Saturday, December 21, 2013

Shiru Lashem

What is our spiritual energy all about now?Where do we go and what soul savings do we dip into in order to experience something sacred,especially now that we're situated in post Chanukah winter mode.We awaken to darkness,and after a brief daylight hiatus are quickly reengulfed in darkness.The physical lights that we kindle in our homes,must also be accompanied by a spiritual light that needs to be kindled in our souls.The good news is that our faith is replete with multitudes of mitzvah mechanisms that act as switches that turn on those Neshama lights.The challenge for us of course is that when we turn on the lights in our homes we as physical beings can immediately appreciate and utilize that light.We can even adjust it if it seems too bright and dim it to where it's comfortable and beneficial. Benefitting from spiritual light however is far more complex.We know it shines in us somehow in a subconscious way,in our depths,but it seems like the divine awareness that we draw down is far too bright and powerful an energy to actually fit into our human Awareness without the proverbial being "blinded by its light"!What is the dimmer switch in our souls that modulates and conducts that light in us to the point where we are able to experience and even feel it ? In our Jewish spiritual soul language this would be our struggle to have the light of our higher ruach and Neshama filter down in to our lower nefesh,human consciousness.In Kabbalistic terms we see this same struggle played out on a cosmic scale.The Lurianic creation narrative vividly describes what almost seems like the frustratingly unsuccessful G-dly attempt to squeeze the sublime infinite lights of the world of tohu,into the narrow confines of the world of tikkun.One solution might be found in one of our most heartbreaking yet ultimately uplifting biblical narratives.Following the dramatic and emotionally taut reuniting of Joseph and the brothers, the family is faced with the question of how to break the news to the elderly patriarch Jacob,in a subtle and gradual enough manner so as not to overload him emotionally and send him into a potentially life threatening Shock.Knowing full well his love for the beautiful singing of his granddaughter, serach the daughter of his son Asher they got her to convey the news in lyrical form,"my uncle yosef is alive he is a ruler in mitsrayim "set to a beautiful tune that she sung for him.Through joy and song she was able to convey a powerful truth in a gentle and loving way.The tunes of our people,wether it be the David Melech Yisroel,or the bim-bam/Shabbat shalom of our little children,the hauntingly beautiful middle eastern Sephardic prayer tunes,the songs of Shlomo Carlebach ,or the soulful nigunnim melodies of the Chassidim and their rebbes,are the conductors through which we can carry our highest most soulful consciousness into our regular human Awareness selves.This is not an abstract idea it's really quite true.We are brimming with a lofty soulfulness that swirls around eagerly just beneath our consciousness waiting for a heartfelt song to bear it upwards into our conscious minds and hearts.The Friday project singing community at the Chabad community Shul is my spiritual energy right now and I know many of you feel the same.Thanks to those of you who have joined in this remarkable journey and look forward to singing and davening together again real soon.Yossi

Friday, December 13, 2013

It's snowing in Jerusalem!

Today is the tenth of tevet,when we recall the day that the siege of jerusalem began,a sad day on the Jewish calendar.Its also Erev Shabbat.It seems strange to be fasting now.Just concluded Mincha afternoon prayes including the special prayer for fast days called  anaynu,which means "answer us ".It's ironic that in the words of that prayer we beseech g-d "al tastir panecha meemeni" don't hide your face from me" and yet in just two hours we will be ushering in the Shabbat,proclaiming the exact opposite penai Shabbat nekabla 
"The face of the holy queen we will receive". Hiddeness followed by redemption and revelation,all experienced in the course of a frigid winter Friday afternoon.Competing spiritual energies gevurah-hiddeness and Chesed-benevolence swirl around us,as we scurry about finalizing our last minute Shabbat preparations!The message of the prophet ISAIAH that we've just read in the Mincha haftorah is jubilant and fills us with hope,"For as the rain or snow drops from heaven and returns not there,but soaks the earth and makes it bring forth vegetation,so is the word that issues from my mouth"
It's amazing to me that it's snowing in Jerusalem as we read this prophecy!Bring on Shabbat,and let the good times roll !:)
Shabbat shalom 
Yossi 

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Vayechi -Lchaim!!

The portion of Genesis that is read this week opens with the words vayechi yaakov,and Yaakov lived.The truth is though,just from knowing his “story lines”,it seems more like a Robinson Crusoe,survival narrative than a life story! The ongoing turbulence in his life ranging from the complexity of his marriage(s),his relationship with his parents,hatred from his sibling,the guilt associated with his deception,to Lavans betrayals,and finally the heartbreaking loss of Rachel the love of his life,coupled with the disappearance of Joseph the first child he had with her, must have tested his faith and pushed him to the brink emotionally. Here we are presented with the classic case of a man on the edge,hardly the Siddharta spiritual journey style narrative we might expect from the finale of the first section of our holiest book! The truth is however,that the intentional empahsis on his narrative, juxtaposed as it is to the book of Shemot,which tells his childrens story, poignantly captures the essence of the Jewish experience,and the powerful envelope pushing legacy that jacob left to his children. Yaakov was aware that the seeming hiatus from a life frequently in crisis mode in lush egyptian suburbia,was temporary,and that the dark clouds of his childrens slavery loomed perilously on the horizon.His life is a reminder to them,to be fully aware of the true purpose of life.We are put here in this world not just to survive our difficulties,and then be content that we can exist,but rather to transcend our challenges and still figure out how to lead a life that matters! Jacob did not lead a charmed existence,but he had an amazing life because he raised the family that would become the Jewish people,forever associated with him till today,hence our name still remains” The children of Israel “! So Yaakov did do more than survive. He was teaching us that to be Jewish is to lead a vayechi driven life.In fact the Kabbalistic look at the hebrew spelling of the word chayim,leads us to this same realization.It has two yuds in the middle,which spells the name of G-d!This is a profound teaching.Jacobs prayer for his children of course,is the same as ours for our children,namely that they never feel even one moment of pain or sorrow in their lives.Our stopping at nothing to ensure they they have a happy and safe existence however is not where our role as parents and teachers end,but rather precisely where our most critical role must begin,enroute to instilling in them the value of leading meaningful lives. It significant that after all the years of slavery, instead of Moses leading the jewish people to a lush middle eastern vacation spot,some well earned R and R and some fun in the sun,he leads them instead through the desert to the foot of the mountain to hear the sacred voice from on high pressing them into service,from slavery to the freedom of living a higher G-d centered life,not only a transition from slavery to the comfort of freedom. Lchaim to Health,happiness,prosperity,and the chance to lead meaningful and g-d centered lives! Yossi

Sunday, December 8, 2013

The Kabbalah of Havdallah

Was talking to my surfing devotee nephew from Laguna Beach over Shabbat,and he told me about the first time he ever went snowboarding,and how quickly he caught on to it.He said,"whats the big deal dude that thing is actually connected to your feet"!I was scheduled to lead a havdalah service later that night and was asked to do a teaching on its spiritual meaning.This is what I shared.On Shabbat we are gifted with an extra soul Neshama yesayrah,for twenty fours hours we need only to lift up our spiritual antennae to pick up on this higher awareness and frequency thats ours for the taking,perhaps this perk is G-ds way of showing us his appreciation for being part of the frequent daveners and mitzvahs program,as well as a nice way of saying "thanks for staying part of the light unto the nations global initiative,despite all the thousands of years of persecution you've endured.Throughout Shabbat we are surfing, gifted with a higher awareness,therefore our ability to be emotionally "balanced" is sharper allowing us to be fearlessly grounded and present in the moment,without requiring any supplemental connectedness.Once the Shabbat grace is over however,that light ceases to burn for us as brightly and we are responsible to be the architects of our own spiritual destinies, necessitating an active self grounding that relies heavily on our mindset and us connecting ourselves to our spiritual inner core,utilizing the mitzvahs and prayers that we perform during the week as bindings that fasten us tightly to our higher selves,and help us live our real lives,and steer us away from living shallow substitute lives.This is a spiritual path that requires discipline and mindfulness in fostering a weekday homegrown connectedness.Havdalah is where we make this leap,and transition from being recipients of grace from without to being responsible to foster that from within.We ve just read the dramatic and heart wrenching story of Joseph and his interaction with Judah and his younger brother Benjamin.Jewish mysticism helps us understand that these stories are our stories as well.There is a profound teaching in Kabbalah that helps us personalize this story.Joseph hides his precious goblet in the bag of his baby brother Benjamin. According to mysticism the Cup here refers to the higher awareness of Joseph,and the concealment in the the Bag of Benjamin refers to the hiding of the shechina,the divine presence.This cosmic hiddeness came about as a result of the brothers heinous fratricidal act of selling Joseph,as well as Judah's mistreatment of Tamar.This act of hiding was also symbolic of a struggle within Joseph ,his struggling with the pain of the past.Seeing his brothers moved him deeply,yet also brought back a latent,unresolved resentment.His hiding the cup is an almost Freudian symbol of his suppressing his natural feelings of love and choosing to remain immobilized, rooted in his pain and hurt.The turning point is when it says Vayigash Aylav Yehuda.Judah approaches Joseph. What happens here is more than just describing the physical proximity of the two of them.Its Judah in a burst of pure love approaching his brother existentially,and opening his heart wide,he beams true powerful brotherly love.He proclaims," I know I wounded you deeply and I would understand if you can never forgive me again, but please know that I was acting from my lower self,My life was weekday consciousness and I was surfing when I should have been snowboarding,I wasn't functioning with the required sense of balance".The Kabbalah continues to hear his anguish and pain in the next words. Judah says "Bi adoni ,please my master,but the words of his plea,can also be read as follows.Bi adoni ,meaning ; bi,within me now is a newfound sense of ,adona -i! The Hebrew word master can also be read as the name of g-d. He continues,"I've made changes in my life and have chosen to live in my upper light self,at a level of ruach-spirit and even higher to the level of Neshama pulling myself up from living purely from my lowest nefesh consciousness" I've made Havdalah"!. "I realize that one needs to be proactive in pursuing a higher and deeper life experience and I ve done a big teshuvah,feeling more grounded In this improved,more holistic higher version of my self"." He then continues," The damage may be done and I'm painfully aware that certain betrayals run too deeply to fully rehabilitate a healthy sense of trust!I may never fully be redeemed for the physic damage that I've inflicted so many years ago." He acknowledges this," My spiritual transformation may be good for me,but it may not be enough to undo the hurt and heal your pain Joseph, he says,I know I can t turn back the clock,but at the very least I must face this courageously and honorably"." Please give me a shot to reconcile and bring this family back together."!At that point Joseph's resistance finally breaks down and he screams out in a primal existential cry "I AM JOSEPH"! His brother Judah's transformation,lifts him out of his nefesh consciousness up to his place of ruach and Neshama. From that vantage point he transcends all hurt,and risesto an emotional place of innocence and love,and in a final cathartic moment lets go of the excruciating pain,his haunted and damaged self,freed from the tyranny of his victimhood narrative, leaping beyond his haunted self,he too does his havdalah and fastens his psyche to a better and more stable emotional place.Together they both withdrew the goblet out of concealment.Here is something truly amazing.The words of the havdalah are in perfect harmony with this weeks portion.In the havdalah we say "Koss yeshuos essah u veshaym hashem Ekrah""Lift up your cup of salvation and call upon hashems name". The adjustments that they made must be the same adjustment that we make every sat night. The cup of Joseph is our cup as well. We need to choose; do we conceal ,and surrender the light that we might shine,an allow it to remain imprisoned to the darkness of the past? Or instead would we rather be free of our darkness,and stand in our light,courageously raising up the cup of salvation and choosing to live higher, holier,and happier!The picture below is of the Menorah that my dear sister Perel and brother in law,Rabbi Meilech ,the Chabad "lamplighters" -Shluchim in picturesque Laguna Beach put up yearly at the beach there,I think that image really says it all!

With much love and blessings of Shavua Tov

Yossi

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Chanukah lights and the Ner Tamid

So we are getting close to the end of Chanukah and preparing to experience the lights in all of their glory,all eight kindled,reflecting the Beit Hillel approach of intensifying in kedushah-sacred energy maalin bakodesh-by lighting additional lights every night,unlike the view of Beit Shammai that we light the full menorah on the first night and decrease every night to where we would only have one lone candle on the last night. One of the most endearing principles in the world of Talmud and the development of jewish law is that even if an opinion of one of the sages is not accepted as Halacha-jewish law,it is still an integral part of Torah “aylu va aylu divrei elokim chaim "Both views are the words of the living G-d”.Its more than merely acknowledging dissenting opinion out of respect,it's the opposite,it's recognizing that everyone of these opinions are indeed g-dly truths that vibrate in differing degrees of intensity throughout many different realms,the one that we accept as Halacha simply pulsates more intensely in our immediate physical realm. In keeping with that principle I would suggest we take a closer look at the opinion of Beit Shammai ,as it certainly is saying something important to us here. Beit Hillel is the hero of Chanukah for pushing for building up to more light in the present(short term).Beit Shammai on the other hand with much less glamour is thinking long term here,giving voice to a common spiritual dilemma. “What do we do when we get the “ninth night blues” ?The menorah was kindled in its entirety yesterday and the next night there is nothing! What can we do to prevent a feeling of existential emptiness in the aftermath of an uplifting spiritual experience? I hear this often from people after they return home from an inspiring trip to Israel,or after a moving high holiday experience. The Bet Shammai School of thought responds to this with some important spiritual coaching.The miracle of Chanukah must continue in us year round.The take home point of even the idea of lighting one candle on the last night, even if we don't actually do that is a confidence booster in our spiritual quest,the knowledge that even without the props and hoopla ,even when we are not all lit up, my mind remembers the steps to the sacred dance of my Neshama.This gives me the motivation to do so on the ninth and tenth night as well,when we are entirely out of the feel good Chanukah light zone. The depth of his position is the secret to leading a stable and fulfilling spiritual existence.His opinion reminds us that the lovely rhythms of daily jewish life provide us with a rich menu of one candle spiritual moments that are ours for the taking,wether its five or ten minutes in the morning wrapped in tallit or teffilin,in solitude with G-d,at peace with our lives and the world,or entering into a mindfulness space by reciting a Bracha-blessing over the food prior to eating,(and no you do not need to be orthodox to recite blessings on food,or wrap teffillin daily)or even carving out a few moments of Torah study during a busy day. So if Bet Hillel seems to be focusing on just the candles of this festival ,Bet Shammai might be looking beyond to the candles of the soul that we must keep burning year round ,the way we can also be the ner tamid (the eternal light in the temple that always remained lit!) Aylu vaylu ,We need both approaches to foster a spiritually rich,yet stable jewish experience,in order to internalize an experience of sacredness elokim ,in a manner that is truly Chaim-alive,and relevant. True we need to stock up on as many “Bet Hillel-Big ticket jewish experiences as we can,including but not limited to birthright trips to Israel, jewish overnight camps,and meaningful Jewish holiday experiences, so that we can hoard them and pull them out Bet Shammai style,on an ordinary day allowing us to be continuously nourished by “one candle-mini jewish moments” for our “years of famine” real time daily lives. With much love and Light Yossi http://www.gotjudaica.com/ProductImages/small/jeii-mnoo2.jpg

Monday, December 2, 2013

The Kabbalah of eight !

In Jewish thought the number seven symbolizes the routine cycles of our lives and the patterns that we follow on a regular basis both good and bad.We base this on the seven day-creation cycle which is built in and ongoing. The number eight on the other hand symbolizes the interrupting of habit and a venturing beyond the shelter of our neat and familiar comfort zones. In the language of Kabbalah Seven refers to the seven emotional powers or Sefirot-pre packaged into the human Soul.All of our routine behavior patterns are fashioned and stem in some form from these seven characteristics. When we talk about reaching for the number eight in Kabbalah this symbolizes reaching one step above the seven emotional soul powers into the higher realms of the contemplative world,the world of Bina,or understanding.This is also why circumcision is performed on the eight day,gifting the newly arrived soul with the future ability to live higher and deeper. This is the miracle of Chanukah as well and the Kabbalistic significance of the eight days. On Chanukah we are in eight day mode,Hasmoneans searching for pure oil-new life paradigms that have been sealed off from us,little high priests discovering new frontiers of experience that have been buried for us! Tonight we might ask ourselves where are the areas of my life where I've become immobilized in seven day syndrome of being? As we light the candle tonight we might imagine fearlessly wrestling ourselves free of those patterns,igniting eight day consciousness,reaching upwards beyond ordinary awareness to imagining and realizing new and better ways of being in the world!