Awakening: Torah Mussar Mindfulness, Vayetzei, 7th Sitting

Welcome to awakening torah Musa mindfulness,

Allow yourself to arrive and settle.

We will begin in one or two minutes.

Thank you.

Welcome to awakening.

Torah moose or mindfulness.

The moose our community.

We are delighted that you have chosen to join us in your practice and your growth of both learning moose are and mindfulness and applying it to the weekly Torah portion and the Hebrew Bible that we do study weekly.

We are now in the midst of the Torah portion that we just learned and read this previous Shabbat yesterday of Vayetze.

Hopefully you've all had a chance to study it and look it over to come to this session.

Before we begin,

We always enter our spiritual discipline our practice with our covenant with our intention,

And I'm going to share that with you now.

For those of you listening on audio instead of looking at the shared screen,

As we are live on Facebook,

LinkedIn and YouTube,

As well as Twitter.

Welcome everyone.

We are also live on zoom.

So this is what the following cover not intention say here.

And this time instead of just looking at doing this as an act of self care which this is this sitting together and practicing and learning is an act of self care it's also an act to strengthen our relationship with the divine.

And we'll be saying the first and the last.

So before doing this act we pull up our strength,

And we say this is something I'm doing to strengthen my own soul.

In order to be of benefit to others in the future.

This is also an act to strengthen our relationship with the divine and we say to his intention is Kevin on our practice that this is something I'm doing to strengthen my relationship with the Creator,

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

So we begin delighted that you have joined us and hopefully you've been with us the previous weeks.

And hopefully you allowed yourself to settle and let go of whatever may be thinking about in the past or planning for the future.

If there's any emotions or sensations that are drawing your attention away that you can bring yourself right here with me in this practice to be here in the present moment to get the most out of this.

We're going to enter very very briefly with just a look at who are we dealing with here as we looked at the previous weeks when we had dealt,

For instance with offer hum.

We've now really encountered,

Jacob,

Which we did last week too,

Obviously with what we explored with his behavior with Asaf.

But we really paid attention to Asaf last week and try to really redeem him as an ancestor of someone who's typically been vilified by our tradition.

And so here we have a yaku this week.

I want to give you the context first.

You have a 15 year old boy,

Which now we know in modern science has not even moved out of the reptile brain has not developed that front cortex to be able.

It doesn't happen till late 20s we know now to be able to really be balanced in the media of a heart rate of responsibility to be anticipate the consequences of his behavior,

To be able to really bear the burden of the other tools realize how his behavior is going to affect another,

And if it's ethical or not.

So we saw how he treated a saw when he deceived lied,

Both to his aba to his father,

It's like,

And to a south,

Causing harm and suffering.

This is typical of people who haven't developed the front cortex yet so let's put this in context we have a 15 year old boy who's being sent out,

Essentially and put into exile in some way to travel by himself from their Sheva where he is with his family unit because he needs to flee because his brother is planning on murdering him for what he did.

He fled.

He goes on,

You know,

We call this with a heater left he's walking he we get the sense that he's for the first time he's like Avraham he's out on his own journey and going but you can imagine,

We don't hear that he's with any servants,

Any protectors anything he's a 15 year old boy out traveling on his own.

Let's hold that for a minute.

It's very intense he travels from their Sheva up to the dark around,

Around,

That's very far.

I'm sure it was a scary difficult dangerous journey.

It's very intense to us that we encounter a boy who is sleeping on his own and having dreams of angels being around him to protect them and dreaming of God being there to creating this essential essentially this kind of a breach of you protect me then I will do this overview,

Which upsets of course,

Has our rabbinic ancestors and rabbinic as to Jesus who don't think that he should be creating this kind of,

If you do this and I will do this,

Let's put this in context of a 50 year old boy was fleeing to not be murdered off on his own and a long journey.

So let's read with some of our ancestors have to share with us.

First we I talked about this being kind of an exile.

And so we learned that Jacobs journey away from his parents home is compared to an exile in our tradition,

And that he's the only patriarch,

The only answer is to suffers the harshness of living outside of the land the promised land in exile so that his journey really is seen as a metaphor for our tradition of the Jewish people in general.

And that's not our focus right now but it's there,

And a Naomi Rosenblatt to you brings a wonderful interpretation when she says that yahko Jacob had not yet grass the magnitude of his XL XL already happened when he lied three times in that tent.

And then he says,

Abba last partial when he says that I may saw.

Yes,

I'm a sub.

Yes,

I'm a sub.

That's an XL oneself,

When we lie and we're dishonest like that.

Okay,

So it started to happen right then there started obviously before without what he treated his own brother,

A sub with the food,

Denying him sustenance when he comes in starving and needing to eat Christ on that XL already began but here we have a physical exile.

And you know he's terribly alone banished from his homeland despised by his brother.

Shame before his dying father.

Okay,

So he's really in this.

And so I want to share just briefly text with you,

Where we even encounter this poor boy this 15 year old.

God bless him,

You know,

What we're really witnessing here with these in balance me dot and behavior of his is a really important consequence for his behavior,

And that God will be with you,

And us,

And even yahkov in our city in the consequences of it,

That we will we will bump into and meet with God and God will be there with us and that's quite that's chesed that's loving kindness on what God does here with yahkov.

So we see right here and Pacific,

You're all of 11,

Very,

Very calm.

Okay,

So he's out walking.

He's taking this long journey.

And literally it's very odd language,

Okay,

The language,

And I'm not the first to notice this it's a,

It's here in,

You know,

It you know some interpreted as crash,

He literally crashes into me technically we interpret as he came.

But it's very unusual word to express arriving at a place.

Okay,

And we see her on the side here,

As I'm still sharing with you the text here.

It can mean to encounter to meet the reach and treat,

But it can also mean you know to a this crashing this kind of bumping into.

And so,

But my call my call is another word for Hashem for God and so we can read this and he's crashing into this site.

Okay.

And in this sense,

We,

You know,

A Viva zone work teacher teaches that God really brought him to this place.

He's having to face the consequences of his behavior.

He's having to face.

And just the beginning of how long this consequence is going to last how long this journey is of to shiva,

And then explains that the divide the value of God suggested the dynamic encounter with an object traveling towards oneself.

The force of the meeting is palpable the mysterious so it's,

It's Hashem God bumps into him.

It's,

It's incredible.

The poor boy doesn't know where he's going.

He needs to get away he knows he of course he knows he's going to his mother's brother's home.

But in a sense,

When you are having to flee from here you honored your email you honored your mother,

You followed her directions that what you were supposed to do,

Even though you lied again.

You know you you violated that relationship with a sob and then also with your aba your father you talk,

But he sent out.

He will now face a 20 year journey of how to gain responsibility and how to do to shiva how to turn around and there will be lots of crashes,

Lots of bumps along the way.

That's our brief and for learning together.

And we're going to enter into sitting together to really take this in notice what arises for us.

So let's say,

Let's start here,

Where if you're sitting like me and a chair.

You're going to want to ground your feet in,

Let the earth hold you really feel your sit bones settle into the chair to allow you to feel that you are held.

And you want to allow your hands to rest on your lap,

Or you're welcome to put them on your heart,

Whatever is comfortable for you come to an upright position comfortable,

But awake and alert.

If you have any chronic pain issues or just discomfort something unpleasant,

And the embodied experience please stand up for the practice or lie down with your eyes open to remain alert and awake.

And we will move into a guided sitting meditation briefly and then into silence.

For those of you new to meditation welcome.

This is for all levels.

So you will listen to my voice and remain as much as possible in the present moment.

That means using the breath and my voice is your anchor.

If you notice that you travel off,

Which you will.

What I mean by that is you'll get lost in thought,

Either planning for the future thinking about something in the past,

Just dreaming fantasizing.

And if you wake up to that and you notice that you bring yourself back,

That is the practice,

As my teacher Joseph Goldstein says,

Simply begin again.

So,

Again,

If it's emotion strong feelings,

Something unpleasant or pleasant simply noted,

You can do the practice and the art of mental noting of saying,

Pleasant,

Unpleasant,

Neutral,

And bringing yourself back.

So sometimes it's strong emotions arise within us sometimes it's actual sensations in the body where we feel discomfort or maybe even pain to note it and come back.

So with that we will close our eyes if we feel safe.

If we don't we just lower our gaze.

And we'll begin with three deep cleansing breath.

Notice how your breath is a tool to allow you to arrive.

And to begin to settle.

Now you're in breath to be the same length as your breath.

But no need to force or control your breath.

Allow it to settle naturally.

And begin with a gentle kind body scan where we notice whatever arises for us just recognize and allow how the top of our head is doing.

Our facial,

Facial muscles are feeling,

There's any tension from the back of our head to our neck.

What is here for you what is alive right in this moment.

Down to your shoulders,

Your upper back.

Down your chest,

Down your arms.

We move down to the lower back and the front torso down into the root of our being.

Our sit bones,

Our hips.

What is here for you.

Down your legs,

To your calves,

To your feet,

The ankle,

The arch.

You may even want to wiggle your toes.

As you recall,

My beloved ancestor,

Jacob and his unwise behavior.

Last partial.

We learn and from the Dharma about greed,

Hatred and delusion,

Pulling us in a sense kind of out of this world in the sense that we're not in the present moment.

And we'll start sees it also is a clear picture of how anger and jealousy and envy,

There's definitely greed there last partial this 15 year old boy wanting to inherit his father's estate.

And after he passes away that he just witnessed Abraham pass on to his father yet suck.

We all know that those states.

Greed hatred and delusion of anger,

Jealousy and envy.

They all lead to imbalance.

We can balance and army dots from our most hard tradition,

Not able to be balanced and responsibility as a mean to not able to be responsibility and an avant humility,

Taking up the proper amount of space.

We witness 15 year old boy who have to bump up to his karma to his fate to responsibility to his relationship with the divine.

We notice whatever arises for us.

And studying our beloved Torah.

We notice any aversion pushing away not wanting to really feel or deal with what we witness from our ancestors in this power shop.

More perhaps we notice clinging trying to hold on to a certain view.

Or perhaps a certain rabbinic source that wants us to feel more comfortable,

More pleasant about what goes on with our ancestors,

And their unwise behavior.

We will enter into silent meditation now.

You have time to investigate whatever arises for you.

And as you move through investigation.

Do so with self compassion with kindness,

With curiosity of the beginners mind.

Loving kindness,

A form of nurturing,

And also a wise non identification,

So that we can have that inner distancing so we can witness and be able to be present.

I will ring the bells when we are to come out of our meditation and join back in our sacred song gone bad and circle.

We move into silence now.

Coin.

Thank you very much.

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