Category Archives: spirit guide

scribbling upon a dream

22 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by in Hasidut, Holidays, LIfecycle, spirit guide

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I had a dream the other night. In the dream I woke up to see my wife sitting on the porch supervising the building of a Mikvah, a Sukkah and a Huppah. Let us put aside the fact that our tiny yard does not have room for more than a small Sukkah and that we rent and such innovations would not find favor with our landlords.

Why in my dream were these three Jewish symbols being built? Sukkot has just ended and every year with the help of wonderful friends I build a ramshackle Sukkah. We had just taken our Sukkah down so that might be part of the reason for that symbol. My beloved, brilliant and beautiful daughter has recently become engaged to a very nice Jewish man who is intelligent and giving and kind and loves her very much. So, symbol number two, the Huppah has a reason. I suppose that since we use the Mikvah before holidays, Shabbos and weddings there is a reason for the Mikvah. But why all three in the same dream?

I have taken many courses in psychology, but I am certainly no psychologist. I should probably try to stay away from trying to find some deep psychological reason. I am a Rabbi and I am blessed with a certain amount of spiritual imagination and that is the direction that my mind has taken.

 

The three symbols in my dream have certain characteristics in common. They each, architecturally speaking are parts of a whole. The Mikvah has walls and a bottom or floor but no top. The Sukkah has walls but no complete top. The Huppah has a complete top but no walls. Each has parts but is not ‘complete’ and yet each fulfills its purpose that helps to complete us.

THE MIKVAH

The Mikvah is usually spoken of in terms of ritual purity. But the Mikvah touches me in a different wayA woman traditionally goes to the Mikvah ‘periodically’ and after a birth. Men and women go before Shabbos and holidays, after coming in contact with a dead body (washing the body of one who has passed) and before their wedding. Men were supposed to go to the Mikvah after what the Talmud calls a ‘nocturnal emission’ which is not car trouble at night. There are more times that people go to a Mikvah as I am sure others will share in their comments, but this will do for my point. For me the Mikvah is a tool to ease our spiritual vulnerability and in seeking spiritual balance. The best way to explain this is with a personal example. I was asked to do a funeral by a member of my Reform congregation in Florida. Though he was not a traditional Jew in any understanding of that word, he wanted the funeral of his father to be “Orthodox.” Though I have studied with Rabbis of every movement, or maybe because of that, I conferred with Orthodox and Hasidic Rabbinic colleagues to make sure that I could fulfill the wishes of my congregant in a conscious and conscientious manner. Of course part of the process is Taharat HaMaet includes washing the body. It happened to be a Friday morning and I performed the ceremony with the help of others with the funeral director standing outside the room. After finishing the washing I left others to sit and be with the body as I had to prepare for Shabbos and Erev Shabbat services in the Reform synagogue. I should say that since, in this town in Florida, we were the only shul there was no Mikvah. I phoned the police and asked if there was any ‘privateish’ beach where I could go into the ocean naked. After I explained, why and that I was not a naturist looking to go skinny-dipping, the sympathetic officer told me of a beach that was unpopulated and rarely used. After washing the body I went to that place and, in private, did the ritual. My Reform background was saying; why am I washing, I am not unclean. But there was a deeper place, beyond movement that replied, this is not about cleanliness but the feeling ofbeing vulnerable and off-balance in a spiritual way. That night I was going to lead services, hold the Torah read and chant prayers and I needed something to help me feel less vulnerable in a spiritual manner. Not that I did not want to be vulnerable to G, quite the contrary, but I needed to be less vulnerable to the physical/spiritual acts of touching life and death. And it worked. I felt less vulnerable and more balanced.

THE SUKKAH

The Sukkah with its walls and open to the stars ceiling is another connective device for our spiritual/physical being and well-being. There is mystery and wonder and awd as we stand under the open covering and shake the Lulav and Etrog in the 6 directions. This year a man who follows the spirit path of the Lakota brought his pipe which is smoked and raised in the same six directions and he did his ritual in tandem with ours. The Sukkah itself is a threefold memory peg that balances us. There is the agricultural memory of people building Sukkot to rest in the noonday sun from our ingathering of the crops. It is the historical memory of the wilderness experience that built us as a people who has withstood the vicissitudes of history, keeping faith with our G our and the covenant, formed over those 40 years. And the Sukkah is a poor person’s shelter a reminder that there are people for whom this is not a temporary memory peg shelter but their lives. There are poor and needy and we are responsible. It is a Mitzvah, part of our minimum daily requirements for a spiritually meaningful and balanced life.

THE HUPPAH

The Huppah, which has a top but is open on all sides, speaks to another area of spiritual balance. Many speak of it as Avraham and Sarah’s tent that was open on all sides so that travelers could be seen and invited into the safe space of their tent. I like to think of it as a way of setting up a new home in a public manner, with the entire tribe, a spiritual barn raising. Yes there are private times but the Huppah represents a place and a time or a place in time in which two people publicly articulate what they have already felt and shared and expressed in private. The Huppah is a shelter, symbolic of a G shelter of balance between the physical and the spiritual of life. It is also the joining of the two through the One who is always part of any loving relationship. The Huppah is the act of making sacred, less spiritually vulnerable and more spiritually balanced the relationship of loving partners.

The three symbols in my dream were about what is happening in my life, my own vulnerability and search for balance in my physical/spiritual life.

 

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Hanukah lessons in the Four Worlds

16 Friday Dec 2011

Posted by in Hasidut, History, Holidays, Kabbalah, spirit guide

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The Pardes of Hanukah

1. Pshat-MCA
FACT SHEET
Date: Kislev 25-
Name: Hanukkah=Rededication
The Story:
In the 4th Century, BCE Alexander the Great conquered the entire Middle East. After his death the empire was split and factions fought over Israel. The winner was The Selucid empire which was centered in what is now Syria. In 167 BCE Antiochus (who called himself Epiphanes = God has made manifest) forced all of the peoples under his rule to Hellenize. He outlawed Jewish practice such as the celebration of Shabbat and the ritual of Brit Milah (circumcision). He tried to replace Jewish worship with the worship of Greek gods including the sacrifice of non-Kosher animals, most notorious, pigs.

When the Greeks came to Modi’in and set up an altar, an old priest named Mattathias attacked and killed a Jew who was about to make a sacrifice at the altar. There followed a protracted Guerilla war against the Greeks, led by Mattathias and his five sons. Mattathias passed on the leadership of the rebellion to his eldest son, Judah, who was called “HaMaccabee” (the Hammer).

The Maccabees defeated the Greeks and liberated Jerusalem.
They began the long hard task of cleaning the Temple. They found that they had only one small cruse of oil with which to light the Menorah. But that cruse lasted for eight days (until they could produce enough ritually pure oil).

The Facts: Continue reading →

Last minute prep for the High and Holy Days

19 Monday Sep 2011

Posted by in Hasidut, High Holy Days, Holidays, Kabbalah, spirit guide, Thoughts

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Have you been procrastinating on your high holyday prep?

Have you not found the peace that high holydays are supposed to bring?

Has elul not seemed to be as fulfilling as advertised?

There is an answer, a three-fold, last minute, easy answer for we procrastinators.  As the rabbis of old put it:

ידוע שג’ דברים מבטלים גזירות רעות תשובה, תפילה וצדקה

 3 little things can turn bad to better, heartrending to happy, defeat to victory.

It is so simple.

Here we go:   Continue reading →

Rediscovering Love during The Days of Awe

08 Thursday Sep 2011

Posted by in Hasidut, High Holy Days, Holidays, Kabbalah, spirit guide, Thoughts, Uncategorized

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אהבה Ahavah means love. We all want love in our lives.  As we start the “Head of the Year” it is a time to discover or re-discover the love in ourselves and in our world.  The Yamim Noraim, the days of awe gently point us toward love in our lives, for awe is not only the beginning of Wisdom, it is the foundation of love.  I am in awe of the amazing person whom I call wife.  I am in awe of my children and my grandchildren and I am in awe of the Godding process that is love.  The Hebrew root of love is אהב and those 3 letters are awesome in their teaching.  the first letter, א alef, is also the first letter of the Hebrew Alef-Bet.  It is silent and infinite and coaxes us to look within and find love in and of our soul, love of our self.  Looking inward in those quiet moments of meditation, we can discover self-love.  we discover the depth of soul and the goodness, the ‘Godness’ that is within.  Loving the self is the first step in our process of bringing love to our lives and a world that is desperate need of love.  I look at myself, ‘warts and all’ and find that I can be comfortable in my body and in my soul.  That comfort, that love allows me to look out on the world in a more compassionate way. It helps me move into the world with love and care and joy. Continue reading →

Preparing for Prayer

29 Monday Aug 2011

Posted by in Hasidut, Holidays, Kabbalah, movements, spirit guide, Thoughts, Uncategorized

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Why do we pray?

The cute answer is “Please”, “thanks”, “I’m sorry” and “You’re awesome.”

The Amidah the 18 blessings that are 19 beautifully, soulfully expresses those simple categories.

We begin with the “You’re awesome” blessings.

1)      You are the awesome G of our ancestors, the Source of compassion.

2)      You are the powerful G who brings us from our deadened state to a place within the circle of Life.

3)      You are the Source of Holiness/Wholeness

Then come the “Please” blessings which include several implied “I am sorry” sections.

4)      Help us back on the Sefirot path to wholeness. Help us to feel the Sacred ‘Ah ha’ moments, explore their wonders and teachings and then putting them into word and deed.

5)      Return us to Torah and make us wholly balanced. Continue reading →

An Ancient discovery enlightens our tears

21 Sunday Aug 2011

Posted by in History, Holidays, Israel, News, spirit guide, stories, Thoughts

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Tisha B’Av is a tribal day of mourning for the Jewish people.  We remember on that date the destruction of the first and second Temples as well as a myriad of other tragedies that have befallen our people.  Yet when most Jews think of Tisha B’Av we remember the oppression of the Romans.  The slaughter of hundreds of thousands of our people, the destruction of our Sacred place of worship and the carting off of the treasure that was kept there.  That treasure was used to build the coliseum in Rome where thousands of people lost their lives on the altar of blood lust that was the Roman Empire.

This year, just before Tisha B’Av, in the Old City of Jerusalem next to an ancient drainage channel that led from the Temple to the pool of Siloam, two artifacts were found.  It is not unusual to find ancient bits of pottery and other evidence of life 2000 years ago in that ancient land.

I had a friend who found a pottery shard on the beach and decided to smuggle it home to the United States.  He was, needless to say, caught at the airport by security guards who thought that he looked suspicious.  When they discovered the artifact they began to laugh.  After all, it was only 600 years old, three times older than the United States and hardly worth mentioning.  They patted him on the head, gave him back his ill gotten booty and sent him on his way.

But these finds were striking, all the more so because of the day on which they were found. The find and the date call out to us through time via the medium of synchronicity.  The two artifacts are believed to be from the time of the destruction of the Second Temple, which we commemorate on the 9th (Tisha) of Av (B’Av).  So what were these curious artifacts?

One was a Gladius the standard side arm of the Roman legions.  It is, at least to me, a symbol of the inhumane Roman oppression to my people.  It is a vicious weapon, made of iron, relatively short with a sharp edge on both sides for slashing and a point for stabbing.  It is an effective close combat weapon and is a recognized symbol of Rome.

The other was a stone approximately 7 inches by 4 inches and upon it was carved a crude representation of the Menorah, the seven branched candelabra that is the oldest symbol of the Jewish people.  The Menorah is a symbol of light and life while the gladius is a symbol of destruction and death.  They have lain peacefully near each other for almost two thousand years.

What does it mean? One is the sign of the sanctity and the other, oppression and cruelty.  Is it the Holy and the profane, good and evil, hope and despair?

Is there a story behind the find?  We will never know for sure.  I have been asking people what story they would create around the discovery of the Menorah and the sword.  My grandson, Gage said that a Roman was chasing Jews through the channel and one of the fleeing Jews held up the stone and the image of the Menorah killed the Roman and the others turned back in horror.

Others say that it was dropped by a fleeing group of Jews and a Roman, so touched by the image that he threw away his sword. Yet another is that the stone was hurled as a helpless gesture but it struck its mark. As the Romans pulled their fallen comrade from the channel, his sword fell by the stone that had felled him and was left unnoticed for two thousand years.

Maybe there was an uncommon flash of compassion when Roman met fleeing family.  Maybe in that moment the stone dropped unnoticed as the sword was thrown away.

What would you like the story to be?  The story will not tell you what happened but it will tell you a little about yourself.

My  story?  I see a Roman soldier winded from the slaughter and a Jewish family winding their way through a water channel.  Their eyes meet, he the epitome of Roman might, and they, the beaten in flight. The Jews first look upon the sword and hold up a stone in hopeless defense. The Roman sees the crude carving on the stone.  Then the hunter and prey look beyond attack and defense, winning and losing, life and death. They look upon each other and their eyes pierce the prejudice and avarice, the hatred and the fear.  They see each other as Bnay Adam, earthlings, human beings sharing a world of wonder.  The Roman puts down his sword and the Jew drops his stone.  The stone clangs as it falls on the sword, the sound reverberating off the walls as the sword is beaten, if not into a ploughshare, at least into an inert object without threat.  The Roman reaches into his pack and gives to the Jewish family a piece of bread. In trembling hands they take it.  Both the soldier and the family turn away in tears, tears of pain on one side and shame on the other.  On the one side gratefulness at the compassion offered by the other, the enemy and on the other side the need for one small act of humanity amidst the fire and smoke and horror and death.  The moment is only that, a moment.  The family of Jews turns and continues their flight to safety or to slaughter.  The Roman turns back to his comrades and the captured plunder that awaits.  And maybe, just maybe later on, as he watches the large golden Menorah carried on the backs of Jewish slaves, he thinks of the stone in the water channel that broke his sword and the family whose plight broke his heart.  And maybe, just for a moment, he weeps in a world of conqueror and conquered and just for a moment thinks that this is not the way it has to be.

Isaiah 2:4וְכִתְּתוּ חַרְבוֹתָם לְאִתִּים, וַחֲנִיתוֹתֵיהֶם לְמַזְמֵרוֹת–לֹא-יִשָּׂא גוֹי אֶל-גּוֹי חֶרֶב, וְלֹא-יִלְמְדוּ עוֹד מִלְחָמָה.  }   and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Counting Counts: The Power of the Omer

26 Tuesday Apr 2011

Posted by in Hasidut, History, Holidays, Kabbalah, Omer, spirit guide

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A sheaf of barley, a sheaf of wheat.

What is so important that we measure the days, 49 of them, between our sheaf of barley and our sheaf of wheat. At first blush it seems a terribly insignificant counting exercise.  And yet there are meanings layered upon meanings, each with a significance that can open the heart and mind and soul.

The first meaning of this counting time between Pesah and Shavuot has to do with harvests and farming.  Most of us are so removed from that world of sun and soil as to feel it quite literally ‘other-worldly,’ it is another world.  We may have gardened, planting flowers and maybe some tomatoes, but that is children playing in the sand compared with those people who walked acres of land spreading seed and watering and caring for the hope, the dream of spring, the need, the basic need for sustenance.  When I was a child, I helped my mother plant cherry tomatoes and felt like a farmer, until I saw the farms that were not so far from our home.  Farms with rows of corn that spread over many acres dwarfed our little home garden with its little row of cherry tomatoes.  When we ate of our small bounty, the taste was that of accomplishment and pride.  And yet every week we went to the grocery store and bought the produce that I saw waving in the breeze down the street from our little home.  Counting the Omer (literally the sheaf) is a 49 day challenge of awareness of the wonder of existence.  A sheaf of barley, a sheaf of wheat, we count the days between harvests and count on the bounty so often taken for granted.

Not this year.

Not for me.

This year I shall count the bounty, a sheaf of barley, a sheaf of wheat.

This year I shall say the blessing each day and focus, if only a moment, on the awe of nature and the Holy source of nature.  Seeds fall and are watered from the sky.  The seeds die, giving birth to new life as the plants begin to struggle to reach for the sun.  Roots branch down in search of sustenance. Branches root into the heavens drinking in the light from the yellow orb around which we orbit.  And then, in time, if the conditions permit, plants blossom.  They blossom life and bestow life, preserve life and provide life.  The fruit of the labor of the plant grow in glory. And we pick and preserve and provide for our life through that fruit.  The seeds we discard or guard and plant and recycle the cycle, the spiral of life.  A sheaf of barley, a sheaf of wheat, we count the days between harvests and count on the bounty so often taken for granted.

Not this year.

Not for me.

This year I This year I shall count the bounty, a sheaf of barley, a sheaf of wheat.

This year I shall take 49 days to open my eyes, to awaken my awareness that there is a process that does not begin with super markets and end with my dinner table.  There is a process of life and that life has a process and a purpose, a future and a past.

A people bent under years of slavery and horror, who endured persecution with perseverance found release but not redemption, liberty without liberation.  And they counted, for 49 days until appeared before them, a mountain in a desert.  They counted 49 days until liberation and redemption were proffered from the heights of a mountain in a desert of shock and awe.  And we eat our fill and work our jobs and are absent from or absent-mindedly in attendance at the festivals of our people.

Not this year.

Not for me.

This year I shall count the blessings, a sheaf of barley, a sheaf of wheat.

I will count, this year and be counted as present.  Pesah with its celebration Seder, its meal of release, its call to liberty receives a fanfare and justly so.  It is one of the pivotal moments in Jewish History.  We escaped annihilation.  We escaped the whip.  But we were not free; we were simply runaway slaves, on the lamb with a Paschal ram.  Not until Shavuot, not until we stood at that mountain did we become truly free. Freedom is not, as the singer wrote; “having nothing left to lose!”  Freedom requires responsibility. We discarded the yoke in order to don the mantle. No longer would be build the store cities of Pitom and Ramses, the storehouses of barley and wheat. At Sinai we pledged to build the sacred storehouse of holiness and wholeness.  But that was a long time ago in the hoary history of our people, hidden in the misty myths of Torah talk.  And we take for granted the food of freedom, forgetting to plant and cultivate and water and care for the seeds of the soul, forgetting that we must feed our future with the symbolic repast of the past.

Not this year.

Not for me.

This year I shall count the blessings, a sheaf of barley, and a sheaf of wheat.

I shall eat whole heartedly, soulfully at the Seder and then I shall count.  The Omer is more than a sheaf of barley, more than a time of counting and waiting for the wheat.  It is the time after the liberty sheaf of Pesah.  The Omer is the counting of hope for the true freedom that Shavuot represents.  The Omer is our preparation for the sheaf of Shavuot.    On Pesah we rid ourselves of the thickness, the Hametz of apathy and ignorance, antipathy and anger.  On Shavuot we receive our mantle, the challenge of the nobility of the soul.  And during those 49 days between, we prepare the soil of the soul for the Sinai harvest.  It is 49 days of blessings brought and awareness sought.  On Pesah, we discarded the yoke of slavery and the slavish devotion to the mundane, the mean and meaningless, the surface and superficial that can crowd our lives.   For 49 days we prepare to don the mantle of the meaningful, of the momentous.  For Shavuot challenges us, reminds us that we are here to make a difference and that is the purpose and the preparation of the counting of the Omer.  But today our lives are busy and full and we forget to count and to bless and to feel the awe that is the light hidden in the Klipot of daily life.

Not this year.

Not for me.

This year I shall make the moment count, a sheaf of barley, a sheaf of wheat.

This year I shall lovingly prepare the soil of my soul. I shall count and seek and bless.  There are 49 days to the counting of the Omer.  Our sages taught that the seven weeks of counting parallel the seven lower Sefirot of emanation and creation and formation and action. Each week is a declension of one of the Sefirot.  For 49 days we focus on the details of the seven Sefirot the aspects of each within the other.  We begin on week one with compassion followed by power and discipline during the second week.  On week three we move to blending the beauty of the first two.  Week four is about joyous action followed by the meditative power of being on week five. On the sixth week we seek our source, our balance and on the seventh week we clear the decks for action in the world in which we live our day to day lives.

And during each week we jiggle the different combinations which are the keys to unlock the mystery. The first week is Hesed, meaning compassion.  Day one is Hesed of Hesed, the super compassion conductor.  Day two is Gevurah of Hesed, the super collider of power/discipline and compassion.  Day three is Tiferet of Hesed and so on for the week.  The next week is the week of Gevurah, meaning power/discipline and we repeat the process.  And so it goes for 49 days.   These are 49 mystical focal points that can change the world soul by soul.  Each key unlocks a passageway deep into the soul and far beyond our universe.  And yet we have forgotten the magic, the mystery, and so it passes us by, just another opportunity lost, new worlds lost, new understandings lost, paradise lost.

But not this year.

Not for me.

This year I shall consciously count:

A sheaf of barley a sheaf of wheat

The Second Seder: 15 steps towards healing our world and our soul.

18 Monday Apr 2011

Posted by in Hasidut, Holidays, Kabbalah, Pesah, spirit guide

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The goal of 2nd Seder is healing, spiritual healing. Each part of the Seder leads points us to the path of healing the pans and infections that build up in our soul. The events of the world and our busy lives have caused us to overlook the little infections to our inner life. Seder comes to work its healing wonders and help us redirect and reconnect with our inner light.
קדש Kadesh: קדש is an anagram of שקד (Shaked) the almond, which was, in truth[1], the fruit of tree of knowledge/life. The shell is the קליפה (klipah) surrounding the fruit which is the original light of enlightenment that G created before any physical light and it was stored within a hidden shell. The מטה (Mateh) of Moshe passed down from Adam and Hava was made of this wood. The klipah knowledge is simple right and wrong the fruit within is the אור זרוע (ohr zaruah) light of creation, the mystery. Yet the almond is not a nut it is a drupe. With other drupe we eat the fleshy outer part, i.e. the peach, plum, cherry. But with the almond, we eat the seed within. The outer part is the קליפה (Klipah) the shards that interfere with the seeking of inner light. When we light the candles we symbolize our recognition of the hidden light within, that light renewed. The wine symbolizes drinking the wisdom of that inner light.

ורחץ Urhatz: We wash away the dust, the mundane of daily existence and we prepare to enter onto sacred path. We do so without blessing. In silence we concentrate on letting go.

כרפס Karpas: Eating simple vegetables raw, directly from the earth, is an affirmation of our connection to the earth and its seasons. The salt water into which we dip the veggies represents the seas that cover 2/3 of the earth. Our modern disconnected ‘mind from heart’ searches for historical non-earth connected reasons. But the connection of heart /mind/body/soul is found in finding the sacred, not only in holy ritual but in the simple path, taking the mundane and sanctifying it. Taste the Karpas, feel the earth/heaven connection.

יחץ Yahatz: Breaking bread is a symbol of peace as in “Lets break bread together. The Matzah has two sides and two meanings. One is “lo, this is the bread of affliction that our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt.” The other is the bread of freedom, the dough that had no time to rise as we struck out into the wilderness. We have three Matzot each representing a different ספירה (sefirah) of inner growth; חכמה (hochma) the aha moment of revelation, בינה (binah) the chewing over of wisdom, seeking understanding, דעת (da’at) the format for using that wisdom in our lives. We use the top Matzah for the ברכה (Bracha) blessing our actions hopes and dreams. The bottom Matzah we use for קורח (Koreh), the sandwich of Reb Hillel whose name itself means praise. Eating becomes a praise of the G’ing process of life. The larger part of middle is Matzah is the afikomen which is set aside as a tool for making the sacred connection with those who are in need, physical need, and spiritual need.

In this world there are some who are held down, who do not get the chance to rise …
By Tamara Cohen
Some do not get the chance to rise and spread out like golden loaves of Hallah, filled with sweet raisins and crowned with shiny braids.

Rushed, neglected, not kneaded by caring hands, we grow up afraid that any touch might cause a break. There are some ingredients we never receive.

Tonight, let us bless our cracked surfaces and sharp edges, unafraid to see our brittleness and brave enough to see our beauty.

Reaching for wholeness, let us piece together the parts of ourselves we have found and honor all that is still hidden.
From The Journey Continues: The Ma’yan Passover Haggdah (Ma’yan,2000)

מגיד Maggid: Like Native Americans, we tell over and over again, the story of our path to social, cultural and spiritual freedom. Spiritual freedom requires vigilance and awareness. Everyone at the Seder can remember a Pesah story. It could be a Pesah family memory. It could seemingly have nothing to do with Pesah, yet hidden within is the healing message of Pesah. It can be a story of longing for a higher power, a deep love. It could be a story of helping others. Do you have a story of connection that touches you deeply, of the soil of earth and the heart of heaven coming together?

Stories are outward manifestations of the good questions for deeper understanding.

Example: Crossing the sea of Reeds: Our very name means crossing over. Imagine the fear that our people felt facing that deep unknown marsh. Letting go of our fears and frustrations, regrets, angers, the burdens that we carry is the story of crossing over. We carry our past for that is part of our story, but we can lighten our load.

Role-play idea: The crossing: Characters: Moshe the leader, humble and hopeful and in that aura he finds faith; Pharaoh who tenaciously holds onto a dead past; Hebrews, fearful of an unknown future and spinning the story of the past so that it doesn’t seem that bad; The Egyptians, angry, frightened, bullied by Pharaoh and their own system, unwilling to change; the sea changing its very nature to save our tribe, and then returning to its path which will destroy an army; Moshe’s Mateh, the watcher, the facilitator, the one upon which we can lean for support in trying times; G, the hidden yet revealed in all. Try playing it out.

קשות 4 questions: What are the true questions in our lives? What is it that I need to heal in myself? “Why is this night different from all other nights? Can accepting and learning from the differences in this world help us heal? How do I use rituals to help me heal? These are my questions. What 4 questions can you ask yourself that will help you with the process of healing the process of self-awareness?

בנים4 children[2]: The four children speak to four different mindsets as we approach the Seder. The first child seeks righteousness in hir[3] life finding depth in the ritual. The second child is rebellious. Learning comes through challenges to authority. It is a painful path but it can still be one of growth and learning and contribution. The third child seeks simple straightforward answers. There is something to be said for distilling the path in our minds in order to share it in a simple way. The fourth child is the one who wants to hear the story. By oft telling our story we implant it in the soil of the soul. Each child brings meaning and the challenge of teaching to the table.

History of פסח and of Jewish people. Our Seder tells the story not only of Pesah but of all of Jewish history. Tonight we are all story tellers. Let each of us s share a story from Jewish history. In this way, like Reb Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev[4], we ask to learn the story anew.

רחצה Rahatzah: This washing is not to wash away but rather to soak in what we have shared. The blessing that we say is not for washing but rather for raising our hands. Before the meal we remind ourselves to elevate our most natural actions, eating our meal, to a higher deeper more meaningful place.

מוציא Motzi: Brings to our awareness that our food comes from the earth. It highlights our relationship to Gaia spirit, the recognition that our physicality is earthbound and our spirituality is bound up in the source of all things. It reminds us that we have a role in the G’ing process.

מצה Matzah: The quick baked original fast food. It is a memory peg to our slavery and the promise that we make to become free. If we ignore the fast food of life in our daily rush, we miss experiencing life while we hurry through it. While Matzah is made quickly (less than 18 minutes from flour to baked Matzah) it is made mindfully Matzah is simple food and yet it is filled with meaning. As we taste the Matzah let us find in our hearts a simple path to deeper awareness the source of all healing. Take a bite of the Matzah and maybe share a simple sweet memory that you carry.

מרור Maror: It teaches an important lesson. Into each life some bitterness comes. Take a moment and think to yourself of a bitter time in your life. Now say the blessing and taste the Maror. When we stand alone in bitterness, we are corroded from within. The healing of the soul is impeded. But instead, we can view Maror as a condiment in a rich, full, loving life. If we don’t stand alone in our bitterness but have people close to us and faith within us, then the bitter, though it does not become sweet, becomes a flavor enhancer for the feast that we call life.

קורח Koreh: Koreh is the proof of the power of how we can accept the bitter in our lives. Hillel’s sandwich was a wrap. Soft Matzah was wrapped around Maror and lamb and eaten in joy and hope and faith. Now we take that bitter time, that bitter feeling, that bitter taste and put it as a condiment on our Matzah. Remember that Matzah represents the simple path. The meat is the קורבן (korban). Korban was the sacrifice of old but the word itself means to come closer. Our challenge for healing is to allow ourselves to move closer to oneness. The Hillel Sandwich is the coming closer to our true essence, tasting the bitterness of life as a condiment and wrapping both in a simple path to self awareness and healing, to enlightenment.

שולחן ערוך Shulhan Aruch: Shulhan Aruch means the prepared table. We sit in friendship and love, in openness and harmony as we ingest, digest and elevate in delight, that which comes from the earth, turning matter into energy and healing.

צפון Tzafun: For dessert we share the afikomen. Matzah symbolizes the simple path. Sharing the Afikomen is tasting the plight of others. It is a simple promise that we make this night. We are not apart from the world we are part of this world. The Afikomen calls us to heal ourselves by helping others.

ברוך Baruch: The word is related to Immersion and to flexibility. We recognize and welcome the שפע (shefa), the abundance that is all around us and within us. What is the abundance in our lives? For what would we like to give thanks? As we say this blessing feel the shefa flow through you and out to the world.
כוס אליהו Kos Eliyahu: Eliyahu comes to answer the unanswerable. At this point let us all formulate a question for Eliyahu as we open the door inviting Eliyahu to enter and answer. After we open the door, sit in silence for a moment. Did you get an answer? Did more questions arise? Let us now share the wine from the cup of Eliyahu, for we all have a little bit of Eliyahu in us.

הלל Halel: Praise; We praise the Wholly One of Being. We praise the G’ing in our lives. We all need a little praise in our lives. Try a little exercise in praise. Turn to the person next to you and praise that person, then receive that person’s praise in return. It’s really rather simple, say something nice. Feel the power of giving and receiving praise.

נרצה Nirtzah: Longing! Longing for the G’ing in our lives, longing for our children our future, for our planet and our world. Longing to be in touch with our soul. Longing to strengthen the connection of mind/heart, body and soul. When we say next year in Jerusalem, we are acknowledging our longing for a better world in which to live and a deeper awareness of our place in that world. We are longing for that oneness that makes us heal, that makes us whole.

[1] This is based on my own Midrash of the Mateh. Take it with as many grains of salt as you wish.

[2][2] בנים banim means children. In the singular it refers to boys but as we have grown in openness we try to avoid gender bias).

[3] I use hir instead of his/her

[4] Reb Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev, on Seder night called out to G saying that he was the son who needs the parent to tell him the story to explain it all.

Purim to Pesah: Reveling before Revelation

18 Friday Mar 2011

Posted by in Holidays, Pesah, Politics, Purim, spirit guide

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During  Purim, G is Nistar (Hidden)
During Pesah G is Nigleh (Revealed

Purim: unbounded joy abounds in our soul
Pesah:  boundaries draw us round our symposium.
Purim is going out and giving out
Pesah is bringing in and giving in
Purim is filled with sweets and laughter
Pesah is filled with sweet learning and love
Purim is loud stomping, dancing sober-less laughter and righteous reveling
Pesah is quiet, seated, fundamental food for thought and playful wisdom

 

The long winter is almost at an end; hope should smell as sweet as spring flowers in the air.  We have been praying for rain, for good crops, for nature to be kind to us.  Our prayers started with Sukkot, the end of the harvest festivals.

And yet the world seems to conspire to show us how small we really are.  In Nihon (Japan) the earth quaked and the sea crossed its boundaries killing tens of thousands.  So powerful was the earthquake that it shook the earth and shortened Friday by 2 microseconds.

The leader of Libya, claiming the love of his people hired foreign mercenaries to shoot them down as they cried out for freedom.  In Israel a family was slaughtered in their home.  Where is the hope for our future for our offspring for the springtime of the year?

And yet Pesah is coming.  Pesah is the very essence of hope.  Pesah the spring harvest festival, the promise that there will be a future calls out to us not to evacuate the planet nor devalue it.  Pesah houses the holy time of hope where the G of creation points our path.  “No living mortal may understand my essence, yet you will understand by seeing what flows from me,” says G (Exodus 33:20).

Even in the face of heartbreak and horror, in the time of dread and dismay, when earth itself seems to sound the alarm, Pesah paves the way to prospect and promise for the future.  We sit with family and friends and read and interpret Mashiah consciousness in terms of modernity mixed with a sweet mixture of traditions. We sing and say, eat and drink, laugh and cry. Our sacred past brings into focus our choices for the future through the lens of present-day tragedy and triumph.   And through it all, if we are present, we feel the presence of the Wholly One of Being.

But with all that has happened, it is difficult to sit down and share a joyous meal while others go without food, clothing, home and hope.  We need to reach out before we reach in.

So Purim comes to our aid.  Purim in which G is hidden from our sight, but not our insight, calls out to us to  eat, drink and be merry and share with those in need.  Purim is the holiday of human response to the misfortunes of fate, where predestination and freewill collide or blend.    Obstacles were put in our path and avenues for redemption opened to us.  It was our choice to stand and fight evil as it is our choice to reach out to the suffering of our fellow earthlings, whether caused by natural challenges of unnatural evil.

It is the time to let loose, to seek out those in need and to share with those less fortunate.  It is a time to recognize and even celebrate the fragility of life.  And yes, it is a time for silliness and socializing.  It is a time for Purim.

Purim is found in the book of Ester, the only book in TaNaCh that does not mention G.

Purim in which G is נסתר (Nistar) hidden, calls out to us to reveal ourselves after the long winter.  It calls us out to reach out and reveal ourselves to our friends and neighbors and to bring manna (as in משלוח מנות , mishlo’ah Manot) as gifts to all who are in need.

We are revealed in our over the top celebration of salvation past and future, salvation that is in our hands.  Purim teaches us that it is not in G’s job description to change what is but rather to help us become aware of our capability to change what might be, if only we embrace the will, the free will to stare fate in the face and respond to it in holy ways.  G does not change what is, only our ability to face what is and make it better.  On Purim, the festival of chance (Purim refers to the drawing of lots,) we eat and drink and dance and wear costumes and revel.  And there are revelations in our reveling.  If all we do is look to past salvation, how can we salvage the present and elevate our actions for the future.

We are given strange tests on Purim.  We are to celebrate until we cannot tell the difference between: “Blessed be Mordechai and Cursed be Haman.”  We are commanded to remember to blot out the name of Haman (commanded to remember to forget?).  And we are commanded to give, to reach out to others, to bring jubilation to areas of desolation, to places where happiness is as hidden as G is, in the story of Purim.  We are to send food and money and aid and to do so with joy.  Purim is our Pesah prep.

Purim and Pesah, reaching out and reaching in.

Purim and Pesah , our G hidden and revealed.

Purim and Pesah reveling and revelation.

Purim and Pesah recognizing and responding to fate with faith.

ויקרא transcendental sharing in the Tent of Sacred Meeting

11 Friday Mar 2011

Posted by in History, Kabbalah, spirit guide, Thoughts, Torah Portion

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“Oh no not VaYikra, not Leviticus!  Do we have to read all those laws that are meaningless to us in this day and age?  Please can we skip this part?”  That is what many Jews feel about the book that we started this week.  I have heard of congregations that change the reading schedule so that these Parshiyot (portions) are read in the summer when fewer people show up for shul.  But I think that is missing the mark.  There is depth and elevation in the 3rd book of Torah, called VaYikra as pointed out by the first portion in the book.

The book, ויקרא (VaYikra) is called Leviticus because it has so many discussions of life surrounding the Temple and it’s pre-incarnation, the Ohel Moed including many types of sacrifice.  How does that relate to us today?  After all, we have no Temple, we make no sacrifices and to be perfectly honest we don’t want to make any, certainly not the kind made thousands of years ago.  We might take the philosopher’s view that with every step of the growth of our people G was weaning us away from the practice of sacrifice as it was known in those days.

But growth includes learning to comprehend the ancient ways with a deeper understanding in the light of our modern life.  Torah is not a dried out dead leaf of a tree growing through many winters. Torah is Garden in which we play and grow and within the Garden are trees of life and knowledge, for us to climb joyfully and play in the branches.  The Garden is a living growing organism for which there is meaning in every part.  And we are living growing organisms who learn from the tests and lessons of life by means of our Garden.  Let us look more deeply, let us climb higher in our insight than the surface perception of the slaughter of animals, the baking of unleavened bread and the sprinkling of blood.

There is a British TV show called: “Kill it, Cook it and Eat it.”  As the show’s name explicitly states, people are required to kill (and to butcher), cook and eat an animal.  There is a surprisingly interesting component, which is the moral choices that people make, that comes through.  But I do not speak of that here.  There is one moment in one scene that I wish to address.  A woman teetering on the edge between vegetarian and meat eater kills a wild animal.  The gamekeeper comes forward and takes out the internal organs which must be removed quickly if the animal is going to be eaten. Then, he shocks the woman with an ancient hunters’ tradition.  He “bloods her” which means that he rubs his bloody hands on her face.  She handles it well, all things considered.

Why do I mention this seemingly barbaric custom?

Let us go back to the sacrifices of old.

There is a process that needs to be comprehended on a deeper level.

The animal was slaughtered very quickly with one slice across its throat.  Death was instantaneous.  The animal was skinned and butchered.  The blood was placed on the corners of the altar.  The fire was built up and the head and hooves and the ‘fat’ which includes the internal organs, were burnt.  This was the symbolic portion for G.  The rest of the meat, in most cases, was eaten in a communal meal or given to the Kohanim, those in charge of performing Temple ritual, for their portion.

Blood removed is the symbol of life and death.  What is left is meat.  Many tribal folk refer to hunting as ‘making meat.’  In ancient times that was the purpose of removing the blood of the animal in Jewish sacrifice.  It is recognition that this was once a living breathing animal.  We have become part of the process of life and death on this planet.

There was also a meal offering which was oven baked, deep or shallow pan cooked.   Again part of the meal was eaten while part was burned in a symbolic sharing with G.  Meal offerings were basically Matzah and olive oil.

If one puts together the offerings and the manner in which they were prepared, then the word for sacrifice in Hebrew emanates a message of meaning that rings true today.  We bring meat and bread together and sit in higher consciousness sharing a meal with other members of the tribe, including the ritual leaders the Kohanim and with our G.  The word in Hebrew that we translate as sacrifice or offering is קורבן (Korban) which means to bring close.  The Korbanot were meals of togetherness, spiritual closeness; to each other, to the animal that we have killed, cooked and are consuming together and with the One Whole Source of all life, the Holy Source of all Being.  We bring into a type of oneness, our tribe and tribal functionaries.  We come into oneness with the animal that we are consuming.  We did not buy the meat; we ‘made meat.’  And we come closer to G by sharing symbolically a meal with the source of all creation and the Wholly Oneness of all life.

Sacrifice seems strange to us today, but Korban, the coming closer together with each other, with all life and with the Source of Life, that understanding of Korban reaches us at our Core.