We spent a few days at Shaker Village in Pleasant Hill, Kentucky. Ah, the Shakers. Beauty in simplicity, like the superb craftsmanship of their furniture. A Shaker chair is lightweight and sturdy and upright, like a well-lived life. True, it’s a little rigid and uncomfortable; even a Shaker rocker cuts off circulation after an hour or two, but its clean lines and practicality are something to aspire to. You can even hang it out of the way on pegs installed around the wall.
But the Shakers are almost gone. Their communities were once a retreat from the dangerous world, with secure work and food and education in a caring community; today, Americans seem to prefer the pioneering thrill of an urban jungle or suburban wasteland. Is it a tragedy that the Shakers, or any religious community, should live only in a theme park dedicated to their memory?
A politician’s job is to get re-elected; an institution’s mission is to ensure its continuation. Can we seek no higher purpose than to perpetuate the status quo even if we sincerely wish to change it? Surely, if an institutionhas a true mission, its purpose is to make itself obsolete, irrelevant, unnecessary–and then to disappear.
I’m not keen on disappearing.
Every Jewish service ends with a quotation from Zechariah (14:9): “On that day will God be one.” What if that day arrives and people everywhere acknowledge the unity of God? If Judaism were to accomplish its mission to become a “light to the nations” (Isaiah 49:6), would anyone need Judaism?
A dry stone wall, Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill.
There’s a story about a traveler who comes to a little town and sees a man sitting at the town gate. The traveler approaches, and the man seems to have no other business than to watch the world pass by. “Shalom aleichem,” says the traveler. “Aleichem shalom,” responds the man. “Vus macht a Yid?” says the traveler, a Yiddish combination of How’s it going and What are you doing. “You want to know what I’m doing?” says the man, “I’ll tell you. The community hires me to sit here every day and watch, to see if the Messiah comes. It’s not a bad job: it doesn’t pay all that well, but it’s steady work.”
Many of us are pretty sure that the world for which we pray will never arrive. If our prayers were to come true, could we handle success?
The Shakers are almost gone, but perhaps they achieved their mission. They created their own–as they sometimes saw it–heaven on earth. Their example shows that life need not be endless struggle, that a community dedicated to simple living can find security, satisfaction and beauty in work and worship. Celibacy and rigid uprightness are not for everyone, but the
Shaker model has been adapted for other places and times and has much to teach humans everywhere. If these models for living should pass, let’s study their achievements and celebrate their success as much as we mourn their passing.
Sharing Jewish Tradition 