אשרי יושבי ביתך “Happy are those who dwell in your House” (from the morning and afternoon prayers) I have seen your Glory reflected, H’, often in silence but also in song, in moments of prayer and in hours of study, in tender love and in tearful loneliness, in the good times of peace and in those long years of war. I have heard your Voice echoed, H’, as it speaks through children’s laughter and the veils of pain and suffering….
Dragged in by the moon the sea rises; salt spray moistens the dry rock, collects in rivulets and trickles down into the lower fissures. The tide moves in, and swirling streams pour into the once empty pool. More crashing waves, and barrier, brim and rim are gone, Pool and ocean are one. Breathe in, hold, bless the One. אֵין עוֹד The moon moves on, the waters ebb, the currents recede, the barrier returns, Glistening starfish and fronds of silvery kelp…
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, מְחַיֵּה הַמֵּתִים Blessed be H’, Rekindler of the Extinguished There are times when the fires of spirit seem to grow cold, when fervor abates, prayers become wooden and devotions routine. All this is natural, and is as much part of the inner life as the cycles of day and night, new moons and old, summer and winter are features of the celestial planes. But there is a difference. Our minds can comprehend the rhythms of the external…
פִּתְחוּ לִי שַׁעֲרֵי צֶדֶק אָבֹא בָם Open for me, gates of triumph, open that I may enter and praise H’. This is the gate to H’, through which the company of the Righteous pass. “Open for me the gates.” The prayer is earnest, the intention pure, but the answer may still be ‘no’; you may not come in, you will have to remain outside. Was not the Great Teacher, Moses himself, denied permission to go into the Land (though he…
וְתֵן טַל וּמָטָר לִבְרָכָה “Give dew and showers for a blessing” (from the winter liturgy) The dew from Heaven will not descend till all below is still and silent. It cannot cover us with its droplets of pure blessing while busy storms buffet us from without, blustering winds echo through our minds within. And after the dew come the showers, tears shed in hope and in remorse, weeping in yearning for the Encounter, sobbing in grief over all the dreadful…
וְהַרְחִיקֵֽנוּ מֵאָדָם רָע וּמֵחָבֵר רָע Keep us away from malicious tongues and fawning friends Many of us, and especially those who have made a commitment to following a spiritual path within community, are aware of the need for a balanced regimen of love and reproof from our companions. Without it, focus becomes blurred, alignments are bent crooked, and self-deception reigns unchecked. Such love and reproof are not free-form activities, but Torah-sanctioned instructions whose fulfillment is informed by subtle rules, by…
It is said that Torah has seventy faces, and that seventy is also the number of windows through which we may gaze at Her.
זכר ליציאת מצרים הנני In the traditional liturgy we recite the phrase “a remembrance of the exodus from Egypt” several times a day. Now were this to be only about the historical event, the frequency could be considered to be excessive. However, the Hebrew word “Mitzrayim” (Egypt) can refer not just to a certain ancient kingdom, but also to another, inner state, one in which it is not the body that is held in bondage but the soul itself that is captive,…