שירת שלום
Song of Peace
This week’s Torah portion of Jan. 8, 2022 is called Shemot, “Names” and is the first reading in the Book of Exodus.* It begins by listing the names of the Israelites who came to live in Egypt during the time of Joseph.
It is now two hundred years later. A new Pharaoh enslaves the Israelites in Egypt and sets laws to have the baby boys drowned in the Nile River. The famous story of Moses is told. When born he is placed in a basket in the water to save his life, then found by Pharaoh's daughter and adopted into their household.
As an adult Moses kills an Egyptian taskmaster who was beating a slave and escapes to the desert. Many years later he communicates with G-d through a burning bush. He goes back to Egypt to demand that Pharaoh lets the Israelite slaves go.
The ongoing story of Moses and Exodus is actually read in the Torah over a period of six weeks and is a time of conflict between Pharaoh who represents our ego and materialistic desires and our Soul and spirit which is represented by the Israelites.
This very conflict gives us the opportunity to achieve spiritual growth by choosing to love our fellow man which liberates our spirit.
By tapping into or aligning with the energy of Shemot we can receive help to release our spirit from bondage and experience the freedom of a state of inner peace.
Rabbi David
* Every week a section of the Torah is read throughout the week. There are always many levels of understanding with each week's portion. The Torah portions also have energies that can be utilized to help us navigate though our daily lives not only during the week the specific portion is read but any time it is needed.
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This week’s Torah portion Jan.1, 2023 is called Vayechi (“He Lived”) and is the final Torah portion in the Book of Genesis. *
Jacob who moved to Egypt 17 years earlier is now making preparations for his death. He tells his son, Joseph, to bury him with his forefathers in the Cave of Machpelah in the city of Bet Lechem. He gives individual blessings to each of his 12 sons as well as Joseph’s two sons.
Although we all have a primary Divine path in life which each of the blessings represents, the 12 sons also represent different archetypes that we carry within us and which need to come into harmony.
Twelve sons and Paths
Reuben – path of creation energy
Simeon – path of ambitious aggression
Levi – path of divine service
Judah – path of selflessness
Dan – path of law and order
Naphtali – path of free spirit
Gad – path of warrior
Asher – path of abundance
Issachar – path of scholar
Zebulun – path of merchant
Joseph – path of challenges
Menashe – path of spiritual connection
Ephraim – path of transformation
Benjamin – path of elevating Divine sparks
By aligning with or connecting to the energy of Vayechi we can receive help to bring these aspects within us into balance.
Every week in Judaism a section of the Torah, (the Old Testament) is read throughout the week. There are always many levels of understanding with each week's portion. The Torah portions also have energies that can be utilized to help us navigate though our daily lives not only during the week the specific portion is read but any time it is needed.
This week’s Torah portion Dec. 25, 2022 is called Vayigash (“He Approached”) . Judah approaches Joseph, second to Pharaoh, and pleads with him to not keep his youngest brother, Benjamin, as a prisoner. Judah and the rest of his brothers still don’t recognize Joseph whom they sold as a slave to Egypt 22 years earlier.
Judah explains that if Benjamin doesn’t return home, his father will die from sorrow. He already lost one son, Joseph. Judah pleads with Joseph to take him instead.
Joseph cannot control himself anymore and goes into another room to cry. He comes out and reveals himself to his brothers who are shocked and in a state of fear of what will now happen.
Joseph assures them that being sold as a slave was G-d’s will. It enabled him to save his family from starvation. (This is the second time the brothers have traveled to Egypt to purchase food during the famine.)
This gives the brothers a different perspective and they are able to come to terms with what they did to Joseph 22 years earlier. There is forgiveness on both sides.
Again there is this theme of forgiveness and reconciliation of brothers in the Torah. In going deeper, the twelve brothers represent different aspects of ourselves. Joseph represents achieving greatness through his many challenges. He helps us look at the Divine orchestration in our own lives.
By tapping into or aligning with the energy of Vayigash we can receive help to see from a higher perspective as we go through our own challenges enabling us more easily navigate through such times.
This week’s Torah portion is called “Miketz” “at the end.” *
After being called from prison to interpret Pharaoh's two bizarre dreams, Joseph foretells there will be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine and advises Pharaoh how to prepare for the years of famine. Recognizing his wisdom, Pharaoh makes Joseph second to the throne.
When the years of famine arrive, Joseph's brothers travel to Egypt to buy food. While he recognizes them, the brothers do not recognize Joseph. A powerful inner conflict ensues within Joseph as he revisits the maltreatment he experienced at their hands when he was sold as a slave to Egypt.
He accuses them of being spies and insists one brother, Simeon, is to be kept ransom and the youngest brother, Benjamin, must be brought back.
The brothers return with the youngest brother, Benjamin, but again Joseph treats them harshly. The brothers speak among themselves that they are being punished by G-d because of their treatment of Joseph so many years earlier. They don’t realize Joseph can understand them.
The Torah portion ends with Joseph insisting Benjamin must stay behind as a slave.
We see in this story how Joseph being brought to Egypt is in Divine order. As a result he is not only able to help his family during the famine but also Egypt and the surrounding areas.
As we delve into the deeper meaning of this story we see that Joseph must deal with all of his emotions from his past. He has moments of sobbing mixed with anger and rage. The brothers must also come to terms with their past maltreatment of Joseph.
On our soul’s journey to reach the higher realms we must also come to terms with our past actions that harmed others and ourselves as well as actions from others that have harmed us.
By aligning with or tapping into the energy of Miketz, we can receive help to deal with the emotions that arise revisiting these times.
It is interesting that Miketz is usually during Chanukah when we not also revisit the past to remember the miracles of that time but to connect to the Divine Help that was given to us then and is available to us today.
Happy Chanukah!
I always love it when Christmas and Hanukkah overlap! Tonight at sundown begins the first night of Hanukkah and the 8th night, when all the candles are lit, is on Christmas!
There is a beautiful ritual when lighting the candles each night, that we stare at the flames to access the energy of miracles. For that is really what Hanukkah is all about, miracles.
The first miracle during the historical event was that we got back our Temple in Jerusalem against all odds. The second miracle was that the oil used to light G-d’s lamp, which always needed to stay lit, lasted for eight days when there was only enough oil for one day.
When we light the candles during Hanukkah, we are actually crossing timelines to receive the Divine energy that created those miracles.
The energy increases each night so with the highest point on Christmas this year, what a profound message that this is going to be an amazing year of miracles! Miracles in our individual lives and miracles for us as a collective!
The Council of Love is always telling us that WE are the miracles! As we come together during this Season of Light, no matter how we celebrate, let us remember that we truly are!
And that together, yes, we can create a World of Peace and Love!
Happy Hanukkah!
Love, Cantor Lee
Want to access the miracle energy but you don't celebrate Hanukkah? Just light one or more candles and set the intention as you stare at the flames. It is for everyone!
This week’s Torah portion is called “Vayeshev,” “and he settled.” (referring to Jacob settling in the land.) *
We meet Joseph who is favored by his father, Jacob, and thus resented by his ten older brothers. It doesn’t help matters when Jacob gives Joseph a special coat of many colors or when Joseph has prophetic dreams showing his father and brothers bowing down to him.
When the brothers are tending the flocks and see Joseph approaching, they throw him into a pit with the intention to kill “the dreamer.”
One brother, Judah, convinces the others to instead sell him to a caravan going down to Egypt. In Egypt Joseph runs the household of a high ranking officer in Pharaoh's court but then ends up in prison when he is falsely accused of seducing his master's wife. There he uses his prophetic abilities to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh's baker and butler who are also imprisoned and foretells the butler gaining his freedom and the baker his death. Both happen.
There are many teachings from this Torah portion having to do with parental favoritism and sibling rivalry. But the deeper meaning is about the journeys of our souls.
The experience in the pit refers to our struggles in the abyss when we feel forsaken by G-D. As we evolve we learn this is just a false perception as we are never forsaken.
The coat of many colors refers to the various emanations of the Divine Light that we all have within us called sefirot in Hebrew. These spheres of Light carry within them the Divine Attributes which we then bring into the world through our thoughts, words and actions.
They include Divine wisdom, understanding and knowledge, kindness, strength, beauty, eternity, glory, foundation and sovereignty.
By tapping into or aligning with the energy of Vayeshev, we can receive help to integrate and utilize the Divine Attributes in our daily lives.
December 5, 2022 This week’s Torah portion is called “Vayishlach,” “And he sent.” It contains the famous story of Jacob wrestling with an angel.
Twenty years after deceiving his father, Isaac, and brother, Esau, in order to gain the first born blessing and thus the inheritance of the family spiritual leadership, Jacob is returning from exile with his large family and must now face his brother. When he learns that Esau is coming to meet him with four hundred men he is afraid thinking that his brother is still very upset with him and is about to kill him and his family. In desperation he divides his family into two camps, reasoning that maybe half his family will survive.
During the night he leaves the two camps in order to meditate and finds himself near the bank of the River Jabbock. He then experiences the dark night of the soul as he wrestles with an angel. As they are wrestling the angel touches Jacob’s hip and injures it.
As dawn arises, Jacob gains the upper hand. The angel asks to be freed from Jacob’s grip but Jacob demands to be blessed first. The angel blesses him by changing his name from Jacob to Israel meaning “One who wrestles with G-D”
Esau, who is now very wealthy and does not care about spiritual matters, cries with happiness and excitement when he finally meets Jacob. Forgiveness and peace between the brothers is restored.
The deeper meaning of this story is really about our struggles with our ego as we go on our spiritual journeys. We must all face the mistakes we have made and then learn to not only forgive ourselves but others we have blamed as well.
Jacob now has a choice to either act from his lower self as Jacob which means "heel" or his Higher Self which is aligned with G-D and the truth of who he really is. This is the same dance we all play as we go through life.
By tapping into or aligning with the energy of Vayishlach we can receive help to remember who we really are, One who is made in the image of G-D with G-D's attributes.
Nov. 27, 2022 The Torah portion for this week is called Vayetzei which translates as “He went out.” It includes the famous story of Jacob’s Ladder. *
Jacob is now journeying to his uncle’s home after deceiving his father and brother in order to receive the all powerful first born blessing which entitles him to inherit the leadership of the family.
He stops in the desert to sleep and has a very vivid dream of a ladder going up to heaven with angels traveling up and down the ladder. He finds himself at the top of the ladder where G-D speaks to him.
He is very much in awe of his experience expressing that G-D was in this place and he didn’t know it. He pours oil on the stone he used as a pillow sanctifying the place with the name, Beth El, House of G-d.
To understand this story we need to be aware of Jacob's emotional state as he travels to an unknown place where his mother's family lives. He is scared that his brother may be following him in order to kill him. He is scared to be alone on a dangerous road. He is frustrated from suffering the consequences of deceiving his old father due to his mother urging him to do so.
Through Jacob's vivid dream, G-D demonstrates that even though Jacob is struggling emotionally, he is not alone, that G-D is always with him.
There are many interpretations of the ladder that can help us in our lives. One is that it represents the corridor to ascend into a divine space where communication with G-D can take place. We travel up the corridor through meditation, dreams, prayer or by being in a higher state or vibration.
The ladder is also a metaphor for our spiritual journeys throughout life. The angels are actually us, the Divine aspects of ourselves housed in a physical body. There are times when we are ascending and more easily living in a higher state aligned with our angelic or Divine aspects and times when we are in a lower state. We always have the option to ascend.
The ladder also shows us that Heaven and Earth are connected. Our task as Jewish people has always been to bring heaven to earth.
By tapping into or aligning with the energy of Vaytzei, we become more mindful of where we are on our own rungs of our personal ladders.
Shalom,
From Cantor Lee: With Thanksgiving this past week, gratitude and blessings has certainly been a theme. As Rabbi David has shared previously the rabbis put into place that we say 100 blessings a day.
This helps us to align with the Divine part of us and live in a higher consciousness. The daily practice of being in the higher state also helps us more easily navigate through difficult circumstances.
We received some questions about the 100 blessings so here is further information:
From Rabbi David: It is taught that in the time of King David, 3,000 years ago, a plague broke out killing 100 people every day. Realizing that the plague had a spiritual cause, the sages of that time instituted a "measure for measure" response: the saying of 100 blessings each day. Once implemented, the plague stopped.
Each blessing was said to save a soul from a plague reminding us that blessings are also powerful spiritual remedies to fight plagues, or any disease as well as to preserve life. They of course also help us have a spiritually fulfilled life.
Our life is like a tug of war between our negative experiences and the positive ones. Our negative experiences are very powerful and can pull us down to a negative outlook on life, even despair and the inability to function properly.
Reciting blessings is a wonderful way to appreciate the secret gift of life. They are actually a portal to the Infinite and have been used as such for thousands of years.
It’s like “calling in the calvary” to effectively transmute any negativity that may be within us.
There is a misconception however about the way a blessing works. The general formula which usually starts with “Baruch Atah Adonai,” “Blessed are you Adonai (G-D)” clearly indicates that while we are the ones who bestow the blessing we are actually blessing G-D for the item being blessed whether it is food, nature or a special event.
With people we directly ask G-d to bless them such as May G-d bless you and bring you peace.
However you say a blessing, it all counts as part of the 100 per day!
Shalom, Rabbi David & Cantor Lee
The Torah portion for this week is called Toldot which translates as generations or genealogy. * It tells the story of two twin brothers and the struggle between them which actually begins in the womb. The older is Esau, a hunter, and according to the customs at that time will inherit the leadership of the family as first born. Jacob, the younger twin, has a gentle nature and is drawn more to spiritual matters.
However, Jacob under his mother’s direction deceives his blind father, Isaac, by dressing up as Esau to receive the firstborn blessing. He will now receive the mantle of leadership. When Esau discovers what has occurred, he plans to kill his brother. Jacob leaves his home to escape the wrath of his brother.
Although there is so much to discuss with this story on many different levels, the deeper meaning of Jacob and Esau refers to the forces within each of us. Esau represents the ego and bodily desires and Jacob represents the part of us aligned with Divine Will. The “firstborn” represents the one who is in charge.
Each moment we can choose who is “in charge.” Is it the spiritual part of us that lives in a higher consciousness of the heart or the lower which is ruled by the ego and our materialistic desires?
Both of these inner forces need to work with each other. The body needs the soul and the soul needs the body to live on earth. Jacob shows us how his struggle with his brother is really about the struggle with keeping his higher consciousness in charge.
By tapping into or asking to align with this week’s Torah portion we can receive help to become mindful of who is “the firstborn, the one in charge” at each moment.
The traditional Jewish prayers that are said each morning are actually meant to set the tone for the day so we do live in that “higher place.” Upon rising Modeh Ani, "I give thanks before thee," is recited. The rabbis also put into place that we say 100 blessings a day. This helps us to align with the Divine part of us and live in that higher consciousness.
Science and religion are certainly coming together with gratitude being recommended by psychologists. You even see it in the magazine headlines while waiting in the grocery store lines!
With Thanksgiving this week, using gratitude to stay aligned with our Divine Selves is certainly a beautiful gift for all of us.
Shalom, Rabbi David
* Every week in Judaism a section of the Torah is read. There are always many levels of understanding with each week's portion. The Torah portions also have energies that can be utilized to help us navigate though our daily lives not only during the week the specific portion is read but any time it is needed.
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