(or: The Call of the Chauffeur)
Recent controversy has brought to light the growing popularity of "Call of the Shofar" - a Jewish-oriented weekend workshop for self-actualization - and concern among mainstream Chabad-Lubavitch community leaders that it may be inappropriate for Chassidim to seek resolution of their issues 'outside the fold.' While the conversation continues, there is an emerging consensus that the community can do more to serve the perceived needs. Here are some of my initial thoughts and responses to this issue.
An embodied soul arrives here in this
manifest reality with a mandate, a sense of mission – a hardwired
desire to pursue a purposeful life: a life of service, creativity,
productivity and the betterment of the world. We encounter a
fragmented, competitive, often cruel and seemingly irrational world;
our job is to do all we can to transform this world and render it
whole, harmonious, meaningful, and kind.
While in essence this mandate is about
serving G-d and doing for others, and “not about me,” since we
are all imperfect the effective pursuit of this purpose also calls
(ironically, some might say) for self-rectification. In order to get
the job done we often have to learn how to get out of our own way.
By the same token, however, healthy selflessness calls for a healthy
sense of one's own personal strengths. The balance of the two helps
us create loving, mutually empowering relationships, among other
components of a meaningful and enjoyable life.
In this generation of ikvasa
d'meshicha especially, Chassidus (Chassidic philosophy) tends to emphasize action on
behalf of others rather than self-absorbed attention to
“self-improvement.” Nonetheless the inner work of
self-cultivation (or perhaps better, self-transcendence) is an
important component of the work at hand. This is true both in terms
of the mitzvah of avodah shebelev (the 'service of the heart"), for
those who are healthy enough and well-trained enough to effectively
work on themselves with the tools of hisbonenus
and tefilah (meditation and prayer), and in
the sense of self-healing – overcoming internal conflicts,
weaknesses, emotional turmoil or negative habitual patterns – for
those of us who are challenged with a personal sense of
fragmentation.
Chassidus presents a complete model of
both the structure and the dynamics of consciousness. Or, if you
will, the anatomy and physiology of the human soul, mind, heart,
body, and behavior. (Pathology too – which raises the question of
a distinction between spiritual growth and therapy. More about that another time.) In principle, Chassidus offers us unerring guidance toward
our fulfillment of life's mission – an accurate roadmap and wise
advice as to how to get from where we are to where we are destined to
be. In practice, many still struggle and falter along this path,
grow bitter or pessimistic, or even lose sight of the purpose of life
and abandon its pursuit. Still others have yet to discover the path.
My
wife and I are educators and healers. We've been Chabad program
directors and school administrators, teachers and mashpi'im (mentors),
nutritional pioneers and health care providers, coaches,
entertainers, and trainers in meditation techniques. After more than
four decades of learning how to walk the walk and reaching out to
others along the way, it is our perception that prevalent methods and
existing institutions still leave much to be desired – and that
people are growing clearer and more articulate about what it is they
really want.
Our
day jobs place us at the threshold of that new direction. Frumma
currently teaches young women in Seminary and High School, travels as
an inspirational speaker, and serves as a Torah Life Coach. I am
currently a licensed practitioner of Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine,
and am researching and writing about the converging sciences of
physical wellness, emotional intelligence, and the refinement of
consciousness. Together we are developing a formal course to train
people in coaching skills. We see our emerging role as contributing
to the development of dynamic new curricula and training programs
that apply core principles of Chassidus to the cultivation of
behavioral, emotional, cognitive and spiritual well-being: a
whole-systems approach to individual coaching and group workshops
that internalizes traditional teachings and puts wisdom to work in
real life.
Collaboration is our preferred working model, so we encourage anyone of kindred spirit and aligned intention to be in touch with us and share insights and goals.
Frumma's
website is at www.frumma.info.
Our
emails are gotfrumma@gmail.com
and gotsimcha@gmail.com,
respectively.
