וַיֹּ֨אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֜ה אֶל־יְה–וָ֗ה רְ֠אֵה אַתָּ֞ה אֹמֵ֤ר אֵלַי֙ הַ֚עַל אֶת־הָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה וְאַתָּה֙ לֹ֣א הֽוֹדַעְתַּ֔נִי אֵ֥ת אֲשֶׁר־תִּשְׁלַ֖ח עִמִּ֑י...
Moses said to Hashem, “See, You say to me, ‘Lead this people,’ but You have not made known to me whom You will send with me….” - Sh’mot (Exodus) 33:12
Rabbi Yitzhak Mer of Ger was once talking to a hasid of Rabbi Simcha Bunam. The hasid said that his master, Reb Bunam, once remarked he was amazed that a person wouldn’t become spiritually perfected by merely saying the Birkat Hamazon, the blessing after meals. Rabbi Yitzhak thought for a moment and then replied, “I think differently. I am amazed that a person isn’t spiritually perfected merely by eating! After all, a donkey knows its owner…”
We may not have so much experience with donkeys, but many of us have experience with dogs – how a dog will run to its owner with love and enthusiasm the moment they walk through the door. How does the dog know the owner is there? All it takes is the sound of the door opening, or the sound of the voice, and the dog comes running. The dog doesn’t want the door or the voice, the dog wants the person; but the sounds are the cue. Rabbi Yitzhak has something similar in mind – that if we want to “run” into the arms of the Divine, so to speak, we too can listen for the cues so to speak. But to do that, we must first recognize that there are cues; unlike the dog, we tend to be ignorant of the meaning of the “sounds.” Why is this? ה֤וֹרֵ֥נִי יְה–וָ֗ה דַּ֫רְכֶּ֥ךָ וּ֭נְחֵנִי בְּאֹ֣רַח מִישׁ֑וֹר לְ֝מַ֗עַן שׁוֹרְרָֽי: Reveal to me, Hashem, Your way, and guide me on a straight path, because of my opponents… - Psalm 27 The prayer expressed here in Psalm 27 refers to a שׁוֹרֵר shorer – an “enemy” or “foe” or “opponent” that would impede our ability to perceive the “cues” and walk on God’s “path.” The plain meaning is a reference to King David’s human enemies, but on a deeper level, it hints at an inner reality. There is a bumper sticker that reads, “Don’t believe everything you think.” This succinct piece of wisdom hints at the identity of the שׁוֹרֵר shorer as thought. We can understand thought as an “opponent” in cases of delusion; when the reality a person describes is completely different from what people normally consider to be true, we call that insanity. But there is some degree of insanity in all of us; when our minds make automatic assumptions and judgments, we tend to believe in our thoughts without question, especially if there is an emotional charge attached to them. In this way, it is our own thoughts that lead us onto a crooked path; it is our own thoughts that become the שׁוֹרֵר shorer, the opponent. אַל תָּדִין אֶת חֲבֵרְךָ עַד שֶׁתַּגִּיעַ לִמְקוֹמוֹ: Don’t judge your friend until you have reached their place… - Pirkei Avot 2:5 Until you have the same perspective as your friend, says Hillel, you should refrain from judging them; which is really the same as saying that we should never judge anyone, because it is impossible to ever see completely from someone else’s perspective. The message is: although we must sometimes make judgments, don’t believe in in your thoughts as absolute truth. Be open. Let your thoughts be translucent to the light that Reality continuously reveals, and be conscious of the infinite complexity that is not revealed. But if the function of the mind is thought, how can we possibly transcend thought? This we learn from the donkey, or the dog: listen for the cues; meaning, come out from thought and into the senses. Only with us it is even more simple – all we need do is pay attention to whatever is present, to whatever presents itself. And this is the deeper lesson of Reb Yitzhak’s spiritual perfection through eating: it is the realm of the senses that brings us into the arms of the Master, not the realm of language and thinking. This is Moses’ confusion as well: וְאַתָּה֙ לֹ֣א הֽוֹדַעְתַּ֔נִי אֵ֥ת אֲשֶׁר־תִּשְׁלַ֖ח עִמִּ֑י... – “You have not revealed whom You will send with me….” Moses is asking, who and where are You, God? How can I know You are with me? God responds by putting Moses in a cleft of rock and then “passing by” while shielding Moses’ eyes from seeing God directly. Then, the shielding is removed, and Moses sees God’s “back.” וַהֲסִרֹתִי֙ אֶת־כַּפִּ֔י וְרָאִ֖יתָ אֶת־אֲחֹרָ֑י – “I will take My hand away and you will see My back…” - Exodus 33:23 What is this “back of God” that Moses sees? It is nothing but the world of the senses, the Presence of whatever is present. And this is the deeper wisdom of Rabbi Yitzhak’s teaching about eating: this moment is Grace. You need not even wait until the next meal; every moment we are sustained by the air around us; every moment is a Gift. But we can only really see this if we come fully into the moment, if we come into the senses, into our bodies, into our breathing, and out from our belief in the world of thought. In this way, we can begin to see the supreme Beauty, the Harmony of forces that allows this moment to be, that allows us to be. Then, our thoughts need not be the enemy, they can function as part of that Harmony; they can become like the sukkah – not a solid edifice of assertions and beliefs, but a framing of the tiny space in this world we inhabit, a translucent embellishment of the Openness; this is Tiferet.
Read past teachings on Sukkot HERE
Learn Integral Jewish Meditation
Get Free Guided Meditation Below:
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
July 2025
|
RSS Feed