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 Prayer is Answered Instantaneously?                           Parshat Va'etkhanan

8/16/2016

4 Comments

 
Picture
This week’s reading begins:
 
“Va’etkhanan el Hashem- I implored Hashem at that time saying: You have begun to reveal Your Greatness…”
 
The word for “I implored” is ethanan- from the word hein, which means “grace.” To “implore” is to beg for grace.

​What "grace" is being prayed for? The revelation of God's "Greatness." But this "Greatness" is not something separate from you; it's the revelation of your own being. It is "great" in the sense that it is far more spacious than anything within your experience; it's the space within which all experience arises- the space of awareness itself. 
 
In Pirkei Avot 3:18, Rabbi Akiva says:
 
“Haviv Adam shenivra v’tzelm- Beloved are human beings, for they are created in the Divine Image…”
 
The Divine, or Reality, expresses Its Greatness as your own awareness. Rabbi Akiva calls us “beloved” because of this gift- the gift of our Divine Greatness.
 
Then he says,
 
“Hibah yeteirah noda’at lo shenivra v’tzelem- It is indicative of an even greater love that our Divine Image is made known to us…”
 
In other words, though our Divine Greatness is a wonderful gift, it doesn’t do us much good unless it’s made known to us, unless we experience the Infinite directly. To experience your Divine Greatness is the greatest gift, the Supreme Grace, because it’s the revelation of your own being, something that can never be taken away.
 
But your Divine Greatness is not really hidden; it’s just that your awareness is always looking at everything except Itself, so it can be difficult to notice. But if you ask for grace, if you implore God to reveal your Divine Greatness to you, the prayer itself helps you open to the truth of this moment. Then, your prayer is answered- instantaneously.
 
Try it- “Oh Hashem, please reveal to me my own Divine Greatness, the place in me that is free, spacious, that allows everything to be as it is...”
 
Then, notice- this moment is complete- sensation, feeling, thought- all arising in the space of this moment, which is awareness itself, free and open, complete and miraculous, the Divine Greatness...

4 Comments
LORI GOLDWYN
8/20/2016 01:51:15 pm

Perfect! A most illuminating writing on The Divine - thank you so much, Reb Brian...

Reply
Ilana link
8/20/2016 04:29:11 pm

This is so true. I have been fortunate enough to have had this experience, and it is "instantaneous" - and I can ask whenever I need to! Thanks <3

Reply
Martin Towbin
8/3/2017 04:12:44 pm

How beautifully simple. Thank you.

Reply
Jimmy Ortiz link
8/3/2017 05:15:33 pm

Gracias
Shabath Shalom

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