Heschel writes that the greatest hindrance to awareness of the divine is our adjustment to conventional notions and mental clichés. Wonder, or radical amazement, he suggests, is a state of maladjustment to words and notions. Moshe Cordovero, the great medieval Kabalist, also recommends a kind of intentional maladjustment as a strategy for returning to God. “It is a good idea to make some sort of alteration in your food and drink and in your clothing,” he writes. “For example, one week do not eat fruit; another week, do not eat meat or drink wine, or do not eat hot food.”
