Awakening Re'eh 5783: Torah Mussar Mindfulness, 43rd Sitting

Founder and Director of the Institute for Holiness,

HaMachon LeKadusha,

Kehilat Muster Mindfulness.

Today is Sunday,

August 13th,

2023.

It is the 26th of the Hebrew month of Av,

And we are going to be looking at the Torah portion from yesterday on the Jewish Sabbath,

On Shabbat of the 25th of the Hebrew month of Av.

We are looking at the Torah portion of Re'eh in the book of Devarim,

Deuteronomy.

It's quite an honor to be here together to engage in this.

And before we begin in the practice,

As usual,

We always approach our Kavanot,

Our intentions for today's practice,

So that we can merit offering this to the world to bring less harm and suffering and to bring God's good to others.

So I'm going to go ahead and share a screen with you.

And if you have vision,

And let me turn on one more light for you.

If we have the vision and we're able to watch by video and see this recording right now,

Or on live stream,

If you're joining us and any of the mediums there,

You will see that these Kavanot,

These intentions in front of you.

So I'm going to read them in case you're listening by audio so that you can hear or if you do not have sight.

So we see this act of coming together for awakening Torah,

Musa,

Or mindfulness every Sunday,

B'ezrat Hashem,

God willing,

At 7.

30 p.

M.

Israeli time,

As an act of radical self-care.

Because when we care for ourselves,

When we practice self-honor,

We are able to care for others and serve God very much in a wise way,

In an appropriate manner,

That which is wholehearted.

So we see this act of coming together for these 45 minutes of practice as an act of radical self-care.

We say,

This is something I'm doing to strengthen my own soul in order to be a benefit to others in the future.

We also see this time of practice together and learning as on behalf of others.

We say,

This is something I'm doing to strengthen my relationship to others so I can be a better conduit of God's good to others when they need me.

And finally,

We are doing this practice to strengthen our relationship with the divine.

We say,

This is something I'm doing to strengthen my relationship with God,

With Hashem,

With the Creator,

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

This is our orientation,

This is our foundation for our practice,

So that something that we,

On this path that we are on towards holiness,

That we internalize these values to embody them,

To live them,

To emulate them.

So I'm going to go ahead and stop sharing right now and then we'll move forward with what we're going to cover today.

So,

As I said,

We are in the Hebrew year of Tafshin Pei Gimel,

5783,

Covering the Torah portion Re'eh,

Which was yesterday on August 12th.

If you had a chance to listen to it being lain,

Read out loud in a minyan or a synagogue and hopefully you've had a chance to look at the text and maybe even see what some other Parshanim commentators have said.

I'm going to give a brief summary as I usually do and then I'm going to hone in on something specific for what I want to pay attention to this week,

Which is important to our Musar mindfulness practice.

So,

What happens in this week's Parshah,

The Torah portion?

B'nai Yisrael,

Our ancestors,

Are instructed to go to two mountains once they finally enter the land of Eretz Israel,

The land of Canaan.

And then there's also a theme of our Parshah that God will choose eventually a central place of worship and that will end up being what we know as the Beit Hamikdash in Jerusalem.

Korbanot,

Sacrifices,

Must be offered only there eventually.

And the korbanot of Pesach,

Shavuot,

Suvah,

And Shavuot,

And the korbanot of Pesach,

Shavuot,

Sukkot,

And Shabbat must be brought there,

Coming together to do that would be joyous.

And farmers,

We learn in this Torah portion,

Which is basically a central form of many people's lives of our ancestors,

Farmers would bring and eat a tenth of all their produce there,

Known as ma'aseh.

This is key because it's 10% of what they would bring to eat,

But they also give 10% to the levi'im,

They also give 10% to the poor.

So they're essentially giving up to 25% of their crops,

Of their livelihood,

Of who they are,

To support those who have no land,

Which is the levi'im,

To support their own celebration at the Beit Hamikdash,

To support the poor.

This is very key and a beautiful model,

I actually believe,

For how we could emulate in our own lives,

Whatever our careers may be,

Of how we service the land and God and this earth and caring for one another,

That we could be aware of those who are landless,

We could be aware of caring for our families and our community and our celebrations to support the gods and communities,

Wherever that might be,

And also the poor,

To always have those in mind.

And then Moshe tells B'nai Israel that they are God's children,

Which is a very important concept to internalize and have as your foundation,

As your practice,

And that we should follow the mitzvot.

Finally,

What is covered in which fish are acceptable to eat and which birds are acceptable to eat.

And then finally,

That we cannot eat and consume blood.

We have to be careful of false prophets and others who may tempt us to worship idols.

There is the discussion of the Shemitah year,

The year of release of the land,

That happens every seven years,

And that is a key part of this Torah portion where we get in Jewish law,

Known as halakha,

Where we get most of our laws of tzedakah,

Of how we are to give that which is obligated to us to give to support the needy and the poor and those who are vulnerable,

Is actually learned in this Torah portion.

So we are taught to look out for people in need and to be generous with tzedakah,

Righteousness and charity.

So that's a general summary of what goes on here.

You may recall in last week's Torah portion in Ekev that I had noticed that there was kind of this in-breath of expansion of kind of larger concepts of how we're to be and to be in relationship with God and the land.

And then there's,

What we're going to notice here in Re'eh is the exhalation where there's actually getting into perhaps more detail slowly of what does that look like to live,

For instance,

That you shall be holy.

Right?

And even more so next week in Shoftim,

Right?

So I just want to say briefly before I get into what exactly I want to pay attention to here is that Moshe in this Torah portion really sums up the preamble to the laws from chapter 5,

Verse 1 to chapter 11,

Pesach,

Verse 28.

And all that he has said in the preceding chapters comes down to this general accumulates in this choice between two futures,

Two ways of,

Two paths essentially of our lives,

A blessed one if our ancestors and we obey the terms of the covenant with God and a cursed one if they and we do not.

And that is,

It comes down to kind of what is this life?

How are we living it?

What are the consequences for our behaviors?

What we might even term as karma,

Right?

In the sense of everything has consequences and if we live our life for a blessing to care for others then we embody that blessing,

Right?

And in some sense life is a blessing.

If we're someone who's causing harm and suffering to others which is essentially not obeying the laws the consequence of that long-term behavior is a life of suffering,

Of harm,

Of curses in a sense.

I'll finally say that the prologue and preamble of chapters 5 through 11 is that Moshe finally turns to the laws themselves this is chapter 11,

Pesach 31,

Verse 31 all the way to chapter 26,

Verse 15 this is a very long Torah portion so we start off with the cloud,

The gedol this larger idea of this is how we shall live and it comes down to these two futures these two paths of blessing and curse to what are these laws themselves and that constitutes the core of Devarim and Deuteronomy and it will continue on in chapter 26 so that the last thing I'll say is that Moshe does not present the laws in the style of the legal code this is very important it's very important particularly for our non-Jewish followers because how Jews in Rabbinic Judaism read and understand and live the Torah is that it's a living document that constantly needs to be interpreted and lived and that's why it's so important that we have the courts and the judges to flesh that out and work through that so this is what we see here that Moshe Rabbeinu,

Our beloved teacher devotes more attention to the basic provisions than to their actual practical details so the latter,

The practical details can be provided by oral law interpretive tradition developed by the courts and later times by administrative agencies and this is the key concept in how we practice and live out Rabbinic Judaism so the most distinctive feature of Moshe's presentation of the laws is the way that he frequently devotes so much attention to that we and our ancestors obeyed the laws even more than presenting the laws themselves it's almost as if he recognizes that our ancestors had to be persuaded to obey the laws and so I'm going to end with that kind of summary and then focus in on what I want us to pay attention to so let me get my notes all together for you here I'm a little all over the map today I don't know if you're aware here in Israel it's just a real heat wave dangerous actually in Fahrenheit 100 degrees or higher very difficult times so if anything I want to honor today's session I want to thank you for your patience with climate change conditions and even my heart goes out to all those in Maui and Hawaii who are struggling with the forest fires and care for each other and moving forward with that excuse me one minute please thank you for your patience my hand is dripping so I can't have it damage the wood floor so thank you for your patience okay so what are we going to focus on together today very important we learn immediately in a Pesuk in chapter 15 verses 7-8 it says listen someone who is poor even considered one of your family like your brother anyone in your settlements in the land that Hashem is giving you it says right here harden stiffen your heart it sometimes has a positive connotation it means courageous but in order to be courageous we have to puff up and harden ourselves to have that kind of motion of the heart we are told not to do that do not harden our heart it says there is a needy person one of your family in your settlement and you are not to harden your heart why would I harden my heart if there is a needy person this is what it is bringing to our attention do not harden your heart do not pull it away against your poor needy family member and it says this is very strong in Deuteronomy you will see a lot of this language of you shall surely open your hand to him enough for whatever he needs or them anyone who comes you shall lend them enough and you shall lend them for whatever they need this has so much information it is so key here what we are learning if we pay very close attention it is how we are not to behave we are not to harden our hearts and we are not to shut our hands that means we are to do the opposite we are to soften our hearts as we learned from last week's portion what are we to do we are to circumcise our heart we are to open the hand of that which is tender vulnerable,

Raw,

Fleshy,

Soft compassionate,

Gentle heart that is what we are to do with the heart and we are to open the hand we are not to cause the hand to jump it is to be stable,

It is to be present it is to be open there is a needy person among our brethren in our settlement,

In our neighborhood wherever,

In our apartment building wherever we may live we are to circumcise the heart which is ongoing,

It is not like you just do it once it is an ongoing path and practice we have to circumcise our heart daily especially for those of us in our reactivity in our being activated in our being triggered we close our hearts,

We harden our hearts then the practice has to be constant circumcision of our hearts daily as a practice the minute we hear this,

Is my heart open and soft and available we are to turn to them see them as created in the image and likeness of the divine see them as we would want to be seen if we were poor and in need and then we open we open our hands,

Our arms we open,

Right?

Lend them whatever they need what is it,

Right?

That is the practice Chazal,

Our ancestors rabbinic ancestors in leadership over 2000 plus years really say that so much of what we learn,

As I said about tzedakah,

The laws of giving to the poor from this Torah portion,

And they also say tzedakah is so important that it is equal to all the mitzvot combined in the Torah this is key because you essentially have a religious tradition and obligation to center your life and practice on that which gives to those in need those who are vulnerable and in that process,

You must circumcise your heart and open your hand on a daily basis so for those of you who already circumcised your heart or over-opened your hand the practice is that you have to learn more discernment and boundaries when you are hurting yourself by giving too much we have limits on how much we are to give we are not to give more than 20% of our income of our wealth because it could lead to us getting poor we have limits on how much we are to give we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth we are not to give more than 20% of our wealth What is life affirming?

It could be as simple as I am getting up I do my morning affirmation and I give and I put money into tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah It could be I am going to engage in my feshbon chanefesh journaling practice my accounting of the soul journaling practice I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am tying my morning affirmation to giving tzedakah I am reaching out to the elderly in your community who cannot go out in this weather,

Calling them up Can I run an errand for you today?

How are you?

Do you have any pets or animals that are outside that need to be brought in?

Or can I add a water bowl outside to make sure they're getting enough water?

Things of that sort.

It's always having the consideration of others close to you and nearby in mind as a practice with mindfulness With intention I will close with that.

We're going to move into our mindfulness meditation practice together I invite you to assume one of the four postures that we usually do in mindfulness meditation For those of you who are new to this,

It could be standing,

As in a strong mountain pose so that you don't feel a lack of balance For others,

It could just be walking back and forth while you listen to my instruction And that's really walking nowhere.

It's just walking mindfully.

For others,

It's lying down especially if you live with any chronic pain in the low back and sitting is deeply uncomfortable Go ahead and lie down with your eyes open if you have vision And if you're like me,

You're going to be in a seated chair Zafu on a meditation cushion Entering your seated posture I'm grounding my feet Making sure I really feel held by the earth This is a grounding practice And I feel the weight,

The kavod here This kavod,

This weightedness in my sit bones I feel upright,

Dignified,

Child of God This is quite beautiful Really practicing that self-honor so that I can honor others You may join me in inhalation And exhalation This time on the inhalation,

I invite you to raise your shoulders And exhalation Really releasing them Letting them fall.

There might be a real sense of release and letting go of ease Really bringing a smile to your face Some great joy and comfort What a gift Awakening to the good and giving thanks And our last inhalation Inviting us fully present here together Inhalation and exhalation Allowing yourself to settle Fully arrive Allowing yourself to emerge So you can hear that quiet,

Still voice of the divine within If you are new to meditation You'll follow my instruction And every now and then you'll hear me go silent That is just simply an opportunity for you To stay in the present moment Notice your thoughts if you're having any Bring them back to the present moment This time on the inhalation I invite you to let go of any strong sensations in the body Or emotions It's about becoming awake to what's going on for us And realizing we don't have to get caught up in the story of it We don't have to react We can choose to respond To honor it,

To recognize that it's there To accept it To be free As a best friend to sit and watch Really bringing that nurturing That non-identification to what's going on with us So when I say to you right now You are a child of God That you deserve dignity like everyone else Where do you feel that in the body?

Gently describe to yourself privately For some of you it may be Tension in the chest A ball in the stomach For others you may have noticed your spine even move That much more erect Perhaps a smile on your face Perhaps a deep warmth That you belong This is your authentic self If there is the response Ask yourself can I be with this?

Can I hold myself No matter what my response is today in this moment Which will change day to day Over the lifetime of practice So if you are feeling constricted And tight That ball in the stomach that is telling you To be free or not Know that that is a narrative That is a story One that you don't have to buy So just notice it Developing that inner distance You can even softly label it with what's called mental noting Judgment Self-judgment And being if you can care for yourself in this present moment And then we are going to stretch our Practice Of loving kindness Into these kind of concentric circles of obligation So we are told to Open our farts Soften them Open our hands To the people that we love most Who we live under the roof with Who are close to us in community and family They stand before you And you quietly and gently whisper You are a child of God You are worthy of dignity Where does that sit in the body right now Are you able to soften and open your hand To the dignity of the other before you Being with whatever arises Knowing that it is not you Whatever it is Comes to the moment has a certain shelf life And then passes One of the inarguables is that all is ephemeral This too shall pass For those of you who smile on Those closest to you As children of God Hand open,

Heart soft Allow yourself to dwell In the feeling of that joy Of that presence Of that balance It is really the combination of the practice Of the Brahma Viharas Of joy Compassion and equanimity All merging in your practice For the other Softening the heart Opening the hand Now I invite you to extend your Concentric circles of obligation Of caring for those in need To those on the outskirts of your Settlements The outskirts of your neighborhood The outskirts of your city Can you see them Search them out Who are they Can you see and whisper kindly to them That they are children of God And open your hand How can you give to them this week This day,

This hour Every day Driving to work,

To camp We pass by some Druze And young Arab children who are either Homeless or having to work the streets In this awful heat Today with mindfulness We packed into our car With a soft heart and open hand Large bottles of water To hand out to as many as possible At every streetlight Doing our little part of dignity Of caring for those in need What do they need in that moment Extend your circle of obligation To those outside of your settlement To those outside of your brethren Can you see them Invite them in Whisper to them that you are Children of God Worthy and deserving of dignity Softening your hearts And opening your hand May you continue with this practice Well beyond today's sitting Inviting yourself to sit with this daily This week as we leave the Hebrew month Of Av and enter the month of Elul Where we enter the 40 days Before Yom Kippur Where is our work And our practice on this path Circumcised the heart Often the heart open the hand Small manageable acts Daily Kabbalah that we can be successful at That is the path That is the potential of the path Allowing for a minute of silence now Before I ring the bells to conclude our practice As we say Your eyes are closed Gently and slowly open them To allow the light to filter in Meeting us back in the sacred Zoom room Or wherever you are meeting us Live streaming on our YouTube channel Or on any of the social media outlets Thank you for joining us today For bringing us together to practice Thank you for your practice Thank you to our ancestors For passing on these teachings Of Muslim mindfulness from the Jewish tradition And from the Dharma of Theravada Buddhism Thank you for bringing this wisdom to us That we may get as much as we can May we be on this path Thank you for taking refuge in the path and the community Again,

Honor those Hold in your hearts and prayers Those in Hawaii and other places Circumcise your heart and open your hand Give those in your community And finally to those in need Such as in Hawaii and other places We look forward to seeing you God willing in one week Do subscribe to our YouTube channel And to our newsletter Becoming a member of our community So we may learn and practice together Thank you again