“God alone leads them, and there is no foreign god with Him” (Deuteronomy 32:12). The literal sense, the peshat, of the first part of this verse teaches that Israel’s fate is not determined by the stars (astrological predictions) but by God alone, as the Talmud reiterates: “There are no predetermined heavenly influences upon Israel” (Shabbat 156a; see too “Why God Took Abraham Outside” in Lech Lecha). The second part of the verse repeats a theme found throughout the Torah: God is one and unique and there are no other gods.
When the punctuation of the first part of the verse is altered slightly, it can be read as follows: “God is alone, He leads them.” This reading of the text allows the first part of the verse to complement the second part, as both emphasize God’s uniqueness and “aloneness,” in the sense of God being essentially above and beyond any comparison or description that the human mind can grasp.
In the next and concluding portion of the Torah, Vezot Haberachah, there is another verse that contains the exact same Hebrew word for “alone”: “And Israel shall dwell securely, alone….” (Deuteronomy 33:28). The fact that both God and Israel are described as being “alone” suggests a number of profound insights about humanity, in general, and the Jewish people, in particular.
When God created Adam the Torah states: “And God, God formed the man of dust from the ground and He blew into his nostrils the soul of life, and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). The Zohar explains that when we blow, we expel air from our very innards. Applying this principle to God’s blowing, this means that the human soul comes, as it were, from the very essence of God. Since God is fundamentally unique and “alone,” so too each person is unique and “alone.”
Although human beings are social by nature, seeking out companionship, family, and community, ultimately each individual is born alone, lives alone – wrapped up in his or her own thoughts and emotions, and dies alone. Each human being is a self-contained entity, existentially alone as a result of humanity having been created “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27), for the human soul as an essential part of God shares in the reality of Divine uniqueness and aloneness. In this sense, being alone is a gift and an opportunity, yet anyone who has experienced true loneliness can attest to the fact that it often feels more like a curse. In some sense, human beings ultimately realize their Divine origins by grappling with the ongoing reality of being alone.
Just three verses earlier we find one of the main biblical sources for the Kabbalistic and Chassidic understanding of the soul being “an actual part of God above”: “For a portion of God is His people, Jacob is the lot of His inheritance” (Deuteronomy 32:9). The mystical tradition teaches us that Adam would have been the first Jew but he lost this potential when he sinned and was banished from the Garden of Eden. In this verse, Jacob/Israel is portrayed as actualizing Adam’s initial potential.
When applied to the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, the concepts of uniqueness and aloneness takes on altogether new dimensions. Paradoxically, Israel, which was chosen by God to lead humanity to unity through a true understanding of its relationship with the Creator, was set apart from the other nations. Indeed, as Balaam declared when he tried in vain to curse Israel: “They are a nation that will dwell alone and will not be considered among the nations” (Numbers 23:9). Just as being alone can be interpreted as either a blessing or a curse, Jewish history has shown that Israel’s uniqueness and chosen status has taken on elements of both – as a badge of honor and as the cause for a virulent anti- Semitism that has hounded us in every generation.
Rashi comments on the verse, “And Israel shall dwell securely, alone” (Deuteronomy 33:28) that all the Jews will tranquilly “sit under their own grape vines and fig trees” (Zechariah 3:10) and settle throughout the Land, as they will not need to live together to protect themselves or to rapidly band together to repulse an attack. The sense one gets from Rashi is that this state is both ideal and natural. While the blessing that each person should feel safe, and, even more importantly, at ease, in the Messianic era is utopian, it is also the most natural request in the world. Indeed, even though human beings seek companionship and feel at peace when they live without fear of external attack, ultimately peace of mind is not a function of something outside ourselves; rather, it has to be found within our own hearts, minds, and souls.
One of the most powerful methods for achieving this type of peace of mind entails the spiritual practice of hitbodedut (literally, lone meditation), where a person goes out into nature alone and communes with God. The word “hitbodedut,” is derived from the Hebrew word meaning “being alone” (boded), the very word used in the above verses. Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, following in the footsteps of the patriarch Isaac and his own illustrious great-grandfather the Ba’al Shem Tov, established the spiritual service of hitbodedut. He encouraged his students to set aside a certain amount of time each day to be alone, preferably in nature, during which time they would talk to God just like a person talks to his or her best friend. This kind of spiritual practice must be tailored to each and every individual and can be accompanied by singing, praying, learning, crying, meditating, or any other method that helps a person open up to experiencing God as an immediate and caring presence.
The essence of hitbodedut is the aspect of being alone, for only then do we shed all the masks and facades that we adopt in order to deal with others. Free from the demands of society and peer pressure, we can approach God from a shared perspective of aloneness and uniqueness. When we make this connection with God, we awaken our deepest potential, enabling ourselves to fulfill our ultimate mission of being created “in the image of God.”
