Guided Meditation: Tiferet
Torah of Awakening: Parshat Re'eh
Parshah Summary – P’shat
Parshat Re’eh, which means “see,” opens with Moses’ admonishment: “Blessing and curse are before you; choose blessing!” He then reminds them of a ceremony in which the litany of blessings promised to them if they follow the Torah should be proclaimed publicly on Mount Gerizim, and the curses for not doing so on Mount Ebal. Instructions are then given for establishing a Temple, the only place that offerings are to be brought. And while it is permitted to slaughter animals anywhere for meat, the blood 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 reviews tithing of a tenth of the produce, which must be eaten in Jerusalem. In certain years this tithe is instead given to the poor. (This is one of the origins of today’s Jewish practice of self-tithing a tenth of our livelihood for the poor.) 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.
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
רְאֵ֗ה אָנֹכִ֛י נֹתֵ֥ן לִפְנֵיכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם בְּרָכָ֖ה וּקְלָלָֽה׃ “See – I place before you today blessing and curse!” - Devarim (Deuteronomy) 11:26, Parshat Re’eh
There was once a farmer named Moishe, who owned many horses. But, after a series of unfortunate incidents, he lost all of his animals except for one old horse. Then, one day, even his last horse escaped, leaving Moishe with nothing. The villagers came to console him: “Oy Moishe, we are so sorry. What great sin could you have committed to bring this curse upon yourself?” Moishe replied, “Maybe curse, maybe blessing. We don’t know.”
Later that week, just before Shabbos, the horse returned – with an entire herd of wild horses! Moishe’s son was able to move all the wild horses into their fenced field. Instantly, Moishe was a rich man. The villagers returned: “Oy Moishe! What a blessing! Surely you have done some great mitzvah to deserve such a reward!” Moishe just said, “Maybe a blessing, maybe a curse! Who knows?” After Shabbos, Moishe’s son began the task of breaking in the wild horses. While he was working a particularly feisty one, he was thrown and broke his leg. Again, the villagers came: “Oy Moishe, I guess those horses were not such a blessing after all! Now your only son is worthless! How will you get any work done? How could you have brought such a curse upon yourself?” Moishe simply replied, “Well, we really don’t know… maybe it’s a curse, maybe it’s a blessing.” The next day, some Russian soldiers came through the village, drafting all the young Jewish men into the army. But, Moishe’s son was spared on account of his broken leg. Again, the villagers came – “Oy Moishe! Hashem has surely blessed you by causing your son to break his leg!” Where does it end? Of course, we must judge things when necessary. But the humor of the story is the unconscious impulse of the villagers to constantly judge everything that happens, rather than accepting life as it comes. If we are compulsively dragged around by the shifting judgements of our minds, automatically proclaiming everything as either a blessing or a curse, isn’t that itself a curse? הַיּ֑וֹם בְּרָכָ֖ה וּקְלָלָֽה – Today, blessing and curse! In other words, “today” – meaning now – there is the potential for either blessing or curse. How to choose the blessing? אֶֽת־הַבְּרָכָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּשְׁמְע֗וּ אֶל־מִצְוֺת֙ – The blessing, that you listen to the commandments… On the plain, p’shat level, Moses is simply telling them to follow the commandments so that they can choose blessing. But we can discover a deeper level if we look at the different meanings of the word מִצְוֺת֙ mitzvot, “commandments.” First, this moment in which we find ourselves is itself a “commandment.” Meaning, it is what it is. It has authority. We surrender to this moment or we struggle in vain; this moment has already become what it is. How do we surrender? This brings us to the second meaning of mitzvah, that of “connection” rather than commandment: בֶּן עַזַּאי אוֹמֵר, הֱוֵי רָץ לְמִצְוָה קַלָּה כְבַחֲמוּרָה, וּבוֹרֵחַ מִן הָעֲבֵרָה. שֶׁמִּצְוָה גּוֹרֶרֶת מִצְוָה, וַעֲבֵרָה גוֹרֶרֶת עֲבֵרָה. שֶׁשְּׂכַר מִצְוָה, מִצְוָה. וּשְׂכַר עֲבֵרָה, עֲבֵרָה: Ben Azzai said: Be quick in performing a minor commandment just as a major one, and flee from transgression; for a commandment leads to another commandment, and transgression leads to another transgression; For the reward for performing a commandment is another commandment and the “reward” for committing a transgression is a transgression. - Pirkei Avot 4:2 And the Hasidic master, Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl wrote in his Me-or Einayim (“Light of the Eyes,” mid-18th century): אמרו רז״ל: שׂכר מצוה – מצוה. רצונם לומר, שהשם יתברך נתן לנו המצות כדי להידבק על ידיהם בהשם יתברך. וזהו “שכר מצוה – מצוה”, לשון צוותא, דהיינו שנדבק על ידי המצות בהשם יתברך, ואין לך שׂכר גדול מזה: Our Rabbis said: ‘The reward for a mitzvah is a mitzvah.’ This means that the God gave us the commandments so that we might cleave to the Holy Blessed One through them. Thus, the reward for a mitzvah is the mitzvah itself—in the sense of (the similar Aramaic word) tzavta, which means “connection,” hinting that through the mitzvot, one “connects” to the Divine, and there is no greater reward than that… Rabbi Menachem Nachum points out that mitzvah is related to the Aramaic word tzavta which means not “to command,” but “to connect.” And what is the basic means through which we connect with another being? אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּשְׁמְע֗וּ – that you listen… We connect by listening – as when someone is speaking, we affirm our connection by telling them, “I hear you.” In this way, the verse is telling us: if we want to connect (tzavta) with the “command” of this moment, we must listen – that is, we must be present; this is meditation. הַבְּרָכָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּשְׁמְע֗וּ – The blessing, that you listen… In other words, if we want blessing and not curse, we must connect with command of this moment – be present with what is, regardless of whether it seems like a blessing or a curse on the surface. Accept the blessing and the curse; that’s the blessing. Prefer the blessing and not the curse – that’s the curse! רְאֵ֗ה...בְּרָכָ֖ה וּקְלָלָֽה – See…blessing and curse!” But in order to do that, we first have to be aware of our situation; we have to see. So while the sense of “hearing” is a metaphor for connecting, the sense of “seeing” is a metaphor for understanding, as in when we “see” that something is the case: “Oh, I see.” Our tendency, however, is to be like the villagers, stuck in the curse of the automatic, unconscious impulse to judge things as either blessings or curses. To go beyond that, we need to see that impulse within, and choose instead to simply listen to the fullness of how it is, without judging, like the wise farmer. And this is the one judgement we should make – the judging of the judge. When we do that, we free ourselves from the mitzrayim (Egypt, narrowness) of the compulsively judging mind. Then, we can respond to each moment as it is, without the excess drama. And this brings us to the third meaning of mitzvot – the plain meaning as God’s “commandments” to us. When we see our own impulses, get free from them, and listen attentively to the fullness of what is now, then we can recognize that we are not something separate from that Fullness; there is One Reality, and we can choose to align our actions can with that Oneness. We can choose to live, imperfectly yet ever-returning, in service of the Whole, through the two core mitzvot: וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ V’ahavtah l’rei-akha kamokha ~ “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This is not merely a mitzvah to have a certain feeling, but to live in communal responsibility toward others: giving of tzedakah (charity), hospitality, visiting the sick, and the many other mitzvot of service. וְאָהַבְתָּ אֵת יְה–וָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ V’ahavtah et Adonai Elokekhah ~ “Love Hashem, your (own, inner) Divinity.” This is not merely a mitzvah to have a certain feeling, but to express love of the Divine through the concrete forms of avodah: prayers and blessings, Shabbat and festivals, Torah study, and the many other mitzvot of Jewish practice. Then, our actions can truly be, however imperfectly yet ever-returning, expressions of God in the world; that is both our true nature and infinitely unfolding potential: to accept how Reality unfolds, and respond with wisdom and love, bringing forth Its potential beauty and harmony, moment by moment.
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Malchut | Jewish Kabbalah Meditation: "Grounded Presence"
"Permeating Presence" Parshat Eikev & Malchut
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 Korakh 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 God’s mouth 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, olive oil 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 יְהֹ-וָ֨ה אֱלֹ-הֶ֜יךָ 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
Part of the purpose of meditation is to get free from negative thinking. But, there are times when our view of Reality is distorted by positive thinking; for example, when you hear the word, “Nature” – what comes to mind? Most likely, a beautiful forest, a beach, a sunset over the mountains. Probably not the smell of rotting food…but this is too is nature! And yet, we don’t think of stinky, rotting food because, for most of us, it doesn’t invoke that sense of awe and spaciousness that we associate with nature.
And yet, if we bring to mind the inner intelligence of the natural cycles and the roles that microorganisms play as we encounter the stinky rotten food, something shifts. The unpleasant smell is still there, but it lives in a greater context; we can still have that element of awe and reverence, if we remember to evoke it. The same is true of the sacred. When we think of the sacred, an image of burning candles or holy texts may come to mind, because those things help evoke a sense of the sacred. But the sacred is simply the dimension of Being-ness that everything participates in; the sacred is ever-present. Just as in the nature example, we can know this for ourselves, if we remember to become present, to bring ourselves into connection with present Reality, and hence with the Presence that infuses all things. There was once a king who decided to test his subjects, so he had all the riches of his palace brought out into a huge field, while he sat on a raised throne in the center. He invited everyone in the kingdom to come and pick one thing to take for themselves. Droves of people came and wandered around anxiously, trying to decide what to choose. Then, a little old woman made her way through the field and up to the king. “Is it true that we can take anything in the field?” she asked the king. “Yes,” he replied, “everything in this field is available. You just have to decide which one to choose.” “In that case,” said the old woman, “I choose you!” This is our task – to not be distracted by all the seductive things, experiences, or thoughts and feelings that are constantly coming and going, but to see through them all to the underlying Reality – to “choose the King,” so to speak. The message is: all the forms we perceive, all objects, all beings, all perceptions, all feelings, all thoughts – all of it – all are forms of the same One Reality that we call the Divine. The Divine is not remote; it is not somewhere other than Here. All we need do is remember and choose It. וְהָיָ֣ה עֵ֣קֶב תִּשְׁמְע֗וּן אֵ֤ת הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים֙ הָאֵ֔לֶּה... And it will be if you listen to these Mishpatim, ethical principles… At first glance, this verse, with its use of the word mishpatim, seems to be saying the opposite. Mishpatim are ethical laws, grounded in the perspective that there is good and bad, right and wrong – which is in contrast to seeing the Divine in all things, transcending good and bad, going beyond right and wrong. And yet, on a deeper level, there is a hint in this verse of the non-dual, of the realization of the Divine that permeates everything, beyond good and bad: וְהָיָ֣ה עֵ֣קֶב תִּשְׁמְע֗וּן – It will be if you listen… The word עֵקֶב Eikev literally means “heel.” In this context it is understood to mean the word “if,” in the sense of one thing “following on the heels” of another thing, if. The word וְהָיָ֣ה v’hayah means “it will be,” but it is also the same letters as the Divine Name, in a different order: יה – וה yod hei and vav hei. The idea here is that in order for us to realize the underlying Divinity of everything, then even our heels, the bottom and most insensitive parts of the body, must become sensitive to the Divinity that permeates all things. There is a hint in the word Eikev itself: ayin, koof, bet. Ayin means “eye” and indicates seeing, meaning perception. Koof represents kedushah, meaning “the sacred.” Bet is bayit, meaning “house,” indicating form. Thus, within the word Eikev itself is encoded the practice of “seeing” through to the “sacred” dimension which is “housed” in all things. How do we do that? וְהָיָ֣ה עֵ֣קֶב תִּשְׁמְע֗וּן “The Divine is realized by the heel that listens…” In other words, bring awareness into the senses. The s’firah of Presence in form, the Divinity that infuses all things, is called Malkhut, which means “Kingdom” – the tenth s’firah of the Tree of Life. “Kingdom” may have a masculine sound to it, but it’s meaning is actually Sh’khinah, a feminine word which means the Divine Presence, and has been pictured over the centuries as a queen, as a bride, and as a maiden. In this spirit, Malkhut also represents receptivity, as it receives the influx of Divine energy from the other nine sefirot. The message is: all the forms we perceive, all objects, all beings, all perceptions, all feelings, all thoughts – all of it – all are forms of the same One Reality that we call the Divine. The Divine is not remote; it is not “somewhere” other than Here. All we need do is remember and receive It.
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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 | Jewish Meditation Teaching
וָאֶתְחַנַּ֖ן אֶל־יְהֹ–וָ֑ה בָּעֵ֥ת הַהִ֖וא לֵאמֹֽר׃ ...אֲדֹנָ֣י יֱהֹ–וִ֗ה 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
A disciple of Rabbi Yitzhak Meir of Ger came to the rebbe with a complaint: “I’ve been trying for twenty years, and still I don’t feel like I’m getting anywhere! If a craftsman practiced their craft for twenty years, they would either be much better at their craft, or at the very least they would be able to do it much more quickly. But with me, I’ve been praying and praying, and I don’t feel any closer than when I began.”
“It is taught in Elijah’s name,” replied the rebbe, “that a person should take Torah upon themselves as an ox takes the yoke. You see, the ox leaves its stall in the morning, goes to the field, plows, and his led back home. This happens day after day. Nothing changes with regard to the ox, but the ploughed field bears the harvest.” What does this story mean? Obviously, the ox is a metaphor for the disciple – and therefore for us. But, the field is also a metaphor for the disciple, otherwise it would be irrelevant. What is this “field” aspect of our being that “bears the harvest” in response to our practice, and yet we may not necessarily be aware of it? There is a hint in the parshah: וָאֶתְחַנַּ֖ן אֶל־יְה–וָ֑ה בָּעֵ֥ת הַהִ֖וא לֵאמֹֽר׃ – I pleaded with the Divine at that time, speaking… Moses is pleading with Hashem to let him enter the “land.” Like the hasid who complained to his rebbe, Moses is saying, “I’ve been leading this people toward the land for forty years – please let me at least enter along with them!” The “land” is a metaphor – in relation to our spiritual path, it represents the fruit of the practice – that sense of coming home to Oneness, of finally “arriving.” This verse, then, is actually an instruction – when we feel the angst of life, when we feel like an ox that goes on day after day with the same old routine, we too must not hold back and cry out in prayer. But then, listen for the Divine response: רַב־לָ֔ךְ אַל־תּ֗וֹסֶף דַּבֵּ֥ר אֵלַ֛י ע֖וֹד בַּדָּבָ֥ר הַזֶּֽה׃ “Too much of you! Do not increase your words to me about this thing!” That separate self-sense, the “me” that thinks and speaks and acts, is the “ox.” The truth is, the ox will always be an ox. At some point, we need to give up on all this “me” – רַב־לָךְ Rav lakh! Too much of you! – and discover the aspect of our being that is silence – אַל־תּוֹסֶף דַּבֵּר Al tosef daber! Do not increase your words! In that silence we can discover the other aspect of our being – the deep, vast, boundless “field.” This is not to deny or devalue the “ox” in any way; we need the ox. We need to do things, to organize our lives. We even need the ox just to set aside the time for meditation. But just as the ox cannot become the field, just as Moses cannot enter the land but must die outside the land, so too we must let go of this self-ness and recognize the aspect of ourselves that is beyond the ox. The truth is, on the deepest level, we already are the field… ...עֲלֵ֣ה רֹ֣אשׁ הַפִּסְגָּ֗ה וְשָׂ֥א עֵינֶ֛יךָ “Ascend to the top of the cliff and raise up your eyes…” Moses climbs up the cliff and sees the “land” from afar, and there he dies. Similarly, we can understand the spiritual goal with our minds, we can understand the concept of enlightenment, but that is only a “seeing from afar.” To truly enter the “land,” we must discover what is beyond the ox-self. Alei rosh – “elevate the head” – recognize that beneath all the content, you are simple awareness, totally transcendent of your thoughts, feelings, and experiences. How do you do that? V’sa einekha – “raise up your eyes” – see whatever is arising in your awareness, right now; be the transcendent space within which this moment unfolds. In this way, prayer leads to silence, and you can make that shift from being the “ox” to being the “field” – the vast field of silent Presence, beneath the thoughts, beneath the words. A rabbi once asked Menachem Mendel of Vorki, “Where did you learn the art of silence?” Menachem Mendel was about to respond, but then he changed his mind and said nothing. This practice of silent seeing is represented by the letter ע ayin. The word “ayin” means “eye”—like the physical eye that sees the world, but on a deeper level, it is awareness itself – the awareness that sees, that hears, that feels; the space of consciousness within which all experience arises. The Zohar teaches that, while God is hidden, God longs to be sought. Just as a child plays hide-and-seek for the sake of being found, the Sacred waits patiently for our seeking. The tricky part is that we don’t find God by seeking outwardly, but by our awareness becoming aware of itself – aware of its own Divinity…
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
The fifth and final book of the Torah opens with Moses beginning his final address 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, to the Promised Land, both rebuking them for their failings and encouraging them to remain faithful to the path set before them. In the course of the parshah, Moses recalls his appointment of judges and leaders to decide cases of justice and teach them Torah; the journey from Sinai through the desert; the sending of the spies and the people’s recoiling from 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 | Jewish Meditation Teaching
...אֵ֣לֶּה הַדְּבָרִ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֨ר דִּבֶּ֤ר מֹשֶׁה֙ אֶל־כל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel… -D’varim (Deuteronomy) 1:1, Parshat D’varim
Once there was a scorpion who was looking for a way to get to the other side of a river. As he searched up and down the banks, he came upon a fox who was about to swim across. “Please let me swim on your back!” implored the scorpion. “No way!” replied the fox, “You’ll sting me!” “Why would I do that?” argued the scorpion, “If I stung you, we would both drown.” After thinking about it, the fox agreed. The scorpion climbed up on his back, and the fox began to swim across. But, when they were about half way across the river, the scorpion stung the fox. As the poison began its work, the fox started to sink. “Why did you do it?” said the fox, “Now we’ll both drown!” “I couldn’t help myself,” said the scorpion, “It’s my nature.”
אֵ֣לֶּה הַדְּבָרִ֗ים... – These are the words… Moses speaks his final words to the Children of Israel before he dies. They too stand by a river, preparing to cross, and he reminds them of their journeys up to that point. He begins by recounting the highest moment, when they stood at Mt. Sinai and received the revelation. And yet, as sublime as Sinai was, Moses reminds them of God’s command not to stay there: רַב־לָכֶ֥ם שֶׁ֖בֶת בָּהָ֥ר הַזֶּֽה׃ – “It is too much already for you to still be dwelling by this mountain!” In other words, don’t be the scorpion – life is change – don’t resist. The words of God are urging you to move on, to free yourself from the comfortable. The world is turning; you must turn with it. פְּנ֣וּ וּסְע֣וּ לָכֶ֗ם – Turn and journey for yourselves! The journey is actually “for yourselves” – meaning, it is for your own well-being that you must not cling to comfort and the avoidance of pain. וּבֹ֨אוּ הַ֥ר הָֽאֱמֹרִי֮ – Come to the mountain of the Amorites… The tribe of the Amorites – Emori אֱמֹרִי – has the same letters as the verb “to speak” – אמר aleph-mem-reish. The hint here is that you must leave the “mountain” where you hear the word of God, so that you can come to a new mountain, where there will be new words; don’t cling to the old words… בָּעֲרָבָה – in the plain… But, sometimes the new “words” will not be the ecstasy of a “mountain” experience; there will also the עֲרָבָה aravah, the “plain” – the daily work of life, a mixture (עֵרֶב erev) of many ordinary experiences. וּבַשְּׁפֵלָה – in the lowland… Then there is the שְּׁפֵלָה sh’felah – the “lowland” – times of sadness, of tragedy, of failure, of loss – all part of God’s “speech” to us. These times are medicine for the distortions of ego… וּבַנֶּ֖גֶב – in the desert… Then there is the נֶּגֶב negev – the “desert” – times when your life and work don’t seem to be yielding anything good, but we must persevere through these stretches. These times train us to stay focused and true to our path… וּבְח֣וֹף הַיָּ֑ם – and on the seacoast… Then there is the חוֹף הַיָּם hof hayam – the “seacoast” – like when the Children of Israel stood at the Sea of Reeds, with the Egyptian army behind them. These are times when our path involves risk, when we are tempted to fear and despair. This is training for the supreme quality of Trust, to take the leap into the unknown… עַד־הַנָּהָ֥ר הַגָּדֹ֖ל – as far as the Great River… The Great River is at the end of the journey, because if you can learn to work with life in all of its manifestations, you will see: Life itself is the Great River. God incarnates as your mind and your body, for just a brief time, to take a journey on this Great River. If we wish to flow with it, we need to be attentive to what life is telling us, to the words God is speaking to us. This is the Path of the letter ש Shin, the letter of Sh’ma, of deep listening. It is also the letter of fire: the fire of meditation, the fire of Presence.
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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. Masei 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 | Jewish Meditation Teaching
…אֵ֜לֶּה מַסְעֵ֣י בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר יָצְא֛וּ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם These are the journeys of the Children of Israel who went out from the land of Egypt… – BaMidbar (Numbers) 33:1
There is a teaching attributed to the Baal Shem, in which he said: “A person who forgets all the Torah they know during prayer is closer to God than one who remembers all of it.” In other words, the Reality of the Sacred is not won by the acquiring of knowledge, expertise, experience, or anything that advances our development; it is won by letting them go. It arises on its own within one who has let go of their somebody-ness and has become a Nobody. There is a story of a rabbi who was davening (praying) with great intensity toward the end of Yom Kippur, when he suddenly became overwhelmed with the realization of how attached to vanity, to hevel, he had become. “Ribono Shel Olam! Master of the universe!” he cried out, “I am nothing! I am nothing!” When the hazzan (the cantor) saw him do this, he too became inspired and cried out as well: “Ribono Shel Olam! I am nothing! I am nothing!” The truth was infectious. Suddenly, a poor congregant, Shmully the shoemaker, also became deeply moved and exclaimed as well: “Ribono Shel Olam! I am nothing! I am nothing!”
When the hazzan saw Shmully’s enthusiasm, he turned to the rabbi with incredulity: “Look who thinks he’s nothing!” The aim of spirituality is often expressed as an achieving of nothingness. And yet, Parshat Masei has the opposite flavor; it’s aim seems to be the fleshing out of Israel’s somethingness. …אֵ֜לֶּה מַסְעֵ֣י בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר יָצְא֛וּ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם These are the journeys of the Children of Israel who went out from the land of Egypt… – BaMidbar (Numbers) 33:1 This begins the origin story, from the Exodus through the recounting of all the places they visited and battles they engaged. It then gives instructions for the future once they enter the land – how they should divide it between the tribes, and so on. As the last parshah leading into the last book of the Torah, it functions to define the identity of the Israelites – to affirm them as a Something: “This is where you come from, this is where you’re going, and this is what you have to do…” The implication is that identity and story are important; they give us direction and definition. And yet, Rabbi Akavyah ben Mahalalel seems to agree more with the Baal Shem Tov: עֲקַבְיָא בֶן מַהֲלַלְאֵל אוֹמֵר... דַּע מֵאַיִן בָּאתָ, וּלְאָן אַתָּה הוֹלֵךְ, ... מֵאַיִן בָּאתָ, מִטִּפָּה סְרוּחָה ... וּלְאָן אַתָּה הוֹלֵךְ, לִמְקוֹם עָפָר רִמָּה וְתוֹלֵעָה... Akavyah ben Mahalalel said: “... Know from where you come, and where you are going... From where do you come? From a putrid drop. And where are you going? To a place of dust, worms and maggots...” – Pirkei Avot 3:1 While this passage seems to begin with the same premise as the parsha, advising to “know from where you come and where you are going,” the answers have the opposite effect; there is no special identity of having overcome slavery and become a holy people, no promised land, just the harsh biological facts: you came from slime, and you’re going to a “place of dust, worms and maggots.” The first passage tells us who we are; it tells us we are Something; the second knocks down our stories; it tells us we are Nothing. There are two Hebrew words that are sometimes translated as nothing: ayin and hevel, with opposite implications. Ayin is actually the spiritual goal of the Baal Shem Tov: to realize the dimension of our own being that is “no-thing-ness” beyond all form. This is the open space of awareness itself, boundless and free, that which recognizes the Sacred. The Tanya points out that while we may think of the splitting of the Sea of Reeds as a great miracle, the far greater miracle is that there is a sea at all, that there is anything at all. The splitting of the sea was merely a manipulation of something that was already there, but the fact of Existence Itself is a bringing forth of יֵשׁ מֵאַיִן yesh me-ayin, Something from Nothing. The Maggid of Metzritch took this even further, saying that as great as the creation of the universe is יֵשׁ מֵאַיִן yesh me-ayin, Something from Nothing, even greater is our task: to transform the Something back to the Nothing – אַיִן מִיֵּשׁ ayin mi-yesh! Meaning: right now, as you read these words, the words are a something. You perceive the something, but what is it that perceives? The awareness that perceives is literally no-thing; it is that which perceives all particular things – all sensations, all sensory perceptions, all feelings, all thoughts, even our own sense of identity. This is the אַיִן ayin inherent in our own being, our innermost identity, not separate from the identity of Existence Itself, looking through our eyes, hearing through our ears. The other word for “nothing,” which has a negative implication, is הֶבֶל hevel, which could be translated as nothingness, futility, emptiness, or vanity. הֲבֵ֤ל הֲבָלִים֙ אָמַ֣ר קֹהֶ֔לֶת הֲבֵ֥ל הֲבָלִ֖ים הַכֹּ֥ל הָֽבֶל׃ Havel havalim – vanity of vanities – said Kohelet — vanity of vanities, all is vanity! – Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) 1:2 This famous opening line from Ecclesiastes springs from King Solomon’s disillusionment with all his experiences and accomplishments. He had everything, and could do anything he wanted – and yet, all was nothingness; everything comes and goes, a time for this and a time for that, nothing is really new, nothing really satisfies. The same word is used in the haftara: כֹּ֣ה אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֗ה מַה־מָּצְא֨וּ אֲבוֹתֵיכֶ֥ם בִּי֙ עָ֔וֶל כִּ֥י רָחֲק֖וּ מֵעָלָ֑י וַיֵּֽלְכ֛וּ אַחֲרֵ֥י הַהֶ֖בֶל וַיֶּהְבָּֽלוּ׃ Thus says the Divine: What did your ancestors find in Me that was wrong, that they distanced themselves from Me and went after nothingness (hevel), and became nothingness? – Yirmiyahu (Jermiah) 2:4 Both these passages point to our human condition: we tend to make much of the hevel, running after this and away from that, but it is all for naught; we are going to “place of dust, worms and maggots.” Still, as the haftara implores, there is a way that leads to the Divine, that leads to Wholeness, beyond all the hevel, to the ayin. As the last line of Ecclesiastes says: ס֥וֹף דָּבָ֖ר הַכֹּ֣ל נִשְׁמָ֑ע אֶת־הָאֱלֹהִ֤ים יְרָא֙ וְאֶת־מִצְוֺתָ֣יו שְׁמ֔וֹר כִּי־זֶ֖ה כָּל־הָאָדָֽם The end of the matter, when all is heard: Be aware of the Divine and guard the mitzvot! For this is the Whole Person. Be aware of the Divine – that is, know the Ayin that underlies everything, the Ayin that is aware, right now, through you. Guard the mitzvot – that is, don’t act from the motive of running after or away from the hevel, but from service of the Source, the ayin from which all springs and to which all will return. Make That your identity. …אֵ֜לֶּה מַסְעֵ֣י בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר יָצְא֛וּ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם These are the journeys of the Children of Israel who went out from the land of Egypt… The Divine has brought you to this moment to realize your inner freedom and has given you the only important choice there is, in this moment: to turn from the hevel of ego to the underlying Ayin of your deepest nature, and to sanctify this moment in which we find ourselves, in service of the One. This is the Path of ק Koof, sanctification of this moment.
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah opens with Hashem rewards Aaron’s grandson, Pinhas, for a violent act of zealotry. In the midst of a plague caused by an idolatrous orgy between the Israelite men and Midianite women, a prince from the tribe of Shimon named Zimri, along with his partner, a Midianite princess named Cozbi, is killed by Pinhas at the end of the last parshah. Perhaps ironically, Pinhas’ reward is that he receives God’s Brit Shalom – “Covenant of Peace.”
In preparation for war with the Midianites, a census is then taken of men eligible for battle between the ages of twenty and sixty, numbering 601,730. Moses is then instructed on how the Land is to be divided by lottery among the tribes and families of Israel. The five daughters of Tzelofhad come forward and petition Moses that they be granted the portion of land belonging to their father, who died without sons; Hashem accepts their claim and incorporates it into the Torah’s laws of inheritance. Next, Moses is told to ascend a hill and view the Land, after which he will die, a consequence of his earlier act of striking a rock to draw forth water. Moses then empowers Joshua to succeed him by placing his hands upon him, which is the origin of s’miha, the ordination of rabbis and other Jewish spiritual leaders today. The parshah then concludes with a detailed list of the daily offerings, along with the additional (Musaf) offerings brought on Shabbat, Rosh Hodesh (first of the month), and the festivals of Pesakh, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Sh’mini Atzeret.
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
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!’” (Adapted from Martin Buber’s Tales of the Hasidim)
Preconceptions are good- if an arrow is stuck in your body, you must assume that your wound is dangerous and attend to it right away. You should not waste time speculating about the intention of the person who shot the arrow. But later, when you do deal with the origin of the arrow, then it is better to let go of preconceptions so that you might discover the truth in an unbiased way. It is better to be open, to be in a state of asking rather than knowing, to know that you don’t know yet.
Questioning can be uncomfortable, because when we hold fast to certain beliefs, it often connects us with a certain tribe or group that hold the same opinions or beliefs. Questioning the beliefs of the group to which we belong can even be dangerous: וַתִּשְׁלַ֤ח אִיזֶ֙בֶל֙ מַלְאָ֔ךְ אֶל־אֵלִיָּ֖הוּ... Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah… - Melakhim Alef (1 Kings) 19:2, Sephardic Haftara for Parshat Pinhas In the haftara, Jezebel vowed to have Elijah killed for questioning the cult of Baal that the Israelites had adopted. Despondent, he left the world of people and went out into the wilderness to die. But then an angel came to him, gave him food and drink and commanded him: “Get up and eat!” He ate and drank a little, then lay back down again to die. The angel roused him again and gave him some more food: “You will need this for your journey ahead!” Elijah then seems to manifest super powers from the second meal; he gets up and walks for forty days and nights. Eventually he comes to a dark cave, and here he is shown a powerful vision of the natural world: great winds, earthquakes and fires. He looks for God in each of these phenomena, but he cannot find the Divine in any of these. Where does he find It?
ק֖וֹל דְּמָמָ֥ה דַקָּֽה
kol d’mama dakah “a still, small voice”
In other words, he finds the Divine within the stillness – he finds the sacred in the open space within which the storms of thought and feeling arise – the space of consciousness itself. And this is the deeper reason to know we don’t know. When we think we know, we identify with our beliefs; we identify with the stormy drama. But in the knowing that we don’t know yet, we open not only to finding out the external truth; we open to the truth of our own Being: the ק֖וֹל דְּמָמָ֥ה דַקָּֽה kol d’mama dakah, the stillness of consciousness that we are.
But how can we transcend our biases, when they seem so real? Paradoxically, you transcend our biases by admitting you have biases, because the admission objectifies it, which is the beginning of disidentification. Then, the bias is there, but you are no longer manipulated by it; you are above, beyond it, the one who sees it; the ק֖וֹל דְּמָמָ֥ה דַקָּֽה kol d’mama dakah – the small but powerful voice of stillness, rather than the loud voice of outrage and drama. This is meditation. So, when there is an arrow stuck in your body, attend to it without question. But when the thoughts begin about who shot the arrow, be the openness – be the stillness, the perception of your own bias; this is the beginning of wisdom, the symbol for which is the letter ר reish.
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
Once when I was back east in a rural area of Connecticut, I was walking outside, and a thought came into my mind: what happens if I see a bear? I should know what to do if I see a bear in the wilderness, but I couldn’t really remember. And then, all of a sudden, a big black bear appeared right in front of me! So I just became still and watched it. It slowly crossed the road in front of me, and then it just walked past me, behind me, to my left; it wasn't really concerned about me at all.
When people hear a story like this, they might think: does it mean that that I had a psychic premonition? Well, maybe, but of course we really don’t know; we can’t really know. It could just be a coincidence. It could also be that I actually saw the bear first unconsciously, and that caused the thought of the bear to arise in my mind. But the reason I'm sharing the story is because sometimes, especially in spiritual circles, we can get very concerned with supernatural things or seemingly supernatural things like psychic premonition. But there is something that I think is far more significant than anything supernatural or psychic; it is also a kind of premonition, but not a premonition of what happens in time, but more of a deep seeing into our own hidden motivations in the flow of life. Things are happening, we’re responding quickly to situations as they arise, and it can be difficult to really know why we do what we do. So the question is, can we develop this other kind of premonition, not of what’s coming in time, but rather, where we’re coming from; what our motivation is. This is crucial because fundamental to Jewish spirituality is that we experience a spectrum of motivation: on one end of the spectrum is wisdom, genuine love and benevolence, the desire to be of benefit and to support the wellbeing of those we encounter. That’s the spiritual depth that we often define as being human, in the sense of humanism. And then on the other end, we have the opposite: we also can be a deeply violent, angry, fearful and destructive species. So on the internal level, being able to see where we ourselves are coming from is so vital, probably much more important than any kind of supernatural or psychic premonition. וַיַּ֥רְא בָּלָ֖ק בֶּן־צִפּ֑וֹר אֵ֛ת כׇּל־אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂ֥ה יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לָֽאֱמֹרִֽי׃ Balak son of Tzippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites… Balak king of Moab is frightened of the Israelites who are camping in a nearby valley, so he petitions the prophet/sorcerer Bilam to curse them. But as Bilam rides out on his donkey to the Israelite camp, something strange happens… וַתֵּ֨רֶא הָאָת֜וֹן אֶת־מַלְאַ֣ךְ יְהֹ-וָ֗ה... The donkey saw the angel of the Divine… Bilam rides his donkey through a vineyard, when an angel blocks the path with sword drawn. But only the donkey can see the angel; Bilam is oblivious to it. Bilam beats the donkey with a stick two times to get it to move, but the donkey veers off the path to avoid the sword-wielding angel, and accidentally presses Bilam’s foot into a wall. Bilam gets even angrier and beats his donkey even more, at which point… וַיִּפְתַּ֥ח יְהֹ-וָ֖ה אֶת־פִּ֣י הָאָת֑וֹן וַתֹּ֤אמֶר לְבִלְעָם֙ מֶה־עָשִׂ֣יתִֽי לְךָ֔ כִּ֣י הִכִּיתַ֔נִי זֶ֖ה שָׁלֹ֥שׁ רְגָלִֽים׃ Then Hashem opened the ass’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?” They argue a bit, then Bilam’s eyes are “uncovered” and he too sees the angel with the sword. Bilam bows, prostrates, apologizes, then continues up the mountain to curse the Israelite camps. But when Bilam opens his mouth, he utters a blessing instead… מַה־טֹּ֥בוּ אֹהָלֶ֖יךָ יַעֲקֹ֑ב מִשְׁכְּנֹתֶ֖יךָ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ – Mah Tovu! How good are your tents, O Jacob, Your dwellings, O Israel! - Numbers 24:5 The donkey is your body – the beast you live in. You may think you want to say something, but your words will be a curse if you can’t “see the angel.” But the donkey sees it – and the donkey can talk, and if you know how to listen. What is the blessing that God “wants” you to say? Your body is the gateway to this awareness, if you become present. Bring awareness into your body, into your senses, before you open your mouth; this is meditation. What that means, of course, is not only that you should suddenly try to become present before you talk. It means that you should try to be present in general, so that you’re ready. Make it a habit to rest some of your awareness in the temple of the body, whatever you happen to be doing. Let your body be a welcoming space for awareness; this is the Path of ב Bet.
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah opens with Moses receiving the enigmatic laws of the “red cow,” whose ashes are used to purify a person who has been contaminated by contact with a dead body. The name of the parshah, Hukat, is a form of the word חוֹק hok, which means “decree” or “statute.” The hok referred to here is the opening passage about burning up a פָרָה אֲדֻמּה parah adumah – a completely red cow – and making a magic purification potion from the ashes. Due to the particularly obscure and bizarre nature of this practice, the rabbis came to see the word חוֹק hok to refer to any of the mitzvot that don’t seem to make rational sense.
Next, after forty years of journeying through the desert, the Children of Israel arrive in the wilderness of Zin. Miriam dies, and the people thirst for water. Hashem tells Moses to speak to a rock and that water will emerge from it. Moses gets angry at the rebellious Israelites and instead strikes the rock with his staff. Water issues forth, but Moses is told that neither he nor Aaron will enter the Promised Land. Aaron dies at Hor Hahar and his son Elazar becomes the Kohein Gadol (High Priest). After yet another eruption of discontent from the people, venomous snakes attack the Israelite camp. Moses makes an image of a serpent out of brass and mounts it upon a pole, after which all who gaze upon the brass serpent are healed. The people then sing a song in honor of the miraculous well which, in the merit of Miriam, had provided them water in the desert over their forty year journey, and of which the water from the rock was yet another manifestation. Moses leads the people in battles against the Emorite kings Sikhon and Og (who seek to prevent Israel’s passage through their territory), and conquers their lands, which lie east of the Jordan.
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
Once when I was on an airplane, the flight attendant came through the cabin and asked me what I wanted to drink. “I’ll have sparkling water with lime please,” which is what I always used to have. “We have lime flavored sparkling water, is that okay?”
No, that's not okay! That’s what I was thinking – but I said, “sure, thanks.” I had been getting sparkling water with lime on the plane all my life, and suddenly it was gone – and in its place, a cheaper substitute. “Lime flavor” is not the same and is not as good as a piece of real lime – on a number of levels – but business decisions like this get made all the time. So many products nowadays are worse than their predecessors. This phenomenon is sometimes called, “selling out.” “Selling out” means reducing the quality of something for the sake of monetary gain; it is an exchange of one value for another. But this doesn’t happen only in business; it is a basic ability we have to override our inner sense of what is right for the sake of something else we want. And, it’s not a bad ability to have, if used properly. For example, it’s good to exercise every day, to eat healthy food, to spend quality time with others, and so on. But what if there is an emergency – someone has a crisis and needs your help. It’s good to be able to put all those things on hold temporarily and take care of the crisis. In this kind of case, “selling out” your personal health for the sake of another value – helping someone in crisis – can be a good thing. It is good to not be so attached your own needs so that you can respond to the needs of the situation.The problem is when this ability to override – to “sell out” – takes over and becomes our norm. The problem is when we completely “sell out” in the realm of personal health for the sake of a career, for example; that’s when we get into trouble. This is why it’s so important to consciously choose and create our habits. We can break them when necessary, as long as we return to them. Don’t let the exception to the rule become the new rule! Many of us are full of unconscious habits – behaviors we took on for certain reasons – that have become our norm, without ever consciously choosing them. וְיִפְתָּ֣ח הַגִּלְעָדִ֗י הָיָה֙ גִּבּ֣וֹר חַ֔יִל וְה֖וּא בֶּן־אִשָּׁ֣ה זוֹנָ֑ה וַיּ֥וֹלֶד גִּלְעָ֖ד אֶת־יִפְתָּֽח׃ Jephthah the Gileadite was a powerful warrior; he was the son of a woman who was a prostitute; Gilead begat Jephthah. - Shoftim (Judges) 11:1 The haftora for Parshat Hukat tells the story of Jephtah, the son of a harlot. Jephtah’s half-brothers of the same father don’t want their son-of-a-harlot half-brother to share in their inheritance, so they kick him out of the house and send him away. Now Jephtah is a great warrior, and he attracts a band of men to form a militia, and they become his loyal companions. Years later, when the Ammonites attack Israel, the brothers come back to Jephtah and ask him to please come lead the fight against the Ammonites. “But you hated me and sent me away! Now you come back to me when you are in need?” The brothers offer him a deal: “If you come back and help us fight, then when it’s all over, we will make you our leader.” Japhteh is convinced – he “sells out” in a sense, giving up his sense of justice for the sake of prestige and status. Before Japhteh goes into battle, he prays: Oh Hashem, if you make me victorious, I will sacrifice to you whatever comes out of my house first when I return home! What?? This is very strange – what does he think is going to come out of his house? Sure enough, when he returns home, his daughter runs out to greet him, and he cries out in horror as he realizes he must sacrifice his own daughter. This is such a strange story. Obviously, if he vows to sacrifice “whatever comes out of his house,” he will end up sacrificing a family member; it’s not like a goat or sheep is going to run out of his house! But if we understand the story metaphorically, it makes sense as an illustration of this “sell-out” mentality. First, Jephtah is the son of a harlot, and prostitution “sells out” the sacred intimacy of relationship and family for the sake of monetary gain. Second, Jephtah agrees to help his betraying brothers fight for the sake of prestige; more selling out. Finally, he vows to sacrifice whatever comes out of his house if he wins. This is the clearest example – he’s willing to sacrifice the most precious thing at a future time for the sake of gaining something else in the short run. Then, he is surprised when it leads to tragedy – just as we too can be surprised when we unconsciously make bad choices for the sake of short term, relatively unimportant goals. On the deepest level, when it comes to how we use our own minds, “selling out” tends to be the norm for most of us. Meaning: Right now, we have something so precious – the most precious thing there is in fact – we have the ability to receive this sacred moment, to know the miracle of Being, in this moment. And yet, many of us unconsciously and unwittingly give up this most precious gift – for what? Mostly for useless thinking. Unaware of what we are even doing, we compulsively cover up this most precious thing with our constant stream of thoughts, just like our hand can cover our eyes and block out the entire sun. The mind has a certain illusory gravity; it says, “Pay attention to me! I have something urgently important!” But wake up to the majesty of this moment, and see: most thinking is a bogus urgency. Make it a habit to be spaciousness, to be openness, rather than busily thinking, and the miraculous becomes your norm. Yes, of course, sometimes you have to “sell out” – it’s okay – the situation will sometimes require you to get busy with your thinking, to rush around, to take care of business. Sometimes you have to put aside the most precious thing for the sake of the situation, but don’t make that the norm. When you can, come back in t’shuvah to Presence, come back to this moment, come back to the Divine as this moment – be the openness within which the fullness of this moment arises. In fact, our innate capacity to return from the trivial to the miraculous is encoded in Jephtah’s name – יִפְתָּֽח Yiftakh – which means, “will open.” No matter how much we have “sold out,” our potential to return to openness – to know ourselves as openness – is ever-present, and we can always do it from wherever we are, in the moment we recognize that we are. This is the Path of ע Ayin – of seeing deeply into the underlying, Ever-Present Miracle…
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
A Levite named Korakh, together with Dathan, Abiram and 250 rebels, incite a mutiny against Moses, challenging his leadership and his granting of the kehunah (priesthood) to Aaron and his sons. Moses instructs the rebels to offer special incense in the morning, and that Hashem will make the truth known. The next day, the rebels offer incense in their fire pans. The earth opens and swallows up their tents, and a fire consumes those with the incense.
The people rise up and complain bitterly about the deaths of the rebels, and a plague begins to move through the entire community. Aaron stops the plague by offering his own incense. Moses instructs a chief from each tribe to bring their staves, and Aaron’s staff miraculously blossoms and brings forth almonds, showing that he is the chosen one for the kahuna. Finally, Hashem instructs the Children of Israel in a number of offerings which they are to bring from each crop of grain, wine and oil, as well as all firstborn sheep, cattle, and other specified gifts, to the kohanim (priests). Among the offerings, the “Covenant of Salt” is mentioned, which is the origin of dipping the Challah in salt at the Shabbat table today…
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
וַיִּקַּ֣ח קֹ֔רַח... וַיִּֽקָּהֲל֞וּ עַל־מֹשֶׁ֣ה וְעַֽל־אַהֲרֹ֗ן... Korakh separated himself… And they gathered against Moses and Aaron… - BaMidbar (Numbers) 16:3, Parshat Korakh
A disciple of the Baal Shem Tov once asked, “Why is it that I can usually feel the Divine Presence when I am praying or learning, but occasionally it vanishes and there is only a sense of remoteness and alienation?”
The Baal Shem explained: “When parents teach their children to walk, they sometimes hold out their hands so that the child can grab on and toddle toward the parent. But at some point, the parent will withdraw their hands and step back, giving the child the chance to toddle toward them without holding on, so that in time they can learn to walk on their own.” How can we learn to “walk on our own” in the spiritual sense? First, it is helpful to regard our spiritual success as a Form of Grace, not something to which we are entitled. Then, to the degree we can regard our success as Grace, we can also come to regard its absence as Grace, though of a different kind. Just as a wise parent or teacher will sometimes withdraw out of love, to give space to the child or student, so too the absence of inner peace can be a reminder and encouragement to practice with more focus, more consistency, more sincerity. Most importantly, it gives us the opportunity to meditate in a deeper way, to make ourselves into the witnessing Presence that beholds the moment as it is, however it appears. In this way, the experience of God’s “withdrawal” becomes an even deeper experience of God’s Presence. But to do this, we must overcome the tendency to feel entitled, to feel that God “owes” us something. Because from that egoic point of view, it is we who are then withdrawing – not out of love, but out of anger, resentment, entitlement: וַיִּקַּ֣ח קֹ֔רַח – Korakh withdrew himself… Literally, “Korakh took,” meaning he took himself away from Moses and Aaron, accusing them of unfairness. כׇל־הָֽעֵדָה֙ כֻּלָּ֣ם קְדֹשִׁ֔ים וּבְתוֹכָ֖ם יְהֹוָ֑ה... “All of the assembly is holy and the Divine is among them…” Korakh’s argument is true and convincing – that’s not the problem. The problem is the intention: rather than bringing everyone together in an equality of holiness, his aim is to prop up his own ego. And so it is with us. We complain: “This is not the experience I should be having; I deserve better.” It is true – we do deserve better. But God has “withdrawn” in order to show us: the way we relate to our experience is in our own hands. Whether God’s withdrawal is cruel or an act of love is actually in our own hands. How do you choose love? Attend to your feelings; don’t let your mind be seduced by them. That’s it. Attending to your own mind is much more effective and efficient than trying to control it. By simply acknowledging the presence of selfish or aggressive or entitled thoughts and feelings, you dis-identify from them; then they are no longer “you.” When you become present, thoughts and feelings are nothing more than fleeting experience, temporary forms of consciousness – and they can no longer control you. Ego vanishes. And this too is a kind of closeness through withdrawal. When you give your thoughts and feelings the space to just be, without trying to control them, you become free. This kind of separation is simultaneously the deepest intimacy – intimacy with your own being. And in this intimacy, we come to know ourselves as the intimacy, as the open field of Presence which effortlessly transmutes everything it touches. In the spirit of Korakh’s “taking,” may we fully “take” the only power we truly have: the power to be with what is, meaning: to be the space of awareness within which this moment unfolds…
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
The Children of Israel are encamped in the Sinai Desert, and they receive the Divine instruction to conduct a census of men suitable for battle from the twelve tribes (excluding the tribe of Levi, but including the two sons of Yosef, making twelve), between 20 to 60 years of age. The tribe of Levi, who is to serve as the spiritual leadership, is counted separately. The Levi-im (Levites) are given responsibility for the Mishkan (Sanctuary), along with all of its vessels and sacrificial equipment.
Whenever the Children of Israel would break down the camp to travel, the three Levite clans would dismantle and transport the Mishkan, and then reassemble it at the center of the next encampment. They then erected their own tents around it: the Kohathites, who carried the Sanctuary’s vessels in their specially designed coverings on their shoulders, such as the Ark and menorah, camped to its south; the Gershonites, in charge of its tapestries and roof coverings, to its west; and the families of Merari, who transported its wall panels and pillars, to its north. Before the Sanctuary’s entranceway, to its east, were the tents of Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons, who were also Levi’im and served as the kohanim, the priests. Beyond the Levite circle, the twelve tribes camped in four groups of three tribes each. To the east were Yehudah, Yissakhar, and Zevulun; to the south, Reuvein, Shimon and Gad; to the west, Ephraim, Manasheh, and Binyamin; and to the north, Dan, Asher and Naphtali. This formation was kept also while traveling. Each tribe had its own nassi (prince or leader), and its own flag with its tribal color and emblem.
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
וַיְדַבֵּ֨ר יי אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֛ה בְּמִדְבַּ֥ר סִינַ֖י...לֵאמֹֽר שְׂא֗וּ אֶת־רֹאשׁ֙ כׇּל־עֲדַ֣ת בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם לְבֵ֣ית אֲבֹתָ֑ם בְּמִסְפַּ֣ר שֵׁמ֔וֹת כׇּל־זָכָ֖ר לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָֽם׃ Hashem spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai…saying: “Raise up the heads (take a census) of the whole (battle ready) assembly of the Children of Israel according to their families, according to their ancestral houses, listing the names, every (battle ready) male, according to their count.” - BaMidbar (Numbers) 1:1,2
One morning, as I lay in bed around 6:30 am, I heard a rumbling sound from deep within whatever dream I was having. “That sound… it means something… something important… what is that sound?” The garbage truck!
I had forgotten to put out the garbage the night before, and the can was pretty full. I leapt out of bed, slid into some pants, darted downstairs and out the front door. I looked and saw that the garbage truck had already passed my house and was halfway down the street! I grabbed the can and ran after it, rolling it behind me. When I caught up, I started to politely ask him if he would take it, but before even one word came from my lips he grabbed it from me violently, almost knocking me over and barked something like “GIMMEE IT!” – I think. Wow – he had certainly had his coffee already. Maybe a little too much. But I was grateful that he took it at all. What would make you get up in the morning so fast? The codes of Jewish law are somewhat paradoxical about getting up in the morning. On one hand, they say that one should leap out of bed to “do the Will of the Creator” – no laziness. Not a moment should be wasted – there is much to do. Get out of bed with גִבּוֹר כָּאֲרִי לַעֲשׂוֹת רְצוֹן אָבִיךָ שֶׁבַּשָּׁמַיִם – the “strength of a lion to do the Will of your Father in heaven” and jump into the day. On the other hand, before you get up, you should take a moment to receive the gift of your life, chanting: מוֹדֶה אֲנִי לְפָנֶיךָ Modeh ani lifanekha – “I give thanks before you…” Then should you leap into your day? No, you should ritually wash your hands, with the kavanah (intention) to purify your heart so that you can be of loving service in all your actions. Okay now should you leap your day? No. First there are blessings to be chanted and prayers to pray. And even before all of that, and perhaps more importantly, one should take some time in silent meditation to tap the inner depths in preparation. So which is it? Should you leap out of bed and get to work, or meditate and immerse yourself in the silent depths of not-doing? But that’s the point. If you spend all your time in meditation, the bliss of Being reveals Itself within your own awareness, but the world remains untouched. On the other hand, if your life is focused solely on the external, then you become lost in its dramas, disconnected from you inner Source, and both you and the world suffer for it. But connect with the Eternal in order to bring it into the temporal – that’s the alchemy! וַיְדַבֵּ֨ר יי אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֛ה בְּמִדְבַּ֥ר Hashem spoke to Moses in the wilderness… The wilderness, the midbar, is the arena in which we live. Like the wild of nature, life itself is not totally predictable; it regularly challenges us, distracts us and can draw us into folly. And yet, it is the only Place from in which the Divine speaks – if we know how to listen. How do we listen? לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָֽם … שְׂא֗וּ אֶת־רֹאשׁ֙ כׇּל־עֲדַ֣ת “Raise up the heads (take a census) of the whole (battle ready) assembly… according to their count.” Counting the soldiers is a metaphor for our external lives. Each day we should arouse ourselves like soldiers to do “battle” with our inner inertia and make every moment “count.” But there is another half to the equation: וְהַלְוִיִּ֖ם לְמַטֵּ֣ה אֲבֹתָ֑ם לֹ֥א הׇתְפָּקְד֖וּ בְּתוֹכָֽם׃ But Levites, according to their ancestral tribe, were not recorded among them. The Levi-im – the Levites – weren’t soldiers; they were priests and musicians – caretakers of the Mishkan – the Sacred Space at the center of the camp. The soldiers went out to conquer the many, but the Levites safeguarded connection to the One. And in the One, there’s nothing to count; there is only One! The task is for these two sides – the internal and the external – to be in balance. Ideally, we should express our inner Timelessness through the external wilderness of time. But this takes practice; staying connected to the holiness of the moment while running after the garbage truck is not easy. But fortunately, no matter how lost in the external we become, the present moment has not gone anywhere. It is always here, open to our return, to our t’shuvah. This supreme task of bringing the inner holiness of Presence to the sometimes chaotic wilderness of life is represented by the s’firah of Malkhut, which we can feel right now as the connection to the earth beneath us…
Read past teachings on Bamidbar HERE
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