In a TEDx Talk, My friend Rabbi Chava Bahle reminds us that the Hebrew letter aleph — א — stands for oneness. Recently, I have been contemplating both aleph and the importance of oneness. In this time of great division, we often forget that we are interconnected.
It has become easy to dismiss others because of their differences. So many of us put up barriers when part of someone’s identity is different from our own. When we do so, we truly miss out. In the virtual world, we can “unfriend” people with the push of a button. We often block out chances to learn new perspectives. We dismiss what makes us uncomfortable, and in doing so, we forfeit opportunities to learn, to grow.
The real world does not work this way. We cannot, for example, refuse to speak to a co-worker just because we do not agree with their beliefs. Perhaps the virtual world has given us the illusion that we can easily cut people out of our lives over trivial differences. Reality, however, is not that simple.
From the Kabbalah (Jewish Mysticism), aleph represents the oneness of G-d. I think we can take it a step further and say the oneness of all things, both seen and unseen. All of creation is one. (Yes, that includes those folks who have opinions different from our own). I once heard a rabbi say, “When we die, our souls get scrambled up, and we come back down in a new body with a soul that is sometimes mixed with other souls.” I had an identity crisis. Did he mean that my soul was actually a soul made up of many souls? Then I asked myself if that was such a bad thing. My genetic composition is certainly influenced by many souls that came before me.
It should not be surprising that the Hebrew word for champion is aluf, orאלוף , which contains the letter aleph. While this word is often reserved for champions of the military, it is also culturally used for heroes in sports. I cannot help but hear my middle school gym teacher’s words: “There is no i in team.” The key to success is oneness. The many parts make up the whole.
In my new role as interfaith chaplain, I am working to show our students that people from different religions (and no religion at all) can work together to achieve greatness. When we tear down walls, we construct oneness. In the past fifteen years, I have spent time in worship with Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Quakers, and Jews. In all of those wonderful moments, I have come away with the understanding that while we seek oneness differently, we all have the same goal: unity with G-d and/or one another.
In a time when we feel so disconnected, a sentiment supported by sound bites, clips of quotes, and images, it is important to keep in mind our oneness. If we remember that we are beautiful parts of a glorious whole, it will be much harder to hurt one another. If we practice patience and truly give others a chance, we may see that we are not that different after all.
By Jer Bryant
Interfaith Chaplain
Note: In Jewish tradition, out of reverence, one does not spell out the full name of God, thus stating it instead as “G-d.”