Meeting Your Creator, or Finding Einstein's Compass

Rosh Hashanah 5771

A 5 year old child lay sick in his bed one day. The boy’s father brought a gift to delight his curiosity and help pass the time. A compass. The way the needle moved always pointing toward north, was mysterious and captivating. Hours of thinking and playing, testing and retesting the marvelous truth of the needle. No matter which way he stood, the needle always pointed north. What was the secret of this magical object?  

So great was this gift that years later the boy would reflect in his diaries, “This experience made a deep and lasting impression on me. I discovered [then] that something deeply hidden had to be behind things.”[1]

Curiosity. Mystery. Deeply hidden truths. Defining moments. These are the elements of a story that capture the mind and the heart. If we’re lucky, we can think of one time in our life when a singular experience impressed us - our sense of purpose, our sense of meaning in the world were aligned. Yet, in the words of one author, “The great awakenings that happen in childhood are usually lost to memory.[2]”

How could something as simple as a compass, something so easily explained by scientific proof, have such a profound impact on a child? Let’s ask Albert Einstein, the great scientific mind who was that five year old boy stuck in bed that day his father brought him a gift. Better yet, let’s ask his parents if they ever imagined such a small gift would be a catalyst for changing the world.

Experimenting and exploring with a compass long enough opened his eyes, inspired Einstein to explore gravitational fields, and some 20 years later to redefine the nature of the universe into a simplified equation, E= mc².

The story is more than a tale of inspired genius. When Einstein discovered deeply hidden truths behind gravity, light, and matter, they were more than the foundation for his scientific work. He was revealing truths about all existence – the outer and the inner lives. Who is the mind that can state with certainty, "The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is at all comprehensible."   For Einstein, those deeply hidden truths were his conception of God.

It was just magnetic paint. A needle on a pinpoint axis. Gravitational pull. Provable, Concrete. Real. But discovering God? The compass point should have pointed in another direction – everything is provable except for God – therefore God’s existence is suspect.   It was a childhood fascination that should have been quelled in adulthood, supported by incontrovertible truths, none of which speak of a Divine Agent.

Existence of this magnitude takes faith. Faith is irrational – it exists beyond the heart and the mind at once. Faith is the inconceivable surprise of living. In living we have faith that each day will bring more life.

Reason is definitive. We are beings who crave understanding and our quest for facts and truth justifies our existence. Discovering nature is a discovery of self. Every truth of the universe we discover helps us fully live up to our potential as humans and individuals. In the words of theologian Rev. Thomas Berry, “Everything tells the story of the universe. The winds tell the story, literally, not just imaginatively. The story has its imprint everywhere, and that is why it is so important to know the story. If you do not know the story, in a sense you do not know yourself; you do not know anything.” Even Faith and Reason have stories of the universe to tell.

In our day, we need the courage to define our faith and our reason separately. Abraham Joshua Heschel teaches, “Evaluating faith in terms of reason is like trying to understand love as a syllogism and beauty as an algebraic equation.”[3]

If an Einstein can find God woven into the fabric of the universe, should it be so hard for us? Most of us don’t use a compass anymore –in today’s world, there’s an Iphone app for that too. Discovering God should be convenient. If we can’t discover God in this vast and complicated existence, who will?

Most of us aren’t destined to become astrophysicists. Stephen Hawking the eminent physicist announced the publication of his new book last week. In short, he concludes that the "Big Bang" and the expansion of the universe are inevitable consequences of the laws of physics. We don’t need God to set the universe in motion anymore. Gravity did that, Hawking claims.[4]  

Hawking’s conclusions may very well be scientifically true. God cannot only mean that which is discovered in the farthest reaches of the universe, that there is an end to it all and the Master of all Existence dwells there spinning creation with precision and accuracy. No, God is in the discovery. That’s why in the space of 12 hours, literally 50,000 people responded to Hawking’s pronouncement arguing all sides of the issue. (Pay attention for those who follow articles and comments online – 50,000 is astounding) And 50,000 people are just the ones who cared to comment on one small page of the global conversation. Yes, we can accept that forces of gravity inevitably caused the Big Bang, but God still won’t go away. If anything we learn that when we fail to differentiate between faith and reason, people get angry!

And rightfully so! It feels like our compass is spinning out of control. We’re holding on to that compass of faith fighting every turn to make the needle point true. Every direction seems like the wrong direction. Turn to the left and we see a mosque at Ground Zero. Turn to the right and see blind faith tearing communities apart.   Turn to the right again and we see kids’ apathetic view ofIsrael today. Turn around and peace talks resume. Turn to the left and see Hamas and Gaza. Turn to the right and see Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Turn to the left and see economic upheaval and unemployment.   Turn upside down and see Glenn Beck. Turn to the right and see executive bonuses larger than the ones taken before the market crashed! Turn to the left and see homelessness, hunger, depravity, senseless, careless, godless creed and deed.   Which way do we turn next?

Everywhere we turn is becoming a burden. In our own quest for new and improved truths, we’re burdened by an era brimming with ecological, social, and economic destruction. Must we really forget so quickly that earlier this summer billions of gallons of oil was spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, at the hands of our own malfeasance? And do we really expect that a 20 billion or 50 billion even a 100 billion dollar shakedown is going to repair the damage? We’re not holding on to a compass anymore. We’ve spun around in circles and have lost our way.

Turning, turning, turning. It’s dizzying. So, turn your gaze away from the compass for a moment.

But don’t look at me. Look at our ancestors, our brothers and sisters who have carried the compass of Jewish tradition for generations. Look at Yosl Rakover. Listen to Yosl Rakover.   Yosl hid in the basement of a building in the Warsaw Ghetto during its liquidation in 1943. After his family was torn from his by the hands of the Nazis, his small children, his wife massacred by bombs dropped from the sky, his own life in peril, he picked up pen and paper and wrote.  

“God has hidden his face from the world and delivered mankind over to its own savage urges and instincts…. [But] to say that we have earned the blows we have received is to slander ourselves. It is a defamation of…His Holy Name. It is desecration of the name “Jew” a desecration of the name “God.” It is one and the same. God is blasphemed when we blaspheme ourselves.”[5]

God has hidden God’s Face. God is hiding. God was hiding from the taunts and sneers of gunman standing over piles of bodies. God was hiding from the cool politicians, playing their cards ever so carefully while millions were gassed and burned. We’ve been looking for God inside for so long, probing the deepest parts of our minds for so long, we’re forgetting to look outside and see the world is burning.

 It isn’t God who is hiding. We are.

 “Who needs to know why a compass does what it does?” “Who cares how a computer chip works?” “Does it help me download my favorite music or watch a silly video on YouTube?” “Show me the pyrotechnics of entertainment and diversion!” We haven’t a moment to breathe or to discover the world for ourselves anymore. We’ve successfully numbed ourselves. We’re sedated, intoxicated, and palliated into oblivion.   Without a moment to think, we’ve stupefied our ability to discover God, to discover mystery and wonder in the world around us. With a world creating more ‘what’s’ by the minute, we’ve suffocated our desire for ‘why.’[6] Our children are watching carefully, too carefully. Should we hide from them too?

To lay the blame on an absent God here is to deny our purpose – When God is blasphemed – we blaspheme ourselves. We can affect God in the world. When we reduce our experiences, our existence to sound bites and catch phrases, should we expect God to be anything less?

Maybe you remember this: A couple had two little mischievous boys, ages 8 and 10. They were always getting into trouble, and their parents knew that if any mischief occurred in their town, their sons would get the blame. The boys' mother heard that the rabbi had been successful in disciplining children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys. He agreed and asked to see them individually.

So, the mother sent her 8-year-old first, in the morning, with the older boy to see the rabbi in the afternoon. The rabbi, large and imposing with a booming voice, sat the younger boy down and asked him sternly, "Where is God?"

They boy's mouth dropped open, but he made no response, sitting there with his mouth hanging open.

The rabbi repeated the question. "Where is God?"

Again, the boy made no attempt to answer.

So, the rabbi raised his voice some more and shook his finger in the boy's face and bellowed, "Where is God!?"

The boy screamed and bolted from the room. He ran directly home and dove into his closet, slamming the door behind him.

When his older brother found him in the closet, he asked, "What happened?" 

The younger brother, gasping for breath, replied: "We are in real BIG trouble this time! God is missing, and they think we did it!

What a profound thought, God is missing and the children are hiding God. Rabbi Schulweis has taught us that conscience, God’s compass, is not taught, it’s caught. Our children are anxious to discover the ways of compasses, and perhaps we’re forgetting to show them. If we don’t look for God, who will?

How, then, shall we claim our curiosity? Our sense of mystery and wonder? Discover our deeply hidden truths? Not only for us but for our children? These questions are the gravitational pull of the spirit, and your compass point brings you here.   It is about us – We need to see what Einstein saw in that compass – something deep and profound behind all things. We need a renewed creativity – a radical discovery of self and universe of presence and transcendence.

Listen to Yosl Rakover. To be a Jew is to carry God’s name deeply embedded within us. We are the agents of God’s presence in this world.

The year is 5771 – We mark the time – not chronologically, but in the evolution of the human spirit. Rosh HaShanah isn’t only the anniversary of Creation. It’s the commemoration of the sixth day – Yom HaShishi of creation – the crowning glory of all existence, the creation of the human being. Rosh Hashanah is the time we mark our recreation – of self, of family, of society, of civilization. Rosh Hashanah is the Beginning of our change in direction. Our compass points true in one direction - our way is Torah. We shall call this change in direction spiritual creativity. It begins, as always, right here.

Cultivating spiritual creativity begins with a story. And we’ve got a great story. Our story begins - “Let there be Light.” God speaks and the world comes into being. Each and every day is a day of goodness – Tov – God pronounces “Good” in our epic vision of creation – Tov! Tov! Tov! Goodness is everywhere to be revealed. And when God forms the human being – Tov M’od – Very Good – The crowning glory of creation is in you.

We are Jews - when there is goodness in the world we rejoice! We are Jews – when the world throbs with pain it is our responsibility to bring healing! That’s why the One who proclaims Tov throughout Creation utters Lo Tov – not good, when seeing the human being alone – Lo Tov Heyot Levado. It’s not good for human beings to be alone – to be alone in the ongoing creation and discovery of the universe.

This year – our hearts burst from our chests in pride when the Jewish people – represented by our Israeli brothers and sisters - set up a fully functioning hospital in Haiti – saving the lives of hundreds. Even two of our own here at Valley Beth Shalom, Dr. Lee and Patty Kagan felt the call to bring goodness in the world and were there, on the ground, healing the afflicted and despairing lives of those who endured the devastating blow of an earthquake. Tov M’od – Good deems us very good, for we are the partners in bringing goodness to a world fraught with violence and pain, uncertainty and despair. Tov M’od. There countless other acts of selfless and anonymous acts of goodness are daily reminders that the Tov is the crowning glory of Creation. That’s spiritual creativity.

In the Zohar, Rabbi Shimon speaks, Woe to the human being who says that Torah presents mere stories and ordinary words! If so, we could compose a Torah right now with ordinary words, and better than all of them! To present matters of the world? Even rulers of the world possess words more sublime. If so, let us follow them and make a Torah out of them. Ah, but all the words of Torah are sublime words, sublime secrets![7]

Creativity suggests there is something new and useful to be formed, something that never existed before. As Jews we see creativity a little differently. Every day is an opportunity for something new, but it is also the discovery that it is something that has always existed. When the source of creativity is the One –Master of the entire Universe - creativity and creation are but discoveries of the deep truths found in all existence. The mystics proclaim the whole world is filled with God. When discovering God is the quest, Torah is the answer.

Torah wasn’t meant for rabbis alone. Consider it yourself. Consider the good feeling of doing something for yourself – it often beats the feeling that Professionals did it for you.[8]

Ha’foch Bah, Ha’foch Bah d’Kula Bah. Turn the Torah through and through, for all is in it. What does our Torah say about immigration? Care for the stranger in our midst, for we were once strangers. What does the Torah say about the BP oil spill? We are the stewards of God’s creation. If we don’t care for our Earth no one will. Building mosques – location notwithstanding – V’Asu Lee Mikdash V’Sh’Chantee B’Tocham, “Build God a Sanctuary, so God’s Presence May dwell among them.” Iran’s expressed goal of wiping Israel off the face of the map? Kumah Adonai, V’Yafootzoo Oyvecha, VYanoosoo M’Sonecha Mi’Panecha! “Rise Up, God and disperse those who are set against You –and May Your foes be put to flight before You.”

Read the Torah with these eyes! That’s spiritual creativity. Anything less is foolish skepticism. Einstein said it again, “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction.”

Einstein, that little boy spinning a compass on his bed later found his wisdom and declared, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” So, who are you? A person who believes nothing is a miracle or if everything is a miracle? You have a choice – live your life as a miracle. It’s your heritage – it’s your legacy. The miracle is that you make your life – a life of Torah – a life of discovery and wonder, a life of blessing and joy. That’s the most creative act you can accomplish – Let this New Year be one of creativity and discovery for you and yours. L’Shanah Tovah.

[1] Walter Isaacson, Einstein, p.13

[2] Isaacson, Einstein, p.13

[3] Heschel, Abraham Joshua, Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity, “Faith” p.336, Farrar, Strauss, Giroux 1996

[4] AP News, September 2, 2010

[5] Yosl Rakover Talks to God, Zvi Kolitz, p.10

[6] “The Creativity Crisis,” Newsweek, July 19, 2010, p.47.

[7] Zohar III: 152a

[8] Clay Shirky, Cognitive Surplus, Penguin Press, New York, 2010. p. 77

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