Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Why do we braid the Challah?

What is the symbolism of braiding the challah

A.
One of the answers that has always resonated with me is based on a Kabbalistic explanation for the opening prayers of the Kabbalat Shabbat,Friday evening service. The lead up to the beloved Lecha Dodi prayer consists of six prayers taken from Tehillim,the book of Psalms.
The Kabbalah teaches that each one of those six prayers is an opportunity to mend whatever it is that needs fixing on each of the corresponding days of the week, a chance to bring some measure of mental closure to the unfinished business of a typical week. This practice is not a substitute for taking care of our responsibilities, we can and must resume them with renewed vigor in the coming week,rather Shabbat is a brief period of pausing /cooling off from all the complexities of our lives.This is a Jewish way of saying "the stuff of my life is too integral a part of me to just simply leave behind,but I still need to figure out a way to embrace my life in all its complexity, without allowing it to imprison me emotionally or stunt my spiritual progress.This is the magical spell that Is cast onto the collective Jewish soul, as Shabbat gently flows over us and we are reminded to reclaim the enchantment of our lives.
From this perspective the braiding of the challah symbolizes the weaving of our weekday mentality into a Shabbat state of mind,a sudden BRAIDING of CHOL weekday mindset into a more sublime Shabbat driven consciousness

Friday, February 8, 2013

WE ARE G-D YOUR G-D

Last week Parshat Yitro,we soared upwards,souls floating in the clouds above Sinai,as Torah was transferred into human awareness, getting our collective Jewish consciousness reinstalled,once again,allowing us to re boot our entire spiritual operating system. We heard the Ten Commandments beginning with ANOCHI HASHEM ELOKECHA I am G-d YOUR G-d . Despite the power of last weeks spiritual moment,it was merely the embarking,certainly not the finale of our own personal spiritual odyssey. This week we have descended down to become re grounded in the base-camp of the actual lives we lead. We are reminded that our experience must take place primarily at the foot of the mountain not at its summit. This week we read , "AND these are the laws the Mishpatim " as if to say AND now folks lets roll up our sleeves,and commence the hard spiritual work of Fastening the "high" of Sinai,onto the level stable landscape of our prosaic existence. For us that means clearing a "walkable path through the Sinai Blizzard of G-dly love. Last week G-d drew us up into his world,this week we reciprocate by hosting G-d and welcoming him into our world.The Jewish secret lies in how we walk a human walk,yet still hum a divine melody,calibrating the two truths. How so ? The Mitzvot that we start reading about this week,are ways of being,that encompass the full spectrum of human endeavor,that lead us,by performing them,to our inner truth,and point us toward the G-d that moves within. We echo the divine Anochi with our own human Anochi , It would sound like this. I,Anochi,am (insert your own name),a physical being,finite,sometimes petty,sometimes sad,sometimes hurtful to myself and others,sometimes not able to connect with anything spiritual at all. That however is only one side of me, my lower consciousness if you will. There is another identity in me. I Anochi, (again insert your name,preferably Hebrew this time) am a spiritual being,a container bearing a chunk of G-d within me ,albeit in a human form. At that level we can respond back to G-d,and say,"I too am Hashem Elokecha". When our whole being is laden with Mitzvot,then we are the continuity of the truth sounded at Sinai. Our whole being screams out this week, "it's our turn ",we call out with love and proclaim to the heavenly realms ,and all its hosts ,"We are g-d your G-d". Shabbat Shalom Rabbi Yossi

Friday, February 1, 2013

IT'S YOM KIPPUR TOMORROW

Tomorrow is Yom Kippur and Shavuot, Chanukah and Purim, Tomorrow is the Mishna, Talmud, Midrash, Zohar and Chumash. Tomorrow is the Siddur, the Haggadah, and the Psalms from King David. Tomorrow is the first second, and third temple wrapped in one, Tomorrow is Isaiah and Jeremiah, Moses and Miriam, Maimonides and Nachmanides, Rabbi Akivah, and Rav Kook Tomorrow is King Solomon, King David the Baal Shemtov, and the Messiah. Tomorrow is my Rebbe. Tomorow is your Rebbe. Tomorrow is Shalom Aleichem, Mah Nishmah, Gutt Yom tov, Chag Sameach, Shabbat Shalom, and Shana Tovah. Tomorrow is Borscht, latkes, chicken soup ,(MANNA??) Bagels and cream Cheese, (low-fat of course), Tzimmes, lokshen Kugel, Knaidlach, and Challah Tomorrow we celebrate Yiddihskeit, menshlichkeit, nareshkeit, and any other Keits I may have overlooked. Tomorrow we are Schlemiels and Shlumps, Schlimazels and Shmendricks. Tomorrow “I don’t like the way you look, ARE YOU EATING “? Tomorrow we go to the Mikvah. Tomorrow we sing Hava Nagila, Oseh Shalom, The Niggun Of Reb Michel of Zlotchov, and KOL HAOLOM KULO GESHER TZAR MEOD, (the whole world is a very narrow bridge) but its not a big deal since Reb Nachman reminds us that the “IKKAR” (most important thing) is “LO LEPHACHED KLAll”!!! , That we have nothing to fear at all”. Tomorrow Reb Zushe reminds us that the most important thing to remember when we come to heaven is that they WONT ask us why we were not like Abraham or Moses, but they will call us out if were weren’t R Zushe, if we weren’t ourselves. Tomorrow we sit in the sukkah and get soaked, eat herring, have a drop of Schnapps, and say Lchaim. Tomorrow is the most important day on the Jewish calendar Tomorrow is the reason we even have a Jewish calendar. Tomorrow we will read the portion of Yitro. In it we read about G-d giving the Torah to the Jewish people. Everything that transpired from creation, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel,Noah and Family Ark and all, from Abraham Isaac and Jacob Sarah Rivkah Rachel and Leah, to Joseph and pharaoh, slavery and redemption, sea splitting etc. Was all synchronized to be a lead up to this epic historic moment. As a result, every subsequent meaningful Jewish moment, every statement, all the wisdom, all the ups downs, holidays, sayings, foods, jokes, groups, as well as every great leader, can all be traced to that singular definitive moment, when Heaven met earth and G-d formally drafted us to be ambassadors of Holiness, and enlisted us to be co light Shiners in the greatest spiritual adventure ever known to mankind. What we observe and don't observe, what we believe in or don’t, whether we consider ourselves orthodox reform conservative, or whether we are orthoformative, atheistic, Chassidic, agnostic, Sephardic or Askenazic, affiliated, or not, reconstructionist, deconstructionist, non denomenational, pre or post denominational, neochasidic or otherwise, all of who we are, and how we identify, can be tracked back directly or indirectly to what was conveyed at the Foot of Sinai. When we read about the giving of the Torah tomorrow and we Stand and listen to the Ten Commandments being read, we have all the right ingredients for a powerful Jewish experience, one In which we can close our eyes, open our hearts and souls, to meditate and reflect, and drift to our inner space of gratitude. Why not make a holiday out of this Shabbat? I m not quite sure, perhaps it would compete with Shavuot, the holiday in which Mattan Torah (giving of the Torah) actually happened. Or its because sometimes by making a bigger deal about something, we run the risk of overlooking its key message, and its best to acknowledge it in a more private, inward, low key, heartfelt Kavanah filled fashion. Either way there is an immense energy hovering there and we can leverage it into a deep and moving moment of sacredness and transformation. Tomorrow we will celebrate our Chuppah! Mazal Tov, and Shabbat Shalom