Dancing With A Rabbi
If you become a regular follower of my blog, you’ll quickly discern that I’m obsessed with Hebrew midrash and other forms of ancient rabbinic ‘teaching.’
I put teaching in quotes, because ancient rabbis didn’t teach the way people teach today.
They didn’t dispense information.
They didn’t explain how to do something.
They didn’t instruct their students to adopt a belief system. And…
They didn’t expect them to adhere to some form of conventional wisdom.
No, rather than being a one-way relationship with the teacher sharing his knowledge and expertise with the student, rabbinic teaching was a…
Dance
a co-creative partnership
with each participant
playing an equally vital role
in the discovery
of both
the universal
and personal
truths
hidden
deep
within
the student.
The student’s role was to bring the question,
the problem, the uncertainty or mystery.
And the rabbi’s role was to listen, probe, prod, question,
and occasionally offer a wink or a nudge to help the student
begin to see things in a new light or from a different perspective.
The rabbi didn’t start
with a predetermined end in mind,
because
it
was
a dance.
And dancing is about flow, rhythm, balance.
It’s moving in time with your partner
to create something beautiful.
The rabbi understood that for a student to grow and expand
and begin thinking and moving differently
the relationship couldn’t be coercive;
it couldn’t be one-sided;
it couldn’t be dictated.
The student had to feel the music shift within;
she or he needed to experience the sensation
of something being set free inside;
she had to see the road map of her future
unfold
in
her
mind’s
eye.
Meanwhile,
the rabbi’s role was to gently,
but consistently
ask questions designed
to disrupt and disturb
old ways of thinking
so that together
they could explore the fringes,
the grey areas,
the new frontiers,
and reimagine
what was possible,
what was foundational,
what was necessary
for the student to take the next right step
into her preferred future.
That
Was
The
Dance.
And that’s the dance I want to invite my clients into.
I would never call myself a rabbi, but as a Life Coach and Spiritual Director
some of the most fulfilling and life-giving moments I’ve experienced
have come when another person has trusted me with a question, a problem, a mystery
that’s making their life feel out of rhythm,
and then given me the freedom to poke, prod, question, and nudge
until together we had that breakthrough moment
when the music became clear
and they were able to dance off
into the next movement of their life.
© 2021 Hayah Consulting LLC
