During this time of year we are engaged in a spiritual path with two tracks:  Counting the Omer (see separate teaching) and reading the Book of Leviticus. These are parallel pathways that take us deeper into our relationship with the Sacred as we discover the Divine in our daily lives.

Over the past few weeks of Torah readings, we have been immersed in the book of Leviticus and our journey has been deeply affected by the story of the ecstatic spiritual death of Aaron’s two sons, Nadav and Avihu (Parasha Shimini –Leviticus 10:1-7)  For me, this story is the fulcrum of the book of Leviticus with its, at times, painfully-exhaustive descriptions of the sacrificial system and the code of Priestly conduct.  We have studied together the attraction of the Holy, and its dangers, and the traditional rabbinic concerns that we develop the spiritual capacities to both have immediate experiences of the Divine and also to be able to come back into our daily lives with the inspiration and power that such experiences give us. 

In our learning, we experienced Nadav and Avihu’s youthful exuberance of running into the Holy Place with their spontaneous offering and receiving the ultimate spiritual attainment of melting fully into the Divine. In doing so, however, they died to this world.  

And so the next detailed sections of Torah have to do with childbirth and menstruation, and skin ailments – all very important boundaries between inside and out, between life and death, between self and other.

In Parashah Aharei Mot, We are bought back into the connection with the Nadav and Avihu story by the line “And the Holy One spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron’s two sons who came close before the YHVH and died”.  Immediately, we are told how and when we can come close as the detailed instructions for the High Priest on Yom Kippur are enumerated.  And even more remarkably, we are told how to come close by living holy lives.  Leviticus 19, the heart of the Vayikra, is called, the Holiness Code.  “Be holy for I am Holy…Do not hate others in your hearts…Love your fellow beings as yourselves.” 

Our Tradition teaches, through the holy allegorical story of Nadav and Avihu, that theirs is not to be our path.  Rather, we are to be like the angels in Ezekiel’s vision, running and returning, running and returning – ratzo va-shov.  We might get so close that we can feel the flame, so high we can almost fly, but not so close as to burn up and not so high as to fall and be harmed.  We must learn how to bring the experiences of being close and high back into our ordinary-extraordinary lives to do the work of tikkun olam and make the world a better place, to the work of bringing kedushah, sacredness, into each day, each act, each interaction.  

Aharei Mot, after the virtual experience of death, we learn how to live as embodied spiritual beings.  We go closer and come back and then closer still. Higher and then come back down and then higher still.  Moving in  - going out.  The angels ran in and returned.    We go up and we come down.   We go up – romemu – and we come down v’histakhavu.  We go up – romemu – and we come down v’histakhavu (Psalm 99:5&9 – words that we sing during the Kabbalat Shabbat service).

So too, the lesson of the Omer period is to bring depth and meaning into our daily lives. We expand and integrate – measure for measure, step by step, day by day. As we count the Omer, each day is unique, each rung more profound. Each day is counted and is matchless.  Each day we find a special way to bring holiness into our essential beings. We stay grounded in our daily practice as we bring the flow from Hesed into Malkhut, from the “higher” realms into our embodied existence.

Rabbi SaraLeya
May 4 2012 – 13 Iyar 5772


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The practice of Sefirat ha-Omer is one of counting and noting each day between Passover and Shavuot.  There are 7 weeks between these two Holydays, each imbued with the spiritual essence of one of the sefirot. 

This practice is particularly relevant to our community which is dedicated to the cultivation of Wisdom of Heart.  Psalm 90:12 teaches us:  Limnot yameinu keyn hoda, v’navi l’vav hokhma: through counting our days, we come to a knowing understanding and cultivate a heart of wisdom.

In the mystical system of Kabbalah, each of the sefirot is a Divine trait or emanation that brings light in measured stages from the Infinite (Ein Sof) into the finite – our world.  These traits are not just “out there” in the esoteric world of the godfield, but are deeply embedded in our souls and our beings. The sefirot are vessels of light that direct the flow of Bounty and Vitality into our world. They are the pathways via which the Holy One gods the world, continually renewing creation. 

The lower 7 of the sefirot are related to manifestation in the physical plane. They are divided into three columns, the right column representing expansion or outward flowing energy, the left representing contraction or inward-directed motion, and the central column is the balance between the right and left.  Using the vertical metaphor of moving downward as we come from the most refined and ethereal toward the more dense physical existence, we move from Hesed (unbounded lovingkindness – right) to Gevurah (strength, might, boundaries – left), to Tiferet (beauty, balance, truth, integration – middle) to Netzah (eternity, endurance – right) to Hod (majesty, splendor – left) to Yesod (foundation – middle) and finally to Malkhut (kingdom, Divine Presence, Sh’khina, manifestation – middle). 

During the period of the Omer, not only is each week lived in the energy of one of the sefirot, but each day of the week also is related to a sefirah.  So, the second day of the Omer would be the day of Gevurah in the week of Hesed, and the 8th day of the Omer would be the day of Hesed in the week of Gevurah.  Our task in contemplation is to discern the difference as it affects our current concerns. Thus, the Omer period is a wonderful opportunity to be immersed in the study of the sefirot and to meditate on their meaning in one’s life as a deep and profound pathway toward spiritual growth.

The Jewish mystics consider that each of the 49 days of the Omer presents its unique opportunity to unclog any residue that our imperfections might have brought into the channel that each of the sefirot represents.  Through the practice of counting the Omer we pray that these channels of Divine Flow and Bounty be opened and freely-flowing to bring healing to the brokenness of our world.  So may it be!

If this introduction has enticed you to want to know more, let’s study together!

Rabbi SaraLeya
May 3 2012 – 12 Iyar 5772
27th day of the Omer: the day of Yesod in the week of Netzah

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Heyrut / freedom is the theme of this holyday.  How deeply can we ask these questions this year?:  What is my freedom? “I feel most free when………”  Do I need freedom to do or be something new this year?  or freedom from something this year?

The Netivot shalom, the late Slonimer Rebbe, reminds us that Pesah, like the High Holy Day season, is a time of spiritual renewal a time of becoming a briah hadasha / a new creature.  On the first seder night, as at Yom Kippur, we dress in white – even wearing our kittel, the white garment we are married in, fast in at Yom Kippur and will be buried in.  It is a time of bitul, becoming more transparent, more aligned, lighter.  However, the essential difference between the seasons is that in the fall, the Arousal toward change is from Below (itruta d’l’tata) , from our own initiation of the process of Teshuvah / returning.  This season, however, the Arousal is a gift from Above (itaruta d’l’eila).  It is a time of Grace, of Desire, a season of Divine Love manifesting with less judgment than during the fall holydays.  We only need to open ourselves to this intention for us to become revitalized.

So often lack of freedom is associated with fear.   When we experience oppression or slavery, we wish to run from that which oppresses us.  Several months ago my teacher, Rabbi Moshe Aharon Krassen, shared this koan with me when we were discussing the Hebrew word yira which contains the dual meanings of fear and awe.  We can meditate on these words:  “What I am running from is I what will give me what I am running to;  fall into the fear of what I am running from, so excellence will manifest!

This is our journey, the path of Israel (Yisra-El:  wrestling with or coming into alignment with the Divine) as we discern what we are running from so that we can run toward true freedom of body and soul.  What blocks me from knowing that I am free? 

We are on the spiritual journey from ANI aleph-nun-yod – “I”/ego to AYIN aleph-yod-nun – Emptiness/ transcendence-of-ego and from ayin back to ani.  We come close and move away and come close again.  Thus, the story of Pesah, the Exodus is truly nitzhit / continual.

May we all be blessed that this Pesah will be our deepest and most meaningful ever.

Rabbi SaraLeya
14 Nissan 5772
April 6, 2012

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Babylonian Talmud Tractat Yoma 53b:  […speaking of the incense burned in the Holy Temple: ] Why must one put a smoke-raiser spice into the incense? …When one puts in the smoke-raiser, the incense will rise up straight until it reaches the ceiling; as soon as it reaches the ceiling, it will come slowly down the walls until the house becomes full of smoke.  

The Zohar Parasha Aharei Mot teaches us that the incense is much beloved to the Holy One and is an agent of cleansing for us.

Thus, we need to re-build our Sanctuary ceiling with intention to create the holy container for our community’s vibrational incense – our music, our love of each other and our love of the Divine.  Our Sanctuary needs physical repair, and, metaphorically our Sanctuary needs the tikkun, the fixing, that each of us can bring through our generosity and open heartedness.  Without an intact ceiling, the incense does not flow downward to fill the holy space, to surround us, and bring us to a new level of kedusha, sanctity.

Psalm 146 1-2:  My soul says “halleluyah” to Reality.  With my very life-force I praise The Infinite.  I sing to Divinity “b’odi”- with the extra bit of myself that I did not know I had.   

A leaky ceiling can be our inspiration to look deeply into ourselves to find our distinctive contribution.  What is my offering to the creation of Sanctuary, to the building of spiritual community?  What is my part of our new ceiling, of the renewal of our holy space?  

We are called to give our “ode” – that more than we even thought we had to share.  As we rebuild our ceiling, we will have the opportunity to fill the renewed Holy Space with the incense that is made by ccombining our unique prayers and songs.  As Rebbe Nachman of Breslov teaches us, we each contribute our special point of goodness – our “ode” – to the creation of our communal melody, our wise-hearted niggun.   Let our renewed Sanctuary be filled with the dreams, intentions, inspiration, love, healing and melody that will bring Chochmat HaLev to a new level of thriving, flourishing, prosperity and abundance!

 

With blessing,

Rabbi SaraLeya

15 Sh’vat – T”u b’Shvat 5772

February 8, 2012
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Parashiot Vaeira, Bo and, Beshalah  (Exodus 6:2-17:16)

These chapters in Exodus prepare us for the holyday of Passover that we will celebrate when we see the 3rd full moon from now.  Over the next 3 weeks, we read the story of the 10 plagues and the escape through the sea.  We are taught that this story is continually being reenacted in our lives.  And so we ask, what is our lesson for 5772?

Once again we enter into Pharaoh’s heart as we read the Exodus story.  Once again we feel compelled to act out the drama.  What do we find in Pharaoh’s heart-mind?  Our story hints at pride, duty, mission, a sense of entitlement, but also of wavering and doubt.  The text explicitly describes hardness, heaviness, stubbornness.  Sometimes Pharaoh’s heart is acted upon by the Divine, sometimes Pharaoh strengthens his own resolve, and then the heart develops autonomy. 

In our Jungian dream state, we are Moses and Aaron coming to Pharaoh at the same time that we are immersed in Pharaoh’s psyche and soul.  We are invited to “come to Pharaoh – bo el Paroh” –  expressly  “ because I (the Divine Director) have made his heart heavy”.  The Voice whispers and prods Pharaoh to be tough and not to give in.  Yet the Ear hears the groans and sighs of Israelite suffering.  The Voice bolsters the ego that is holding on desperately, strengthening Pharaoh’s resolve just so Pharaoh can break down and self-destruct.   Only by making of Pharaoh’s heart a vessel that can be shattered, can the next Paradigm be birthed as we cross the sea, our communal birth canal.  Pharaoh came with us on our flight to freedom, and that which no longer serves our evolution was drowned. 

But the residue of the traumas remains with us.  We still cry out and complain and we take another 40 years to work on learning the lesson of Trust (if we ever truly learn this as the rest of Tanakh describes).

I bless us to deeply meditate on this story this year, empathizing with each of its characters.  Perhaps through this lesson of compassion, a new paradigm for healing old stories will finally emerge.

With a prayer for wisdom-of-heart as we grapple with our Tradition,

Rabbi SaraLeya

24 Tevet 5772 - January 18, 2012

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_In the distant wilderness, when  Moses noticed a bush that was burning but not  consumed by the fire,  he accepted his soul mission.  He, like others before him said "hineni" - here I am, fully present to what is being asked of me. And, to aid him in this undertaking, he was told to call upon  a specific Divine Name:  Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh – “I Will Be What I Will Be” – “ I Am Becoming”.   This Name teaches us that Divinity is Potential.  Divinity is not a fixed entity.  Our Hasidic teachers remind us that, as incarnate beings, our essence is to be a “Helek Eloha Mi-ma’al” – a Portion of Supernal Divinity.  Thus, we, too, are, at core, full potential.  We, too, are “Becoming.”  Our Divine Nature provide us with the certainty that we can change,  we can break through old patterns, we can return to a more full relationship to our godly nature.  This is what our Tradition means by “teshuvah”  - returning and turning, fully stepping up to fulfill our soul missions. 

With blessing that we embrace our capacity to evolve, and that we say "hineni" to fulfilling our paths and purposes,

Rabbi SaraLeya

18 Tevet 5772 - January 12, 2012

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 And Jacob settled in the land in which his father dwelled as a stranger, in the land of Canaan.”  (Genesis 37:1)

Having completed his Journey of Reconciliation, healing his relationship with his twin brother Esau, one might imagine that Jacob did want to settle down and rest.  (The word “vayeisheiv” has hints, not only of sitting, settling and dwelling, but also of Shabbat and teshuvah – all these words share the root letters shin and bet/vet.)

However, a generational inheritance of favoritism and deception followed Jacob and he passed this to his children.  Joseph and Judah, may be considered the two protagonists of the ongoing family drama.  In this week’s reading, Judah is able to confront his errors, admit his truth and acknowledge Tamar’s righteousness.  Over the next two weeks, the drama of Joseph in Egypt unfolds, and he, too, ultimately will remove his mask of deceit. 

So much of our work of spiritual growth is to learn what generational gifts and handicaps we have received from our families of origin and to grow through them.  As these stories teach us, the more awareness we bring to this task, the less we can fall into the traps of unconscious reenactment. 

 Once the lessons are integrated through our process of learning about ourselves, we can truly rest in the land where our fathers (and mothers) dwelled.  Because of our holy work of cultivating awareness of our personal foibles and traps, our rest can be a true Shabbat because we are no longer caught up in the dramas that have trapped us in trickery and dishonesty. Instead, we can connect with and acknowledge the underlying love that may have been masked by our families’ imperfections.  We can settle and rest in our true selves having done this work of teshuvah.

With blessing that our wisdom of heart will be the container for inter-generational healing,
Rabbi SaraLeya
18 Kislev 5772
December 14, 2011

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At the end of last week’s reading, Jacob literally escaped with his life after tricking his twin brother Esau out of his birthright and then stealing Esau’s blessing.  In fleeing from his deceit – I believe knowingly aware that what he had done was wrong – Jacob ran smack into an Encounter with the Place of All, the Omnipresent, HaMakom: “vayifga baMakom”.

There he received the gift of a dream that has inspired generations.  Jacob saw a ladder reaching between earth and heaven with Divinity above and angels ascending and descending.  He learned that our prayers do, in fact reach heavenward and Divine bounty thus descends.  He learned that we, as people have this unique roll in this Universe of Possibilities:  to be the connector between the ethereal realms and this embodied realm. 

Perhaps it was only from the place of darkness, shame and despondancy that Jacob was able to receive this communication.  He was given the gift of hope and of the possibilities of self- transformation, healing and Teshuvah.

So, too for us.  At this time of Rosh Hodesh  the new moon of Kislev, our darkest month, but also the month that ends with the holyday of Hanukah , we can share Jacobs hope, despite despair, that when we rededicate our inner temple and bring Conscious Light to all the dark places of our souls and the world, change and renewal are possible.  We must, like Jacob, share the trust that our errors can be repaired, that tikkun olam – fixing the world – is indeed our holy task as incarnate beings – and that is it within our reach.  Let this be the essential gift of Kislev and Hanukah this year..

With optimism and blessing that our hokhmat ha-lev, wisdom of heart will be manifest,

Rabbi SaraLeya
1 Kislev 5772
November 27, 2011

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“V’Avraham zakein, ba bayamim– and Abraham is old, coming into his days”(B’reisheit 24:1) – as an elder, Abraham is coming to the end of life.  The Sages associate Abraham with the soul-trait of hesed, loving kindness.  This is his mythic essence, despite some of his less-enlightened actions. 

Based on a teaching by the Sh'lah, Isaiah Horowitz, the Slonimer Rebbe teaches that a day on which we have not done an act of hesed is not considered a day in our lives.

When we do an act of loving-kindness, we draw down the Divine hesed that sustains the world and renews creation each day.  So a day without hesed does not really count as a day in our lives – such a day is devoid of life, vitality and meaning.  

Let us be blessed that we, like Abraham, come into our days.  Let us enter each day fully with our Divine center shining and radiating love, a love that can transform our time into blessing, drawing ever more hesed into the world. 

Rabbi SaraLeya
20 Heshvan 5772
November 16, 2011

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“Go! you, go, leave your homeland, your birthplace, your parents’ home, to the Place the Divine will show you”.  The saga of the forefathers and foremothers begins with the imperative to Abraham to get going on his spiritual journey.  Metaphorically, and by a twist of the Hebrew grammar, the words “lekh lekha” also connote the inner voyage to the self, the path of self-discovery – “go to yourself!”

How appropriate to read these words this week.  We are pushed to look deep inside ourselves for the inspiration to know and see the mission with which we are entrusted, and, then, to actually go on the journey – with trust – but without actually knowing where the path will end.  We are shown the mission but we may not predict its final completion.  We are asked to fully immerse in the process.  I am learning, as I move along in the years of my own incarnate journey, that there really is no “there” I am heading toward, just a certainty of forward-motion in an ever-unfolding evolution of consciousness through the daily events of my life.

For many in our community this week is one of renewed dedication to the certainty of societal change and the imperative for greater equality in the distribution of wealth as the Occupy Oakland movement unfolds.  This is also the week of Global Hunger Shabbat sponsored by the American Jewish World Service.    How blessed when our personal paths and callings also work toward the greater good.

This is also a time when we, as the life-force of the spiritual community of Wisdom of the Heart, are re-engaging with our collective mission.  What places of comfort must we integrate to be able to move toward our next level of service?  Let us pray together that we all find a way to integrate the sustenance of this community into our personal missions.  This community of heart holds a unique role in our worlds and deserves deep discernment of support from each of us. 

We offer the prayer for each other that we all have the clarity, strength, will and health to fully manifest our souls' missions.

With blessing for the path of cultivating hokhmat ha-lev, wisdom of heart, to guide us on our travels,
Rabbi SaraLeya
5 Heshvan 5772
November 2, 2011

 
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