Exiled for Lack of Awareness
“Therefore My people went into exile for lack of awareness; its honored men are starving, and its masses are parched with thirst.” A Puzzling Phrase “Therefore My people went into exile for lack of awareness.” At first this seems hard to understand. Isn’t exile a punishment? It is real, physical slavery: enemies, the sword, a foreign land. What does “awareness” have to do with it? The prophet could have written, “My people went into exile because of their sins,” or, “because they left My Torah.” What do the words “for lack of awareness” add? The verse is teaching us something. The true exile is not the prison on the outside. The deepest exile is the one on the inside. Two Kinds of Slavery There are two kinds of slavery. The first is slavery of the body: the prison, the chains, the walls. This hurts, but it is not the main thing. We have seen Jews whose bodies were locked up while their souls soared. During the years of the Holocaust they sang at the Passover table, and they celebrated with joyful songs. Their bodies were captured, but their souls did not surrender. The second is slavery of the mind. Here there are no walls on the outside. But the person is locked inside his own thoughts, his habits and his fears. This is what the prophet means by “for lack of awareness.” Not for lack of freedom, but for lack of awareness. What is missing is the knowledge that he is free. The wording is very exact. True exile means a lack of awareness, not a lack of freedom. The freedom is there. It was given. It is built into the soul. Only the awareness has been forgotten. The Exile of the Mind There is one state that goes deeper than any other exile. It is when a person stops fighting. He accepts the chains and calls them “life.” He calls his slavery “being grown up.” He calls giving up “being realistic.” This is the most exact point of exile: making peace with slavery. The Torah has an amazing law. Sometimes a Jewish servant does not want to go free. He loves his master and his life in his master’s house. Then his ear is pierced. Hasidic teaching explains why. This ear heard at Mount Sinai, “For the Children of Israel are servants to Me.” Afterward the same ear agreed to be a slave and to love a small, narrow life. That ear needs to be repaired. The same is true of the person who says, “This is life. That’s how it is. I don’t have the strength to start over.” He is not suffering from a lack of options. He is suffering from a lack of awareness. He has forgotten how great he is. A Soul Born Free Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, author of the Tanya, the classic book of Hasidic thought, writes that the divine soul is “a piece of Hashem above, truly.” It is a piece. It is not something that comes from Hashem, not a reflection, not a faraway spark. It is truly a piece. In the third chapter he writes that this soul is “free” by its very nature and comes “from the side of holiness.” Sometimes a Jew settles for a small, narrow life. He forgets to ask himself the big questions. Routine closes in on him from every side. Then he is denying who he really is. He is putting a slave’s clothes on a soul of royal birth. This is what the prophet means: “My people went into exile.” My people, the very ones who carry divine souls, the ones with the greatest strength, went into exile. And why? “For lack of awareness.” They forgot what they are. The Baal Shem Tov, founder of the Hasidic movement, taught that a person is where his thoughts are. If his thoughts are locked up, he is locked up. If his mind is free, he is free. That is the whole secret.
Putting It into Practice
You do not need to break through walls. There are no walls here. There is only forgetting. And the cure for forgetting is remembering. This week, sit quietly for one hour and ask yourself: What have I given up on without even noticing? Which thought, habit or fear have I accepted as “just reality” without checking whether it is true? Leaving the exile of the mind is not a breakthrough. It is waking up. You simply get up and walk out. The door was not locked. It was never locked. “Therefore My people went into exile for lack of awareness.” Because the exile comes from a lack of awareness, the redemption comes through awareness. It comes through knowing. It comes through one simple, sharp moment of waking up.
Questions and answers
Q: What is the verse in Isaiah about the people going into exile for lack of awareness?
Rabbi Landau answers: “Therefore My people went into exile for lack of awareness; its honored men are starving, and its masses are parched with thirst.”
Q: Why does Isaiah say the people went into exile "for lack of awareness" rather than because of their sins?
Rabbi Landau answers: “Therefore My people went into exile for lack of awareness.” At first this seems hard to understand. Isn’t exile a punishment? It is real, physical slavery: enemies, the sword, a foreign land. What does “awareness” have to do with it? The prophet could have written, “My people went into exile because of their sins,” or, “because they left My Torah.” What do the words “for lack of awareness” add? The verse is teaching us something. The true exile is not the prison on the outside. The deepest exile is the one on the inside.
Q: What is the deepest form of exile, according to Rabbi Landau?
Rabbi Landau answers: There is one state that goes deeper than any other exile. It is when a person stops fighting. He accepts the chains and calls them “life.” He calls his slavery “being grown up.” He calls giving up “being realistic.” This is the most exact point of exile: making peace with slavery. The Torah has an amazing law. Sometimes a Jewish servant does not want to go free. He loves his master and his life in his master’s house. Then his ear is pierced. Hasidic teaching explains why. This ear heard at Mount Sinai, “For the Children of Israel are servants to Me.” Afterward the same ear agreed to be a slave and to love a small, narrow life. That ear needs to be repaired.
Q: What does the Tanya say about the divine soul being free?
Rabbi Landau answers: Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, author of the Tanya, the classic book of Hasidic thought, writes that the divine soul is “a piece of Hashem above, truly.” It is a piece. It is not something that comes from Hashem, not a reflection, not a faraway spark. It is truly a piece. In the third chapter he writes that this soul is “free” by its very nature and comes “from the side of holiness.” Sometimes a Jew settles for a small, narrow life. He forgets to ask himself the big questions. Routine closes in on him from every side. Then he is denying who he really is. He is putting a slave’s clothes on a soul of royal birth.
Q: How can I get out of the exile of the mind this week?
Rabbi Landau answers: You do not need to break through walls. There are no walls here. There is only forgetting. And the cure for forgetting is remembering. This week, sit quietly for one hour and ask yourself: What have I given up on without even noticing? Which thought, habit or fear have I accepted as “just reality” without checking whether it is true? Leaving the exile of the mind is not a breakthrough. It is waking up. You simply get up and walk out. The door was not locked. It was never locked. “Therefore My people went into exile for lack of awareness.” Because the exile comes from a lack of awareness, the redemption comes through awareness. It comes through knowing.