Bamidbar: 2 Sivan 5767

In this week's parsha, we can't help but notice themes of journeys and paths and experience. as we read of travels through the desert wilderness.

Though gaining experience is rarely easy and is sometimes flat painful, each experience along the way, each encounter on our paths, help mold us as individuals just as we read of the travels through the desert wilderness helping to fashion and shape character. As we immerse ourselves in the various levels of our adventures, for better of worse, we feel its imprint on our character, our souls, our lives.

The entire Book of Numbers is a recapitulation of the desert journey, the one we have already read about in Exodus and recently celebrated during Passover. But here's the primary difference: In this telling we find a self-reflection of the people, a kind of cheshbon hanefesh ("accounting of the soul") that open us as individuals and encourages us to inventory that in our lives which works and feeds us and that which does not.

Behar: 24 Iyyar 5767

We're talking about Shabbat again in this week's parsha. So, I wanted to share some interesting quotes from some female leaders in the Jewish community.

"Somewhow during Shabbat my whole biochemistry seems to change. Friday night an awesome tiredness comes over me and it is a wonder if I don't fall asleep before dessert. Saturday afternoon I must take a nap; I know that I will not be able to function at a certain point if I don't sleep for at least a half an hour.

"It is as if in addition to the discrete observances I perform, like candlelighting and kiddush, dinner with family and friends, prayer, and study, my body itself has understood it is Shabbat. It enters a whole other state of being. Immense tiredness and infinite opportunity to rest. A tiredness different from the other days of the week. A mandate to sleep that is different.

"Before my days of keeping Shabbat, when Saturday was a day of simple pleasures, shopping and errands my body did not experience tiredness in the same way. It is as if the experience of Shabbat has reached beyond all its do's and don'ts to a preconscious state where Shabbat is being observed by my very bio-rhthyms."

"As someone who is committed to social justice, to ending oppression, I often feel that there is too much to do, too little time to fix it all, that I can't stop yet...And then Shabbat comes and with its arrival twenty-five hours in which I get to notice how beautiful the world is, how perfect it is, and that there is nothing that I need to do in that moment to change it. I am reminded that it is crucial for me to stop, to rest, to celebrate the beauty of the world, the richness of my relationships with family, friends and God. A time of noticing what is already right and whole and good rather than what isn't. And with that deep knowing, that inner quiet, I can go back out for the rest of the week and fight like hell."

"I stop. That's what Shabbat starts for me as, I stop from all the business. I take a shower or bath and put on clothes that are comfortable and special feeling. I sing, niggunim or songs from MIRAJ or sometimes Shlomo Carlebach. I also like to call people I miss and haven't had time to connect with in a while, to wish them Shabbat Shalom and catch up. And it's a time when I can relax and just enjoy being with my step-kids, not watching the clock and thinking about all the other things I should or could be doing."

"Before Shabbat, I treat myself by buying flowers for myself."

"I have to say this because for me it is an essential part of Shabbat. My favorite thing to do on Shabbat morning is to stay in bed with my lover and really spend time relishing her body, our bodies. We sometimes joke and call this our Shabbat morning prayer but it's not really a joke. Finding God and worshipping Her through the delight and attention we give and find in each other is an essential part of Shabbat holiness for me."

"I once heard a story about someone who converted to Judaism and as she was dunking into the mikveh she said, 'I now commit myself to being an observant Jew.' Her friends were a bit surprised. They knew she was committing to Judaism. But was she really going to be observant? The woman explained that for her an observant Jew is a Jew who always keeps her eyes open. She was committing to becoming someone who would consciously observe the world as a Jew. For me, this definition of observance is very liberating. Observing Shabbat begins with the decision to be conscious of Saturday as Shabbat, every hour of the day."

"For me, Shabbat is a day of do's and don'ts. It is a day to make kiddush, eat marvelous food (chocolate is a must), go to shul, read the newspaper, see my friends, and drink wine. It is also a day when I don't write, don't use electricity, don't spend money, and don't travel. Since I study Torah for classes during the week, I won't learn that same Torah over Shabbat. When I learn Torah, it has to be different than what I study during the week. I can't worry about anything I have to accomplish in the upcoming week, because I know that I can't do anything about finishing it. All the many do's and don'ts help me to mark this day as one of celebration of God, friends, and my self, a separation from the week's distractions."

"I'm interested in exploring the idea of Shabbat as breathing space. Giving ourselves space on Shabbat might enable us to experience some of what we can't allow ourselves to feel and think during the week."

"No matter how rushed I am in my preparations, I always shower right before Shabbat. My pre-Shabbat shower is unlike other showers of the week. I have wonderful smelling soap, shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel that I use only now. I shave my legs (usually the only time of the week I do this.). I put on different lotion. I also have special makeup (like a different color lipstick) which I put on for Shabbat. All of this helps me to enter Shabbat feeling more beautiful than I do at any other time of the week."

"In many ways, I try to make Shabbat a time for stillness. Before Shabbat I clean my room, put everything in its place. I don't want a mess distracting me. I turn off my stereo, shut down my computer, and turn on whichever lights I will need during Shabbat. Once I light the candles, I know I won't touch the lights again, and somehow this gives me a radical sense of separation from the week. What is dark will remain dark and what is light will remain light."

Emor: 17 Iyyar 5767

I'm not a big advocate for Kabbalah, mostly because it's become so highly co-opted that my inclination is to protect the sacredness of it. I mean, one is supposed to be both a Torah and Talmud whiz before ever even attempting to learn the Kabbalistic mysticism.

That said, once in a while, I read something I like and feel compelled to share it. Like this week, for example.

The Omer is the proper name of a dry measure, similar to a barrel or basket. Grain was measured by the Omer. The word in Hebrew for measure is mida (plural: midot). Interestingly enough, the same word is used to describe personal character traits.

The word s'fira (plural: s'firot) also has two meanings: counting and emanation. Counting: as in S'firat HaOmer, the counting of the Omer and emanation: as in the mystical concept of light which is emanates from a source of illumination.

I like very much that the period of counting the Omer is considered to be a time of potential for inner growth. A time to work on oneself through reflection and development of one aspect each day for the 49 days of the counting. I like that very much, because, well, let's face it. We can always improve our minds and beings.

So, here is where the Kabbalah comes in. The Kabbalists, Jewish mystics, gave new meanings to the daily counting of the Omer. According to Kabbalah, the universe was created through 10 s'firot, emanations from G-d, sacred attributes that connect the physical and transcendent spheres of existence. The three “upper emanations” are somewhat beyond full human comprehension. The lower seven s'firot, however, are particularly manifest during the seven weeks of the Omer, so Kabbalists make it a spiritual practice to meditate on these Godly attributes during the Omer.

And, here are are s'firot:

Chesed: loving kindness, love, loving acts
Gevurah: power, judgment, anger, justice
Tiferet: glory, pride, inner balance
Netzah: triumph, aggrandizement, success
Hod: Beauty, positivity, honesty
Yesod: sexuality, foundation, the womb (lit. and fig.)
Malkut: regalness, authority, self-respect

Each of the seven weeks of the Omer-counting is associated with one of these seven se'irot. Each day of each week is also associated with one of these same seven s'firot, creating forty-nine permutations. The first day of the Omer is therefore associated with "chesed of chesed", the second day with "gevurah of chesed", the third day with "tiferet of chesed" and so on. Each week had a theme, each day has a special focus within that theme.

Personally, I mark them off on my calendar ahead of time, and during the Omer period, a quick glance at my calendar every morning plants the seeds of thought in my head for the day.