A Breath of Fresh Air
Getting in Touch With God
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
Good Morning Everyone,
This morning we awoke to the sound of a dying smoke detector battery. On top of this piercing whistle, the power was off in the city. Luckily I have a good sense of where things are and was able to get my Zendo candle lit, then find my flashlight, then get the battery out of the smoke detector! It was 4:00 AM. So, I sat in bed reading with my "Itty-bitty Booklight".
I am teaching a course at our Academy of Jewish Learning on Jewish Spirituality. I have so many students I need to split the class into two sections. In any event, I was preparing for this Sunday's class and I had an opportunity to read a couple of pieces of interest. One by Rabbi Wayne Dosick of the Elijah Minyan in San Diego, entitled "The State of the Faith" and the other by the esteemed Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, entitled, "Breathing" with a subtitle (in Hebrew), "Ha-Shem" (the Name).
What is interesting about these two pieces is that the first outlines in broad strokes some of the central problems with contemporary Judaism and the second asks us to take a breath and know that within that breath is everything we need. Rabbi Dossick argues that the Rabbinic Age, since the fall of the Second Temple was a necessary savior of Judaism. It replaced the Temple with synagogues, the priests with scholarly rabbis, sacrifice with prayer, and personal prophecy with the Oral Law. While this shift re-invigorated Judaism and gave it a foundation, it also had some deleterious side effects. One thing that happened was that it created a Rabbinic Judaism where the rabbis were the interpreters of the Law. Second, it relied heavily on reason and rationality. The imminent God was essentially sent to His room in favor of a transcendent God, apart from the world.
There were two massive efforts to counter this, the kabbalistic movement of the 13th century and the Chassidic movement of the 18th century. In both cases the movements were essentially co-opted by the rabbinate mostly because, in my opinion, they were founded by rabbis. Both of these efforts were forms of spiritual renewal that, over time, became mired in the liturgical nightmare of Rabbinic Judaism. Prayer, rapid, memorized, and obligatory, became the rule and staple of life. The feeling of connection to a people was there through traditional activities, festivals, and what have you, but the touching of my hand to God's hand was absent.
This absence was re-enforced in the age of enlightenment. Philosophers and scientists were setting the world on its head. Reason, rationality, and scientific method were the new churches. Jews, welcomed into the spirit of emancipation that this age offered radically re-interpreted their religion. God was out; Judaism as a civilization was in.
One result was a mass exodus from synagogues, a search for something personal and spiritual in other faiths or practices, such as Hinduism, Sufism, or Buddhism, on the one hand, and a general lack of addressing the interior life at all, on the other hand. Reform Judaism, once the bastion of rationality and assimilation, has over the last two decades shifted to a more open view of traditionalism, not conservatism, mind you.
The second article comes off a series on the names of God and invites us to reflect on the deep meanings of these names. In particular the name given in Sm'ot (Exodus) 6:2-3. Yud, Hay, Vav, Hay. These letters are breath letters, Ha Shem (the orthodox term most often used for God in daily life) is a God of breath. He creates through His breath. He heals through His breath. He nurtures through His breath. As we sit quietly, we should pl;ace our attention on our breath. Knowing that with every breath we are uttering one aspect of God's name.
As we move into a new era of spirituality where religion in its dry, fundamentalist sense, is cast away, we will be in a wonderful position to join with God in each and every moment.
Be well.
This morning we awoke to the sound of a dying smoke detector battery. On top of this piercing whistle, the power was off in the city. Luckily I have a good sense of where things are and was able to get my Zendo candle lit, then find my flashlight, then get the battery out of the smoke detector! It was 4:00 AM. So, I sat in bed reading with my "Itty-bitty Booklight".
I am teaching a course at our Academy of Jewish Learning on Jewish Spirituality. I have so many students I need to split the class into two sections. In any event, I was preparing for this Sunday's class and I had an opportunity to read a couple of pieces of interest. One by Rabbi Wayne Dosick of the Elijah Minyan in San Diego, entitled "The State of the Faith" and the other by the esteemed Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, entitled, "Breathing" with a subtitle (in Hebrew), "Ha-Shem" (the Name).
What is interesting about these two pieces is that the first outlines in broad strokes some of the central problems with contemporary Judaism and the second asks us to take a breath and know that within that breath is everything we need. Rabbi Dossick argues that the Rabbinic Age, since the fall of the Second Temple was a necessary savior of Judaism. It replaced the Temple with synagogues, the priests with scholarly rabbis, sacrifice with prayer, and personal prophecy with the Oral Law. While this shift re-invigorated Judaism and gave it a foundation, it also had some deleterious side effects. One thing that happened was that it created a Rabbinic Judaism where the rabbis were the interpreters of the Law. Second, it relied heavily on reason and rationality. The imminent God was essentially sent to His room in favor of a transcendent God, apart from the world.
There were two massive efforts to counter this, the kabbalistic movement of the 13th century and the Chassidic movement of the 18th century. In both cases the movements were essentially co-opted by the rabbinate mostly because, in my opinion, they were founded by rabbis. Both of these efforts were forms of spiritual renewal that, over time, became mired in the liturgical nightmare of Rabbinic Judaism. Prayer, rapid, memorized, and obligatory, became the rule and staple of life. The feeling of connection to a people was there through traditional activities, festivals, and what have you, but the touching of my hand to God's hand was absent.
This absence was re-enforced in the age of enlightenment. Philosophers and scientists were setting the world on its head. Reason, rationality, and scientific method were the new churches. Jews, welcomed into the spirit of emancipation that this age offered radically re-interpreted their religion. God was out; Judaism as a civilization was in.
One result was a mass exodus from synagogues, a search for something personal and spiritual in other faiths or practices, such as Hinduism, Sufism, or Buddhism, on the one hand, and a general lack of addressing the interior life at all, on the other hand. Reform Judaism, once the bastion of rationality and assimilation, has over the last two decades shifted to a more open view of traditionalism, not conservatism, mind you.
The second article comes off a series on the names of God and invites us to reflect on the deep meanings of these names. In particular the name given in Sm'ot (Exodus) 6:2-3. Yud, Hay, Vav, Hay. These letters are breath letters, Ha Shem (the orthodox term most often used for God in daily life) is a God of breath. He creates through His breath. He heals through His breath. He nurtures through His breath. As we sit quietly, we should pl;ace our attention on our breath. Knowing that with every breath we are uttering one aspect of God's name.
As we move into a new era of spirituality where religion in its dry, fundamentalist sense, is cast away, we will be in a wonderful position to join with God in each and every moment.
Be well.
