To Be God’s Partner is Totally Hot: A Biblical Mystical Teaching: Marc Gafni
The symbol in biblical myth for partnership with God is Amalek. Amalek represents those forces in the world which act for the side of evil. Hitler, Pol Pot and Stalin are modern examples of Amalek. Together they are responsible for the brutal deaths of a hundred million people. Biblical myth affirms that there are times when one must act for the sake of the Good. Pacifism in the midst of World War Two would have led to a world dominated by Hitler and his successors. Therefore pacifism would have been immoral. It was a time when we were called to partnership with God to act against the forces of Amalek.
Two different texts in biblical myth describe the relation to Amalek. The first; ‘I shall battle Amalek.’ It speaks of God. It suggests that the battle with evil is a divine responsibility. It would be hubris for man to get involved. Moreover the specter of man designating ‘other’ as ‘enemy’ is so filled with shadow potential of it’s own. How many people have died, ostensibly, for the sake of God? We know too well the evil of Christian Crusades, Forced Islamic conversions and the like. It is too easy and tempting to take God’s name in vain.
Yet there is a second and seemingly contradictory text. You shall battle Amalek. Addressed to the human being. With all of the lurking shadow that we need to watch so carefully — there are times when we need to act against the forces of Amalek. Not without recognizing our own failings. Not without knowing that there may be many good people in the legions of Amalek. Yet – we need to know that it is immoral to allow the world to become a Nazi state. You shall battle Amalek.
How to resolves these two very different texts? Each one reflects a completely different human posture in the world! The Zohar understands the contradictions as an invitation to partnership. To sit back and rely solely on God is immoral. To act against Amalek forgetting our fragility and limitation; forgetting that we are but one side of the partnership is fraught with hubris, shadow and ultimately will create it’s own evil. Our spiritual experience needs to be that of partnership. We are God’s partners. God needs us even as we need God.
That is the great perception of love in biblical wisdom. To be a lover is to know that you are powerfully needed even as you are greatly in need. To love an other is to literally be ‘part of’ as well as partner. To love God is to know that you are both ‘part of the divine’ as well as ‘partner to the divine.’ This is the source of human greatness. There is perhaps no single idea that could be more empowering to a human being.
marc gafni
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