Pre-paring to Re-pair

Welcome to Elul.

The month of pre-paring, paring down for the Days of Awe.

The month that pre-pares down to the essence of re-pairing with G. We pare down to the three pillars of re-pairing with our soul: the three pillars on which the world stands, Torah, prayer and acts of kindness.

Elul is the month of re-turn. We re-turn to our original balance by seeking forgivness. We forgive others as we seek forgiveness for ourselves.

Would you like to change something in your life?

Now is the time.

The doors open up for us now.

Opportunities that have been invisible to us throughout the year, appear at this holy time..

Now is the time.

However..

We cannot repair the world alone.

We need to be in relationship to repair our torn world. We need to pair up as we pare down. It is time to seek our pairing again.

It is time to re-pair with The Wholly One of Being.

It is time to re-pair with our highest levels of soul, our highest selves through the Awesome Days that we call High HolyDays. The Shofar blasts away the extraneous, the extra baggage, as we pre-pare down and re-pair up.

Our sacred calendar contains the secret map.

There are many who know how to read this Jewish map.

It teaches us that the 'reign' of our eternal council

washes away the dust of our travels.

It teaches us that the winds of change

blow the shofar blasts of return on the hot, dusty road of life.

It teaches us that gaia's seasons

council our connections with the sacred within the mundane.

The cycle of seasons are embedded with the connections

to re-pair us with our past

as we follow the gaia seasons into the future,

seasoned with the joys and sorrows of life.

And yet, our complacency misplaces our read on the map of our journey. When we come together at this season of great opportunity, we can experience a sacred council re-minding us of our mindful path. And then, our compacency can be pared away in consciousness.

When we pre-pare down, re-pair up and re-mind ourselves in mindfulness, we re-discover, the wholeness, the holiness of life.

By joining together for the High HolyDays, we are re-pairing with our tribal connections during these Awesome Days.

When we come together, when we re-turn, turn again to our Tribal path together, the weight is lifted, the wait is over and we who have pre-pared down and re-paired up and re-turned to the path together are ready to journal another year as we journey into 5769.

Let's turn again to our Tribal path together,

Reb Bahir

Shabbat of ‘Word/things and visions/divisions'

Shabbat Hazon is the Shabbat of ‘Word/things and visions/divisions.’ I take the name from the title of the Torah portion, D’varim and the Haftarah, Hazon. In the Torah Moshe uses words to remind us of what was. In the Haftarah Yishiyahu paints a vision with words of what will be. It is a fitting theme for the Shabbat before Tisha B’Av.

This year Tisha B’Av falls Motzei Shabbat (Saturday night) and Shabbat Hazon is tonight. Tisha B’Av is the time when we look at all the troubles and travails of our times and our times of yore. We weep for the loss of the 2 Temples and for countless millions murdered in pogroms, inquisitions and holocausts. It is the low point of loss for the Jewish people. We close our eyes and see the visions of destruction and despoliation. We speak the words of woe.

And yet we do not curse our enemies, we do not rant for revenge. Instead we look within. In D’varim, the passage called ‘Word/things’, Moshe is preparing us for the next chapter in our evolution revolution. He prepares us by reviewing. We re-view, we look back again. We study our history in the spiritual hope that when we retrace our mis-steps we will not mis-step again. But Moshe does more than restate. He hints at our root sin of complacency, where we assimilate, where ritual becomes meaningless. In D’varim 4:25 Moshe warns of turning formed things into gods. Woe unto us lest we turn to expensive cars and clothes and neglect the needy. For when our own ‘things’ become more important than our fellow earthlings, we become idol worshippers, worshippers of ‘I-dolls”. There it is in that one sentence, the Remez, the Key/clue to our self-destruction as a people, indeed all people. The prophecy of destruction has been out there for a long time. Whether we are abusing our planet or our civil rights, we are turning to false gods. When we threaten others for not accepting our religious beliefs or our political beliefs, we have turned to false gods.

But, where our Torah portion points with one verse, our Haftarah hammers us with the hard lessons. Paying lip service to our ideals but not paying living service to them is the accusation. Talking our walk but not walking our talk is the accusation in Yishiyahu 1:1-27. That we parade out our rituals with pomp and hypocrisy is the accusation. For what do we need sacred places if we do not make them of our homes and hearts? I go to the church, I go to the synagogue, I go to the mosque, I go to the temple yet I ravage my neighbors’ rights, I belittle his beliefs, I fight his faith. Yishiyahu cries out to us: “Your hands are covered in blood!” To whom does the prophet speak, but to us all. Islamic fundamentalist terror, American callousness, Jewish insensitivity, Christian self-righteousness, is there a people who is blameless?

Our world is the Temple to which Yishiyahu and Moshe refer and its destruction is upon us. These word/things carry power. These visions of division point to our self-destruction. My Rebbe once told me that he thought that when we entered outer-space and looked back on earth all war would end for we would see the oneness of our planet. Moshe tried to direct us to look back to see the oneness of our spirit. We all have a vision of what might be. That vision is a di-vision, two visions. One vision is of the world that could be if we were to work for oneness and one if we continue to look upon divisions with derision.

The Shabbat after Tisha B’Av is called Shabbat Nahamu, the Shabbat of comfort. We have had the Shabbat of the two visions, the di-vision. Then comes the warning of Tisha B’Av the re-view of the sad state to which this world has been brought. And finally we enter with great need the Shabbat of comfort, a Shabbat that challenges us for comfort requires us to ‘come-forth’. For that is the only answer. We need to come forth. We need to come to the fore with answers that build, with answers that accept, nay revel in the differences that make us one. I have heard this country called a melting pot. What a ghastly metaphor. One pours different materials into a melting pot, melt them down and those that remain different are called slag and discarded. No, dear friends we are not a melting pot G forbid. We need to become a stew. In a stew each ingredient adds to the whole, each ingredient has its own unique taste and contributes to the stew in its own way. And let this not be the metaphor for a country, a religion, a race. Let it be the calling card of our planet. We are a stew simmering with differences that make us one. We each add to the flavor of whole, we do not detract, deride nor destroy. Rather we bring to this world a “ray’ach Nicho’ah” a pleasant aroma of a world self-sustainable a world blessed with peace.

May that be the lesson Shabbat Hazon, the Shabbat of vision of the past and of a brighter future.

Waking, Awakening

Waking, Awakening

I open my eyes and stretch feeling the warm comfort of my bed and body. Then I slide deeper as I say: "I am thankful to be before you my life council, that my Neshamah my Soul Connection to you G, has returned with compassion renewed, in your abundance and faith." I look around at the limited and limitless world of my bedroom. The greater feelings that I pray will govern my day flow out of my mouth. "The first ness that is wisdom begins with the Awe of G. Good smarts to all doers. G's praise stands on. May I be immersed in the name of weighty honor through G's eternal good council." I rise and let my night soil evacuate my body and am thankful that my body process, the orifices and organs work in daily mundane miracles. Then I wash my body reminding myself, with the blessing words, of the sacred connection that elevates these mundane morning moments.

I pull out the garments of the day, and cover my body as my body covers and carries my souls. My garments remind me that my body too is a garment, dressing and teaching my soul, the ways of life and limits. My reminder garment, my tzitzit is checked and donned with blessing and reminder of my sacred connection to the Wholly One of Being. I notice that the action of donning tzitzit puts me in touch with all sacred connections, which we call Mitzvot.

I grab my Tallit, the wings of Shechinah and before I wrap myself in it/them I repeat my need/desire. "I do this act to bring Heaven to earth and earth to Heaven unifying in my heart and life the Kadosh Barchu, the Wholly One of Blessing and the Shechinah, my recognition of G in my daily life." I know deep behind my mind's soul, my Neshamah B'Ohr, that if we could all work together for that unification, Mashiah would be here. Then I hold those wings of my Tallit looking at the fringes, those strings around my finger reminding me of the 613 sacred connections that are the joining of body and soul, called the 248 organs and the 365 sinews of which the great teachers taught. I see the enlightened light of which Tzitzit are spiritual memory pegs. Just as I wrap myself physically here and now, may I also wrap myself in the 7 Mitzvot, sacred connections taught by the great teachers as I reach for the world to come, the beauty and peace of the Spiritual Womb, the Garden of Eden. I find liberation for my 3 fold soul, the body soul, the wind soul and the breath soul from the forces external to my soul camp. My hungry 3 fold soul is carried high under the spreading wings of my Tallit to my soul rest, as an eagle, alighting lightly in his nest full of hungry eaglets. May the importance to You Oh Wholly One of Being, of this sacred connection, fill me with the power of all of your sacred connections in all their personal and delicate intentions.

I wrap myself with blessing in my Tallit feeling those sacred wings and I call out in joy: "How precious is compassion, that we earthlings seek refuge in the shadow of the wings of Your compassion. May we find the satisfaction of coming home. May our thirsts be quenched from the waters of delight. Oh Source of life, from your light, we see the light."

And then I turn to my Tfilin, the praying device made of, leather straps and leather boxes containing the spirit words of oneness and commitment. Again I put out the sacred desire that this Sacred Connection, this Mitzvah will unify the upper and lower worlds.

I recognize that by wrapping Tfilin I continue the connecting in sanctity with my Source of Being from which all Sacred Connections stem as it is written in my Sacred Guide (Torah): "Make the connection on your arm as a sacred symbol, and may they be the jewels between your eyes." Four times it is mentioned the Sacred Guide (Torah) reminding us to focus, and listen deeply, to find holiness and wonder in order to leave the narrow minded places. From these four passages a unity bubbles to the surface, an awareness of our oneness with the Wholly One of Being in this world. The Tfilin is a reminder of wonder and miracles, of leaving the place of narrowness. This is the power of G's sacred parables taken from on high Heaven, and from below, here on earth, to teach us the desire for righteousness.

G's Sacred Connection to rest Tfilin on the arm is a reminder of the outstretched arm. It is near the heart that we may sight our hearts on sacred service. I put the Tfilin on my head in front of my mind, connecting my Soul Mind that will focus all my senses in the potential of sacred service, and so immerse myself in the Sacred Name which is Eternality.

May the Shefa, the sacred emanation from G flow through me and may these Tfilin, praying devices sensitize me to the awareness of that sacred flow. May it lengthen my life, and may that which flows from me contain holiness, holy thoughts, without the interference of mis-steps and mis-takes or hurtful errors. May this wrapping remind me not to be seduced into using my creative will for evil. May I find comfort in this heartful, sacred service.

I pray that the action of wrapping Tfilin put me in the powerful place of connecting every jot and tittle of all of Your sacred connections, which we call Mitzvot.

I recite my blessings as I wrap and adjust the heart sight Tfilin and my headlamp Tfilin. Then, before I begin my davenin, I offer this meditation. "From your Sefirah of Wisdom (Hochamah) on high, let me feel your emanations. From your Sefirah of Understanding (Binah) help me understand. From your Sefirah of unconditional love and kindness (Hesed) increase my capacity for love. From your Sefirah of Power (Gevurah) cut down my enemies and rebels (whether they are on the outside or within me). Pour Your good oil emanations onto the arms of Your Menorah, the lower 7 Sefirot. Cause Your goodness to flow for all of Your creation. Open your arms and let satisfaction flow to every living thing.

Now with Tallit and Tfilin, my wings, guiding light and sights set, I am ready to begin my davenin day.

The Midrash of the Mateh

This is the ongoing saga of the Mateh,the staff taken from the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden and passed down, generation to generation.

The shock of war was something the Mateh could never shake. Again the people had to fight; the horror and the brutality filled the Mateh with dismay. Was there ever a time when such terror would end?

This people who was to become "Ohr LaGoyim," 'a light unto the nations,' was shedding only darkness now. For every action, the Mateh knew, there was a 'Karma debt'. What would be the consequences of these actions? Would this people become numb to the brutalization of war and slaughter? Would others learn from the evil that is butchery?

The Mateh, which, as we have seen, was not locked in by time and space, flowed through the centuries.

It saw examples throughout the generations of how the world would, in some ways refuse to outgrow the insanity of war. Thirty centuries after the horror of this Jewish Jihad, others would be continuing the malevolent legacy of these ancient ways.

The difficulty of being in the position of "Light to the Nations" was that lessons learned from the ways of their ancestors are both good and evil.

When the Israelites continued the practices of the peoples around them, they became part of the infection that is violence within the world. Yes, the Mateh noted, this evil, this particular evil would pass from the path of the two-leggeds who were to be called Jews. But it did not pass from the world. There would be those who read the words but did not learn the lessons of Torah. There would be Jihad through the centuries. As the Mateh looked around at the bloodshed and death, it knew that victims become perpetrators and perpetrators become victims in the cycle of violence.

And it took a moment in prayer for a time when everyone could sit under a vine and fig tree with none to make them afraid.