tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61063470357122974562024-03-04T23:17:21.712-08:00The Grateful RabbiDaily reflections on gratefulness in our lives.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.comBlogger354125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-8321728767017533662018-07-31T12:32:00.001-07:002018-07-31T12:32:27.431-07:00<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Grateful for the Good</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> A pivotal word that appears six times in chapter 6, verses 10-25 in the Book of Deuteronomy, is “TOV”-טוב-good-in various forms, as a noun and as a verb.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The one reference that struck me as particularly significant was that verse in which “tov” appears three times: </span></div>
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<span class="s1">“Do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you and that you may possess the good land that the Lord your God promised on oath to your fathers.”( Deut.6,18)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The commonplace understanding of “good” in this citation and in many passages of the book of the Torah is that good behavior will be rewarded with good results-a good land, prosperity, security and peace.In other words, the classical theme of reward and punishment is again reiterated in this verse.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I would like to interpret the phrase-’do what is right and good....that it may go well (be good) with you’ differently. The Hebrew-למען ייטב לך-translated as ‘that it may go well with you’ could be translated differently to remove the ostensible difficulty in the theology of reward and punishment and provide an important insight into the nature of human moral development. By doing what is good and right, one’s becomes good, if not better than before. The consequence of moral behavior is not necessarily some material reward, but a spiritual benefit of self-improvement. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">What further reinforces this interpretation is the comment by the JPS Commentary on verse 24 in which the author points out that the Ramban understood the clause-”for our lasting good”-לטוב לנו כל הימים- ‘to refer to the social laws which by their very nature benefit society.” </span></div>
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<span class="s1">While one can argue that the highest good is to do good for its own sake, a further convincing , perhaps pragmatic, argument for the performance of the good in our lives is the result of emerging as the better person which can bring blessing upon oneself and others and not depend on a more primitive wish for some extraneous reward from a cosmic Power. When we think of the age old conundrum of “why bad things happen to good people” a partial answer resides in the reality that for good to outweigh the bad goodness contributes to the moral stature of each individual so that in the moral universe only the good can happen to the good.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-70789131196987040912018-06-27T12:57:00.004-07:002018-06-27T12:57:44.742-07:00<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"> </span>Grateful for the message of Aaron the high priest</div>
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<span class="s1">On Shabbat, our family makes use of a simple device to enhance the spiritual nature of the day. At the shabbat table, each participant blindly selects two “Angel Cards” and discusses their relevance to her/himself. Angel cards provide key words that help you focus on particular aspects of your inner life. Each word is a human quality which when thought about will echo in one’s life in some way. Meditating on these qualities can help support greater understanding of one’s inner self.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">This past Shabbat I selected :”KINDNESS” and “HARMONY! Upon thinking about this choice and discussing the implications with my wife, it became evident that a means to harmony and well being is the pursuit of kindness in one’s life.Indeed, the path to peace is strewn with myriad acts and words of kindness.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> As we discussed this spiritual connection it occurred to me that the Sabbath Torah reading -Hukat-contained the death of Aaron, the high priest. We are told- “ All the house of Israel bewailed Aaron thirty days.”(Numbers 20:29) In contrast, we read in Deuteronomy 34:8,”Israelites(not all of Israel) bewailed Moses.” Why did Aaron’s death touch each and every Israelite in such a way that each one felt a deep personal loss with the passing of Aaron? </span></div>
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<span class="s1">The Sayings of the Sages(Pirke Avot) has the following passage. “ Hillel said: Be a disciple of Aaron -loving peace and pursuing peace, loving your fellow creatures and bringing them to the study of Torah.”( chpt 1:12)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Aaron was the embodiment of these qualities of the Angel cards I had selected. Again and again he resolved disputes and harshness through interventions of kindness and love. The Midrash tells us- “ When Aaron would meet a wicked man, he greeted him warmly. The next day, when the man was about to commit a transgression he would say to himself: Woe is me, how could I ever raise my eyes and face Aaron? I would be too embarassed. Thus he refrained from further transgression.”(ARN 12)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Kindness and harmony, one the cause of the other. My daughter’s contribution to this discussion was invaluable. She pointed out that the angel card suggested another dimension of spiritual betterment ,that which entails the relationship of onself to oneself. It calls upon us to act kindly towards ourselves in order to arrive at some harmony and inner peace. Too often we treat our selves much too harshly and thus increase an inner sense of unhappiness and turmoil. Kindness shown by us to ourselves can only lead to greater serenity, integrity and peace.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-67444538115941647272017-11-09T07:32:00.003-08:002017-11-09T07:32:56.404-08:00<h2>
<span class="s1"><b>Grateful for a silent retreat-</b></span><span class="s1"><b>Psalm 23-A psalm of friendship</b></span></h2>
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<span class="s1">I have only recently returned from a 5 day long silent meditation retreat sponsored by the Jewish Spirituality Institute.The following represents the result of one important insight I arrived at in relation to my effort to pray more meaningfully to God.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">יהוה רעי</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“The Lord is my shepherd”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">yud-hey-vav-hay, the God of Love, is my shepherding Friend my</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“yedid nefesh”-soul mate,life force,my pal.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">(one simple vowel change in the word for my shepherd-”ro’ee” and we have “rey-ee”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">my friend.)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">לא אחםר</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“ I shall not want”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I will not be wanting,I will feel accepted for myself, without the critical demands</span></div>
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<span class="s1">of perhaps a parent-Father ,even Mother-who, commonly invest too much in their children with excessive expectations to satisfy personal needs; a friend however supports and guides no matter what.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">בנאות דשא ירביצני </span></div>
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<span class="s1">על מי מנוחות ינהלני</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“He maketh me to lie down in green pastures , he leadeth me beside the still waters”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">He shares with me his green pastures, we picnic together under the summer skies;</span></div>
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<span class="s1">we dip our hands in the cool ripples of water, refreshing body and soul.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">He sees to it that I not fall into the waters of the flowing sun- filled stream.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">נפשי ישובב</span></div>
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<span class="s1">ינחני במעגלי צדק</span></div>
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<span class="s1">למען שמו</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> “He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">When I stray because of hurt, fear or anger, he reminds me </span></div>
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<span class="s1">of the transience of things, how the world turns in lopsided ways,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">reassuring me of the gift of who I am because of his faithfulness to our friendship.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">גם כי אלך בגיא צלמות</span></div>
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<span class="s1">לא אירא רע</span></div>
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<span class="s1">כי אתה עמדי</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Especially when confronted with dark times</span></div>
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<span class="s1">because you are simply standing by my side,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I will not fear the worst, and will find the strength to continue into the sunshine.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Furthermore.....</span></div>
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<span class="s1">שבטך ומשענתך המה ינחמוני</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“thy rod and thy staff they comfort me”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Whatever prop or support you use </span></div>
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<span class="s1">will hold me up in these dire times and </span></div>
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<span class="s1">comfort me-if a crook or walking stick,they will be used not to strike but to gently</span></div>
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<span class="s1">guide and shepherd me out of the shadows into the light.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Moreover....</span></div>
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<span class="s1">תערוך לפני שלחן נגד צררי</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">You set an abundant table to share with all</span></div>
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<span class="s1">in the face of those who would constrict my life </span></div>
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<span class="s1">as they shut out the world</span></div>
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<span class="s1">trapped in their desire to harm and hurt,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">not heal or help.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">דשנת בשמן ראשי כוסי רויה</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">When I feel dry and wilted in spirit</span></div>
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<span class="s1">you douse me with moisturizing oils of trust and compassion</span></div>
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<span class="s1">that replenish my soul</span></div>
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<span class="s1">and I feel the gratitude that comes with having</span></div>
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<span class="s1">so much in one’s life, announcing to all</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“my cup spills over!”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">אך טוב וחסד ירדפוני </span></div>
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<span class="s1">כל ימי חיי</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Through your friendship,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I am assured that the future will hold</span></div>
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<span class="s1">good times and those in which goodness</span></div>
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<span class="s1">will fill my life</span></div>
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<span class="s1">and those of others.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">ושבתי בבית יהוה לארך ימים</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">And I will finally become aware </span></div>
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<span class="s1">of the everlasting reality of God’s love </span></div>
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<span class="s1">as the ultimate desire of my life-be my friend so that </span></div>
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<span class="s1">I shall no longer be wanting.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-36852948193683859692017-10-16T13:13:00.002-07:002017-10-16T13:13:26.420-07:00<h2>
<span class="s1"><b>Grateful for Yizkor-Reflections on “The Lord is my Shepherd”</b></span></h2>
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<span class="s1">Yizkor is a sad time; but as an opportunity for reflection it can be transformed into a moment of understanding and insight.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Because I had read the 23rd Psalm most often in English in the course of my rabbinic work, I never paid sufficient attention to the Hebrew. This time, one word caught my attention. I realized that its translation, while widespread, common and familiar , may not capture its essence. The verse referred to is the following:</span></div>
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<span class="s1">....ינחיני במעגלי צדק למען שמו</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“He leads me on paths-pathways of justice-righteousness, for His Name’s sake” ( v.3).</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The word translated as “path” could and perhaps should be translated differently.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> “B’maaglei”-”במעגלי”-is derived from the Hebrew word “עגל", round or circular.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Unlike the Western mode of thought that views life and time as a progression or regression,what is suggested by the word ‘maaglei’ is the Kabbalistic notion that all of life and time moves circularly, each point containing the fullness of God’s justice and righteousness. The author of the Psalm seems to discover comfort from his journey through the valley of darkness in the awareness that godliness ie. justice,righteousness,”tzedek,”-is merely temporarily out of sight and will eventually reappear as points in a circle rotate and return to their original place.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Interestingly, in the world of Kabbalah, divinity is circular-the first sefirah is “keter”-a crown, that which is circular, the ineffable source of the Godhead-the Ein Sof-which represents the first stirrings of divinity in the universe.The final sefirah,”malchut”-is also known as “atarah,” another word for crown or that which is round and circular.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">As Arthur Green puts it so cogently in his wonderful book-Ehyeh-Kabbalah for Tomorrow- “Now we should see the sefirot (the world of Divinity) as a sacred circle, ‘Its end tied to its beginning and its beginning to its end.”(p.59).</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Green continues: “The circle of life includes all that is. In order to understand the process, to trace the origin of the many back to the One, we have allowed ourselves to open the circle, to turn it temporarily into a series of straight lines, so that we may see its progression...this is the way our linear brains work....now we have come to the end of that system......we must remember, as the kabbalists remind us, that really we understand nothing at all. Therefore we rejoin the circle, tie its ends back together , and allow ourselves to dance within it....The ten sefirot must become a way of thinking for us, not a body of knowledge.They are the choreography for a dance of the mind......”(Ibid)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Thus the Psalmist articulates his faith in the dance of life at the time of his deepest sorrow and sadness, his moment of greatest fear and isolation.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">God will lead him “b’maaglei tzedek”-open the awareness of his heart to the reality of life as a wondrous circular dance.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-37704626708283944502017-10-09T12:23:00.001-07:002017-10-09T12:23:25.479-07:00<h2>
<b>Grateful for the challenge of the heart on Succoth</b></h2>
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A well-known Midrash analogizes the four species of vegetation taken in hand on Succoth to four parts of the human anatomy.<br />
“.......the spine of the lulav can be compared to the human spine, the hadas-the myrtle leaves are similar to the eyes, the aravah-the willow resembles the mouth and the shape of the etrog brings to mind the human heart.......”( Leviticus Rabah 30:14).<br />
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While each of the species is important and requires diligence in their selection, the etrog stands out as the plant most carefully considered on the holiday. Thus, one can suggest, that of all the human organs and their various functions, the heart as the seat of deepest feeling and spiritual receptiveness is viewed as the major artery for the journey to the divine.<br />
I would add, by a slight readjustment of the Hebrew word Lulav-לולב-that this particular plant likewise highlights the centrality of the heart in the observance of Succoth and by extension in the quest for the spiritual life. If we divide the word lulav, we arrive at two words which read-lu-lev ,changing the vocalization slightly in the second word.Using Hebrew letters we have-לו-לב,which is translated as “if only heart!”<br />
The succoth festival is a time of rejoicing-זמן שמחתינו; “simcha” in my way of thinking is the joy that flows out of a sense of gratitude for the gifts of life, in this case the bountiful harvest for which the ancient pilgrim would be grateful and rejoice in God’s Presence in the Sanctuary of Jerusalem. The seat of joyful gratitude is the heart. When our hearts are opened and we allow ourselves to experience the gratitude of life’s many gifts and blessings, then we discover the essential joy in being alive.<br />
This joy is a source of great sweetness which brings me to a different interpretation of another of the four species of vegetation taken on Succoth, namely the willow, the ערבה.<br />
Interestingly the word for willow-”aravah”-has the very same root for another word whose meaning is sweet, “arev”. For example, in the Song of Songs we read that the voice of the lover’s beloved is sweet- “כי קולך ערב”- “let me hear your voice for your voice is sweet.”(Chpt 2:14)<br />
Thus the taking of the lulav and etrog and the aravah point to the heartfelt experience of sweetness in the celebration of Succoth and for that matter in the course of our reaching out to the spiritual dimension of our lives.<br />
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One species, the hadas, myrtle leaves, remains unaccounted for in the context of the above re-interpretation. The myrtle leaves are referred to in the Torah not as Hadas but as leaves of עץ עבות- a leafy tree.The word “Avot”-עבות-is related to two other Hebrew words-cloud and thickness. I would like to offer my understanding of this particular plant in the cluster of the four species as an item that challenges us to remove the thickness in our hearts, the feelings and sensations that becloud the clarity that one can arrive at by opening our hearts to the divine around us.<br />
Curiously, the Hebrew word for etrog-אתרג, if its letters are somewhat rearranged,we construct the word-אתגר-meaning challenge. This I believe is the challenge of succoth.<br />
The place of our deepest internal experiences is the heart; it is this part of our being that we invite to witness the beauty and joy of Succoth, and all of life.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-84320119752513120622017-10-02T09:59:00.002-07:002017-10-02T09:59:33.043-07:00<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Grateful for the Soul-Post Yom Kippur</span></div>
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<span class="s1">On Yom Kippur, I spoke about the soul. After all, the Day of Atonement is the most spiritual of all Jewish days.The concept of soul is most difficult to wrap one’s mind around. Soul suggests the abstract, the intangible, something none of our five senses can tap into. Yet, our intuitive imaginations feel that the soul is real, a vital and essential part of who we are.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> Perhaps one of the best definitions of soul was given by Mark Nepo, poet, writer, teacher. “Each person is born with an unencumbered spot, free of expectation and regret, free of ambition and embarassment, free of fear and worry, an umbilical spot of grace where we were each first touched by God.....to know this spot of inwardness is to know who we are by........feeling our place in relation to the Infinite and by inhabiting it.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">In my mind this spot refers to the image of God-צלם אלהים-the divine piece of our beings.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">In Hebrew,the soul is translated as נשמה-”neshamah” derived from the root-נשם-”nashom”-to breathe. I was toying with the word as I love to do with key words of the Hebrew language and rearranging the letters of the root word I arrived at a word that can be pronounced-מנש-”mensh.” Clearly, I am am being fanciful with the grammar; there is no Hebrew word pronounced this way. But, in Yiddish, “mensh” is a highly important word-it means -a good, decent, caring, sensitive, generous and kind human being,” all the ingredients that go into the making of an ideal moral and spiritual human being.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Thus one can conclude the the origin of one’s goodness and kindness resides in the soul-the “neshamah” the “spot of grace” touched by God,the very image of God.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">All humans possess this spark( some believe that all living things-animals included,have this divine something in their make-up as living creatures created by God).</span></div>
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<span class="s1">It is this core that is the objective of all our concerns, prayers, meditations, thoughts and considerations experienced during the full 24 hours of fasting and self-reflection.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I trust that on this Yom Kippur, we were all blessed with making a reacquaintance with our souls and that the new year will afford us the opportunity to cultivate and polish that precious part of who we are.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-15429628974609610412017-09-18T08:29:00.000-07:002017-09-18T08:29:01.275-07:00<h2>
<span class="s1"><b>Grateful for Rosh Hashanah as a festival of Freedom</b></span></h2>
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<span class="s1">Commonly, the Festival of Freedom in Jewish life is Passover! Yet,I maintain, that freedom is at the heart of Rosh Ha shanah as well.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> How do we arrive at this conclusion ? After all, Rosh Hashanah is referred to by tradition as the Season of soul- searching and the sounding of Teruah, the shofar?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Moreover,while each of the pilgrimage festivals on the Jewish calendar is multidimensional in its meaning and the Exodus enters into the rationale for these holy events, Rosh Hashanah is not included as a time during which we recall the Exodus.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">However, the Talmud asks what does Rosh Hashanah commemorate and we are provided with several answers, one of which strongly suggests the idea of freedom. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">“Rabbi Eliezer said: in Tishrei-the month of Rosh Hashanah, the world was created.”(Talmud Rosh Hashanah 10b) Ostensibly, this interpretation is wholly logical with the idea of the creation of the world and Rosh Hashanah as signifying the birthday of the world. As such, some liberal congregations select as the Torah reading for the first day of Rosh Hashanah the creation story-Genesis,Chapter 1. Yet, most other congregations, and the tradition indicates a very different Torah reading, Genesisi 21 :1-34. Why?</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">This segment tells the story of the birth of a child ,Isaac, the son of Sarahand Abraham.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">But more than that, it continues to narrate the expulsion of the concubine Hagar with her son and her son’s near death in the wilderness, and the eventual appearance of God’s angel to rescue her and her child, Ishmael. God hears the voice of Hagar, the Egyptian concubine, and assures her through a messenger, that she too will give birth to a great nation.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">How are we to understand this selection in relation to Rosh Hashanah’s meaning?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">To answer, consider another statement in the Talmud that conveys a different rationale for Rosh Hashanah’s meaning.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“On Rosh Hashanah, Joseph went forth from prison.”( Ibid 11b).</span></div>
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<span class="s1">In other words, this festival marks an event of freedom from imprisonment of some kind. In Joseph’s case, prison was literal and he found himself in such a situation by being falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife of sexual advances.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">In Hagar’s case, she is the victim of both her ethnic and social status and her gender as a woman. Sarah and Abraham can do with her what they wish. Therefore, at the insistence of Sarah, echoed by God Himself, Abraham expels Hagar from his household. Hagar as concubine and Egyptian was a prisoner of the social mores of that time-an underdog, a slave with no rights and no power of self-assertion.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Being a woman,furthermore, only exacerbated her condition of utter vulnerability, bringing her to the edge of the abyss together with her child,the essence of her womanhood and personhood.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The story ,however, takes a turn toward the divine and miraculous as intervention from above announces a new reality in the spiritual evolution of humanity, namely the capacity to be free, to transcend social, gender and political status and survive successfully as human beings with god-given rights of being loved and cared for.Thus the message of freedom on Rosh Hashanah that determined the selection of this particular story as a Torah reading on Rosh Hashanah.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">We are grateful for the multiple richness of this festival especially for the gift of personal freedom rooted in our identity as God’s children.Happy New Year,</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-62753339527132677742017-09-12T12:25:00.001-07:002017-09-12T12:25:18.426-07:00<h2>
<span class="s1"><b>Grateful for Time-The gift of a New Year</b></span></h2>
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<span class="s1">A man was leisurely looking up at the clouds and identifying various shapes. This led him to talk to God.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“God,” he said, “how long is a million years?”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">God answered,”In my frame of reference, it’s about a minute.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The man asked again,”God, how much is a million dollars?”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">God answered, “ To Me,it’s a penny.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The man then asked, “God, may I have a penny?”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">God replied, “In a minute!”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">With the beginning of a New Year our attention is focused sharply on the passing of time. To quote Richard Dawkins-”Time is pretty mysterious stuff-almost as elusive and hard to pin down as conscious awareness.”(Science in the Soul-p.329)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Objectively the notion of time’s passage is determined by astronomy-the rotation of the earth around the moon and the sun. The measurement of time is humanly constructed. The experience of time is highly subjective. If one is sitting ‘shiva” the mourning period ,time is agonizingly slow.If one is in the midst of a joyous celebration, time flies.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Every day each one of us is given the identical amount of a fresh supply of time-this day of 24 hours of 60 minutes each is our gift of life,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Rosh Hashanah is a new beginning,a time for a revisit of the notion of time and its value to us.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">In Judaism, time is of the essence. As Heschel wrote so magnificently in his book on the Sabbath, Judaism is a religion of time, aiming at the sanctification of time.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">How do we sanctify time?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">We are provided with holy days- Shabbat, festivals in each season.But what does the word holiness or sanctity mean? Many are the interpretations.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Holy is godly , something set apart from the ordinary and considered uniquely special. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">May I suggest a formulaic interpretation that may help us sanctify time-our lives-in the New Year.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> I see holiness as containing three component parts, each one beginning with the letter “A.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">1.Aliveness</span></div>
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<span class="s1">2.Awareness</span></div>
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<span class="s1">3.Alertness</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Like the triple A batteries, holiness allows us to reinvigorate and energize our spirits and souls so as to live life to the fullest and not waste or kill or avoid the time that is given us.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Each day, by dint of our awareness, we can arrive at a fullness of being alive which not only brings joy and fulfillment to us, but with alertness brings hope and love to others.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">No matter how ordinary our days-rising in the morning, preparing ourselves for the day, having our meals, working, interacting with others-all represent opportunities for greater awareness and alertness to make our experience of daily living alive and sanctified, an expression of feeling the divine in our lives.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">As the Psalmist said: “Teach us to number our days so that we nay attain a heart of wisdom.” </span></div>
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<span class="s1">May we al be blessed in the New Year with hearts filled with the wisdom of the divine, the wisdom of being fully alive. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-41917097606986328112017-09-05T03:12:00.004-07:002017-09-05T03:23:59.908-07:00<div class="p1">
<h2>
<b><span class="s1">Grateful for </span>the challenge of Yom Kippur-</b></h2>
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<h2>
<span class="s1"><b>Fasting or Responding-</b></span></h2>
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<span class="s1">“אך בעשור לחדש השביעי יום הכפורים הוא......ועניתם את נפשותיכם”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“Mark, the tenth day of this seventh month, is the Day of Atonement....you shall practise self-denial (you shall fast)” (Leviticus 23:27)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I don’t like to fast. I would think that few do. I get grouchy and feel agitated in the course of the day , and rather than focusing on prayer I confess that the grumbling in my belly occupies too much of my attention. I wonder why the Torah legislated fasting as a means of atonement? There are of course not a few interpretations.To fast is to deprive yourself as punishment for your sins; you are detached from bodily needs and emerge more connected to your spiritual dimension as a human being;you can more fully devote yourself to prayer without the distractions of having to prepare food and engage in its consumption.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">While I do fast and will continue to do so-it’s an integral part of Jewish tradition and practice-I continue to explore for newer meanings associated with the Hebrew root word for self-denial- “ענה.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The meaning of this word can also be -”to answer, to respond.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">While grammatically the Hebrew verse is not constructed to be translated as “ you shall respond in or with your beings, souls,” I take the Midrashic liberty which is widely used in the Hassidic tradition to discover suggestions of other meanings, in spite of incorrect grammatical considerations.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Thus, “ ועניתם את נפשותיכם” could be translated as “You shall respond with your being and soul.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Yom Kippur is a challenge, a question, an invitation.In the Garden of Eden God asked Adam -”איכה”-”Where are you?” Yom Kippur is a moment of being asked by the Divine-where are we? What is the nature of our spiritual and moral lives? Are we living up to the full integrity of who we are and could be?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">It is no accident that the prophetic voice recited on Yom Kippur asks the following rhetorical question?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“Is such a fast I desire? (‘Because you fast in strife and contention,and you strike with a wicked fist!’).....No! this is the fast I desire-to unlock the fetters of wickedness...to let the oppressed go free...it is to share your bread with the hungry and to take the wretched into your home; when you see the naked to clothe him, and not ignore your own kin.”( Isaiah 58: 4-7)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The prophet does not eliminate the practice of fasting; he transcends it to a realm that highlights the spiritual challenge not only of Yom Kippur but of every day of our lives.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">How responsive are we to the pain and needs of others? How open are we to the beauty and fullness of the world that summons our thanks and gratitude? How willing are we to not only engage in ritual but to translate feeling and intention into deed and response to change the world in some small way?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">On Yom Kippur we are called upon by Divine wisdom to respond-to rise to levels of the angelic so that “your light will burst forth like the dawn and your healing will will spring up instantly.”(Isaiah 57 :8)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Imagine the following: Each Yom Kippur, the Jewish people, all who fast, contribute the cost of their daily meals to the hungry of the world. Assuming there are approximately 10 million Jews who fast out of a total population of 14 and 1/2 million world population of Jews and that the cost of 3 meals a day is equivalent to $50.00, conceivably the Jewish people as an act of moral response and the sanctification of the Divine Name, could contribute to the the poor and wretched of this planet a sum of $500 million -1/2 a billion dollars!! Imagine the impact upon the hungry, the Jewish people and the world at large.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-17113727420101317182017-09-05T03:10:00.002-07:002017-09-05T03:25:00.195-07:00<div class="p1">
<h2>
<span class="s1">Grateful for the capacity to transcend the legal and reach the realm of the indeterminate goodness and justice</span><br /></h2>
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<span class="s1">“ Be sure to keep the commandments, decrees, and laws that the Lord your God has enjoined upon you;</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord....”(Deut.6:17-18)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“ועשית הישר והטוב בעיני ה” (דברים ו,יח)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">These verses were read in the synagogue on Saturday, August 5, Shabbat Nachamu.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">It may be asked: Why are these words added? After all, the reader has been instructed by the previous passage and indeed by many other passages ,of God’s requirement of goodness and fairness as contained in the mitzvot-the ordinances enjoined by the Divine? Is not observance of the mitzvot not sufficient?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">A plausible answer is that this is a summary statement that defines the commandments as just and right,and thus is not superfluous. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Upon closer exploration both of the verses in “V’Etchanan,” last week”s portion, and the opening verse of the parshah known as “Eikev,” this weeks segment, the addition of these five Hebrew words provides a significant insight into the desired practise and fulfillment of Jewish spiritual behavior. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">With the opening words of this week’s Torah portion,”Eikev,” we encounter a word-”eikev” whose definition carries a mutidimentional meaning . “And </span><span class="s2">if </span><span class="s1">-‘</span><span class="s2">eikev</span><span class="s1">’-you obey these rules...the Lord will favor and bless you.” (Deut.7:12-13)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The word ‘eikev’ is correctly translated as ‘in the heels of-the word means heel!’ (Consider Jacob’s name,Ya’akov, derived from the fact that he held on to his twin brother’s heel to prevent him from emerging from the womb first and gain the special status of first born-Genesis 25:26)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The Torah established the principle of reward for good behavior, and punishment for behavior that is unacceptable.This asserion emphasizes the individual’s </span></div>
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<span class="s1">unique identity as a responsible and free-choosing human being whose humanity, some would say, divinity, rests in this dimension of freedom and responsibility.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">What’s curious about the word ‘eikev,’ however, is that it contains a very different definition as well,namely, ‘crooked,’ ‘devious,’ ‘deceptive,’ ‘ insincere.’</span></div>
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<span class="s1">( see Genesis 27:36, where Esau, having been deceived by his brother and cheated out of his birthright cries out in pain that his brother has supplanted him twice to wrest the birthright from him!)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">How does the notion of crookedness or insincerity fit into our statement of ‘in the heels of ‘ or ‘as a consequence of’ our obedience or disobedience, we will be either blessed or cursed!</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">At this point the reference to doing what is ‘fair and just in God’s sight’ is critical for a fuller understanding of Judaism’s standard of moral behavior. This phrase is inexact, unlike legal prescriptions that are usually concrete and objectively understandable. After all,what does it mean exactly to be fair and right in God’s eyes?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I would like to suggest that what is signaled in the use of ‘eikev’and the additional words referring to just and good behavior is the risk of doing things crookedly, in spite of devoted loyalty to the Law, without the ability to relate to life with fairness and goodness . It is not difficult to imagine the observance of the mitzvah as disconnected from its intentioality, a rote like and mechanical relationship rooted in the need to perform the deed out of fear or the need for some structure which provides security in one’s psychological life. Thus these few extra words emphasizing doing the fair and the good in God’s sight suggests the need to examine one’s heart and feelings ,to invest not only logical thought to the intricacies of the Law, but to explore the stirrings of the heart and soul with an eye that is focussed inwards.The Torah’s insistence on the inner world, the world of feeling, intention,sincerity and honesty,imagination and poetry, conscience, our sense of humanity, all of which is beyond tangible description is fundamental to the achievement of the more complete moral and compassionate life.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">By making us of the term ‘eikev,’ the Author indirectly touches on the ‘unconscious’ and elicits an association to the more primitive part of our inner life,one that is based on reward and punishment, ‘the crooked,’rather than on the recognition of doing the fair and good in the eyes of God, acting because something is intrinsicaaly right and good. Eikev declares that we are blessed with the capacity to go beyond the observable and measurable, the legal, and touch the divinity in our souls through the posture of fairness, rightness and love.Let us not ignore this gift.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-50207757700774419552017-09-05T03:08:00.001-07:002017-09-05T03:25:20.553-07:00<div class="p1">
<h2>
<span class="s1">Grateful for the way of Divine Wisdom</span></h2>
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<span class="s1">Every now and then a word of Scripture leaps out at you and somehow captures a total way of thinking.Such a word is found in the Torah reading of this past week -Deuteronomy 12:8 and 13:19. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">‘לא תעשון ככל אשר אנחנו עושים פה היום איש כל הישר בעיניו ‘</span></div>
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<span class="s1">You shall not act at all as we now act here, every man as he pleases( what he considers right)</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> כי תשמע בקול ה’ אלהיך לשמור את כל מצוותיו אשר אנכי מצוך היום לעשות הישר בעיני ה’ אלהיך</span></div>
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<span class="s1">For you will be heeding the Lord your God, obeying all His commandments that I enjoin them upon you this day, doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The word that is pivotal to this gratefulness word of Torah is “ישר” -”straight”-”right”-”fair.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The Torah makes use of this word in two opposing and conflicting moral situations and postures.In the first, Deuteronomy 12:8, it highlights the inclination of the individual to do as he/she pleases, what she or he considers right and proper according to the standards that are meaningful only to himself/herself. One’s beliefs, actions and words are entirely individualistic, the sole arbiter of the moral stance is oneself.This is regarded by the Torah as problematic, dangerous and a violation of the principles of the Divine that should govern our lives.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Doing what is “ישר” in God’s sight is the desirable and divine obligation associated with one’s spiritual fulfillment and completion. Deuteronomy 13:19 unequivocally asserts this rightness as the ultimate standard for human activity and interaction.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Today we find ourselves enmeshed in a world dictated by leaders doing what is right in their own eyes,without any awareness of the divine wisdom that should influence and guide human behavior. Power, political expediency,financial profit, jingoism, psychological self-aggrandizement and excessive narcissism define the rightness of words, actions and policies. It is my sight that counts; egotism reigns supreme! Divine wisdom , that which is right in the sight of God, that which demands equality of opportunity, fairness and justice for all, a sense of compassion for the disadvantaged and vulnerable segments of our country and humanity everywhere, goodness and kindness toward all sentient beings, seeing the entire human community as children of God, has taken a back seat or secondary role, if not totally vanished from the sight of American political leadership.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Religion’s demand is the perspective of God- Unity, wholeness, love; man’s view is what is right in ‘my sight’-narrow, fragmented, adversarial.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">How dramatically relevant and imperative is the Torah’s message today, as growing numbers of citizens anticipate chaos and uncertainty for lack of a moral compass that can guide this nation and the world through the difficult times facing our fragile planet in the precarious future ahead.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Deuteronomy’s ancient insights inspire us today; may they find their way into the hearts and minds of our leadership and those who are more apt to follow their own misguided sense of what is right only in their own eyes.The time is ripe for a serious consideration of the perspective and wisdom of the divine source of all things.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-22549990713959214712017-05-30T13:25:00.001-07:002017-05-30T13:53:12.480-07:00Shavuot and my late brother Lawrence<div class="p1">
Shavuot celebrates revelation, a moment when the hidden becomes disclosed. Sadly, revelation is a painful process. Often, the darkness of death is necessary for the light to be revealed.</div>
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My brother's passing,on January 11, 2017, shone a ray of light into his soul and was experienced as a time of revelation of a life that was taken for granted by so many.</div>
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What was revealed was that unique quality of heart and soul that is the focus of our attention on this festival as we read the Book of Ruth. Our sages tell us: The Book of Ruth is read on Shavuot to teach us the reward for "Chessed"-compassion, loving-kindness, acceptance and tolerance, goodness and decency, a genuine respect for others. This quality transcends gender; my brother Lawrence live his life in the shadow of Ruth's goodness,with the simplicity and depth of one who loves for its own sake.</div>
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I share with you a meditation on the Kaddish in his memory.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="s1">Kaddish: Judaism’s Prayer for the Soul</span></div>
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<span class="s1">A Personal Meditation </span></div>
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“Kaddish is not so much the praise of God as a prayer for the praise of God” (Leon Wieseltier, <i>Kaddish</i>, p. 28)<span class="s1"></span></div>
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<span class="s1">In memory of my beloved brother,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Lawrence Howard ( Oct. 11,1936 -Jan.12, 2017)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">חנא ליב בן יוסף הכהן ורחל</span></div>
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<span class="s1">of blessed memory.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>Preface</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">As a rabbi, the Kaddish has figured prominently in my work. At every worship service, mourners and those commemorating the <i>yahrzeit–</i>anniversary of death–of loved ones would rise and recite its words.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Each funeral and unveiling ritual concluded with Kaddish’s praises rising to the open skies above rows of lonely tombstones.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">For a number of years, engaged as I was in exploring the place of gratitude in the spiritual life, I was fascinated by the simplicity of this “prayer” and puzzled by its ostensible contradiction of reciting praise at the time of death. I was on the verge of beginning to record in writing my thoughts and </span></div>
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<span class="s1">ideas on this subject when my brother unexpectedly died. Instead of approaching my investigations through the academic routes of theology and philosophy, I found myself unexplainably caught up in words of personal poetry, responding out of the cold harshness of death from the heart. What emerged was the following meditation.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">To introduce this personal response I’ve provided a brief overview of the place of Kaddish in Jewish thinking so as to orient the reader to some of the liturgy referenced in the poetry. I am deeply grateful for the inspired insights of those to whom I refer in the course of this barest of sketches.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">This meditation was a source of comfort to me and helped me gain a greater understanding of the human condition. I can only hope that the reader too gains solace and a glimpse of clarity in this time of grief and confusion.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Finally, my brother Lawrence was the sweetest of men; I miss him and pray that this meditation reach him somehow and fill him with the pride, joy, and love that we shared while he lived.</span></div>
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<b>Introduction:</b><span class="s1"></span></div>
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<span class="s1">With the passing of the nearest of kin, the Kaddish is recited in the synagogue, in the company of a minyan, a quorum of 10 adult Jews, at each of the three daily prayer services, <i>shacharit </i>(the morning service), <i>minchah</i> (the afternoon service), and <i>maariv</i> (the evening service). Its duration of recitation is determined by the nature of one’s relationship to the deceased; the child’s commitment for the parent is eleven months minus one day, while for a spouse, sibling, or child, the period of Kaddish recital is thirty days.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Kaddish is integral to the worship service as a prayer that separates the various components of the service and is chanted by the prayer leader. Its popularity is associated with the experience of mourning, bereavement, and memory. Virtually anyone who sustains a loss of a loved one, at some time or another, recites the Kaddish.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The reasons for its hold on the Jewish imagination are many. For some, reciting Kaddish is prompted by a sense of commitment to a pattern of traditional Jewish living. Many others, however, who do not share this type of involvement still feel the need and desire to recite this special prayer. It can represent a way to pay honor to the deceased loved one; it is viewed as something that the deceased would have wished for; perhaps it functions as a means of absolving one’s sense of guilt, an emotion often emerging after death. Myriad reasons may be felt in the privacy of a loved one’s mind and heart.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Curiously, while reserved for times of death, the prayer itself makes not the slightest reference to death or anything associated with this final event of life. Yet, its words are central to the death experience. Why? How is this prayer to be understood? What religious and spiritual purpose does it serve? </span></div>
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<span class="s1">First, it was, and continues to be, seen by many as a powerful instrument by means of which the living can influence the final journey of the deceased’s soul: “The Kaddish is a handclasp between the generations, one that connects two lifetimes...the son’s recitation of kaddish represents a continuation of (the life of the deceased, its ideals, and aspirations)...in the complicated calculus of the spirit, the reverse is possible! The deeds of the child can redeem the life of the parent, even after the parent’s death” (Maurice Lamm, <i>The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning</i>, p. 158).</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The fundamental and most frequently recorded incident regarding Kaddish is the mystical vision of the great sage Rabbi Akiba. He had a vision of a well-known sinner who had died and was condemned to intolerable punishment. The sinner informed the rabbi in the vision that only if his surviving son would recite Kaddish would he be redeemed. The rabbi proceeded to teach the youngster these prayers. When the youngster recited the Kaddish, he saved his father from perdition (ibid., pp. 160-61).</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Furthermore, the Kaddish is not merely based on kinship; “It is based on the son’s righteousness...this appeal is not made in the name of blood, it is made in the name of character...the mourner says: have pity on the soul of this man because he raised a man who stands before you and submits to your authority” (Leon Wieseltier, <i>Kaddish</i>, p. 386). “The Kaddish is not a prayer for the dead; it is an achievement of the dead” (ibid., p. 421).</span></div>
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<span class="s1">In contrast to this concept of redeeming the deceased, the mystical and Hassidic traditions see Kaddish as a means of comfort and restoration for God Himself. The Kaddish is not a prayer for the dead, but the Kaddish is a prayer for God: “The Kaddish is a reckoning of God’s loss” (for the exile of the Jewish people from the Land of Israel) (ibid, p. 426).</span></div>
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<span class="s1">This concept is further reinforced in the Talmud which tells us, “I heard a divine voice cooing sadly and muttering, ‘Woe is Me that I destroyed my Temple and burned my Sanctuary and exiled my children among the peoples of the world’...the Divine Voice speaks this way three times a day, when Jews come to the houses of worship...and exclaim: ‘May His Name be blessed always and forever’ (in response to the beginning of the Kaddish), God nods His head sadly and says: ‘Happy is the king whose children extol him in his own house! But woe to the father who banished his children and woe to the children who have been banished from their father’s table’” (<i>T.B. Berachot</i> 3:1).</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Whatever the understanding of Kaddish’s power over the soul of the deceased and the nature of the Divine, it is unquestionably influential on the soul of the reciter who is still alive.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Saying the Kaddish after something as tragic and sometimes sudden as death speaks volumes about the character and strength of the one reciting the Kaddish; it is an act of defying death and transcending the anguish with the hope and belief in the ultimate realization of God's kingdom on this earth: “Kaddish is not only a statement about the greatness of God but about the greatness of man” (J.B. Soloveichik, <i>Out of the Whirlwind</i>, p. xix).</span></div>
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<span class="s1">It is from this perspective that I offer the poetic meditation below. The thrust of the Kaddish’s words is to praise. As the Kaddish is recited we declare God’s praise in virtually every synonym of praise that exists in the Hebrew/Aramaic language. Essentially, Kaddish is composed of stanzas of gratitude.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Kaddish is repetitive, mantra-like, its cadences and rhythms soothe us and offer us solace; its sounds still our frantic fears, the music of its syllables and words soften the harshness of our grief. Repetition’s familiar cadences transforms us. As we recite, even without understanding, we find refuge from the onslaughts of confusion, loss, anger, guilt, and feelings of being abandoned and alone. Its mantric echoes anchor our existence in the midst of turbulent thoughts and emotions. Praising in spite of ourselves somehow eases pain, and slowly opens paths of peace, even of pleasantness: “Souls flutter, wings open, and the heart begins a flight toward healing, for the living and for the dead” (Hyla Shifra Bolsta, <i>The Illuminated Kaddish</i>, p. 21). Kaddish allows us to imbue the atmosphere with vibrations of expansiveness and holiness.</span></div>
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<b>Kaddish (transliteration and translation)</b></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>Yit'gadal v'yit'kadash sh'mei raba (Cong: Amein)</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1">May His great Name grow exalted and sanctified (Cong: Amen)</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>b'al'ma di v'ra khir’utei.</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1">in the world that He created as He willed.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>v'yam'likh mal'khutei b'chayeikhon uv'yomeikhon</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1">May He give reign to His kingship in your lifetimes and in your days,</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>uv'chayei d'khol beit yis'ra'eil</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1">and in the lifetimes of the entire Family of Israel,</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>ba'agala uviz'man kariv v’im'ru.</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1">swiftly and soon. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Now say (Mourners and Congregation): </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>Amein. Y'hei sh'mei raba m'varakh l'alam ul'al'mei al'maya.</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1">(Amen. May His great Name be blessed forever and ever.)</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>Yit'barakh v'yish'tabach v'yit'pa'ar v'yit'romam v’yit'nasei,</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Blessed, praised, glorified, exalted, extolled,</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>v'yit'hadar v'yit'aleh v'yit'halal sh'mei d'kud'sha</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1">mighty, upraised, and lauded be the Name of the Holy One</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Now say (Mourners and Congregation):</span></div>
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<span class="s1">b<i>'rikh hu.</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1">blessed is He.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>L'eila min kol bir'khata v'shirata</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Beyond any blessing and song,</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>toosh'b'chatah v'nechematah, da'ameeran b'al'mah,</i></span></div>
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praise and consolation that are uttered in the world. <span class="s1"></span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><i> v’eemru.</i></div>
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<span class="s1">Now say (Mourners and Congregation): </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>Amein</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>Y'hei sh'lama raba min sh'maya</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1">May there be abundant peace from Heaven</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>v'chayim aleinu v'al kol yis'ra'eil v'im'ru</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1">and life upon us and upon all Israel. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Now say (Mourners and Congregation):</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>Amein</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>Oseh shalom bim'romav hu ya'aseh shalom</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1">He Who makes peace in His heights, may He make peace,</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>aleinu v'al kol Yis'ra'eil v'im'ru</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1">upon us and upon all Israel. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>Amein</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Amen</span></div>
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<i><b>MEDITATION</b></i><span class="s1"></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Standing on silent soil</span></div>
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<span class="s1">A Canadian wind whipping into faces </span></div>
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<span class="s1">encrusted by frozen tears</span></div>
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<span class="s1">belly laughs blown away </span></div>
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<span class="s1">by gusts of time’s passage</span></div>
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<span class="s1">words of law, of love, of innocent faith</span></div>
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<span class="s1">now muzzled by frost - flaked mud</span></div>
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<span class="s1">blankets of snow</span></div>
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<span class="s1">an igloo, a haven from the raw cold</span></div>
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<span class="s1">of soggy earth, </span></div>
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<span class="s1">“I lift up my eyes...</span></div>
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<span class="s1">from whence cometh my help?”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">My help cometh from words ,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">ancient and Aramaic,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">that melt the world’s vast, cold nothingness</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I shiver at the thought of my brother</span></div>
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<span class="s1">caged in the coffin so cold-</span></div>
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<span class="s1">no woolen blanket or furry coat,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">no warmth of hugging body, </span></div>
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<span class="s1">no loving massage of lifeless limbs</span></div>
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<span class="s1">futility of futilities!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">only the faint, reluctant murmuring of </span></div>
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<span class="s1">words streaming into steamy puffs of lung- filtered breath</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> winding their way through particles of clay and polished wood </span></div>
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<span class="s1">into the once heaving body of my big brother!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">These words - somethingness-Magnified and Sanctified-</span></div>
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<span class="s1">will tuck him in for the night of all eternity.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>yitgadal</i></span><span class="s2">:</span><span class="s1"></span></div>
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<span class="s1">“ Exalted.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Oh God ! You have shrunk</span></div>
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<span class="s1">like a baby’s blanket </span></div>
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<span class="s1"> meant to be laundered by mother’s loving hands, </span></div>
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<span class="s1">flung instead </span></div>
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<span class="s1">into the swirling and crushing waters</span></div>
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<span class="s1">of life’s grinding gears,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">now tattered like a mourner’s </span></div>
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<span class="s1">shirt, the biting wind lashing at </span></div>
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<span class="s1"> my heart, bare , still beating,</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> not like his, buried below, pounding no more.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">You have receded into the waning rays</span></div>
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<span class="s1">of a sun setting to close the week</span></div>
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<span class="s1">and a life-</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I clutch on to Your fading Presence</span></div>
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<span class="s1">but Your Mighty outstretched Hand </span></div>
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<span class="s1">and I slide into the abyss of Your</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">growing smallness</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Don’t go! I beg, don’t turn Your back,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">the knots of Your Tefilin unraveling,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">dragging on the floor of forgetfulness</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">How can I hold on? </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">You dare not abandon me, especially now?</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Yitgadal-I shout out Your greatness,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">My cry will cross empty spaces of death </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">and bring you back,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">once again we will breathe the warmth and fulness of life</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Yitgadal-with each piercing sound of praise </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">You inch Your way back to us</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">filling the cold void in our hearts </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">with intimations of love and kindness,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">of hope and meaning,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">of a reason to live.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"><i>Yitgadal V’yitkadash.</i></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">I am afraid now, death fills me with dread,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Does Your Greatness grind existence into dust,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"> too tiny </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">to merit Your concern?</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"><i>Yitgadal</i>- Don’t let Your greatness go to Your head! </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Is it irreverrence? Insolence? Blasphemy deserving </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">of “Old Testament “ death?</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Remember Your heart, what</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">My ancestors said:</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"> “wherever one encounters Your Greatness,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">there he touches Your humility!”</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">I now know your greatness -You too,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">need my words, need my praise</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"><i>Yitgadal</i>-my greatness is back too</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">We are friends once again,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">We are back, together !</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<i>V’Yitkadash:</i><span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s3">“</span><span class="s1">Sanctified.”</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Remove your gloves,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">hands reddened by the icy air and</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">raw water</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">spilling from the cup of overflowing, washing away </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">traces of ‘ tumah,’ of the defilement of death.</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Holiness has taken refuge elsewhere,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">escaping the heavy silence of rows of lifeless stones</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">home is where the heart is, where </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">holiness is, sacredness of food, of family ,of friends,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">As burning liquid stings my throat,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"> washing up against my numbness,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">holiness seeps back into frozen pores.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">shiva- people, voices, wailing , laughter, words words words</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">heard no more from the sweet mouth of my brother</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">now fill the mind with holiness, God is back,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">and we slowly see the blurry outline</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">of sparks flickering</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"> amid the husks of decay and decomposition. </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<i>shmay rabbah:</i><span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">“ His great Name.”</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">a Name of infinite names</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Almighty </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Blessed Numinous</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Compassionate One</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Eternal Patient</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Forgiving Queen</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Great Redeemer</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Holy of holies Shepherd</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Ineffable Transcendent</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Just Ultimate</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">King Venerable</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Loving Wondrous</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Majestic X-Factor</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"> </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"> Yearning</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p15">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p15">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p15">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p15">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p16">
<span class="s1">etc.</span><span class="s3">etc.</span><span class="s2">etc.</span><span class="s4">etc.</span><span class="s5">etc.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<i>Balma divrah kireutei :</i></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">“In the world created by Divine desire.”</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Life is good! the words proclaim,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">this world, beautiful! </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Can God be mistaken, deliberately deceptive? </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">‘and God saw that it was good!’ </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Would He go back on His word?</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">You wished it and it was so,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">This world is Yours,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">You dare not ascend into the firmament of other worlds</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">leaving us behind?</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Can a king be king without subjects?</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">A shepherd without sheep?</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">a teacher with no students?</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">a parent without children? </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">a lover with no beloved??</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">We will show you how to be loyal-</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">dragging weary bodies to shul,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">early morning behind eyelids still stuck in slumber,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">parched throats squeeze out Your Praise</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Yitgadal,</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">and when we lie down,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">to vacate the void in darkness</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"> we still proclaim-yitgadal-</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">this is Your world,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">we inhabit it</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Your tenants Thank You!</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">and when we rise up, </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">roused by the soul’s return!</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p9">
<span class="s1"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="p9">
<span class="s1"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="p9">
<i>V’yamleech malchootei:</i></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s3">“ </span><span class="s1">May God’s Sovereignty be restored.”</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">we had a dream, a dream we shared with You</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">that he live a few more years</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">to cuddle grandchildren in a warm Sunday morning bed</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">to rest palms on pure, soap- fragranced hair</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">and utter blessings,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">to chant each morning Your praises without </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">calculation, with the clarity of a guiless heart</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">into this blankness our yearning yawns into</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">desperation.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<i>Bagalah u’vizman kariv:</i><span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"> “ Speedily, soon- PDQ.”</span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">we want You now</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Your absence, his, unbearable</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">layers of patient waiting peeling away</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">left with no more flesh</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">only cracked bones of </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">the valley of death</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">with love, there is patience,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">with life, endurance of pain</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">can these bones live?</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">will I hear his voice </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">excitedly rebound off satellite towers</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">into my heart with the latest news</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">of life’s ordinary pleasures and gifts?</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">reality reminds me; there is no resurrection</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">so let him rest in peace</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">and expect nothing</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">yet I hope, I pray, I praise, I demand</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">‘bagalah’ -make a miracle quickly,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">time is running out</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">the chase leaves me breathless</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">If not soon, patience will curl its way</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">into thin air , like the smoke </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">of country hearths.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p7">
‘bizman kariv’</div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">hold on, Messiah’s steps </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">are just around the corner</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">someday , soon-we’ll be together.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p9">
<span class="s1"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="p9">
<i>Yehay shmay raba mevorach: </i></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">“ May His Great Name be Blessed.”</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">The congregation responds, </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">energy, eternal- community continues</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">God’s Name shedding light </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">on darkness of absence ,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">like a Shiva candle whose flame </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">sinks into melting wax</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">casting a flicker when all lights are out </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Has God’s blessing been suspended?</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Interrupted in some way?</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Is God’s blessing stoppable? </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Can the world be sustained without </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">the energy and blessing from on High?</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">All bounty and blessing originate with You</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">flowing into our lives and the universe </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">as rivers coursing along winding paths of </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">mountains and valleys thirsting for </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">waters of life and growth. </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">unrestrained, uninhibited, unconditional currents</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">of life-</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">we search after words and deeds </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">that will ease and magnify the Divine flow of life’s energy and </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">vitality</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">we remove roadblocks,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">the hurdles of hardened hearts,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">of souls steeped in hurt and sorrow,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">if only the eye of a needle may</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">allow the trickle of tenderness</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">to leap from the breast of the Lover</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">across the hills of heaven</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">and skip into the hearts of those beloved</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">hiding behind the lattices of loneliness</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">and longing!</span></div>
<div class="p9">
<span class="s1"><i><br /></i></span>
<span class="s1"><i><br /></i></span>
<span class="s1"><i><br /></i></span>
<span class="s1"><i>l’olam u’lolmay almayah:</i></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s3"><i>“ </i></span><span class="s1"><i>Forever,</i></span><span class="s3"><i> </i></span><span class="s1"><i>as long as worlds endure.”</i></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">blessing beckons always and everywhere</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">time and space sparkle with God’s radiance, light</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">spillimg over the confines of God’s self enclosure</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">and we below acknowledge, absorbing</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">myriad flickerings </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">of illumination, thus staying alive</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">If God is not everywhere, He is nowhere</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">the whole world is filled with His glory!</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Love in a vacuum is not love</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">love seeks a vessel,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">buttercup</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">butterfly wings</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">buzzing bee</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">broken heart</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">baby’s first breath</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">forever.</span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<i>Yitbarach v’yishtabach v’yitpa’ar v’yitromam v’yitnaseh v’yithadar v’yitaleh v’yithalal :</i><span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s3">“ </span><span class="s1">Be blessed, be praised, be embellished, be exalted, be elevated, be splendid, be above -all, be acclaimed. “</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">octet of adulation,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">eight spheres spiraling through the Unity of the All</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">extraordinary, bursting beyond the ordinary,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">span of seven</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">covenant’s cry of belonging, tiny body bundled in mother’s softness.</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">body bare, mohel’s cold blade, howling cutting through hovering clouds of </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Holy Presence.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">eight fold exaltation</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">eighth day of Assembly</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">we have reached our limit</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"> depleted of all praise</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">we assemble, mere traces of Te Deum</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">as long as we are human</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">we can still whisper hallelujah</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<i>shemei d’kudesha</i>:<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">“ A Name of utter holiness.”</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">He hides, intimated only by a Name</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">by a symbol of letters,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">a representation not of images </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">but of pictureless codes</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">to read, recite, repeat, intone and cantillate</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">to occupy a place of incomparability.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">a name that death has tried to vilify-</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">a name revered and adored, </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">able to withstand all attempts at desecration and dismissal</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">and we add the scratchings of our own signatures</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">to Your Name,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">outer walls to halt the slightest breach</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">of Your sacred integrity,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">of Your Holy of Holies.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<i>Brich Hu:</i><span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">“ Be blessed.”</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Echoes of blessing suffice at times</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">especially in the chorus</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">of many gathered to praise.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">There is more, empty spaces, lifeless</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">awaiting the blessing of blessing, the breath </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">of ‘Magnify and Sanctify’</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">back to the beginning</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">opening words already forgotten</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">reclaim them to fill</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">the measure of God’s fullness</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">and now there were ten, we add the beginning</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">to create a new beginning, genesis all over again</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">the tools of construction are ten in number,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">even God needed ten pronouncements to complete His work-</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">yet unfinished</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">the soul yearns for its nurturance</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">and Sinai’s dosage of healing medicine administered</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">as ten-commandments, pronouncements,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">words, a Decalogue.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">The soul seeks higher heights!</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">commandments can curtail, constrict</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">how can we soar into vast stretches of mystery</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">and wonder, to touch the hem of God’s resplendent robes?</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">L’aylah-higher to ten emanations</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">sefirot of of the finest spirit,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">planets of possibility,</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">so we laud tenfold</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">breaking new paths</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">to Shechina’s Presence</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p9">
<span class="s1"><i><br /></i></span>
<span class="s1"><i><br /></i></span>
<span class="s1"><i>l’ayla min kol birchata v’shirata tushbechata v’nechematah</i>:</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">“ Beyond all blessing, song, praise and consolation uttered by the human tongue.”</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">beyond all spheres of human blessing</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">there is a place, perhaps it is placeless</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">beyond description or conception</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Is that the Ein Sof?</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"> God out of reach, out of earshot,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"> blessings and praises swallowed up </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"> in stretches of distant emptiness </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">tips of fingers straining to touch faint footsteps</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">met instead with cold nothingness, tingling in space</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">beyond consolation-God too, a mourner</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">even God’s desire for comfort transcends all tears and words,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">all cries and human compassion</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">He too, Alone above, as we await in vain the sigh of solace, </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">all alone below.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">We imagine the unimaginable, a God as distant as </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">a twinkling star</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">to wish upon, knowing all wishes vanish as wisps of smoke</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">into the reaches of earth’s skies.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Why praise, why bless, why sing, why boadcast the tremors of a broken heart? </span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Futility of Futilities! without beginning, without end, timeless blackness,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">absolute oneness, all mystery, the Ein Sof stifles all sound, all breath, </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">wimper, scream, whisper.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Is it not cruel to command acclamation in every conceivable synonymn, until words, language and human utterance mock us in their impotence?</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">God needs not praise-do we need to praise?</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Should we not halt now, simply aware of God’s beyondness and leave it at that?</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">No need to go on-we slump into defeated silence.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<i>V’imru Amen:</i><span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s3"> </span><span class="s1">“All say Amen.”</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">we accept the truth of life, of Kaddish’s perspective</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">toward praising as survival,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">“ hearts through shadow and mist say good-bye, let go the strings, and say Amen.”</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">yet praise falls short</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">l’ayla-beyond, over the edge</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">I’ve been stopped in my tracks</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"> by Kaddish’s unforgiving,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">inescapable truth </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">how to give voice to words that lie buried below, </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">submerged , companions of utter quiet.</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Still, I persist in praising, though consonants and vowels</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">tumble over the edge of nowhere, an empty abyss? </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">we have reached the end of the line.</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1"> if not praise, then what?</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">we shiver in the cold uncertainty of the next moment,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">lips frozen by futility.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<i>Y’hey:</i><span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s3">“ </span><span class="s1">Let there be.</span><span class="s3">”</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Beyond all praise</span><span class="s3"> </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">There is only being</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">the ‘isness’ of life </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">peaceful and whole-shalom</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">the current, energy and soul</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">of all there is.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<i>Sh’lama raba min shemaya</i><span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p9">
<span class="s1"><i>V’Hayim Alaynu v’al kol Yisrael:</i></span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">“ May abundant heavenly peace, wholeness and life suffuse our lives.”</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">At the crossroads,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">no signs, no paths, no maps, no guide</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Too pooped to praise, heart hallelujah hollow,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Mind meandering in space,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Abandoned to mere imagination,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">a reverie of peace.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p8">
<i>Oseh shalom bimromav</i><span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p8">
<span class="s1"></span></div>
<div class="p9">
<span class="s1"><i>hu yaaseh shalom,</i></span></div>
<div class="p9">
<span class="s1"><i>alaynu v’al kol Yisrael(v’chol yoshvei tevel)</i></span></div>
<div class="p9">
<span class="s1"><i>v’eemroo Amen:</i></span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">“ May the One whose uppermost realms </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">are fashioned with peace,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">bestow peace below-a gift to Israel and </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">the entire human community.</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Amen. “</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Are not the heavens beyond hearing</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">hushed but for angelic sounds,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">at night, sounds of praise</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">in the morning, silence,</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">a space for those below to praise .</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">night has come, the light of life</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">dimming over the horizon</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">until its final gasping rays </span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">retire for eternity.</span></div>
<div class="p7">
<span class="s1">Is shalom soundless?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">then we have death!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Bring down the shalom of </span></div>
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<span class="s1">“pamalya shel maalah”-the family of angels</span></div>
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<span class="s1">who know no rivalry, no contradiction, no weariness</span></div>
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<span class="s1">only song, praise and love.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Make it possible, we pray,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">so that hearts heal with words of the kaddish, </span></div>
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<span class="s1">words of praise and gratitude, no matter what!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">and with praise, the rays of each day’s dawn</span></div>
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<span class="s1">will unveil the promise of tomorrow.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Bibliography</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">1.Bolsta, Hyla Shifra,<i>The Illuminated Kaddish,</i> Ktav Publishing House, 2012.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">2.Lamm, Maurice,<i>The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning,</i>Jonathan David Publishers, 1969.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">3.Soloveitchik, J.B.,<i>Out of the Whirlwind, </i>Ktav Publishing House<i>, </i>2003<i>.</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i></i></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">4.Wieseltier, Leon,<i> Kaddish, </i>Vintage, 2000.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>Personal Thoughts:</i></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-25913889749246498912017-03-06T11:01:00.000-08:002017-03-06T11:01:01.656-08:00Gratitude, Giving and God.<div class="p1">
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<span class="s1">“Tell the Israelite people to bring me gifts- ‘tremuah’ (Heb.)-you shall accept gifts for Me from every person whose heart moves him.” ( Exodus 25:2)</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">“And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.” (Exodus 25:8)</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">After Sinai, the one-time revelation of God to all of Israel, the Torah makes it clear that in order to preserve the sense of God’s presence over time, there is a need for a tangible structure that will represent and hearken back to that dramatic and extraordinary event at Sinai. Sanctuary becomes the extension of Sinai; as was the case at Sinai, the sanctuary becomes the space of God’s indwelling among mortals.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The question is raised: Does God need a particular physical place in which to dwell? Obviously, the answer is no. When the text points out that the the divine presence inhabit the people -”that I may dwell among them”- it becomes apparent that God seeks not a material structure in which to make known His presence; rather it is within the people themselves that He wishes to find a place of dwelling.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">How are we to understand the concept that God is found among and within us?</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I believe that the opening verse provides us an insight into the means by which humans may experience the divine. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">The basic materials of God’s home -gold, silver, wood, spices, oil, linens and yarns, are all acquired by way of the peoples’ gifts. This act of giving originates in the willingness of the human heart. The phrase-”yidvehnu libo”-his heart moves him, or as Rashi interprets, with a “ratzon tov”-a willingness that is good, generous and grateful.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">The act of giving may be derived from a variety of sources. Often we give when it is necessary, we feel obligated or an authority requires our act of giving. At other times we give when it is to our benefit. Many claim that “giving is receiving,” it is satisfying to give. Society is governed by the law of reciprocity-give and take is the process by which a group of individuals can survivie and thrive.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">But the wellspring of giving in the above text is located in the heart’s capacity to give spontaneously, naturally, out of a sense of intrinsic generosity. What accounts for such giving? A soft and sensitive heart, a spiritual responsiveness to life’s blessing, a deep sense of gratitude yearning to find an outlet in sharing with the world.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The opening verse appears to contain a phrase that is redundan</span>Gratitude, Giving and God</div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">“Tell the Israelite people to bring me gifts- ‘tremuah’ (Heb.)-you shall accept gifts for Me from every person whose heart moves him.” ( Exodus 25:2)</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">“And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.” (Exodus 25:8)</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">After Sinai, the one-time revelation of God to all of Israel, the Torah makes it clear that in order to preserve the sense of God’s presence over time, there is a need for a tangible structure that will represent and hearken back to that dramatic and extraordinary event at Sinai. Sanctuary becomes the extension of Sinai; as was the case at Sinai, the sanctuary becomes the space of God’s indwelling among mortals.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The question is raised: Does God need a particular physical place in which to dwell? Obviously, the answer is no. When the text points out that the the divine presence inhabit the people -”that I may dwell among them”- it becomes apparent that God seeks not a material structure in which to make known His presence; rather it is within the people themselves that He wishes to find a place of dwelling.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">How are we to understand the concept that God is found among and within us?</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I believe that the opening verse provides us an insight into the means by which humans may experience the divine. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The basic materials of God’s home -gold, silver, wood, spices, oil, linens and yarns, are all acquired by way of the peoples’ gifts. This act of giving originates in the willingness of the human heart. The phrase-”yidvehnu libo”-his heart moves him, or as Rashi interprets, with a “ratzon tov”-a willingness that is good, generous and grateful.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The act of giving may be derived from a variety of sources. Often we give when it is necessary, we feel obligated or an authority requires our act of giving. At other times we give when it is to our benefit. Many claim that “giving is receiving,” it is satisfying to give. Society is governed by the law of reciprocity-give and take is the process by which a group of individuals can survivie and thrive.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">But the wellspring of giving in the above text is located in the heart’s capacity to give spontaneously, naturally, out of a sense of intrinsic generosity. What accounts for such giving? A soft and sensitive heart, a spiritual responsiveness to life’s blessing, a deep sense of gratitude yearning to find an outlet in sharing with the world.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The opening verse appears to contain a phrase that is redundan t.If the Hebrew is translated literally,we read: “Tell the Israelite people to take for me a gift from anyone who so wishes; you shall take My gift.” The final phrase -You shall take My gift- seems unnecessary, a phrase that is repetitive. But upon closer examination another reading emerges that highlights the spiritual singularity of the text.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“You shall take My gift” points to a gift that is godly! What transforms giving into a an act of godliness is when its intent and desire is to give from the heart of acknowledging that all comes from God and a gift is the result of God’s beneficence and goodness. When we give in this way, we are doing God’s will, which is to bless and give to the world. Thus our ‘terumah,’ our ‘raised up’ gift elevates our own souls to connect with the soul of the divine.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">How do we construct a sanctuary in which the divine dwells?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">When our lives reflect the capacity to give from the generosity and gratitude of our hearts. In this way, God dwells in all of us.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">t.If the Hebrew is translated literally,we read: “Tell the Israelite people to take for me a gift from anyone who so wishes; you shall take My gift.” The final phrase -You shall take My gift- seems unnecessary, a phrase that is repetitive. But upon closer examination another reading emerges that highlights the spiritual singularity of the text.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">“You shall take My gift” points to a gift that is godly! What transforms giving into a an act of godliness is when its intent and desire is to give from the heart of acknowledging that all comes from God and a gift is the result of God’s beneficence and goodness. When we give in this way, we are doing God’s will, which is to bless and give to the world. Thus our ‘terumah,’ our ‘raised up’ gift elevates our own souls to connect with the soul of the divine.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">How do we construct a sanctuary in which the divine dwells?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">When our lives reflect the capacity to give from the generosity and gratitude of our hearts. In this way, God dwells in all of us.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-47094045306630413172016-12-13T13:19:00.001-08:002016-12-13T13:19:11.748-08:00<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">A New anagrammatic association for Hannukkah</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Hannukah is a playful holiday . While the game of dreidel has become an integral part of its experience as a playful activity, the occasion has also elicited a wide array of imaginative word associations that lend broader meanings and interpretations to understanding the holiday’s essential significance.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Examples abound. The word for the heroes of Hannukah,” Maccabbee,” represent an acrostic of the well-known biblical phrase-”Who can be compared to You among the mighty” / “מי כמוכה באלים יהוה” (Exodus 15:11) .The first letters of this phrase form the Hebrew spelling for Maccabbee-: </span><span class="s2">מכבי.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The name of the holiday itself- “Hannukah”(“-חנוכה-”) has been understood as containing two words indicating the date of the event-חנו/”they camped” -on כ”ה-the 25th of the month (Kislev).</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Even the number of days of the holiday-eight(-שמונה- ) has had its letters rearranged to spell other words(-נשמה-) or soul; or a word contained in the Hebrew word for eight spells “ שמן “-(oil), the very substance of the Hannukah narrative.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Perhaps the most popular letters of Hannukkah are those inscribed on the four sides of the dreidel-</span><span class="s2">נ</span><span class="s1">-(nun); </span><span class="s2">ג-(</span><span class="s1">gimel);</span><span class="s2"> ה-(</span><span class="s1">hay); </span><span class="s2">ש-(</span><span class="s1">shin). These letters constitute the beginnings of the phrase “-</span><span class="s2">נס גדול היה שם-”</span><span class="s1"> [“ A great miracle happened there (Israel).” ] Furthermore,each letter is the first of yiddish words that indicate the result of each spin of the dreidel. Depending on which side of the dreidel appears when the spinning ends, the participant takes the entire ante-(gimel for “ganz”-all), or nothing, ( nun for “nicht”),or half (hay,”halb”, or add to the ante (shin for “shtel”), put in.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">It occurred to me that these letters can spell out a very suggestive word that may bespeak a particular dimension of the miraculous in Hannukkah and in life in general.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">This word ” </span><span class="s2">נגש”, </span><span class="s1">meaning “to approach, to draw close, to step forward, even to confront,” brings to mind salient instances of our ancestors’ posture of courage vis a vis God Himself or in the presence of daunting authority in moments of crisis. Abraham , we are told, stepped forward to argue with God on behalf of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gemorrah (Genesis 18: 23). Moses demonstrates boldness as he approaches the thick cloud where God is while the people remain at a distance out of fear. (Exodus 20:18) Curiously, the portion of the Torah read the shabbat after Hannukah begins with the word ”-</span><span class="s2">ויגש-”</span><span class="s1"> (“and he drew near”)-referring to Judah’s daring confrontation of Joseph, still disguised as the vizier of Egypt, in order to rescue his brothers from imprisonment, even death.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Thus, the notion of the heroic emerges from the playfulness of Hannukah’s special vocabulary. Indeed, it becomes evident that the essential miracle of Hannukah is reflected in the heroism of the Maccabees, the few against the many, those armed not with the state of the art weaponry of war but with the commitment to a spiritual ideal of one’s right to independence of worship and belief and the exercise of those beliefs in the context of freedom and human dignity.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">There remains one more letter to those on each side of the dreidel-that is the letter “ </span><span class="s2">ה”-” </span><span class="s1">hay. “ It is common knowledge that this letter when accented is an abbreviation for the Name of the Divine.Thus, it elicits associations to the holy, the godly ,that which transcends our more limited perception of reality’s totality.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> One could deduce from the above interpretation that the recognition and awareness of the divine can inspire a spiritual stepping forward and resolute response to the challenges of life in spite of the obstacles necessary to overcome. Perhaps the very willingness to confront life boldly is, in itself, a reaching out to the divine,to the miraculous, to the glowing light of the Hannukah menorah.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-44939666139296174252016-11-01T07:20:00.002-07:002016-11-01T07:20:30.147-07:00<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Succot-The Season of Rejoicing:</span></div>
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<span class="s1">How do we experience joy?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">One of the popular rabbinic interpretations of the lulav and etrog is the imaginative understanding that compares each of the four species-palm branch, myrtle branch, willow and citron to essential parts of the human anatomy. “.......the spine of the palm branch can be compared to the spine of one’s back; the myrtle leaf is analogous to the human eye; the willow brings to mind the shape of the human mouth and the etrog reminds us of the human heart........”(Leviticus Rabbah 30;14)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Clearly the Rabbis sought ways by which to infuse the ritual with homiletic significance and thus the above interpretation was taught as an explanation of the verse in Psalms-”All my limbs will declare who is like You, O Lord” (Psalms 35;10)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Perhaps too what lingered beneath the Midrashic ‘humanization’ of elements in nature was the mystical awareness of the unity that underlies all things rendering the human and the ostensibly inert dimensions of nature integral parts of the Unity and Wholeness of all of God’s creation.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Whatever the understanding, I would like to extend the way of seeing the lulav and etrog as it pertains to the human heart. The Etrog is viewed by the tradition as symbolizing the heart. By exercising a semantic split between the two syllables of the word LULAV : LU-LAV, לו-לב, we can define these syllables as two separate words-לו, meaning “if only,” and לב-”lev,” which is translated as heart. Thus, the taking of the lulav carries with it the hope that the heart is that part of the human anatomy and psychology that can be recruited on Succot to experience the essential sentiment of the season, namely joy, or better yet, grateful joy.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Returning to the etrog, traditionally compared to the human heart, if we rearrange the final two letters of the Hebrew word -אתרג -we construct a new word with a powerful new possibility for the experience of Succot. The word is אתגר, challenge.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">One can then argue that indeed the spiritual challenge of Succot is to marshall the heart in the service of the divine. In fact, the opening or softening of the heart is regarding by Hassidim, meditators and mystics alike, as the spiritual means by which to gain access to the dimension of the divine. The Bible itself perceives the heart as the seat of human consciousness and awareness by which we experience the full richness and illumination of the presence of the holy in life. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">The heart is the locus of human joy and the space from which we experience the joy and simcha of gratitude and thanksgiving on Succot and any other day of the year.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-72123090130038643612016-11-01T07:18:00.001-07:002016-11-01T07:18:44.653-07:00<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Simcha as joyful gratitude-An essential religious sentiment</span></div>
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<span class="s1">A little less than 60 years ago I was invited to deliver a sermon in the synagogue of my youth on the Sabbath of the intermediate days of Succot. I was a student at Yeshiva University, and had decided that my life’s goal was to become a rabbi. I was deeply honored by the invitation, excited but very anxious. Not only would the rabbi be present but family and many friends of my childhood and youth as well. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">I can clearly recall the sermon’s theme-the meaning of the “ joy of the mitzvah” in Judaism. It was based on a Talmudic passage : “The Divine Presence ( Shechinah) rests neither in the midst of sadness, nor in the midst of idleness, nor in the midst of frivolity, nor in the midst of levity, nor in the midst of chitchat, nor in the midst of inane talk, but only in the midst of the joy in performing a mitzvah.” (Shabbat 30b)</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> Thinking back I’m amused by my naive, idealistic ardor which led to a strident castigation of those who observe Judaism only at certain times, and not in a consistent manner. For example, sadness-death and misfortune; will elicit a religious response; or celebrating a connection to Judaism exclusively at moments of levity and frivolity-Bar Mitzvahs etc. I devoted little attention to the climactic phrase of the passage-simcha shel mitzvah-the rejoicing of or in the performance of the mitzvah. It was easier to be critical than to offer a meaningful way to appropriate Judaism or a religious way of life.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">On the surface the meaning of this phrase-simcha shel mitzvah- suggests the essentiality of joy when engaged in performing religious acts.The question naturally arises: What is the nature of this joy, of “simchah?” Does joy not contain elements of delight, pleasure, gaiety even levity? After all, the Hebrew word for levity or laughter is ‘sechok,’ and it is referred to positively in the Talmudic section mentioned above quoting Kohelet-Ecclesiastes: “ I said of laughter it is to be praised!”(Chpt.2, 2) While joy in itself is commendable while performing a mitzvah, is it humanly possible to feel so under all circumstances of religious activity? After all, there are times of sadness and struggle, sickness and hardship, that make it impossible for any empathic person to rejoice! Can we discover joy in any and all mitzvoth?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I believe we can if we understand the notion of ‘simchah’ in a uniquely Jewish way. The emphasis on rejoicing on the festivals, especially the occasions of pilgrimage which celebrate harvest and the receiving of God’s gifts , can only be grasped if we consider gratitude as the core sentiment contained in the rejoicing experience. In other words, rejoicing in the holy act embraces feeling grateful for the opportunity, privilege and gift associated with the performance of the noble deed. Not a few view religious responsibilities as burdensome; it is not uncommon for many to complain about the arduousness of the regimen of mitzvot in Judaism. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">The festival of Succot, a season of rejoicing lends itself easily and seamlessly to the experience of joy-when we are surrounded with bounty, relieved of worry that there wont be enough to eat during the rainy winter months and make a journey to Jerusalem without the usual challenges of work, surrounded by family and the beauty of nature in the forms of a succah and the lulav and etrog-gratitude flows smoothly in our hearts and we rejoice thankfully.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Succot is the Season of our Rejoicing precisely because it attempts to elevate natural joy and celebration to a level of greater spirituality, one that evokes consciousness of a Source of All life,resulting in an attitude of gratitude and thanksgiving.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Thus, the unique and specific occasion of Succot can irrigate our souls to rejoice in the performance of the “good deed” any time of the year. In the midst of this kind of ‘simcha,’ rejoicing, there is space in our hearts open and receptive to receive the Divine Presence.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-42373022400182829382016-10-19T07:49:00.001-07:002016-10-19T08:09:24.751-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Post Rosh Hashanah thoughts on the Shofar</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am always amazed at the spiritual power and depth of the Hebrew language. It is no accident that it has traditionally been referred to as the Holy Tongue. Not only is Hebrew the original language of the Holy Bible, and as such the quality of holiness is attributed to it, but often one discovers worlds of meaning embedded in one word, especially when the letters of that word are rearranged to spell new words with meanings and associations that are quite revealing.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Shofar” (“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arimo"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">שפר</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”) is such a word. Its sounding on Rosh Hashanah is the pre–eminent requirement and ritual of the celebration. Evocative with many historical allusions and references to future hopes and expectations, the word itself is rich in semantic connections that elicit fruitful lessons and messages.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The rabbis of our tradition have recognized several homiletic meanings. The word “shapeir” containing the same three consonants of shofar–</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arimo"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ש</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (sh), </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arimo"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">פ</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (p), </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arimo"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ר</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (r)–in the same order of consonants but different vocalization, is translated as “to improve” or “to better”. Thus, the shofar becomes an instrument for the improvement of one’s spiritual and Jewish life.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Closely associated with this meaning is that of “shefer” (“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arimo"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">שפר</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”) meaning “beautiful, decorative, and attractive”. (“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arimo"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">אמרי</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arimo"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">שפר</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” / “words of beauty” from Genesis 49:21)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As we engage in some rearrangement of the letters, the results continue to be quite surprising and illuminating.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Taking the last letter of shofar (“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arimo"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ר</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” or “r”) and placing it at the head of the word, we come to the word “reshef” (“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arimo"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">רשף</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”) which means “spark, ember, or ray of light”. Curiously, the same word can mean “destruction, loss, or plague” (Deut. 32:24). Is the implication of these meanings that sparks, the initiating elements of fire, are both constructive and destructive elements? Can the shofar herald not only the arrival of redemption and freedom but can announce as well times of warning, peril, and loss?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To continue the process of rearrangement the word “shofar” embraces two suggestions that are remarkably suggestive of spiritual approaches that can be quite rewarding.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Moving the middle consonant to the beginning of the word we create another word, “pesher” (“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arimo"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">פשר</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”), defined as “melting, softening, compromising, a solution to a problem, lukewarm”. Perhaps the aim of the shofar is to melt the hardness of our hearts and positions and create the possibility of give-and-take, even compromise, that will bring about a solution to so many human problems in the form of reconciliation.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally, with the middle letter occupying the beginning of the word and the last shifted to the middle we form the word “peresh” (“</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arimo"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">פרש</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">”) meaning “clarification, clarity, explanation” or “spread, stretch, scatter”, or “to separate, set aside, withdraw, retire”.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is not the dynamic of separation and withdrawal not a necessary element in the process of reaching out and stretching oneself to others and to the world? As the popular dictum of Hillel expresses: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I?”A clarification of one’s identity embraces the dual dynamic of self-concern with the capacity to spread oneself outward in such a way as to share with the community and world that which has been our individual blessings.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Poreis"-פרש-spread over-brings to mind the evening prayer in which we pray for a canopy of peace to be spread over us during the night. Moreover, we refer to the canopy as that of a sukkah, a sukkah of peace. As we are currently in the midst of the Succot festival, the echos of the shofar resonate with the hope for peace in the darkness of today's world.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One word, three letters, in their fluid and dynamic rearrangements, they carry to our consciousness meanings of much significance. Is it any wonder that the Hebrew language is the language of the Divine?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue"; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-82095127101582217832016-09-21T07:14:00.001-07:002016-09-21T07:18:34.158-07:00<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Gratitude in the Golden Years-Some Reflections</span></div>
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<span class="s1">אל תשליכנו לעת זקנה ככלות כוחינו אל תעזבנו</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Cast us not away when we are old,when our strength is gone do not abandon us</span></div>
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<span class="s1">(High Holiday LIturgy)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">During my early 60’s, at a spiritual meditation retreat that mandated utter silence, I had an epiphany. Unexpected, sudden, entirely without any premonition or forethought, I found myself sobbing unstoppably, uttering the most genuine prayer of my life-”Thank You! Thank You.” Amidst a flood of tears gushed forth a cascade of gratitude- not for some external achievement of success or gain, not because of a recent experience of rescue from danger, not even for the love of family-I felt grateful simply for being alive.There was no logical explanation for this phenomenon (I was told by a psychiatrist </span>acquaintance-”it was a gift!”)</div>
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<span class="s1"> Since that moment of inspiration, perhaps revelation, I have consciously and deliberately made every effort to incorporate the awareness of gratitude into all aspects of my life. I confess that I was not always successful; my prayers, moments of meditation and contemplation were primarily focussed on the perspective of gratitude in the various phases of my daily experience. I continue to this day in the belief that gratitude is a gift of human perception that allows for some semblance of sanity, meaning, hope and happiness especially in the waning years of our lives. Without this outlook, we may sink into a state of mind of indifference, cynicism even despair.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Gratitude does not seem to come naturally to most people, perhaps to none. Especially when we are young, it is natural, necessary, for us to stive in order to survive and thrive. The awareness of being grateful is submerged somewhere in the depths of desire and the inescapable drive for more. In our youth our physiology and psychology place getting and spending ahead of gratitude and being satisfied. Of course there are isolated moments of being beholden for what is achieved and acquired; but gratitude stands on the sidelines during the this game that pits one against the challenges of overcoming obstacles and gaining new heights of acomplishment. The search for identity, for financial success, for proving one’s sexual prowess and gaining recognition and prestige in one’s society are so entirely dominant that the ego thirsts for more and little if any psychic room is left for the experience of gratitude and thankfulness to God, nature, the universe, life or others in the line of humanity who have left behind an easier and more enriching world for us and others who will follow. Our view of life is narrow, concentrated on the self and the orbit of those most closely connected with the self-family ,friends, immediate community. There is time to remedy wrongs, correct errors and seek atonement for those things we regret. There always seems to be a tomorrow.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">As we approach old age, however, tasks and expectations change; our reality is defined by a series of losses-loss of skin elasticity producing the dreaded dermatological nightmare of wrinkles; losses in hearing and vision; losses in energy levels; losses in metabolic rates and the loss of sexual interest, drive and capacity. Moreover, older years represent the loss of companionship; loved ones-spouses, friends, colleagues-loss of identity that for so long had been formulated and reinforced by activiity, function and role in society. Modern societies are not hospitable to the elderly; while tolerant, even respectful and helpful, nevertheless the young and the ideal of youthfulness persist as images of highest value and aspiration.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Billy Crystal, the humorist, tries to ease the sadness of aging in the following movie scene in which he addresses the kids in his child’s class in a joking way:</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“Value the time of your life, kids. It goes by so fast. When you’re a teenager you think you can do anything, and you do. Your twenties are a blur. In your thirties you raise a family, you make a little money, and you think to yourself-‘what happened to my 20’s?’ Forties, you grow a little pot belly, another chin.The music starts to get too loud. One of your girlfriends from high school becomes a grandmother. Fifties, you have minor surgery. You call it a procedure but it’s surgery. Sixties, you have major surgery. The music is still loud but it doesn’t matter because you can’t hear it anyway. Seventies, you and your wife retire to Florida.You start eating dinner at two o’clock in the afternoon. You have lunch around ten and breakfast the night before. You spend most of your time wandering around malls looking for the urinal and muttering ,‘How come the kids dont call? how come the kids don’t call?’” </span></div>
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<span class="s1">The greatest loss perhaps is that of time. Inescapably, our past stretches out further than our future. Life’s brevity depresses us rather than impresses upon us its preciousness, precisely because only few years remain. What lies ahead is the end, mortality shaking its spiteful fist in our wrinkled faces. No more poignant description of oldness can surpass Shakespeare and the Bible. Shakespeare describes old age as “second childnessnes and mere oblivion/sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.” In the book of Ecclesiastes ,12:1-5’ we read: (Translation-Zalman Schachter-Shlomi-From Age-ing to Sageing)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“Then come the creaking days. Years creep up in which one feels like saying ’I have no taste for them.’ For the sunlight darkens in the eyes; dimmed is the light of the moon and the stars; and the vision is patchy like a cloudy sky after the rain.The hands and arms,the guards of the house, begin to tremble. And the legs, like battle-tired soldiers, are unsure of their step. The grinding mills, teeth, are fewer and the windows of the mind fog up...the back is bent and the urge to mate is weakenrd as a person walks to his eternal home.” </span></div>
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<span class="s1">In a humorous vein, the story has it that Grandpa and granddaughter were sitting and talking when the little girl asked: ”Did God make you, Grandpa?” </span></div>
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<span class="s1">“Yes, God made me,” the grandfather answered.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">A few minutes later, the little girl asked him,”Did God make me too?”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“Yes, He did, “ the older man replied.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">For a few minutes the little girl seemed to be studying her grandpa, as well as her own reflection in the mirror while her grandfather wondered what was running through her mind.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">At last she spoke up.” You know, Grandpa,” she said, “God’s doing a lot better job lately.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">In the face of this bleak prospect of golden years that feel so tarnished and unwanted, years that are experienced not as genuine but as those belonging to fools who have no choice but to endure till the end in a state of hopelessness and despair, is there a place for gratitude? Whatever the spectrum of life’s many colors and hues, for most the spirit and soul remain as refuges of renewed hope, wisdom and joy. The older years bestow upon us the capacity to perceive life widely and deeply, with the freahness and innocence of a child and the insight and clarity of the experienced and veterans of living.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">For many the arrival of grandchildren, even great-grandchildren is the greatest of all gifts bestowed only in old age. Those still healthy and vigorous likewise can find a way to experience gratitude for physical and mental well-being. We can also take inspiration from the select few who are especially blessed with on-going ability to function and create and contribute even more meaningfully than in their earlier years.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Wherever we find ourselves along the path of life’s gifts, gratitude and a sense of its awareness springs from our souls that with spiritual effort can continue to shine making our later years truly golden and precious.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Polly Francis, a fashion illustrator wrote a series of essays on old age when she was in her nineties. In her anthology, <i>Songs of Experience, </i>she writes the following:</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“A new set of faculties seems to be coming into operation.I seem to be awakening to a larger world of wonderment- to catch little glimpses of the immensity and diversity of creation. More than at any time in my life, I seem to be aware of the beauties of our spinning planet and the sky above. And now I have the time to enjoy them. I feel that old age sharpens our awareness.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Abraham Joshua Heschel, shortly before his early death at sixty five years , told his disciple that throughout his life he asked God not for wealth, celebrity or wisdom. “I only asked for wonder!” This gift of vision seems to be reserved for the final years of one’s journey on this earth. “In our later years we feel connected to the world through bonds of tenderness and empathy. Life becomes more poetic. The ordinary objects that surround us- trees, houses, clouds, animals-shimmer with metaphoric insight....life is animated in ways that constantly astound us.”( John Weir Perry-Lord of the Four Quarters.)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Perhaps paradoxically, as our years shorten, as time seems to race by, when our bodies and minds prepare for the home stretch, that is precisely the time during which our ability to be grateful is the keenest and most vibrant. To bask in the sun of gratefulness is a source of immeasurable joy and meaning.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">A Zen Buddhist, Lewis Richmond, recommends that elders go on “gratitude walks” in which they consciously notice and appreciate anything that evokes thankfulness-trees, leaves, birds, children at play. Many older people walk as exercise, a very effective activity that maintains bodily health. Setting aside a few minutes of that experience to pay attention to one’s surrounding and cultivate an attitude of gratitude goes far in elevating our spirits from places of despondency to heights of buouancy and greater lightness of being.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Notions of ‘letting go,’ surrender, unclenching our hearts and minds, being receptive with the awe and naivete of the child , can fill the many moments of later years with the dazzling array of the world’s beauty and wonder.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The young seek the adventure of the new and the unexpected.The old dwell in the richness of what is, and the serenity and fullness of what always was, the ecstasy of the eternal.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> An elderly woman and her little grandson whose face as sprinkled with freckles spent a day at the zoo. Lots of children were waiting to get their cheeks painted by a local artist who was decrating them with tiger paws.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“You’ve go so many freckles there is no place to paint,” a girl in line said to the little boy. Embarassed the boy dropped his head. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">His grandmother knelt down next to him. “I love your freckles. When I was a little girl I always wanted freckles,” she said, while tracing her finger across the child’s cheek.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“Freckles are beautiful.” The boy looked up. “Really?” </span></div>
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<span class="s1">“Of course,” said the grandmother. “Why just name one thing that’s more beautiful than freckles?”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The boy thought for a moment, peered intensely into his grandmother’s face and softly whispered, “Wrinkles.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Even to the final moments of life, gratitude grounds us in the ultimate joy of being alive.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">It is told that as death neared, one of the disciples of the dying master scoured the pastry shops for a confection that his master loved. In spite of his weakened condition, the master munched on the cake with utter pleasure. As his energy waned, the disciples leaned closer and asked if he had any final words to share.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“Yes,” he replied weakly.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“Please tell us,” they urged eagerly.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“My, but this cake is delicious!” the master said, and a moment later he breathed his last breath.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Needless and sadly to say, there is no small number of elderly whose mental , physical and material abilities are severly compromised, for whom the ability to touch the grace of gratitude is beyond their reach. Yet for most, in place of dwelling, during the many moments available to us, on the disappointments, missed opportunities and regrets of the past, we can choose to grasp the myriad gifts that surround us with the spiritual grip of gratitude. If we exercise this choice, we too can echo the words of the master-”This cake is delicious.!”</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-43096339861479099332016-09-19T08:47:00.001-07:002016-09-19T08:52:16.160-07:00<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The New Year-5777-A Year of Daring</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">This Jewish New Year we arrive at is 5777 of the traditional Jewish chronology. In Hebrew, the last numbers-77-correspond to the Hebrew word -</span><span class="s2">עז</span><span class="s1">- which numerically adds up to 77; ע=70, ז=7.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The word “OZ” means strength, might, power. It is often used in the liturgy when we pray that God bless Israel with strength and peace.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">”ה’ </span><span class="s2">עז</span><span class="s1"> לעמו יתן ה’ יברך את עמן בשלום.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">Curiously, unlike other Hebrew words with only two letters which cannot be converted into a verb such as </span><span class="s2">כח-</span><span class="s1">‘koach’-which also means might and strength, the word contained in the numbers of our New Year-</span><span class="s3"> </span><span class="s2">עז-</span><span class="s1">can be expanded into a verb form by adding one additional letter, the same letter as the second letter,</span><span class="s2"> </span><span class="s1">spelling</span><span class="s2"> עזז.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">One of the forms of this word is </span><span class="s2">להעיז</span><span class="s1">- which means to dare.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Thus, when we attempt to understand the unique translation of the strength embedded in the letters for 77-</span><span class="s2">עז-</span><span class="s1">t the inference derived from these numbers suggests the challenge and the opportunity of approaching the new year with our sights directed to the possibility of engaging in acts that are daring and courageous. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Often we wish that certain things that appear beyond our reach can indeed become realized in our lives. They may involve a certain amount of risk taking, appearing somewhat out of grasp because of fear or the ostensible inaccessibilty of the that goal or objective.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The New Year beckons us to re-evaluate our capacity to take upon ourselves the willingness to dare, to step into the unknown with faith in ourselves, in the fullness of life’s potential ,in God, and make every reasonable effort to achieve that which is more adventurous and that which has been untried. Certainly a strong desire accompanied by the worthwhileness of the goal represent ingredients that contribute to the likely actualization of our response of daring and strength.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">Perhaps the world in general can dare to explore possibilities for arriving at new ways by which to sustain our planet and bring peace to the human community. We need the “OZ”-the strength, courage and daring, to attempt to pursue untried paths-those of peace , pleasantness , of compassion and love.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">May the New Year of 5777 be a year of </span><span class="s2">עז- </span><span class="s1">of courage and daring for Israel , the world and in our personal lives. Amen</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-26111729407654887472016-06-26T12:28:00.001-07:002016-06-26T12:33:26.356-07:00<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Post -Shavuot Reflections-</span>Intimations of Revelation<br />
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<div class="p1" dir="rtl">
<span class="s1">מי כמוך באלים ה’ מי כמוך נאדר בקדש נורא תהילות עושה פלא</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Who is like You, O Lord, among the celestials (mighty) (all that is worshipped)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in splendor, working wonders?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The Festival of Weeks-Shavuot-highlights the event of revelation on SInai, the “Giving of the Torah.” The notion of revelation has been on my mind throughout the festival, begging for an interpretation and definition beyond the common and literal understanding of the heavenly encounter between Israel and God on Mount Sinai resulting in the issuance of Torah to the Jewish people. Is revelation, therefore, a unique, one-time event, never to be duplicated in some way, or does it hold out the promise and possibility of a process that is continuous and on-going? How does one understand the concept of divine transmission to the human mind and heart?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I would like to believe that the full spectrum of creative thinking and output is an unending unfolding of revelation in human life. Do we understand the nature of a thought, an intuition, a sensing of that which is beyond the physical and easily recognizable? Do these phenomena not defy the categorization or measurement applied to other domains of human understanding, those that are considered scientific or material?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Whenever a depth of meaning or interpretation that has the potentiality of enriching my grasp of the divine occurs to me, I wonder whether that in fact represents a moment of revelation?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The above verse from the Pentateuch-Exodus 15:11, a passage that is part of the liturgy, struck me on Shavuot as being a verse of revelation that allowed me to unnderstand the nature of the divine in a way transcending the traditional and the more widely accepted.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">On the face of this verse, it reflects a response of awareness of an Omnipotent God who delivers Israel from the hands of its enemies and in this demonstrates the incomporability of His power and might. From an historical/mythical point of view, this makes perfect sense; however, its contemporary relevance in its ancient form of an Omnipotent God intervening in Israel’s affairs, fighting its battles as a divine warrior, is highly problematic.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Is this the prism through which we recognize the divine today? I think not. Thus the above passage deserves a different reading to extract from its rich language another way of ‘seeing’ God.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I suggest the following. The final phrase of this passage-translated as God who works wonders,עושה פלא- to me conveys a different but essential idea of God’s Presence in the world. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">God is the Source of Wonder in the universe. His incomparability, holiness and splendor, celebrated in the verse, are not related to His Might as a Warrior, but to His creative unfolding of a world as a place infused with wonder, awaiting the awe, the joy, the sublime awareness of the human mind and heart that can recognize the wonder in all things. The dimension of the divine in human life and the beauty and complexities of the natural world all point to a reality that is divine, transcending the apparent, captured so often by the eye of the artist and the ear of the poet and the musician, and the heart and soul of the scholar and saint.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">This is not a totally unprecedented revelation. So many of us have been inspired by the thinking and presence of Abraham Joshua Heschel, of saintly memory. In some way, if the above insight can be understood as a mirror of revelation, its source on its journey to my mind was the brilliant and illustrious soul of Heschel.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Prior to his untimely demise in 1972, Heschel suffered a near fatal heart attack from which he never fully recovered. A student , Samuel H. Dresner, traveled to his apartment in New York to see him. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">“He had gotten out of his bed for the first time to greet me and was sitting in the living room when I arrived, looking weak and pale. He spoke slowly and with some effort, almost in a whisper......</span></div>
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<span class="s1">‘Sam,’ he said,‘when I regained consciousness, my first feelings were not of despair or anger. I felt only gratitude to God for my life, for every moment I had lived. I was ready to depart. ‘Take me, O Lord,’ I thought, ‘I have seen so many miracles in my lifetime.’</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Exhausted by the effort, he paused for a moment , then added: ‘That is what I meant when I wrote (in the preface to his book of Yiddish poems):</span></div>
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<span class="s1">‘I did not ask for success; I asked for wonder. And You gave it to me.’ “ ( I Asked for Wonder, A Spiritual Anthology -Abraham Joshua Heschel, ed.Samuel H. Dresner,1986, Crossroad, New York.)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Who is like You-You who created the Wonder of life, the Wonder of the world, and put the human being on this earth to perceive it, and praise the Source for it.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-14570927053067435132016-06-10T14:11:00.002-07:002016-06-10T14:19:37.404-07:00Shavuot-Intimations of Gratitude<br />
Why Shavuot? The conventional answer lies in the Scriptural passage that reads:..."then you shall observe the Feast of Weeks....." Deut.16:10. The word Shavuot contains the words for "week,"-SHAVUA, "seven"-SHEVAH- and "oath," - SHEVUAH. Seven weeks after the Passover, the feast is celebrated as a harvest festival-"you shall bring an offering of new grain to the Lord." Lev.23:16. As the traditional time of the Giving of the Torah, we re-enact the posture of our ancestors at Sinai by pledging ourselves-taking a renewed oath-to receive the Torah and follow its teachings.<br />
As a seeker of the spiritual dimension of gratitude, I would like to suggest a different interpretation of the meaning of Shavuot by analyzing the festival's name from another perspective.<br />
Examining the root of Shavuot, we discover the following consonants: SH-V-AH-ש-ב-ע: These three letters spell a different word if the "sh" consonant is changed to a "s"-we then have before us a word whose meaning is "satisfaction"-SOVAH!<br />
Shavuot is referred to in the talmud as ATZERET- the festival of culmination, completing a process of redemption begun on Passover. This process reaches its peak with Revelation on Shavuot. Thus, I suggest that the Festival of "Satisfaction"-gratefulness- becomes a time when we re-encounter the spiritual truth of gratitude as a source of joy, celebration and wisdom. Torah as enlightenment embraces the wisdom of recognizing the gift of blessings bestowed upon us and experiencing the gratitude that flows from this revelation.<br />
It is my hope that we all be blessed with the capacity to reach the peak of Sinai in our embrace of gratitude's serenity and joy.<br />
Hag Sameach.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-62589342892369904902016-05-18T12:48:00.003-07:002016-05-18T12:48:43.785-07:00<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The Leash</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">sun shimmering across the river</span></div>
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<span class="s1">lifting its light, linking east with west,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">above and beyond a blue heaven </span></div>
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<span class="s1">awaiting prayers of tired tongues,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">breezes brushing sweaty brows,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">and the breath,seeking its way </span></div>
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<span class="s1">to the early morning winds.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">along the dry land’s edge </span></div>
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<span class="s1">white hair mirroring the fluff on the leash</span></div>
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<span class="s1">tugging tenderly</span></div>
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<span class="s1">loosening loneliness with each curled, gnarly cuff</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">every morning</span></div>
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<span class="s1">piously, devotedly,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">a pilgrimage to nowhere</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">Is this a way of worship?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">strolling secure in Dog’s protection?</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">a ferry ‘s horn fills the early mist</span></div>
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<span class="s1">a leash from dock untied</span></div>
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<span class="s1">riders sleepily seated</span></div>
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<span class="s1">the horn heralds a new day of loneliness</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">the sun’s light-</span></div>
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<span class="s1">canopy of blue</span></div>
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<span class="s1">humming winds</span></div>
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<span class="s1">river’s rippling hushes</span></div>
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<span class="s1">a leash i tug at gently, assured</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I will not drift alone,lost</span></div>
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<span class="s1">in the reaches of nothingness.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-54099870271514956382016-04-25T19:06:00.002-07:002016-04-25T19:06:51.158-07:00<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Down by the Riverside</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">It stands at river’s edge,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">bulb-like, beak-long head</span></div>
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<span class="s1">stretching east</span></div>
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<span class="s1">to the rising sun,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">the towering metropolis</span></div>
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<span class="s1">whose honking horns,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">muted in the mist of the far away,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">give way </span></div>
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<span class="s1">to the honk </span></div>
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<span class="s1">of the goose.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">Honk, honk</span></div>
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<span class="s1">out of my way-sorrow and joys of the past,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">out of my way-hopes and fears of tomorrow</span></div>
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<span class="s1">clear the way for cool breezes that flutter feathers,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">swerve aside for the sun’s warmth and its sparkling ripples</span></div>
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<span class="s1">on river’s flow</span></div>
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<span class="s1">be silent </span></div>
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<span class="s1">so the brushing of milky bubbles</span></div>
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<span class="s1">against blackened rocks</span></div>
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<span class="s1">can add a chorus of whispers to</span></div>
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<span class="s1">the honking melody, a hymn to being alive-now. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-60168862025175557672016-04-12T09:03:00.000-07:002016-04-12T09:03:07.554-07:00Gratitude-The Messianic Ideal<div class="p1">
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<span class="s1">The Passover season brings to mind thoughts of redemption and freedom, renewal and rebirth, and the prospect for achieving the ideal in life. Ancient stories of redemption flow into hopes for freedom in our own time; the process of human betterment remains on-going , elusive , yet very much a part of our faith in the possibility of its realization. Messianic impulses infuse our cherished Passover rituals and sacred practices-Elijah the Prophet , Miriam the sister of Moses- always invited to every Seder table with the dream of eventual redemption shining in the eyes of every participant. The final words of the Seder -”Next Year in Jerusalem”-reflect the hope of redemption and the advent of the Messianic Age, the end of an exile of homelessness and persecution, the restoration of collective Jewish glory , and the emergence of a world order based on harmony, justice and peace.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The Messianic idea lies at the very heart of the Jewish experience. This notion of human improvement also reverberates in almost every other religious or spiritual orientation. Cultural conceptions may vary, yet in the nature of being human is embedded the evolutionary idea and awareness of a future that can represent an improvement over the present, both individually and collectively. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Beginning with the early prophets of Israel, the end of days would be characterized by peace and harmony, justice and well-being, among humans and in fact among all living things. “But a shoot shall grow out of the stump of Jesse...the spirit of the Lord shall alight upon him...justice shall be the girdle of his loins ..the wolf will dwell with the lamb...in all My sacred mount nothing evil or vile shall be done.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> Another example of this promise and vision is the following: “...in the days to come.....they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="s1">What , in the opinion of the later Rabbinic tradition, is the nature of the Messianic Era? In the Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 151,b, we are informed of two prominent opinions in this regard. Samuel says : The only difference between normal times and the days of the Messiah is שיעבוד מלכויות-the end of Israel’s oppression by the kingdoms of the world ; Rabbi Yochanan is of the opinion that the messianic era will be characterized as a timeשאין בו זכות ואין בו חובה - ‘ there will be no sense of merit ie. reward or liability and guilt, ie. punishment.‘ Rashi, the great 11th century commentator, interprets “merit and obligation” as pointing to a time when all people will be sufficiently affluent ie. without material need, so that there will be no necessity to limit one’s generosity and tighten one’s hand and heart out of fear of not having enough for oneself.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"> Whether the Messianic era was viewed as entirely supernatural- the product of God’s mercy with humanity’s contribution secondary or the more naturalistic and rational understanding of a time of Israel’s subjugation by the gentiles coming to an end, the inescapable reality of messianic times are those that reflect a human condition of amelioration and blessing.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">The rabbinic tradition expands imaginatively in its projections on this end of days as encompassing a myriad of new and unprecedented human realities. “In the time to come, the Holy One will innovate ten things- He will illumine the whole world.. even when a man is sick, God will order the sun to heal him...the second thing, He will bring out living waters from Jerusalem to heal all those who have a disease...the third thing, He will make the trees yield their fruit each month...the fourth thing, all the waste cities will be rebuilt...the fifth thing, He will rebuild Jerusalem with sapphire stones...the sixth, the cow and the bear shall feed together...the seventh, He will bring all the wild beasts, birds, and creeping things and make a covenant with them and with all Israel...the eighth, there be no more weeping and wailing in the world...the ninth, there will be no more death in the world...and the tenth is that there will no longer be any sighing, wailing or anguish, but all will be rejoicing.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">From the aforementioned it is obvious that the end of days or in the time to come or the messianic era - whichever term one prefers- all convey a reality in which all human frailty and need, the instinctual and inborn inclinations leading to wrong doing, self-destruction and the harm of others will all miraculously vanish , and a new being will emerge, utterly joyful and immortal. Sinful man will be restored to his glorious Edenic existence.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">An interesting outgrowth of this envisioned reality is the rendering obsolete of the entire structure of the religious edifice that in this world is indispensable for human survival in a moral and civilized way. If conditions are such that all those factors that render the human vulnerable to wrongdoing and suffering are no longer in place, then in fact the antidotes against these proclivities likewise can be viewed as no longer necessary. Once the body is healed of its infection, antibiotics are useless. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Thus, in the mind of the rabbis, it follows that in the time to come all the appurtenances of religion will no longer be required -prayer, ritual, Torah guides of proper conduct , will have all become obsolete.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"> Yet, according to an extraordinary Midrash presented below, while all cultic offering will be abolished at the end of time, one will survive, the thanksgiving offering. This offering was not obligatory; it was not occasioned by sinfulness or guilt nor even by “the motives that induced Israelites to pledge votive sacrifices when confronted by danger.”</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">So significant was this offering that the Sages bestowed upon both offering and prayer whose purpose and intention is to express gratitude, an everlasting place in the spiritual experience of the Jewish people , transcending all time and space.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">In Leviticus Rabbah, chapter 9, section 7 we read:</span></div>
<div class="p1" dir="rtl">
<span class="s1">......לעתיד לבוא כל הקרבנות בטלין וקרבן תודה אינו בטל כל התפילות בטלות ההודאה אינה בטלה הדא הוא דכתיב(ירמיהו לג, יא ) “קול ששון וקול שמחה קול חתן וקול כלה קול אומרים הודו את יי צבאות וגו” זו הודאה “מביאים תודה בית ה’ זה קרבן תודה וכן דוד אומר (תהילים נו,יג ) “עלי אלהים נדריךאשלם תודות לך “ תודה אין כתיב כאן אלא “תודות” ההודאה וקרבן תודה.”</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">“In time to come ie. Messianic age, all offerings will be eliminated; however, the thanksgiving offering will not ; furthermore, all prayers will be abolished but not the prayer of thanksgiving. As it is written- Jeremiah 33,11- “ the sound of mirth and gladness, the voice of bridegroom and bride, the voice of those who call out, ‘Give thanks to the Lord of Hosts etc.’ “ this is a prayer of thanksgiving, “as they bring thanksgiving offerings to the House of the Lord.” This is a thanksgiving offering. Likewise David declares- Psalm 56,13-” I must pay my vows to You, O God; I will render thank offerings to You”-It is not written offering(in singular form) but offerings- plural-which includes both prayers of thanksgiving and a thanksgiving offering.”</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">How are we to understand this challenging midrash! Moreover, if Messianic times refer to an eschatological transformation of cosmic proportions, the question of the need for the continuance of the thanksgiving offering becomes even more perplexing.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Assuming that the Messianic era will be such to obviate the need for offerings and prayers entirely, why will the one offering or prayer connected to gratitude persist?</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Why the need to somehow connect to gratefulness when one finds oneself in a spiritual state of perfection? I would answer that the power of gratitude is such that it transcends all boundaries of our mortality and finitude. Whether in the here-and -now or some utopian future time, awareness of life as a gift is the unchangeable constant. Moreover, one could argue that under conditions of utter, utopian fulfillment the response of gratitude is even more compelling!</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">It is believed by many that messianic expectations should be held in abeyance until some distant far away time; it is utopian in nature, and dependent on the miraculous intervention of a divine source. To intervene would suggest the lack of faith if not an actual act of heresy. All we can do is prepare ourselves spiritually to be receptive to and deserving of the Messiah’s appearance. </span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I cannot help but hear the echos of a popular refrain of the Chabad movement -”We want Mashiach now!” This insistence finds expression in the militant activity of this movement to increase and expand all forms of Jewish religious behavior among the Jewish people.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">While precedents abound dictating the above mentioned responses to the eventual advent of Messiah’s coming, I would prefer to understand the messianic reality in the framework of this world and in the context of everyday living.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The remarkable midrash that declares the thanksgiving offering to endure for all time suggests to me that when we are able to capture and cultivate moments of gratitude in our spiritual lives, footsteps of the Messiah echo in our ordinary experience. I would further maintain, in the spirit of the midrash that states with utter confidence the future abolition of offerings and prayers that are related to human desires and need, that prayers of petition are of secondary importance, if not ultimately unnecessary, if we strive to touch messianic strains in our ordinary lives. To the contrary! As long as our prayer is dominated by our needs, we are inhibited from translating our yearnings toward the transcendent in ways that reflect our thanksgiving and gratitude! The offering and prayers of thanksgiving will remain an integral part of the messianic reality, what ever that may mean. It is clear to me that our Rabbis understood that the essence of Jewish worship is inextricably linked to our capacity to view and respond to a transcendent reality from the perspective of experiencing all things as gifts for which to be thankful and grateful. It is said that the Sabbath is “a foretaste of eternity.”</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">If we wish to gain another flavor of messianic time, the taste is not in heaven or beyond the sea but in our hearts and minds to rediscover daily the power of “modeh ani,” “ I thank You,” of infusing the first moments of our daily awakening with the richness of gratitude and thanksgiving,</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"> and allow that awareness to flow along the river of our lives. Perhaps the freedom celebrated and yearned for on Passover is indeed within the grasp of a grateful heart.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">(see The Gratefulness Prayer Book- Siddur Modeh Ani-Glazer-Xlibris-2013)</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I wish to express my deep gratitude to my son, Jeremiah, for his invaluable comments and insights.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6106347035712297456.post-33813363085535705242015-11-18T05:27:00.001-08:002015-11-18T05:27:59.324-08:00<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The Morning After</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Sky-</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"> blue and clear</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">nothing to fear</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I run along rippling waves</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">the heart craves</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"> for gentle lapping near</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">beyond water’s shimmer</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">darkness seems to simmer</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">giants in the distance tall</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">untouched by mankind’s fall</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">the sky grows ever dimmer</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Ahead a man alone</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">against his ear a phone</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">in other hand a gun</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">glittering in the sun</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I stop at border’s twilight zone</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">will stranger shoot</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">not give a hoot</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">if I live or die</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">out of the blue,not of sky</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1"> but shadows of the brute</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">“Good morning,” smiling, with a nod</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">I return the greeting as I plod</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">along walkway on water’s edge</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">between mother and child wedge</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">life has returned, I thank, I laud</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Some Master plan away ,afar</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">a moment’s madness, a bloody bar</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">mind invaded</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">reality jaded</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">on world’s soul,a wound,a scar</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Why?</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05536479959222178672noreply@blogger.com0