Conclusion
“The Insulted King,” Illustration of Level 1 by Rebecca Odessa, Courtesy The Wisdom Daily
Lectures in Jewish History and Thought. No hard questions, please.
“The Insulted King,” Illustration of Level 1 by Rebecca Odessa, Courtesy The Wisdom Daily
“The Moment of Innocence,” illustration of Level 13 by Rebecca Odessa, Courtesy The Wisdom Daily
Translator’s Introduction
The Thirteenth and final Level of mercy carries an absolute guarantee: one who masters this level can forgive anyone. The Thirteenth Level renders all the earlier levels unnecessary, but there’s a big catch: the Thirteenth Level is spiritually exhausting, and can only be sustained for brief periods of time. It requires phenomenal concentration and a massive investment of personal energy, and as such it should only be invoked when all other levels prove insufficient.
The theory is simple, the technique complex. The basic idea of the Thirteenth Level is that no matter how despicable a person has become, there was certainly a time when that person was completely innocent. No matter how damaged the relationship, there was a time when it was new and healthy. Contemplating that moment of innocence is the essence of the Thirteenth Level, which Rabbi Cordovero calls “the level that contains all previous levels.”
“Family Tree (Remember Where They Came From),” illustration of Level 12 by Rebecca Odessa, Courtesy The Wisdom Daily
Translator’s Introduction
The final element of the triad is Level Twelve. In Level Ten we discussed how to forgive ordinary people and in Level Eleven we examined how to forgive especially good people. Level Twelve deals with forgiving people who seem to be beneath our consideration, having failed habitually to live up to moral challenges. How can such people, who have a long history of wrongdoing, merit our forgiveness? Even after considering the previous eleven strategies, it may be difficult to find a path to forgiveness for these people.
The Twelfth Level suggests a shift of focus, from the offender to his or her family background. Rabbi Cordovero, writing for a Jewish audience, places this level in the context of Jewish peoplehood. Even when a Jew behaves inappropriately, and little excuse for the behavior may be found, nevertheless that Jew is still a child of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and deserves forgiveness purely out of respect for their ancestral merit. Rabbi Cordovero’s argument may be extended to the family of the entire human race.
“Serve and Protect (Do More for Those Who Do More),” illustration of Level 11 by Rebecca Odessa, Courtesy The Wisdom Daily
Translator’s Introduction
The second part of the triad of Levels Ten, Eleven and Twelve refers to how we must forgive people who have a long history of helping others. In the Tenth Level, we examined how we must extend just a little bit more credit to people as a matter of course, regardless of their moral character. In the Eleventh Level, we see how we must go still further to forgive people who habitually put others before themselves. They, like all of us, experience moral challenges and sometimes fail. Their prior demonstrated commitment to helping others, however, means that they deserve an additional measure of mercy. Like the patriarch Abraham, known for his generous hospitality and caring for others, people who behave selflessly earn an additional measure of forgiveness.
“The Hook (Do the Right Thing Anyway),” illustration of Level 10 by Rebecca Odessa, Courtesy The Wisdom Daily
Translator’s Introduction
The Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Levels together comprise a triad of strategies for forgiving others, particularly people with whom we have more casual relationships. The Tenth Level addresses the average person, with neither elevated nor stunted morality, the Eleventh Level describes forgiveness for the person who habitually goes beyond the minimum requirements to help others, and the Twelfth Level focuses on forgiving people who typically fall short of our moral expectations.
The Tenth and Eleventh Levels are also associated with the Patriarchs Jacob and Abraham, respectively. Jacob, whose tribulations frequently involved suffering at the hands of cruel and deceitful individuals like his brother Esau and his father-in-law Laban, learned strategies for coping with challenging people without sacrificing the fundamental trait of Truth. The Tenth Level therefore addresses this issue of truth in forgiveness, and just as Jacob’s deception of Isaac is understood as appropriate despite its manipulation of apparent truth, so too does forgiveness require a slight but intentional deviation from the apparently just. Simply put, even though an individual might deserve a strict retribution for a hurtful act, nevertheless one should just ease that response slightly in favor of mercy, tempering judgment with kindness even though the situation may not otherwise warrant a forgiving response.
“The Scapegoat (Bury the Past),” illustration of Level 9 by Rebecca Odessa, Courtesy The Wisdom Daily
Translator’s Introduction
The Ninth Level of Mercy addresses a principal common to both Kabbalah and physics: energy never dissipates of its own accord; rather it is redirected and absorbed into something else. If a stone is dropped into the middle of a still lake, the ripples will extend to the shoreline, gradually decreasing in size as the circle of their impact increases. Once they reach the land, the energy represented by the ripples is transferred to the earth itself, shifting the pebbles and grains of sand until the force of the original stone is completely exhausted. The same phenomenon is true of human sin. Sin releases the forces of judgment into the world like a stone dropping into a lake, and the energy of these forces of judgment can only be redirected and absorbed elsewhere. It will not simply stop and return to its source.
The Ninth Level acknowledges God’s mercy as it is expressed in the redirection of forces of judgment. Rabbi Cordovero illustrates the phenomenon with several Biblical examples, including the punishment of Pharaoh (Exodus 4), Haman (Esther 7) the scapegoat (Leviticus 16), and Daniel’s interpretation of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2). The Ninth Level concludes with a treatment of how we may internalize and emulate this aspect of mercy in our own lives.
“Maintain a Core of Love,” illustration of Level 8 by Rebecca Odessa, Courtesy The Wisdom Daily
Rabbi Cordovero expands upon the metaphysics of forgiveness in the Eighth Level. God preserves a core region of positive regard for every human being, a place where every positive deed that person ever performed is recalled, cherished, and protected. Even when a person commits some act of transgression, the impact of that inappropriate behavior cannot affect the core of love. In other words, God does not keep a running tally of pros and cons regarding each individual, subtracting the blame for transgressions from the reward for good deeds to arrive at a kind of score for each individual. Rather, God is like a king who maintains two halls for his servants. One is beautifully decorated, filled with luxurious furnishings under a lofty ceiling and illuminated with chandeliers. In this hall, servants are received and rewarded for performing the king’s will, and the king frequently returns to this hall to review the record books and rejoice in the memory of their contributions to the kingdom. The second hall is a plain room, devoid of any luxuries, in which the king reviews the records of servants who have failed to perform their duties appropriately, and they receive punishment. The kingdom has yet to see a servant who is not called to both chambers, yet the king maintains a strict policy: no misdeeds are to be mentioned in the glorious hall of reward.
So too, God maintains a chamber where the positive actions of a person are stored, and no matter how poorly a person may behave, he or she will never lose their place in this holy chamber. Rabbi Cordovero describes the meaning of this Level, and provides direction on how we may apply it in our own lives.
“Building a Fence (A Knot is Stronger),” Illustration of Level 7 by Rebecca Odessa, Courtesy The Wisdom Daily
Translator’s Introduction
Rabbi Cordovero begins the Seventh Level of Mercy with a well-known teaching from the Talmud (Berakhot 34b): “in a place where penitents stand, not even the completely righteous may stand,” a statement that counterintuitively affirms the power of repentance. Not only is the penitent accepted back into Divine favor, the penitent is drawn still closer than before the transgression! Rabbi Cordovero derives the reason for this phenomenon from another Talmudic passage connected to the Hebrew letter he (pronounced “hey”), which is shaped like a kind of covered patio: roofed overhead, a wall to the right, a half-wall to the left, and open at the bottom (ה). The repentance process takes place when a person falls out the bottom of the he. It is impossible to climb back along the same path of descent; rather the penitent must ascend on the outside of the letter, finally entering through the tiny opening at the top left. This arduous process gives the penitent greater strength, and renders the penitent more beloved to God than even the completely righteous individual who has never fallen.
From the human perspective, the Seventh Level of Mercy addresses the damage done to a relationship through betrayal. Even after tearful apologies are spoken and accepted, the natural tendency is to hold back a certain degree of affection or respect as a result of prior harm, regardless of how intensely and sincerely the other may repent. The Seventh Level dictates that not only should the relationship be restored to its earlier strength, it should even be improved as a result of the commitment to renewal.
“Who Makes Your Lunch?” illustration of Level 6 by Rebecca Odessa, Courtesy The Wisdom Daily
Translator’s Introduction
The Sixth Level begins with a deeply mystical passage in Ezekiel, set in the years immediately prior to the 6th century BCE destruction of the first Temple. God is angered by the sins of the Jewish people, and sends the archangel Gabriel to destroy them utterly, once and for all. Gabriel takes the glowing coals from a space called the galgal, located beneath the altar, and prepares to shower devastation upon the people. Gabriel is delayed in place for six years until the image of a human hand appears in the galgal, a symbolic representation of the acts of human kindness that the otherwise sinful Jews do for each other. With the appearance of this hand, God cancels Gabriel’s mission. God’s mindful delay to act from anger for six years, followed by a recollection of an unrelated kind deed, ultimately averts punishment.
Rabbi Cordovero goes on to describe how this level may be applied on a human scale, offering an exceptionally practical suggestion to promote forgiveness. When angered or frustrated by the behavior of another, one should focus on a single redeeming characteristic or activity of that person. This small technique places a momentary deterrent in the path of angry reaction, allowing forgiveness to take hold and ultimately blunt the full force of one’s wrath.
“Release the Anger,” illustration of Level 5 by Rebecca Odessa, Courtesy The Wisdom Daily
Translator’s Introduction
The prophet Zechariah portrays God as a shepherd with two staffs: one is called “pleasantness” (נאם) and the other is called “woundings” (חובלים). In his commentary on Date Palm of Devorah, Rabbi Epstein explains the metaphor: just as a shepherd may choose to lead sheep with gentle prodding, using the staff of pleasantness, he may also direct his flock by striking them, using the staff of woundings. So, too, God may elect to lead us by opening doors of opportunity and allowing us to advance on our own or by forcing us to follow a path against our will, using harsh penalties. Either way, as Rabbi Cordovero puts it, “God behaves with hardness or with softness, all for the benefit of the Jewish people.”
In the Fifth Level of Mercy, Rabbi Cordovero explains that God will use the staff of pleasantness even if a person is undeserving. Borrowing from an episode in Jewish history recorded in II Kings, Rabbi Cordovero shows that God expanded the boundaries of ancient Israel under King Jeroboam even though the people did not repent. Counterintuitively, God may use the staff of pleasantness if the staff of woundings will not achieve the desired results.
Applied to the human level, Date Palm of Devorah urges us to consider switching tactics when dealing with difficult people. Sometimes an act of unmitigated forgiveness is required, even though the circumstances seem to demand retaliation or retribution.