Do you have something in your life you just wish you could get over?? Is there something you did, even long ago, which continues to hold you back?? If you’re like most people, the answer is yes.
Whether it’s through Lady Macbeth, characters in the Bible or moments in our own lives, everyone can identify with the need to cleanse ourselves and feel free of a stain (caused by a past sin or mistake) that continues to haunt us, or keeps us from becoming who we want to be.
In fact, I’m convinced that occasionally experiencing those feelings is a fundamental part of being human. Here’s the good part: So is finding and using different means of cleansing ourselves of those feelings and stains, and renewing our lives as we do so.
Some people use laughter to cleanse, as outlined in this piece by author Rob White. Cleansing with sage is an ancient tradition (outlined here) in the Wiccan and Native American traditions. In both Jewish and Christian traditions, ritual bathing remains a powerful way to cleanse mind, body and spirit.
Everyone can identify with the need to cleanse ourselves and feel free of a ‘stain’ from our past that continues to haunt us.
Whatever one thinks of these rituals, their ubiquity across time shows our need to get out “that damned spot,” as Lady Macbeth said, as well as our need to find the practices that do that for us. That’s energizing, encouraging news. The question is how to find what works for you when you need it.
Just as no one tradition has cornered the market on these rituals, there’s no one answer about which will be right for you. I do, however, observe one constant in all reports from those who’ve had a positive experience with a cleansing ritual: You have to believe in what it is you’re doing. The ritual may not make sense to anybody else, but it has to speak to you – even if you don’t fully understand it intellectually. That may sounds obvious, but it’s not. None of this stuff works simply because someone else tells you it does.
Rituals work for you when they speak to the deepest part of you – when the practitioner can honestly say they’re doing what they feel called upon to do. The “call” may come from God, or a sacred fire, or a voice deep within one’s heart (we don’t need to debate if there is any meaningful difference between those three) – but it has to be the call that you hear. When it is, the cleansing power in these rituals is real.? We really can cleanse ourselves and renew our lives.
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.”