Writings from Rabbi Glickman

I see and hear the word “spirituality” all the time these days. Bookstores devote entire sections to it. Many people tell me that although they are not religious, they are spiritual. Others come to see me for help in learning how to become spiritual. They do this, they say, because they feel that I am a spiritual person.

I just wish somebody would tell me what the word, “spiritual,” means.

On one level, spiritual is the opposite of physical. Thus, love is spiritual. So is hope, and so is joy. But by this definition, hate and despair and evil are spiritual, too. By this definition, Mother Theresa was spiritual, but in a warped and evil way, so was Hitler. Call me crazy, but I have a feeling that when people call themselves spiritual, being like Hitler is not what they have in mind.

Others use the word “spiritual” to refer a perception that everything is connected. Mother Theresa would also fit this definition, as would the Lorax (“I speak for the trees….”) and his environmentalist counterparts of today. So would gurus and flower children and, to some, even Ralph Nader.

Many religious people share this notion of spirituality, but translate it into theological terms. To them, spirituality refers to the ability to see the presence of God in the world. Indeed, many people see the word “spiritual” and the word “religious” as meaning almost the same thing.

Do you know what the Hebrew word is for spirituality? There isn’t one. There is a Modern Hebrew word, ruchaniyut, which is usually translated as spirituality, but that word was made up recently in response to all of the spirituality talk that has been going on. Classical Judaism, it seems, had no concept of spirituality at all.

Judaism does, of course, have a notion of holiness. Holiness does not refer to any feeling or perception or insight, but rather to a set of behaviors. The Jew becomes holy by fulfilling God’s commandments; by doing the things that our tradition teaches are what God wants us to do.

Thus, spirituality and holiness are very different. Spirituality is gazing upon Mt. Rainier and reveling in its beauty. Holiness is being careful to stay on the marked trails while hiking there, so as not to destroy the sub-alpine vegetation,

Spirituality is the feeling you get when you stop to smell the roses. Holiness is sending flowers to someone in the hospital.

Spirituality is looking at the calm serenity on your kids’ faces as they sleep. Holiness is bandaging their owies and putting them through college and cleaning them up when they vomit at three in the morning.

Spirituality is feeling love for all people. Holiness is doing something about it.

Frankly, it seems that there is a bit of selfishness in today’s spirituality talk. People who want to become spiritual are trying to figure out how to use God (or whatever secularized terms they have for God) to add meaning and fulfillment to their lives. Meaning and fulfillment are important, of course, but to me they are not what religion is about. To me, religion is about serving rather than being served, about giving gifts to God rather than finagling God’s gifts for ourselves.

Originally, religious worship services were ways for us to serve God. Now, to many they have become some of the services that congregations offer their members.

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your God can do for you - ask what you can do for your God. Ask not “God, what have you done for me lately?” ask instead, “God, how may I serve you?” Ask not how you can know God, ask how you can know what God wants you to do.

If you see yourself as a spiritual person, therefore, I am curious as to what you mean by “spiritual.” And once you answer, I have another question that is perhaps even more important:

What are you going to do about it?

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