I received a picture and caption this morning and while very funny and specifically Jewish, it speaks to a deep wisdom about the benefits of being out of place, and certainly ones not limited to Jewish or even religion in general. In the picture a Jewish prayer shawl, typically worn at morning prayers, has been placed as a table cloth. The caption accompanying the image read, “This is what happens when your housekeeper set the table”.
Let’s leave aside the presumption that people all have housekeepers to set their tables, as well as the presumption that housekeepers, by definition, are not Jewish and therefore would not realize their “mistake”, and see this actually as a really moving idea, and one which we could use in lots of ways with all sorts of objects.
The prayer shawl is typically worn in formal liturgical or religious settings. But by placing it on the table, rather than seeing it as a mistake, it could be seen as sending a message about the family table being every bit as spiritually and morally significant as any service in a house of worship. The so-called mistake makes a powerful claim that we can find the sacred wherever we carve out space for it, including, and perhaps especially at the family table.
As I look at this image, I do laugh about the “out of place” prayer shawl.? But I am also struck by the possibility that it is very much in place, especially for people trying to reclaim the family meal times as more than about getting fed physically.
What unexpected or “out of place” object might you place on your own table, say once a week, to signal the importance of the meal and its potential to deepen relationships between those gathered around it? How would its “out of place-ness” help convey that message in ways that words alone might not?
What other objects come to your mind, which could be used in new or unexpected settings, and in doing so, could help you unlock new levels of meaning in otherwise seemingly mundane acts? Rather than worry about where these things are “supposed” to be used, especially if in their typical uses they are largely ignored, as prayer shawls are, try some creative repurposing.
I can’t tell you which “out of place” uses will work, or which are “over the line”, etc. I can tell you however, that every traditionally sacred object with a clear and known place was once a newly and imaginatively sacred object being repurposed in innovative ways for new settings and audiences.
So while I am a big fan of using things in their “proper” places, I am also a big fan of the gift of out of place-ness, and power and meaning that come from tapping into the wisdom found there.
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.”