Parshah Summary – P’sha
The parshah continues with the giving of mitzvot at Sinai, this time focusing on civil laws, including the laws of the Hebrew slave (or indentured servant), the penalties for murder, kidnapping, assault and theft, redress of damages, the granting of loans, the responsibilities of the “Four Guardians” (unpaid guardian, paid guardian, renter and borrower), the rules governing the conduct of justice by courts, and laws warning against mistreatment of the ger, the stranger – “for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
Also included are other ritual laws: the observance of the seasonal festivals, the agricultural gifts that are to be brought to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem; the prohibition against cooking meat with milk, and the mitzvah of prayer. The parshah also contains the special words that the Children of Israel proclaim at Sinai: נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמָֽע na’aseh v’nishmah – “We will do and we will hear.” It concludes with Moses ascending the mountain and remaining there for forty days and forty nights to receive the rest of the Torah...
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
וְאֵ֙לֶּה֙ הַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר תָּשִׂ֖ים לִפְנֵיהֶֽם׃ כִּ֤י תִקְנֶה֙ עֶ֣בֶד עִבְרִ֔י שֵׁ֥שׁ שָׁנִ֖ים יַעֲבֹ֑ד וּבַ֨שְּׁבִעִ֔ת יֵצֵ֥א לַֽחׇפְשִׁ֖י חִנָּֽם׃ These are the judgements that you shall set before them: When you acquire a Hebrew slave, six years they shall serve-- and in the seventh year they shall go free, without payment… - Shemot (Exodus) 21:1-2, Parshat Mishpatim
Rabbi Yaakov Yitzhak of Peshischa didn’t have the happiest of marriages; his wife would frequently grow extremely angry at him and scold him at length. Normally, he would say nothing, and simply endure her words in silence, unaffected. But one time, he snapped at her. Taken aback, she stopped her abuse and left the room. A disciple witnessed the whole thing asked the rebbe: “Master, you always endure her anger in silence. Why did you snap back this time? Did you lose your equanimity – your kabbalat isurim – and become angry?”
“Not at all,” the Rebbe replied, “I could see that she was growing more and more angry that I wasn’t reacting, so I pretended to get angry to help her feel better.”
גְּדוֹלָה תוֹרָה יוֹתֵר מִן הַכְּהֻנָּה וּמִן הַמַּלְכוּת...
וְהַתּוֹרָה נִקְנֵית בְּאַרְבָּעִים וּשְׁמֹנָה דְבָרִים... קַבָּלַת הַיִּסּוּרִין... Greater is learning Torah than both the priesthood and royalty… Torah is acquired by forty-eight things…(and one of them is) acceptance of suffering… - Pirkei Avot 6:6
There are two common images that are often used to describe the state of equanimity brought forth through meditation; that is, the ability to be present with one’s own negative emotions without being caught by them. The first is the image of dwelling within the center of your own being. When you are at the center, reactivity may arise – anger, fear, jealousy, anxiety, and so on, but you are not “caught” by any of that because the emotions are simply bubbling up around you, while you remain in the “eye of the hurricane” so to speak. In this image, the chaos is external, and you are the calm center that sees the chaos, unmoved by it. The second is the image of being a vast space within which the reactivity arises. In this image, the chaos is within you, but you are so much more vast and spacious than whatever feelings are bubbling up, that they powerless to compel you in any way.
Both of these images actually point to two different meditation practices for transcending reactivity and realizing freedom it: being present with your body, on one hand, and knowing yourself as the vast space of awareness both within and infinitely beyond your body, on the other. In our Jewish meditation practice, these two images are different stages of the same practice, based on a verse from our parshah which describes the Children of Israel standing together at Sinai, while the mountain smokes and quakes, engulfed in cloud and fire: וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ כֹּ֛ל אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּ֥ר יְהוָ֖ה נַעֲשֶׂ֥ה וְנִשְׁמָֽע – And the people said, “Everything that the Divine speaks, na’aseh v’nishmah, we will do and we will hear.” - Exodus, 24:7 The ordering of the words in this verse, נַעֲשֶׂה וְנִשְׁמָֽע na’aseh v’nishma, is strange. You would think that the words should be the opposite – first you would hear, and then you would do. But the fact that the words are reversed – “we will do” and then “we will hear,” teaches a key insight: If you want to experience the vastness of your own being as the borderless space of awareness within which all experience arises (v’nishma) – you must first bring your awareness deep into your own body (na’aseh). In connecting with your body, with your heart and with your breathing, your consciousness is drawn out from its ordinary activity of incessant thinking, and into its own nature as open space. There is another hint of this unity between the center of your being and the vastness of your being earlier in the parshah, where it discusses how a Hebrew slave must be set free: וּבַ֨שְּׁבִעִ֔ת יֵצֵ֥א לַֽחָפְשִׁ֖י חִנָּֽם – And in the seventh (year), he shall go out free, without charge. וּבַשְּׁבִעִת – And in the seventh… In the image of the Star of David, the six rays represent the six directions in space and the six days of the week, while seven is represented by the center of the star. This is Shabbat – the “eye of the hurricane” in time, essentially a day of meditation. Seven, then, is the inner sanctum, the holy center – the drawing of awareness into the temple of the body. יֵצֵא לַֽחָפְשִׁי – he shall go out free… And yet, through connecting with the center, yeitzei – there is a “going out” to freedom. This is the felt sense that the awareness dwelling within your body is not confined to your body. Rather, it is a vast field within which everything you perceive arises; the air around you as well as the stars in the sky are all equally arising within the one vast field that you are. חִנָּֽם – gratis, free of charge, an act of grace – This freedom is not something you have to work for or somehow create; it is what you already are. How do you access it? Pay close attention to your actual experience in this moment and see – you are the freedom of awareness, right now. Whatever experience is arising within you, be it positive or negative, is arising within the spaciousness of consciousness; this is meditation. Experiences are unstable; they change moment to moment, revealing a basic lack which leads to one to movement. But on the level of consciousness, this space within which experience arises is inherently whole and complete, abundant in its openness and stillness; this fundamental sufficiency at the root of our being is represented by the Path of ג Gimel.
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro (Yitro), hears of the great miracles which God performed for the Children of Israel, and comes from Midian to the Israelite camp, bringing with him Moses’ wife and two sons. Jethro advises Moses to appoint a hierarchy of magistrates and judges to assist him in the task of governing and administering justice to the people.
The Children of Israel camp opposite Mount Sinai, where they are told that God has chosen them to be a “kingdom of priests” and “holy nation.” The people respond by proclaiming, “All that God has spoken, we shall do.” On the sixth day of the third month (Sivan), seven weeks after the Exodus, the entire nation of Israel assembles at the foot of Mount Sinai for the Giving of the Torah. The Presence of God descends on the mountain amidst thunder, lightning, billows of smoke and the blast of the shofar, and Moses is summoned. God proclaims the Ten Commandments, instructing the people of Israel to be aware of God, not to worship idols or take the Name in vain, to keep Shabbat, honor their parents, not to murder, not to commit adultery, not to steal, and not to bear false witness or covet another’s property. The people cry out to Moses that the revelation is too intense for them to bear, begging him to receive the Torah from God and convey it to them instead…
Torah of Awakening: Jewish Meditation Teaching
וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר אֱלֹהִ֔ים אֵ֛ת כׇּל־הַדְּבָרִ֥ים הָאֵ֖לֶּה לֵאמֹֽר׃ אָֽנֹכִ֖י֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑֔יךָ אֲשֶׁ֧ר הוֹצֵאתִ֛יךָ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם מִבֵּ֣֥ית עֲבָדִ֑ים׃ God spoke all these words, saying: I am Hashem your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage… - Shemot (Exodus) 20:1, 2 Parshat Yitro
Once, Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak Rabinowicz of Peshischa (known as “the Yehudi”) was asked to examine the thirteen-year-old Hanokh in the Talmud. (Hanokh later became the rabbi of Alexander). It took the boy an hour to think over the passage which had been assigned to him before he could expound it. Once he had done so, the tzaddik cupped his hand around Hanokh’s cheek and said: “When I was thirteen I plumbed passages more difficult than this in no time at all, and when I was eighteen, I had the reputation of being a great Torah scholar. But one day it dawned on me that a person cannot attain to perfection through learning alone. I understood what is told of our father Abraham: that he explored the sun, the moon, and the stars, and he did not find God, yet in this very not-finding, the Presence of God was revealed to him. For three months I mulled over this realization. Then I explored until I too reached the truth of not-finding.”
The function of the mind is too “find” – to navigate through time by creating an inner context through which we can conceptualize who and where we are, what we are doing, and why; this is essential. But, this creates the side effect of seeing reality through the screen of that map. The mind sees the surface of things – a collection of related but separate parts, and the mind also feels itself to be separate from what it sees. וַיְהִי֙ ק֣וֹל הַשֹּׁפָ֔ר הוֹלֵ֖ךְ וְחָזֵ֣ק מְאֹ֑ד מֹשֶׁ֣ה יְדַבֵּ֔ר וְהָאֱלֹהִ֖ים יַעֲנֶ֥נּוּ בְקֽוֹל׃ And it was that as the voice of the shofar louder and louder, Moses spoke, God answered him in that voice… But there comes a time when that inner map breaks down, and we are confronted by the naked present, in all its Mystery. When we are shaken from the continuity of mind-created context, and the “familiar” disappears, we step out of the Mitzrayim of the known, out of our conditioned mental patterns of separateness. This “wilderness” can be terrifying. And yet, in the unknown there is the possibility of receiving Reality in a very direct way, a way that knows Being as a Whole, as a Oneness; this is meditation. אָֽנֹכִי יי – I am Hashem… According to our tradition, this Divine declaration of identity is the first of the Aseret Hadibrot, the “Ten Sayings,” otherwise known as the “Ten Commandments.” But what exactly is the commandment? According to Maimonides (b. 1135- d.1204 CE), in his work Sefer HaMitzvot, this first commandment is simply to believe in God. אֲשֶׁ֧ר הוֹצֵאתִ֛יךָ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם – who brought you out of the land of Egypt… But if we look at the second part of the verse, there is a deeper message that is not about mere belief, not about events of the past, but rather it is about this moment within which we now find ourselves, this moment through which we too may be brought out of Mitzrayim. אָֽנֹכִי יי – I am Hashem means that the Anokhi – the “I” – is actually Hashem – Divine. Meaning, our own inner identity, and in fact the inner identity of all things, is the Ultimate, Living Presence of Existence; that is what the Divine Name actually means. חָבִיב אָדָם שֶׁנִּבְרָא בְצֶלֶם. חִבָּה יְתֵרָה נוֹדַעַת לוֹ שֶׁנִּבְרָא בְצֶלֶם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (בראשית ט) כִּי בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים עָשָׂה אֶת הָאָדָם. Beloved are human beings, for they were created as images for the Divine. But they are extra beloved that it is made known to them that they are created as images for the Divine, as it is said: “for in the image of the Divine humans were made.” - Pirkei Avot, 3:18 The Israelites are shaken by the terrible awesomeness of the natural world around them, and in that heightened state, the inner identity of nature reveals Itself as their own inner identity. It is not about believing in the idea of a divine entity; it is not about adding another concept to the mind’s ideas about reality. It is about subtracting the conditioned sense of the ordinary imposed by our minds, and recognizing Existence Itself – recognizing That which the mind cannot map. This “knowing” through not finding, that is, not mapping with the mind, is itself liberation – liberation from the burden of time and conditioned identity. וְכׇל־הָעָם֩ רֹאִ֨ים אֶת־הַקּוֹלֹ֜ת – and all the people saw the voices… It does say they heard the voices, but saw! In other words, they perceived everything in a completely new way. It is a kind of awakening. Physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson talks about how we can imagine our “cosmic address.” The first step is to notice we are on planet Earth. Next, we can expand our perspective to see that Earth is part of our Solar System. Then, we expand further to see that our sun is one of hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. Even further, we can see the family of galaxies to which the Milky Way belongs, called the Local Group. Then, even further, we expand to see the Local Group as part of a larger cluster of galaxy families, called the Virgo Supercluster. And even further, the Virgo Supercluster is one of the many clusters that make up the Observable Universe. But what comes after that? We have come to limits of our map, beyond which is simply Mystery. Perhaps, says Tyson, our whole universe is merely a single bubble in an infinite ocean of bubbles, each one a complete universe. Now consider: where would that “ocean” of universes be? The imagination reaches out toward infinity and comes to stillness. כָּל יָמַי גָּדַלְתִּי בֵין הַחֲכָמִים, וְלֹא מָצָאתִי לַגּוּף טוֹב אֶלָּא שְׁתִיקָה. וְלֹא הַמִּדְרָשׁ הוּא הָעִקָּר, אֶלָּא הַמַּעֲשֶׂה. וְכָל הַמַּרְבֶּה דְבָרִים, מֵבִיא חֵטְא: All my days I grew up among the sages, and I have found nothing better for a person than silence. Study is not the point, but practice; whoever indulges in too many words brings about great error. - Pirkei Avot, 1:17 Ultimately, we don’t and can’t know where or what or why any of this is. And yet we do know: Hinei! Here it is! This practice of finding the limits of thought, beyond which is the simple Mystery of Being, is the Path of ר Reish, of Awe, of Wonder. May our efforts in this Path add momentum to the awakening of our species from the mind-created madness that gives rise to our present plagues of violence and suffering.
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah opens with Pharaoh changing his mind about allowing the Children of Israel to leave Egypt, and chasing after them to force their return. The Israelites become terrified, finding themselves trapped between Pharaoh’s armies and the sea. God tells Moses to raise his staff over the water; the sea splits to allow the Israelites to pass through, and then closes over the pursuing Egyptians. Moses and the Children of Israel sing a song of praise and gratitude, while Miriam and others play drums.
In the desert the people suffer thirst and hunger, and repeatedly complain to Moses and Aaron. The bitter waters of Marah miraculously become sweet when Moses throws wood into it, and later Moses brings forth water from a rock by striking it with his staff. A miraculous kind of bread, “manna” (man) rains down from the heavens before dawn each morning, and quails appear in the Israelite camp each evening. The Children of Israel are instructed to gather a double portion of manna on Friday, as there will be none on Shabbat, the day of rest. Some go out on Shabbat to gather manna anyway, but find nothing. Aaron preserves a small quantity of manna in a jar, as a testimony for future generations. In Rephidim, the people are attacked by the Amalekites, who are defeated by Moses’ prayers and an army raised by Joshua…
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
עׇזִּ֤י וְזִמְרָת֙ יָ֔הּ וַֽיְהִי־לִ֖י לִֽישׁוּעָ֑ה זֶ֤ה אֵלִי֙ וְאַנְוֵ֔הוּ אֱלֹהֵ֥י אָבִ֖י וַאֲרֹמְמֶֽנְהוּ׃ The Divine is my strength and song; The Divine has become my salvation. This is my God and I will praise Him; The God of my father, and I will exalt Him… - Shemot (Exodus) 15:2, “Song of the Sea,” Parshat Bo
A schoolmaster from the town of Goray used to travel to visit Reb Yaakov Yitzhak, the Seer of Lublin. During one of his visits, the rebbe told him, “In your town there is a holy spark. Please try to locate it and bring it to me.
When the schoolmaster arrived back home, he considered the learned townspeople one by one, but wasn’t able to identify any of them as the “holy spark” his rebbe spoke of. So, he decided to hide himself at night in the beit midrash – the House of Study – because he thought if there were someone saintly in his town, he might find them there. In the dead of night he waited several hours, crouching in the corner. Suddenly, he heard a noise – an odd youth by the name of Mendel had snuck into the room by himself. Mendel was an unusual character who was known to gesticulate awkwardly and make strange noises. But this night, the schoolmaster saw Mendel open a volume of Talmud and enthusiastically study out loud, singing the words in his own unique melody, all the while standing on one foot As the schoolmaster watched in awe, he accidentally lost his balance and knocked over a tin tzeddaka box (for charity) which crashed to the floor, spilling its jangling coins. Startled, the youth closed his book at once, strode suddenly over to the stove, clapped his hands loudly and started making strange noises. The schoolmaster stood up, approached the youth and said, “I know full well that your outlandish behavior is intended only to delude people. But your acting can’t fool me, for the Seer of Lublin told me to bring you to him.” Mendel lost no time and set out for Lublin. When Mendel’s father, who was a misnaged (opponent of Hasidism), found out that his son was on his way to the court of a famous hasidic rebbe, he rode after him in hot pursuit. When he caught up with his son, he challenged him: “Why do you forsake the tradition of your fathers?” his father scolded. Mendel replied, “In the Song of the Sea, when the Israelites were liberated from their slave identity and finally had the freedom to celebrate their true identity as children of God, first it is written: זֶ֤ה אֵלִי֙ וְאַנְוֵ֔הוּ zeh Eli v’anvehu – ‘This is my God and I will glorify Him,’ And only later is it written: זֶ֤ה אֵלִי֙ וְאַנְוֵ֔הוּ zeh Eli v’anvehu ‘The God of my father, and I will exalt Him…’ Mendel’s father was taken aback and silenced, but later he understood: each person must find their own unique path, and not merely copy the patterns given to them by tradition. That youth became the famous rebbe, Menakhem Mendel of Kotsk, the Kotzker Rebbe. The patterns of religious tradition are vital necessities, just like the patterns of life. Without the repetitive predictability of our lives – our homes, our activities, the days of the week and months of the year, life would be chaotic and therefore unsupportive. Similarly, the tapestry of tradition provides a setting for meaningful movement on the path of the spirit. The patterns of life and tradition are like a circle, reliably repeating themselves again and again to provide a foundation of support. This is why the letter ס samekh, which means “support,” has the shape of a circle. But there is a complementary, non-circular movement that is also necessary. Reality is not all repetition, but is rather a creative unfolding, ever changing. For our spiritual lives, as well as the whole of our lives, there is a creative uniqueness in each of us that must also be honored in order for the path to be alive, relevant and effective; the circle must at times be interrupted, disrupted, transformed. Why? Because while the circle is supportive, it is also deadening; its side-effects are complacency, taking-for-granted. To counter this, we need the remedy of disruption, of the unexpected… וַיָּבֹ֧אוּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל בְּת֥וֹךְ הַיָּ֖ם בַּיַּבָּשָׁ֑ה וְהַמַּ֤יִם לָהֶם֙ חוֹמָ֔ה מִֽימִינָ֖ם וּמִשְּׂמֹאלָֽם׃ And the Children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left… Sometimes we discover that Reality doesn’t correspond to the map of reality we hold in our minds. It can be a shock: something of which we are certain turns out to be completely wrong. When “being wrong” means that things turn out far better than we thought they would, we call that a “miracle.” The Egyptian army is behind us and the sea is front of us – we are doomed. And then, the sea opens before us – a miracle! Or, we’re stranded out in the wilderness with no food or water – we are doomed for sure. But then: we wake up in the morning and a strange food covers the ground – manna from heaven! Another miracle! These fantastical examples highlight our capacity to realize the miraculous. But in truth, we don’t need fantastical events. As long as we are alive, we are being showered with miracles in each moment. In fact, you are the miracle – in this moment. But to realize this takes a turning of consciousness away from the circle of the expected, the reliable tapestry of conditioned mind, into the Mystery of the Present. The greatest of all miracles is constantly unfolding, and so it appears to be ordinary – until the mind that is present pierces the ordinary, straight through to the Divine miracle of Being. This is the meaning of Yisrael: seeing straight through (Yishar) to the Mystery that we call Divine (El). The conditioned patterns of life and tradition form a necessary support, but from this support we must spring into the unconditioned, into the unknown. How do we do it וַֽיהֹוָ֡ה הֹלֵךְ֩ לִפְנֵיהֶ֨ם יוֹמָ֜ם בְּעַמּ֤וּד עָנָן֙ לַנְחֹתָ֣ם הַדֶּ֔רֶךְ Hashem went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to guide them along the way… - Shemot (Exodus) 10:1, Parshat Bo The “pillar of cloud” means that which is beyond our perception; cloud is Mystery. Living through the conditioned mind, we rely on the support of things happening the way we expect. But as we move beyond the conditioned mind into the present, the “cloud” becomes visible; the truth is uncertainty. While uncertainty can tend to produce fear and anxiety, one of the fruits of meditation is the embrace of the unknown, which is foundation of creativity. Say “yes” to the Mystery; try something new, see what happens, surprise yourself. But what if you don’t have any new ideas? What if your creativity seems all dried up? וְלַ֛יְלָה בְּעַמּ֥וּד אֵ֖שׁ לְהָאִ֣יר לָהֶ֑ם לָלֶ֖כֶת יוֹמָ֥ם וָלָֽיְל ׃ … and by night, in a pillar of fire to shine for them, for traveling both by day and night. The “pillar of fire” means being still, alert, and present in the darkness of “night” – that is, the state of “not-yet.” Creativity is a kind of revelation; we cannot control it, but we can prepare ourselves receive it. This is why meditation is so vital: while fear and anxiety block the creative flow, embrace of the unknown is the precondition for it. Be the עַמּוּד אֵשׁ amud aysh – the pillar of fire – a still, alert presence in the darkness of the not-yet. As the Israelites follow the pillars of cloud and fire and are led to freedom through the Sea of Reeds, they break into singing praises for the miracle of their liberation. This famous “Song of the Sea” tells their story – it expresses their unique identity. Similarly, when you learn to follow the pillars of cloud and fire in your own life, you’ll be led on your own unique path of destiny. Present and free from complacency and resistance, your inner flower will blossom, in a way that is unique to you. Then, your life becomes your song – this is the path of ה hei, of creative, unique self-expression. On this Shabbat Shira, the Sabbath of Song, may the fire and cloud lead each one of us toward the full and beautiful unfolding of who we really are, to sing our unique songs that the One can only sing through the many, through each one of us uniquely. May our practice plant the seeds of redemption in the world, that human life become a celebration of creativity, and the plagues of war and violence become relics of history...
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah begins with last three of the Ten Plagues: a swarm of locusts devours all the crops and greenery; a thick darkness envelops the land; and on the 15th of the month of Nissan at midnight, all the firstborn of Egypt die. The first specifically Jewish mitzvah is then given to the Children of Israel: to establish a calendar based on the monthly rebirth of the moon. The Israelites are also instructed to bring a “Passover offering” – a lamb or goat is to be slaughtered, and its blood sprinkled on the doorposts and lintel of every Israelite home, so that God should “pass over” (pesakh) those homes when the plague of the firstborn takes place. The roasted meat of the offering is to be eaten that night together with matzah and bitter herbs.
The death of the firstborn finally breaks Pharaoh’s resistance, and he drives the Children of Israel from his land. So hastily do they depart that there is no time for their dough to rise, hence the practice of eating matzah in commemoration of the Exodus. Before they go, they ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold, silver and garments—fulfilling the promise made to Abraham that his descendants would leave Egypt with great wealth. The Children of Israel are instructed to consecrate all firstborn, and to observe the anniversary of the Exodus each year by removing all leaven from their possession for seven days, eating matzah, and telling the story of their redemption to their children. They are also instructed to wear tefillin on the arm and head as a reminder of the Exodus and their commitment to God as the Power of Liberation.
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהֹוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה בֹּ֖א אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֑ה כִּֽי־אֲנִ֞י הִכְבַּ֤דְתִּי אֶת־לִבּוֹ֙ וְאֶת־לֵ֣ב עֲבָדָ֔יו לְמַ֗עַן שִׁתִ֛י אֹתֹתַ֥י אֵ֖לֶּה בְּקִרְבּֽוֹ׃ Hashem said to Moses, “Come to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, so that I may place my signs within him…” - Shemot (Exodus) 10:1, Parshat Bo
There was a funny sketch from an old Electric Company episode. A man dressed in what looks like a navel uniform sits in a restaurant and orders from a waitress with puffy orange hair. “I’ll have a cup of coffee and a sweet roll,” says the man. “We are out of sweet rolls,” says the waitress. “A glass of milk and a sweet roll.” “We- are- out- of- sweet- rolls,” the waitress repeats a little bit more slowly. “Ice tea and a sweet roll.” “We are out of sweet rolls!” The redness of her hair starts migrating into her face, leaving her hair white. “Orange juice and a sweet roll?” She is about to explode: “WE ARE OUT OF SWEET ROLLS!!!” “Okay, then, I’ll just have a sweet roll.” “AAARRRRGH!!!!” She screams and runs out the door.
How many times have you gotten some message over and over again in your life, but you didn’t listen? Or perhaps you couldn’t listen? וַיְחַזֵּ֥ק יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶת־לֵ֣ב פַּרְעֹ֑ה וְלֹ֥א שִׁלַּ֖ח אֶת־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ But Hashem strengthened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go… Moses and Aaron present plague after plague to Pharaoh in order to persuade him to let go of the Israelites. During each plague Pharaoh relents, but after each one subsides, he contracts into his old position – what does he think he’s accomplishing? Why not do the thing that will be of obvious benefit? But that’s exactly what the ego does: it brings suffering upon itself over and over again, rather than learning the all-important lesson: Let go! Why is it often so difficult to let go? וַ֠יֵּהָפֵ֠ךְ לְבַ֨ב פַּרְעֹ֤ה וַעֲבָדָיו֙ אֶל־הָעָ֔ם וַיֹּֽאמְרוּ֙ מַה־זֹּ֣את עָשִׂ֔ינוּ כִּֽי־שִׁלַּ֥חְנוּ אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל מֵעׇבְדֵֽנוּ׃ Pharaoh and his courtiers had a change of heart about the people and said, “What is this we have done, releasing Israel from our service?” One common reason is the fear that if you were to let go, it would be irresponsible of you and everything would fall apart. There tends to be an unconscious belief that worrying is necessary. Actually, the opposite is true. When we lose our wellbeing because we’re struggling with our problems, we now have two problems: both the difficult situation and the inner tension and negativity generated by our struggling and worrying. And with all that inner tension, how are we going to improve things? But when we bring our awareness to our resistance and see it clearly for what it is, there is a higher wisdom that can flow into our lives – this is the fruit of meditation. New possibilities can appear that were previously hidden. That’s because awareness is much bigger than our limited, conditioned point of view. The ego/personality is “Pharaoh” – king of Mitzrayim – of narrowness, of limitedness, mindlessly repeating the same old patterns over and over again. But our awareness is Divine – meaning, it is beyond the individual personality. It is Reality looking through our eyes – courageous, creative, present and free. Mottel of Kashlin was a businessman who had extensive dealings in Warsaw and spoke Polish fluently. One day Reb Yitzhak of Vorki called for him with a request. The Polish government had issued a decree to burn all extant copies of the Shulkhan Arukh, Hoshen Mishpat – The Code of Jewish Law that deals with civil and criminal matters. The goal was to force Jews to take their litigation to the Polish courts rather than the rabbinical courts. No books had been burned yet, and Reb Yitzhak wanted Mottel to approach a certain powerful Polish minister and convince him to retract the decree… “But that minister has a raging temper!” Mottel protested. “He threatens to shoot anyone who comes with requests like that!” The tzaddik replied, “When Hashem sent Moses to save his people, he didn’t tell him to go to Pharaoh. He said: ‘Bo el Paro בֹּ֖א אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֑ה – Come to Pharaoh…’ Moses was afraid, so Hashem reassured him that the Divine Presence would be with him.” So Mottel set out to confront the minister, calm and unafraid. When he arrived, he spoke eloquently and convincingly. The powerful man was awestruck by the presence of the brave yet calm and joyful hasid who stood before him, and granted his request. This Presence-quality of courage to fully step into this moment is the Path of כ Kaf. In this week of Shabbat Bo, the Sabbath to Come, may the wisdom to not be caught by fear and worry come into our lives through this supreme gift of awareness. May this awareness come to transform all the manifestations of Pharaoh that are given to each of one of us. May our practice add to the forces of evolution and may our world be swiftly freed from the plagues of violence and narrowness that continue to cause unimaginable suffering.
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah opens with Hashem telling Moses, “Va’era – I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,” and promising to bring the Children of Israel to the Promised Land. Moses and Aaron repeatedly come before Pharaoh to demand, “Let My people go,” but Pharaoh refuses. In response, Aaron’s staff turns into a snake and swallows the staves of the Egyptian sorcerers which had also turned into snakes, but Pharaoh remains obstinate. A series of plagues then begin to descend upon the Egyptians: The waters of the Nile turn to blood; swarms of frogs overrun the land; lice infest human and beast alike; wild animals invade the cities; a pestilence kills the domestic animals; and painful boils afflict the Egyptians. For the seventh plague, fire and ice combine to descend from the skies as a devastating hail. Still, “the heart of Pharaoh was hardened and he would not let the Children of Israel go…
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֑ה וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֵלָ֖יו אֲנִ֥י יְהֹוָֽה׃ וָאֵרָ֗א אֶל־אַבְרָהָ֛ם אֶל־יִצְחָ֥ק וְאֶֽל־יַעֲקֹ֖ב בְּאֵ֣ל שַׁדָּ֑י וּשְׁמִ֣י יְהֹוָ֔ה לֹ֥א נוֹדַ֖עְתִּי לָהֶֽם׃ God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Divine. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El Shaddai, but My name “Being” I did not make known to them… - Shemot (Exodus) 6:2, 3; Parshat Vaeira
A student once wrote me that he often feels like his mind is a train station and his thoughts are the trains, constantly taking off every few seconds. He said that he wants to just “let the trains go” and stay in the “train station,” but he feels compelled to hop on every “train” that leaves, compulsively journeying with every thought that arises. “When will I learn to relax and just stay in the train station?” he wondered. In seeking in inner freedom, we can become frustrated with our lack of control over our minds. We might even feel that meditation is making it worse, forcing us to sit in the chaos of our own thoughts, just as Moses felt when his initial efforts were met with Pharaoh actually increasing the suffering of his brethren.
וַיָּ֧שָׁב מֹשֶׁ֛ה אֶל־יְהוָ֖ה וַיֹּאמַ֑ר אֲדֹנָ֗י לָמָ֤ה הֲרֵעֹ֙תָה֙ לָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה לָ֥מָּה זֶּ֖ה שְׁלַחְתָּֽנִי׃ Then Moses returned to the Divine and said, “My Lord, why did You bring harm upon this people? Why did You send me? Moses is on his Divine-given mission to free the Israelites, but he’s feeling like a failure. Similarly, when we commit to getting free from our own minds, we may feel like failures as well. Those trains can be so tempting! Part of the problem is expressed in the metaphor of “staying in the train station.” That doesn’t sound very enticing, does it? Going on many different journeys, on the other hand, that’s enticing! And this is why we get carried away so easily with our thoughts: they promise adventure. They promise understanding. They promise new ideas, new plans, cherished memories and fantasies of possibility. No wonder we get carried away so easily by those trains. If we want to get free from our own minds, we need to be seduced by something more powerful, more compelling than our own thoughts. This is the hidden message of the Divine response to Moses: וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה עַתָּ֣ה תִרְאֶ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר אֶֽעֱשֶׂ֖ה לְפַרְעֹ֑ה כִּ֣י בְיָ֤ד חֲזָקָה֙ יְשַׁלְּחֵ֔ם וּבְיָ֣ד חֲזָקָ֔ה יְגָרְשֵׁ֖ם מֵאַרְצֽוֹ׃ Then Hashem said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh: he shall let them go because of a mighty hand; indeed, because of a mighty hand he shall drive them from his land.” Pharaoh, the symbol of ego and enslavement to the mind, will let them go free because of a “mighty hand.” What is this mighty hand? What could be greater than the enticingly seductive power of thought? וָאֵרָ֗א – I appeared… For one who seeks to develop their spiritual potential, there comes a time when God “appears.” This is not primarily a matter of belief, or of being convinced of the truth of spiritual ideas; it is the awakening of a dimension of experience. This awakening can manifest in three ways: אֶל־אַבְרָהָ֛ם אֶל־יִצְחָ֥ק וְאֶֽל־יַעֲקֹ֖ב – to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob… In Kabbalah, the patriarchs represent the three primary sefirot, or Divine qualities, on the Tree of Life: Hesed, Gevurah and Tiferet, which in turn hint at three different ways that awakening manifests. Hesed is the heart; this the feeling of a fundamental love and benevolence toward all beings. Gevurah is a restraint of mental movement, the relaxing of the ordinary tendency to be constantly thinking, and this comes about through a shift of emphasis from navigation in time to Presence-In-The-Moment; this is achieved through resting awareness in the body and the senses. Tiferet is Wisdom-In-Action, and harmonizes the two: movement in time, motivated by love, while living in the present. בְּאֵ֣ל שַׁדָּ֑י – as El Shaddai… The Divine Name Shaddai שַׁדָּי comes from שדיים Shaddaim, which means “breasts” – perhaps deriving from an ancient goddess image. El Shaddai would then mean “Breasted God,” expressing the Divine as the Source of nourishment and nurturance. This is the aspect of spirituality we can understand, the tangible benefits we can get from meditating regularly: an open heart, a quiet mind, and an ability to be in harmony with the flow of life. וּשְׁמִ֣י יְהֹוָ֔ה לֹ֥א נוֹדַ֖עְתִּי לָהֶֽם׃ – but My name “Being” I did not make Myself known to them… We can understand the effects of Presence, of being with Being; we can understand El Shaddai. But, Being Itself remains always a Mystery. For many, as long as there is identification with the mind and thought, the unknowability of God will be deeply disturbing; ordinary responses to this deep frustration might be to stuff the mind full of religious beliefs or to ignore the issue altogether. But there is another way… אֲנִ֣י יְהֹוָה֒ וְהוֹצֵאתִ֣י אֶתְכֶ֗ם מִתַּ֙חַת֙ סִבְלֹ֣ת מִצְרַ֔יִם וְהִצַּלְתִּ֥י אֶתְכֶ֖ם מֵעֲבֹדָתָ֑ם... I am Being, Existence Itself; I will free you from the suffering of Egypt and deliver you from their bondage… Meaning: the אֲנִי ani, the “I” is not separate from Existence, not separate from God. We cannot grasp It, but we are It. Furthermore, since every experience, every perception, every thought and every feeling are inseparable from this awareness that we are, the main thing we need do is stop resisting what happens, thereby ceasing resistance to our own being, and consequently, to God – this is freedom from the suffering of Egypt, from Mitzrayim, which literally means “resistance,” or “constriction” – this is meditation. How do we accomplish this? The key is: don’t try to control your mind! Don’t try to discipline yourself to “stay in the train station” while your thoughts tempt you with all kinds of things. Instead, accept the moment with simplicity; be the awareness that has no dimension or form – this is the path of the letter י yud, which means “hand” – the יָד חֲזָקָה yad hazakah, the “mighty hand” of God. Know that your awareness is not just a train station, not just the place from which the “trains” of thought arise, but is rather an Ocean of Mystery, complete, whole and ever-creative, ever-renewing. Consciousness is the true adventure. Let yourself be seduced by That. Let yourself fall in love with That, and don’t worry about the trains. Thoughts can be enticing, but the awareness that you are is infinitely more vast and powerful – the יָד חֲזָקָה yad hazakah, the “mighty hand” of freedom – if you let yourself be seduced by this simplicity…
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah opens with the Children of Israel prospering and increasing in Egypt, when a new king sits on the throne. Threatened by their growing numbers, this new Pharaoh enslaves them and orders the Hebrew midwives, Shifrah and Puah, to kill all male babies at birth. When they do not comply, he commands his people to cast the Hebrew baby boys into the Nile.
A child is born to Yocheved, and she puts him in a basket on the river, while the baby’s sister, Miriam, stands watch from afar. Pharaoh’s daughter discovers the boy, raises him as her son, and names him Moses. As a young man, Moses leaves the palace and discovers the hardship of his brethren. He sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, and kills the Egyptian. The next day he sees two Hebrews fighting; when he rebukes them, they reveal that they know about his murder from the previous day, and Moses is forced to flee to Midian. There he rescues Jethro’s daughters, marries Tzipporah, and becomes a shepherd of his father-in-law’s flocks. Hashem appears to Moses as a burning bush, and instructs him to go to Pharaoh and demand: “Let My people go.” Moses’ brother, Aaron, is appointed to serve as his spokesman. In Egypt, Moses and Aaron assemble the elders of Israel to tell them that the time of their redemption has come, but Pharaoh refuses to let them go, and even intensifies their suffering. Moses returns to Hashem to protest: “Why have You done evil to this people?” Hashem assures Moses that the redemption is close at hand...
Torah of Awakening: Jewish Meditation Teaching
וְאֵ֗לֶּה שְׁמוֹת֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל הַבָּאִ֖ים מִצְרָ֑יְמָה אֵ֣ת יַעֲקֹ֔ב אִ֥ישׁ וּבֵית֖וֹ בָּֽאוּ׃ These are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each coming with their household… - Shemot (Exodus) 1:1, Parshat Shemot
Rabbi Bunam taught on Psalm 147:
“In Psalm 147 we read, ‘הָ֭רֹפֵא לִשְׁבוּרֵי לֵב – healer of broken hearts…’ Why are we told that? It is because it is actually a good thing to have a broken heart, as it is written: זִבְחֵי אֱלֹהִים רוּחַ נִשְׁבָּרה לֵב־נִשְׁבָּר וְנִדְכֶּה אֱלֹהִים לֹא תִבְזֶֽה׃ Sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit; a contrite and crushed heart, oh God, you will not despise… Psalm 51:19 “But further on in Psalm 147 we read, ‘וּמְחַבֵּשׁ לְעַצְּבוֹתָֽם – and binds up their wounds…’ Meaning, God does not entirely heal those with broken hearts, but only eases their suffering, so they not be tormented and dejected by their brokenness. For dejection is not a good thing. A broken heart prepares a person for true service of God, but dejection corrodes it. We must distinguish carefully between the two, as we must distinguish between true joy and mere careless levity; they are so easily confused, yet they are as far removed from one another as the ends of the earth.” Simḥa Bunam’s teaching points out a subtle truth: that while the suffering of “dejection” can be dangerous to our spiritual life, some amount of suffering, what he calls a שָׁבוּר לֵב lev shavur, a “broken heart,” is helpful, perhaps even necessary. This is because without the reminder of some emotional pain, the tendency is to “fall asleep” spiritually and forget all about the constant effort required to be present. We could more precisely define שָׁבוּר לֵב, “broken heart,” as Presence-In-Suffering, while “dejection” would be unconscious suffering, being taken over by negativity. Cultivating a broken heart, then, is a practice; it is a way of relating to our suffering with consciousness. A total absence of emotional pain, however, can be a hindrance, because then we have no opportunity to practice שָׁבוּר לֵב lev shavur. If our tendency is to fall asleep when life is easeful, we will likely be asleep when adversity comes along, at least until the moment when we allow the adversity to “wake us up” and pierce through the callousness of our hearts once again. We can see this dynamic playing out in the parshah: וְאֵ֗לֶּה שְׁמֹות֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל הַבָּאִ֖ים מִצְרָ֑יְמָה – These are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt… The Children of Israel went down into Egypt out of necessity – there was a famine, and they needed nourishment. At first, Egypt was a place of satisfaction, and only gradually did it become a place of great suffering… וַיָּשִׂ֤ימוּ עָלָיו֙ שָׂרֵ֣י מִסִּ֔ים לְמַ֥עַן עַנֹּת֖וֹ בְּסִבְלֹתָ֑ם – And they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor… Eventually, when their suffering broke through the callousness of their hearts and ripened into prayerfulness, they became motivated to escape Egypt and return home. וַיֵּאָנְח֧וּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל מִן־הָעֲבֹדָ֖ה וַיִּזְעָ֑קוּ וַתַּ֧עַל שַׁוְעָתָ֛ם אֶל־הָאֱלֹהִ֖ים מִן־הָעֲבֹדָֽה׃ The Children of Israel were groaning from their labors and cried out; and their cry for help from the labor rose up to God. Similarly, when our experience is pleasant and easeful, it is easy to sink into “Egypt” without even knowing it – meaning, it is easy to drop into a lower state of consciousness, taking the easefulness for granted, lacking gratitude and appreciation for the gift of Being. But eventually, adversity will come along, and with it a new potential emerges: the suffering itself can wake up from our “bondage” to callousness, breaking open the doorway of the heart. But why should easefulness give rise to this callousness of ego? וַֽיְהִ֗י כׇּל־נֶ֛פֶשׁ יֹצְאֵ֥י יֶֽרֶךְ־יַעֲקֹ֖ב שִׁבְעִ֣ים נָ֑פֶשׁ וְיוֹסֵ֖ף הָיָ֥ה בְמִצְרָֽיִם׃ – And all the souls that went out from Jacob’s loins were seventy souls, and Joseph was in Egypt… Joseph – יוֹסֵף Yosef – comes from הוֹסָפָה hosaphah, meaning “increase.” Joseph represents the power of proliferation, of becoming more, and this is the tendency of the thoughts in our minds. Of course, thought is a wonderful thing, just as Egypt was a salvation from famine at first, thanks to Joseph. But when thought becomes so incessant that we lose connection with the space of awareness within which thought arises, that is, we lose Presence, then we’ve become stuck in Egypt, in Mitzrayim, the place of narrowness. Then, when adversity comes, the degree to which we’ve become trapped gets revealed with the reactivity that arises, and the suffering that comes along with it. But, not to worry – suffering contains within it its own solution! The force of our suffering can motivate “Pharaoh” to “let go,” if we become present with it – this is the hint of the ten plagues. Meaning: consciousness that has become trapped in identification with thought – called “ego” – is can be motivated to let go of its identification when it becomes present and fully feels the suffering that it unconsciously created. The key is not to get rid of our suffering, but to use suffering in the right way: be present with it, accept it fully, let it do its job and ultimately let it go. In that openness to whatever arises in our experience lies the key to liberation – this is meditation. The suffering may persist for some time, but eventually it burns itself out, just as Pharaoh eventually relents after the plagues. Of course, we need not wait for a broken heart to wake up; we can practice the art of Presence regardless of our momentary experience. Give thanks for the great and constant blessing of Being, root your awareness in your body, let go of the stream of thinking, and know yourself as the Light of Presence that you are…
Read past teachings on Shemot HERE.
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
Jacob lives the final seventeen years of his life in Egypt. Before his passing, he asks Joseph to take an oath that he will bury him in the Holy Land. He blesses Joseph’s two sons, Menasheh and Ephraim, elevating them to the status of his own sons as progenitors of tribes within the people of Israel. Jacob blesses his twelve sons, assigning to each his role as a tribe, and Reuven, Shimon and Levi, are rebuked. Among the blessings, Naphtali is granted the swiftness of a deer, Benjamin the ferociousness of a wolf, and Joseph is blessed with beauty and fertility.
Jacob/Israel then dies. A large funeral procession consisting of Jacob’s descendants, Pharaoh’s ministers, the leading citizens of Egypt and the Egyptian cavalry accompanies Jacob on his final journey to the Holy Land, where he is buried in the Cave of Makhpelah in Hebron. Joseph dies in Egypt, at the age of one hundred and ten. He, too, instructs that his bones be taken out of Egypt and buried in the Holy Land, but this would happen only with the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt many years later. Before he dies, Joseph tells the Children of Israel: “Hashem will surely remember you, and bring you up out of this land, to the land of your ancestors…”
Torah of Awakening: Jewish Meditation Teaching
וַיְחִ֤י יַעֲקֹב֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם שְׁבַ֥ע עֶשְׂרֵ֖ה שָׁנָ֑ה וַיְהִ֤י יְמֵֽי־יַעֲקֹב֙ שְׁנֵ֣י חַיָּ֔יו שֶׁ֣בַע שָׁנִ֔ים וְאַרְבָּעִ֥ים וּמְאַ֖ת שָׁנָֽה׃ Jacob lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt, and it was that the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred and forty-seven years… - Bereisheet (Genesis) 47:28, Parshat Vayekhi
The Maggid of Mezritch taught on this verse:
צַדִּיק כַּתָּמָר יִפְרָח כְּאֶרֶז בַּלְּבָנון יִשגֶּה – The righteous will blossom like a date palm, like a cedar in Lebanon, they will grow tall… The Maggid said, “There are two types of tzaddikim. Some spend their time with people – with teaching and counselling them, while others are concerned only with the teachings themselves. The first bear nourishing fruit, like the date palm; the second are like the cedar: lofty but unfruitful.” On the surface, this teaching of the Maggid is probably a critique of the elitist rabbinate that Hasidism came to counter by making Jewish spirituality accessible to the common person. But on a deeper level, the “date-palm” and the “cedar” represent two different answers to the core question we must each ask ourselves: “How shall I live?” וַיְחִ֤י יַעֲקֹב֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם שְׁבַ֥ע עֶשְׂרֵ֖ה שָׁנָ֑ה – Jacob lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt… The first mention of “seventeen years” was back in Parshat Vayeishev, where Joseph is described as a na’ar – a seventeen-year-old youth. Seventeen, then, hints at youthfulness, and Joseph is the embodiment of youthfulness: he is both beloved and hated, he has big and unrealistic seeming dreams, and he has no common sense about how to get along with his brothers. בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם – in the land of Egypt… Egypt, on the other hand, means limitation, suffering, constricted-ness: Egypt is מִצְרַיִם Mitzrayim, from צַר tzar, which means “narrow.” The immature Joseph must first get enslaved in Egypt before his eventual ascent to Egyptian royalty. In this parshah, Jacob, who represents all of Israel, parallels this journey – the youthful family goes down into Egypt in order to mature into a people through the suffering of slavery which begins in the next book of Shemot. Similarly, the youthfulness in each of us gets constricted by the limitations and conditioning of our physical bodies, families and culture. But the purpose of this life’s suffering is to learn and practice not being burdened by the temporary challenges of life. Like Joseph, we can become like cream – always “rising to the top,” no matter how much life beats us down. The key is Presence: being the awareness of whatever arises in the moment, and not identifying with the judgements of the mind: וּמֵעֵ֗ץ הַדַּ֙עַת֙ ט֣וֹב וָרָ֔ע לֹ֥א תֹאכַ֖ל מִמֶּ֑נּוּ כִּ֗י בְּי֛וֹם אֲכׇלְךָ֥ מִמֶּ֖נּוּ מ֥וֹת תָּמֽוּת׃ “From the Tree of Knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat of it; for on the day you eat of it, you shall die.” - Bereisheet 2:17 מוֹת תָּמֽוּת – literally: dead, you shall die… Meaning: the process of identifying with the judgements of the mind leads us to a kind of inner deadness. The message is, don’t die dead! Instead… וַיְחִ֤י יַעֲקֹב֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם – Jacob lived in the land of Egypt… Learn to embrace the moment as it is, so that you may live, even in “Egypt,” and become fruitful, even in constriction and suffering – that is meditation. But how do we do that? וַיְהִ֤י יְמֵֽי־יַעֲקֹב֙ שְׁנֵ֣י חַיָּ֔יו שֶׁ֣בַע שָׁנִ֔ים וְאַרְבָּעִ֥ים וּמְאַ֖ת שָׁנָֽה׃ – And it was that the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred and forty-seven years… The message is that, like most things that are worthwhile, it takes time; we can achieve spiritual maturity only by practicing over time. After all, Presence in the face of suffering is definitely not a quality of youthfulness, but of age and maturity. This is partly because it takes lifetime of experience with suffering to learn how to really let go. But also, as we get older and approach the ultimate Letting Go, it is natural for attachments to fall away on their own to some degree. This is hinted at in the blessing Jacob gives to Joseph’s two sons, Menasheh and Ephraim. Menasheh is named such by Joseph because, “The Divine has made me forget (Nashani) my troubles,” hinting at old age, which is fitting since Menasheh is the elder. Ephraim is named such because “The Divine has made me fruitful (Hifrani) in the land of my suffering,” which is fitting for the younger brother. But Jacob deliberately switches his hands, giving the blessing of the elder to the younger, which is why the traditional blessing for boys on Erev Shabbat is that they should be like Ephraim and Menasheh, and not the other way around, as if to say: Let go of your troubles while you are still fruitful. In other words, die before you die! מוֹת תָּמֽוּת – dead, you shall die… But this teaching is not the death of the spirit which comes from “eating” of the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad,” this is the death of ego – that is, of identification with the impulsive self of youth, and the blossoming of the mature spirit. We can taste the mature spirit while we live, before the moment of physical death, if we use our suffering, our “Egypt,” as Joseph did: to practicing letting go and accepting the moment as it is, while holding the intention of the bigger vision, of the spiritual maturity we are becoming. To do this, we of course need to stay with the process, neither pulling away nor pushing for something other than this moment; this is the Path of ח Het, the middah of Patience. In this week of Shabbat Vayekhi, the Sabbath of Life, may we recognize the precious opportunity we have in this life, to “die before we die,” to embrace life in its bitter and sweet, and through this practice to give birth to the “fruit” of mature consciousness.
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
Judah approaches (Vayigash) Joseph to plead for the release of Benjamin, offering himself as a slave to the Egyptian ruler in Benjamin’s stead. Upon witnessing his brothers’ loyalty to one another, Joseph breaks down and reveals his identity to them. “I am Joseph,” he declares. “Is my father still alive?” The brothers are overcome by shame and remorse, but Joseph comforts them. “It was not you who sent me here,” he says to them, “it was all part of the Divine plan, to save us from famine.” The brothers rush back to Canaan with the news. Jacob comes to Egypt with his sons and their families—seventy souls in all—and is reunited with his beloved son after 22 years. On his way to Egypt he receives the Divine promise: “Fear not to go down to Egypt; for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down with you into Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again.” Joseph gathers the wealth of Egypt by selling food and seed during the famine. Pharaoh gives Jacob’s family the fertile region of Goshen to settle, and the children of Israel prosper in their Egyptian exile…
Torah of Awakening
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יוֹסֵ֤ף אֶל־אֶחָיו֙ אֲנִ֣י יוֹסֵ֔ף הַע֥וֹד אָבִ֖י חָ֑י וְלֹֽא־יָכְל֤וּ אֶחָיו֙ לַעֲנ֣וֹת אֹת֔וֹ כִּ֥י נִבְהֲל֖וּ מִפָּנָֽיו׃ Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dumbfounded were they on account of him. - Bereisheet (Genesis) 45:3, Parshat Vayigash
A disciple asked Rabbi Yisakhar Baer of Radoshitz: “How are we to interpret the passage in the Talmud where Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai says to his son, בְּנִי, דַּי לָעוֹלָם אֲנִי וְאַתָּה – ‘My son, you and I are enough for the world.’” He replied, “In the Tosefta we read: ‘The meaning which underlies the creation of the world is that the creature says: You are our God, and the Holy Blessed One says, I Am the Divine.’ This ‘You’ and this ‘I’ are enough for the world.”
The radical teaching of this story is that God, and the recognition of God, is enough. What does this mean? What tendency do we have that this teaching comes to counter? And what does it mean to think that God is not enough? It means to place special importance not the underlying Reality of Being, but on finite form; particularly, the finite form of identity. Names and roles become central; “You” and “I” are forgotten. Nowadays, it is rare to believe that that “God is enough.” Rather, belief in the central importance of identity is often taken for granted. Much of our “cultural war” issues are based on identity, not to mention the pervasive tendency for today’s actual war to expand into social conflicts of left vs. right, as well as increasing antisemitic and anti-Muslim violence. And yet, even though there is rarely conversation about the transcending of identity, as individuals we take breaks from our identities all the time, though usually unconsciously. A moment of appreciation, of empathy, of gratitude – a genuine smile in which the “light” behind the identity shines forth – these are not uncommon; they are part of the natural rhythm between assuming roles and being authentic. But too often we can become trapped by identity, unconsciously bearing its burden of conflict and misery. The question is: can we become free? Can we learn to put aside identity on purpose? Can we discover who we are at a level deeper than identity? And in that discovery, can we come to recognize our authentic beingness that transcends words and labels: the light of consciousness that we are beneath it all? After all, while living in a house is a wonderful thing, if we could never leave our house, it would no longer be a house; it would be a prison. Similarly, identity is not a bad thing, but we should not be trapped by it. But how do we get beneath identity, to our deeper light of consciousness, to our authentic beingness? The truth is, we don’t have to “get” to It – all we need do is stop and turn toward It. בְּנִי, דַּי לָעוֹלָם אֲנִי וְאַתָּה – ‘My son, you and I are enough for the world/the Eternal.’” The mind constantly generates this whole noisy drama of life, but there is a Center. The Center is vast silence, and that Center is none other than our own beingness, which is not separate from the One Being. But also, we shouldn’t think that the noisy drama and the vast, silent Center are two different things. Rather, all the movement of our life drama is nothing but the Vastness, dressed up in different costumes. We need not turn away from life, we need only to turn more completely toward it. Beneath the costume, the Divine is whispering to us… אֲנִ֣י יֹוסֵ֔ף – I am Joseph! The name Yosef (Joseph) means “increase,” so on the deepest level, this is the Divine message to us: whatever we are relating with in the moment, its deepest identity is the Mystery from which all emerges. Things are not merely their surface appearance; potential is infinite… גְּשׁוּ־נָ֥א אֵלַ֖י – Approach me please! In other words, don’t be fooled by the masks – come to the Heart, come to the vast and silent Center behind all the actors playing out the drama. That Vastness is home, that Vastness is peace, that Vastness is the Divine, and it was Here all along. But this realization of the Center is not the end of the drama – not at all! Because once we’ve tasted the Real Thing, we want more – we want to stay there. We want It all the time. But, life pulls us back into its chaos again and again – what to do? אַל־תִּירָא֙ מֵֽרְדָ֣ה מִצְרַ֔יְמָה כִּֽי־לְג֥וֹי גָּד֖וֹל אֲשִֽׂימְךָ֥ שָֽׁם – Don’t be afraid of descending into Egypt, because I will make you into a great nation there… Egypt is Mitzrayim – narrowness, constriction. God’s words to Jacob mean: don’t be afraid to get pulled back into a constricted state, because it is through your descent that your ascent will become more mature and stable. You can only grow spiritually through the learning that comes through failure. אָֽנֹכִ֗י אֵרֵ֤ד עִמְּךָ֙ מִצְרַ֔יְמָה וְאָֽנֹכִ֖י אַֽעַלְךָ֣ – I will descend with you into Egypt and I will surely cause you to ascend… Even in the depths of separation, there is nothing but the Divine, so the power to return is always inherent within every experience, no matter how far you seem to fall. וְיוֹסֵ֕ף יָשִׁ֥ית יָד֖וֹ עַל־עֵינֶֽיךָ – and Joseph will place his hand on your eyes… The eyes are a symbol for awareness. As we’ve seen, Yosef means “increase,” and the hand is a symbol of action: It is through your descent and subsequent ascent that you will gain the power to increase your own awareness, to be free from the tremendous pull of Mitzrayim, to awaken out of the seduction of life’s noisy dramas… אָמ֣וּתָה – Amutah – I will die… This is a kind of “death” of identity, of our role-based egos. The “me” that is dependent on the Mitzrayim of life’s dramas can die, because… רְאוֹתִ֣י אֶת־פָּנֶ֔יךָ כִּ֥י עֽוֹדְךָ֖ חָֽי – I have seen Your Face, that it lives forever! Every form we encounter is the Nothing but the Face of the Living, Eternal Presence. This recognition is represented by the sefirah of Malkhut, the Living Presence behind all things…
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
Joseph’s imprisonment finally ends when Pharaoh dreams of seven fat cows that are swallowed up by seven lean cows, and then of seven fat ears of grain swallowed by seven lean ears. Joseph interprets the dreams to mean that seven years of plenty will be followed by seven years of hunger, and advises Pharaoh to store grain during the plentiful years. Pharaoh is pleased with Joseph’s advice and appoints him governor of Egypt. Joseph marries Asenath, daughter of Potiphar, and they have two sons, Manasheh and Ephraim.
In time, as the famine spreads throughout the region, food can be obtained only in Egypt. Ten of Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt to purchase grain, but the youngest, Benjamin, stays home, for Jacob fears for his safety. Joseph recognizes his brothers, but they do not recognize him; he accuses them of being spies, insists that they bring Benjamin to prove that they are who they say they are, and imprisons Shimon as a hostage. Later, they discover that the money they paid for their provisions has been mysteriously returned to them. Jacob agrees to send Benjamin only after Judah assumes personal responsibility for him. This time Joseph receives them kindly, releases Shimon, and invites them to dinner at his home. But then he plants his special silver goblet in Benjamin’s sack. When the brothers set out for home the next morning, they are pursued, searched, and arrested when the goblet is discovered. Joseph offers to set them free and retain only Benjamin as his slave
Torah of Awakening
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר פַּרְעֹה֙ אֶל־יוֹסֵ֔ף אַחֲרֵ֨י הוֹדִ֧יעַ אֱלֹהִ֛ים אוֹתְךָ֖ אֶת־כׇּל־זֹ֑את אֵין־נָב֥וֹן וְחָכָ֖ם כָּמֽוֹךָ׃ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has revealed to you all of this, there can be no one as understanding and wise as you.” - Bereisheet (Genesis) 41:39, Parshat Mikeitz
A disciple asked Rabbi Simkha Bunam a question on this verse about the curse of the serpent in the Creation story: עַל־גְּחֹנְךָ֣ תֵלֵ֔ךְ וְעָפָ֥ר תֹּאכַ֖ל כׇּל־יְמֵ֥י חַיֶּֽיךָ׃ – On your belly shall you crawl, and dirt shall you eat, All the days of your life… - Bereisheet (Genesis) 3:14
The disciple asked, “Why did God put such a strange curse upon the serpent, that it should have to eat dust? Being able to eat dust, I think, would be a blessing, not a curse. If you could eat dust, you could find what you need to live anywhere you go!” Rabbi Bunam replied, “God told humans that that they must eat their bread by the sweat of their face, and if they have no bread, they can pray to God for help. Thus, human beings are bound to God and can find a way to God. But to the serpent, which was the source of evil, God gave everything it requires, so that it might never have to pray for anything at all. Thus, God supplies the wicked with an abundance of riches.” This remarkable teaching works on two different levels. On a simple level, it functions as a consolation to the impoverished disciple, giving an answer to the angst they must feel that for all their efforts in Torah, God continues to make them poor, while “wicked” Polish noblemen live in luxury. But on a deeper level, it gives voice to a profound paradox in spiritual practice: that it is precisely the experience of lack, of not having enough, that is necessary for the experience of true Wholeness to unfold. This is because both Wholeness and Incompleteness are constant dimensions of experience that live on two different and complementary levels of consciousness. The level of Wholeness needs the level of Incompleteness to be grasped and felt… אֵין־נָב֥וֹן וְחָכָ֖ם כָּמֽוֹךָ׃ – there are none as understanding and wise as you… “Understanding and wise” are the two levels of consciousness from which Wholeness and Incompleteness derive, called Hokhmah and Binah on the Tree of Life – Wisdom and Understanding. Binah, Understanding, refers to the function of thought: the capacity to create images of reality in one’s mind, then manipulate the images so as to comprehend and predict things that wouldn’t otherwise be apparent in one’s immediate, present moment experience. We can and must do this in order to deal with the reality of lack. For example, if my refrigerator is full in my immediate experience, I can nevertheless predict that it will eventually become empty in the future, and that I will starve unless I fill it with more food. At the moment I perceive the refrigerator as full, the empty refrigerator is just a thought, a mental image, not a reality. But, it allows me to navigate the objective world into the future, to work and earn a livelihood so that I can buy food, so that I can eat and survive. That is Binah, Understanding. Hokhmah, on the other hand, is the space of consciousness within which thought, as well as the perception of whatever is happening, arises – in this case, the perception of a full refrigerator, along with the thought that soon it will become empty. On the level of Hokhmah, there is a sense of Wholeness, Fullness, Completeness, because it is the boundless openness of the field of awareness. Awareness perceives: “There is the refrigerator, and there is the thought about how the refrigerator will be empty in the future.” Awareness is “above” or “transcendent” of all of it; it is beyond thought, as well as feeling and sensory perceptions – the entire spectrum of experience. Awareness is the “space” within which all experience lives. But ordinarily, we are only barely aware of awareness, barely aware of the Wholeness within which experience lives; it glows faintly in the background, while our thoughts and feelings tend to dominate in the foreground. If we are worried that we might not be able to replenish our stores of food, as the hasidim probably did, we would likely be siezed by worry and anxiety… וַתֹּאכַ֙לְנָה֙ הַפָּר֔וֹת הָרַקּ֖וֹת וְהָרָע֑וֹת אֵ֣ת שֶׁ֧בַע הַפָּר֛וֹת הָרִאשֹׁנ֖וֹת הַבְּרִיאֹֽת׃ – And the seven lean and ugly cows ate up the first seven cows, the healthy ones… Like the cows in Pharaoh’s dream, the Wholeness of awareness is “swallowed up” by the neediness generated by thought, the natural desire to understand and control things. The Wholeness is always there as the ground of our experience, but we fixate on the objects of experience, rather than the ground. This causes the experience of lack and incompleteness to dominate, and the “lean” and “ugly cows” win. But, when we allow the present to come into the foreground, seeing our thoughts come and go within the open space of the awareness, then Hokhmah and Binah can function freely: recognizing that all experience arises and is perceived within that boundless field of awareness which is already whole and complete, we need not be trapped by our thoughts; we can perceive the uncertainty of the future without being gripped by worry and anxiety. After all, we are Hokhmah – spacious awareness – and from that realization, the mind can explore in its pathways of thought without becoming entangled by them – that is Binah operating properly. And from here, a bigger understanding can unfold… הוֹדִ֧יעַ אֱלֹהִ֛ים אוֹתְךָ֖ אֶת־כׇּל־זֹ֑את – The Divine has revealed to you all of this… These words of Pharaoh to Joseph are ordinarily taken to mean that God revealed some special knowledge to Joseph. But it can also be read as kol zot – “all of this,” hodia Elohim – is “revealed” as “God!” Meaning: when we are present to whatever arises, it becomes apparent that kol zot, the full and rich tapestry of experience as it arises in this moment – from sensory awareness of the outer world, to the rising and falling of feelings and thoughts, to the open space of consciousness itself – “all of this” is Elohim; everything is nothing but forms of the One Divine Reality. There is nothing but the Divine, always and only…
כִּי יהוה הוּא הָאֱלהִים בַּשָּׁמַיִם מִמַּעַל וְעַל הָאָרֶץ מִתָּחַת אֵין עוד
For Existence Itself is the Divine In the Heavens Above And Upon the Earth Below, there is Nothing Else! - Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:39
How do we accomplish this realization? How do we know ourselves as Hokhmah, as spacious awareness? The key is to embrace the truth of our experience in the moment; this is Presence. As long as we resist or are in denial, we are identified with and dragged down by thought and the reality of lack. But, the key to stop resisting and get out of denial is Prayer; Prayer is the alchemy that transforms the dross of dissatisfaction into the precious metal of closeness to the Divine, opening up the possibility of knowing ourselves at this deepest level.
Thus, the dual practice of Presence and Prayer form the path of this realization. Presence and Prayer are represented by the sefirah of Malkhut, the vision of the world as the “Kingdom of God” – the way of the spirit in the world of form...
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Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah opens with Jacob/Israel and his family settling in Hebron. Joseph is his most beloved son, so he makes Joseph a special multi-colored coat, which sparks jealousy in the other brothers. Joseph then tells his brothers of his dreams which foretell that he is destined to rule over them, increasing their envy and hatred toward him even more. Shimon and Levi plot to kill him, but Reuben suggests that they throw him into a pit instead, intending to come back later and save him. The brothers strip Joseph of his special coat and throw him into the pit. Later, Judah convinces the other brothers to sell him to a band of passing Ishmaelites. The brothers then smear Joseph’s special coat with the blood of a goat and show it to their father, misleading him to believe that his most beloved son was devoured by a wild beast.
The text then shifts to Judah, who marries and has three sons. The eldest, Er, marries a woman named Tamar, but then he dies. So, Tamar then marries the second son, Onan, but Onan also dies. Judah is reluctant for his third son to marry Tamar, so she disguises herself as a prostitute and seduces Judah instead. Judah hears that his daughter-in-law has become pregnant and accuses her of harlotry, but when Tamar produces the personal objects he left with her as a pledge for payment, he publicly admits that he is the father. Tamar gives birth to twin sons, Peretz (an ancestor of King David) and Zerach. Joseph is taken to Egypt and sold to Potiphar, the minister in charge of Pharaoh’s slaughterhouses. God blesses everything Joseph does, and soon he is made overseer of all his master’s property. Potiphar’s wife tries to seduce Joseph, and when Joseph rejects her advances, she tells her husband that the Hebrew slave tried to force himself upon her, and has him thrown Into prison. Joseph gains the trust and admiration of his jailers, who appoint him to a position of authority over the other prisoners. During this time, Joseph meets Pharaoh’s chief butler and baker, who were both imprisoned for some offense. They tell Joseph about some disturbing dreams they have been having, which Joseph interprets: in three days, he tells them, the butler will be released and the baker hanged. Joseph asks the butler to intercede on his behalf with Pharaoh. When the predictions are fulfilled, the butler forgets all about Joseph and does nothing for him.
Torah of Awakening
יוֹסֵ֞ף בֶּן־שְׁבַֽע־עֶשְׂרֵ֤ה שָׁנָה֙ הָיָ֨ה רֹעֶ֤ה אֶת־אֶחָיו֙ בַּצֹּ֔אן וְה֣וּא נַ֗עַר אֶת־בְּנֵ֥י בִלְהָ֛ה וְאֶת־בְּנֵ֥י זִלְפָּ֖ה נְשֵׁ֣י אָבִ֑יו וַיָּבֵ֥א יוֹסֵ֛ף אֶת־דִּבָּתָ֥ם רָעָ֖ה אֶל־אֲבִיהֶֽם׃ Joseph was seventeen years old, a shepherd with his brothers of the flocks, and he was a youth with the sons of Bilha and Zilpah, the wives of his father, and Joseph brought evil reports of them to their father … - Bereisheet (Genesis) 37:2, Parshat Vayeishev
A disciple asked Rabbi Mendel of Kotsk, “When the Children of Israel stood at Mt. Sinai, they said to Moses:
דַּבֵּר־אַתָּ֥ה עִמָּ֖נוּ וְנִשְׁמָ֑עָה וְאַל־יְדַבֵּ֥ר עִמָּ֛נוּ אֱלֹהִ֖ים פֶּן־נָמֽוּת׃ – ‘'You speak to us and we will listen; but let God not speak to us, lest we die!’” “Moses then answered, אַל־תִּירָ֒אוּ֒ ‘Do not be afraid,’ but then he goes on to say that God had come so that תִּהְיֶ֧ה יִרְאָת֛וֹ עַל־פְּנֵיכֶ֖ם ‘the fear of God be upon you.’ This makes no sense – they should have no fear because they should have fear? Rabbi Mendel answered, “The first fear, אַל־תִּירָ֒אוּ֒ do not be afraid, means that they should not be afraid of death. Rather, they should “fear” God only – meaning, they should have יִראָה yirah – reverence, respect, and awe – so that they don’t come to think that the wisdom they are receiving is their own creation, thereby separating themselves from God. This teaching of the Kotzker Rebbe is a reminder about right relationship with wisdom. True wisdom is “death” to the ego, but the ego fears death. In order to avoid receiving the true message of wisdom, the ego wants to claim it for itself, to see oneself as a “wise person.” When this happens, the content of the “wisdom” might be good and true, but the teacher has become corrupted. The teacher feels superior, above their students; the “shepherd” has become “evil.” הָיָ֨ה רֹעֶ֤ה... וַיָּבֵ֥א יוֹסֵ֛ף אֶת־דִּבָּתָ֥ם רָעָ֖ה – he was a shepherd… and Joseph brought evil reports… The words רֹעֶה ro’eh, “shepherd,” and רָעָה “evil,” have exactly the same letters; they are just voweled a little differently, hinting at a connection between his shepherding the sheep and bringing “evil reports.” This is also reflected in the wording. It doesn’t literally say that he was a shepherd with his brothers, which would be “hayah ro’eh im akhav” – but rather “hayah ro’eh et akhav” – as if to say that he’s being a shepherd at his brothers: judging them, criticizing them. This hints at two different levels of meaning. On the surface, Joseph and his brothers are out shepherding the sheep. But at the same time, Joseph sees himself as shepherding his own brothers. He feels that he is above them, judging them and tattling on them to their father. וְה֣וּא נַ֗עַר – and he was a youth… His vision of himself as “above” the rest of his family is, of course, prophetic – he eventually becomes an actual ruler with Pharaoh in Egypt. But at this point in the story, his leadership is immature. This dynamic of being “above” things, on one hand, but also becoming corrupted, on the other, is something we can find within our experience. There is a level of our being that really is above everything, in the sense that it sees the fullness of whatever arises in our experience, but remains free from it, unencumbered by whatever our situation is. That level of our being is spacious awareness. Another name for it is חָכמָה hokhmah, wisdom, because from that place of awareness, wisdom naturally flows and can guide us in our actions. These qualities of חָכמָה hokhmah are also those of a רֹעֶ֤ה ro’eh – a shepherd; the shepherd guides the flock, but is not itself a sheep. The thinking mind, however, loves to claim the wisdom of awareness for itself in order to feed the ego. The ego thinks, this is my wisdom, and then gets gratification from believing itself to be “above” others. That is Joseph as the נַעַר na’ar – the youth – who brings evil reports. As long as the immature mind coopts the wisdom of awareness, the ro’eh becomes ra’ah – an evil shepherd. What is the remedy? The remedy is hidden within the letters. The words ro’eh and ra’ah, “shepherd” and “evil,” are ר–ע–ה reish-ayin-hei. The middle letter, ע ayin, literally means “eye,” hinting at awareness as the deepest identity of the shepherd. The ר reish literally means “head,” hinting that as long as the “head” is ruling the “eye” – as long as the thinking mind claims awareness for itself, the “shepherd” is “evil.” But if you change the ע ayin to an א alef, the letter of Oneness, then the word becomes רְאֵה re’eh, “see.” Hinting: when you simply see, not in the literal visual sense but in the sense of direct perception, the thinking mind that divides the world into “me” as superior to “them” is subdued and collected into the Oneness of that simple awareness. This happens in meditation, and from this can eventually come mature leadership, where the wisdom that pours into the mind is not coopted or claimed, but is humbly received as a responsibility. This sense of reverence, respect and responsibility, stemming from the recognition of receiving wisdom, is represented by the letter ר reish. So in this week Parshat Vayeyshev, the Sabbath of Dwelling, may we practice dwelling in the simple Presence of receptivity, receiving the gift of guidance from the Good Shepherd with reverence and respect for That which is beyond us. May we be guided by this inner wisdom on a path of love, renewal and healing, and may these higher human potentials become manifest swiftly in our species, freeing us all from the plagues of war and violence.
Read past teachings on Vayeishev HERE.
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