Parshah Summary – P’shat
Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro (Yitro), hears of the great miracles which God performed for the Children of Israel, and comes from Midian to the Israelite camp, bringing with him Moses’ wife and two sons. Jethro advises Moses to appoint a hierarchy of magistrates and judges to assist him in the task of governing and administering justice to the people.
The Children of Israel camp opposite Mount Sinai, where they are told that God has chosen them to be a “kingdom of priests” and “holy nation.” The people respond by proclaiming, “All that God has spoken, we shall do.” On the sixth day of the third month (Sivan), seven weeks after the Exodus, the entire nation of Israel assembles at the foot of Mount Sinai for the Giving of the Torah. The Presence of God descends on the mountain amidst thunder, lightning, billows of smoke and the blast of the shofar, and Moses is summoned. God proclaims the Ten Commandments, instructing the people of Israel to be aware of God, not to worship idols or take the Name in vain, to keep Shabbat, honor their parents, not to murder, not to commit adultery, not to steal, and not to bear false witness or covet another’s property. The people cry out to Moses that the revelation is too intense for them to bear, begging him to receive the Torah from God and convey it to them instead…
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר אֱלֹהִ֔ים אֵ֛ת כׇּל־הַדְּבָרִ֥ים הָאֵ֖לֶּה לֵאמֹֽר׃ אָֽנֹכִ֖י֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑֔יךָ אֲשֶׁ֧ר הוֹצֵאתִ֛יךָ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם מִבֵּ֣֥ית עֲבָדִ֑ים׃ God spoke all these words, saying: I am Hashem your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage… - Shemot (Exodus) 20:1, 2 Parshat Yitro
Once, Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak Rabinowicz of Peshischa (known as “the Yehudi”) was asked to examine the thirteen-year-old Hanokh in the Talmud. (Hanokh later became the rabbi of Alexander). It took the boy an hour to think over the passage which had been assigned to him before he could expound it. Once he had done so, the tzaddik cupped his hand around Hanokh’s cheek and said: “When I was thirteen I plumbed passages more difficult than this in no time at all, and when I was eighteen, I had the reputation of being a great Torah scholar. But one day it dawned on me that a person cannot attain to perfection through learning alone. I understood what is told of our father Abraham: that he explored the sun, the moon, and the stars, and he did not find God, yet in this very not-finding, the Presence of God was revealed to him. For three months I mulled over this realization. Then I explored until I too reached the truth of not-finding.”
The function of the mind is too “find” – to navigate through time by creating an inner context through which we can conceptualize who and where we are, what we are doing, and why; this is essential. But, this creates the side effect of seeing reality through the screen of that map. The mind sees the surface of things – a collection of related but separate parts, and the mind also feels itself to be separate from what it sees וַיְהִי֙ ק֣וֹל הַשֹּׁפָ֔ר הוֹלֵ֖ךְ וְחָזֵ֣ק מְאֹ֑ד מֹשֶׁ֣ה יְדַבֵּ֔ר וְהָאֱלֹהִ֖ים יַעֲנֶ֥נּוּ בְקֽוֹל׃ And it was that as the voice of the shofar louder and louder, Moses spoke, God answered him in that voice… But there comes a time when that inner map breaks down, and we are confronted by the naked present, in all its Mystery. When we are shaken from the continuity of mind-created context, and the “familiar” disappears, we step out of the Mitzrayim of the known, out of our conditioned mental patterns of separateness. This “wilderness” can be terrifying. And yet, in the unknown there is the possibility of receiving Reality in a very direct way, a way that knows Being as a Whole, as a Oneness אָֽנֹכִי יי – I am Hashem… According to our tradition, this Divine declaration of identity is the first of the Aseret Hadibrot, the “Ten Sayings,” otherwise known as the “Ten Commandments.” But what exactly is the commandment? According to Maimonides (b. 1135- d.1204 CE), in his work Sefer HaMitzvot, this first commandment is simply to believe in God. אֲשֶׁ֧ר הוֹצֵאתִ֛יךָ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם – who brought you out of the land of Egypt… But if we look at the second part of the verse, there is a deeper message that is not about mere belief, not about events of the past, but rather it is about this moment within which we now find ourselves, this moment through which we too may be brought out of Mitzrayim. אָֽנֹכִי יי – I am Hashem means that the Anokhi – the “I” – is actually Hashem – Divine. Meaning, our own inner identity, and in fact the inner identity of all things, is the Ultimate, Living Presence of Existence; that is what the Divine Name actually means… חָבִיב אָדָם שֶׁנִּבְרָא בְצֶלֶם. חִבָּה יְתֵרָה נוֹדַעַת לוֹ שֶׁנִּבְרָא בְצֶלֶם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (בראשית ט) כִּי בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים עָשָׂה אֶת הָאָדָם. Beloved are human beings, for they were created as images for the Divine. But they are extra beloved that it is made known to them that they are created as images for the Divine, as it is said: “for in the image of the Divine humans were made.” - Pirkei Avot, 3:18 The Israelites are shaken by the terrible awesomeness of the natural world around them, and in that heightened state, the inner identity of nature reveals Itself as their own inner identity. It is not about believing in the idea of a divine entity; it is not about adding another concept to the mind’s ideas about reality. It is about subtracting the conditioned sense of the ordinary imposed by our minds, and recognizing Existence Itself – recognizing That which the mind cannot map. This “knowing” through not finding, that is, not mapping with the mind, is itself liberation – liberation from the burden of time and conditioned identity; this is meditation. וְכׇל־הָעָם֩ רֹאִ֨ים אֶת־הַקּוֹלֹ֜ת – and all the people saw the voices… It does say they heard the voices, but saw! In other words, they perceived everything in a completely new way. It is a kind of awakening. Physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson talks about how we can imagine our “cosmic address.” The first step is to notice we are on planet Earth. Next, we can expand our perspective to see that Earth is part of our Solar System. Then, we expand further to see that our sun is one of hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. Even further, we can see the family of galaxies to which the Milky Way belongs, called the Local Group. Then, even further, we expand to see the Local Group as part of a larger cluster of galaxy families, called the Virgo Supercluster. And even further, the Virgo Supercluster is one of the many clusters that make up the Observable Universe. But what comes after that? We have come to limits of our map, beyond which is simply Mystery. Perhaps, says Tyson, our whole universe is merely a single bubble in an infinite ocean of bubbles, each one a complete universe. Now consider: where would that “ocean” of universes be? The imagination reaches out toward infinity and comes to stillness כָּל יָמַי גָּדַלְתִּי בֵין הַחֲכָמִים, וְלֹא מָצָאתִי לַגּוּף טוֹב אֶלָּא שְׁתִיקָה. וְלֹא הַמִּדְרָשׁ הוּא הָעִקָּר, אֶלָּא הַמַּעֲשֶׂה. וְכָל הַמַּרְבֶּה דְבָרִים, מֵבִיא חֵטְא: All my days I grew up among the sages, and I have found nothing better for a person than silence. Study is not the point, but practice; whoever indulges in too many words brings about great error. - Pirkei Avot, 1:17 Ultimately, we don’t and can’t know where or what or why any of this is. And yet we do know: Hinei! Here it is! This practice of finding the limits of thought, beyond which is the simple Mystery of Being, is the Path of ר Reish, of Awe, of Wonder. May our efforts in this Path add momentum to the awakening of our species from the mind-created madness that gives rise to our present plagues of violence and suffering.
Read past teachings on Yitro HERE
Learn Integral Jewish Meditation
Get Free Guided Meditation Below:
0 Comments
Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah opens with Pharaoh changing his mind about allowing the Children of Israel to leave Egypt, and chasing after them to force their return. The Israelites become terrified, finding themselves trapped between Pharaoh’s armies and the sea. God tells Moses to raise his staff over the water; the sea splits allowing the Israelites to pass through, and then closes over the pursuing Egyptians. Moses and the Children of Israel sing a song of praise and gratitude, while Miriam and the other women play drums.
In the desert the people suffer thirst and hunger, and repeatedly complain to Moses and Aaron. The bitter waters of Marah miraculously become sweet when Moses throws wood into it, and later Moses brings forth water from a rock by striking it with his staff. A miraculous kind of bread, “manna” (man) rains down from the heavens before dawn each morning, and quails appear in the Israelite camp each evening.The Children of Israel are instructed to gather a double portion of manna on Friday, as there will be none on Shabbat, the day of rest. Some go out on Shabbat to gather manna anyway, but find nothing. Aaron preserves a small quantity of manna in a jar, as a testimony for future generations. In Rephidim, the people are attacked by the Amalekites, but when Moses stands on a hill with his hands raised to heaven, Israel begins to win the battle, and when he becomes tired and lowers his hands, Israel starts losing. So, Moses’ brother Aaron and an Israelite named Hur supports Moses’ hands on either side, and Israel is victorious.
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
דַּבֵּר֮ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵל֒ וְיָשֻׁ֗בוּ וְיַחֲנוּ֙ לִפְנֵי֙ פִּ֣י הַחִירֹ֔ת בֵּ֥ין מִגְדֹּ֖ל וּבֵ֣ין הַיָּ֑ם לִפְנֵי֙ בַּ֣עַל צְפֹ֔ן נִכְח֥וֹ תַחֲנ֖וּ עַל־הַיָּֽם׃ Speak to the Children of Israel – they should turn back and encamp before Pi Hakhirot, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea. - Shemot (Exodus) 14:2, Parshat B’shalakh
We often hear the advice that we should get out of situations, jobs, or relationships that don’t serve us…which is good advice; for sure we should be in situations that are supportive and healthy. But sometimes staying in a situation, even if it feels bad, is the right thing. For example, when a father abandons his family, doesn’t he do it because the responsibility feels bad to him? Doesn’t he just want to be free? In that case, it’s obvious that “freedom” in the ordinary sense is not the highest value. Because, freedom in the spiritual sense doesn’t necessarily mean leaving behind that which imprisons us; rather, if we really want real inner freedom, we must turn toward our bondage. This may feel counterintuitive; if we want freedom from pain, it’s natural to want to get away from whatever is causing the pain.
Just as in the Exodus from Egypt – the Israelites cry out because of their suffering, and Moses leads them out of Egypt to freedom. That’s the ordinary way of thinking – leave Egypt behind. But there’s a hint of something different in this week’s reading: וְיָשֻׁ֗בוּ וְיַחֲנוּ֙ לִפְנֵי֙ פִּ֣י הַֽחִירֹ֔ת – they should turn back and encamp before Pi Hakhirot… When we think of the Exodus story, it’s common to imagine the Israelites fleeing Egypt, then coming to the Sea of Reeds and getting trapped with the Egyptian army behind them and the sea in front of them. But look at the text: they had already past the Sea of Reeds – they were already on their way, when Hashem tells them: v’yashuvu – turn back! They deliberately turned around and back tracked, coming to camp at Pi Hakhirot, in front of the Sea of Reeds. There the Egyptian army caught up with them, and there the miracle of the parting sea occurred. Pi Hakhirot means “Mouth of Freedom.” It’s a description of the splitting sea. The message is: If you want to truly leave bondage behind and go through the “Mouth of Freedom,” you have to first fully turn back toward your “oppressor.” Is there something or someone that “triggers” you, that stresses you out, that makes you angry or uncomfortable? Those feelings are within you; they are only brought to the surface by the external trigger. Until you can be present in the face of those feelings arising and not get caught, not get seduced, you will be in bondage, no matter far you flee from the external trigger. Instead, shuv – return – return to this moment, be present with any discomfort, and make friends with it, because that is the “Mouth of Freedom.” Ordinarily, we keep emotional pain alive by feeding it with our thoughts. Just as the soldiers of Pharaoh rode after the Israelites on their horses, so the mind is the “rider” and the emotion is the “horse,” pursuing us and seeking to drag us back into bondage. But stop feeding the emotion with thought, and instead become present with your feelings – bring your awareness to your actual experience without adding extra interpretation – and the “army drowns in the sea” – this is meditation. The “army drowns” because all your pain, all your constriction, is nothing but a form of awareness. Bring your awareness to the Mitzrayim – to the constricted form of awareness. It may hurt a bit at first, but the constriction cannot persist in the light of Presence; through being conscious, it will let go. Then you too will be able to sing: אָשִׁ֤ירָה לַּֽיי כִּֽי־גָאֹ֣ה גָּאָ֔ה ס֥וּס וְרֹֽכְב֖וֹ רָמָ֥ה בַיָּֽם I will sing to the Divine, Transcendent an Exalted, horse and rider are cast into the sea… that is, mind and feeling, thought and emotion, are cast into the sea of consciousness, dissolved in an ocean of bliss. The middah we need to accept this moment with simplicity is trust – embodied by the letter yud. Try it now – trust this moment to be as it is.
Read past teachings on Beshalakh HERE
Learn Integral Jewish Meditation
Get Free Guided Meditation Below: 
Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah begins with last three of the Ten Plagues: a swarm of locusts devours all the crops and greenery; a thick darkness envelops the land; and on the 15th of the month of Nissan at midnight, all the firstborn of Egypt die.
The first specifically Jewish mitzvah is then given to the Children of Israel: to establish a calendar based on the monthly rebirth of the moon. The Israelites are also instructed to bring a “Passover offering” – a lamb or goat is to be slaughtered, and its blood sprinkled on the doorposts and lintel of every Israelite home, so that God should “pass over” (Pesakh) those homes when the plague of the firstborn takes place. The roasted meat of the offering is to be eaten that night together with matzah and bitter herbs. The death of the firstborn finally breaks Pharaoh’s resistance, and he drives the Children of Israel from his land. So hastily do they depart that there is no time for their dough to rise, hence the practice of eating matzah in commemoration of the Exodus. Before they go, they ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold, silver and garments—fulfilling the promise made to Abraham that his descendants would leave Egypt with great wealth. The Children of Israel are instructed to consecrate all firstborn, and to observe the anniversary of the Exodus each year by removing all hameitz, leaven, from their possession for seven days, eating matzah, and telling the story of their redemption to their children. They are also instructed to wear tefillin on the arm and head as a reminder of the Exodus and their commitment to God as the Power of Liberation…
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
וַיַּ֣עַל הָֽאַרְבֶּ֗ה עַ֚ל כָּל־אֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם And the locusts came upon all the land of Egypt… - Shemot (Exodus) 10:14, Parshat Bo
Nowdays there are two popular horror images – Zombies and killer robots. Both cultural motifs – the undead as well as dangerous rogue machines – are so powerful not only because we are automating more and more of our external world with AI, but also because they point to a particular reality of our inner world as well: the world of unconscious impulses, desires, and passions.
Like most of our external automations, our desires are mostly useful. When we feel the impulse to breath, for example, we can generally trust that impulse. We don’t have to pay much attention to it; we can let it “take over” and dictate our next breath. However, when we swim under water, the impulse to breath can be deadly. In that case, we’ve got to be aware of the impulse and not succumb to it until we come up for air. Similarly, the impulse to eat is crucial to our survival. But if you work in a bakery and you’re surrounded by cake all day long, you might have to watch your impulse to eat. The same goes for many other impulses we have. The problem is not desire; desire serves our survival. The problem is unconsciousness of desire, of letting the desire take control, of becoming the victim of our desires. A good example of this are the many accidents we hear about nowadays with driverless cars: they could be helpful, but we shouldn’t lose our attentiveness completely; we still have to watch. All of this is true for anyone in ordinary situations. But for the aspirant who wants to become more conscious, attentiveness has a whole other dimension. It’s not merely for the sake of averting danger, it’s also for its own sake. Ordinarily, it is important to be aware of our breathing only if we are under water. But spiritually, it is beneficial to be aware of our breathing constantly, because it is through the deliberate cultivation of awareness that we come to know ourselves as awareness and thus become free in the spiritual sense, which really means free from feeling trapped by any experience. In fact, awareness of our impulse to breath or eat is itself a kind of breathing and eating; through awareness of our desires, awareness itself is deeply nourished. There is a hint of this in the parshah: וַיַּ֣עַל הָֽאַרְבֶּ֗ה עַ֚ל כָּל־אֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם And the locusts came upon all the land of Egypt… (Shemot 10:14). Then is says: And they ate all the greenery of the land and all the fruits of the trees which the hail had left, so that nothing green was left of tree or grass of the field, in all the land of Egypt. These locusts are the embodiment of desire, consuming everything in their path. They are also insects, which are often considered to be disgusting by humans and generally unfit for eating: כֹּ֚ל שֶׁ֣רֶץ הָע֔וֹף הַהֹלֵ֖ךְ עַל־אַרְבַּ֑ע שֶׁ֥קֶץ ה֖וּא לָכֶֽם׃ – All winged swarming things that walk on fours shall be an abomination for you. (Leviticus 11:21) Insects are generally not kosher. And yet, when it comes to locusts, the taboo against eating insects no longer applies: …אַ֤ךְ אֶת־זֶה֙ תֹּֽאכְל֔וּ מִכֹּל֙ שֶׁ֣רֶץ הָע֔וֹף הַהֹלֵ֖ךְ עַל־אַרְבַּ֑ע אֶת־הָֽאַרְבֶּ֣ה– But this you shall eat from all winged swarming things that walk on fours… the locust! (Leviticus 11:22) The locust, the symbol of desire and consumption, is good to consume! The hidden message here is that we must “eat” our “eating” – we must “feed” our consciousness by being present with our impulses and desires. How do we do that? בֹּ֖א אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֑ה Bo el Paro – Come to Pharaoh means that the Divine is within Pharaoh, beckoning us to “come” – meaning, to bring awareness to the feeling of the impulse in order to reclaim the consciousness trapped within it. הִכְבַּ֤דְתִּי אֶת־לִבּוֹ֙ – I have hardened his heart… The “hardness” of our impulses is not merely for keeping us alive. Its deeper purpose is to give our consciousness something to wrestle with, so that it may be strengthened and thus awaken to its full potential. That is the greatest miracle – the miracle of coming to know what we truly are – alive, spacious and free לְמַ֗עַן שִׁתִ֛י אֹתֹתַ֥י אֵ֖לֶּה בְּקִרְבּֽוֹ – so that I may place My signs among them… What are these signs? In the plain meaning, they are the ten plagues that will show everyone that God is in charge. But the word for sign is ot, which is also the word for “letter,” and each of the Hebrew letters represents a certain quality of consciousness – for example, aleph is openness to feeling fully, bet is hospitality, and so on. When a person embodies these qualities in their actions, their actions become outward “signs” for these inner spiritual realities. Interestingly, the last letter of the aleph-bet, ת tav, also means “sign.” Tav is connected with the quality of אֶמֶת emet, “Truth,” hinting that this final letter tav is the “sign,” or “testimony” of all the preceding letters. In other words, tav represents our ability to embody the spiritual qualities in the way that we live, moment to moment. This is the culmination of all our learning and practice, all our Torah and meditation: the quality of our actions. How do we grow in the quality of our actions? There is an essential ingredient: self-awareness. We must be in touch with the truth of our experience, not resist or be in denial, if we wish to grow in our ability to embody all the middot (spiritual qualities) in our lives, moment to moment, in real time. This is the ultimate fruit of meditation.
Read past teachings on Bo HERE
Learn Integral Jewish Meditation
Get Free Guided Meditation Below: 
Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah opens with Hashem telling Moses, “Va’era – I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,” and promising to bring the Children of Israel to the Promised Land. Moses and Aaron repeatedly come before Pharaoh to demand, “Let My people go,” but Pharaoh refuses. In response, Aaron’s staff turns into a snake and swallows the staves of the Egyptian sorcerers which had also turned into snakes, but Pharaoh remains obstinate.
A series of plagues then begin to descend upon the Egyptians: The waters of the Nile turn to blood; swarms of frogs overrun the land; lice infest human and beast alike; wild animals invade the cities; a pestilence kills the domestic animals; painful boils afflict the Egyptians. For the seventh plague, fire and ice combine to descend from the skies as a devastating hail. Still, “the heart of Pharaoh was hardened and he would not let the Children of Israel go…”
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְיְ֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה רְאֵ֛ה נְתַתִּ֥יךָ אֱלֹקִ֖ים לְפַרְעֹ֑ה וְאַהֲרֹ֥ן אָחִ֖יךָ יִהְיֶ֥ה נְבִיאֶֽךָ׃ Hashem said to Moses, “See – I have made you God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet… - Shemot (Exodus) 7:1, Parshat Vaeira
The Talmud relates the following story: Rabbi Yohanan was a great miracle-worker and healer. When he visited a sick person, he would ask, “Are these afflictions dear to you?” If they would answer, “Neither they nor their reward,” then he would take them by the hand and they would be instantly healed.
One day, Rabbi Yohanan fell sick. Rabbi Hanina went to visit him and asked, “Are these afflictions dear to you?” Answered Rabbi Yokhanan, “Neither they nor their reward.” Just then, just as Rabbi Yohanan had done for so many others, Rabbi Hanina offered his hand and healed Rabbi Yohanan. The Talmud then asks, “Why did Rabbi Yohanan need Rabbi Hanina’s help? Let him heal himself!” It then answers its own question: אֵין חָבוּשׁ מַתִּיר עַצְמוֹ מִבֵּית הָאֲסוּרִים – A prisoner cannot release himself from prison! - BT Berakhot 5a Just as a prisoner needs someone else to open the jail cell from the outside, so too a teacher can help us get free in the spiritual sense. But just as the prisoner still has to walk out of the jail cell on their own, so too a teacher can “unlock” our inner prison by imparting knowledge, but we still have to “walk out of the jail cell” ourselves by doing the inner work of meditation. And yet, in the case of getting free from our own minds, there must be a part of ourselves that is already free. Otherwise, it would be impossible to see beyond our limited perspective and we would be stuck forever. The part that “sees” was never stuck in the first place: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיְ אֱלֹקֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם שֶׁלֹּא עָשַֽׂנִי עָֽבֶד – Blessed are You, Divine Being, our own Divinity, who has not made me a slave… - Morning Blessings. No matter how stuck we become, our essential identity is still bigger than the “me” – bigger than the patterns of thoughts and personal stories with which our consciousness tends to identify; our essential identity, beyond the “me,” is always already free. Of course, when we are stuck, we lose consciousness of this fact; we call this being unconscious: הֵ֤ן אֲנִי֙ עֲרַ֣ל שְׂפָתַ֔יִם וְאֵ֕יךְ יִשְׁמַ֥ע אֵלַ֖י פַּרְעֹֽה׃ – “Behold, I have sealed lips – how is Pharaoh going to listen to me?” -Ex. 6:30 But Hashem reassures Moses in an incredibly surprising way: רְאֵ֛ה נְתַתִּ֥יךָ אֱלֹהִ֖ים לְפַרְעֹ֑ה – See! I have made you God (Elohim) to Pharaoh...” Moses is God? What does this mean? But the key is in the first word: רְאֵה Re’eh – See! That which sees, the awareness that looks through your eyes, is the master over all the other elements of the “me” – it is the God within, your essential identity. If you don’t know that, you identify with all those other elements – with feelings, with thoughts, with memories, with ideas – all those strands that make up the web of the personality, of “Pharaoh.” But as soon as you hear the Divine command to see (meaning, receive the teaching to be aware), then the Exodus can begin, and your essential identity can start to awaken. And even deeper – your awareness is not only the master over your personality; it is much more than that: וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר אֱלֹקִ֖ים אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֑ה וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֵלָ֖יו אֲנִ֥י יְיְ׃ – Elohim said to Moses, “I am Hashem.” Shemot (Exodus) 6:2. The first Divine Name, Elohim, means the divine personality; it is the deity. The second Name, the unpronounceable Yod-Hei-Vav-Hei, is far more expansive – It is Existence Itself, not a divine being merely within Existence. The message here is that your אֲנִ֥י ani, your essential identity, is not something separate from the rest of Existence. Your essential identity is Existence, waking up as you, within yet beyond the “me.” The awakening of your essential identity beyond your personality is actually something very simple. And while it may take years of learning and practice for this awakening to stabilize, it takes no time at all to shift into an awakened state – that is, to become present; this is meditation. Over time, this practice of seeing the fullness of this moment as it is leads to a shift in identity, a shift into knowing yourself as the seeing, and even deeper, as Being Itself, the Divine, seeing through your eyes. This realization one of the many fruits of meditation. In this week Shabbat Va-eira, the Sabbath of Appearing, may we practice bringing our wakefulness into every encounter, moment by moment, bringing ourselves and our species closer to our Divine potential…
Read past teachings on Va'era HERE
Learn Integral Jewish Meditation
Get Free Guided Meditation Below: 
Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah opens with the Children of Israel prospering and increasing in Egypt, while a new king now sits on the throne. Threatened by their growing numbers, this new Pharaoh enslaves them and orders the Hebrew midwives, Shifrah and Puah, to kill all male babies at birth. When they do not comply, he commands his people to cast the Hebrew baby boys into the Nile. A child is born to Yokheved, and she puts him in a basket on the river, while the baby’s sister, Miriam, stands watch from afar. Pharaoh’s daughter discovers the boy, raises him as her son, and names him Mosheh, Moses.
As a young man, Moses leaves the palace and sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, and kills the Egyptian. The next day he sees two Hebrews fighting; when he rebukes them, they reveal they know of his murder of the previous day, and Moses is forced to flee to Midian. There he rescues Jethro’s daughters, marries Tzipporah, and becomes a shepherd of his father-in-law’s flocks. Hashem appears to Moses as a burning bush, and instructs him to go to Pharaoh and demand: “Let My people go.”
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
וְאֵ֗לֶּה שְׁמוֹת֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל הַבָּאִ֖ים מִצְרָ֑יְמָה אֵ֣ת יַעֲקֹ֔ב אִ֥ישׁ וּבֵית֖וֹ בָּֽאוּ׃ And these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each coming with their household. - Shemot (Exodus) 1:1, Parshat Sh’mot
A disciple once asked Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heschel of Apt: “It says that the seven years Jacob worked to marry Rachel seemed like a few days to him because of his love for her. How does this make sense? If he loved her so much, the seven years should seem even longer, not shorter! I would think that every minute he had to wait would feel like an eternity!”
The rabbi of Apt responded: “There are two kinds of love: the kind that attaches you to the object of your love, and the kind that is given freely to your beloved. We are most familiar with the first kind – we love someone or something, and the love enslaves us; that’s the kind when every minute away from your beloved seems like an eternity. But Jacob had the second kind of love – his love was given away freely to Rachel, and so he too was free. In that freedom, he wasn’t longing for the future, he was simply being in the moment; so, the entire seven years seemed like only a moment, because throughout that time he had always been in the moment!” On the physical level, we are absolutely slaves, in constant need of external support to survive. This is reflected in the story – the children of Israel are driven to Egypt by the famine and the promise of food: “To sojourn in this land we have come…for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan...” But once they’re there, they became enslaved: Egypt enslaved the children of Israel with crushing labor… Egypt is Mitzrayim, which comes from the root that means “constriction” and “suffering,” hinting that on the physical level we are ever incomplete, ever in need of external nourishment, without which we suffer and die. But the physical, form-based dimension of experience is not all there is. The very fact that we can feel suffering at all means there is awareness that feels. That awareness, that dimension of being without which there cannot be any experience at all, is itself beyond Mitzrayim, beyond constriction. Spacious and free, awareness is the ever-present openness within which all experience arises. How do we access this dimension of freedom? Love the moment you’re in. It is true, we are often acting to bring about results that we need for our survival; even our next breath is toward this end. But our actions need not only be aimed at the narrow and conditional goals of the future; we have the power to also be in this moment lishma, for its own sake, to offer our Presence to the inner goodness of this moment, as it is. This is the second kind of love the Rabbi of Apt speaks about: the love that sets us free. To bring forth the love that sets us free, we must remember that the inner goodness of this moment is easily hidden by our goals in time, by our Mitzrayim-based aim to secure something for ourselves. There is a hint of this in the passage about Moses’ birth: וַתֵּ֤רֶא אֹתוֹ֙ כִּי־ט֣וֹב ה֔וּא וַֽתִּצְפְּנֵ֖הוּ – She saw that he was good, so she hid him… She feared for Moses’ life, because Pharaoh threatened to kill him. Moses represents the pathway to freedom, the goodness of being, while Pharaoh represents the encroaching and deadening power of ego that kills this simple goodness. So, Moses is hidden away. Why? Because if the inner goodness were not hidden, there would be no desire for it, no longing in the heart for release from Mitzrayim – we would just take it for granted. It is only because it is hidden that desire for freedom is born: דִּרְשׁוּ יְהֹוָה וְעֻזּוֹ בַּקְּשׁוּ פָנָיו תָּמִיד: – Seek the Divine and Its Power; search for Its Presence constantly… And this is the promise: when we sincerely seek, we find – because It is not elsewhere; It is hidden within this moment, hidden as the Presence of Being within all being. Give your attention to this Presence and you draw it forth; this is meditation. Just as Pharaoh’s daughter drew forth Moses from the river, so too we draw forth the light of the present from the river of time; it shines like a soft glow at first, then like a fire that blazes forth but heals rather than burns. All we need do is give our attention to It, to love this moment for Its own sake, for the inner goodness to appear. This inner goodness, hidden away in plain sight, is represented by the letter ט tet.
Read past teachings on Shemot HERE
Learn Integral Jewish Meditation
Get Free Guided Meditation Below: 
Parshah Summary – P’shat
Joseph’s imprisonment finally ends when Pharaoh dreams of seven fat cows that are swallowed up by seven lean cows, and then of seven fat ears of grain swallowed by seven lean ears. Joseph interprets the dreams to mean that seven years of plenty will be followed by seven years of hunger, and advises Pharaoh to store grain during the plentiful years. Pharaoh is pleased with Joseph’s advice and appoints him governor of Egypt. Joseph marries Asnat, daughter of Potiphar, and they have two sons, Menasheh and Ephraim.
In time, as the famine spreads throughout the region, food can be obtained only in Egypt. Ten of Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt to purchase grain; the youngest, Benjamin, stays home, for Jacob fears for his safety. Joseph recognizes his brothers, but they do not recognize him; he accuses them of being spies, insists that they bring Benjamin to prove that they are who they say they are, and imprisons Shimon as a hostage. Later, they discover that the money they paid for their provisions has been mysteriously returned to them. Jacob agrees to send Benjamin only after Judah assumes personal responsibility for him. This time Joseph receives them kindly, releases Shimon, and invites them to dinner at his home. But then he plants his special silver goblet in Benjamin’s sack. When the brothers set out for home the next morning, they are pursued, searched, and arrested when the goblet is discovered. Joseph offers to set them free and retain only Benjamin as his slave.
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
וַיַּ֨עַן יוֹסֵ֧ף אֶת־פַּרְעֹ֛ה לֵאמֹ֖ר בִּלְעָדָ֑י אֱלֹהִ֕ים יַעֲנֶ֖ה אֶת־שְׁל֥וֹם פַּרְעֹֽה׃ Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is beyond me! God will give Pharaoh peace with an answer.” - Bereisheet (Genesis) 41:16, Parshat Mikeitz
There’s a story of Rabbi Moshe of Sasov, that once during Hanukkah he came into the beit midrash to find some of his students playing checkers. When they saw their rebbe, they were embarrassed and started putting the game away. “No, keep on playing!” said Reb Moshe. “You know, you can learn three important things from the game of checkers: first, you can only make one move at a time. Second, you can only go forward and not backward. And lastly, when you get to the last row, you can move in any direction you want.”
While it’s true that life is complex and there are many steps to accomplishing things, it is also true that, in any given moment, you can only do the step you’re on. This is obvious, and yet because we have the power to envision our next steps, the mind tends to dwell in the imagination of the future. The present is often approached merely as a stepping stone toward something else, and this creates a feeling of separation from this moment, a disconnect from Reality. This in turn can produce a feeling of incompleteness, and a belief that fulfillment lies somewhere in the future. The remedy for this feeling of incompleteness is to remember: “You can only make one move at a time.” Bringing your attention to simply see the “move” you are now making liberates your consciousness from its imprisonment in the world of thought and its imagined future. You can try this right now; simply see; feel how this moment is. But what if, while we are simply seeing and feeling, thoughts of regret arise about the past, pulling us into a painful dwelling on what could have been? Then we must also see this simple truth: “You can only go forward and not backward.” Accepting the past and moving on doesn’t mean you have to somehow push away feelings of regret; that would just be more resistance to the present! Instead, simply see that they are there, feel the feelings; accept whatever thoughts and feelings are arising, and let them dissolve of their own accord. Everything that arises is part of the complete texture of the present – don’t resist. And in this act of simply seeing this moment without resistance, there can be the realization that, in fact, you have arrived – there is nowhere else to go, because you’re always Right Here! At that point, you can “move in any direction you want” – meaning, you can think about the future or the past and not get caught by them, because they all arise in the open space of the Present – the Eternal Now has come to the foreground, as the Presence that permeates all things – this is meditation. This quality of inner freedom is embodied by Yosef. Pharaoh asks him to interpret his disturbing dream, but Yosef says,“Biladai, Elohim Ya-aneh – It is beyond me, but God will answer!” This short phrase is a code for this teaching: Biladai – It is beyond me: Meaning, the future is beyond me; there is only this moment – whatever will be will be. Elohim, God refers to the fact that we cannot go back and change the past; whatever has been is the “Divine Will” – which is another way of saying, it already is. The only right relationship we can have with the past is total surrender; there’s nothing you can do to change it. Finally, ya-aneh – (God) will answer. In other words, see that this, now, is “God’s speech.” This is the ultimate fruit of meditation – the recognition of Divinity everywhere. When we rest in seeing the miracle of this moment, there need not be any strained effort in “trying to be present” or in “letting go of the past” because the movements of the mind are no longer charged, no longer motivated by grabbing after fulfillment. Rather, we become the seeing; or more precisely, we know ourselves as God’s seeing through our eyes. This aspect of meditation, the middah of perception as Divinity, is represented by the letter ayin.
Read past teachings on Mikeitz HERE
Learn Integral Jewish Meditation
Get Free Guided Meditation Below: 
Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah opens with Jacob/Israel and his family settling in Hebron. Joseph is his most beloved son, so he makes Joseph a special multi-colored coat, which sparks jealousy in the other brothers. Joseph then tells his brothers two of his dreams which foretell that he is destined to rule over them, increasing their envy and hatred toward him even more. Shimon and Levi plot to kill him, but Reuben suggests that they throw him into a pit instead, intending to come back later and save him. So, the brothers strip Joseph of his special coat and throw him into the pit. Later, Judah convinces the other brothers to sell him to a band of passing Ishmaelites. The brothers then smear Joseph’s special coat with the blood of a goat and show it to their father, misleading him to believe that his most beloved son was devoured by a wild beast.
The text then shifts to Judah, who marries and has three sons. The eldest, Er, marries a woman named Tamar, but then he dies. So, Tamar then marries the second son, Onan, but Onan also dies. Judah is reluctant for his third son, Shelah, to also marry Tamar, so she disguises herself as a prostitute and seduces Judah instead. Judah hears that his daughter-in-law has become pregnant and accuses her of harlotry, but when Tamar produces the personal objects he left with her as a pledge for payment, he publicly admits that he is the father. Tamar gives birth to twin sons, Peretz (an ancestor of King David) and Zerach. Joseph is taken to Egypt and sold to Potiphar, the minister in charge of Pharaoh’s slaughterhouses. God blesses everything Joseph does, and soon he is made overseer of all his master’s property. Potiphar’s wife tries to seduce Joseph, and when Joseph rejects her advances, she tells her husband that the Hebrew slave tried to force himself on her, and has him thrown into prison. Joseph gains the trust and admiration of his jailers, who appoint him to a position of authority over the other prisoners. During this time, Joseph meets Pharaoh’s chief butler and baker, who were both imprisoned for some offense. They tell Joseph about some disturbing dreams they have been having, which Joseph interprets: in three days, he tells them, the butler will be released and the baker hanged. Joseph asks the butler to intercede on his behalf with Pharaoh. When the predictions are fulfilled, the butler forgets all about Joseph and does nothing for him…
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
וַיִּרְא֣וּ אֶחָ֗יו כִּֽי־אֹת֞וֹ אָהַ֤ב אֲבִיהֶם֙ מִכׇּל־אֶחָ֔יו וַֽיִּשְׂנְא֖וּ אֹת֑וֹ When his brothers saw that their father loved him the most, they hated him… - Bereisheet (Genesis) 37:4, Parshat Vayeishev
Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev once saw a man hurrying down the street, bumping into things and knocking people over. The rabbi grabbed him and said, “Why are you rushing so?” “I’m running to make a living!” replied the man as he tried to break free from the rabbi’s grip. “But how do you know that your livelihood is in front of you?” argued the rabbi, “Perhaps it’s behind you, and all you have to do is slow down and let it catch up with you!”
In our rush to escape the discomfort of the present, our hurriedness can sabotage the arrival of a better future. The remedy for that impulse of aggressive hurriedness is twofold – Presence and Planning. “Presence” means intentionally being where we are; it means learning to rest awareness in the truth of the moment, even and especially when it is uncomfortable; this is meditation. “Planning” means living with intention; it means having a clear vision of where you are going. When you know where you’re going, you’re less likely to worry about the temporary discomfort of the moment; it just doesn’t matter that much. You have a long-term plan, so you can fully enjoy the journey and be present. In this way, even though “planning” is aimed at the future, it actually supports connection with the present. וַֽיִּשְׂנְא֖וּ אֹת֑וֹ – They hated him… Israel’s sons are jealous of Joseph for being the most beloved of their father. But instead of trying to appease his brothers, he chooses to irritate them. וַיַּחֲלֹ֤ם יוֹסֵף֙ חֲל֔וֹם וַיַּגֵּ֖ד לְאֶחָ֑יו וַיּוֹסִ֥פוּ ע֖וֹד שְׂנֹ֥א אֹתֽוֹ׃ – Joseph dreamt a dream that he told to his brothers, and their hatred of him increased even more… In Joseph’s first dream, he and his brothers are binding sheaves in a field together, when his brother’s sheaves bow to his sheaf. In the second dream, the sun, moon and eleven stars all bow down to him, implying that one day he would rule over his eleven brothers, father and mother. Why was Joseph unconcerned about upsetting his brothers with these dreams? Some say that Joseph was immature and vain, but people who are immature and vain tend to complain when bad things happen to them. Joseph, on the other hand, never complains. His brothers throw him into a pit and sell him into slavery. When he later rises to be the most trusted and powerful slave in the house of his master, he is framed and thrown in the dungeon. Through all of these calamities, he never once complains, never once gets angry, never even defends himself. Why? Because he trusts his “dreams” and he knows where he is going. Since he knows where he is going, he doesn’t have to fuss much about how he gets there. His brothers are mad at him? No big deal, it will work out. Sold into slavery? There’s an interesting turn. Everything that happens to him is merely a modulation of the present moment. Whatever it is, he is there with it. He sees his north star guiding him into the future, and therefore he is fully in the Now. In fact, his name embodies this quality: יוֹסֵף Yosef, which means “increase.” וַיּוֹסִ֥פוּ ע֖וֹד שְׂנֹ֥א אֹתֽוֹ׃ – Their hatred of him increased (יּוֹסִפוּ like יוֹסֵף) even more… No matter how much his suffering increases, he always bounces back and “increases” toward his goal. He is like cream – always rising to the top, never growing anxious or complaining. He just rides the story of his life, moving steadily toward his destiny. In this week of Shabbat Vayeishev, the Sabbath of Dwelling, let us remember that to be present, we don’t have to give up our dreams for the future. But, we don’t have to run after them either. Instead, let us rest in the intention of where our ship is going, trusting the process. Take the steps you need to actualize your intention, then trust and enjoy the cruise, even when the world seems to be against you. And, if you don’t know yet where you want to go, be present with the not knowing. In the silence of meditation, your dreams will reveal themselves. This quality commitment and persistence is embodied by the sefirah of Netzakh on the Tree of Life – the seventh sefirah which also corresponds to the festival of Hanukkah.
Read past teachings on Vayeishev HERE
Learn Integral Jewish Meditation
Get Free Guided Meditation Below: 
Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah opens with Jacob returning home to the land of Canaan after a 20-year stay in Haran. He sends angels ahead of him to meet his brother Esau in hope of a reconciliation, but they return to report that Esau is on the warpath with 400 armed men. Jacob prepares for battle, but also sends Esau a large gift (consisting of hundreds of heads of livestock) to appease him, and then intensely prays for salvation. That night, Jacob sends his family and possessions across the Jabbok River, while he remains behind and encounters a mysterious being with whom he wrestles until daybreak. Jacob suffers a dislocated hip but vanquishes the supernal creature, who bestows upon him the name Yisrael, Israel. When Jacob and Esau finally meet, they break down crying and make peace, hugging and kissing, and then part ways. Jacob purchases a plot of land near Sh’khem, whose crown prince—also called Sh’khem—abducts and violates Jacob’s daughter Dinah. Dinah’s brothers Shimon and Levi avenge the crime by killing all male inhabitants of the city, after rendering them vulnerable by convincing them to circumcise themselves in order to intermarry with them. Jacob admonishes his sons for their violence, and again fearing for his life after what they have done, Jacob and his family flee. Rachel dies while giving birth to her second son, Benjamin, and is buried in a roadside grave near Bethlehem. Jacob arrives in Hebron, to his father Isaac, who later dies at age 180.
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
וַיֹּ֗אמֶר לֹ֤א יַֽעֲקֹב֙ יֵֽאָמֵ֥ר עוֹד֙ שִׁמְךָ֔ כִּ֖י אִם־יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל כִּֽי־שָׂרִ֧יתָ עִם־אֱלֹהִ֛ים וְעִם־אֲנָשִׁ֖ים וַתּוּכָֽל: He said, “No longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have wrestled with God and with humans and you have prevailed!” - Bereisheet (Genesis) 32:4, Parshat Vayikhlakh
What is the nature of pleasure? Is pleasure something to be enjoyed and celebrated, or is pleasure a spiritual obstacle? There is a teaching recorded in the Talmud that contains a puzzling dialogue between Moses and Hashem
בִּקֵּשׁ לְהוֹדִיעוֹ דְּרָכָיו שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, וְנָתַן לוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״הוֹדִיעֵנִי נָא אֶת דְּרָכֶיךָ״, אָמַר לְפָנָיו: רִבּוֹנוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם! מִפְּנֵי מָה יֵשׁ צַדִּיק וְטוֹב לוֹ, וְיֵשׁ צַדִּיק וְרַע לוֹ, יֵשׁ רָשָׁע וְטוֹב לוֹ, וְיֵשׁ רָשָׁע וְרַע לוֹ? אָמַר לוֹ: מֹשֶׁה, צַדִּיק וְטוֹב לוֹ — צַדִּיק בֶּן צַדִּיק. צַדִּיק וְרַע לוֹ — צַדִּיק בֶּן רָשָׁע. רָשָׁע וְטוֹב לוֹ — רָשָׁע בֶּן צַדִּיק. רָשָׁע וְרַע לוֹ — רָשָׁע בֶּן רָשָׁע.. (Moses) requested that the ways of the Holy Blessed One be revealed to him, and it was granted it to him, as it is stated: “Show me Your ways and I will know You” (Exodus 33:13). He said, “Master of the Universe! Why is it that there are righteous who prosper, righteous who suffer, wicked who prosper, and wicked who suffer?” (The Divine) replied to him: “Moses, the righteous person who prospers is a child of a righteous person. The righteous person who suffers is a child of a wicked person. The wicked person who prospers is a child of a righteous person. The wicked person who suffers is a child of a wicked person. (Berachot 7a) This teaching (attributed to Rabbi Yohanan in the name of Rabbi Yosei) attempts to answer that old perennial question: if there is Divine justice in the world, why do bad things happen to good people? Why are there bad people who seem to have all the good things? The answer given here is a little baffling – it’s just because of their parents? Not the most satisfying answer. However, a novel interpretation of this passage comes from the renown 19th century rabbi known as the Chasam Sofer. He says that the good person who suffers, called the tzaddik v’ra lo- literally, “righteous and bad for him,” is not one to whom bad things happen. Rather, it is someone who doesn’t know how to receive painful experiences. After all, painful experiences will absolutely happen to all people, regardless of how good or bad they are ethically. The issue is not whether pain will come, it is how we deal with the pain when it does come. That’s why the passage says that the tzaddik v’ra lo is a righteous person with wicked parents. Thet have good intentions, but because they have wicked parents, they don’t learn how to receive pain and not get caught by it; they are still ruled by their impulses, in the same way a wicked person would be. Conversely, the rasha v’tov lo – the wicked person who prospers – doesn’t mean a wicked person to whom good things happen; good experiences are constantly happening to all people, regardless of how good or bad they are ethically (like, for example, our next breath.) Rather, this is someone who may be ethically wicked, but because they have good parents, they have learned the skill of receiving pain without resistance, as well as the skill of cultivating gratitude and appreciation for the all the blessings. The Chasam Sofer is interpreting the Gemara in light of this most fundamental quality of meditation: the simple receiving of this moment as it is – also known as “equanimity.” The main obstacle to equanimity is the impulse to resist and reject our present moment experience. This resistance, in turn, takes two main forms: rejecting or running away from what we don’t want, and longing for or running after what we do want. One common approach to cultivating equanimity is to purposely restrict your enjoyment of pleasure and voluntarily take on a certain amount of pain; this is the path of asceticism. From the ascetic point of view, pleasure is seen as suspect, even immoral, because it leads to weakness of character and dependence on external experience. This is the context within which the pleasure-negative point of view arises in Judaism and in many other traditions. The counterpoint to the ascetic point of view is the Hasidic approach, which came along to counteract the pleasure-negative ideology that became so prevalent in eighteenth century Eastern European Jewry. After all, it is not pleasure itself that is dangerous, but the clinging to and dependence on pleasure that is dangerous. Feeling good is a blessing of life – why should we go against our nature? Put another way, why should we reject the gifts that Hashem gives us? That’s why Hassidism celebrated eating, drinking, dancing, sexuality, and so on, as a means to realize the sacred; the key was the kavanah – the intention – that one brings to pleasure. One time, Rabbi Yisrael of Rizhyn walked into a room where some of his hasidim were drinking together and making merry, and he seemed to look at them with disapproval. “Are you displeased that we are drinking?” one of them asked. “But it is said that when hasidim sit together over their cups, it is just as if they were studying Torah!” “There are many words in the Torah that are holy in one passage, and unholy in another,” replied that rabbi of Rizhyn. “For example, it is written: וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה פְּסָל־לְךָ֛ שְׁנֵֽי־לֻחֹ֥ת אֲבָנִ֖ים – And the Divine said to Moses, ‘carve for yourself two tablets of stone…’ - Exodus 34:1 “And in another place, it says: לֹֽ֣א תַֽעֲשֶׂ֨ה־לְךָ֥֣ פֶ֣֙סֶל֙ – Do not make for yourself a carved image… Exodus 20:1 “Why is the same word, fesel (“carved”), holy in the first passage and not holy in the second? It is because in the first passage, “yourself” comes after “carved,” and in the second it comes first. And so it is in all that we do: when the self comes after, all is holy; when it comes first, all is not.” In other words, the sacred function of pleasure is to help us transcend ourselves; it is to use the pleasure as a means toward praise and gratitude, to connection with the Source of Blessing, rather than cling to the blessing for the sake of gratification alone. And even deeper, it is to awaken that Presence which is the deepest level of our being, beyond the “self” that craves this and that. After all, there is something essential that we can learn from enjoying pleasure: just as we enjoy pleasure for its own sake, savoring the moment without any future goal, so too we can learn to fully savor the moment as it is, even without any external gratification. We can do this because there is a deeper goodness, a deeper pleasure, that arises from Presence Itself; when we awaken this deeper pleasure, we can see through the ups and downs of transient experience and pierce through to the Oneness of Being, the Divine Ground that knows Itself through our own awareness, through the Living Presence that we are, beneath and beyond the “self” of thoughts, feelings, and changing experiences. וַיֹּ֗אמֶר לֹ֤א יַֽעֲקֹב֙ יֵֽאָמֵ֥ר עוֹד֙ שִׁמְךָ֔ כִּ֖י אִם־יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל כִּֽי־שָׂרִ֧יתָ עִם־אֱלֹהִ֛ים וְעִם־אֲנָשִׁ֖ים וַתּוּכָֽל: He said, “No longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have wrestled with (your) Divine (nature) and (your) human (nature), and you have prevailed!” In the parshah, Jacob is pushed into this realization of Oneness through crisis. He is terrified that his brother is coming to kill him and his family. He sends gifts to appease his brother, he prays for salvation, he divides his camp in the hope that some might survive if they are attacked. But then he spends the whole night wrestling with a mysterious being who attacks and injures him. By the time dawn breaks, Jacob is victorious, and the being gives him the name Yisrael, which means “wrestles with Gd.” Then, it says something interesting: וַיִּקְרָ֧א יַעֲקֹ֛ב שֵׁ֥ם הַמָּק֖וֹם פְּנִיאֵ֑ל כִּֽי־רָאִ֤יתִי אֱלֹהִים֙ פָּנִ֣ים אֶל־פָּנִ֔ים וַתִּנָּצֵ֖ל נַפְשִֽׁי׃ Jacob named the place Peniel, because “I have seen the Divine face to face, yet my life has been preserved.”- Gen. 32:31 It is true that it all turns out well for Jacob in the end; his brother forgives him and they hug and weep upon each other’s necks. But this verse comes before he sees his brother; he doesn’t know yet whether his prayers will be answered; he doesn’t know yet whether his brother will forgive him or kill him. And yet he says, וַתִּנָּצֵ֖ל נַפְשִֽׁי – which is usually translated as it is above: “my life has been preserved.” But the word for “my life” – nafshi – literally means “my soul,” not “my life.” In other words, his becoming Yisrael means that he has pierced beyond the “good” and “bad” of his personal experience, to his underlying “soul” – also called Consciousness – his essential being beyond the “self,” beyond ego. He becomes Yisrael because regardless of whether he lives or dies, regardless of whether his prayers are answered or not, he knows now that everything is the Face of the Divine – ra’iti Elohim panim el panim – “I have seen the Divine face to face.” And so this is our task: not to avoid pleasure, and also not to pursue pleasure as the goal, but rather to receive both pleasure and pain with full Presence. Because beneath our transient experience is a deeper pleasure, a pleasure with no opposite, a pleasure that is the nourishment we need now for our essential being. This deeper pleasure is represented by the letter mem, the symbol for water. Just as water takes the shape of any vessel into which it is poured, so too our consciousness can effortlessly take the shape of this moment in which we find ourselves. וְֽהָיָ֗ה כְּעֵץ֮ שָׁת֪וּל עַֽל־פַּלְגֵ֫י מָ֥יִם – And one shall be like a tree planted by streams water… - Psalm 1:3
Read past teachings on Vayishlakh HERE
Learn Integral Jewish Meditation
Get Free Guided Meditation Below: 
Parshah Summary – P’shat
Jacob leaves his hometown of Be’er Sheva and journeys to Haran. On the way, he stops to sleep and dreams of a ladder spanning earth to heaven, with angels ascending and descending upon it. In the morning, Jacob raises the stone upon which he laid his head as an altar and monument, pledging that it will one day become a house of God.
In Haran, Jacob lives and works for his uncle Laban, tending Laban’s sheep. Jacob loves Laban’s younger daughter, Rachel, and Laban allows them to get married, in return for seven years of work from Jacob. But on the wedding night, Laban switches Rachel with his elder daughter Leah—a deception Jacob only discovers in the morning. A week later, Jacob marries Rachel as well, after agreeing to work for another seven years. Leah gives birth to six sons: Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Judah, Yisakhar and Zebulun, as well as a daughter, Dinah, while Rachel remains barren. Rachel gives Jacob her handmaid Bilhah as a wife to bear children in her stead, and two more sons, Dan and Naphtali, are born. Leah does the same with her handmaid, Zilpah, who gives birth to Gad and Asher. Finally, Rachel’s prayers are answered and she gives birth to Joseph. Jacob has now been in Haran for 14 years, and wishes to return home. But Laban persuades him to remain, offering him sheep in return for his labor, and Jacob becomes wealthy by breeding the sheep in a seemingly magical way. After six years, Jacob flees Haran in stealth, fearing that Laban would prevent him from leaving with his family and property. Laban pursues Jacob, but is warned by God in a dream not to harm him. Laban and Jacob make a pact on Mount Gal-Ed with a pile of stones as a witness, and Jacob proceeds back to Canaan, where he is met by angels.
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
אָכֵן֙ יֵ֣שׁ יי בַּמָּק֖וֹם הַזֶּ֑ה וְאָנֹכִ֖י לֹ֥א יָדָֽעְתִּי “Surely the Divine is present in this place and I didn’t even know it!” - Bereisheet (Genesis) 28:16
Imagine you lived in a place where the sky was constantly overcast, so that the sun was hardly ever visible. From your point of view, it would look like the dim light of the overcast sky was coming from the clouds themselves. If you were a small child and had never heard of the sun, that’s what you would probably assume. Now, imagine you are that child – you have no knowledge of the sun, and your parents take you for a trip on an airplane. As the plane gets higher and higher, you look out the window, and you see nothing but cloud all around. Soon after, the plane bursts through the cloud cover and you see the blazing sun and the blue sky for the first time. Imagine what a revelation that would be! That’s what spiritual awakening is like.
For most of us, the sky has been covered with clouds our whole lives. Meaning, our minds are constantly moving with the “clouds” of thoughts and feelings. Without ever questioning, we assume that our consciousness and our thoughts and feelings are identical. Because of this, we also don’t tend to distinguish between our thoughts and feelings we have about reality, and actual Reality. All we know are the clouds; we experience the present moment through the lens of our stories, through our sense of past and future. How to awaken from the seductive dream of our minds and hearts and come to the truth of this moment? וַיִּפְגַּ֨ע בַּמָּקֹ֜ום וַיָּ֤לֶן שָׁם֙ כִּי־בָ֣א הַשֶּׁ֔מֶשׁ He encountered The Place and spent the night there, for the sun had set… The setting of the sun is a metaphor – Jacob is running away from his murderous brother - he is in a state of inner darkness. At first he was running and running, until he “encounters The Place” – he sets stones for his head and lays down on the earth. In other words, he connects with the support beneath him – the physicality of his present experience. Then, Jacob has a dream in which God appears and he sees a ladder reaching from the earth to heaven with angels going up and down. Then it says: :וַיִּיקַ֣ץ יַעֲקֹב֮ מִשְּׁנָתֹו֒ וַיֹּ֕אמֶר אָכֵן֙ יֵ֣שׁ יְהוָ֔ה בַּמָּקֹ֖ום הַזֶּ֑ה וְאָנֹכִ֖י לֹ֥א יָדָֽעְתִּי Jacob awakened and said, “Surely the Divine is in this Place and I didn’t even know it!” The Divine is not something separate from the truth of this moment – it is the radiant sun of consciousness, ever-present as the perceiving Presence that you are. But, there are clouds! The way to “rise of above the clouds,” so to speak, is paradoxically to connect with the earth. That’s because when we become conscious of our physical sensations, the “clouds” of thoughts and feelings can clear up naturally, revealing the radiant awareness beneath them; this is meditation. :וַיִּירָא֙ וַיֹּאמַ֔ר מַה־נֹּורָ֖א הַמָּקֹ֣ום הַזֶּ֑ה אֵ֣ין זֶ֗ה כִּ֚י אִם־בֵּ֣ית אֱלֹהִ֔ים וְזֶ֖ה שַׁ֥עַר הַשָּׁמָֽיִם He was in awe and said, “How incredible is this Place – it is none other than the House of the God, and this is the gateway to Heaven!” Now what you don’t get in the English is that the word for “The Place” is HaMakom, which is Itself a Name of God. So, if you want to rise above the dark clouds of this world, the way up is actually the way down. Come down from your mind, into your body and into connection with the earth, with the support of the physical world, the world of the senses – because this, here-now, is the gateway of heaven…
Read past teachings on Vayetzei HERE
Learn Integral Jewish Meditation
Get Free Guided Meditation Below: 
Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah opens with Yitzhak/Isaac praying for a child after Rivkah/ Rebecca had been unable to conceive, and immediately his prayer is answered. But, she experiences difficult pregnancy as the “children struggle inside her.” She prays that the cause of her suffering be revealed, and Hashem responds that “two nations in your womb.” Esav/Esau emerges first, and Yaakov/Jacob is born clutching Esau’s heel. (Yaakov, Jacob, means “heal.”) As they grow up, Isaac favors Esau, but Rebecca loves Jacob more. One day, when Esau returns home exhausted and hungry from the hunt, he sells his birthright to Jacob for a pot of red lentil stew.
In Gerar, in the land of the Philistines, Isaac presents Rebecca as his sister, out of fear that he will be killed by someone coveting her beauty. He farms the land, reopens the wells dug by his father Abraham, and digs a series of his own wells, and Esau marries two Hittite women. Isaac grows old and blind, and wants to bless his first born Esau before he dies. While Esau goes off to hunt for his father’s favorite food, Rebecca dresses Jacob in Esau’s clothing, covers his arms and neck with goatskins to simulate the feel of his hairier brother, prepares a similar dish, and sends Jacob to his father. Jacob receives his father’s blessings for “the dew of the heaven and the fat of the land,” as well as mastery over his brother. When Esau returns and the deception is revealed, Isaac blesses him as well with the “fat of the earth and dew of the heaven,” but also that he shall live by the sword and serve his brother, though there will come a time when he will “break the yoke” from his neck. Jacob leaves home for Haran to flee Esau’s wrath and to find a wife in the family of his mother’s brother, Lavan/ Lab
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
וַיִּתְרֹֽצְצ֤וּ הַבָּנִים֙ בְּקִרְבָּ֔הּ וַתֹּ֣אמֶר אִם־כֵּ֔ן לָ֥מָּה זֶּ֖ה אָנֹ֑כִי וַתֵּ֖לֶךְ לִדְרֹ֥שׁ אֶת־יְהֹוָֽה׃ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְה–ֹוָ֜ה לָ֗הּ שְׁנֵ֤י גוֹיִם֙ בְּבִטְנֵ֔ךְ... The children struggled within her, and she said, “If so, why am I like this?” So she went to inquire of the Divine. Hashem said to her, “Two nations are in your womb…” - Bereisheet (Genesis) 25:22-23
Our political climate nowadays is passionate polarized. But there’s another contest for power going on right now as well – can you engage in it with the same enthusiasm? It is the contest between two different versions of yourself. On one side is the Ego. For most of us, this ego usually wins in landslide victories, over and over again. And, rightly so. The Ego has the most experience, with the advantage of being constructed over a lifetime, not to mention having the constant support of the Thinking Mind. On the other side is Awareness. Awareness has a more difficult time because people don’t even notice her. They can’t see her because she is the seeing itself. Furthermore, even though Awareness is far more ancient than the Thinking Mind, she never really ages. She is always seeing this moment anew, so she seems young and naïve. She must, we tend to think, need the Ego and his Thinking Mind to run the show. How does it do that? The basic approach of the Ego is struggle:
וַיִּתְרֹֽצֲצ֤וּ הַבָּנִים֙ בְּקִרְבָּ֔הּ וַתֹּ֣אמֶר אִם־כֵּ֔ן לָ֥מָּה זֶּ֖ה אָנֹ֑כִי... The children struggled within her, and she said, “If it be so, why am I like this?” There comes a time when a person is ready to give up the struggle. The question to each of us is, have you reached this point? Are you ready to go beyond Ego? Do you want to inquire of Reality and find another way? וַתֵּ֖לֶךְ לִדְר֥שׁ אֶת־יְהֹ–וָֽה– She went to inquire of the Divine… Let this be your prayer: “How do I give up the struggle?” But then, sh’ma –listen: a message vibrates from the Silence: שְׁנֵ֤י גוֹיִם֙ בְּבִטְנֵ֔ךְ וּשְׁנֵ֣י לְאֻמִּ֔ים מִמֵּעַ֖יִךְ יִפָּרֵ֑דוּ וּלְאֹם֙ מִלְאֹ֣ם יֶֽאֱמָ֔ץ וְרַ֖ב יַֽעֲבֹ֥ד צָעִֽיר: Two nations are in your womb –– in other words, there are two of you! Two peoples will separate from within you –– in other words, be aware of the distinction between the ordinary me, the Ego, and the awareness behind and beyond the Ego. And one kingdom will become mightier than the other kingdom, and the older will serve the younger… The Ego, the conditioned me, is old, not in the sense of actual age, but in the sense that it is based on experience from the past. But, there is a deeper I that never grows old; it is always fresh, alive and new. The Ego likes to be in charge, but it is destined to serve Awareness. Then, there will be a great Silence far more profound than any thought. That Silence is your nakhalah, your birthright, if you would but awaken to it. How to awaken to It? וַיְהִ֣י עֵשָׂ֗ו אִ֛ישׁ יֹדֵ֥עַ צַ֖יִד אִ֣ישׁ שָׂדֶ֑ה וְיַֽעֲקֹב֙ אִ֣ישׁ תָּ֔ם ישֵׁ֖ב אֹֽהָלִֽים: Esau was a man who knew hunting… but Jacob was a simple man, dwelling in tents. In other words, Give up your “hunting,” give up your seeking for control. Or more precisely, be the awareness of your impulse to seek control. Come into the “tent” of your heart, into this moment as it is, and dwell here in simplicity. This portal of simplicity is represented by the letter yud. The letter yud is the smallest of the letters, almost dimensionless, like a point. It is also the shape that begins the inscribing of all the other letters. In this sense it hints that all of our experience on all levels begins with this formless, dimensionless, unassuming yet most profound miracle – the Divine gift of consciousness. It is simple because it is prior to preference, prior to analysis, prior to opinion; it is simply aware.
Read past teachings on Toldot HERE
Learn Integral Jewish Meditation
Get Free Guided Meditation Below: |
Free Integral Jewish Meditation Instructional Recordings Here.
Daily Meditation on Zoom: Experience our growing community Here Archives
February 2026
|
RSS Feed