The Voice of God vs. the Voice of Pain: Julie Oxenberg talks with Michael Lerner about Jewish History, Israel/Palestine and the Psychodynamics of Healing

30 T I K K U N W W W. T I K K U N . O R G S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 0 0 8 Introduction C ruelty is not destiny,” declares Rabbi Lerner in his seminal work Jewish Renewal. “The world we inherit is deeply flawed yet, according to Judaism , its flaws are not part of its essence.” In fact, the central message of Torah, Lernerproclaims,isthat“Thisworldcanandshouldbetransformed.” Ifso,thenwhatisthepurposeofJudaismandwhatroleareJewscalledtoplay intheworld? Ifyouhaven’treadJewishRenewalyoumaynotfullyappreciatethetheologicalworldview that animates Rabbi Lerner and underlies the Network of Spiritual Progressives’ mission of “tikkun.” After all, why is “tikkun” (a Hebrew word meaning to mend, repair, heal) the missionofoursocialjusticeorganizationandwhat ,attheroot,areweworkingto“heal”anyway? The two voices in the Bible In the book, Rabbi Lerner informs us that two voices can be heard in the Bible: the“voiceofGod”andthe“voiceofaccumulatedpain.”HealsodescribesGodas“theForcein theworldthatmakespossiblethetransformationofthatwhichistothatwhichoughttobe.” Jewish Renewal begins with a description of Abraham’s traumatic childhood drawn not from the Bible, but from the “Midrash” (Midrash Rabbah 28:13) and also alluded to in the Qur’an. Idol worship was the predominant religious practice of young Abraham’s society. It served to reinforce the established power structure. As a spiritually precocious youth Abraham saw through the logic of worshiping material items and thus rejected the practice of idolatry. In response, his father, a manufacturer of idols, delivered Abraham to his community ’s ruler, Nimrod, for what we today might call “re-education.” When, despite Nimrod’s best efforts at persuasion, Abraham continued to reject idol worship, Nimrod threw the rebellious child into a fiery furnace. Although Abraham’s exceptional spiritual strength (rootedinhisconvictionthatapowerbeyondthematerialrealmgovernstheworld )allowedhim tosurvivethisordeal,LernerarguesthatAbraham’spsychewasleftbadlytraumatized. In his adult life Abraham demonstrates both a capacity to serve as a powerful witness to thepropheticmessageofGod,andatendencyatothertimestobehaveinhurtfulwaysinfluenced by the unhealed wounds he continues to carry from his childhood history of accumulated pain. In this sense, Abraham’s struggle is humanity’s struggle: to resist reacting to life’s new challenges from the perspective of our “voice of accumulated pain,” and instead pump upthevolumeandinfluenceofour“voiceofGod”within. In psychological terms, our task is to heal the “repetition compulsion” cycle—our The Voice of God vs. the Voice of Pain On recently rereading Rabbi Michael Lerner’s book Jewish Renewal, clinical psychologist Julie Oxenberg wrote him her reflections under several headings, to each of which Rabbi Lerner responded, below. Julie Oxenberg then wrote this introduction to the exchange. “ Julie Oxenberg is a clinical psychologist in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a founding member of the Psychology of Peace program at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology. Rabbi Lerner, editor of Tikkun, welcomes feedback at RabbiLerner@tikkun.org. Julie Oxenberg talks with Michael Lerner about Jewish History, Israel/Palestine and the Psychodynamics of Healing Politics_3.qxd:Politics 8/10/08 1:39 PM Page 30 S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 0 0 8 W W W. T I K K U N . O R G T I K K U N 31 tendency to repeat traumatic patterns from our past in new relationships—patterns we’re often drawn to recreate in the unconscious hope of mastering situations in which we originally felt powerless and victimized. But, how do we accomplish this demanding task of “breakingthecycle”? How Abraham transcended the compulsion to repeat OnehintisgiventousintheTorah’s“BindingofIsaac”story. “ThegreatnessofAbraham,”accordingtoRabbiLerner,“isnotthathetakeshissonIsaac toMountMoriah”tobesacrificedinburntoffering(anactLernersuggestswasmotivatedby Abraham’s response to the “voice of accumulated pain” within, or his compulsion to pass on to his son his own trauma of being thrown into fire as a child). “The greatness of Abraham,” Lernertellsus,“isthathedoesn’tgothroughwithit....Thisisthemomentoftranscendence.” Thepatternofpassingontothenextgenerationthepainandcrueltywehavesufferedcanbe broken. “It is this moment of breaking the chain of necessity—transcending the psychological repetition pattern which makes us do unto the next generation that which was done to us—thatmakesAbrahamthefatherofourpeople.” HowexactlydidAbrahamachievethiscapacityfortranscendence? Weseeinthe“BindingofIsaac”talehowtherepetitioncompulsionitselfcanactuallyhelp us to achieve transcendence. If we can recognize the impulse toward healing that drives this “compulsion” we can learn how to take advantage of its transformative potential. For, by “compulsively”recreating“thesceneofthecrime,”ourpsychekeepssettinguptheconditions that can ideally allow us (now, from our more conscious adult vantage-point), to finally recognize and feel the emotional impact of hurts...