Call Out With אמת

I once went out to the forest in order to meditate and spend time talking to the Ribbono Shel Olam. When I got there I heard a man yelling. Worried that something terrible had befallen him, I went running in the direction of the screams. Eventually, the forest opened up to a patch of luscious green grass, surrounded by a bunch of mighty trees. In the middle of the grass stood a man, seemingly all alone, screaming at the top of his lungs. I couldn’t make out what he was yelling, but he was clearly extremely dedicated and focused.

Eventually I mustered up the courage to walk out into the clearing. To my surprise, he was so busy yelling that he didn’t even see me. I myself had to scream just to get him to notice me. When he realized that there was another person there he stopped yelling, just long enough for me to start an actual conversation with him. I asked him where he was from and how he had ended up in the forest. He told me all about his complicated childhood, his troubled teenage years, and his eventual journey towards enlightenment.

The man told me how he had eventually come to realize that there’s a God — that Hashem exists, and that Hashem is the only true reality.

“So what exactly are you yelling in the forest for?” I asked the man.

“I believe in God!” the man answered me defiantly.

I was quite perplexed by his answer.

“I also believe in God,” I told the man. “Yet you don’t see me yelling at the top of my lungs. Come to think of it, what is it that you’re yelling anyways?” I asked him.

“I don’t know which God you believe in," the man replied. “But I am yelling in order to get close to The One and Only — Hashem. As King David outlines in the book of Psalms, I am getting close to Hashem by yelling the word אמת. As the verse states: The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call to him with אמת. I’m yelling the word אמת out to Hashem, calling out to Him, just like every faithful Jew should.” he explained to me. 

“You are just yelling the word אמת again and again?” I asked the man.

“Of Course I Am!”, he declared triumphantly. “And with each call I can feel Hashem getting closer and closer to me. Clearly King David was a true scholar and a prophet. How blessed were the Jews to have had such a holy leader and teacher.”

“That sounds a bit odd to me, I’m pretty sure that the meaning of the verse is…”, but as the word “odd” left my mouth I could see a visible change come over the man. No longer was he a friendly stranger looking to share his life story. No longer was he a fellow Jew excited to discuss Torah thoughts.

“Blasphemer!”, he shouted at me angrily. “How can anyone say that King David was odd!! King David was one of the holiest people to have ever lived, and you should be utterly ashamed to say such a thing about him.”

“Chas Vshalom! I would never say such a thing about a tzaddik like King David”, I told the man. “I was merely saying that what you said…”, again I was unable to finish my sentence.

“What I said?” the man muttered as he cut me off again. “I literally quoted a verse from תהלים! Are you saying you don’t believe in תהלים? Why don’t you just denounce the entire Torah once you’re at it!? Do you even believe in Hashem?!?”, he shouted.

I opened my mouth again to explain that he didn’t understand the verse, but he was not done yelling at me.

“My parents warned me of people like you”, he continued ranting. “They said that you’d come with logic and reasoning, and try to to sway me from the path that leads to Hashem. I am done talking to you. I am going to continue serving Hashem in the correct way as taught to me by a tradition that clearly goes all the way back to King David, and you can follow whichever false path you choose.” And with that the man ran off into the woods, all the while telling people he met along the way that I’m a heretic and that according to Jewish Law I must be avoided at all costs. 

Not only was I unable to teach him the meaning of the verse, but I was no longer able to teach Torah to anyone at all, unless they first questioned their own tradition, which then gave them the freedom to come talk with me.

Woe to a world where words are spoken but not understood. 

Woe to a world that cannot differentiate between the verse and its meaning (חכמה ובינה).

Woe to a world where the seeming Tradition and Jewish Law are more important than Truth. 

Woe to a world where לשון הרע is accepted. 

And woe to the man to whom Torah was given, and yet he knows not what he has received.