Rabbi David Aaron is a non-dualistic, panentheistic
Jew --- this is the belief that the world is part, though not all of God. This notion is reflected in all of his
writings.
His most common metaphor of
the individual human connection with God is God as the sun and people and
reality as its rays. We are not the sun, but we are also not detached from the sun.
In such a view, God
is the root of all existence. Or stated
in more extreme terms, everything shares some vital essence with God, and
therefore, everything is God.
In Inviting God
In, Rabbi Aaron examines the Jewish holidays in light of this view. He has some interesting things to say about
some standard notions.
He equates Rosh Hashanah with the idea of monotheism
--- one God who sits in judgment of the world and separate from the world. Yom Kippur is the day when God presents God’s
true nature, the panentheistic view.
Rabbi Aaron also gives special importance to Purim, which
he connects with Yom Kippur. Purim is a
minor holiday, dismissed by most as a children's holiday, but for Aaron, it is a taste of the World to Come, when
distinctions between good and evil, right and wrong, will melt away, and we
will all see ourselves as we truly are, a part of God.
Inviting God In is by turns hokey and profound, which
is Rabbi Aaron’s style. But there is
much good to glean from his teachings. A
view of the world, God and people that is both attractive and hits a poetic
chord in the heart.
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