Finding Joy in the Mess-Up!

Finding Joy in the Mess-Up? Seems like a hard thing to do; usually after we mess up we are filled with recrimination and shame and the last thing we are capable of doing is finding Joy. Well this week's Torah Portion, "Ki Tisa"  may offer some insight.
The fact that the  Torah is a divine instruction manual does not prevent it from being filled with renderings of human frailty, but the events recorded in this week's reading are on a whole new level! The Jews left the slavery of Egypt in order that they could serve G-d. They arrived at  Mt Sinai and  experienced a multi media presentation par excellence during which G-d Himself revealed  the 10 Commandments. Even those of us not so into our religious studies do know that those commandments did include "Do not worship any other gods..."( You shall not possess an idol of other deities , nor make for yourself a sculptured image...), yet barely 40 days later the Jews managed to create and dance in front of the Golden Calf....what gives??
Even if we accept the argument , and there are many, that the Jews had not given up on G-d ( G-d forbid... ! lol ) , but were just looking for a different manner in which to relate to G-d in the physical world, they still transgressed a commandment for which the penalties were extremely severe...and yet this weeks Portion is called Ki Tisa which means "When you raise Up" . How are we raised up by reading about this...? Surely we should be  brought  down by reading of how fallible they were?? Yet this portion contains the revelation of G-d's 13 attributes of Compassion and also describes how Moshe obtained the second set of Tablets. This weeks portion is really a how to of managing a failure ....( beg and plead for forgiveness mostly and resolve to be different in the future) ; and also shows us how the Torah that we really have, as represented by the second set of tablets, is really a Torah for the imperfect.
Just like the saying, " There  is nothing as whole as a broken heart" conveys the beauty of vulnerability, so too  does the fact that the very Torah which we actually do have, is the Torah written on the sapphire that Moshe himself quarried from beneath his own tent, and lugged up Mt. Sinai , as the first set of tablets were shattered and broken. G-d once again inscribes His Divine guidance on stone, but this time for a clearly imperfect and repentant people, and we all get to have our second chance.

Having a Torah that acknowledges our innate imperfections is very reassuring, we are not expected to be angels, and even when our mistakes are grandiose, there is a way back and a path of repair.

Regarding the timing of when this Torah portion is read is also of significance.

We are now in the the first of  the two months of Adar.This year is a leap year and brings into alignment the Gregorian solar calendar  and the Jewish lunar calendar by adding in an extra month.  In a leap year there are two Adar months, ( basically the Pisces of the Zodiac calendar), an Adar 1, and an Adar 2. (In a 19 year cycle there will be 7 leap years.)
Adar is a month associated with Joy. In a leap year we have 60 days in which the main form of divine service is "Serving G-d with Joy".  During a leap year, we have 60 days in which we can refine the more primitive and undeveloped aspects of our personalities... through Joy!  The Joy climaxes with the holiday of Purim which celebrates the over turning of the evil decree of Haman who wished to destroy all Jewish men, women and children.

Haman descends from the line of Amalyk, whose spiritual counterpart or quality is doubt... Amalyk  afflicts us with self doubt and doubt of G-d and His path...Haman is the evil representation of that in the physical world.  When we mess up or sin, our own self doubt, or sense of unworthiness , can lead ( G-d forbid) to a sense of shame, depression or extreme sadness. Rebbe Nachman ( of Breslov.. late 1700s early 1800s)  teaches that the biggest sins  can come from us feeling bad about ourselves and depression can be the biggest evil as it leads us to feel that we are not worthy of acting in a holy way. Rebbe Nachman teaches that "You cannot  live without joy, you can exist, but live?? You cannot serve  G-d without joy.. You cannot do anything without joy!"( Rebbe Nachman's teachings in Reb Shlomo's words) In Adar , we celebrate that Haman was defeated, through the self sacrifice and dedication of Esther and the prayers of the Jewish people and we celebrate with great joy. Joy is the path to overcome many of our enemies, both internal and external!

Reading the Parsha of Ki Tisa in a month whose service is joy connects us to the idea, that a path of repentance and a path of fixing, must be followed in a spirit of joy. Like the Alter Rebbe teaches in Tanya, if we want to overcome our enemy ( our own negative "personality")  we should imagine ourselves like a wrestler in the ring facing our opponent: being down and sad will make us lethargic and slothful, but  attempting to defeat our negativity in a way of joy will enable us to be flexible, fast and effective.

Reading about the sin of the Jews in the desert with regard to the Golden Calf, and then reading about how that sin was followed with the revelation of G-d's compassion and a re-giving of the Tablets, can inspire us to be compassionate towards ourselves when we mess up, and can inspire us to work on our own "stuff" in a spirit of Joy.
Le Chaim... to life, with joy!

Lighting Up the World: The profound secret of Olive Oil!

When G-d starts to create the world, He begins with His mission statement," Let there be light!', and the Torah tells us "There was light!"

Well things haven't really changed much since that beginning way back when, that is still the intention, "Let there be Light!"

In this weeks Torah reading we are told how Moshe needs to command the Bnei Yisroel to obtain clear olive oil so that the Kohanim could  light up the menorah.

*"Olive Oil allegorically represents a profound secret: Light emanates from physical matter. When physical matter is probed and beaten like an olive, it reveals a deeper dimension of energy and light. The Zohar teachers that all mater is simply different degrees of " thickened light" , What is true of olive oil is in effect true of all physical reality... Einstein's theory of relativity and other modern scientific revelations about energy and light have confirmed that matter is quite literally energy."

 Moshiach's task will be to show the world, as a master educator, that there really is a union between the physical and spiritual worlds, they are both really part of the unity of the Oneness of all things..."humanity will then realize that reality , including the reality of all of us, is none other than the light of G-d. 

The Menorah symbolizes G-d's infinite light and humanity's role in revealing that light in all places and at all times."

In being commanded to light the Menorah, the Priests, represented us in creating an illuminating light.

Now there is no Temple in Jerusalem, there is no Mishkan in the desert, but there are  our own very real lives, with the mission remaining the same...." Let there be Light! Now we have to be the priests, lighting up the inner and outer Menorahs...illuminating our world... seeing the G-dliness in others, seeing the underlining unity between all things, revealing the light wherever is may be hiding...!

Shabat Shalom!

* With thanks to Rabbi Avraham Arieh Trugman: Orchard of Delights

The Kaballah of Building

The Bible deals with the grandiose act of Creation by G-d  in just 34 verses! 34 verses to describe the separation of light and dark,the creation of monkeys, turtles fishes and our delicious vegetables, graceful birds and exotic fish...and the  creation of the first human being.... all complete in 34... and then devotes 100s of passages to telling us with explicit detail  how to build a Temple/Mishkan for Him... isn't that a little strange??

It seems that the Torah is not, to quote Rabbi Avraham Arieh Trugman " man's book for G-d, but rather G-d's book for mankind; its not hard for G-d to make a home for humanity, what is hard is for us to make a home for G-d".

Hashem tells the Jews to build a Mishkan, a physical construct where G-d's holy presence will be revealed... and then instead of saying that He will dwell in that construct, He says... so that I may dwell in all of you! In an English rendition of the Hebrew the verse states" Asu Li Mikdash, Veshachanti Betocham- Build for me a Temple, so that I may dwell in them". Chassidus explains that one of the intentions of this  interesting grammar is that Hashem intends for all of us to become a Mishkan... a Temple of sorts to reveal his Oneness.

The Torah explains that there are 13* main materials used in the Temple's construction: gold, copper, silver, skins etc...the numerical value of the word ONE in hebrew is 13..., the numerical value of the word for LOVE in hebrew is also 13. The purpose of the Mishkan, and later the Temples in Jerusalem ,was to reveal the essential ONENESS of  all of creation.

The way in which the Jews could bring down His Presence into that construct, was for them to show love to one another and achieve a unity amongst themselves. G-d did not give the Torah until the people stood at Har Sinai "k'ish echad belev echad"(Rashi 19:12). "Like one man with one heart".

As it is down here so it is above, and as it is above, so it will be  manifest down here..... In order to bring about   a new reality, a new consciousness, which is being talked about by so many in so many cultures and so many circles, from New Age to very Old Age;  (actualized by the arrival of Moshiach and the descent of the third Bais ha Mikdash/Temple .... ) we  need to  live in to our potentials to truly manifest the truth of who we really are , which is as the Tanya tells us 'a Chelek Elokei mi mal mamesh", which in English translates into " an actual  Portion of G-d above , for real, no kidding!!

Being that the essence of who we really are is a Portion of G-d, and that G-d is One;  and that G-d created the world to be a garden in which He could reveal Himself and His essential Oneness...it makes sense that the scientists are realizing... that pretty much everything is an extension of that Oneness...  its all connected and all of physical reality is really according to the latest discoveries in Quantum physics just energy and light...(which disappears when it is not observed.. so Creation depends on a great "Observer") which sounds pretty much like G-d to me.... Energy and Light with Intension!

So why so much detail describing  how to build a Mishkan? Because its all about what we do down here.... how we utilize the materials of the physical world, how we construct our reality... to do what is our essential purpose.... revealing the essential reality underlining all of creation...
So lets start with each other.... we are all connected, and as I close the gaps between me and you, and you close the gaps between you and those around you.... we can once again stand "K'ish echad belev echad" " "like one person with one heart" and we can bring down a higher more revealed reality where G-d's  ONEness in no longer hidden.

Happy Building!
Shabbat Shalom!

In love and light,
Bracha

*The 13 materials
1) Gold

2) Silver
3) Copper
4) Dyed Wool -
5) Linen - Sheish,
6) Goat Hair - Izim,
7-8) Ram and Tachash skins - Oros Eilim and Oros T'chashim,
9) Acacia Wood - Atzei Shitim
10) Olive Oil - Shemen L'maor
11) Aromatic Herbs - Besamim
12-13) Precious Stones - Avnei shoham and Avnei Miluim

From where does "my bad" come....?

In this weeks Torah reading: Mishpatim,  we read about  all kinds of civil laws, laws involving damages, punishments and other seemingly mundane aspects of managing a society. Apart from the big lesson that the cosmic experience of receiving the Torah does translate into the nitty gritty of how we treat our neighbor and fellow community dwellers,  this week's portion can teach us valuable lessons about our own psychological vulnerabilities and potential weaknesses.
The Torah mention damages caused by an ox, an uncovered pit, a person who steals and an uncontrolled fire. Each one can be symbolic of a different type of block in our personalities that can cause us to "damage" ourselves or others....  The ox is symbolic of the  stubbornness that  traps us  into believing that we are limited by our "animal " nature, (G-d made me this way... I am just being true to myself....); the pit is symbolic of the type of self pitying emptiness that can suck others into our negativity and can become a bottomless pit for ourselves too, a place of despair and depression where we are totally disconnected to our power or potential to transform; the thief is symbolic of a kind of arrogance that believes rules are made only for other people to follow... the type of person who always feels his own specialness exempts him from fulfilling normative expectations... and finally the fire is symbolic of the danger of anger, which can destroy and consume everything in its wake.
Consider the manner in which you may loose your way..... could you root down any of your "mistakes"  to one of these four ? Stubbornness, self pity, arrogance or egotistical anger?

 The Tanya teaches us that we all have the capacity to fall into these areas of "mistake", that is part of what makes us human...  we have a  G-dly Soul and an  animal soul. In the language of the Tanya, our  animal nature and "mistakes" can connect to the different elements.... Water for over- identifying with our animal nature,  earth for too much self pity and slothful melancholy , air for arrogant scoffing and fire for egotistical anger. By understanding that we were created in order to fix and refine ourselves, we can accept the areas that need growth... and being aware which areas seem to be the ones needing attention,  we can get the job of refining done all the sooner!
Wishing you blessings and joy...
may you have insight into   how best to refine your "animal"!

The inspiration for this brief essay comes from the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe as explained by Rabbi Yossi Jacobson  on theyeshivah.net

a beautiful poem I wanted to share....

 Thank you to Yael Sunshine who shared this on her facebook page...

Dear Human – by Courtney Walsh

Dear Human: You’ve got it all wrong.
You didn’t come here to master unconditional love.
That is where you came from and where you’ll return.
You came here to learn personal love.
Universal love. Messy love. Sweaty love.
Crazy love. Broken love. Whole love.
Infused with divinity. Lived through the grace of stumbling.
Demonstrated through the beauty of… messing up. Often.
You didn’t come here to be perfect. You already are.
You came here to be gorgeously human. Flawed and fabulous.
And then to rise again into remembering.
But unconditional love? Stop telling that story.
Love, in truth, doesn’t need ANY other adjectives.
It doesn’t require modifiers.
It doesn’t require the condition of perfection.
It only asks that you show up. And do your best.
That you stay present and feel fully.
That you shine and fly and laugh and cry
and hurt and heal and fall and get back up
and play and work and live and die as YOU.
It’s enough. It’s Plenty.


I find this so moving, what do you think? Do you agree with the sentiments expressed??
Send me your responses, would love to see  them.

Being ready for the shift.... getting out of exile, plagues and the bread of faith.

Our sages teach that when a person is ready to leave this world, the separation of the soul from the body of a righteous person, is like pulling  a strand of hair our of milk, whereas the separation of a soul from the body of a person who is not evolved or who is very gross, is like trying to extract a ball of raw cotton from a thorn bush. One can view all of the plagues in Egypt as a means to loosen the hold of the physical world,...or at least to impart the lesson that the physical world was under the leadership of an all powerful G-d! A G-d who could over- ride the rules of nature. Once the Jews left Egypt, they had to constantly over come material and rational considerations to get across the Red Sea and open themselves to  functioning in less rational and material ways, for example eating a very unusual substance... the mann, something that linked heaven and earth in a very unusual way. The people complained, resisted and wanted to go back to what was familiar.... but the path towards redemption was already taken... they had to evolve and get used to new things.

We are facing a radical shift in our own world too...all spiritual traditions teach of a change towards a new consciousness that we are already on the path towards... the Lubavitcher Rebbe spoke about it many years ago and now every new age guru and coach incorporates this as a basic and fundamental idea... we are going through a shift and a change to a new, less physical way of being, a level of functioning on a higher vibrational frequency... and we need to be ready to be less attached to that which we knew and to that which is very material.... buildings have crumbled, entire villages and towns have been washed away, fortunes have been lost overnight... but what stays are spiritual values, care for others and the value of relationship. We have an exodus all over again happening right now.... from a male dominated culture of ambition, force and greed, to a new consciousness that has at its core the values of the feminine, co-operation, harmony and community. We are moving into new ways of being, what will nurture us wont necessarily be what we always dreamed would make us happy.... we need to   go with the flow... without resistance,  we need to be ready to jump into the "Red Seas" in front of us... challenges that will reveal our deepest soul purpose, if we embrace trust in our deeper selves, trust in our intuition, trust in Hashem and our soul power... those seas will split, revealing more of our strength and potential and our individuality and capacity to serve our communities with love and authenticity and then we will be able to move towards our own lands flowing with milk and honey.... The blueprint has it all laid out...we just need to know how to read between the lines...

Happy eating of the holy bread...
Opening our basket to what G-d has to offer and being grateful, is allowing abundance into our lives....
the verses on the mannah are a true guide on how to cultivate trust and gratitude.... take what you need and no more, and don't approach the future with fear, there will be more and you will be nourished, so relax and enjoy being in the moment....

Hope you enjoyed reading these brief insights and comments on this weeks Torah reading...
please let me know if you have any comments, observations or insights...
lets have a conversation!

Views from the Coast

Have been fortunate to spend  time recently on some amazing beaches.... baruch Hashem. The space, sea and fresh air really facilitate an amazing opportunity for reflection and connection... so thought i would share........