Shavuot is coming…
In a Jewish community I practice with, we include a brief meditation prior to the amidah….and another congregant and I share the duties of leading that. The approach I take is to lead in with something to think about…usually a reflection on the torah portion, and then, a brief period of shamata.
I’m scheduled for this Shabbat (on June 1,2024), I’ve just prepared an introduction to practice, it includes a reflection on both the current torah portion, and as well, Shavuot….and I thought to share it with you.
And, for those of you who know, the “interfaith” reflection pointed to in the text below points to the Kagyu and Nyingma influences we have, or…that of mahamudra and maha ati.
See below:
Meditation for Parashat Bechukotai, 6/1/24
Today I’d like to help us prepare for our meditation with 2 rubrics, consistent with both the week’s parsha, Bechukotai, and as well, the proximity of Shavuot, which is coming soon.
We could start with the parsha. Although our siddur does not confirm it, with its reference back to today’s parsha, the words are unmistakably close to the second part of the shema we said today and we usually say to ourselves. (and I’ll read the copied text below…)
“If you follow My laws and faithfully observe My commandments, I will grant rain so that the earth shall yield its produce and the trees their fruit.
But if you will not listen to Me, …. and if you do not carry out My commandments and break My covenant….I will bring upon you illness that fills the spirit with grief. You will then sow your seed in vain. I will set My countenance against you and you will be beaten by your enemies….”
And, we understand that the torah does repeat some sections, as this appears to do.
And, the section above is followed in our siddur by another section of the torah…concerning the tsitit, as follows:
“They are widely considered a reminder, not unlike a string around one’s finger, to think of God at all times.
Tzitzit fulfill the following commandment in Numbers 37, in the Torah portion called Parshat Shlah:
Speak to the Israelite people and instruct them to make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments throughout the ages; let them attach a cord of blue to the fringe at each corner. That shall be your fringe; look at it and recall all the commandments of the LORD and observe them, so that you do not follow your heart and eyes in your lustful urge. Thus you shall be reminded to observe all My commandments and to be holy to your God.”
And as the website Myjewishlearning reviews…
“The commandment to wear tzitzit is repeated in the V’ahavta section of the Shema prayer…which comes next, and as a part of the shema…”
And, altogether, this first of two rubrics….concerns the path nature of our practice. Without too much imagination, please see with me that the observing of wearing tsitit can be viewed as an object based mindfulness practice, designed to keep us, the pray-er…on the path…so we WILL listen to G-d, and follow her commandments.
But, there is a second rubric.
Although, our tradition teaches about the flow of: creation, revelation & redemption, as associated with the flow of the siddur, from an interfaith point of view, the idea of revelation is connected with one of two strategies for arriving at: emet, or the truth, of how things are. That is, and in relation to what we just considered about the shema, and the path quality of being reminded, and mindfulness….another approach to the truth is through an open, or even sudden revelation. And, it is the stuff of revelation that Shavuot is about, as we reflect on the giving of the torah at Mt. Sinai. The tradition is that…all Jews were in substance at Mt. Sinai at the same time, receiving the torah. We celebrate and remember this on Shavuot, which we’ll recognize in the next 2 weeks.
So, what I’ve shared about are 2 rubrics, two strategies for relating to spirituality…of walking a path, gradually, and of sudden awakening, or revelation.
Both of these rubrics can come together, as we practice meditation.
On the one hand, when we breath out, we are following….our breath…and that IS consistent with a path approach to practice.
But, on the other hand, WHEN the breath goes out, and there is a gap….THAT is an opportunity for the kind of sudden realization we could be discussing.
So meditation brings these 2 ideas together.
Let’s try to experience that together now.
Sit with good posture…..