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

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

_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

 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

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

“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

“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

 

What a joy to celebrate and pray with you over the High Holy Days 5773!    Having received the gift of cleansing and release on Yom Kippur, the next 4 days are preparation for a new Joy, the simhah of Sukkot. The spiritual work of the Days of Awe is to fashion a new lens to refract the light of the Infinite in to our World of Tangibility. We have built a new Divine Name that we pray will bring a year of deep structural healing.

During these next 4 days this new name of the Divine is realized: a letter each day – yod, hey, vav, hey –Sunday Monday Tuesday, Wednesday. With the full moon of Sukkot we rest, along with all our Supernal Guests, in the Shade of Faith of our temporary dwellings offering gratitude for the earth and her bounty. With hopes and prayers for a blessed year as we are guided by our wisdom-of-heart,

 Rabbi SaraLeya

11 Tishrei 5773 |  October 9, 2011

This week we come together to celebrate Rosh HaShannah and bless each other with a year of sweetness and aliveness.  As a community, we take on our holy mission for 5772 to continue to grow into a vital network of support, comfort and inspiration.  We inspire each other to be rededicated to tikkun olam – repairing the universe, and tikkun ha-nefesh – furthering our essential soul-work. Together, our prayer, meditation, song and dance open the channels for the flow of Divine Bounty to bring blessing and abundance to us and into the world.  We each have an essential role in this holy intention.

During this season, we are enjoined by our Tradition to immerse in the practice of Teshuvah – a process of turning and returning, of self-examination and re-connecting with our Divine center. 

And… inevitably there may be moments when we feel separate from the communal celebration, overwhelmed by our own pain and inadequate to this task of Teshuvah. At such moments, when we might feel tempted to retreat and give up, Rebbe Nahman of Breslov reminds us to connect with our nekudah tovah, the point of divinity and essential goodness that resides deep in each of us.  He insists that we must dig deeply to recognize at least one good thing we have done this year – a smile, a song, a helping hand, a good choice.  Although the first point is always the hardest to find, he promises that the next will flow more easily. For Rebbe Nahman, this acknowledgement cannot help but to bring us to the beginning of joy and, thus, to teshuvah, to a reconnection with our soul’s essence.

In community, we are able to help each other to find and see these places of wholeness. We can be mirrors for each other, reflecting back to one another the truths of our lives and, most importantly, the certainty that our vital soul-essence is worthy of love and honor.

Together we raise up these points of goodness to create the niggun of our collective soul, a communal song of healing, transformation and love. 

I so look forward to sharing these Days of Awe with you all.

With soul-blessing and heart-wisdom,
Rabbi SaraLeya  
28 Elul 5771
September 27, 2011

Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8, 6th Shabbat of Consolation

Rosh HaShannah is in only two weeks and we bask in the full moon of the month of Elul. This month is an “eit ratzon – a time of desire, a time of transparency to the Divine.  The resonance between the inner point of Divinity inside each of us and the Essence of which this point is a part is ever more finely tuned.  The shofar is sounded each morning just before we chant Psalm 27[1]:  “The one thing I ask is to dwell with You, here in Your earthly abode…Direct your hope and aspirations to the Mystery with your strong and courageous heart.” (27:4,14) 

10 years ago, this season was forever changed for us.  9/11/2001 shattered our illusions of separateness from the rest of the world.   Each year, since, as we prepare for the Days of Awe, we again know, sense and feel our vulnerability.   We must call upon the courage and strength of heart with which Psalm 27 concludes.

Our parashah for this week begins with Moses admonition to the Israelites, as they are on the verge of crossing the Jordon to enter the Land, not to forget to bring the first fruit offering to the Holy One.  Elsewhere (Leviticus 25:19) we are assured that the land will provide us with fruits that will satisfy us and that we will dwell on the land in security.  As we expand beyond the simple meaning of the text going deeper than the level of collective myth, we discern what this story means for our spiritual quests. What does “the Land” symbolize for us? Why are first fruit offerings so important?  How are fruits related to a sense of personal trust, safety and security?

Rabbi Moshe Aharon Krassen mystically interprets the first verse of this parashah: “There is great joy when you come to that Land of Unlimited Beginning, where Be-ing who G-ds you connects you to the Stream of Divine Be-ing, and there you can channel its flow while resting within its source.” (Devarim 26:1)

The Land is place of potential, the container for the ripening of our gifts and highest potentials as human beings.  A place where our actions resonate with the earth, She – the Land, the Divine Feminine principle, actively participates in the unfolding of our purposes – individual and collective. There is no certainty other than in the knowing that we try our best and yet are imperfect.  Security is the awareness that we are resting in Source, that Sh’khinah surrounds us.  “Kaveh el Hashem”(Ps 27:14)- we place our hopes and trust in this knowledge.  Vulnerability is real when we believe in the mythos of the possibility of physical security.

So, our first fruits – our choicest talents and aspirations, our most worthy projects and creations – are offered as gifts up back to the Source in acknowledgement that our lives are our choicest gift.   “O, that I could rely on my capacity to always see the Goodness-of-Source in the Land-of- Aliveness” (Ps 27:13) . 

May our spiritual practice ever strengthen our ability to feel the safe in unsafety through the practice of ever deeper gratitude.

With blessing as our hearts’ wisdom, courage and strength become more revealed and clear,

Rabbi SaraLeya
15 Elul 5769

September 14, 2011

[1] Psalm 27 is chanted daily beginning with the 1st of Elul until the end of Sukkot.  This entire period is the annual period of Teshuvah – of self-accounting (heshbon ha-nefesh) and turning toward the Unity.