Intro
Welcome to Soulful Jewish Living: Mindful Practices for Every Day with me, Josh Feigelson.
I’m grateful you’re here, and I hope you benefit from our time together.
Like a lot of kids growing up, the walls of my childhood bedroom were adorned with posters of my heroes. Mostly they were players of my beloved Detroit Tigers, along with some football and basketball stars. Maybe you did this too. Some kids put up athletes, some put up singers or actors. As teens we might go through our political phase (I’m imagining a Che Guevara poster in a college dorm room). And, if you’re like me, by the time you reach adulthood you might have a picture of a genuine role model in your life on the wall (I have some of my rebbes and a giant photo of Leonard Bernstein), along with, if you’re lucky, a baseball signed by one of those childhood heroes (Alan Trammell, in my case).
As kids and teens, we often refer to these people as idols. And there are a lot of ways in which we kind of treat them like idols: We imagine they’re perfect, they can do no wrong. That image of them that’s on the wall: that’s who they are now and will be forever.
And, inevitably, that leads to disappointment—when the athlete is no longer as great as they were in their best season; when the singer’s voice isn’t what it once was; when it turns out that the person on that poster was, actually, a human being and not a god, and that they made mistakes or bad choices or worse.
In this third episode of our series on the Ten Commandments, we’re talking about idols. The third of the Ten reads as follows: “You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth.” It actually goes on from there a little more to talk about how upset God gets with idolatry. But today I want to keep our focus on this first verse, which is, I think, the main point: We’re not supposed to make idols.
This is likely not a surprising thing to hear. After all, Judaism is pretty well-known for monotheism—that there is one and only one divine power in the universe. And you could make a pretty strong case that this anti-idolatry stance is the number one theme of the Torah.
But I think a lot of folks tend to think of this as the Torah just portraying God as jealous, which can feel like an immature emotion (okay, okay—the Torah actually does refer to God as jealous in the next verse). And that can lead us to kind of ignore or dismiss this idea. Yet I think we’ve got to take it seriously. And if we do, I think we can find some really powerful lessons in living mindfully.
We can start by asking why people are led to make idols in the first place. I think the answer is fairly straightforward: An idol gives us a sense of permanence. It doesn’t change (at least not visibly). Those posters on our bedroom walls can hang for decades—and they look exactly the same as they did when we were kids. In a world of constant, unceasing change, that’s really reassuring.
But it’s also fake. Here’s how a contemporary theologian puts it: “The idol brings the divine within reach, ensures its presence, and, eventually, distorts it.” What does that mean? It means that we’re fooling ourselves if we think that the life-giving force of the universe ever stops unfolding. The Divine is always becoming—”I will be what I will be,” as God says to Moses at the burning bush. The moment we think that anything is fixed and unchanging in this world is when we lose touch with that ultimate reality. Everything is always in motion.
That can be really hard to accept. But, as we talked about previously, the first of the Ten Commandments tells us to ground in the Oneness that underlies and connects the universe. The second is to keep coming back to that when we get distracted. Now this Third Commandment is telling us that we should be aware of the very strong temptation to try to freeze the dynamic, always-unfolding reality of existence, to imagine that things are fixed and done. “This too shall pass,” as the famous adage goes. Life, God, divinity—it’s always changing, so go with that flow.
Meditation focused on the breath is probably the most accessible and effective practice I know for practicing this commandment. (That’s one of the reasons I teach it so much.) So here’s a short meditation to work with.
As usual, find a comfortable position. It should help you feel awake and aware, present.
If you like, gently close your eyes or soften your gaze.
And now take a few good deep breaths. Allow your body to arrive. Allow your mind to settle.
All I want you to do is stay present with your breath. Notice how the air comes in, how it travels through your body, how it leaves.
Notice how your belly and your chest rise and fall with each breath.
At the top of the inhale, hold it a beat, and just notice the natural desire that arises to exhale—you can’t hold it forever.
The same at the bottom of the exhale: There’s a natural tendency to breathe in.
Nothing stays the same. It’s always in motion, a river always flowing.
Rather than trying to stop the river, see if you can just ride it. Or even be it, like a piece of ice that’s just melting away, changing form, becoming one with the water.
See if you notice where some desire for permanence shows up, and, if it’s there, see if you can soften it, let go of it.
Amazing as it may seem, this is a foundational practice in the Third Commandment. You’re not making an idol; you’re going with the flow.
See how that feels in your body, in your mind. I hope it helps you soften your grip on whatever idols are present, that it opens up a little more spaciousness, that it brings a little more peace.
Blessings for the journey. Know that I’m on it with you.
ENDING
Thank you for joining us for Soulful Jewish Living: Mindful Practices for Every Day, a production of Unpacked, a brand of OpenDor Media, and the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. This episode is sponsored by Jonathan and Kori Kalafer and the Somerset Patriots: The Bridgewater, NJ-based AA Affiliate of the New York Yankees. If you like this show, subscribe, share this episode with a friend, give us five stars on Apple Podcasts. Check out our website, unpacked.media for everything Unpacked-related, and subscribe to our other podcasts, and check out the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. Most importantly, be in touch–about what you heard today, what you’d like to hear more about, or to dedicate an episode. Write to me at josh@unpacked.media.
This episode was hosted by me, Rabbi Josh Feigelson. Audio was edited by Rob Pera and we’re produced by Rivky Stern. Thanks for joining us.