Unfinished Business

If you wait for perfection, you’ll wait an eternity.

While marveling at an artist friend in the throes of layering brushstroke upon brushstroke to her opus-in-the-making, I noted how often what I thought was an endpoint would be summarily made history by new paint layers …. then newer ones. Before my eyes, the creation was continually transmogrified from one perceived finale to another, prompting me to ask, when do you stop and announce - finis? To which she replied, ‘you’re never really finished.’  

What! Don’t we relish placing a virtual ✔︎ next to a creation completed or even a job well done? Isn’t this type of unfinished business unsettling? It is for me.

Unfinished business weighs in with greater heft as the new year 5779 now begins for Jews throughout the world. It is a time for individual reflection on conduct during the past year - what was proudly accomplished and what was left undone or unsaid - and how to effect meaningful personal and societal changes in the year ahead. It also marks the time the Book of Genesis will soon be re-read. Genesis, the first of the Five Books of Moses, recounts as the name implies, Creation. Chapter One describes God’s separation on Day One of an unformed darkness into heaven and earth and subsequent command, ‘Let there be light.’ But it wasn’t until Day Four that God actually made the two great lights set in heaven to give light upon the earth; the greater light to rule day, and the lesser to rule the night. What then of ‘the Light’ from Day One? 

As it is written in Jewish commentary, perhaps that ‘light’ was actually the light of ‘awareness.’ The illumination we think of as measured in watts and lumens came later, on Day Four. But a problem arose; apparently those lumens never completely arrived. Their special delivery vessel suffered a breakup on the way. Fragmented shards with light still trapped inside were scattered to the four corners. Fortunately most of the divine light was reconstituted, but the illumination and the inherent goodness locked within dispersed fragments remained missing. Until it is released to join the reconstituted beams, the miracle of Creation remains …… Unfinished business. 

This is where we humans come in charged with gathering the stray points of light and harnessing its power to repair what is broken in the world. Although a daunting, if not impossible undertaking, a way forward can be found in the lyrics of poet/author/singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen’s classic work,  Anthem - 

there is a crack in everything 

(there is a crack in everything)

that’s how the light gets in  

Light which streams through the cracks can show us the way.

Cracks in our world

And what is that light called? Answer - Tikkum Olam.

And what is Tikkum Olam comprised of? Answer - Acts of kindness, charity, and efforts to improve society. In short, to effect repair we are called to always do good and always do the right thing. 

Even Mr. Rogers knew that, “We are all called to be Tikkun Olam, repairers of creation.”

Granted, these days the world’s brokenness seems to be expanding at warp-speed. Even making a dent in the journey toward an outer orbit of Perfection will require an eternity of lightyears. Alas, this Unfinished business will frustratingly always remain unfinished business. But there can be no alternative other than to plod ahead. 

Need encouragement for the long arduous journey? Look no farther than these timeless words of wisdom for motivation: 

“You are not obligated to complete the work, 

but neither are you free to desist from it.” 

Ethics of Our Fathers 2:21

Waiting for perfection - waiting an eternity - unfinished business …. no problem!

Onward.

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all images © David Greenfield