Jewish Meditation Online
  • Home
  • About
    • About
  • Offerings
    • EVENTS
    • Calendar
    • Monthly Community-Wide Meditation
    • Bring Brian Yosef to Your Community
    • Wisdom School Bar and Bat Mitzvah Program
  • Teachings
    • What is Jewish Meditation?
    • Weekly Torah
    • Weekly Torah and Holiday Index
    • Learn Integral Jewish Meditation
    • Instagram Posts
  • Donate
  • Contact

What is Humility? Parshat Vayikra

3/30/2017

2 Comments

 
Picture
"Vayikra el Moshe, vay’daber Hashem Eilav-
"Hashem called to Moses, and spoke to him..."


The word Vayikra means, “called.” The 14th century Rabbi, Ya’akov ben Ra’ash, known as the Baal Haturim, pointed out that the letter alef at the end of the word Vayikra is written really tiny. He explains that Moses, in his humility, wanted to write it without the alef all together, so that it would spell Vayikar instead of Vayikra, implying that God didn’t call to Moses, but simply happened upon Moses by accident. God said no, I am calling to you Moses, you have to put the alef in there, so Moses wrote it small, as an expression of his humility.
 
So why is a small alef a symbol of humility? Ordinarily, there’s that sense of the separate “me”- that’s the ego- the sense of self that’s made out of our thoughts and feelings. This egoic self-sense tends to get inflated- puffed up like a big alef. But when you become aware of your thoughts and feelings rather than get absorbed and identified with them, that inner “me” seems tiny compared to the vastness of your awareness. And that vastness isn’t ego because it doesn’t have any content- it’s not based on thoughts or judgments about “me” and “my story,” it’s just aware. It’s literally nothing, called ayin in Kabbalah, because it’s not a thing. It’s the space within which everything is perceived.
 
So on this Shabbat Vayikra, the Sabbath of Calling, may we hear the Divine call to be aware of our thoughts feelings, sensations and everything that arises in this moment, as part of the tapestry of Reality, the Oneness that manifests in all forms. And as we come to know that Oneness more deeply, may we also see that Oneness in each other and be motivated by genuineness and love in all our relations. Good Shabbos!!
2 Comments
Debra Asis link
3/31/2017 07:53:11 am

Is it not a lovely that we are invited to put our small self, alef, "in there" such that we are able to reflect the "the vastness" of that which cannot be perceived? I wonder if it could be said that God needed Moses to hear God's call and likewise God's "needs" each of us in order to be heard? There seems to be a mutuality of something and no-thing, a dance of little i am and Big I AM.

Reply
brian yosef
4/3/2017 10:49:04 pm

Nice Debra- thanks for writing!!!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Free Guided Meditation Here.

    Daily Meditation on Zoom: Experience our growing community Here

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    October 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012

    RSS Feed


Jewish Meditation

Jewish Meditation Online

Jewish Meditation Techniques

Jewish Meditation Guided
Torah of Awakening © Copyright 2023 All rights reserved. 
  • Home
  • About
    • About
  • Offerings
    • EVENTS
    • Calendar
    • Monthly Community-Wide Meditation
    • Bring Brian Yosef to Your Community
    • Wisdom School Bar and Bat Mitzvah Program
  • Teachings
    • What is Jewish Meditation?
    • Weekly Torah
    • Weekly Torah and Holiday Index
    • Learn Integral Jewish Meditation
    • Instagram Posts
  • Donate
  • Contact