{"id":50243,"date":"2019-08-01T21:56:26","date_gmt":"2019-08-02T03:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=50243"},"modified":"2019-08-01T21:57:38","modified_gmt":"2019-08-02T03:57:38","slug":"off-the-pulpit-normal-mystics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/off-the-pulpit-normal-mystics\/","title":{"rendered":"Off the Pulpit: Normal Mystics"},"content":{"rendered":"

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE<\/p>\n

The rabbinic scholar Max Kadushin came up with a marvelous title for the Rabbis of the Talmud. He called them \u201cNormal Mystics.\u201d<\/p>\n

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As Kadushin pointed out, that was not the Rabbinic path. Yes, the Rabbis prayed and meditated, and certainly had moments of solitude and contemplation. But the tradition forced them to engage in the world, in the everyday interactions of the market and the life of family. In this sense they were profoundly \u2018normal.\u2019<\/p>\n

Yet in each moment, whether at the dinner table, the study hall or the marketplace, the Rabbis had a deep and profound sense of the presence of God. They were not cave dwelling Corybants practicing secret rituals. They plunged into the world to discover its foundations. In their steady but certain goodness and conviction of God\u2019s presence, these normal mystics shaped the tradition that shaped us all.<\/p>\n

(Rabbi David Wolpe is the senior rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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