“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