Joshua Wise on Nostr: I post Jewish stuff on main because 1) I only post on main, and, anyway, 2) it is ...

I post Jewish stuff on main because 1) I only post on main, and, anyway, 2) it is part of my color on the world so it is kind of inseparable from who I am. I have been thinking a lot through that lens today.

A friend on the Internet noted that Rabbi Tarphon taught, “it is not your responsibility to finish the task [of mending the world], but neither are you free to desist from it” (Pirkei Avot 2:16). (I was very pleased to hear this quote materialize in the secular world. It seemed important of a message. I would be happy for more people to internalize that. Feel free to appropriate it to do good in whatever way it seems right to you.)

But, uh, R. Tarphon, uh, … how the fuck do you do that? How, the fuck, do you do that? How the fuck do you do that today? Easier said than fucking done, Tarphon. The world seems broken. I woke up and was not convinced that it was worth getting out of bed this morning. The anger has given way to sorrow, and I cannot describe how much sorrow I feel to know that this is not one guy, this is not the electoral college, this is… us. This is who we are, who 52% of us are, and who 48% of us have let the 52% become. I am sick, and sad, to think that this is who we are.

Let me provide another answer from post-Talmudic times, in case you are as lost as I am in how to continue the work. Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (b. 1772, d. 1810) said a variant of, roughly, “the entire world is a very narrow bridge, and the most important thing is to have no fear at all” (Hebrew, transliterated into English: “kol ha’olam kulo gesher tzar me’od – v’hayikhar lo lefached klal”). He said this in the context of, how do you continue to serve God (which I read as “to continue to do good in the world” – your interpretation is up to you) when sometimes it feels like you are increasingly distant from the benefit that you were promised, more so by the moment, that your service gets you nowhere? He answers to say that the world is a narrow bridge, and you must have no fear in crossing it to do your work.

This seems like an even taller order. But he goes on to say, and provide concrete advice: one should “seek and search within oneself to find some merit and some good, and when one finds it, rejoice and encourage themselves” … “and the main thing is to always be joyful. [bring yourself to joy] any way you can, even with silliness – playing the fool and doing silly things, or jumping and dancing to be happy, which is a very great thing”.

Breslovers have taken this seriously for generations. They sing a lot because they have decided that the most important thing is to be joyful, so that they can continue to do their service. They turn everything Rebbe Nachman said into songs. The admonition from before remains: “the entire world is a narrow bridge, and the important thing is not to be afraid”. With the fear in their hearts, they turn it to song.

Below, find one interpretation of that transition from fear to song. It sounds unbelievably joyful for a time like this by the end, almost cloying. Then, I remember what they are singing, and I understand what they are fighting off by doing it, and the extreme, dire, importance of it.

If you dare, try singing along. I was surprised to find a smile creeping onto my face, even today. Maybe you will be too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ypol90B2i0

lyrics: kol ha’olam kulo gesher tzar me’od gesher tzar me’od gesher tzar me’od

v’hayikar, v’hayikar lo le’fached klal