Take Off Your Headphones! Parshat Tetzaveh

Do you ever listen to music in headphones?
 
Sometimes I’ll want to hear the same song in my headphones over and over again, until I get sick of it. The song takes on a personal theme quality, and I want it to score my whole life.
 
But imagine going out to see the singer of your favorite song perform live. Would you pull out your headphones and listen to a recording of it, rather than listen to the actual concert?
 
Of course not!
 
And yet, that’s often what happens in the spiritual sense, when your mind becomes engrossed in some thought, idea, desire, or memory. Rather than live life as it’s happening, you're absorbed in your own mind. 
 
It’s like listening to a recording in headphones when the real thing is happening live right in front of you!

This week's reading begins:

“V’atah tetzaveh et b’nai Yisrael...”
       “And you shall command the Children of Israel that they should take for you pure olive oil,                 pressed, for illumination, to kindle a lamp continually.”
 
“Oil” represents awareness.
 
To “take” the “oil” means to take your awareness into your own hands. Your mind need not wander about like a child- you can take “command” of it.
 
“… pressed, for illumination”
 
Ordinarily the mind wanders aimlessly, and awareness glows dully in the background. But if you “press” your awareness, which means bringing your mind back again and again to the present, it will begin to glow brightly, illuminating your mind.
 
“… to kindle a lamp continually.”
 
With ordinary fire, once you kindle it, it burns on its own. But with consciousness, you must “kindle” it “continually.” This means developing the habit of reeling your mind back, again and again, to the Reality of this moment.
 
Once, Rabbi Levi Yitzhak began greeting everyone after prayers as if they had just returned from a long journey.
 
“Shalom Aleikhem! Shalom aleikhem!” exclaimed the rebbe to each and every congregant.
 
When they gave him strange looks, he responded-
 
“Why do you look surprised? While the hazan was singing, you weren’t here at all. This one was in the market place, this one was on a cargo ship, this one was relaxing at home. When the singing stopped, you all returned, so I greeted you shalom aleikhem!”
 
The Greatest Singer of All performs a concert right now. It’s the only concert there is- the magical unfolding of this moment!
 
On this Shabbat Tetzaveh, the Sabbath of Command, may we remember to heed the Great Command that sings to us continuously: Be present! And through our mindfulness, may the consciousness of all humanity be elevated, so that awareness and love may reign supreme in the minds and hearts of all.
 
Good Shabbos!