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Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah opens on Mount Sinai (b’har – “on the mountain”) with the laws of the Sabbatical year: every seventh year, all work on the land should cease, and its produce becomes free for all to take, human and beast alike. Seven Sabbatical cycles are followed by a fiftieth year—the Yovel, or “Jubilee” year, on which, in addition to ceasing work on the land, all indentured servants are set free, and all ancestral estates that have been sold revert to their original owners. Additional laws governing the sale of lands, and the prohibitions against fraud and usury, are also given.
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
אֵ֣ת סְפִ֤יחַ קְצִֽירְךָ֙ לֹ֣א תִקְצ֔וֹר וְאֶת־עִנְּבֵ֥י נְזִירֶ֖ךָ לֹ֣א תִבְצֹ֑ר שְׁנַ֥ת שַׁבָּת֖וֹן יִהְיֶ֥ה לָאָֽרֶץ׃ וְ֠הָיְתָה שַׁבַּ֨ת הָאָ֤רֶץ לָכֶם֙ לְאָכְלָ֔ה... You shall not reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your untrimmed vines; it shall be a year of complete rest for the land. It will be a Sabbath of the land; for you to eat… - Vayikra (Leviticus) 25:5-6; Parshat Behar
A friend of mine told me a true story: Once, when he was about to let out his dog, he noticed a cute little baby dove huddled on the ground. Above was the nest that it must have fallen from. He kept his dog in the house while he went out and lifted the baby bird back into its nest. He wasn’t sure if this was the right thing to do, but it seemed the right thing in the moment, and it was a warm and gratifying feeling to save that baby bird. Not long after, he was moving some furniture in his workplace. As he lifted a desk, he was taken aback by a huge, dead, rotting lizard filled with maggots. It was a disgusting thing to deal with as he cleaned it up.
He told me this story because it seemed to him almost like a symbolic dream, and he was wondering what it meant. Why such a gratifying, life-affirming, cuddly experience followed by such a disgusting horrific, death centered experience? What was the meaning of it? Sometimes we are given situations that require immediate action. These are the real-time “commandments” – the mitzvot we don’t learn from books, but that appear to us and demand a response. Sometimes the action required is to save a cute little bird, sometimes to clean up a rotting lizard corpse. Sometimes it is to feed a hungry baby, sometimes it is to yank a child out of the street when a car is coming, and sometimes it is to bury a loved one who has died unexpectedly. In other words, when it comes to being present to what is needed in the moment, it may be bitter or it may be sweet. There is a full spectrum of human experience, and if we want to be available to the “commandment” of the moment, we have to be open to both – we can’t avoid any of it. Of course, most of the time, there isn’t some unexpected urgent thing to deal with, barukh Hashem. Still, when it comes to being spiritually awake, there is an ever-present urgency. What is this urgency? אִם לֹא עַכְשָׁיו, אֵימָתָי: Im lo akhshav, eimatai?– If not now, when? - Hillel, Pirkei Avot, 1:14 The urgency of the moment is the moment itself; the mitzvah that comes to us now, is actually the Now – it is to be here for This. We could call this is the mitzvah of meditation, or Presence: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל – Sh’ma Yisrael – “Listen, Israel” meaning: Be attentive… וְיָדַעְתָּ הַיּום – V’yadata HaYom – “Know today” meaning: Be aware of the Now… This is the constantly urgent mitzvah. And yet, paradoxically, to meditate is to fully accept; it is to embrace the Reality of this moment with positivity, not resist it; this has almost the opposite quality of urgency. It is more like joyfully planting a seed and watching it grow, rather than aggressively trying to force things: נֹשֵׂא מֶֽשֶׁךְ־הַזָּֽרַע, בֹּא־יָבֹא בְרִנָּה, נֹשֵׂא אֲלֻמֹּתָיו: Carrying the bag of seed, he will return with joyous song carrying his sheaves. - Psalm 126 Meditation is somehow the unity of these two seemingly opposite qualities of urgency or immediacy on one hand, and joyful “allowing” on the other: לֹא הַבַּיְשָׁן לָמֵד, וְלֹא הַקַּפְּדָן מְלַמֵּד... A timid person can’t learn, and an impatient person can’t teach… - Pirkei Avot 2:6 In other words, don’t be timid – jump fully into the moment; this is Presence. On the other hand, Presence means letting the moment be as it is, not being impatient about how you think it should be or how you want it to be; in other words, receiving whatever it gives you: וְ֠הָיְתָה שַׁבַּ֨ת הָאָ֤רֶץ – It will be a Sabbath of the land… This description of Sh’mitah is a perfect metaphor: accept both the nourishing food and the thistles and thorns, both the “bird” and the “lizard.” But this is only the first step; the second step is engagement with life. After all, the Sabbath of the land is once every seven years, just as Shabbat is once every seven days. This is also meditation: reposing from life for a relatively portion of the day, then returning to the joyful “planting of seeds.” This rhythm of both allowing and engaging, of both enjoying and doing, is represented by the s’firah of Y’sod, “Foundation” – because joyful engagement with life is the foundation of Living Presence…
YESOD: “Foundation” – Joy, Health
I Am Enjoying I Am Joyful I Am Joy Chant: Ivdu Et Hashem עִבְדוּ אֶת יְהֹוָה בְּשִׂמְחָה בֹּֽאוּ לְפָנָיו בִּרְנָנָה: Ivdu Et Hashem b’simkhah bo-u l’fanav bir-nana! (2x) Ivdu Et Hashem b’simkhah b’simkhah bo-u l’fanav bir-nana! (2x) Serve the Divine with joy! Come before the Presence with song! - Psalm 100 (Scale: b3, #4, b6)
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