Vayigash – Genesis 44:18 – 47:27

Dec 20 to 26, 2020 | 11 Tevet 5781

Photograph by Glenn Sackett

Cosmic Ladder of Our Lives

In the Yosef Saga, famine follows plenty. Is this our reality today? For a growing number, daily life is slipping toward lack: a famine of food, housing and social connection. Many freedoms we took for granted are now blocked, or risky at best.

As we retreat from the outer world, is this your invitation to open more fully to the inner worlds?

From a young age, Yosef understood his cosmic role. In contrast, the 10 sons of Lea did not awaken until later in life. Their eventual maturation becomes clear in the enactment of Yosef’s test. Had their hearts matured? Had teshuva begun? Yes, with Yehuda leading the way.

And He Drew Near

To briefly recap this week’s parsha Vayigash – “and he drew near”:

The Yosef Saga culminates in the reunification of the brothers and the migration of Yaakov’s lineage to Egypt. Having “discovered” his goblet in Benjamin’s pack, Yosef decrees that “the man in whose hands the goblet was found shall become my servant.” He releases the others to go home in peace.

Yehuda steps forward into his cosmic role and asks to speak with the one who is “like Pharaoh”:

“Now Yehuda came closer to him and said:
Please my lord,
Pray let your servant speak a word in the ears of my lord, and do not let your anger flare up against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh!

– Gen 44:18

After recounting the heart-felt story of his father’s fears and loss, Yehuda offers himself to be held captive instead of Binyamin. Seeing Yehuda’s transformation, Josef reveals himself to his brothers, telling them: Do not be pained and upset…

For it was to save life that G’d sent me on before you.

– Gen 45:5

Because of the famine, they must bring the family to Egypt . This is how the fledgling band of Jews left Canaan for Egypt. And as we say, the rest is history!

Connecting Heaven and Earth

While many themes arise in this parsha – destiny and choice, correction and self-transcendence, Tzadik and Teshuva – the expressed purpose is to bring spirit into matter: to connect Heaven and earth. First, let’s see how this is expressed in the parsha, and then we’ll look at this connection in our lives.

We witness the connection of Heaven and earth in the way that Yosef rises to power. We see it again as Yehuda steps forward in his kingship. And when Yosef intuits the deeper meaning of his brothers’ behavior. We find relief in Yosef-the-Tzadik, who shines with his foresight to prepare for the years of famine, and in saving many lives, protecting the fledgling children of the covenant.

Significance of the Neck?

Most dramatically, we see this connection of Heaven and earth in the way Yosef and Binyamin embrace:

He flung himself upon his brother Binyamin’s neck and wept, and Binyamin wept upon his neck.

– Gen 45:14

The neck connects the head with the body, the brain with the heart. From the Sufi Master Hazrat Inayat Kahn,

The mind is the surface of the heart; the heart is the depths of the mind.

We live in a universe of Light and vessel, Creator and creature. Daily we negotiate the challenge of living a G’dly life in a material world. To remember our divine inheritance despite the necessities and attractions of the physical world.

Reflection: In what ways do you perceive the commingling of heaven and earth in you? What is your longing? In an immature state, we act and react in self-interest. We see ourselves as separate, autonomous beings rather than as connected cells in an organism with deep purpose, patterns and rhythms shaping the multitude of outer form. How have you matured over time? 

Overriding Our First Impulse

Traditionally, the first born is the carrier of family responsibilities. In Torah, there are several stories where the first born cannot rise to the task and abdicates his role. Esav and Yaakov, Re’uven and Yehudah, and in the next parsha, Menashe and Efrayim.

Of what does this remind us? That our first impulse is not always our finest. When we see ourselves reacting out of fear, resentment, greed or similar self-protecting reaction, we can chose to step back and observe.

We can ask ourselves, “what is the most loving way to respond, the most inclusive way to react, the harmonious way of peace?” We need not be bound by our “first born” reaction. We can rise above and master ourselves in the moment.

Invitation to Listen In!

Who else is longing to smell the fragrance of the history that belongs to both Israelis and Palestinians?

Another set of brothers, Ishmael and Yitzhak, are perceived differently in Torah and in Koran. The question, “Who was the sacrifice?” could be a cause for religious divide among Jews and Muslim.

For a unifying perspective on the relationship between Ishmael and Yitzhak, listen to our podcast with the International Director of the Abrahamic Reunion, Sheikh Ghassan Manasra.

This conversation also explores the method for overcoming your “first born impulse” in favor of a more considered approach. Return to the present-day Holy Land and reconsider the relationship between Muslims and Jews, Arabs and Israelis –

Not only is peace possible, it is preferred.

Climbing Jacob’s Ladder

This week we will focus on practices designed to unite Heaven and earth within the individual consciousness. We will seek to build our capacity to create harmony in daily life — to continue our awakening to the internal worlds, and ultimately, to bring together the outer and inner realms, in the marriage of heaven and earth.

Through breath, light and sound we can be in tune with the Infinite and the rhythms of this life. This beautiful, chaotic, ever changing, all-pervading Life.

WEEKLY PRACTICES: And He Drew Near

With the Soul Manifestation Process, we awaken to the present in the fullness of our being. This crisp, embodied awareness becomes the portal to listen for divine guidance.  We step through this door via breath, light and sound.

Suggestion: Do one practice a day, or do all 6 consecutively. Remember… have your Journal nearby to jot down any insights that may arise.

Audio Recording – Coming Soon

BREATH

This week we will refocus our practice from last week, using breath to unite Heaven and earth in your individuated self. Our channels are these 5 qualities of being: Awareness, Personality, Will, Connection, Purpose.

Awareness: Focus on the simplicity of your breath. Simple awareness and gratitude of being alive. Visualize standing tall, confident in your presence on this earth. Your feet are on the gound; your crown opens to the sky. 

Earth Purification Breath: Breathe in and out through the nose, 5 times. Be aware of the solidness of your body, your bones, your hands on your lap, your feet on the ground. Your body connects Heaven and earth. The color is yellow.

Personality: Scan the factors that make you, you. Your personality, likes and dislikes, beliefs and values. Visualize holding bowl in front of your heart, empty and ready to contain the two rivers of receiving and bestowing. This is the quality of water.

Water Purification Breath: Breathe in through the nose, out through the mouth, 5 times. Be aware of the liquidity of your body, your blood, the water in your tissues and organs. Feel water pouring over your body from head to toes, as if standing under a water fall or in the rain. Let the water dissolve any habits, traits and emotions that no longer serve you. Open to the flow of divine Love. The color is green.

Will: Pour energy into the aspect of you that decides and takes action. Visualize the bowl you are holding in front of your heart filling with light. Light fills the vessel. This is the quality of Fire.

Fire Purification Breath: Breathe in through the mouth, out through the nose, 5 times. Be aware of the heat of your body, your warmth, your digestion. Feel the sun on your skin (either imagined or in the moment). Feel the waves of energy from the pulsing of your heart. Feel your longing for union. Sip heat through the mouth, exhale light through the shoulder blades. Let fire burn away all form that casts shadows in the Light. The color is red.

Connection: Our most important connection, the foundation for our life, is Oneness. Can you allow Divine Grace to bless you? This is the quality of air – all pervading and essential to life.

Air Purification Breath: Breathe in and out through the mouth, 5 times. Be aware of the spaciousness of your body, your breath filling your lungs, the air circulating in your body. Exhale and scatter your molecules as far as you can imagine. Inhale and recollect yourself in a perfect refection. The color is blue.

Purpose: Breathing gently and rhythmically through the nose, rest in the refinement of your breath. Feel the beating of your heart, allowing it to be filled with unifying Love.

CONTEMPLATION

Following your breath, mentally recite these contemplations drawn from the words of this week’s parsha and from the Sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan:

LIGHT

With eyes closed, breathe in and out gently through the nose. Balance your inhale with your exhale. Keep your body still. Breathe gently in and out through the nose. In this refined state, focus on the right side of your chest. Visualize white light filling the right side of your chest. Breathe in white light, exhale white light for 5 breaths.

Now focus on your physical heart. Visualize red light filling the left side of your chest. Breathe in red light, exhale red light for 5 breaths.

Now focus on the center of your chest. Visualize green light filling the center of your chest. Breathe in green light, exhale green light for 5 breaths.

When you are ready, open your eyes and breathe fully, deeply. What is your experience of this balancing practice?

SOUND

Similar to mantra, to practice Wazifa is to repeat a Name (quality) of G’d. Layers of meaning of the Name, which is encoded in the sound vibration, will be revealed to you through repetition and focus.

This week’s Sufi practice with sound vibration will bring together the previous two weeks of Sound practice. We will join the vertical and horizontal directions.

The horizontal direction engages us in a polarity that lends us a sense beyond time. Ya Awwal (yaa OW-wal) can be translated “the first,” and ya Akhir (yaa AA-ḳḥir) can be rendered “the last.” This is a mystical paradox. If G’d is infinite, how could G’d be first or last? For an explanation, visit the parsha Vayeshev and scroll to the practice with SOUND.

In the vertical direction, we develop our capacity to touch the hidden and bring it into manifestation. Ya Batin (yaa BAA-ṭin) is the most hidden treasure, the secret of secrets. Ya Zahir (yaa ḌḤAA-hir) means completely present in space, fully materialized, fully visible.

Recite these Names of G’d on the inhale and exhale, turning your head from left to right, then up and down:

Inhale: Ya Awwal (left)

Exhale: Ya Akhir (right)

Inhale: Ya Batin (up)

Exhale: Ya Zahir (down)

Rhythmically inhale and exhale, softly repeating each Name out loud 33 times. Afterward, feel the unifying effects of the sound vibration on your being.

ZIKR

Meaning “remembrance”, Zikr is the repetition of a sacred phrase with the intention of returning to the essence of Unity. Continuing from last week, we will repeat the central Jewish prayer known as the Sh’ma.

In Hebrew:

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד

Shema Yisrael YHWH Eloheinu YHWH Echad

The Sh’ma can be translated as: “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one”. LORD is the unpronounceable four letter word יְהוָה – YHWH, the Name of G’d that can’t be named. Instead, we’ll use the word “Adonai“, meaning Lord, or “HaShem“, meaning The Name.

When practicing Zikr, it’s best to use the original language in which the prayer was revealed. As you inhale and exhale, softly repeat out loud, 33 times. Afterward, feel the effects of the vibration on your being.

NATURE

With the shortest days of the year, be especially aware of the play of light and shadow in nature. Continuing the practice from last week, go outside and locate two trees with their backs to the sun. Standing between the two trees, step between the shadows of their trunks. Know that as you step forward, you are moving through a threshold. While standing in the light, ask yourself, how does the Divine Light work through you here-and-now?

For a direct experience of Sufi wisdom and insight, please listen to the podcast with Pir Shabda Kahn: Finding Happiness Through Gratitude

Shabbat Shalom!

After 6 days of practice, when Shabbat arrives, observe how this week’s practices shape your Shabbat experience. Be sure to check in Sunday morning for next week’s parsha.

You are invited to comment on how the contemplations and practices for this week have shaped your experience of daily life… any big Ah-ha’s? Please share your thoughts and feelings below.

חַיִּים
L’Hayyim…. To Life!

Miketz – Genesis 41:1 – 44:17

Dec 13 to 19, 2020 | 4 Tevet 5781

Watercolor by Nurullah Anya Godwin

The Alchemy of Dreams

We swim in the ocean of life. When the ocean is calm, we feel secure. We maintain an easy grip on a shared reality. And in times like these, when more people are dying every day in the USA than we lost in the Twin Towers terrorist attack, when the zipper to our underbelly is wide open, when the meaning of words cannot be relied upon…

It’s appropriate to ponder the role of dreams.

Brief recap of this week’s parsha Miketz – “At the end”. The Yosef Saga reaches a crescendo when Yosef’s servant finds his silver goblet in Binyamin’s pack, which had been placed there on Yosef’s command. Events that follow culminate in the reunification of the brothers and the migration of Yaakov’s lineage to Egypt. If like me, you are among the 51% of the world’s population who traces its religious and cultural heritage to Avraham, this is our story.

And it all hinges on dreams. If Yosef hadn’t told his dreams to his brothers, he might not have been sold into slavery. We never would have been in the diaspora, never wandered in the dessert for 40 years, never been enslaved, never left Canaan for Egypt. Telling the dream provides the stimulus for enacting the dream.

Pharaoh said to Yosef:

I have drempt a dream and there is no interpretation for it!

But I have heard it said of you

that you but need to hear a dream in order to interpret it!

.

Yosef answered Pharaoh saying:

Not I!

G’d will answer what is for Pharaoh’s welfare.

– Gen 41:15 – 16

Yosef planted a seed by revealing the meaning of the chief cupbearer’s dream. When Pharaoh had a dream he couldn’t interpret, the cupbearer remembered Yosef. If you know the story, this led to the reconciliation between the sons of Lea and Rachel, at least for a few hundred years.

So what does all this mean in our daily lives?

Pondering the Dream State

Right now, as you read this, tell me. Are you awake? Or are you dreaming? Remarkably consistent are the similarities in mystical perception throughout the ages and across cultures. Twenty-three centuries ago, the Chinese philosopher Zhūangzi observed this:

Once upon a time, I, Chuang Chou, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, a veritable butterfly, enjoying itself to the full of its bent, and not knowing it was Chuang Chou. Suddenly I awoke, and came to myself, the veritable Chuang Chou. Now I do not know whether I dreamt I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man. Between me and the butterfly there must be a difference. This is an instance of transformation.

– Translated by James Legge

More Than Poeticism?

Our shared reality is what our senses tell us. You hear a sound. Is that a dog barking, or a fox? A backfire – or a gunshot? You see a snake… or is it a stick? Even at the sensory level, we are not in agreement. Often, we are beguiled.

Diving deeper into the ocean of awareness, we realize our sensory perceptions are tinged with imagination, bias, concept… as such, we enter the world of human experience. Consider for a moment how literally you regard the stories of Torah. Was there a Yosef who wore a coat of many colors? Did he become the second most powerful man in Egypt? Did G’d Almighty interpret dreams through him?

Or is this simply a myth?

Living in the Land of Mythal

Our belief systems color our perceptions. Our priorities define which details we notice. Past experiences limit or free us to shape our future. What feels urgent and vital in this very moment will most likely fade and be forgotten tomorrow.

You see, how real is perception is a very deep question. Right this minute as I type these words, am I dreaming or am I awake? Why does my keyboard feel solid when we know through science that matter is mostly space? If by shared reality we agree that I am awake, how awake to The Real am I?

Mysterious Transmutation

According to Miriam-Webster, alchemy describes an “inexplicable or mysterious transmuting”. Certainly, when we dream during sleep we are mysteriously transmuted into a more fluid state. And when we awaken, how clear is our grip on Reality? Clarity? Truth? Love?

From the mystical perspective – e.g. Kabbalah, Sufism, Taoism – we are dreaming of our separation. We are dreaming that we can avoid consequences. We are dreaming that the visible, measurable world sets the standard. We are dreaming that we understand the inner life of the person closest to us.

Reflection: What are your awake dreams? What might you be mis-perceiving?

A frog in the well cannot conceive of the ocean. Can you play in the Ocean of Life without your feet touching the bottom? Can you leave the safety of the shore? Not needing to understand is the alchemical doorway to the wisdom of the Heart.

Let understanding stop at what cannot be understood.

– Doris Lessing

The “Great Dream”

In the parsha Miketz, three times Yosef ‘s dream interpretations set him on a new trajectory: with his brothers, with the Pharaoh’s imprisoned cupbearer and baker, and finally, with Pharaoh himself. These patterns reveal great truths that repeat and repeat, one inside the other.

Reflection: What pattern of rise and fall, of pivot and renewal do you perceive in your life? These are no less important than the archetypal story. Nor are they a separate reality.

Again, from the Taoist master Zhūangzi:

Only on waking do we know it was a dream. Only after the great awakening will we realize that this is the great dream. And yet fools think they are awake, presuming to know that they are rulers or herdsmen. How dense! You and Confucius are both dreaming, and I who say you are a dream am also a dream. Such is my tale. It will probably be called preposterous, but after ten thousand generations there may be a great sage who will be able to explain it, a trivial interval equivalent to the passage from morning to night.

Opening the Door to Inner Wisdom

This week we will focus on practices designed to wake us up from this slumber we recognize as our shared reality. We will seek to build our capacity to create harmony in daily life — to continue our awakening to the internal worlds, and ultimately, to bring together the outer and inner realms, in the marriage of heaven and earth.

Through breath, light and sound we can be in tune with the Infinite and the rhythms of this life. This beautiful, chaotic, ever changing, all-pervading Life.

Photo by Glenn Sackett

WEEKLY PRACTICES: The Door to Wisdom

With the Soul Manifestation Process, we awaken to the present in the fullness of our being. This crisp, embodied awareness becomes the portal to listen for divine guidance.  We step through this door via breath, light and sound.

Suggestion: Do one practice a day, or do all 6 consecutively. Remember… have your Journal nearby to jot down any insights that may arise.

Audio Recording – Coming Soon

BREATH

This week we will use breath to ground us in the body, focusing on 5 qualities of being: Awareness, Personality, Will, Connection, Purpose.

Awareness: Focus on the simplicity of your breath. Simple awareness and gratitude of being alive. Visualize standing tall, confident in your presence on this earth.  Feel the solidness of your body and the earth you stand on. Notice the pull of gravity keeping you rooted to the earth.

Earth Purification Breath: Breathe in and out through the nose, 5 times. Be aware of the solidness of your body, your bones, your hands on your lap, your feet on the ground. You are held securely here on earth. The color is yellow.

Personality: Scan the factors that make you, you. Your personality, likes and dislikes, beliefs and values. Visualize holding bowl in front of your heart, empty and ready to contain the flow of your wants and desires. This is the quality of water.

Water Purification Breath: Breathe in through the nose, out through the mouth, 5 times. Be aware of the liquidity of your body, your blood, the water in your tissues and organs. Feel water pouring over your body from head to toes, as if standing under a water fall or in the rain. Let the water dissolve any habits, traits and emotions that no longer serve you. The color is green.

Will: Pour energy into the aspect of you that decides and takes action. Visualize the bowl you are holding in front of your heart filling with light. This is the quality of Fire.

Fire Purification Breath: Breathe in through the mouth, out through the nose, 5 times. Be aware of the heat of your body, your warmth, your digestion. Feel the sun on your skin (either imagined or in the moment). Feel the waves of energy from the pulsing of your heart. Feel your longing. Sip heat through the mouth, exhale light through the shoulder blades. Let fire and light reveal to you your passion and desire. The color is red.

Connection: We co-create with others. Who are your most important connections in life? How does your environment support you? The complement to Will, Connection opens to Divine Grace, the Will of G’d. Retain the image of the bowl of light in front of your heart, and similarly imagine the light of your closest relationships. This is the quality of air – we all breath the same air, it circulates.

Air Purification Breath: Breathe in and out through the mouth, 5 times. Be aware of the spaciousness of your body, your breath filling your lungs, the air circulating in your body. Exhale and scatter your molecules as far as you can imagine. Inhale and recollect yourself in a perfect refection. The color is blue.

Purpose: Breathing gently and rhythmically through the nose, rest in the refinement of your breath. Feel the beating of your heart, allowing it to be filled with Love.

CONTEMPLATION

Following your breath, mentally recite these contemplations drawn from the words of this week’s parsha and from the Sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan:

LIGHT

With eyes closed, breathe in and out gently through the nose. Balance your inhale with your exhale. Keep your body still. Breathe gently in and out through the nose. In this refined state, focus on the right side of your chest. Visualize white light filling the right side of your chest. Breathe in white light, exhale white light for 5 breaths.

Now focus on your physical heart. Visualize red light filling the left side of your chest. Breathe in red light, exhale red light for 5 breaths.

Now focus on the center of your chest. Visualize green light filling the center of your chest. Breathe in green light, exhale green light for 5 breaths.

When you are ready, open your eyes and breathe fully, deeply. What is your experience of this balancing practice?

SOUND

Similar to mantra, to practice Wazifa is to repeat a Name (quality) of G’d. Layers of meaning of the Name, which is encoded in the sound vibration, will be revealed to you through repetition and focus. 

This week’s Sufi practice with sound vibration will focus on developing our capacity to touch the hidden and bring it into manifestation. Ya Batin (yaa BAA-ṭin) is the most hidden treasure, the secret of secrets. Ya Zahir (yaa ḌḤAA-hir) means completely present in space, fully materialized, fully visible. 

We recite these Names of G’d on the inhale and exhale:

Inhale: Ya Batin

Exhale: Ya Zahir

Following a vertical line of direction, turn your head upward as you say Ya Batin and turn your head downward as you say Ya Zahir. Rhythmically inhale and exhale, softly repeating each Name out loud 33 times. Afterward, feel the effects of the sound vibration on your being.

ZIKR

Meaning “remembrance”, Zikr is the repetition of a sacred phrase with the intention of returning to the essence of Unity. Continuing from last week, we will repeat the central Jewish prayer known as the Sh’ma.

In Hebrew:

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד

Shema Yisrael YHWH Eloheinu YHWH Echad

The Sh’ma can be translated as: “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one”. LORD is the unpronounceable four letter word יְהוָה – YHWH, the Name of G’d that can’t be named. Instead, we’ll use the word “Adonai“, meaning Lord, or “HaShem“, meaning The Name.

When practicing Zikr, it’s best to use the original language in which the prayer was revealed. As you inhale and exhale, softly repeat out loud, 33 times. Afterward, feel the effects of the vibration on your being.

NATURE

This week, be aware of the play of light and shadow in nature. Next time you are outside among the trees, locate two trees with their backs to the sun. Standing between the two trees, step between the shadows of their trunks. Know that as you step forward, you are moving through a threshold. What insight, purpose or intent arises?

For a direct experience of Sufi wisdom and insight, please listen to the podcast with Pir Shabda Kahn: Finding Happiness Through Gratitude

Shabbat Shalom!

After 6 days of practice, when Shabbat arrives, observe how this week’s practices shape your Shabbat experience. Be sure to check in Sunday morning for next week’s parsha.

You are invited to comment on how the contemplations and practices for this week have shaped your experience of daily life… any big Ah-ha’s? Please share your thoughts and feelings below.

חַיִּים
L’Hayyim…. To Life!

Vayeshev – Genesis 37:1-40:23

Dec 6 – 12, 2020 | 26 Kislev 5781

Photo by Basir Ted Yasi 

Two Driving Forces: Learning and Action

Rabbi Tarfon and the sages were assembled in Lod, when the query came before them: Which is greater, learning or action?

Said Rabbi Tarfon: “Action is greater.”

Said Rabbi Akiva: “Learning is greater.”

Concluded all: “Learning is greater, because learning brings to action.”

– Talmud, Kudushin

Channel for the Kingdom of David

This week we continue our exploration of two directions of spiritual purpose – Tzadikim and Teshuva. Learning and Action. Saint and Sage. Righteousness (Divine Presence) and repairing the world. Born of Rachel and Yaakov, Yosef is the Tzadik. His dominance in Egypt brought his family there — until the Exodus.

While Rachel and her sons embody the Tzadik – the righteous ones, it is Lea and her sons who express Tikun – the capacity to repair the world. Although learning precedes action, it is action that completes thought. In Jewish history long after the Exodus, with the rise of King David, the descendants of Rachel must accept the transition of leadership to the descendants of Lea.

A brief recap of the parsha Vayeshev, “And He Lived” –

In this beloved story, Yaakov’s favoritism toward Rachel’s firstborn, Yosef, causes his brothers to be jealous of him. When Yosef tells them his dreams of dominance, jealousy turns to hatred. Scheming to kill him, they throw him in a dry well. Although Reuben intends to save him, Yehuda sells him as a slave to a caravan of Ishmaelites.

Now what will they tell their father, Yaakov? History repeats. Just as Yaakov deceived his father by placing hairy goat skins on his arms to receive the blessing of the first born, the brothers slaughter a “hairy goat” and dip Yosef’s ornamented coat into the blood. Presenting it to their father, they said:

We found this;

pray recognize whether it is your son’s coat or not!

– Gen 37:42

After rising to trusted status in Egypt in the service of the Potifar, Yosef is thrown in the dungeon on the false accusations of the Potifar’s rebuffed wife. This parsha ends with Yosef in prison, having correctly understood the dreams of the Pharaoh’s chief cupbearer and chief baker.

Hidden Meaning

The underlying meaning of the Yosef saga has far greater significance to the unfolding of the Jewish people than what meets the eye. Let’s dive right in. It’s often said that Judaism is Torah, the Priesthood (religion), and the Kingship (nation-state). Yosef represents Torah – G’d Consciousness. His half-brother, Levi born of Lea becomes the priestly lineage. And Yehudah (Judah) also born of Lea, holds the Kingship.

However, in this saga Yosef holds power over all his family members. This is a temporary power. Historically, it is the house of David who gains the Kingship. There’s a side story that never gets discussed in Sunday school – The story of Yehuda and Tamar. This union provides the lineage for the future King David. (See Gen 38:6-30.)

And why does this matter to you and me in our daily lives?

Destiny AND Free Will

We can awaken to the deep river of purpose, perfection and destiny, while maintaining free will. How? Not every detail is predetermined. For instance, Esav remained reckless and lost his birthright, blessing and his intended wife, Lea. He fathered the lineage of the Edomites, rather than being in the lineage of the Covenant as was his twin.

What helps me to understand how destiny and free will can live under the same roof is to think of the smoke of a stick of burning incense. It rises up and takes a familiar pattern. However, the specific action of each molecule of smoke is indeterminate and unpredictable: Variation within Pattern. Choice within Destiny.

We are all part of a larger plan and intention that continuously unfolds.  Check out this Kabbalah 99 Podcast episode with Kimba Arem: The Dance Between Destiny and Choice who discloses her near-death experience that revealed to her this truth: Destiny and Free Will co-exist right down to the very foundation of our lives.

Blessing or Curse?

Reflection: By being sold into slavery, was Yosef cursed or blessed When something apparently bad happens, good can come out of it.

Storytime: Have you heard of the story of the runaway horse? A man’s fine mare ran away. Such bad luck! She returns with a fine stallion – such good luck! The son who rode the stallion fell off, breaking his leg. More bad luck! The king’s men came through and took all the able-bodied males to fight in a war…. What appears to be a blessing may be a curse. What appears to be a curse, may be a blessing.

Although we’re not likely to be sold into slavery to become the second most powerful person in the land, our ability to see the good in what we don’t want builds resilience and humility. And it just might be our destiny unfolding…

Balancing Opposites

This week’s practices will show us a way to balance polarities in our lives. Not “either or”, but BOTH. Living with paradox, what our analytical minds cannot join as one, our hearts can contain. We will continue to build our capacity to create harmony in daily life — to journey with this Caravan of Awakening Souls, and ultimately, to bring together the outer and inner worlds in the marriage of heaven and earth.

As above, so below. As below, so above.

Through Breath, Sound and Light, we will tune ourselves to the Infinite and live harmoniously within the rhythms of this life. This beautiful, chaotic, ever changing, all-pervading Life.

Watercolor by Nurullah Anya Godwin

WEEKLY PRACTICES: Balancing Opposites

With the Soul Manifestation Process, we build an internal geometry that draws forth and balances divine qualities within ourselves. We discover our capacity to listen for divine guidance before setting our intention toward fulfillment.  The door opens through breath, light and sound.

Suggestion: Do one practice a day, or do all 6 consecutively. Remember… have your Journal nearby to jot down any insights that may arise.

Audio Recording – Coming Soon

Breath:

This week I’d like to continue the Sufi practice of Qasab. This week, we will add color to our visualizations.

This breathing practice balances the breath on the right and left sides, harmonizing and quieting the mind, centering us in the heart. The Tree of Life reflects these polarities: Chesed (Loving-kindness) and Gevurah (Severity); Netzach (Will) and Hod (Receptivity).

Colors: Red on the left, green in the middle, white on the right. 

With your right hand, use your thumb to close the right nostril. You will use your ring finger to close your left nostril. Touch your middle finger to the Third Eye for its balancing effect. Begin by closing your right nostril with your thumb and breathe in through the left to the count of 4 heartbeats. (If you can’t feel your heartbeat, imagine that you are breathing in to the count of 4 heartbeats). As you inhale, visualize the color RED.

Close both nostrils, hold your breath, and count 4 heartbeats. As you hold, visualize the color GREEN.

Now release the thumb and exhale through the right nostril for 4 heartbeats. As you exhale visualize the color WHITE. Practice this breathing pattern 3 times.

Now, do the reverse: Again with the right hand, close your left nostril with your ringer finger and breathe in through the right to the count of 4 heartbeats. As you inhale, visualize the color WHITE. 

Close both nostrils and count 4 heartbeats. As you hold, visualize the color GREEN. Now release the ring finger and exhale through the left nostril for 4 heartbeats. As you exhale visualize the color RED. Repeat this breathing pattern 3 times.

Finally, breathe through both nostrils: With the right hand in the same position, keeping your middle finger on the third eye, release both nostrils and inhale to the count of 4 heartbeats. As you inhale, visualize the color GREEN.

Close both nostrils and count 4 heartbeats. As you hold, visualize the color GREEN. Now release both fingers and exhale through the both nostrils for 4 heartbeats. As you exhale visualize the color GREEN. Repeat 3 times.

Rest your hand in your lap or by your side if you’re standing. Feel the balancing effects of this breath. What are you experiencing?

Contemplation:

Following your breath, mentally recite these contemplations drawn from the words of this week’s parsha and from the Sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan:

Light:

With eyes closed, breathe in and out gently through the nose. Balance your inhale with your exhale. Keep your body still. Breathe gently in and out through the nose. In this refined state, focus on the right side of your chest. Visualize white light filling the right side of your chest. Breathe in white light, exhale white light for 5 breaths.

Now focus on your physical heart. Visualize red light filling the left side of your chest. Breathe in red light, exhale red light for 5 breaths.

Now focus on the center of your chest. Visualize green light filling the center of your chest. Breathe in green light, exhale green light for 5 breaths.

When you are ready, open your eyes and breathe fully, deeply. What is your experience of this balancing practice?

Sound:

Similar to mantra, to practice Wazifa is to repeat a Name (quality) of G’d. The meaning of the Name, which is encoded in the sound vibration, will be revealed to you through repetition and focus. This week’s Sufi practice with sound vibration will engage us in a polarity that can give us a sense beyond time.

Ya Awwal (yaa OW-wal) can be translated “the first,” and ya Akhir (yaa AA-ḳḥir) can be rendered “the last.” This is a mystical paradox. If G’d is infinite, how could G’d be first or last?

From Physicians of the Heart: “G’d is a first without a before, and G’d is a last without an after. Anything that is understood by the rational mind has to be in time, because the rational mind is temporal.” By practicing Wazaif, a condition beyond mind can be uncovered.

Recite the following, turning your head from left to right.

Left – Inhale: Ya Awwal

Right – Exhale: Ya Akhir

As you rhythmically inhale and exhale, softly repeat each Name out loud, 33 times. Afterward, feel the effects of the sound vibration on your being.

Zikr:

Meaning “remembrance”, Zikr is the repetition of a sacred phrase with the intention of returning to the essence of Unity. Continuing from last week, we will repeat the central Jewish prayer known as the Sh’ma.

In Hebrew:

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד

Shema Yisrael YHWH Eloheinu YHWH Echad

The Sh’ma can be translated as: “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one”. LORD is the unpronounceable four letter word יְהוָה – YHWH, the Name of G’d that can’t be named. Instead, we’ll use the word “Adonai“, meaning Lord, or “HaShem“, meaning The Name.

When practicing Zikr, it’s best to use the original language in which the prayer was revealed. As you inhale and exhale, softly repeat out loud, 33 times. Afterward, feel the effects of the vibration on your being.

Nature:

This week, notice your sense of time. Be aware of the time of day or night. What is the effect of light on color? Notice when time seems to speed up or slow down. Do you glimpse moments of timelessness?

Coming Soon: For a direct experience of Sufi wisdom and insight, please listen to the podcast with the co-author of the book Physicians of the Heart — Pir Shabda Kahn, spiritual director of the Sufi Ruhaniat International. This universal Sufi lineage traces from Hazrat Inayat Khan and Murshid Samuel Lewis.

Shabbat Shalom!

After 6 days of practice, when Shabbat arrives, observe how this week’s practices shape your Shabbat experience. Be sure to check in Sunday morning for next week’s parsha.

You are invited to comment on how the contemplations and practices for this week have shaped your experience of daily life… any big Ah-ha’s? Please share your thoughts and feelings below.

חַיִּים
L’Hayyim…. To Life!

Vayishlach – Genesis 32:4-36:43

Nov 29 to Dec 5, 2020 | 19 Kislev 5781

Photograph by  Glenn Sackett

Soul Wrestler: Reconciling the Irreconcilable

The nature of life is to put us off the right tone and rhythm. Every moment is that struggle. From the first moment one gets up in the morning one has to meet with this struggle, even for a saint or sage.

– Hazrat Inayat Khan

A brief recap of the parsha Vayishlach, “And he sent” –

As Yaakov nears his twin’s land, his scouts report that Esav is headed toward him with 400 men. “Exceedingly afraid and distressed”, Yaakov divides his camp into two for their safety. He leads them across the Yabbok river, while he stays by himself, not yet having crossed over – allegorically significant. In the night he tenaciously wrestles with what is most likely the soul of Esav:

And Yaakov was left alone –
And a man wrestled with him until the coming up of dawn.

…

Then [the man] said:
Let me go,
for dawn has come up!
But [Yaakov] said:
I will not let you go
unless you bless me.

…

Then he said:
Not as Yaakov/Heal-Sneak shall your name be henceforth uttered,
but rather as Yisrael/G’d-Fighter,
for you have fought with G’d and men
and have prevailed.

– Excerpts of Gen 32:25-29

Having prevailed over the soul of Esav, the next morning when the brothers meet, they embrace. There is a truce, although not a merging of camps. They go their separate ways. Yaakov, the rightful holder of both blessings, remains the progenitor of the Israelites and Judaea; Esav is the father of the Edomites.

Holder of Polarities

Who is Yaakov? He is the love child of Rivka and Yitzhak. In the Tree of Life, he embodies Tefiret – Beauty, which balances Hesed and Gevurah. The chart below illustrates several polarities that harmonize in Yaakov:

For the world as we know it to exist, there must be both qualities of Expansion (light, love) and Contraction (vessel, discernment). The balance of these expresses Beauty – Tiferet, reconciling the irreconcilables in the heart center.

Before Yaakov wrestles in the night, as Esav approaches with 400 men, he uses this power of polarity to protect his family. He divides them into two camps. This is one of many examples where Yaakov faces life head on and overcomes challenges with discernment, humility and grace.

Reflection: In what ways do the qualities of love and discernment find their balance in you? By combining these two polar opposites, you are harmonizing with your surroundings. It is through harmony that you can keep rhythm in life, by mastering your breath — your “Nafs” — keeping your equanimity despite circumstances.

Why Did Yaakov Receive Both Blessings?

Tohu is the chaos of the void, the world of scant vessels that shatter rather than hold light. In Sufism, Nafs is the breath, manifesting as our egoic nature. Here the reference is to the “Nafs-e-Ammara”, breath driven by self-centered willfulness. Through practice, Nafs can be refined.

Tohu + Nafs = Esav
Chaos + Ego = Willfulness

Had Esav succeeded in refining his Nafs, had he been more disciplined and inclined to consider others, our history might have been different. As the firstborn, he was destined to marry the elder sister, Lea. Then Yaakov and Esav would have been our forefathers. Because of his recklessness, the blessing of the first born – material dominion – is stolen from him to protect the balance of creation. Consequently, he marries Canaanite women and becomes the forefather of the nation of Edom.

Serve in Teshuva or as Tzadik?

Another pair of polarities which Yaakov embodies is to serve in Teshuva and as a Tzadik. By nature, Yaakov is the Tzadik – a saintly man. He does what is just and correct, the holy servant of G’d. And yet, as the holder of both blessings, material and covenant, he must also toil in the service of Teshuva.

This plays out in his relations with Lavan, Lea and Esav. In the service of Teshuva, Yaakov toils in Harran, multiplying Lavan’s wealth — as well as his own — through skilled shepherding and market activities.

To serve in Teshuva is to repair some torn aspect of the world that confronts you. You needn’t go looking for opportunities to serve in Teshuva. In this way, you are bringing spirituality into the world to heal the broken shards of Tohu — the primordial chaos. Like the Sage who acts in the world, Teshuva allow for the healing process to work in the world.

Why does Yaakov to take on both wives and both roles, Teshuva and Tzadik?

Yaakov’s nature is the Tzadik. By subduing Esav in the subtle realms, he is ready to take on his new name and role of Yisrael the Tzadik – the righteous one who can mend the shards without toiling in the world. He attains inner perfection as a human being, attuned to prayer, contemplation and direct knowledge of G’d. Underscoring this, he receives his new name twice – once from the soul with whom he wrestled, and again confirmed directly by G’d.

Let’s look at Teshuva and the Tzadik to understand their expression in the world. What light to they shine on our lives today?

Spirit Before Matter

Thus, one of the primary messages of this parsha is the capacity of the human being to heal the world on the inner level. This is best done first, and then circumstances in the everyday world will play out more harmoniously.

And [Yaakov] bowed low to the ground seven times, until he had come close to him, to his brother.
Esav ran to meet him,
he embraced him, flung himself upon his neck, and kissed him.
And they wept.

– Gen 31:3-4

Rhythm of Life

This week’s practices will take us deeper into this inner journey of service in Teshuva and as the Tzadik. We will seek to build our capacity to create harmony in daily life — to continue our awakening to the internal worlds, and ultimately, to bring together the outer and inner realms, in the marriage of heaven and earth. 

Through Breath, Sound and Light, we can be in tune with the Infinite and the rhythms of this life. This beautiful, chaotic, ever changing, all-pervading Life.

Watercolor by Nurullah Anya Godwin

WEEKLY PRACTICES: Reconciling the Irreconcilable

With the Soul Manifestation Process, we listen for divine guidance before setting our intention toward fulfillment.  The door opens through breath, light and sound.

Suggestion: Do one practice a day, or do all 6 consecutively. Remember… have your Journal nearby to jot down any insights that may arise.

Audio Recording – Coming Soon

Breath:

This week I’d like to share with you the Sufi practice of Qasab. This breathing practice balances the breath on the right and left sides, harmonizing and quieting the mind, centering us in the heart. The Tree of Life reflects these polarities: Chesed (Loving-kindness) and Gevurah (Severity); Netzach (Will) and Hod (Receptivity).

With your right hand, use your thumb to close the right nostril. You will use your ring finger to close your left nostril. Touch your middle finger to the 3rd Eye for its balancing effect. Begin by closing your right nostril with your thumb and breathe in through the left to the count of 4 heartbeats. (If you can’t feel your heartbeat, imagine that you are breathing in to the count of 4 heartbeats). Close both nostrils, hold your breath, and count 4 heartbeats. Now release the thumb and exhale through the right nostril for 4 heartbeats. Practice this breathing pattern 3 times.

Now, do the reverse: Again with the right hand, close your left nostril with your ringer finger and breathe in through the right to the count of 4 heartbeats. Close both nostrils and count 4 heartbeats. Now release the ring finger and exhale through the left nostril for 4 heartbeats. Repeat this breathing pattern 3 times.

Finally, breathe through both nostrils: With the right hand in the same position, keeping your middle finger on the third eye, release both nostrils and inhale to the count of 4 heartbeats. Close both nostrils and count 4 heartbeats. Now release both fingers and exhale through the both nostrils for 4 heartbeats. Repeat 3 times.

Rest your hand in your lap or by your side if you’re standing. Feel the balancing effects of this breath. Do you feel more peaceful and centered?

Contemplation:

Following your breath, mentally recite these contemplations drawn from the words of this week’s parsha and from the Sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan:

Light:

With eyes closed, breathe in and out gently through the nose. Balance your inhale with your exhale. Keep your body still. Breathe gently in and out through the nose. In this refined state, focus on the right side of your chest. Visualize white light filling the right side of your chest. Breathe in white light, exhale white light for 5 breaths.

Now focus on your physical heart. Visualize red light filling the left side of your chest. Breathe in red light, exhale red light for 5 breaths.

Now focus on the center of your chest. Visualize green light filling the center of your chest. Breathe in green light, exhale green light for 5 breaths.

When you are ready, open your eyes and breathe fully, deeply. What is your experience of this balancing practice?

Sound:

Similar to mantra, to practice Wazifa is to repeat a Name (quality) of G’d. The meaning of the Name, which is encoded in the sound vibration, will be revealed to you through repetition and focus. This week’s Sufi practice with sound vibration will focus on developing our capacity for healing wisdom and discernment, Al-Hakim and Al-Hakam.

We recite Ya Hakim (yaa ḥa-KEEM) to invoke the universal manifestation of healing wisdom, bringing all experience into balance and harmony. Combined with Ya Hakam (yaa ḤA-kam) – the one who discerns and who makes wise decisions. With this pair, we begin to see from the eye of the heart by means of the light of G’d.

Inhale: Ya Hakam

Exhale: Ya Hakim

As you rhythmically inhale and exhale, softly repeat each Name out loud, 33 times. Afterward, feel the effects of the sound vibration on your being.

Zikr:

Meaning “remembrance”, Zikr is the repetition of a sacred phrase with the intention of returning to the essence of Unity. Continuing from last week, we will repeat the central Jewish prayer known as the Sh’ma.

In Hebrew:

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד

Shema Yisrael YHWH Eloheinu YHWH Echad

The Sh’ma can be translated as: “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one”. LORD is the unpronounceable four letter word יְהוָה – YHWH, the Name of G’d that can’t be named. Instead, we’ll use the word “Adonai“, meaning Lord, or “HaShem“, meaning The Name.

When practicing Zikr, it’s best to use the original language in which the prayer was revealed. As you inhale and exhale, softly repeat out loud, 33 times. Afterward, feel the effects of the vibration on your being.

Nature:

This week, be aware of polarities in your life. A good way to being is to observe polarities in nature: night and day, for instance. Pay particular attention to the transitions: sunrise and sunset. Feel the rhythmic, balanced interchange of all life. We are in autumn now, the transition from summer to winter. How is the darkness of the longer nights affecting you?

Consider your life. Where are you in transition? In what ways do you daily balance and harmonize with your inner and outer landscapes?

For a direct experience of Sufi wisdom and insight, please listen to the podcast with Pir Shabda Kahn. He speaks on balance in life and the need to face problems head-on, internalizing the mantra, “This is what is happening right now.”

Shabbat Shalom!

After 6 days of practice, when Shabbat arrives, observe how this week’s practices shape your Shabbat experience. Be sure to check in Sunday morning for next week’s parsha.

You are invited to comment on how the contemplations and practices for this week have shaped your experience of daily life… any big Ah-ha’s? Please share your thoughts and feelings below.

חַיִּים
L’Hayyim…. To Life!

Vayetzei – Genesis 28:10-32:3

Nov 22 to 28, 2020 | 12 Kislev 5781

Photograph by Glenn Sackett

The Traveler: Bringing Spirit into Physicality

The first word of this parsha and it’s name, Vayetzei, means “And he left.” Telling the story of Yaakov’s travel and sojourn to Harran, this parsha explores the struggle between chaos and order. It reveals the outcome of Yaakov having received Yitzhak’s two blessings as material master and Avrahamic lineage holder.

In Bereshit, Torah tells of the separation of the spiritual and physical worlds. In the Garden, after Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the spiritual and physical worlds were divided. It is through the actions of Yaakov that the spiritual again enters the physical.

Reflection: Before we delve into the telling of the saga of Yaakov and Esav in this parsha, pause for a moment to take stock of how the physical and spiritual worlds intertwine within you. How do you live your life? What is primary? What choices do you make? In what ways does the spiritual world enter into your being? How does it direct your pursuit and use of the physical world?

Let’s return for a moment to the first two lines of Torah:

“At the beginning of G’d creating the heavens and the earth,
when the earth was wild and waste…”

 – Gen 1:1-2

“When the earth was wild and waste” describes the chaos that existed before G’d brought order to heaven and earth. The Hebrew for “wild and waste” is tohu va-vohu. This primordial world is named Tohu. It is a world of much light and scant vessels. You may have heard of this as the “shattering of the vessels”.

The opposite of Tohu, a world of scant light and many vessels is our world of Tikun. It is the orderly world of duality and embodiment: sun and moon, night and day, land and sea, and all the plants and animals we see today – an orderliness and embodiment that Tohu could not sustain.

The many vessels of this world, the world of creation, of Tikun, can contain the light, thus repairing the shattered world of Tohu. The more we strengthen our vessels with mitzvot, the more light this material world can contain.

Realization vs. Transcendence

The worlds of Tohu (Realization) and Tikun (Transcendence) are neither good nor bad; it’s the application that matters. Tohu is the world of passion, ideas and creative energy. Consider Mozart and Mussolini. It’s the application that matters. Similarly, the orderliness of Tikun can be used to heal or to harm. The vessel of technology is a good example, which heals or harms depending on how it is applied.

In the Yaakov / Esav saga, Esav represents Tohu and Yaakov embodies Tikun. Hairy Esav was a “wild ass of a man who loved the hunt and the field.” Because Esav is undisciplined and willful, the Tohu of Esav gets expressed in ways that are destructive. In contrast, mild mannered, smooth skinned Yaakov spends his time in the tents – in study. Yaakov had the discipline to study, to sublimate the immediate needs of the self and act with wisdom and harmony. This is Tikun.

Reflection: And you? How much order have you brought to your wild self? A person is considered to be mature when they live responsibly and consider the impact of their actions on others. First, think of a recent example where you acted kindly. And now an example where your instinct for self over others took hold.

And yet, wildness – passion, creativity, innovation – is not a negative. Where does your light shine through? As adults, we must build our vessels through repetition, study and practice in order to express our innate Tohu in positive ways. Of what is your vessel comprised? What actions do you take regularly to strenthen your innate abilities and passions?

Repairing the World

In the previous parsha, we witness Yaakov receiving both the material and spiritual blessings from his father. Because Yaakov receives the material blessing, he is able to uplift the material world, to repair it with mitzot. Without the blessing of the first born (material wealth and mastery over his brother) the world of Torah would have remained spiritual only. It would not have had the power to enter the physical world.

Established in the Garden as a consequence of human beings awakening to Good and Bad, the separation of the physical and the spiritual would have remained. Had Esav received the blessing of the first born, the physical would have maintained primacy over the spiritual, creating chaos, continually shattering the vessels meant to contain light.

To Harran and Back

With that foundation, let’s review the story of Yaakov and Esav. When Esav realized his brother has stolen not only his birthright, but also his father’s blessing of material dominion, Rivka knows that Yaakov’s life is in danger. Before sending him to the land of Harran to choose a wife, Yitzhak gives Yaakov the blessing as holder of the covenant to carry on the legacy of Avraham.

From this we can see that Yitzhak always intended this blessing for the spiritual, G’d awakened Yaakov. Yaakov leaves for Harran, where he meets and falls in love with Rachel, the daughter of his father’s brother, Lavan.

Lavan is a man of trickery and deceit. He presents Lea instead Rachel for the marriage ceremony. And 10 times he changes Yaakov’s wages. And yet Yaakov prevails. Examples abound of Yaakov’s ability to “raise the sparks” — to repair and uplift. For example, Yaakov protected and multiplied Lavan’s herd:

Lavan said to him:
Pray, if I have found favor in your eyes…
I have become wealthy,
And YHWY has blessed me on account of you.

– Gen 30:27-28

And Yaakov’s response:

You yourself know
How well I have served you,
And how it has gone with your livestock in my charge.
For you had but few before me,
And they have since burst out into a multitude.
Thus has YHWH blessed you at my every step!

– Gen 30:29-30

After 20 years of hard work and attentiveness, on G’d command Yaakov gathers all that is rightfully his and leaves Lavan’s land to return home. When Lavan pursues him, Yaakov speaks of his fruitful service to Lavan:

It is twenty years now that I have been under you:
Your ewes and your she-goats have never miscarried,
The rams from your flock I never have eaten,
None torn-by-beasts have I ever brought you…

– Gen 31:38

Stones Mark a New Reality

Other examples of Yaakov’s ability to bring the spiritual into the physical involve stones. Nearing Harran, when he saw the beautiful shepherdess Rachel, Yaakov alone rolled the stone from the well so her camels could drink, a feat that usually required the strength of several men. This has the visual of opening oneself to the deep well of love, and life-supporting water.

Two other events involve stones as a physical marker of spirit. On the night when Yaakov dreams of the ladder he put his head on a stone pillow. With messengers going up and down the ladder, he received the promise of the covenant of Avraham through his line. Awestruck, he marks the spot with his stone pillow as a standing-pillar, vowing to make this place a house of G’d:

… he took the stone that he had set at his head

and set it up as a standing-pillar

and poured oil on tip of it.

– Gen 28:18

This became the site of the First and Second Temples. The ladder itself symbolizes the connection of the physical and spiritual worlds.

After serving his uncle for 20 years, Yaakov leaves with his family. Lavan pursues him, filled with ill intent. G’d again intervenes through a dream, warning Lavan not to harm Yaakov, his family and his flock. Yaakov prevails against this foe, marking with stones the line of truce between Lavan the trickster and Yaakov – holder of the covenant of Avraham:

Yaakov took a stone and erected it as a standing-pillar.

– Gen 31:45

Having diverted trouble with Lavan, more dangers await Yaakov and his family. At the end of Vayetzei, to return home he must pass through Esav’s land. Just before he reaches the border, he again encounters messengers of G’d, a promising portent for what is to come:

As Yaakov went on his way,
messagers of G’d encountered him.

– Gen 32:2

Chaos and Order

For this week’s practices, we will seek to bring into the spiritual world of divine Light into our lives. To continue our progression from the external to the internal, and ultimately, to bring the two together, in the marriage of heaven and earth. This is how we can be in tune with the Infinite and the rhythm of life. This beautiful, chaotic, ever changing life. This life right now, as we seek to apply our personal will to a deeper calling, and by so doing, allow for divine grace to guide our life.

WEEKLY PRACTICES: Spirit into Physicality

With the Soul Manifestation Process, we listen for divine guidance before setting our intention toward fulfillment.  The door opens through breath, light and sound.

Suggestion: Do one practice a day, or do all 6 consecutively. Remember… have your Journal nearby to jot down any insights that may arise.

Audio Recording – Coming Soon

Breath:

Sitting comfortably with an upright spine, breathe in and out through your nose. Inhale deeply. Exhale completely, eliminating all of the spent air in your lungs. Inhale deeply and focus on your abdomen. Exhale completely. Inhale and focus on your chest, then exhale completely. Once more, inhale and focus on your crown, and then exhale completely.

Breathing comfortably, bring to mind a sorrow that you hold. It could be a loss or a frustration… something that holds sadness for you. Breath it in, as if you are breathing in gray smoke. Breath in this sorrow. Right now, it is yours to feel. On the exhale, breath out pure, clear light. You are transmuting this sorrow into light.

After a while, consider others you know who have felt this or similar sorrows. Inhale this sorrow as the part of the human experience. Inhale gray smoke, exhale clear light. When you no longer feel the weight of this sorrow, when it has been spun into pure light, inhale pure light, exhale pure light. Sit with this peace, breathing in and out pure light. When you are ready, open your eyes and move slowly to awaken to normal reality.

Write about this experience in your journal. You are using the discipline of Tikun to repair the vessels broken by the chaotic power of Tohu. G’d bless you.

Contemplation:

Following your breath, mentally recite these contemplations drawn from the words of this week’s parsha and from the Sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan:

Light:

With eyes closed, breathe in and out through the nose. Let your breath be gentle and refined. Imagine that you are standing in an open field at night. The night is perfectly dark. The moon and stars are not visible in this black landscape. Breath in and out this darkness. 

Begin to feel the pregnancy of the dark. Although you can’t see it, sense the manifested world all round you. Breath peacefully in this knowledge.

Now a sliver of light appears on the horzon. The earth has been turning toward the sun all the while. Dawn is breaking. Allow the morning light to fill the sky. When the sun peaks over the horzon, open your eyes. See with new awareness. What does your heart feel? What does the widsom of your heart say to you in this moment?

Sound:

Similar to mantra, to practice Wazifa is to repeat a Name (quality) of G’d. The meaning of the Name, which is encoded in the sound vibration, will be revealed to you through repetition and focus. This week’s Sufi practice with sound vibration will focus on bringing the spiritual world into the physical world around you: Ya Nur and Ya Munawwir. 

As a starting point, we can say that Ya Nur (yaa NOOR) is the essence of light, luminosity itself. Ya Munawwir (yaa mu-NOW-wir) is a form of the same root and means the one who illuminates.

Inhale: Ya Nur

Exhale: Ya Munawwir

As you rhythmically inhale and exhale, softly repeat each Name out loud, 33 times. Afterward, feel the effects of the sound vibration on your being.

Zikr:

Meaning “remembrance”, Zikr is the repetition of a sacred phrase with the intention of returning to the essence of Unity. Continuing from last week, we will repeat the central Jewish prayer known as the Sh’ma.

In Hebrew:

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד

Shema Yisrael YHWH Eloheinu YHWH Echad

The Sh’ma can be translated as: “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one”. LORD is the unpronounceable four letter word יְהוָה – YHWH, the Name of G’d that can’t be named. Instead, we’ll use the word “Adonai“, meaning Lord, or “HaShem“, meaning The Name.

When practicing Zikr, it’s best to use the original language in which the prayer was revealed. As you inhale and exhale, softly repeat out loud, 33 times. Afterward, feel the effects of the vibration on your being.

Nature:

Excellent! Now it’s time to return to the every day world, refreshed, renewed and reconnected. During the week pay attention to the play of light. How does light reveal color, shape and form in this ever-changing world?

Shabbat Shalom!

After 6 days of practice, when Shabbat arrives, observe how this week’s practices shape your Shabbat experience. Be sure to check in Sunday morning for next week’s parsha.

You are invited to comment on how the contemplations and practices for this week have shaped your experience of daily life… any big Ah-ha’s? Please share your thoughts and feelings below.

חַיִּים
L’Hayyim…. To Life!

Toldot – Genesis 25:19-28:9

Nov 15 to 21, 2020 | 5 Kislev 5781

Photograph by Basir Ted Yasi

Generations: Destiny and Free Will

Throughout Toldot, we witness two levels of reality: human and divine. To delve into this parsha, we must seek to understand human events in the context of divine will. In this parsha we are confronted with the play between fate and free will, destiny and choice — the same paradox each of us faces in our own lives.

The dynamic figure of the generation following Avraham and Sara is not Yitzhak (Isaac), but Rivka (Rebecca). It is she to whom G’d reveals the master plan for the future generations. And it is Rivka who devises the scheme to see that G’d’s will is carried out. Of the generations to follow, it is Yaakov (Heal-Holder) about whom many stories are told. And with the new name of Israel (G’d Fighter), it is his name that is given to the Jewish people.

Even in the womb, Yaakov and Esav wrestled, causing Rivka much discomfort. Inquiring as to the reason, YHWY reveals the master plan: 

YHWH said to her:

Two nations are in your body,

two tribes from your belly shall be divided:

tribe shall be mightier than tribe,

elder shall be servant to younger!

 – Gen 25:23

Of course we all know the deception that happens. Rivka plots with Yaakov to trick Yitzhak into believing that he is giving the blessing of the first born (material inheritance) to Esav. Ruminating on this, if Yitzhak trusted his hearing, he would not have been deceived. Not only was Yaakov unable to disguise his voice, he deferred to G’d in a way that would have been uncharacteristic for Esav:

Yitzhak said to his son:

How did you find it [hunted game] so hastily, my son?

He said: Indeed, YHWH your G’d made it happen for me.

– Gen 27:20

Blind Yitzhak trusted his senses of touch and smell, rather than his hearing. This reveals something of Yitzhak’s character, a man who admired the hunt and the field. However, in Torah G’d reveals Presence primarily through sound. And G-d’s voice (vibration / sound) is the first emanation in Bereshit: “G’d said, ‘Let there be light’.”  

Yaakov the Lineage Holder

May G’d Shaddai bless you,

may he make you bear fruit and make you many,

so that you become a host of peoples.

– Gen 28:3

Before Yaakov fled from his brother’s wrath, his father gave him the instructions to choose a wife from the daughters of his mother’s brother Laban, who lived far away in Aram. This blessing acknowledges Yaakov as the rightful lineage holder of the Covenant.

From Kabbalah, we learn that Rivka correctly perceived that being the lineage holder also requires Yaakov to be the inheritor of the rights of the firstborn (material wealth), not Esav as Yitzhak had intended. If we fail to put G’d first, before the material, then we will fall short of our destiny as Bestowers. For a more detailed discussion of the role of Ego and Bestowal, please visit the Kabbalah Blog.

Reflection: Where are YOU in the balance of your focus between the inner world and the material world? How do you live your life today? Which comes first? When we give material concerns primacy over the inner life, this can be called idolatry. Pause and reflect. Where in you is there room for growth?

Yaakov as Bestower

Esav was born first, just as the desire for self gratification, Ego, awakens before our ability matures to consider the other. Yaakov embodies the kindness and consideration of his mother. This is why Esav was the first born, and why the birthright needed to pass to Yaakov. This is the way we as human beings mature through life.

Refletion: What will it take for humanity to develop the maturity to consider the whole impact of our actions? When we collectively awaken to the other as oneself, the world’s problems can be solved.

Mirror of the Past

Another fascinating aspect of this parsha which is relevant to our lives is the repetition of the storyline. Going back to the Garden of Eden, we have eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Bad. When Kayne kills Havel, we witness the first murder. Later, human beings stray so far from how we were intended to live, that G’d was sorry for having created us. Thus, the Flood.

And so on through to this parsha, with the Esav / Yaakov dynamic. Another reocurring theme is G’ds preference for the shephard, the gentle soul seeking connection with G’d (Havel, Yaakov) over the man of the fields (Kayne, Esav).

Reflection: So I ask myself, in what ways does my present mirror my past? What themes repeat in my life, time and time again? And in your life?

“To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only real obligation and when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Listening for Guidance

For this week’s practices, we will seek to open the door to divine guidance. To continue our progression from the external to the internal, and ultimately, to bring the two together, in the marriage of heaven and earth. This is how we can be in tune with the Infinite and the rhythm of life. This beautiful, chaotic, ever changing life. This life right now, as we seek to apply our personal will to a deeper calling, and by so doing, allow for divine grace to guide our life.

WEEKLY PRACTICES: Destiny and Free Will

The secret of inner guidance: On whatever the desire of the soul is fixed, to that the way is cleared and all hindrances are swept aside. If you unswervingly desire anything or to become anything, that you will become. … Whatever the self desires, that is its destiny.

– Hazrat Inayat Khan

With the Soul Manifestation Process, we listen for divine guidance before setting our intention toward fulfillment.  The door opens through breath, light and sound.

Suggestion: Do one practice a day, or do all 6 consecutively. Remember… have your Journal nearby to jot down any insights that may arise.

Audio Recording – Coming Soon

Breath:

Sitting comfortably with an upright spine, breathe in and out through your nose. Inhale deeply. Exhale completely, eliminating all of the spent air in your lungs. Inhale deeply and focus on your abdomen. Exhale completely. Inhale and focus on your chest, then exhale completely. Once more, inhale and focus on your crown, and then exhale completely.

Breathing comfortably, imagine pure white Light entering through your forehead. On the next breath, imagine this clear light filling your head. On the next breath, filling your upper body. And then your torso to your legs and toes, and down your arms to your fingertips. And now, breathe in the clear light of guidance and exhale light all around you. As you continue to breath comfortably, feel this light of guidance as it enters through your forehead, fills your body, and radiates outward in all directions.

With eyes closed and mouth relaxed and open, breathe in and out through your mouth.  This is the purification breath of Air. Sense the spaciousness in your body. As you exhale, imagine all of your molecules being scattered far and wide. As you inhale, recollect yourself through your Heart center in a more loving, harmonious, beautiful formation. Your inhale is the same length as your exhale, rhythmic and gentle. You are spreading yourself throughout the cosmos as you exhale, reforming yourself in Divine Light as you inhale.

Contemplation:

Following your breath, mentally recite these contemplations drawn from the words of this week’s parsha and from the Sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan:

Light:

With eyes closed, breathe in and out through the nose. Let your breath be gentle and refined. Allow your breath to become shallow. Keep your body still. Breathe gently in and out through the nose. This is the subtle breath of ether. In this refined state, imagine Light entering through the top of your head, your crown center. Breathe in Light through your crown, exhale Light through the palm of your hands. Allow yourself to receive any shift in awareness that happens. No effort; simply receive in stillness. When you are ready, open your eyes and breathe fully, deeply. Feel a sense of gratitude for the experience of stillness filled with Light.

Sound:

Similar to mantra, to practice Wazifa is to repeat a Name (quality) of G’d. The meaning of the Name, which is encoded in the sound vibration, will be revealed to you through repetition and focus. This week’s Sufi practice with sound vibration will focus on receiving inner guidance: Ya Rashid and Ya Hadi. 

As a starting point, we can say that Ya Hadi (yaa haa-DEE) calls on the source of all guidance for the whole of humanity. Ya Rashid (yaa ra-SHEED) brings an established and clear consciousness that balances inner experience and worldly life.

Inhale: Ya Rashid

Exhale: Ya Hadi

As you rhythmically inhale and exhale, softly repeat each Name out loud, 33 times. Afterward, feel the effects of the sound vibration on your being.

Zikr:

Meaning “remembrance”, Zikr is the repetition of a sacred phrase with the intention of returning to the essence of Unity. Continuing from last week, we will repeat the central Jewish prayer known as the Sh’ma.

In Hebrew:

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד

Shema Yisrael YHWH Eloheinu YHWH Echad

The Sh’ma can be translated as: “Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one”. LORD is the unpronounceable four letter word יְהוָה – YHWH, the Name of G’d that can’t be named. Instead, we’ll use the word “Adonai“, meaning Lord, or “HaShem“, meaning The Name.

When practicing Zikr, it’s best to use the original language in which the prayer was revealed. As you inhale and exhale, softly repeat out loud, 33 times. Afterward, feel the effects of the vibration on your being.

Nature:

Excellent! Now it’s time to return to the every day world, refreshed, renewed and reconnected.

When you wake up in the morning, recall this week’s practice. Take a moment each day to quietly inhale ya Rashid, exhale, ya Hadi. What does this practice awaken in you?

Shabbat Shalom!

After 6 days of practice, when Shabbat arrives, observe how this week’s practices shape your Shabbat experience. Be sure to check in Sunday morning for next week’s parsha.

You are invited to comment on how the contemplations and practices for this week have shaped your experience of daily life… any big Ah-ha’s? Please share your thoughts and feelings below.

חַיִּים
L’Hayyim…. To Life!