you should look to reach out to it.

This is an opportunity for the hassidic master sfat emet to highlight for us the importance of yigiah- skilful effort, in spiritual practice.

This is what he teaches us

Everything depends on effort, until it’s closer to us

 והכל אחר היגיעה מתקרב 

  עד שקרוב אליו

 that seems it was never far from them at all.

Without effort, however, it appears distant.

שנראה שלא הי' רחוק מעולם ממנו. 

ובלי יגיעה נדמה שרחוק:

Connection, he reminds us, is relative.

If i actually make the effort to reach out, then whatever even felt so far away beforehand, suddenly feels like it always was right there, very close.

So it goes with my connectoin with others, with the Divine, or with my own consciousness. All it does, and it does take some of it, is some energy: the conscious mouvement- the skilful effort, to 

I often speak about spiritual practice as softening, opening ourselves to receive, to see what is already there.

And it is all true.

Today we are seeing with the sfat emet another dimension of it and a no less important one: the other side of the same coin of spiritual practice. Just because everything is already there doesnt mean it doesnt require from me some form of energy-effort; 

Even Meditation itself is an expression of this type of skilful effort. Try sitting still for half an hour, and you’ll see.

Just because you’re still and relaxing and softening doesnt mean it doesn’t take energy- the energy to hold my own back, the energy to stay still, and to stay present.

So it is when it comes to listening, appreciating, making gratitude lists- especially for gratitude lists: it looks like we’re just acknowledging what is there, and this is exactly what we are doing.

And at the same time, what we are doing is an effort to see- to recognize the good in our lives.

Such is the movement of tshuvah: on a certain level, returning to my true nature is about recognizing that I am already home.

Just connecting again with my center, and with Life Source who shines at the bottom of it.

And it does take a form of exertion to do that invisible, inner movement.

This is the art of tshuvah- a very daoist one: effortless effort.

May we go into the last shabbat of the year exactly in this way.

And as we bless the upcoming month of tishri, may we bless each other for a journey through the chagim exactly in this way.