Purification from Guilt

…”purification is an inner process which is never ended but in which we continually become ourselves.”

This line was written by Karl Jaspers (1883-1969), the German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher, in his work “The Question of German Guilt.” It is a collection of lectures which Jaspers delivered at Heidelberg University only several months after the end of the Second World War and the fall of the 3rd Reich.

In those lectures Jaspers took on the impossible task of breaking down German guilt in the face of the revealed crimes of the Nazi regime.

Jaspers himself was not Jewish but was married to a Jewish woman. He was fired from his position at the University due to that fact and spent the war with her in hiding.

The purification process which he speaks of above is the process of handling four types of guilt which he unpacks in his lectures.

Those are: Criminal guilt, the guilt of directly committing acts that are against the law; Political guilt, a person's level of political acquiescence to a regime and their complicity with its actions; Moral guilt, the individual's personal judgment and conscience regarding their own deeds, regardless of orders; and Metaphysical guilt, A universal responsibility shared by all humans for the world's injustices. 

Before we go deeper into those, let’s take a look at another person’s guilt in our portion Lekh Lekha. This is, of course, Abraham.

After settling in Canaan, Abraham and his nephew Lot, are entering a dispute regarding land for their cattle. Following this dispute, the two separate and Lot settles in the city of Sodom. Bad timing for Lot, as right then King Charlaomer and his three allies invade, raging war on the five kings in the area. Lot and his family are taken captive.

Abraham gathers a band of fighters and embarks on a heroic rescue mission in which he defeats the four kings, acquires their possessions and rescues Lot.  

Following this victory, we read these curious words from God to Abraham:

"אַחַ֣ר ׀ הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֗לֶּה הָיָ֤ה דְבַר־יְהֹוָה֙ אֶל־אַבְרָ֔ם בַּֽמַּחֲזֶ֖ה לֵאמֹ֑ר אַל־תִּירָ֣א אַבְרָ֗ם אָנֹכִי֙ מָגֵ֣ן לָ֔ךְ שְׂכָרְךָ֖ הַרְבֵּ֥ה מְאֹֽד׃"

“Some time later, the word of יהוה came to Abram in a vision:
“Fear not, Abram,
I am a shield to you;
Your reward shall be very great.”

Nechama Leibowitz in her commentary on the portion mentions that our sages wondered why Abraham was fearful. Why did the chapter begin with God telling him to not be afraid? After all, he just achieved an enormous victory, rescued his family, became richer and bettered his reputation.

Three suggestions come from Bereishit Rabbah:

The first: “Rabbi Levi said: Because our forefather Abraham was fearful, and saying: ‘Perhaps those people whom I killed, there was among them one righteous man, or one God-fearing man.'”

This suggestion from Rabbi Levi was that Abraham was afraid that his victory also cost the life of righteous or innocent people. We will see in our next portion how Abraham will bargain and argue with God against the destruction of Sodom because of the possible righteous people in it.  Nechama Leibowitz says that it was the voice of his consciousness and his Moral guilt. This is the same Moral Guilt which Jaspers mentioned as one type of human guilt: “The individual's personal judgment and conscience regarding their own deeds, regardless of orders.”

The Midrash continues with a second suggestion: “Because our forefather Abraham was fearful, and saying: ‘Perhaps those kings whom I killed, their sons will assemble multitudes and they will come and wage war against me”

Here our sages suggest Abraham was fearful of the defeated side's revenge. Of course, wars almost never truly end, as the defeated side might rise one day with another attempt… Abraham here, felt the fear and the guilt of a victory which only creates more enemies. Here Leibowitz explains that it was a political fear. Interestingly, Jaspers calls this Political guilt, to be accomplices with the crimes of a regime. Did he condemn all of his people to that endless cycle of guilt and revenge?

Finally our Midrash suggests: “Because our forefather Abraham was fearful, and saying: ‘I went down into the fiery furnace and was saved, I went down to do battle with the kings and was saved, perhaps my reward has already been received in this world, and I have nothing [left] for the future.”

Here, the Midrash suggests that Abraham was fearful of being rewarded so much that he will have no rewards left for his afterlife. This is not as much of a petty and selfish fear as it may read. There is something more profound here. Leibowitz describes it as Abraham's “religious fear” that the balance between man and God was thrown off.

This made me think about Jasper’s last type of guilt, the Metaphysical Guilt. This is the guilt, which according to Jaspers, we feel in the face of any atrocity any human being commits, no matter if we know them personally or if we belong to their nation. It is the collective guilt that we feel in the face of what human beings are capable of. In other words, it is the guilt of standing before God.

In his lectures which I highly recommend, Jaspers offers a way out of guilt. It is what he calls “purification” and that process is simultaneously external and internal.

“We have to purge ourselves of whatever guilt each one finds in himself, as far as this is possible by restitution, by atonement, by inner renewal and metamorphosis.”

We have to make it right, by actual deeds of restitution and repair and by inner renewal and transformation. This has to be an honest process, according to Jaspers and not just a cry which is meant to justify our next transgression. 

“Such purification makes us free. The course of events lies not in man’s hand, though man may go incalculably far in guiding his existence. There remains uncertainty and the possibility of new and greater disasters, while no new happiness is guaranteed by the awareness of guilt and the resulting transformation of our being. These are the reasons why purification alone can free us so as to be ready for whatever comes. For only the pure soul can truthfully live in this tension: to know about the possible ruin and still remain tirelessly active for all that is possible in the world.”