Awakening Noach 5783: Torah Mussar Mindfulness, 2nd Sitting

Welcome allow yourself to settle and arrive will begin in one minute.

Welcome to awakening Torah Musa mindfulness.

If you see me beaming,

Smiling with joy,

It is because we are on a new Torah cycle together.

A new year in the Torah cycle reading of the Jewish calendar.

We began last week with bit.

And that is still a being recorded and will be shared with you.

I thank you for your patience that it wasn't readily available due to family illness and travel around that.

So thank you for your patience,

It will be out today.

And I encourage you to witness the bever sheet,

The first Torah portion that we missed together from last week and now we will be covering power shot know off that we're going to enter that hopefully you heard yesterday either in your communities or have read and studied to be able to jump in with some background knowledge with it.

Before we jump in,

It is our practice here at the Institute for holiness kahilat Musa to come with our cover notes our intentions for today's so right now I'm going to pull that up together,

If I can readily find it.

Here we go.

For those of you who are visual learners are here watching on video,

This will be shared screen with you for those who will be listening on audio on podcast,

Or on insight timer.

You will hear me read this out loud.

So,

Before doing acts of caring for the self,

Which is what you see in front of you right now the first intention the first cover now that we say that this is something that I am doing right now,

This half hour 45 minutes together of engaging in this awakening practice to strengthen my own soul in order to be a benefit to others in the future.

Then we also say that we're doing this practice together this practice and learning today that we're doing this for others,

So that we can strengthen our relationships to them that we can be a better conduit of God's good to others when they need us.

And finally,

We were doing this to strengthen our relationship with the divine however we may define the divine or that relationship.

So we say I'm strengthening my relationship with the Creator,

So I can be a better conduit of God's good to others when they need me.

So may it be so may we merit this during our short time together,

Covering.

So for all of you joining right now on zoom welcome everyone's welcome to come on zoom during the week,

The link is on our website.

And you can find us on our website kahilatmusar.

Com or also you can find us live streaming on YouTube and later,

Or sometimes live at the same time it is posted on Facebook or in LinkedIn or Twitter so welcome to everyone.

This is a precious moment where you are really taking the time for yourself care,

Your practice and your learning.

And basically I'm going to start off with the assumption that you already know be the sheets and Noah.

If you don't,

I encourage you to read those when whatever language you understand since we have people from all over the world joining us,

And really be able to understand that I'm going to delve in to a particular section from a moose our mindfulness perspective,

Which is our specialty of ringing moose are the Jewish tradition,

And the Dharma of mindfulness to really have that synergy to strengthen our wisdom and our insight and our growth our transformation.

So,

We went from in very sheets.

In the beginning,

The first creation story,

We went from having hover,

Also known as even English violating one rule,

Which is that she wasn't to eat from the tree.

But she wasn't actually even told that rule,

She wasn't commanded,

It was actually a dumb.

The male known as Adam in English.

She wasn't commanded directly but she went ahead and engaged in this.

When she engaged in it.

Then everyone kind of what we noticed,

Pass the buck,

Right when there was a moment of opportunity to admit,

I did this shouldn't have done this.

And the snake made me do it.

Everyone had their own tariffs their own excuse which I'm sure in your own lifetime,

You've probably had that experience where you've done something that you know that you weren't supposed to do.

And then instead of taking responsibility there's the excuse.

We move from that to what happens essentially is a homicide.

The offspring the son of Adam and Hava moves to homicide that probably wasn't his intention to actually murder his brother have ill,

Right,

We're dealing with kyan here right Cain in English,

But he actually whether we can we never really figure out his intention right his covenant but it's basically assumed that he didn't know that whatever he did with his acting out with his depression and his despair and his anger of being rejected his offering being rejected that he internalized as a rejection of the self that I'm not sure he really knew that it was going to end the life of his brother.

We don't know,

This is a lot we just don't know we had the tradition has a lot to say about it we can have our own assumptions.

But what happens is he like his role models before him which he only had two role models,

He only had his mother and father,

Hava and Adam,

Who weren't the best at taking responsibility.

He too doesn't take responsibility he negates right.

So we removed from this story this background and there is sheet to what happens in Noah,

Right and the impartial Noah in English,

All creatures,

All entities,

All beings,

All with a living spirit,

Moving through them,

Become corrupt.

And the world,

10 generations after Adam is now full of Hamas,

Which translates as violence as oppression.

Can you imagine moving in 10 generations,

Whether that me 250 years or 150 whatever amount you consider a generation,

Moving from doing an act of eating from a tree that you weren't supposed to eat to by accident and homicide murdering your brother,

Which is horrible,

Right,

Just want to pause and just,

That's the first death right.

So first homicide in the Torah and in the story in our lineage,

And our people's narrative.

This master texts this master book that so many peoples from all over the world turn to whether they're Jewish or not.

And we're going to turn to this story now where everyone,

Not just human beings,

The earth,

The animals,

Everything is imagined to be corrupt and full of violence.

Okay,

So the human being as a collective.

The human being as a collective has decided,

Or through habituated behavior,

Either way how you want to word this to destroy the earth,

Even before God does through their very behavior of how they're treating each other and themselves and the planet and the earth they've already moved through acts of destruction,

Destruction souls destruction lives destroy destroying the planet.

We're well aware of this behavior,

We're kind of in it somewhat right now.

God forbid that we see everyone as corrupt right and as full of violence but we're not foreign to this idea of massive amount of humans behaving and behavior that in some way is undoing the creation of the world.

Okay,

So basically when Hashem when God,

If you want to see this as karma,

Right as consequence that the human behavior essentially has started already undoing creation on destroying the world,

That this coming of God of releasing the floodwaters was just in some ways a consequence of the human neglect to the earth into each other and to all living beings.

So I just want to hold that because we want to pay attention to how our daily behavior habituated or not,

Has an effect on society around us.

And if we're going to do this practice and try to be the best people we can be and transform this world and save it for our children and grandchildren and great grandchildren.

We need to be aware that our behavior has effect on creation,

And on the world.

So if we go back to bereshit where there is this rule off and looking,

The Spirit of God comes through right.

And in that moment,

That spirit that rock manifest,

A life and energy,

And it creates,

And it transfers basically part of that rule,

Part of that element of the divine to every object that is created to every being that is affected and touched by this and essentially God is in everything.

God is in us.

It is profound moment.

Okay.

And in that moment to allow corruption to allow violence to allow oppression.

Essentially,

It's like we were given life.

And we were given the life force of the Creator.

Okay,

This beautiful thing.

All that it was good was in that moment of creation right God's good as we say,

And that basically it's going to end essentially this week when we are corrupt towards one another when we're violent towards each other and the earth.

We essentially in this ongoing creation that is the potential of all of us the potential of practice,

The potential of being on this path towards holiness that covenant that relationship has been profoundly affected.

And so the as I said this kind of comic consequence of failing the rule,

Okay,

Looking in the soil in our fellow human beings in ourself is essentially both a DOM,

The human being and add the model,

The world the soil the earth will now be highly affect it'll be undoing of creation.

And it's profoundly sad and tragic story.

If you really pay attention and read it slowly.

If you're anything like me delving endless I wish I had more time with you.

It's profound it's tragic and there's a sadness that I feel like we need to really tap into and allow ourselves to feel because we're so aware of it.

We're so aware of it today.

We're so aware of the suffering and the constant war,

And the violence we witness this we hear it we see it we live it some of us God forbid.

It's in each of us.

That's in the soil that we are supposed to take care of that we've been given this leadership,

This beautiful tasks this great responsibility.

And so the let ourselves on this global level,

Have this face this kind of intergenerational this collective trauma that our ancestors have caused,

We even witness it in this master narrative the story of Noah,

That is going on today that we might have some of perpetuating God forbid.

And so I want to allow ourselves to mourn and to feel that and to be aware of it without practicing a version without pushing it away.

Because when we push it away then we're not doing the practice around it.

Okay,

So we just want to hold that as part of our practice.

So basically what happens in the story is kinds line back in there is sheets,

This appears right completely disappears,

Never to be heard of again,

The person who ended up committing homicide against his brother.

Right.

And then Noah comes along.

No one English.

He's this figure who's actually awarded a special title of distinction.

The first in the Torah and the Hebrew Bible.

And then as what I would say is like your anti witness.

He's not awake.

He's not alert to his behavior and the great responsibility that he had to have that walk and looking inside of him that divine spark.

Who is finally someone who's witnessing right he's a witness to all of this.

We're actually told that he said deep,

He is righteous.

Right.

What does that mean exactly.

We're told that he's mean,

Which,

You know,

Can be translated as whole hearted pure.

There's a certain sense of your shower of uprightness.

And so we want to hold this in mind because a lot of us wonder,

Which I'll cover and they were sheet like why why was,

You know,

Kinds.

What did he actually do wrong and his offering.

And we'll,

You can watch that video when it comes out later this evening,

And to explore that but basically what I want to point out is what is the difference between these two,

How do we understand that deep,

And how do we understand,

Tommy.

So basically our tradition understands that to be sadik right or so decades right someone is that you're in the right,

You have a moral compass,

And you know that you're behaving in alignment with your values the way that you're of benefit to others and yourself.

That is not causing harm and suffering.

Okay,

So that's Noah,

We could argue about no I'm not trying to recruit more people and put out more warning like where was the extension of his righteousness,

But let's just hold them are told he's Tommy,

Right,

He's a he's wholehearted he's,

He's he a shark he's a upright he's without blemish,

There's this sense that he has this strong integrity and consistency.

And if you look at his behavior that is it.

He's told to build the arc.

Could you imagine building an arc.

He builds an arc and he works on it daily he's consistent he's full and integrity.

He's following what he's been commanded to do right this is the story.

And so in some sense he's on blemish.

So what's the issue with Kyan will look at the previous video but clearly we can see that he's not necessarily in the right.

He brings basic fruit from the land,

Whatever that might mean we'll delve into that.

But there's no real sense there's a blemish there and he's aware of it too.

So much so that when he is when his offering is rejected as you may recall and be received.

He is so crestfallen.

And let's internalize that it's him he has unbalanced humility.

So in the moose are teachings of the me dot.

We have the media of anava of humility,

And that media is someone who is balanced.

They love themselves they know their worth they know that the rule okay looking the spark of God is in them.

And so it's a way for a reason,

Whether,

Whether they know that reason or not,

It's obviously to bring God's good to others right which is our practice our intention.

And so,

A Kyan is too much humility,

He really has this low self worth he's falls into depression.

There's despair there's a real sadness and tragedy to it.

And then he leads to outward violence towards his brother a harm and suffering caused to have ill.

And then even later on he's not even aware completely of the consequences of this behavior he actually says,

What have I done.

I've made it so I can even be in your presence.

I've caused such a stain,

Something that can't be undone,

That I can no longer be in your presence.

Right,

Maybe some of you have that right now you feel that you've done something so much so.

Now hopefully you haven't committed homicide or murder.

And I'll just say that this is our practice in this next year together to really balance our humility to come to this real internalization that we are created in the divine and so are you.

And so are you.

And so are you.

And think about how we treat ourselves and how we would treat others if we really internalize that have this balance,

And this balance humility that we cannot cause harm and suffering to others is it won't even be possible,

Because we know that the vine is in us and we are one.

And it's not just words,

This is not just a mantra we say,

Or morning affirmation this is a practice we're going to internalize daily together in our practices of most our mindfulness and when we meet weekly to go through these tour portions every 55 of them was also of congratulations that we got through the first year together.

Alright,

So let me say a little bit more.

Basically,

What happens is we witness Noah being balanced and humility to build this big Teva this big arc and God basically responds at the end of the whole flood,

Saying that I'm not going to curse the earth on account of the human being,

Meaning there's a sense that the fire has stopped with the attached to the human being being a certain way.

Okay.

And so what happens to the human beings through the story.

They come out of this trauma.

The ones who have survived and then obviously reproduce for fruitful and multiply this is over generations in the people who've inherited this,

This intergenerational trauma the story of the flood coming out of this,

They suddenly want to build a meat valve,

A tower.

And I really think that whole tower experience as much as people tried to knock down them as being arrogant or wanting to be like God.

I don't think that's it.

I think it's a you're witnessing a response to trauma that people are fearful.

They want to build a tower to feel safe to be seen to be known that it can't be erased through a flood that they can't just be taken right that their spark within will remain in some form.

Now obviously it's a the intention is there,

But the impact is not what is needed in society it's one that can cause great harm and suffering building such huge projects like that and requiring the population to do so right.

So,

And essentially that there's a fear of death a fear of being scattered all over the earth which is essentially if you,

If you're going to have compassion towards the people who are building the McDowell.

They have no desire to fill the earth.

They don't want to be scattered all over they feel fearful.

They want to remain together.

And you can imagine the stories passed down from Noah to his son to their children and grandchildren of being the massive amount of bodies floating in the flood being scattered throughout the whole world,

And the consequences of that flood that I'm not even sure God is aware of the long term consequences of that flood and the fear that that that can cause and how that can drive human beings to do behavior that is not balanced right.

So,

This flood the world the international trauma,

This was an undoing of creation right this karmic consequence of human beings undoing creation from the starts essentially this undoing of the rock and the team of God's creation.

This is what we're witnessing.

And what really needs to happen as part of our practice,

And even what we want to see,

Ideally through the Torah through the whole year is for the human being to develop into insight that we need to repair more of this harmonious relationship with the earth with the soil with the add the math with a DOM with the human being and with the divine.

Instead of addressing the profound rupture and our relationships with each other and the earth and with the divine.

Okay,

So,

And I will close this teaching for today before we move into our actual seated seated meditation practice is that if we from the beginning of creation are a sign of God's handiwork which we are right of creation.

I really feel like Noah.

Did he we have this whole story of him not getting on the boat on on the Tefa on the are.

Yeah,

He actually waited until the the water was to his heels.

He was commanded to the,

The while the floods already started happening and he was commanded to enter the arc.

So anyone reading this closely would be like,

Well,

Why wasn't the already on the arc.

No,

I wasn't already on that arc,

Because he did not want that sign of that ship to be a sign of undoing creation of all it.

All of the entities were about to be destroyed.

Right.

He did not want that it was intense.

It was like an acknowledgement of yes I built the Tava.

Yes,

I built the arc.

I did what I was supposed to do but I don't want you to undo it.

I don't want you to go forward with it gone.

Can you pause.

Can you maybe not have this karmic consequence of what the human beings have already done to the world,

And to each other.

And unfortunately that's just not the case we all know it to be.

We all know what to be in our daily lives that consequences of our behavior come and they will.

So this is our practice is holding this.

Okay,

But how are we going to do this.

There's a wonderful practice I'm going to honor right now,

I mean from Jamie Arnold,

Who is a wonderful supporter of the Institute for holiness Kehila Masar about beloved rabbi himself,

And he adapts this whole part base approach towards learning,

Which you can look up yourself or be in touch with me an email and I'll share with you what that means.

He adapts it to something called Torah to me ma,

Which is really nice because it's coming from to me,

Right this just shows you that you can see the same right this just sure this uprightness.

And so we're going to develop first we're going to identify what is the media,

Or even me dots,

The character traits for witnessing in this tour portion that we want to practice around.

So,

Even building off of a machine which you'll be able to witness the video later on on our YouTube channel,

Or on our website.

Essentially what we're dealing with is humility,

And really balancing that.

And that helps with the media of strength,

Whether it's kazook or Gabor right to the sense of moose or understanding of strength is that how physically strong you are.

It's not how strong you are internally,

To say no to yourself to not react to not cause harm and suffering,

It's an internal strength to behave in ways that you know are upright and you want to do that are in alignment with your values.

And so those are the media that we're facing right now that our ancestors in the bearish heat story and know off are facing and trying to deal with and are you know incredibly unbalanced in different ways right or maybe balance.

So we're going to identify those me though.

And then we're going to practice and meets a commandment around this media and the sense of service of others so how can we possibly do this.

What I want you to this week.

Find that which you want to emulate,

Even if you have to look really hard for it.

Right.

That's the practice.

That's our needs.

That's what we're going to do in service of others we're going to find how they are really wonderful how they add such holiness to the world and we're going to even let them know it.

Okay,

We're going to identify it for them.

And then finally the third practice around this is what we can he calls of with us with the media,

The meat spot and the avatar which is service right in modern Hebrew means work,

But in our tradition it means a service.

And service is this interpersonal intra inside personal spiritual practice.

And this is our practice of the seated daily meditation that we're going to do around meta around tested loving kindness to really build our self esteem and our worth to internalize that we really are created in the image and likeness of the divine,

Because that's going to build so much strength and balance humility and us.

So right now,

As we do every week.

I want you to come to an upright posture whatever that means to you.

It can be a seated posture.

It could be lying down.

It could be walking with no place in particular to go.

And it could be just standing,

Either in a mountain pose or next to a chair so that you feel secure.

And what we're going to do together is if you feel safe and comfortable and you have vision,

You're going to close your eyes,

So that you can kind of knock out close off anything that's outside of you right now.

Right.

And you're going to take three deep cleansing breaths inhalation exhalation,

Allowing your feet to firmly go on the ground if you're in a chair inhalation exhalation,

Letting yourself begin to settle inhalation exhalation,

Allowing yourself to really arrive,

Coming to that stillness to that quiet space.

And that might not be what's real for you internally right now,

And that's okay.

It's simply acknowledging that you might be having lots of thoughts,

What we call monkey mind,

The jumping of the thoughts back and forth,

Thinking about something in the past,

Planning for the future.

And then for some of us we might be caught up in the sensations in the body,

Distracting us from the present moment,

Whether it be tension or pain,

That which is unpleasant.

And then for some of us it might be emotions are attached to the certain sensations in the body.

Notice if you're having any storytelling,

Recognizing all of this is part of the practice that when we sit in mindfulness meditation.

We're not trying to cause something to happen to control the breath,

Or the thoughts.

We simply are witnesses to whatever arises,

And just being with it.

No need to over identify with it.

No need to react to it and push it away.

Just being here.

No need to control the breath anymore,

Allowing it to settle into its own natural rhythm,

Allowing my voice to be your anchor that if you do travel off into thinking mode or somewhere else.

When you wake up to it you just bring yourself back to my voice,

Back to your breath and body.

From time to time,

I will go silence.

For those of you new to meditation,

Just giving you an opportunity to sit.

To be with whatever arises.

I will ring the bell when we are done with our meditation you can trust that you will be carried through the practice.

So our practice and balancing humility over time.

This year of Torah cycle together.

It awakens us to the connectedness of all of life which is coming from the source.

The one source,

The divine creator of all beings.

And the starting place is offering of care to our own be simple practice,

It's direct,

It's powerful,

And it awakens us from the trance of unworthiness,

With a trance of thinking that we are worth more than anyone else.

By regarding ourselves with kindness.

We begin to dissolve the identity of this isolated deficient self,

Or the isolated over sufficient.

Wherever we may be on this continuum of an above humility.

We slowly over time will create the grounds for including others in this loving heart.

Relax any areas of your body that might be tense or tides.

Take some time moments right now to feel the breath at your heart.

Breathing in sense that you are receiving warmth and energy.

Breathing out,

Sense that you were letting go into the openness.

We all share,

Walk in a team spirit.

Silently now and then I whisper form you're going to offer prayers.

Of chesed of meta of loving kindness.

You will repeat quietly to yourself after me.

May I be filled with loving kindness.

I feel filled in loving kindness.

Now I feel safe and at ease.

I feel protected from inner and outer harm.

Man touch deep natural peace.

I accept myself just as I am.

May I know the natural joy of being alive,

Being of service.

May I find true refuge within my own being refuge in that spark of the divine within.

May my heart and mind awaken May I be free.

The practice over time of building this space this internal world of tenderness of being at home.

With the knowledge with the internalization that we are created in the image and likeness of the divine.

We will regard ourselves and others with kindness,

A sense of connectedness and freedom from trance freedom from reactivity.

Allow yourself to sit the next minute in silence.

And we'll ring the bell when we are to come out.

If your eyes are shut gently and slowly open them.

To come back into this shared sacred zoom live streaming YouTube space.

I'm Rabbi Hasi Oriel Steinbauer the founder and director,

The Institute for holiness Kehillat Nisar.

And today is Sunday,

October 30 2022,

In which we delved into parashat Noah,

Which we studied together on Saturday October 29,

Which was the fourth of hash by the Hebrew month of fish fun.

And it is our second sitting and learning together of starting the new cycle.

I'm honored to be here with you and your practice.

We may take a few minutes.

For those of you joining us on zoom if you wish for any comments of how that practice and teaching was for you any questions.

Otherwise,

I will leave you in the sacred silence to say goodbye,

But I will wait a minute,

You're welcome to take yourself off zoom and show yourself or not.

Okay,

Delighted to have you Jeannie and those smell I believe and others who joined us briefly.

Thank you so much.