{"id":41,"date":"2016-07-19T15:09:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-19T19:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/?p=41"},"modified":"2016-07-19T15:09:00","modified_gmt":"2016-07-19T19:09:00","slug":"dancing-with-intention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/2016\/07\/dancing-with-intention\/","title":{"rendered":"Dancing with Intention"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Noted sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild argues in her recent book The Outsourced Self<\/em><\/a> that we seek professionals for more and more of our personal decisions.\u00a0 She writes:<\/p>\n

As we outsource more of our private lives, we find it increasingly possible to outsource emotional attachment\u2026.\u00a0 Focusing attention on the destination, we detach ourselves from the small \u2014 potentially meaningful \u2014 aspects of experience. Confining our sense of achievement to results, to the moment of purchase, so to speak, we unwittingly lose the pleasure of accomplishment, the joy of connecting to others and possibly, in the process, our faith in ourselves.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Years ago there was no life coaches (or, for that matter, Siri) offering personal direction and advice.\u00a0 To help answer our questions of what we should or should not do there were instead parents, siblings, spouses and friends.\u00a0 Granted sometimes the advice and counsel was not solicited.\u00a0 Still it was always free and offered with our best interests at heart.\u00a0 Advice is part of what good friends are supposed to offer.\u00a0 Counsel is what parents are supposed to provide.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of years ago many Jewish rituals were performed in the home and not in the synagogue.\u00a0 The rabbis began to worry.\u00a0 What happens if these rituals are not done properly or not even done at all?\u00a0 And so to be certain that they were expertly observed the lighting of Shabbat candles and morning blessings, to name two examples, were moved into the synagogue.\u00a0 With this move from the home into the synagogue, more fell on the expert hands of rabbis and cantors.<\/p>\n

We turn to professionals to lead our rituals and celebrations.\u00a0 We turn to experts for the most intimate of advice.\u00a0 And we forget to turn to those whose greatest, and perhaps only, expertise is their love for us.<\/p>\n

Years ago when I went to my first party there was no such thing as party enhancers.\u00a0 My friends and I made the party\u2014or so we thought.\u00a0 Sometimes we did a good job.\u00a0 Others times we did not.\u00a0 (And by the way sometimes we got ourselves into trouble and other times not.)\u00a0 It did not matter if we danced expertly or not, as long as we danced.<\/p>\n

We are hesitant to dance if not led by the hand of experts.<\/p>\n

In ancient days it was the priests who alone performed our rituals. Only someone descended from Aaron, only a person without any perceived defects could offer a sacrifice.\u00a0 These priests were trained in the intricacies of the sacrificial rites.<\/p>\n

The reliance on these experts was because the ancient Israelites believed that the world would collapse if the sacrifices were performed incorrectly.\u00a0 For such important and intricate work only experts would do.\u00a0 The ancients believed that lives depended on their expertise.<\/p>\n

There are of course those in today\u2019s Jewish world who view rituals in a similar manner and worry that a misplaced word, an incorrect blessing, forgotten candle lighting might tumble the world toward destruction.\u00a0 Such is not my view.\u00a0 Life is not the same as surgery.\u00a0 It is uneven.\u00a0 It is imperfect.\u00a0 Prayer is not akin to the ancient sacrifices. Rabbis are not priests.\u00a0 Cantors are not the descendants of Aaron.\u00a0 Our spiritual lives should not be left for experts.<\/p>\n

And so I would rather we stumble and that we offer these prayers ourselves.\u00a0 I would rather we join with our prayer leaders, and congregations, and sing our tradition\u2019s songs (even if it might be out of key).\u00a0 I would rather we dance\u2014even when it appears out of step.\u00a0 Let joy be our own.\u00a0 Let our people\u2019s rituals and prayers not be left to experts.<\/p>\n

Let living our lives not be left to experts.\u00a0 Let our spiritual lives be discovered, and rediscovered, in our own hands.<\/p>\n

The Shulchan Aruch, the medieval Jewish law code, affirms: \u201cBetter a few prayers spoken with intention than many words prayed without intention.\u201d\u00a0 Focus on the intention rather than the multitude of words.<\/p>\n

The intention can always be found in our own hearts. \u00a0Dancing begins with our own feet.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Noted sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild argues in her recent book The Outsourced Self that we seek professionals for more and more of our personal decisions.\u00a0 She writes: As we outsource more of our private lives, we find it increasingly possible to outsource emotional attachment\u2026.\u00a0 Focusing attention on the destination, we detach ourselves from the small […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2763,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nDancing with Intention<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Noted sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild argues in her recent book The Outsourced Self that we seek professionals for more and more of our personal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dancing with Intention\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Noted sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild argues in her recent book The Outsourced Self that we seek professionals for more and more of our personal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/2016\/07\/dancing-with-intention\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wheels of Faith: Coasting Uphill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-19T19:09:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rabbi Moskowitz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rabbi Moskowitz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/2016\/07\/dancing-with-intention\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/2016\/07\/dancing-with-intention\/\",\"name\":\"Dancing with Intention\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-19T19:09:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-07-19T19:09:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/#\/schema\/person\/6e5313a344c66c628fc3b482a9e4963a\"},\"description\":\"Noted sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild argues in her recent book The Outsourced Self that we seek professionals for more and more of our personal\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/2016\/07\/dancing-with-intention\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/2016\/07\/dancing-with-intention\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/2016\/07\/dancing-with-intention\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Dancing with Intention\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/\",\"name\":\"Wheels of Faith: Coasting Uphill\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/#\/schema\/person\/6e5313a344c66c628fc3b482a9e4963a\",\"name\":\"Rabbi Moskowitz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wheelsfaith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a692720533ddae0bcb62f31f7d244bf?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a692720533ddae0bcb62f31f7d244bf?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Rabbi Moskowitz\"},\"description\":\"Rabbi Steven Moskowitz is the spiritual leader of Congregation L\u2019Dor V\u2019Dor on Long Island\u2019s North Shore. 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