TEACHER The active metaphor here is that G?d has set lessons all around us, and it’s our job to discover them; imagine everything in the Universe labeled with a great big “LEARN HERE” sticker. No one of us really knows anybody else’s lesson, and in fact, it’s none of anyone else’s business what those lessons are. It’s a secret between us and what-some-choose-to-call-G?d. And isn’t it nice having a secret that you don’t have to share? Continue reading “365 Names: “Teacher””
Category: Torah
The Text(s), the tribe, the learning, the being. (With a bit of random spirituality mixed in.)
Day of At-Onement
IT’S HARD TO DESCRIBE THE feeling I get around 1 or 2 p.m. on Yom Kippur afternoon with no food since the previous evening. It’s an intellectual, buzzy sort of consciousness: colors are brighter, outlines sharper, and an almost euphoric state of clarity sets in. At our synagogue we take a service-break from about 12:30 until 4:30 p.m. — some people go home to nap or introspect, others hang out at the sanctuary to pray or meditate or just sit in community. As for me, I go home to feed the cat, engage in (what I hope is) honest self-criticism, and study something appropriate. Continue reading “Day of At-Onement”
Happy 5780!
THE WORLD MAY NOT HAVE begun 5.780 years ago — in fact, it didn’t — but since we’ve likely had writing for about that long, we might say that today’s traditional Jewish date may well mark written history’s 5,780th birthday. And isn’t that the next best thing? May your year be sweet, joyful, instructive, fulfilling, productive, energizing and everything else you hope it will be. L’Shana Tovah from The Metaphorager!
Jump Start
If church worked, you’d only need to go once.”
— Pastor Rich Gantenbein, a”h
365 Names: “Shekhina”
THE SHEKHINA, or “Presence (of G?d),” comes from the Hebrew root meaning “to dwell” (it’s the same root as “mishkan,” the portable desert G?d-tent AKA “Tabernacle”). There’s a seamless distinction between the Presence of G?d and G?d Itself. Tradition teaches that G?d is everywhere/when — but that doesn’t mean we always feel that. Shekhina is that closeness. With attention and practice, G?d’s Presence can be easier to experience in some places and times than others (e.g., the Western Wall, a maternity ward, or an observatory for the former; for the latter, Shabbat and other holy days, solar or lunar eclipses). Continue reading “365 Names: “Shekhina””
Right (of) Passage
ONE QUESTION THAT OFTEN COMES up during Torah study, especially the portions that concern the seemingly over-described sacrifices and Tabernacle (portable wilderness G?d-tent) and its holy furniture, is, “Does G?d really care about all these details?”
One answer: “Who knows? But we care.”
What do Jews do when it comes time to experience pivotal life-events? We talk to a rabbi (or at least someone knowledgeable). According to Jewish law and custom, there is an ancient and proper way to do anything whether birth, education, adulthood-attainment, marriage, divorce, illness, or burial and mourning. It doesn’t matter how non-observant the querent is — they always want to know what to do, and how to do it right. Continue reading “Right (of) Passage”
Haiku: Timeless Time
IT”S SPACE ON THE CLOCK
Between the Tick and the Tock.
Have a good Shabbos!
“For My Next Trick, I Will Unite the Universe…”
A FUN WAY TO ENTERTAIN and enlighten early adolescents is via the following exercise:
“What’s the first dimension?” you’d ask. They’d answer, “Length.”
“The second?” “Width.”
“Third?” “Height.”
“Fourth?” “Time!”
“That’s right. Now, for my next trick, I will unite the Universe…” Continue reading ““For My Next Trick, I Will Unite the Universe…””
The Right Sort of Vision
To gain a yirah[awe]-inducing glimpse of the transcendent, you must sharpen your inner awareness to perceive divine Oneness wherever you look. You can practice shifting your inner vision to apprehend the scintillating divine presence in an apple, a table, a car, a baby’s eyes, anywhere in this world. When you make that choice and adjust your perception in this way, you have placed HaShem [that-which-some-people-call-G?d] before you, and yirah is sure to overtake your heart as if the floor beneath you had suddenly fallen away.”
–From the monthly YASHAR newsletter)
Grudge Match
THE GOLDEN RULE OF INTERFAITH colloquy: Don’t Confuse The Levels.
A few years ago, a “JewBu” (Jewish Buddhist) friend of mine told me a story that he felt illustrated the superiority of Buddhism over Judaism, or at least the limitations of Judaism compared to Buddhism. It goes something like this:
A rabbi once met a Buddhist monk, who invited the rabbi into his temple. The rabbi refused, saying, “I cannot enter a house of idolatry.” The monk said, “If I can prove to you that you are an idolater, will you study under me for a year?” Continue reading “Grudge Match”
Larry Niven Calls This “The Funniest Prayer in Literature”
TUCKED INTO MY INDUSTRIAL-STRENGTH siddur (prayerbook) is the following supplication. It’s there to keep me riding the trail of Faith without falling into the trap of thinking I know everything — or, really, anything — about that-which-some-people-call-God. Ladies, gentlemen, friends, Romans, countryfolk, I give you … The Agnostic’s Prayer, from Roger Zelazny’s Creatures of Light and Darkness (© 1969):
Insofar as I may be heard by anything, which may or may not care what I say, I ask, if it matters, that you be forgiven for anything you may have done or failed to do which requires forgiveness. Continue reading “Larry Niven Calls This “The Funniest Prayer in Literature””
Shepherd’s Book
Lord, I’m walking Your way. Let me in, for my feet are sore, my clothes ragged. Look in my eyes, Lord, and my sins will play out on them as on a screen. Read them all. Forgive what You can, and send me on my path. I will walk on, until You bid me rest.”
—Shepherd Book