As I write these words, I am observing an ancient holiday which celebrates both the importance of walls and the sacredness of permeability. Then, like millions of others around the world, I celebrated the Jewish/Biblical holiday known in Hebrew as Sukkot – the Feast of Tabernacles. The temporary huts built outdoors recall the huts used by ancient Israelites on their journey from Egypt to the Holy Land.? They are also reminiscent of God’s presence, which the Hebrew Bible describes as surrounding them on that journey.
Now here’s the really interesting part: Permeability is the defining feature of the huts which signify the experience of being with God.? Sukkot/huts are defined by the fact that the elements, even the rain, can penetrate the sacred structure. Imagine that!
For all the value we place on the safety we find behind walls, and the protection afforded by a solid roof over our heads, here is a tradition which reminds people that being with God – that being held within whatever tradition we most love – is, at least some of the time, about allowing the outside to come in, and to allow our voices to go out.
Perhaps most amazingly, and most excitingly, when we take ourselves beyond walls, we discover as much about ourselves and what lies within, as we do about whatever and whoever lies without.
Walls – be they physical, intellectual or spiritual – which have no windows and doors, are actually prisons, and they rather quickly turn even those who think of themselves as guardians or stewards of whatever it is the walls are meant to protect, into prisoners of their own best intentions. It is the ongoing process of balancing the importance of walls, windows and doors, that makes the spiritual life, or any kind of well-lived life for that matter, rich and exciting – both deeply rooted and ever expanding.
Writing beyond walls, for me at least, is not simply about casually deconstructing boundaries or snarkily diminishing the importance of borders. It is about celebrating the value of permeability in the walls behind which we live, and nurturing the capacity to travel beyond those walls without feeling that we have lost touch with whatever it is we most deeply believe or whomever it is that we think we are most deeply meant to be.
When I read with others, and even more so when I write for others – for those who do not share my faith or my spiritual assumptions – those are times of unique growth which cannot be replicated in any other way. They are the moments when I remember that, for me at least, Judaism is not only about being Jewish, or only for Jews. Jewish is my way of being human.
Whether in a hut or on Kenyon’s campus this coming July, and whatever faith one follows, the invitation is fundamentally the same – opening ourselves to what lies beyond our walls, allowing those things to touch us deeply, and communicating back beyond those same walls.
Perhaps most amazingly, and most excitingly, when we take ourselves beyond walls, we discover as much about ourselves and what lies within, as we do about whatever and whoever lies without. Ultimately, communicating beyond walls is an exercise both in getting ourselves heard and understood by new audiences and communities, and in better hearing and understanding ourselves.
What walls do you want to think beyond, feel beyond and write beyond? When you travel beyond them, among the things you will find when you dare to do so, is more of the tradition you already love and more of the person you long to be.? It is, dare I say it, a sacred opportunity.
This article originally appeared in the e-magazine, Beyond Walls. Beyond Walls is also a new multi-faith writing course for clergy at the Kenyon Institute, where Brad Hirschfield will be teaching in Summer 2015.
Listed for many years in Newsweek as one of America’s “50 Most Influential Rabbis” and recognized as one of our nation’s leading “Preachers and Teachers,” by Beliefnet.com, Rabbi Brad Hirschfield serves as the President of Clal–The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, a training institute, think tank, and resource center nurturing religious and intellectual pluralism within the Jewish community, and the wider world, preparing people to meet the biggest challenges we face in our increasingly polarized world.
An ordained Orthodox rabbi who studied for his PhD and taught at The Jewish Theological Seminary, he has also taught the University of Pennsylvania, where he directs an ongoing seminar, and American Jewish University. Rabbi Brad regularly teaches and consults for the US Army and United States Department of Defense, religious organizations — Jewish and Christian — including United Seminary (Methodist), Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (Modern Orthodox) Luther Seminary (Lutheran), and The Jewish Theological Seminary (Conservative) — civic organizations including No Labels, Odyssey Impact, and The Aspen Institute, numerous Jewish Federations, and a variety of communal and family foundations.
Hirschfield is the author and editor of numerous books, including You Don’t Have To Be Wrong For Me To Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism, writes a column for Religion News Service, and appears regularly on TV and radio in outlets ranging from The Washington Post to Fox News Channel. He is also the founder of the Stand and See Fellowship, which brings hundreds of Christian religious leaders to Israel, preparing them to address the increasing polarization around Middle East issues — and really all currently polarizing issues at home and abroad — with six words, “It’s more complicated than we know.”