This year, you may have noticed that Rosh Hashanah fell on Shabbat. Traditionally speaking, shofar is not sounded on Shabbat, which is why Rosh Hashanah is a two-day festival even in Israel; with two days, the shofar will be sounded on at least one of the two. My inclination was to not have shofar in our service this year, but instead to gather the next day in the park and have a little shofar service then, which we did. However, as news of my decision spread throughout the Torah of Awakening service leader world, I heard that someone from our team was not happy. I called Estelle, and I made my case. I told her that I want this Rosh Hashanah falling on Shabbat to feel different, by adding special Shabbat songs and prayers, and making room for them by not having shofar. She expressed that shofar is the most important part of Rosh Hashanah, and that many won’t hear it at all if we don’t do it on the first day. Plus, she said, what’s the problem, since you have musical instruments anyway!
כָּל מַחֲלֹקֶת שֶׁהִיא לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם, סוֹפָהּ לְהִתְקַיֵּם. וְשֶׁאֵינָהּ לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם, אֵין סוֹפָהּ לְהִתְקַיֵּם Every dispute that is for the sake of Heaven, will in the end endure; But one that is not for the sake of Heaven, will not endure. This was a perfect example of a makhlokhet l’shem shamyim, an “argument for the sake of heaven.” But this makhlokhet was unlike many of the halakhic disputes of the rabbis, in which there are clear winners and losers. For example, the argument between Beit Hillel and Beit Shamai, in which Beit Shamai said we should light all eight candles on the first night of Hanukkah and then light one less for each of the eight days, and Beit Hillel said that we should light one candle the first night, two on the second and so on. Hillel’s view became the common practice, not Shamai’s. But in this case, we compromised. We left shofar out of Musaf so that the davening would feel different for Shabbat, but we brought it back at the end so that anyone who wanted to hear shofar could hear, and anyone who wanted to step out could do so. I felt good about our compromise, not just because it’s good in general to work out our disagreements, but because it points to a deeper level of the halakhic process – the process by which questions of Jewish practice are worked out. After all, what is the point of Jewish spiritual practice? The ordinary understanding is that God gave the Jewish people Torah and mitzvot. Teaching and commandments, and that those are the means through which we can connect with God and fulfill our purpose. The non-religious, secular scholar view, on the other hand, denies the idea of divinely given Torah and mitzvot, and sees Judaism and all religion as an essentially human creation. But this dualism of Divinely given vs. human creation is, in my view, born from an insensitivity to the miracle of the ordinary: Far more extraordinary than the idea of Divine revelation with miracles and pillars of fire, is the simple miracle of two beings having a conversation and resolving a conflict. And on a deeper level, more extraordinary than any holy book is the very fact of our own consciousness, of our own minds as outposts of the Divine mind, manifesting right now in these bodies we inhabit. The duality then is not human creation vs. Divine revelation; it is either being sensitive to the mystery of consciousness as a Divine miracle, or being insensitive, conditioned and unimpressed. In truth, Torah is happening constantly, as the arising of thought within this miraculous field of consciousness that we are. You might disagree, saying that much of what arises in consciousness is not wise or interesting. And it’s true. As I say these words that have arisen within this consciousness that I am, there is, perhaps, some sense of the miracle. But if Buggs Bunny appears in my mind, I dismiss it rather than saying it, even though I just said it. Buggs Bunny doesn’t necessarily point to something sacred or Divine. But, the process of Torah actually includes this process of discernment between Wisdom and Buggs Bunny: סְפוֹג, שֶׁהוּא סוֹפֵג אֶת הַכֹּל. מַשְׁפֵּךְ, שֶׁמַּכְנִיס בְּזוֹ וּמוֹצִיא בְזוֹ. מְשַׁמֶּרֶת, שֶׁמּוֹצִיאָה אֶת הַיַּיִן וְקוֹלֶטֶת אֶת הַשְּׁמָרִים. וְנָפָה, שֶׁמּוֹצִיאָה אֶת הַקֶּמַח וְקוֹלֶטֶת אֶת הַסֹּלֶת: There are four types among those who sit before the sages: a sponge, a funnel, a strainer and a sieve. A sponge, soaks up everything; a funnel, takes in at one end and lets out at the other; a strainer, which lets out the wine and retains the lees; a sieve, which lets out the coarse meal and retains the choice flour. - Pirkei Avot 5:15
This remarkable passage contradicts the traditional idea of the Torah as eternally perfect and whole, which we might see reflected in this Torah passage, in which God says:
אֵ֣ת כׇּל־הַדָּבָ֗ר אֲשֶׁ֤ר אָנֹכִי֙ מְצַוֶּ֣ה אֶתְכֶ֔ם אֹת֥וֹ תִשְׁמְר֖וּ לַעֲשׂ֑וֹת לֹא־תֹסֵ֣ף עָלָ֔יו וְלֹ֥א תִגְרַ֖ע מִמֶּֽנּוּ׃ All of this matter that I command you, you shall guard to do; do not add to it, nor take away from it. - Devarim (Deuteronomy) 13:1
Pirkei Avot seems to be saying that it is up to us to discern which parts of the teaching are good and which parts should be dismissed, while the Torah verse seems to be saying that the Torah is perfect as it was given, and we shouldn’t add or subtract from it. How do we resolve these two verses?
The answer, I believe, is hinted in אֲשֶׁ֤ר אָנֹכִי֙ מְצַוֶּ֣ה אֶתְכֶ֔ם – that I command you. The “you,” meaning we, are part of the process. In other words, our own discernment is the means by which we are “commanded” – we must discern what is truly important – first for ourselves, so that we know what our own values are, and then in dialogue with others, so that we can be in harmony with their values and find a path that serves all to the best of our ability. Once we’ve found that, THEN we must not add or subtract from it – meaning, we must not insist that our way is the only right way, that would be adding, nor must we deny our own values when we confront the strong opinions of others – that would be subtracting. Instead, תִשְׁמְר֖וּ לַעֲשׂ֑וֹת – you shall be attentive to do it. But, of course we can only do this if we purify ourselves to know our own depths and to be in clean relationship with others; this is the meaning of כפרה on this Day of Atonement. Kaparah means making up for something, correcting a wrong, making whole and unifying that which was broken and fragmented. In this sense, the English play on the word “atonement” is appropriate, in which we read “atonement” as “At-One-Ment.” And how do we make at-one-ment? We do it by giving something up, by compromising, by be willing to feel the slight sting of not getting our way completely, in order to avoid the far worse sting of broken relationship. That willingness to feel the slight sting is the kaparah – like the goat sacrifices of the ancient Yom Kippur rite, it substitutes for the brokenness, and heals. Interestingly, another way of saying “substitute” is מְמַלֵא מָקוֹם which literally means, “filling the space.” We avoid the filling of the vacuum created by our misdeeds with disaster by filling it with something else – filling it with dialogue, compromise, or other healers of relationship such as apologies. On the deepest level, our kaparah sacrifice is something we can practice any moment, when we recognize that our minds tend to “fill up the space” of our consciousness with thought. Sometimes that thought is just Buggs Bunny, sometimes it is the channeling of Torah, but if we are to be the student that “retains the choice flour,” we must practice being aware of our own minds, “filling the space” not with always thought, but with Presence, with awareness… Then we can experience מְמַלֵא מָקוֹם – that the whole world is filled with the radiant Mystery of Being that we call the Divine…
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The other day, our cantorial soloist and service leader Renée came to me to discuss a dilemma: she was having trouble with leading the High Holiday prayers, because on one hand, she wants to be authentic, but on the other hand, many of the prayer texts just don’t feel authentic to her. She said that she wants to have integrity as a prayer leader, and not just treat our services as a just another “singing gig.”
I appreciated this so much, and I shared with her that it took me many years for these prayers to feel authentic, and that my process with them involved putting them into my own words and making my own interpretive translations. The key for me has been to try to connect with the prayerful intentions beneath the words. Many of these texts are over a thousand years old, and some of them over three thousand years old. On top of that, reading English translations can sometimes bring up connotations of today’s America brand of fundamentalism, which only adds to their distance. But if we can connect the prayerful impulse beneath the words with our own prayerful impulse, then the ancient words can merge with our own prayerfulness, so that we pray not merely as individuals, but as voices in the chorus of our people and our history. But how do we do that? Ironically, when Renée came to me with her question about how to be authentic, in doing so she was being completely authentic! And what was that authentic impulse? It was to engage in a process of transformation – in this case, to find a way into integrity with leading the prayers. And in a sense, this is really the essence of these High Holy Days: to engage in a process of transformation – to become aware of how we want to change for the better in the coming year. That’s it – if each of us can bring that question into our lives and take steps to effect that transformation for ourselves, then we have done our job. But, in order to ask ourselves the question of how we might change in a true and deep way, we first have to do something even more fundamental: we have to become present with ourselves not as we’d like to be, but as we are. Life is busy and it’s easy to hide from ourselves and live only on the surface of the great Ocean of Being, amidst the movement of the waves of life. If we want to get below the waves into the depths of the Ocean Itself, we need to pause the momentum; we need to stop doing and take some time for just Being; we need to sing, we need to move, we need to contemplate, and on the deepest level, we need silence; we need meditation. This is why the most central practice of Rosh Hashanah does not consist of any of these problematic words; it is simply listening to the sound of the shofar. עָלָ֣ה אֱ֭לֹהִים בִּתְרוּעָ֑ה יי בְּק֣וֹל שׁוֹפָֽר׃ – Alah Elohim b’truah, Adonai b’kol shofar – “Elohim rises up in the blast, Adonai in the voice of the shofar.” These two Divine Names are so instructive: Elohim is plural – literally “gods” – hinting that all the forces of Existence are One Reality, and Adonai is really the four letter Name which means “Existence” or “Being” or “Reality.” Alah means “rises up,” hinting that our experiential sense of the sacred arises out of our connection with Reality – that is, with whatever is present in this moment, when we become present – that is the attentiveness called forth by the sound of the shofar. In this very real sense, “God” is not about believing in some deity. Rather, “God” is a relational word, like “friend” or “teacher.” If someone asked you, “Do you believe in friend?” – that would be absurd. “Friend” is not something to believe in; rather, it describes a certain type of relationship. In the same way, “God” describes a relationship of prayerfulness, awe and reverence that we can have with Reality; not a divine being, but Being Itself. Prayer then, in its truest sense, is a response to our recognition of the sacred. God has gifted us with this moment, with this life – what is our response? When our response includes the aspiration to be co-creators of ourselves, then we tap into the spirit of these holy days. וּלְחַנָּ֖ה אֵ֥ין יְלָדִֽים – and Hannah had no children… - I Samuel 1:2 This is why, in our haftara, Hannah is barren at first, but she longs for a child. When her longing reaches its peak, she expresses her aspiration in prayer. The description of how Hannah moves her lips quietly as she prays becomes the model in our tradition for the Amidah, the most core prayer in our tradition. Then, when her prayers are answered and she conceives and gives birth, she names her son Shmuel, which is Sh’ma – El; meaning, “listens to God” or “God listens.” Either way, it is the God within us, listening to the God all around us, waking up to that impulse of transformation, through us. May we all be inspired and encouraged in our grand pause and coming together (again) to listen…
Read past teachings on Rosh Hashanah HERE.
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah begins by instructing a ritual of gratitude to be performed when the Children of Israel cultivate the land: the celebrant should put the first-ripened fruits (bikkurim) of their orchard into a basket and bring it to the place where Hashem “chooses” to “make the Holy Name rest.” The celebrant then offers these first fruits, making a declaration of having come out of slavery in Egypt and into the “land flowing with milk and honey.” The celebrant then “rejoices” with one’s family as well as with the “stranger.”
The parshah continues with the laws of tithes given to the Levites and the poor, along with detailed instructions on how to proclaim the blessings and curses on Mount Gerizim and Mount Eival, as discussed at the beginning of Parshat Re’eh. The latter part of Ki Tavo consists of a long, harsh account of the curses—illness, famine, poverty and exile—that shall befall them if they abandon the Torah. It concludes with Moses’ words that “only today,” forty years after their birth as a people, have they attained “a heart to know, eyes to see and ears to hear.”
Torah of Awakening – Jewish Meditation Teaching
וְהָיָה֙ כִּֽי־תָב֣וֹא אֶל־הָאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁר֙ יי אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ נֹתֵ֥ן לְךָ֖ נַחֲלָ֑ה וִֽירִשְׁתָּ֖הּ וְיָשַׁ֥בְתָּ בָּֽהּ׃ וְלָקַחְתָּ֞ מֵרֵאשִׁ֣ית כׇּל־פְּרִ֣י הָאֲדָמָ֗ה אֲשֶׁ֨ר תָּבִ֧יא מֵֽאַרְצְךָ֛ אֲשֶׁ֨ר יי אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ נֹתֵ֥ן לָ֖ךְ וְשַׂמְתָּ֣ בַטֶּ֑נֶא וְהָֽלַכְתָּ֙ אֶל־הַמָּק֔וֹם אֲשֶׁ֤ר יִבְחַר֙ יי אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ לְשַׁכֵּ֥ן שְׁמ֖וֹ שָֽׁם׃ When you enter the land that Hashem your God is giving you as a heritage, and you possess it and settle in it, you shall take some of every first fruit of the soil, which you harvest from the land that Hashem your God is giving you, put it in a basket and go to the place where Hashem your God will choose to establish the Divine Name... - Devarim (Deuteronomy) 26:1-2 Parshat Ki Tavo
Once, when Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sasov was deeply absorbed in the mystical ecstasy of his prayers, he heard a knock at the window. A drunken peasant stood outside and asked to be let in and given a bed for the night. For a moment, the rebbe’s heart raged with anger and he thought to himself, “How can this drunk have the hutzbah to ask to be let into this house!”
But then he said silently in his heart, “And what business does he have to exist at all, when Existence is nothing but the Divine? But if Hashem gets along with this guy and allows him to exist in this world, who am I to reject him?” He opened the door at once and prepared a bed. It is impossible to perceive another person without them casting their image upon our consciousness; every being we meet, every situation and every experience appears to us as forms within our own awareness. To love another being, then, is simultaneously an embracing of one’s own inner depths. On the other hand, negativity toward others is a rejection of the form that our own awareness has taken; we resist not just the other, but the image of the other within, thereby creating an inner split, an experience of “exile,” of being not at home. The more resistance toward others that we accumulate throughout our lifetime, the more inner pain of fragmentation and alienation. It seems this is inevitable, for life tends to give us plenty of material to resist! What to do? Fortunately, the remedy is simple, and we can begin (again) right now. Welcome this moment as the form in which it appears. Whether it be a person, or a situation, or a feeling – it doesn’t matter – the hospitality we express toward the fullness of present experience allows us to be at home with ourselves, now. וְהָיָה֙ כִּֽי־תָבֹ֣וא אֶל־הָאָ֔רֶץ – It will be when you come into the land... While the natural impulse is to resist what we don’t like, creating the sense of “not being at home,” like Israelites wandering the desert, we counteract this כִּֽי־תָבֹ֣וא ki tavo – “when we come in” – that is, when we fully inhabit this moment. The key is כִּי ki: kaf-yud! כִּֽי־תָבֹ֣וא – It will be when you come in… Resistance is born of fear, the instinctual impulse to protect oneself. This is good and necessary, but the side effect is inner exile. To “come home,” we need to transcend the fear – know that you are not the fear. Fully accept it as part of the texture of the moment, without being caught by it; this is כ kaf: “courage.” כִּֽי־תָבֹ֣וא אֶל־הָאָ֔רֶץ – It will be when you come into the land…Then, in order to sustain the sense of Wholeness arising from letting go of resistance, we must rest awareness in the אָרֶץ aretz, in the senses and the physical world, rather than becoming lost in world thought; this is י yud: “simplicity.” וְהָיָה כִּֽי־תָבֹוא – It will be when you come in… Through this “coming in” to the moment and the senses, our inner split is healed, and there can arise the joy of הָיָה hayah, the joy of simply being. יי אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ נֹתֵ֥ן לְךָ֖ נַחֲלָ֑ה – Hashem your God is giving it to you as a heritage… This moment now is literally our נַחֲלָה nakhalah, our inheritance; it comes to us from the boundless past, as an unearned gift. From the infinite possibilities of what could have been, here we are. This realization is both the spiritual goal and the path: אַחַ֤ת שָׁאַ֣לְתִּי מֵֽאֵת־יי – One Thing I ask of Hashem… We can read this not merely as asking for one thing, but as asking for Oneness itself. From whom do we ask? From Y-H-V-H, which is composed of the same letters as v’hayah וְהָיָה – it will be. Meaning, our “question” that arises from feeling not at home is answered when we turn toward the moment, intentionally of “coming into” our “heritage.” This is teshuvah, “return,” aided by the spirit of ב bet: “welcoming this moment.”
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
Parshat Ki Tetzei contains seventy-four of the Torah’s 613 mitzvot. Included among them are the inheritance rights of the firstborn, the law of the rebellious son, burial and dignity of the dead, returning a lost object, sending away the mother bird before taking her eggs, the duty to erect a safety fence around the roof of one’s home, and the various forms of kilayim (forbidden plant and animal hybrids).
Also recounted are the laws of having a special place outside the camp for going to the bathroom and covering up one’s waste with earth, the prohibition against turning in an escaped slave, the duty to pay a worker on time and to allow anyone working for you—human or animal— time to eat, the prohibition against charging interest on a loan, the laws of adultery and divorce, and the procedures for yibbum (“levirate marriage”), which is the practice of a man marrying the wife of his deceased childless brother in order to give her children on his brother’s behalf, and chalitzah – the ritual of “removing of the shoe” – in the case that the brother-in-law does not wish to marry her. The parshah concludes with the obligation to remember “what Amalek did to you on the road, on your way out of Egypt.” Amalek was the tribe that attacked Israel in the beginning of the Exodus.
Torah of Awakening – Jewish Meditation Teaching
כִּֽי־תֵצֵ֥א לַמִּלְחָמָ֖ה עַל־אֹיְבֶ֑יךָ וּנְתָנ֞וֹ יְיְ אֱלֹקֶיךָ בְּיָדֶ֖ךָ וְשָׁבִ֥יתָ שִׁבְיֽוֹ׃ When you go out to battle against your enemies, and Hashem your God puts them in your hand, and you capture their captivity... - Devarim (Deuteronomy) 21:10, Parshat Ki Tetzei
Once, when Rabbi Simha Bunam was traveling with his disciples, they stayed overnight at an inn. It had been a long day of travel, so they gathered in the tavern for some drinks and refreshments before retiring. But because they had been on the road and wanted to get settled before too late, they hadn’t yet davened Ma’ariv, the evening prayer. So, after they disembarked, they first gathered to daven.
As they were praying, the inn began to fill up with tavern goers, and the room became louder and more chaotic. They hadn’t yet reached the Amidah, and the hasidim expected their master to move them into another space more conducive to their devotions. But instead, Rabbi Bunam just stayed where he was amid the noise and jostling and pushing. Later, he explained to his disciples: “Sometimes it seems impossible to pray in a certain place because of the distractions, so one seeks out a better place, but this is not correct. For then, the first place cries out mournfully: ‘Why did you refuse to make your devotions here with me? If you met with obstacles, they were a sign that it was up to you to redeem me!’” The delicious fruits of meditation are most easily enjoyed in the stillness, and it is upon us to prepare and ensure that we have a space conducive to the ripening of these fruits – clean, calm and free from distractions. At the same time, if we always avoid outer disturbances, we miss a precious opportunity; we must not become dependent on our situation being a certain way, but rather learn to be rooted in our inner space regardless of what is going on around us. כִּֽי־תֵצֵ֥א לַמִּלְחָמָ֖ה עַל־אֹיְבֶ֑יךָ – When you go out to battle against your enemies… What are the enemies? They are the momentary experiences that tend to captivate us. A noise, an abrupt movement, an inappropriate comment – anything we don’t like tends to trigger our emotions, motivating us to either try and force the situation into conforming with our will, or to leave the situation and find a better one. On the other extreme, we may have a particularly wonderful experience, and then we can become disappointed or even depressed when it’s over. In the spiritual sense, all these experiences, both positive and negative, become our “enemies” when we allow ourselves to be manipulated by them, giving them so much importance that we insist on either changing them, fleeing from them, or clinging to them. וּנְתָנ֞וֹ י אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ בְּיָדֶ֖ךָ וְשָׁבִ֥יתָ שִׁבְיוֹ … and Hashem your God puts them in your hand, and you capture their captivity… In other words, you can have victory over your enemies, but it doesn’t come through fighting or struggling. Your victory is put right into your hand, if you open your hand. Meaning, don’t struggle with your experiences. Fully let them be as they are, without clinging to good ones or blaming anyone for bad ones, and then let them go when they want to go. It is really quite effortless, because it’s not about controlling things, but about relaxing the impulse to control things. That is meditation. וְשָׁבִ֥יתָ שִׁבְיֽוֹ – and you capture their captivity… Meaning, our experiences are constantly trying to capture us, to draw us into their dream and sometimes nightmare, but if you remember: simply be with this moment as it is, and let it go when it goes – then you “capture its captivity” – you can control your impulse to control, and be victorious over your own mind… וּנְתָנ֞וֹ יי אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ בְּיָדֶ֖ךָ – and Hashem your God puts them in your hand… This is the key: to recognize that God is giving this moment to you. That is why, in the story, Rabbi Bunam gives this teaching by saying that the space itself cries out to you for redemption. The point is to understand that in each moment, in every situation, something vital is to be done – and that something is, first of all, to bring our consciousness to it. In this way, we “redeem it” – every moment, no matter how unsatisfactory, becomes a perfect context for practice, as soon as we remember to approach it that way. In this week of Shabbat Ki Tetzei, the Sabbath of Going Out, let’s remember that in order to engage the enemy of resistance and of ego, we need not “go out” into battle, because that only creates more ego, more resistance. Instead, may we remember וּנְתָנ֞וֹ יי אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ בְּיָדֶ֖ךָ – victory is put into our hand, if only we open our hand, if only we open ourselves to this moment as it is, giving our full presence without attempting to change it or flee from it. This quality of “presence with,” which we can also call “patience,” is represented by the letter ח het, and characterizes this month of Elul.
Read past teachings on Ki Tetzei HERE.
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah opens with the instruction to appoint judges and law enforcement officers in every city. “Justice, justice you shall pursue,” Moses tells them. Crimes must be thoroughly investigated and a minimum of two credible witnesses is required for conviction. Furthermore, the Torah must be alive: in every generation, the law must be interpreted and applied in new ways. Moses than reviews laws governing the appointment and behavior of a king, along with the laws of the “cities of refuge” for the inadvertent murderer. Also set forth are the rules of war: the exemption from battle for one who has just built a home, planted a vineyard, married, or is “afraid and soft-hearted;” the requirement to offer terms of peace before attacking a city; and the prohibition against needlessly destroying something of value, such as the law that forbids cutting down fruit trees when laying siege – “For a human being is a tree of the field.” The parshah concludes with the law of the eglah arufah—the special procedure to be followed when a person is killed by an unknown murderer and the body is found in a field—which underscores the responsibility of the community and its leaders not only for what they do, but also for what they might have prevented from being done.
Torah of Awakening: Jewish Meditation Teaching
שֹׁפְטִ֣ים וְשֹֽׁטְרִ֗ים תִּֽתֶּן־לְךָ֙ בְּכׇל־שְׁעָרֶ֔יךָ אֲשֶׁ֨ר יְהֹוָ֧ה אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ נֹתֵ֥ן לְךָ֖ לִשְׁבָטֶ֑יךָ וְשָׁפְט֥וּ אֶת־הָעָ֖ם מִשְׁפַּט־צֶֽדֶק׃ Judges and officers you shall place in all your gates that Hashem your God is giving you, and they shall govern the people with fairness... - Devarim (Deuteronomy) 11:26, Parshat Re’eh
Rabbi Hanokh told this story: A Polish girl hired herself out as a house worker to a wealthy family in Germany. There, they use the expression “to scare off” in their cooking. This means that when a pot of meat is boiling for soup and the broth begins to foam up, they would pour some cold water into it to prevent it from boiling over, so that they could calmly skim off the foam without it making a mess. Once, when the lady of the house had to go off to market while a pot of meat was cooking, she said to the girl, “Watch the soup, and don’t forget to ‘scare off.’” The girl didn’t know what this meant, but was afraid to admit it. So, when she saw the foam rising in the pot, she picked up a broom and shook it at the pot threateningly, while the foam boiled over and made a big mess.
“Now if you try to scare off the yetzer hara (lit. “evil impulse,” meaning ego), you will upset everything. You need to first ‘pour some cold water into’ it and then calmly ‘skim it off.’” How do we do this? We “pour cold water on it” by admitting it, by becoming humble about our imperfections – that’s how we conquer ego. Sometimes, in feeling the weight of our misdeeds and embarrassments, we may try to push them out of our minds, to minimize them and focus instead on something positive, to “scare them off.” But, the wisdom of prayerfulness says to do the opposite: embrace them, admit them, ask for forgiveness; that’s the “cold water.”
אֱלֹהַי עַד שֶׁלֹּא נוֹצַֽרְתִּי אֵינִי כְדַאי,
וְעַכְשָׁו שֶׁנּוֹצַֽרְתִּי כְּאִלּוּ לֹא נוֹצַֽרְתִּי. עָפָר אֲנִי בְּחַיָּי, קַל וָחֹֽמֶר בְּמִיתָתִי: My God, before I was formed, I was not enough – and now that I am formed, it is as if I am not formed. I am dust in my life; how much more so in death…
עַד שֶׁלֹּא נוֹצַֽרְתִּי אֵינִי כְדַאי – before I was formed, I was not enough. That’s the fundamental feeling of ego: “I am not enough. I have to become more, I have to have more, I have to get better, I have to look better, I have to complete myself.” So, the prayer is crying out – look! Even before I got here, I didn’t even have a fighting chance. The deck was stacked against me, because the very feeling of being a someone, of being a being, is inherently one of incompleteness.
וְעַכְשָׁו שֶׁנּוֹצַֽרְתִּי כְּאִלּוּ לֹא נוֹצַֽרְתִּי – and now that I am formed, it is as if I am not formed. Meaning, I’m never fully formed! No matter what I do, there is always this sense of being almost defective. No wonder there is such a booming self-help industry! And yet, the paradox is that when we admit our incompleteness, we shift out of identification with the source of incompleteness – that is, the yetzer hara, the ego, the fragile self – and identify instead with no-thingness, with the open space within which the ego arises. That open space doesn’t care about its self-image, about appearing complete. It can admit: I am nothing! I am unworthy! And that No-Thing, that “not-caring-about-self-image,” is paradoxically full and complete; when we surrender and admit our incompleteness, that beautiful and intangible feeling of Completeness can arise on its own. That ineffable inner sense of Wholeness is represented by the letter ג gimel. And when you feel this Wholeness, you will know that you are not the צוּרָה tzurah – you are not the ever-inadequate form. You don’t have to and you cannot perfect yourself as form. That’s why Yom Kippur comes every year. You don’t get atoned and then you’re all done. It’s like eating. You just had a wonderful meal, now you’re full. You never have to eat again, right? It’s like my beloved father-in-law: whenever he eats a really big and satisfying meal, he says, “I’m never eating again.” The humor, of course, is because matter how much you eat, a few hours later you have to eat again. That is why on Yom Kippur, you just let yourself be hungry, because you are not the hunger. You are not the form. Rather, all forms are perceived within the openness that you are, the vast field of awareness within which that sense of “me” appears – the field that is ever full and complete – that is ג gimel שֹׁפְטִ֣ים וְשֹֽׁטְרִ֗ים תִּֽתֶּן־לְךָ֙ בְּכׇל־שְׁעָרֶ֔יךָ – Judges and officers you shall place in your gates… Who are the שֹׁפְטִים shoftim, the judges? Their job is to discern the truth of something and then make a decision based on that truth. And who are the שֹֽׁטְרִים shotrim, the officers? They enforce the decisions of the שֹׁפְטִים shoftim. These two functions in society also represent two functions on the spiritual path as well. To be a שׁוֹפֵט shofet is to see ourselves clearly, to not get “scared off” from facing our own faults, from the ways we tend to how act from ego. It is helpful to verbalize this, to “confess” in a prayerful way – that’s the essence of the Yom Kippur liturgy. לֹ֥א תַכִּ֖יר פָּנִ֑ים וְלֹא־תִקַּ֣ח שֹׁ֔חַד – Don’t give preference to anyone and don’t take a bribe… 16:19 Meaning, try not to let your view be distorted by the ego’s desire to see oneself in a positive light; look at your “self” objectively. Rise and shine – pour the “cold water” on your head and wake up from the dreams of the ego! But the next step is then to “skim off the foam” – that’s the job of the שֹֽׁטְרִים shotrim, the officers. Because the point is not just to beat ourselves up and wallow in self-deprecation; that would also be ego, using the opposite strategy to avoid change. Instead, our task is to turn away from our old negative patterns and create new and positive ones: צֶ֥דֶק צֶ֖דֶק תִּרְדֹּ֑ף לְמַ֤עַן תִּֽחְיֶה֙ – Justice Justice you shall pursue, so that you may live. It says צֶדֶק tzedek – meaning justice or fairness – twice. The first is that we must be impartial in how we see ourselves, and then the second is to transform and consciously choose a better path, living not from ego, but from our inherent Wholeness; this is the Path of ג Gimel. In this week Shabbat Shoftim, the Sabbath of Judges, which is the first Shabbat of Elul, may our pots overflow blessings, arising from the Wholeness that we are, and may we not shrink away from facing our patterns that are in need of transformation in this coming time of teshuvah.
Read past teachings on Shoftim HERE.
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
Parshat Re’eh, which means “see,” opens with Moses’ stark teaching to the Children of Israel, that before them is blessing and curse – choose blessing! He then reminds them of the ceremony they must perform when they enter the land, that the litany of blessings promised to them if they follow the Torah should be proclaimed publicly on Mount Gerizim, and the curses for not following the Torah on Mount Ebal. Instructions are then given for establishing a Temple in “the place that Hashem will choose,” and that the Temple should be the only place that offerings are brought. And while it is permitted to slaughter animals anywhere for meat, the blood (which is poured upon the altar when animals are offered in the Temple), may not be eaten. The people are then warned against false prophets, and the identifying signs for kosher animals and fish, along with the list of non-kosher birds (first given in Leviticus 11), are repeated.
Moses then reminds the Israelites that they must tithe a tenth of their produce, and that this tithe must be eaten in Jerusalem, or else exchanged for money with which food is purchased and eaten there. In certain years this tithe is instead given to the poor. (Today the practice is to self-tithe a tenth of our livelihood for the poor.) Firstborn cattle and sheep, however, are to be offered in the Temple, and eaten only by the kohanim (priests). Moses then reviews the mitzvah of tzedakah, charity, the obligation to lift up anyone in the community who becomes needy with a gift or a loan. Furthermore, on the Sabbatical year (occurring seven years), all loans are forgiven, and all indentured servants are set free after six years of service. The parshah concludes with the laws of the three pilgrimage festivals – Pesakh (Passover), Shavuot and Sukkot – when everyone is to make the journey to Jerusalem and bring their offerings …
Torah of Awakening: Jewish Meditation Teaching
רְאֵ֗ה אָנֹכִ֛י נֹתֵ֥ן לִפְנֵיכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם בְּרָכָ֖ה וּקְלָלָֽה׃ אֶֽת־הַבְּרָכָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּשְׁמְע֗וּ אֶל־מִצְוֺת֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֧ר אָנֹכִ֛י מְצַוֶּ֥ה אֶתְכֶ֖ם הַיּֽוֹם׃ וְהַקְּלָלָ֗ה אִם־לֹ֤א תִשְׁמְעוּ֙ אֶל־מִצְוֺת֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם וְסַרְתֶּ֣ם מִן־הַדֶּ֔רֶךְ אֲשֶׁ֧ר אָנֹכִ֛י מְצַוֶּ֥ה אֶתְכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם לָלֶ֗כֶת אַחֲרֵ֛י אֱלֹהִ֥ים אֲחֵרִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹֽא־יְדַעְתֶּֽם׃ “See – I place before you today blessing and curse! Blessing, if you listen to the commandments of Hashem your God that I command you today; and curse, if you do not listen the commandments of Hashem your God, but turn away from the path that I command you today and go after other gods, whom you have not known…” Devarim (Deuteronomy) 11:26, Parshat Re’eh
Rabbi Yitzhak of Vorki told this story: “Once, when I was on the road with my holy teacher Rabbi David of Lelov, and stopped over in a town far from our home, a woman suddenly fell upon him in the street and began to beat him. She thought he was her husband who had abandoned her many years ago. After a few moments she saw her error and burst into tears. ‘Do not cry,’ Rabbi David said to her, ‘You were not striking me, but your husband.’ And he added in a low tone, ‘How often we cannot see the truth of what is right in front of us!’”
What is the truth of what is right in front of us? רְאֵ֗ה אָנֹכִ֛י נֹתֵ֥ן לִפְנֵיכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם בְּרָכָ֖ה וּקְלָלָֽה See, I set before you today blessing and curse… “Blessing” and “curse” are constant possibilities, moment to moment – the choice of how we receive this moment is ours. Our tendency is to assume that the “unpleasant” is a curse and the “pleasant” is a blessing, and we put our intention toward the maximizing of our preference and the diminishing of that which we judge as bad. But while we certainly must work toward and maintain that which is desirable, just as important is the question of how we receive what is. This moment has already become; whether we receive it as a “blessing” or a “curse” is our ever-present spiritual task: אֶֽת־הַבְּרָכָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּשְׁמְע֗וּ אֶל־מִצְוֺת֙ ... אֲשֶׁ֧ר אָנֹכִ֛י מְצַוֶּ֥ה אֶתְכֶ֖ם הַיּֽוֹם – The Blessing, if you listen to the mitzvot that I command you today… That is, if we consciously receive whatever the moment brings, be it pleasant or unpleasant, receiving it literally as mitzvah, as commandment, and surrendering to the truth of our actual experience, then we can begin to notice: Beyond the sorrow and joy, there is a blessedness that comes from simple openness to the moment; a blessedness which is inherent within awareness itself, inherent within knowing ourselves as this blessed awareness. Then, even the “curses” are like blessings, because through our awareness of the curses, we can come to know ourselves as the blessedness. וְהַקְּלָלָ֗ה אִם־לֹ֤א תִשְׁמְעוּ֙ – And curse, if you do not listen… That is, if we don’t receive the present moment just as it is, regardless of whether we like or not, we forfeit the deeper blessedness which is our birthright and our nature. וְסַרְתֶּ֣ם מִן־הַדֶּ֔רֶךְ אֲשֶׁ֧ר אָנֹכִ֛י מְצַוֶּ֥ה אֶתְכֶ֖ם הַיּוֹם – and turn away from the path that I command you today… The commanded path is this path, before us right now – this is it – if we would turn toward it rather than resist it. לָלֶ֗כֶת אַחֲרֵ֛י אֱלֹהִ֥ים אֲחֵרִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹֽא־יְדַעְתֶּֽם – and run after other gods, whom you have not known... When we turn away from the present moment, projecting our own concerns upon it like the woman in the story, we sacrifice the Real for the imaginary, worshiping idols of our own thoughts, and ignoring the Reality before us. Then, even “good” things can be like curses – a friendly stranger becomes a guilty abandoning husband – a missed meeting with Reality, a missed encounter with the Divine. So: embrace life as it is: pleasure and pain, sweetness and bitterness, fullness and loss, and uncover the deeper blessedness of Being, which is not separate from the awareness that you are… וְשָׂמַחְתָּ֞ לִפְנֵ֣י יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֗יךָ And you shall rejoice before Reality, your own inner Divinity… - Devarim (Deuteronomy) 16:11
Read past teachings on Re'eh HERE.
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
The third parshah of Sefer Devarim continues with Moses’ closing address to the Children of Israel, promising them that if (Eikev) they will fulfill the mitzvot, they will prosper in the Land: “…a good land, a land with streams and springs and fountains issuing from plain and hill; a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey.”
Moses also rebukes them for their failings in their first generation as a people, recalling their worship of the Golden Calf, the rebellion of Korach and the sin of the spies. But he also speaks of forgiveness and the Second Tablets, instructing them in the core principles of “circumcising the heart,” and the mitzvah to “love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Moses explains that their forty years in the desert, during which they were sustained with daily “manna” from heaven, was to teach them “that a human being does not live by bread alone, but by all that emanates from the mouth of the Divine does a person live!” Moses describes the land they are about to enter as “flowing with milk and honey,” blessed with the “seven species” – wheat, barley, grapevines, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. He warns them to be aware, lest they become arrogant and begin to believe of themselves that “my power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth…”
Torah of Awakening
וְהָיָ֣ה עֵ֣קֶב תִּשְׁמְע֗וּן אֵ֤ת הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים֙ הָאֵ֔לֶּה וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֥ם וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֖ם אֹתָ֑ם וְשָׁמַר֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָ לְךָ֗ אֶֽת־הַבְּרִית֙ וְאֶת־הַחֶ֔סֶד אֲשֶׁ֥ר נִשְׁבַּ֖ע לַאֲבֹתֶֽיךָ׃ And it will be if you listen to these discernments and guard them and do them, then Hashem your God will guard for you the covenant and the kindness which was sworn to your ancestors… - Devarim (Deuteronomy) 7:12 Parshat Eikev
There’s a story of Reb Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch, that once, when his grandfather was teaching him Torah as a young boy, they came to this verse: עֵ֕קֶב אֲשֶׁר־שָׁמַ֥ע אַבְרָהָ֖ם בְּקֹלִ֑י – Because (eikev) Abraham listened to my voice… and Menachem Mendel’s grandfather asked him to explain it. The child said, “Abraham heard God’s Voice even with his עֵקֶב eikev – his heel!”
The grandfather, Reb Shneur Zalman, was ecstatic with his answer and said, “In fact we find this same idea in another verse: וְהָיָ֣ה עֵ֣קֶב תִּשְׁמְע֗וּן – It will be if you listen... This verse tells us we should strive to become so sensitive that even our eikev – our heel – should ‘listen,’ meaning that we should sense the holiness that permeates all creation even with the most insensitive part of our bodies.” This story cleverly summarizes the fruit of spiritual practice: The sensitizing and tuning of awareness into the sacred dimension that underlies all experience. Part of the way we accomplish this is through the addition of practices and structures in our lives that help to develop consciousness, similarly to the way in which the addition of physical exercise develops the body. But the other important element is not a form of addition, but subtraction – meaning, intentionally refraining from taking, and consequently the having of less. Do you know the sensation of drinking water after the 25-hour fast of Yom Kippur? Several days after a huge earthquake in Haiti, television news showed a man searching day and night for his wife who was buried somewhere under a collapsed building. After something like five days, a voice was heard from beneath the rubble. Men dug furiously toward the voice. Soon they pulled out this man’s wife. She had been buried, no space to move, no food or water for several days. What did she do? She sang hymns! As they pulled her out, she was moving and singing. She was clapping her hands, crying “Halleluyah!” Incomprehensible – but there it was: she was singing in gratitude for her life, for the sunlight, for being able to move. That’s sensitivity. The principle to remember is: the more you get, the less sensitive you are to what you already have; hence the tendency to always want MORE. This is so obvious with children. We want the best for them. We want to give them everything. And yet, the more we give, the more they want. Giving them more and more doesn’t always satisfy them more; it can create spoilage. So, it turns out, if we want to give them more, we sometimes have to give them less. וְהָיָ֣ה עֵ֣קֶב תִּשְׁמְע֗וּן – It shall be if you listen… The sentence is strange, because as we saw in the story, the word עֵקֶב eikev really means “heel.” Here, it is understood to mean “if” or “because” or “consequence.” This meaning is probably related to the English idiom when we say that something “follows on the heels” of another thing. The thing that “follows on the heels” is the consequence. עֵ֣קֶב תִּשְׁמְע֗וּן eikev tishma’un can also be translated as “reward for listening” as in “the positive consequence” of “paying attention,” or being sensitive. What is the reward? בָּר֥וּךְ תִּֽהְיֶ֖ה מִכׇּל־הָעַמִּ֑ים – Blessed you will be from all the peoples… In other words, you will receive and appreciate all the blessedness of being a person among people – the gift of being human. This is the whole point of all of those traditional spiritual practices that restrict you in some way, such as fasting. Their message is: don’t keep going in the direction of “more.” Go in the direction of less, even if just for a small period of time, so that you can consciously receive the blessedness of being, rather than constantly looking toward the horizon of the future for more gratification. וַֽיְעַנְּךָ֮ וַיַּרְעִבֶ֒ךָ֒ … לְמַ֣עַן הוֹדִֽיעֲךָ֗ כִּ֠י לֹ֣א עַל־הַלֶּ֤חֶם לְבַדּוֹ֙ יִחְיֶ֣ה הָֽאָדָ֔ם כִּ֛י עַל־כׇּל־מוֹצָ֥א פִֽי־יְהֹוָ֖ה יִחְיֶ֥ה הָאָדָֽם׃ You were afflicted and hungered… so that you would know: not by bread alone does a person live, but by everything that emanates from the mouth of the Divine does a person live! - Devarim (Deuteronomy) 8:3 In other words, to truly live, you have to feel your most basic needs. You have to hunger a little. Otherwise, you won’t appreciate your life and sustenance as a gift, as coming from the “Divine mouth.” And, while fasting and other traditional restrictions can be useful aids, you can actually practice this in a small but powerful way every time you are about to eat. Rather than just digging in, take a moment. Delay the first bite. Appreciate. Say a brakha – either the traditional one or something in your own words. When you are finished, don’t just get up and go. Take a moment… וְאָכַלְתָּ֖ וְשָׂבָ֑עְתָּ וּבֵֽרַכְתָּ֙ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ עַל־הָאָ֥רֶץ הַטֹּבָ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר נָֽתַן־לָֽךְ׃ – And you shall eat, and you shall be satisfied, and you shall bless… 8:10 In this week of Shabbat Eikev, the Sabbath of the Heel, may we practice sensitivity to the many gifts of sustenance that often get taken for granted. Most of all, may we be sensitive to the one gift that holds all the others: the gift of the space of awareness within which all experience unfolds. Don’t hurry through the present moment to get to the next thing. There is only one life to enjoy – and that is the one you are living, in this moment…
Read past teachings on Eikev HERE.
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
This second parshah of Sefer Devarim continues with Moses’ monologue to the Children of Israel on the banks of the Jordan. He opens with how he prayed to enter the Promised Land along with them, but instead he was told he must climb a mountain and view the Land from afar before he dies. He then continues telling the story of the Exodus from Egypt and their receiving of the Torah at Sinai, followed by the prophesy that future generations will abandon the Path for “false gods,” leading to the exile and their being scattered among the nations. But, from their exile they will once again seek the Divine and return...
Torah of Awakening
וָאֶתְחַנַּ֖ן אֶל־יי בָּעֵ֥ת הַהִ֖וא לֵאמֹֽר׃ אֲדֹנָ֣י יי אַתָּ֤ה הַֽחִלּ֙וֹתָ֙ לְהַרְא֣וֹת אֶֽת־עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶ֨ת־גׇּדְלְךָ֔ “I pleaded with Hashem at that time, saying, ‘My Lord, Hashem, You have begun to show Your servant Your Greatness…’” - Devarim (Deuteronomy) 3:23, 24 Parshat Va’Etkhanan
Among the disciples of Rabbi Mendel of Kosov was a kindhearted and generous hasid by the name of Rabbi Moshe. Moshe had been successful in business and was rather wealthy, until one day when his fortune turned. Through a series of unsuccessful business endeavors, he lost all his money and fell into debt. He went to his master, Rabbi Mendel, and told him about his predicament. “Go to my brother-in-law, the Seraph of Strelisk, and pour out your heart to him.” He did so, and when Rabbi Uri of Strelisk heard the story, he replied, “I will take a mikveh, and I will dedicate the merit of the bath to your benefit.” The man returned to his master and told him what had happened. “Go back to my brother-in-law,” said the rabbi of Kosov, “and tell him that the mikveh will not serve to pay your creditors.”
The man rode back to Strelisk again and said what he had been told to say. “Very well my son,” said the Seraph, “in that case, I will also dedicate the merit of my tefillin to your welfare.” When the man returned to Kosov and told his master what had happened, Rabbi Mendel said, “Give my brother-in-law this message from me: the tefillin can’t help either.” The man did as he was bidden. The Seraph reflected, and then replied, “Well, if that is the case, then I shall do even better for you. Today I will dedicate the merit of all my prayers to you, and the three merits will unite into one and come to your aid.” Rabbi Moshe returned to Kosov and gave his report. “Go,” said the tzadik, and he spoke more softly, yet the softness had the effect of making his words more intense, “Go to my brother-in-law and say to him in my name that all of this will not settle a single debt.” When the Seraph received this message, he immediately put on his fur coat and set out for Kosov. The moment he arrived and greeted his brother-in-law, he asked him: “What do you want from me?” “What I want,” said Rabbi Mendel, “is for both of us to travel around for a few weeks and collect the money he needs from our people. For it is written: וְהֶֽחֱזַ֣קְתָּ בּ֔וֹ V’hekhezakta bo – You shall support them… (Lev. 25:35). And that is what they did. וָאֶתְחַנַּ֖ן אֶל־יי – I implored the Divine… The word for “I implored” is וָאֶתְחַנַּ֖ן va’etkhanan – from the word חֵן hein, which means “grace.” To “implore” is to beg for grace. What “grace” is being prayed for? In the plain sense, Moses is asking to be able to enter the Promised Land. But on a deeper level, the “Promised Land” is a metaphor for that inner sense of completeness or wholeness, hinted by the mention of God’s “Greatness” – גׇּדְלְךָ֔ Your Greatness, and represented by the letter ג gimel, which begins the word גָדוֹל gadol. But this Gadol, this Divine “Greatness,” is not something separate from us; it is the revelation of our own innermost being. It is “great” in the sense that it is infinitely more spacious than any particular thing within our experience; it is the vast space within which all experience arises – the space of awareness itself. חָבִיב אָדָם שֶׁנִּבְרָא בְצֶלֶם Beloved are human beings, for they are created in the Divine Image…” (Pirkei Avot 3:18, Rabbi Akiva). The Divine, or Reality, expresses Its Greatness as our own awareness – that’s the tzelem, the Divine “image.” Rabbi Akiva calls us “beloved” because of this gift – the gift of our Divine Greatness. Then he says: חִבָּה יְתֵרָה נוֹדַעַת לוֹ שֶׁנִּבְרָא בְצֶלֶם It is indicative of an even greater love that our Divine Image is made known to us… In other words, though our Divine Greatness is a wonderful gift, it doesn’t do us much good unless it is made known to us, unless we experience the Infinite directly. To experience our Gedulah, our Divine Greatness, is the greatest gift – the Supreme Grace, because it is the revelation of our own being, something that can never be taken away. But, our Divine Greatness is not really hidden; it is only that our awareness tends to look at everything except Itself, so it can be difficult to notice. But if we ask for grace, if we implore God to reveal our Divine Greatness to us and then wait with silent and present alertness for the answer, the prayer itself can help us open to this Truth of who we are. This is the kind of prayer that is answered instantaneously. And from that inner “greatness,” that sense of abundance and completeness, rather than lack and scarcity, generosity on the outer level naturally arises as well, just like Rabbi Mendel in the story. Let’s try it: “Oh Hashem, please reveal to us our own Divine Greatness, that Place within that is free and spacious, that embraces this moment as it is and overflows with love and generosity into the world...” Then, notice – this moment is complete – sensation, feeling, thought – all arising in the space of this moment, which is awareness itself, free and open, complete and miraculous…
Read past teachings on VaEtkhanan HERE.
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
The fifth and final book of the Torah opens with Moses beginning his recap of the Torah to the Children of Israel, who are all assembled on the bank of the Jordan river. He begins by recounting the events and teachings that were given in the course of their forty-year journey from Egypt to Sinai and then to the Promised Land, both rebuking them for their failings and encouraging them to remain faithful to the path he has set before them. In the course of the parshah, Moses recalls the judges and leaders appointed to ease his burden in leadership; the journey from Sinai through the vast desert; the sending of the spies and the people’s fear of entering the Land, leading to that entire generation dying out in the desert.
Also recounted are more recent events: the refusal of the nations of Mo’av and Ammon to allow the Israelites to pass through their countries; the wars against the Emorite kings Sikhon and Og, and the settlement of their lands by the tribes of Reuven and Gad and part of the tribe of Manasheh; and Moses’ message to his successor, Joshua, who will take over Moses’ leadership after his death.
Torah of Awakening
לֹֽא־תַכִּ֨ירוּ פָנִ֜ים בַּמִּשְׁפָּ֗ט כַּקָּטֹ֤ן כַּגָּדֹל֙ תִּשְׁמָע֔וּן Don’t show favoritism in judgment; like the lesser as the greater, you shall listen… Devarim (Deuteronomy) 1:17, Parshat Devarim
Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotsk asked one of the hasidim of Rabbi Moshe, soon after Rabbi Moshe’s death, “What was most important to your teacher?” The hasid thought for a bit and then replied, “Whatever he happened to be doing in the moment.”
Maintaining attentiveness to whatever we happen to be doing in the moment is crucial, though not particularly easy. On the other hand, it is relatively easy to see when someone else is not being attentive. When we see someone being defensive, angry, or complaining, or blaming, it is simple to diagnose. But, when we become annoyed with that person for getting caught in their own unconsciousness, how easy it is to get caught ourselves; we resist the resistance of others, and can’t see that we ourselves are resisting. While it would certainly be desirable for everyone to wake up from the dream of ego, we can only ever wake up ourselves. Yes, there is a synergy between people; awakening begets more awakening, and unconsciousness begets more unconsciousness. But at the end of the day, the choice to awaken – meaning, the choice to receive and accept this moment as it is – is an essentially individual matter; you can only do it for yourself, right now. So, in the moment that we perceive the ego of someone else and forget to be aware of our own, we must remember: there is only one time to be awake, and that time is always now. This can be difficult because now is constant; we tend to be unconscious of things that are constant, like our breathing, for example. That is why it is so helpful to use that which is not constant to remind us of the Constant, to use time and change to stay awake to the Changeless and the Timeless… וֶהֱוֵי זָהִיר בְּמִצְוָה קַלָּה כְבַחֲמוּרָה Be careful with a light mitzvah as with a grave one… Pirkei Avot, 2:1 There are lesser and greater mitzvot; obviously, the mitzvah to light a Shabbat candle is not as great as the mitzvah of saving a life, for example. And, yet, this mishnah is saying we should be just as careful with the lesser ones as with the greater ones. How can this be? If we should be just as careful with the lesser ones as with greater ones, doesn’t that destroy the whole idea that are lesser ones and greater ones? וֶהֱוֵי זָהִיר – Be careful… The word for “careful” is זָהִיר zahir, which can also mean “watchful” or “attentive.” Understood this way, it is not saying that it is just as important to observe the lesser mitzvot as the greater ones; it is saying that no matter what mitzvah you are doing, you should be just as זָהִיר zahir – you should be just as attentive, just as present. And furthermore, it is our awareness of the very fact that not all mitzvot are equal that reminds us: even though the mitzvot are not all equal, we can still bring equal Presence to them all. And, as different as the various mitzvot are, even more varied are our moments in life; you cannot compare a moment of childbirth or a moment of death to a moment of putting toothpaste on your toothbrush. And yet, the message is: וֶהֱוֵי זָהִיר hevei zahir – be present in all moments, great and small. And, use your awareness of the great and small to remind you: the moment to be זָהִיר zahir is always this moment… לֹֽא־תַכִּ֨ירוּ פָנִ֜ים – Don’t show favoritism in judgment… On the surface, this is Moses is telling the Israelites judges that they should judge fairly, not giving preference to either the poor and powerless or to the great and powerful. But on a metaphorical level, כַּקָּטֹ֤ן כַּגָּדֹל֙ kakaton kagadol – “like the small, like the great” – regardless of whether the moment is mundane and insignificant or crucially important, תִּשְׁמָע֔וּן tishma’un – listen! Be fully present. Why? Because in being fully present, you are being what you truly are, beneath and beyond the sense of self that is constructed of thoughts and feelings, the self that judges lesser and greater, the self that prefers this over that. At the core of your being and beyond the border of all that you perceive, you are presence, vast and unconditionally free. And even more, that presence is truly the One Presence, the One Reality present in all things, awake right now through your own senses, ever creating and perceiving Itself, That from which all arises to Which all will return. This is not merely a belief or an idea; it is a description of the experience that arises when we sustain our attentiveness over time; this is meditation. When we apply meditation in the flow of life, being זָהִיר zahir moment to moment so as not to get lost in the fantasies of the mind, this is the Path of ש Shin – the fire of awareness. In this week of Shabbat Devarim, the Sabbath of Words, may we dwell in the stillness of Presence brought on by the fire of awareness, so that all our words may arise from the wisdom of that stillness…
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
Parshat Matot
The parshah opens with Moses teaching the laws about oaths and vows and how they may be annulled. The Israelites then go to war against Midian for the incident at Baal Pe’or in which the Midianites attempted to corrupt the Israelites by seducing them into idolatry. After the Israelites defeat the Midianites, the Torah gives a detailed account of the war spoils and how they were allocated amongst the people, the warriors, the Levites and the high priest. The tribes of Reuven and Gad (later joined by half of the tribe of Menasheh) ask Moses for permission to remain in the good pasture lands east of the Jordan rather than crossing over with the rest of the tribes. Moses is initially angered by the request, but then agrees on the condition that they not abandon the other tribes when in need of military assistance. Mas’ei The forty-two journeys and encampments of Israel are listed, from the Exodus all the way to their present position on the banks of the Jordan river. The boundaries of the Promised Land are given, and cities of refuge are designated as havens and places of exile for those who accidentally kill another person and are seeking protection from retribution... The daughters of Tzelafhad marry within their own tribe of Menasheh, so that the estate which they inherit from their father should not pass to the province of another tribe.
Torah of Awakening
אִישׁ֩ כִּֽי־יִדֹּ֨ר נֶ֜דֶר לַֽיי אֽוֹ־הִשָּׁ֤בַע שְׁבֻעָה֙ לֶאְסֹ֤ר אִסָּר֙ עַל־נַפְשׁ֔וֹ לֹ֥א יַחֵ֖ל דְּבָר֑וֹ כְּכָל־הַיֹּצֵ֥א מִפִּ֖יו יַעֲשֶֽׂה׃ If a person vows a vow to the Divine or swears an oath to forbid something to one’s soul, they shall not empty their word; everything that comes from their mouth, so shall they do… BaMidbar (Numbers) 30:3, Parshat Matot
One Friday afternoon, the Baal Shem Tov traveled with his disciples to a certain far-off village, and led them to a little broken down shack of a house. He knocked, and when a woman opened the door and saw they were travelers, she warmly greeted them. “Won’t you stay for Shabbos? My husband and I would love to have you,” she asked.
The Baal Shem Tov immediately accepted. The disciples were surprised – why were they bothering this poor family who obviously had hardly enough for themselves? At Shabbos dinner, when they came to the motzi, the blessing over the challah, the challah cover was removed to reveal a tiny crust of moldy bread. After the blessing, the Baal Shem grabbed the tiny crust and gobbled it down himself. The disciples were terribly embarrassed. Next, a little bit of dried fish was brought out for dinner. Again, the Baal Shem grabbed it and gobbled it down, not allowing anyone else even a taste. For the rest of Shabbos, the Baal Shem did similar things, while the disciples endured his actions in silent agony. After Shabbos was over and they set off to return home, they could restrain themselves no longer: “How could you behave that way? What is the matter with you??” The Baal Shem was just silent. A year later, the Baal Shem Tov brought those same disciples back to the same little village where they had visited the poor family the year before. But, when they arrived, there was a palatial mansion in the place where the little shack once stood! The Baal Shem Tov explained: “The holy couple whose home we visited last year was blessed with everything they needed to be extremely successful in business, but they were so full of faith, that they chose to rely only on God’s grace and wouldn’t do anything to help themselves. So, while they prayed passionately for their livelihood, they refused to take any steps on their own toward it improving it. When we visited last year, that crust of bread and bit of fish were enough to keep them trapped in their passivity. All I needed to do was take away that last bit of sustenance, so that they would be pushed over the edge and forced to take some action. That’s what they did, and just look at them now!” Desperation can be a powerful motivator. In the case of spirituality, when we are feeling good and things are going well, there is a tendency to allow our practice to become weak or even drop away completely. But when disturbance comes and we are face to face with our own spiritual immaturity, the desperation can force us to return more powerfully to the Path. But is it possible to keep that seriousness of intention and commitment even when things are going well? כְּכָל־הַיֹּצֵ֥א מִפִּ֖יו יַעֲשֶֽׂה׃ – Everything that comes from their mouth, so shall they do… Verbally affirming our intentions in the form of a vow is a way of defending ourselves against the sneaky klippa of complacency. Even when we are moved to desperation and our intentions for the Path become clear and powerful, that doesn’t mean we will continue to be connected to that intention, especially if the intention goes against longtime habits. For that, we need to create a new pattern in our nervous systems so that the intention remains present with us. How to do it? The key is write your intention down and repeat it often. Then, when the flow of life is easy and you would tend to become lax you’re your practice, you will be solid as a rock; if your intention is clear to yourself, nothing can shake you. This is the Path of Netzakh, the sefirah of carrying out an intention by steadily working toward a goal over long periods of time. But, you might ask, isn’t attaching ourselves to some goal a function of ego? Isn’t spirituality about surrender, not holding on to anything? It’s true – commitment to a particular goal alone can often be a function of ego. The hallmark of ego is that it seeks control; that’s why intention and commitment (Netzakh) must be balanced by humility and gratitude (Hod) and this is the basic function of prayer. In the story, the couple had lots of Hod, but not enough Netzakh; the key is balancing them. When we take an action, the action has some intention behind it; there is always some goal attached which motivates the action, whether we are aware of it or not, even if the goal is simply to create a certain feeling. The purpose of praying for things, on the other hand, is not merely to bring about the thing we pray for; it is not to control God or to “manifest our desires,” but rather to make our desires transparent, not-fixed, not-egoic. The essence of prayer is the recognition that we are not in control; we don’t even control our own thoughts. We pray only because the words have arisen in our mouths to pray – on this level, there is no separate “me,” there is only God – unfolding in every form and in every happening. At the same time, if your prayer makes you passive so that you simply wait for God to act, you’ve make a false split between you and God. You assume that “God” is one thing and you are another. But there is One Reality. Commit and act, but know that it is not you who acts. Pray, but know that God prays through you. In this week of Shabbat Mattot, the Sabbath of Tribes, may we support each other in manifesting our visions and goals. May we recognize that commitment to both action and prayer are two sides of the Whole – Netzakh and Hod, the passive and the active sides of the Tree, as One.
Read past teachings on Matot HERE.
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