tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-374337532024-03-25T00:55:48.505+02:00 Jewish ContemplativesJewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comBlogger150125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-5802362170938097242024-03-19T11:04:00.008+02:002024-03-21T18:32:01.444+02:00A HERMIT'S TALE: Part Six<p></p><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "Libre Baskerville"; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Previous Chapters of <i>A Hermits Tale</i> may be accessed from the sidebar or via these Hyperlinks: </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2023/02/a-hermits-tale-part-one.html" target="_blank">Part One </a> <a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2023/03/a-hermits-tale-part-two.html" target="_blank">Part Two</a> <a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2023/03/a-hermits-tale-part-three.html" target="_blank">Part Three </a> <a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2024/03/a-hermits-tale-part-4.html" target="_blank">Part Four </a> <a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2024/03/a-hermits-tale-part-five.html" target="_blank">Part Five</a></i></span></div><div style="font-size: small; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTP74h0SjgCXtHfOzmytD9IKV7froVyPlluNJ-fBClYComAW0BaQuYfsQr9pA68cgEK8rZM6J6BERGQeV0PZZquAxsdNc5mYByP7gMppZHYCy4ceY861wMMsP18jWI1_qLnY8GFcgg8lUsTrucL10Jl_CAEIAHGPbY9s8CuSuPLt9B6ReKgce3JQ/s683/Carmelite%20Hermits%20(13th%20c).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="683" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTP74h0SjgCXtHfOzmytD9IKV7froVyPlluNJ-fBClYComAW0BaQuYfsQr9pA68cgEK8rZM6J6BERGQeV0PZZquAxsdNc5mYByP7gMppZHYCy4ceY861wMMsP18jWI1_qLnY8GFcgg8lUsTrucL10Jl_CAEIAHGPbY9s8CuSuPLt9B6ReKgce3JQ/s320/Carmelite%20Hermits%20(13th%20c).jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Carmelite Hermits at the Spring of Elijah on Mount Carmel</span></b></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Experiments in Jewish Contemplative Community</span></span></b><b style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although
I was living a solitary lifestyle<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the Cave-house in Spain,
and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>although I was making constant
intentions that my prayers were <i>for all creation</i> and <i>in union with
all Israel,</i> I felt that the kind of dedicated Jewish contemplative lifestyle I was attempting to live ought to be promoted. This was
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>motivation for spending part of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>my day writing and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>engaging in a sort of eremitical outreach
online—hoping to find<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>like-minded Jews
and form virtual but real community. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>For
several decades I have been running this <i>Jewish Contemplatives website</i>
to further this process of outreach.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">
The <i>Jewish Contemplatives</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>website has always had a dual focus.
Firstly it was <span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: #3778cd;"><a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/p/introduction-to-this-website.html"><span style="color: #3778cd;">created</span></a></span></span> (in
2004) to encourage the practice of solitary meditation and prayer <i>for
all Jews</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Secondly it was created
to promote <i>intentional</i> solitary contemplative lifestyles (for
the very small number of observant Jews who felt called to an <span class="MsoHyperlink"><span color="windowtext">exceptional<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>lifestyle of extended retreat</span></span><span color="windowtext">). </span><span color="windowtext" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> In that
group were included all those who were trying to convert situations of <i>unintentional</i> isolation
or loneliness into an opportunity for constructive prayer—generated by their
desire to make a spiritual contribution to the communal life
of <i>Kehal Yisrael</i>. </span><span style="color: #444444;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">But behind all those intentions there was
a greater purpose.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
is a Jewish tradition that the experience of prophecy (intimate and
receptive communication with the Divine) had been experienced not only by the
biblical prophets, but by every single man, woman, and child who stood at
Sinai. Furthermore, our Sages claimed that there would come a time
when this awareness of the Divine—described as <i>ruach ha kodesh</i> and
various levels of inspirational prophecy—would be restored to Israel and indeed
to <i>all</i> human kind: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">“<b><i>when the earth
shall be filled with the knowledge of </i></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><b><i>the Glory of G-d,
as the waters cover the sea-bed.” <o:p></o:p></i></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Habakuk 2:14<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a heartfelt
attempt to further this process, in 2005 I wrote<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><b><i><span style="color: #3778cd;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/CAVE-HEART-Kuntres-Maarat-Ha-Lev/dp/B0B4KXHVHS/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1656576646&sr=8-10" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3778cd;">Kuntres Ma’arat Ha-Lev/The Cave of the Heart</span></a></span></i></b></span>
which presents a method of contemplative prayer that was conceived<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as a method of <b><i>prophetic</i></b>
training in receptive contemplation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYZxURRlT6nj843OWK2I6ySwTqqAItiNHAal_xGyI4wnm9LTyyX0so-qycxYr0LNGxTlfzvE-aHdktJHFKBuY2-YIfj9cWrrL2OBx_c4PhvACfIVn7LbEbGAasRn_-nJ4Jh7qn-xgd7yunehR9pg0MWE1J_lyMrDA0zRt3ryvm9aYU9e0D27D89w/s282/Cave%20of%20the%20%20heart%20frontispiece.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="282" data-original-width="188" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYZxURRlT6nj843OWK2I6ySwTqqAItiNHAal_xGyI4wnm9LTyyX0so-qycxYr0LNGxTlfzvE-aHdktJHFKBuY2-YIfj9cWrrL2OBx_c4PhvACfIVn7LbEbGAasRn_-nJ4Jh7qn-xgd7yunehR9pg0MWE1J_lyMrDA0zRt3ryvm9aYU9e0D27D89w/w213-h320/Cave%20of%20the%20%20heart%20frontispiece.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cave of the Heart Frontispiece</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was followed
by several articles on this website with the same ‘prophetic’ aim, including
one on general <span class="MsoHyperlink"><i><span style="color: #3778cd;"><a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/search?q=asking+questions" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3778cd;">Receptive Intuition</span></a></span></i></span> and
one on a method of intuitive <i>lectio divina</i> called <span class="MsoHyperlink"><i><span style="color: #3778cd;"><a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/search?q=hegyon" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3778cd;">Hegyon Ha-Lev</span></a></span></i></span>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In 2007—and principally to attract like-minded practitioners with a view
to forming an online community— I published an short essay entitled <i>Jewish
Hermits in the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Desert<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>which I later expanded and issued<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>online in<i> </i>2012<i> as<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span class="MsoHyperlink"><b><i><a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2013/09/solitude-in-jewish-contemplative.html" target="_blank">Solitude in Jewish Contemplative Practice</a>. </i></b></span><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>In that essay <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I listed the positive examples set by (i)
certain biblical prophets; (ii) classical era <i>tzadikim</i> who had also been
Jewish solitaries; and (iii) communities like<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>the <i>Therapeutai </i>who had practiced a communal form of eremitism in
Egyptian monasteries for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>both male and
female practitioners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have been
working on a longer publication on the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>subject ever since.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As with <i>The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Song of Caedmon</i>, I may well never
complete<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>task.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Community building is not my main purpose in
life and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>not very good at <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it (as you<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>will see shortly)— the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>practice
of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>contemplative prayer and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>encouraging other<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>solitary contemplatives is my task—but in
order to do the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>latter I<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>attempted to get the ‘contemplative
community’ ball rolling<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>even though<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am aware I lack the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>leadership skills to take<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to
its<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>goal. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 2008, and with
the assistance of Christine Gilbert (an academic scholar of
Judaism and a lifelong contemplative practitioner), I
inaugurated <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>an online <i>Community
of Jewish Contemplatives</i> aimed specifically at individuals already
practicing an intentional contemplative lifestyle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For this group I ran a website that was not
open to the general public, and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which I wrote weekly <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Hegyon HaLev</i> commentaries on the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Parsha for several years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we
never made a <i>minyan</i>—with only seven members in total<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and only three of us living as <b><i>full
time</i></b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>solitaries—and so after a
few years I transferred the idea to form a <i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/jewishcontemplatives/" target="_blank">Jewish Contemplatives<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Facebook Group</a></i> promoting the original
concepts. The private Community group had been aimed at a tiny minority of Jews
geared to intensely eremitic practice, but the <i>Facebook Group </i>version
was inclusive of all Jews with a personal contemplative practice—a much larger
(and ever growing) catchment group globally. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was
(initially) more successful (in some ways) but although
the group has around 1,400 members, they are mainly there to support
rather than participate. These days<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it
is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>merely a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>repository for new articles from this <i>Jewish
Contemplatives</i> website. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">oo0oo<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">To describe the third experiment in forming community I
need to jump ahead<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in time with you
for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a moment. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2014
I had almost exhausted my private funds and was forced to sell the hermitage in
Salobreña and become<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a rental tenant. I
relocated<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to live<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as part of the vibrant and highly supportive (Spanish
Moroccan) Jewish Community of Torremolinos, where I studied and worshipped. As
mentioned earlier in <i>A Hermit’s Tale</i>, though I had converted to
Progressive<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Judaism in 1992, I<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>completed an Orthodox conversion in Madrid in
2016— but that is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>another story for another
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After making <i>aliyah</i> in 2019, I <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>returned to the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>intentionally solitary life in Safed in
Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"></span></o:p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOeuLUItFtrig2mFJBnna5rPwQ0N9OJ2MTMFTWK3O58tK12p9YWZxPsKqy1vPg9JP1KGMRLEFvxK2rKLIBx82YnUYLUIU4eePvheCxqiRaVRG-E1_dgKCUcik-GaaVTQgXB2g-cGFSKfjCjNyi__MVRSzkPFLGtJ0waCNvX22w7_Ut7Tt_-7JB5A/s319/log%20cabin%20hermitage.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="319" data-original-width="217" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOeuLUItFtrig2mFJBnna5rPwQ0N9OJ2MTMFTWK3O58tK12p9YWZxPsKqy1vPg9JP1KGMRLEFvxK2rKLIBx82YnUYLUIU4eePvheCxqiRaVRG-E1_dgKCUcik-GaaVTQgXB2g-cGFSKfjCjNyi__MVRSzkPFLGtJ0waCNvX22w7_Ut7Tt_-7JB5A/w218-h320/log%20cabin%20hermitage.jpg" width="218" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: x-small;">My former hermitage in Safed 2020-2023</span></i></b></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In November 2021,
when I was living in deep retreat in that <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>log cabin hermitage in Safed, I
began the <i>third</i> attempt to <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>form a contemplative<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>community by creating a new Jewish-Sufi <i>Tariqa</i>:
<span class="MsoHyperlink"><b><i><span style="color: #3778cd;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/jewishsufis" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3778cd;">Derech
Eliyahu Ha-Nabi</span></a></span></i></b></span> (<i>The Way/Path of Elijah
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prophet).<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>This group,
as I envisaged it, would<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>have two aims<i>:
</i>(i) to renew and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>develop the
contemplative practices of a group known as the <i>mediaeval Egyptian Pietists</i>;
and (ii) to join in active participatory and fraternal community with other
Jewish-Sufi contemplatives—both full time solitaries <b><i>and also</i></b>
others for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>whom meditation<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was a central practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At its<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>heart was the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>promotion of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>practice of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>prophetic-receptive
prayer—in an explicitly Sufic manner but from within Judaism. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>roots of that new community project began
much earlier and date from the very beginning of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>period when I was still living in the
cave-hermitage in Spain—in many ways it began even earlier than<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that— and in this chapter I will now turn to describe
how my encounter with Sufism led to the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>formation of that third community experiment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">oo0oo<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoMS5H1Za4tiTrSm8lGmnf1AF3aUFYdFbgIVHJ7Lvf96iaTIOmOXGAuKTVhfQr7iDv61ktSr0eIWJxQlyJ6c9tWIyYbKPHLKf-uHgW-9EFzLrDj2OujChq2RpuASnSQcxde51pkU4ZvqDIwCdUjsDalaeGxXtVlXL8fjLULM3M2pf_zLpQ2DElzQ/s729/Niche%20%20and%20Light%20in%20Cave.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" data-original-height="729" data-original-width="576" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoMS5H1Za4tiTrSm8lGmnf1AF3aUFYdFbgIVHJ7Lvf96iaTIOmOXGAuKTVhfQr7iDv61ktSr0eIWJxQlyJ6c9tWIyYbKPHLKf-uHgW-9EFzLrDj2OujChq2RpuASnSQcxde51pkU4ZvqDIwCdUjsDalaeGxXtVlXL8fjLULM3M2pf_zLpQ2DElzQ/w253-h320/Niche%20%20and%20Light%20in%20Cave.jpg" width="253" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: x-small;">Niche and Light in the Spanish Hermitage 2000-2014</span></b></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> Up until
2005<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the only<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>book I had read on Sufism was Idris Shah’s <i>The
Way of the Sufis <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">[1]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(a anthology of short quotations<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from Classical sources that I treasure to
this<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>day).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember having seen some<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>photographs somewhere<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of a Sufi retreat cell in my early youth, a
tiny lattice-fronted cubicle at the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>back
of a mosque where adepts<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>were sequestered
during forty-day<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>retreats—and I <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>remember being excited by the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>photographs and by the concept— but I had no
idea of the context at<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apart from that,
and a rather bizarre adolescent dream encounter when I was fifteen <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i>[2]</i></span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
— I had no <i>conscious</i> connection whatsoever with Sufis or Sufism, and my
first contact with Islamic Sufis arose later during the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>years<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I lived in Jakarta, Indonesia. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> As
readers may remember from <span class="MsoHyperlink"><i><a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2023/03/a-hermits-tale-part-two.html" target="_blank">PartTwo</a></i></span> of this autobiographical sketch—I was a gamelan student taught
by teachers (like Pak Rudhatin Brongtodiningrat) who believed that this kind of
musical performance was a device to develop <i>rasa</i> (a kind of
spiritual intuition that the Sufis call <i>dhawq</i>). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pak Rudhatin’s <i>Jogja</i> <i>kraton-style
</i>gamelan teaching was closely related in its methods and intention to <i>kebatinan</i> (the
Javanese ‘science’ of ‘inner’ spirituality and mysticism). The
Jakartan Gamelan groups with whom I played were also composed of devout Muslims
with a strong connection to the Sufi traditions believed to have been brought
to Java by the <i>Wali Songgo.</i> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
was well aware of this<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>musical form’s
connection with Java’s Sufi past and enjoyed the feeling that, by studying
under Pak Rudhatin’s guidance, I was attaching myself to that tradition.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nobody mentioned Sufism:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but the music and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>our performances were supercharged with it.
There was a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>common saying that “the <i>gendhing</i>
(the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>piece<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>being performed) is greater than those
playing it” and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>this frequently
generated a feeling of being “a willing drop in the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ocean being carried<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>along by the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>current” in the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>players. It
literally <i>felt</i> like<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a metaphor
for <i>fana</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> It was
during my years as a gamelan musician in Java in the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1980’s that I first developed the form of
receptive prayer and intuitive practices that were to be described
in <i>Kuntres Maarat Ha Lev/The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Cave of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Heart</i>. I do not
think this contemporaneous connection was mere coincidence. In some way
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>former musical experience had opened
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>way for the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>latter spiritual one to arise.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nevertheless, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>at that time I had not read any classical
Islamic-Sufi texts and I was totally unaware that there had been Jews—from (at
least) the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>time<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of Ibn Pequda onwards— who had read (and
admired) those texts and assimilated and adapted their<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>contents<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>into Jewish spiritual practice. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>lack of awareness was about to be<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>transformed by a dramatic new discovery, and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>this is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>how<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it happened: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shortly
after I had written <i>The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cave of
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Heart </i>in 2005<i>,</i> Christine
Gilbert sent me an extract from an academic paper that she<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>thought<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>might interest me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a study by Professor Paul B. Fenton,<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;"><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">[3]</span></i></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
the leading academic commentator and translator of the Judeo-Arabic manuscripts
of the mediaeval Jewish-Sufi Movement (many of which he discovered and identified
himself). </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">The paper was about the</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">son of Maimonides</span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;"><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">[4]</span></i></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">—
Rabbi Abraham Maimuni (1186–1237) and the</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">development of an ascetic and contemplative</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">group that he led in </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">Fustat near present</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">day Cairo:—a </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">group now known as the</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="font-family: Philosopher;"><i>Egyptian Pietists</i></b><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> or the</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="font-family: Philosopher;"><i>Egyptian Hasidim.</i></b><i style="font-family: Philosopher;"> <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">[5]</span></span></span></span></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> I was stunned by the discovery of this<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>group’s existence and began a slow but
persistent study of Rabbi Abraham’s <i><b>Kifaya </b><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">[6]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></i> (in
an English translation by Rosenblatt and later by that of R. Wincelberg). This
led to further reading on the Jewish-Sufi mode of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ascetic practice,mystical theology, and
contemplative prayer in the writings of Rabbi Obadyah Maimuni (1228–1265) and
other <i>Egyptian Pietists</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span> I
am<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>not an academic and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>very slow learner. This week I read that seminal essay of Professor
Fenton’s again and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>realised that almost
everything<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was to learn was to be found<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>there, it had simply taken decades for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>me<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to
gain some real understanding of the meanings of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>concepts(especially the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Arabic ones) that I had first read
there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rabbi Abraham’s
pioneering concepts and principles for the <i>Jewish-Sufi</i> community (outlined
<span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://jewishsufis.blogspot.com/2022/11/jewish-sufi-practices.html" target="_blank">HERE</a></span>)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>were developed<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in the books and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>fragmentary manuscripts that were penned by
the later members of the Maimuni family and by other <i>Egyptian Hasidim</i>
from the eleventh to the fifteenth century. Many such fragments<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are still being discovered and identified in
the Cairo Genizah collection as well as other private collections<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>globally.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtKPKPtmC_wNXz-x563aFF4R4g7etCmo6y0EHHLptAn7jut_QiDX1QR08qIiJaHH0cpuaqOD9kFX7L-s8OkJUcDThIffAWBMwsjzS2ws1DY-dasM4XPIEGbsRKWE4HENk0CUyFR3KIjfRh8GQg0m_pucnQ4dA_7sJgmg9u6Ivg3CoUWKk6h_7aoQ/s587/Ottoman%20Sema%20Group.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="587" data-original-width="580" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtKPKPtmC_wNXz-x563aFF4R4g7etCmo6y0EHHLptAn7jut_QiDX1QR08qIiJaHH0cpuaqOD9kFX7L-s8OkJUcDThIffAWBMwsjzS2ws1DY-dasM4XPIEGbsRKWE4HENk0CUyFR3KIjfRh8GQg0m_pucnQ4dA_7sJgmg9u6Ivg3CoUWKk6h_7aoQ/s320/Ottoman%20Sema%20Group.jpg" width="316" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: x-small;">Ottoman Sufis</span></i></b></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Q: So what were the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Egyptian Pietist principles and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>practices that had inspired me so dramatically? <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">A: <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">— I had been avidly <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>formulating and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>promoting ideas<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>about (i) the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>value and practice of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>solitary
retreat (both partial and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>long-term) and
(ii) the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>creation of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jewish eremitical communities—but up until
this point in time (around<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2005)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had thought that such ideas had only been
the concern of fringe minorities or exceptional individuals.<b><i><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><i>The Egyptian Judeo-Sufi<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>movement was no minority fringe endeavour: it
had been<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>large, popular, and influential
for over three centuries throughout Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had been promoted by members of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maimuni family, strong Jewish Community
leaders politically and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in religion, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>who were controversial and opposed by some—
but revered and followed by many.<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I discovered that
this group expressed praise for (i) dedicated celibacy;(ii) intense solitary
retreat (<i>khalwa</i>) and meditative prayer;(iii) the formation of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>convents (<i>kanqah</i>) for resident
monastic sufis and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>visiting Jewish-Sufi
practitioners—it felt as though I had come<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it was a home <i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>within</i> Judaism. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>—</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As someone who was actually living<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>an intentionally dedicated solitary life at
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>time of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>this<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>discovery, I<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was <i>particularly</i>
excited by the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>discovery of their high
regard for extended solitary retreat or <i>hitbodedut/khalwa</i>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">The penultimate chapter of Rabbi Abraham’s <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Kifaya</i> promotes <i>hitbodedut </i>(solitary
seclusion) in four<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>distinctly Sufic
forms:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">* a personal
practice of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>regular solitary meditation;
</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">* an ascetic<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>practice of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>deeply secluded
retreat (resembling the extended<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>khalwa <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">[7]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of the Islamic Sufis which is often performed
in an enclosed<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>cell for days<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>or weeks;</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>* the practice of
‘solitude whilst in a crowd’ which the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sufis call “<i>khalwat dar anjuman’’</i> and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>closely related<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>maintenance<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a <i>shiviti/dhikr</i>
consciousness.</span></p></blockquote></blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><b>—</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those of you
who have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>read my book, <i>The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cave<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Heart</i>,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>will also understand<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>how excited I must have been when<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I discovered the great importance which
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Egyptian Jewish-Sufis attached to
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>development of prophetic ability.
The higher stations of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the spiritual
journey—the <i><b><a href="https://jewishsufis.blogspot.com/2023/02/stations-on-path-maqamat-of-jewish-sufi.html" target="_blank">Maqamat</a></b> <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">[8]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></i>—of
their contemplative system were focussed on that intensely.</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">Indeed there was a
tradition in the Maimuni family that the</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">return of prophecy was an imminent event.</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">But then— it always is— for according to our
Sages (in </span><span class="MsoHyperlink" style="font-family: Philosopher;"><i><a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.98a.18?lang=bi&with=Sheets&lang2=en">Sanhedrin
98a:16-18</a></i></span><i style="font-family: Philosopher;">)</i><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> its restoration is dependent</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">upon our being prepared to listen.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">As I wrote in 2005,</span></span></p>
<p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><b><i>Ultimately we are destined
to become a nation of prophets. If that is to become an imminent reality, there
has to be somebody listening</i></b>. The parallel development of contemplative
lifestyles and contemplative prayer in the life of all Jews might go some way
towards making sure that those ‘listeners’ are in place.</span></p><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">The old, or isolated, or
disadvantaged, and those forgotten on the fringes of community are frequently
the very Jewish souls who have the spiritual credentials in hard-won
authenticity and in wholehearted ‘searching for G-d’ which might qualify them
to develop the prophetic spirit anew.</span></p><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">The isolated, the elderly, and
the infirm are also often the ones with the time to focus on the prayerful task
of drawing down the light and the strength of Heaven with intensity and
perseverance.</span></p><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can we afford to neglect their contemplative
potential any longer?” <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;">[9]</span></span></span></i></span></span></span></p><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><b><i>It is my belief that the
‘coming of Eliyahu haNavi’ in the days before the start of the Messianic era
refers to the re-emergence of the spirit of that prophet in the souls of those
contemplatives who are being truly attentive and receptive in their prayer</i></b>.</span></p><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">It would seem that R’ Yitzhak ben
Shmuel of Akko (13th -14th century) also believed this:</span></p><p></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">“</span><i style="color: windowtext;">So
ponder and envision with your mind, that the evil inclination... will be turned
on its head... and because of this the number of recluses (<b>mitbodedim</b>)
and ascetic hermits (<b>perushim</b>) will increase so that, before the end of
the six thousand year period, the physical and animal aspects of mankind will
cease to exist in this world</i><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">.” </span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;">[10]</span></span></span></i></span></span></p><p></p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">It is time for us to ‘listen’ in
contemplative prayer because it is only by paying attention in receptive
contemplation that we can become the prophets, or <i>Sons of the Prophets</i>
that we are all destined to be.” <span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
</i></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p></p></blockquote><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36.5pt; text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><b>—</b>Furthermore, in the <i>Kifaya, </i>I also found
specific contemplative activities geared to promote the kind of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><i>communal and inclusive affiliation at
all levels</i></b> that I had been attempting to generate through my Jewish
Contemplatives websites.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>—In their private
individual worship and in their congregational liturgy (in their own small
houses of prayer) the Jewish Sufis under Rabbi Abraham’s tutelage practiced
choreographed postures (e.g. kneeling, prostration, and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the lifting up of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>hands ) and silent acts of meditative
devotion that were designed to increase the more spiritual and reflective
moments in the recitation of the daily services. His motivation was to increase
decorum and focus in ritual <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jewish
worship.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">—The <i>Egyptian
Pietist</i> Community <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>included family
members and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>singles of both genders<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in their communal worship and private
spiritual practices, yet at heart they<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>were an <i>elitist</i> group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They spoke of a ‘<i>suluk al khas</i>’ —a special way for the minority
of Jews attracted to a particularly intense form of ascetic and contemplative
practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">—They also<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>insisted that before one<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>embarked on this ‘special path’ one<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>had to be meticulous in the practice of the
‘common path’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of the Halakha: the loving
observance of the commandments of written and oral Jewish Law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To me, as an observant<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Orthodox Jew, this<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was most significant. Any attempt to renew
the contemplative<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>practice of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Egyptian Hasidim</i> would<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>need to take<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>account<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>this too. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">oo0oo</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: large;">The <i>Egyptian Pietists</i> were not a hybrid interfaith group. They believed that the Islamic-Sufi traditions that they so admired and imitated were actually lost elements from the prophetic curriculum of the Biblical <i>Schools of the Prophets</i>, and though certain aspects of their practice were patently innovative—they were attempting to access the essential source-elements of that expressly Jewish biblical Path.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They were a group that held the very highest respect for the Islamic mystical tradition and frequently quoted from its texts. The <i><b>Murshid</b></i> of Rabbi David ben Joshua Maimuni (1335–c.1414) is full of Illuminist imagery borrowed from Suhrawardi (d.1191) as well as passages virtually ‘lifted’ from the <b><i>Ihya Ulum Al-Din</i></b> of Al Ghazali (12th century C.E.).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Movement’s writers even quoted from the <b><i>Quran</i></b> itself and one can detect a clear debt to such Islamic Sufi writers as Al-Sarraj (d. 988), Al-Qushayri (d. 1074), and Ibn Arabi (1165-1240) in <i>Egyptian Pietist</i> texts,concepts,and practice.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">oo0oo</div></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span color="windowtext">The <i>Essenes</i> and the <i>Therapeutai</i>
communities<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of Philo and the Desert
Fathers of Christianity had also been based in the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>very same part of Egypt as the later <i>Egyptian
Pietists</i>, and we know<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that
members<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of the Jewish Sufi movement were
close observers and imitators of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>their<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>local Islamic-Sufi
contemplatives </span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;"><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">[12]</span></i></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span color="windowtext"> —the cross fertilisation of ascetic and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>contemplative practices is demonstrable.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span color="windowtext"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether or not the Sufi practices—that were
so admired by the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>later Maimunis
and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>their<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>circle—were <i>originally </i>Islamic or <i>originally</i>
Biblical and Jewish—or even partially derived from later <i>Hesychastic</i>
Christian elaboration —is debatable. I will leave that debate to the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>academics, but simply<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>declare that in matters of spirituality and
mystical practice,each religion’s most intensely contemplative practitioners
are in unanimous accord with each other where the essentials of the
contemplative/ascetic path<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are
concerned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span color="windowtext"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Theologians<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Philosophers like<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to argue and thrash out points of
intellectual understanding, but those whose seek the intimate<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>knowledge<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>that comes from inspiration and intuition in solitary
contemplation:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>so often have a shared
and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>more<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>universalist perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span color="windowtext"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For Sufis—That <b><i>Gnosis</i></b> is not
fully attained through argument, or through academic study, or even through
private<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>profound intellectual reasoning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For Sufis: it comes from the kind<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of knowledge of <i>The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Real</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>which is infused <b><i>as an act of grace</i></b> by G-d<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alone into the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>soul of one who is devotedly engaged in receptive
contemplative prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span color="windowtext"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To quote a Pietist text by Rabbi David
ben<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Joshua Maimuni and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>written in his own hand:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span color="windowtext"> </span><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">Beware lest you learn from its words that
philosophy or wisdom is derived from the Peripatetics or any other. Nay! </span><b style="color: windowtext;">I
have in mind rather the adepts of spiritual training (<i>riyada</i>), who have
discovered in their solitary devotions (<i>khalwat</i>) (that which leads) from
the couch unto the Throne. </b>They have certain knowledge and are not
niggardly with it but instruct in the wayfaring of the path that leads to God.
Your knowledge of that is knowledge indeed, and all other knowledge deriving
from the famous philosophers is false<span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)">.</span><sup><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="line-height: 103%;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">[13]</span></span></sup><!--[endif]--></sup><span color="rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span color="windowtext" style="line-height: 103%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> It seems to me that all of this is poignantly relevant to us in our present times— when so many extremists have arisen within both Islam and Jewry to fan fires of violence in both political and religious spheres. Whatever the extremists in the Abrahamic Family of religions may think and do, the Sufis have always made Love and Peace their banner. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Though many might scoff at the idea—in the midst of the warfare and hatred that is current in Israel and Gaza at the moment—I propose that a return to the religious tolerance, coexistence, and mutual respect that was part of the <i>Egyptian Pietist</i> attitude to Islam has the potential to make <b>peaceful contemplative activism</b> part of the answer to the complex Jewish/Arab/Muslim Problem/Conundrum in my region's political conflicts.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> I am a proud Jewish-Israeli Citizen in a democratic and Jewish State which promotes religious and racial coexistence within its borders. I believe that lighting a candle is better than shouting at the dark of these conflicted times, and I believe that contemplative prayer and contemplative communities have a great deal to offer as a peace generating force.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">You may call me a snowflake in saying that. But Sufis are a wooly group and they would agree with me. Besides, it is difficult to argue or fight when you are engaged in <b><u>silent</u> </b>communal prayer/dhikr!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">I hope that—in our day— Jewish Sufis and Islamic Sufis will sit together to try that out as a contemplative practice on a regular basis. Especially here in Israel.<i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">[14]</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">oo0oo</span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: large; mso-spacerun: yes;"><i>To return to more autobiographical matters for a moment: </i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">As mentioned earlier in this chapter: My study of the <i>Egyptian
Pietists</i>—and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>my solitary
practice—was interrupted in 2014 while I focussed on general halakhic and
liturgical study in preparation for the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Madrid conversion. Having
relocated to <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Safed in 2019—and assisted
(as it<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>were) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>quarantines<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>necessitated by the <i>Coronavirus </i>epidemic</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">—</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">I returned to intentionally solitary practice.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></o:p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="font-size: x-large; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0-JAgezzZWsP9AAbvyjPWk6YY3z0CY1ku3dMNpJf9LWdAYNGE3B5u_8IVHqesrxrTWySNQZUY3J8-F87Ztpn5coKaXDkDF1ZuBLM2_xE6Gs-UMdyuTlw0r_QKPR8qwglHlZ5KUUbnVW024HZ8h_tz-VhWpRUmlWtKDkXXnKZN5jWeYpVHqhUzRA/s388/Khalwa%20cell%20%20in%20first%20%20Safed%20hermitage.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="237" data-original-width="388" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0-JAgezzZWsP9AAbvyjPWk6YY3z0CY1ku3dMNpJf9LWdAYNGE3B5u_8IVHqesrxrTWySNQZUY3J8-F87Ztpn5coKaXDkDF1ZuBLM2_xE6Gs-UMdyuTlw0r_QKPR8qwglHlZ5KUUbnVW024HZ8h_tz-VhWpRUmlWtKDkXXnKZN5jWeYpVHqhUzRA/w320-h195/Khalwa%20cell%20%20in%20first%20%20Safed%20hermitage.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: x-small;">Khalwa cell in my first Safed Hermitage (2019)</span></i></b></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">In 2021 I encountered some kind
of sea change in my daily contemplative activity: Out of the blue, I began to feel a strong intuition that I needed to practice silent
repetitive mantra meditation (using short scriptural phrases in hebrew)<i> <span style="color: #2e74b5; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;">[15]</span></i><span style="color: #2e74b5; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;">. </span>I had been<span style="color: #2e74b5; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;"> </span>aware of such a practice since reading Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan’s books in my thirties, but
had never felt strongly attracted to it until this time.</span><span style="color: #2e74b5; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a monk I had used a rosary daily in my
youth, and I had owned an Islamic <i>tasbih <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">[16]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></i>
for years but only used it a few times a year—principally in periods of illness
or very intense spiritual aridity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
this time round, using it as an aid to silent mantra repetition, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> it </span>simply became<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>the regular core of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>my daily
meditation sessions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Providentially, shortly after beginning the
practice, I returned to my studies of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i>Egyptian Pietists</i> and, in passing (for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>very first time) discovered <b><i>detailed</i></b> descriptions of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Islamic-Sufi practice known as <i>zhikr </i>or <i>dhikr. (</i>a term which has a similar root to the hebrew word <i>zachor).</i> Since that
day I have been almost exclusively focussed on that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>practice in private meditation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Readers might<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>be interested to read a little more about that <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://jewishsufis.blogspot.com/2023/09/jewish-sufi-dhikr-for-yom-kippur.html">HERE</a></span>.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Providence then arranged a special boost to
my endeavours: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At my Safed
hermitage in November 2021—I was blessed to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>have a two hour meeting with Professor Fenton himself who enlightened me
still further. Before that meeting I had studied the writings of Rabbi Abraham
Maimuni and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rabbi Obadyah Maimuni but
had never actually seen<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><u>anything</u></i>
written by Rabbi David ben Joshua Maimuni (1335–c.1414) .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Up until that point, his name had been one of several
on<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>my list of <i>Egyptian Pietist</i>
authors. When Professor Fenton showed me<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>some<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of Rabbi David’s actual texts
I was electrified by them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It felt like
a tangible<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>encounter with Rabbi David
himself and it sent<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>me whirling into a
metaphysical<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>stratosphere (as it were!)
—an encounter from which I have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>barely
recovered.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rabbi David’s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ideas seemed to speak to me most profoundly
and personally. In <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rabbi David’s <i>Al Murshid
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe I had found my tailor-made Guide on
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sufi Path. I hope<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>pray that Professor Fenton and other gifted academics will
translate<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>publish<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>much more of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>this Nagid’s
prolific output.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;"><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">[18]</span></i></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">Several months
later, I experienced a second spiritual-psychological</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">impetus to action, and quite spontaneously I
produced the</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">Foundation Documents
of</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">a </span><b style="text-align: left;"><i><u>third</u> </i></b><span style="text-align: left;">experiment in Jewish
Contemplative</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">Community: </span><i style="text-align: left;">Tariqa
Eliyahu</i><span style="text-align: left;">.</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIfr9whwIIIKgQNcWoM_9IzZzEih-ybBvCxErol2CEPBiQyKqG3azu_rNQ6A5SEvwEDusxWDhopQs7VaseKdv-8H6DRFVkpVycRFRfy4DhgcnMJZdZe9kPewnBBJYh3buuSMmsvDWQjuzIqodpbNqc4bJnJIm9mXhX_MD7d8k_m_Ye8vdcVWtGnw/s1056/TARIQA%20HEADER%20BANNER.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="291" data-original-width="1056" height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIfr9whwIIIKgQNcWoM_9IzZzEih-ybBvCxErol2CEPBiQyKqG3azu_rNQ6A5SEvwEDusxWDhopQs7VaseKdv-8H6DRFVkpVycRFRfy4DhgcnMJZdZe9kPewnBBJYh3buuSMmsvDWQjuzIqodpbNqc4bJnJIm9mXhX_MD7d8k_m_Ye8vdcVWtGnw/w400-h110/TARIQA%20HEADER%20BANNER.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: x-large; text-align: justify;"><i><br /></i></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b style="font-family: Philosopher; text-align: justify;"><i>Q: What is the core nature and purpose of the Tariqa? </i></b><span style="font-family: Philosopher; text-align: justify;"> </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">A:</span></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> This is succinctly expressed in two phrases from our Foundation Documents:</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: x-large; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">(i) <b>"We aim to study, renew, and develop the contemplative practice of the Mediaeval <i>Egyptian Pietists</i>."</b></span></div></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">(ii) "<b>Our principal goal is the development of <i>devekut: an intimate relationship with G-d."</i></b></span></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><b><i>Q:</i> <i>Why
is the group known as Tariqa</i> <i>ELIYAHU ?</i><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><b><i>A:</i> </b>The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i>Egyptian Pietists</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>believed
that the contemplative<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>traditions of the
Biblical prophets and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Sons of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prophets</i>—the disciples of Elijah and
Elisha— had been lost to Judaism but had been maintained in Islamic-Sufism.<b> <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our group’s
description as <i>Tariqa Eliyahu HaNabi</i> (The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Path/Way of Elijah the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prophet)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>was therefore not a casual<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a former Carmelite monk<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>who had been ritually clothed in the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>mantle of Elijah<a href="file:///C:/Users/nachman/Documents/A%20HERMITS%20TALE/Hermits%20Tales%20Part%206/HT%20PART%206%20TEXT%20ONLY.docx#_edn19" name="_ednref19" style="mso-endnote-id: edn19;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 103%;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>—
I was delighted<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in very recent years to
discover the ritual of clothing in a <i>khirqa</i> at a ceremony marking
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>start of one’s novitiate in a Sufi
order <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><i>Kifaya</i></b>—and in reference to
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>mantle of Eliyahu Ha Nabi in <b><i>Melachim
</i>II:2</b>, Rabbi Abraham ben HaRambam <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(who dressed in the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>manner of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Islamic Sufis) writes:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">He [Elijah] threw his mantle over him
[Elisha] ...It was an allusion that Elisha<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>should emulate<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>him in his
clothing, his style,and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the rest of his
behavior...You know<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that,due<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to our sins,the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sufis have copied this custom from our early
chasidim: the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>elder covers an aspirant
with his tattered garment when the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>aspirant wishes to embark on the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>way of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>elder and progress in
it....In recent times the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>custom has
disappeared [from us], or nearly so. Yet we copy their customs by wearing a <i>baqir</i>
and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the like. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;"><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">[20]</span></i></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Furthermore, at
that time <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also discovered the
connection between (i) the Jewish archetypal concept<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of Eliyahu the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>prophet as a guiding process on the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>path to mystical enlightenment (<i>gilui
Eliyahu</i>) and (ii) the similarly archetypal<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>concept of <i>Al Khidr</i> in Islamic-Sufi mysticism. Consequently—from
several significant angles—My<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“choice”
of Elijah as the root of the new group’s spiritual ancestry (<i>silsila) </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>seemed predetermined.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Islamic-Sufi Orders<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>often<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>attach
great importance to a chain of transmission (<i>silsila</i>) that they trace
through<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>previous Sufi Shaykhs to
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prophet of Islam.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ours is a <i><u>Jewish</u></i>
Tariqa and our <i>silsila</i> is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a
purely spiritual/<i>Uwaysi</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>one—traced through the Biblical <i>Schools<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prophets</i> to its<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>root in Elijah the prophet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i>Murshid</i>, Rabbi David ben Joshua Maimuni describes Elijah as “<i>The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Master of Mystics and Sovereign of Ascetics</i>”. <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;"><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">[21]</span></i></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;"><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><br /></span></i></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;"><i><span><b>Q: Is Tariqa Eliyahu a "Maimonidean" group?</b></span></i></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;"><i><span><b>A:</b></span></i></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><i>Tariqa Eliyahu</i> might be described as a <i>Maimuni</i> group but it is not a <i>Maimonidean</i>
group. Several of the <i>Egyptian
Pietist</i> Movement’s members and leading authors were the Rambam’s close relatives or later
descendents but in their writings and practices they often diverged from what might be termed "Rambanist" attitudes. </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">Nevertheless, the movement's members will have followed the Rambam's halachic rulings and they certainly </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">respected his intellectual eminence. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> Furthermore there is</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">much in HaRambam's philosophical approach that</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">displays a
somewhat Sufic temperament. </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">When his
writings address prophecy and</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">
</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">contemplation they are surely a valuable adjunct to our own Sufic
approach—but, it must be stated</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">—</span><b><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">our </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> </span><i style="font-family: Philosopher;">Tariqa</i><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> is</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">not devoted to the development or
promotion </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">of HaRambam’s ethos/</span><i style="font-family: Philosopher;">adab </i><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">but
to that of the</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">Jewish Sufis.</span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> Like Ibn Pequda, HaRambam promoted a <i>via media</i> of balanced and
moderate ascetic practice.
The <i>Egyptian Pietists </i>promoted a “special” <i>suluk al Khas </i>that went
beyond the letter of “common” Jewish practice. </span><i style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">[22]</span></i><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Whether Maimonidean thought is Sufic, whether HaRambam could be described as being a Sufi, and the extent to which his Maimuni descendents can be described as <i>Maimonidean</i> are all matters of complex enquiry and debate amongst academics. I prefer we leave that debate to the academic scholars.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 103%;">
</span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> Furthermore, though later Maimuni family
members are extremely significant to us: it is not the<i> personal</i> <i>charisma of the Maimuni dynasty </i> that should motivate us so
much as the <i>Egyptian Pietist </i>movement's practice of the renewed prophetic and contemplative tradition of the <i>B'nei Neviim: </i><b> A process and
a system that they believed had been preserved and then restored/transmitted to them
through their encounter with Islamic-Sufism.</b></span><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;"></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: large;"> To this day: one of
the most popular manuals of Jewish Spiritual practice is the <i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Hidayah ila Fara’id al Qulub </span></i></span></span><i style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">[23]</span></i><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><i> </i></span>of
Bahya Ibn Pequda and it is a clearly
Judeo Sufic text based on Islamic structures.
Many historians and academics claim that Islamic Sufi mysticism had a
profound influence on the development of
Abulafia’s ecstatic-prophetic Kabbalah;
on the development of the <i> hitbodedut</i> and <i>hitbonenut</i> systems of the
Safed Schools of Rabbi Moshe
Cordovero and Rabbi Yitzhak Luria; and
in the meditation practices of the European Hasidic movement of the Baal Shem Tov. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: large;"> In this, the twenty-first century, our aim in <i>Tariqa Eliyahu</i> is to renew <u><b><i>and develop</i></b></u>
the contemplative practices of
the <i>Egyptian Pietist</i> Movement.
Like the members of that Mediaeval movement—we
are keen to learn what the Islamic-Sufi
path can teach us in our own Jewish Contemplative journey.</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">oo0oo<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Tariqa Eliyahu</i>,
my third project in Jewish Contemplative Community is still very new.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the moment, the <i>Tariqa</i> has a small
online presence through its<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>private <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Group on Facebook, and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>its associated public website.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although it has a fundamentally Orthodox
perspective/<i>adab</i>, the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>members of <i>Tariqa
Eliyahu</i> actually<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>come from many
Jewish denominations and streams of thought, and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>they<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>include Ashkenazi, Sefardi, and Mizrahi members; Mekubalim, Haredi
Chasidim, and Progressive Neo-Hasidim (with<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>a few<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of my die-hard <i>Maimonidean Rationalist </i>friends there as somewhat critical observers!) All our members are <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jewish but some<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of them had<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>also received Islamic-Sufi or Universalist-Sufi initiation before
joining our <i>Tariqa</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our <i>Tariqa</i>
members are <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>united in the admiration
they feel for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the <i>Egyptian Pietists’</i>
approach to contemplative prayer and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>their deep respect for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the
Islamic Sufi Path and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>its Arabic
literature. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> At the moment
our group is an online <i>Tariqa</i>—but I hope that a small
Jewish-Sufi group might one day
be formed here in Safed to meet regularly— say once a week— in communal silent <i>dhikr</i>
and in the performance of the liturgy
according to the directions given by Rabbenu Abraham Maimuni.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> I
envisage a brief egalitarian <i>Arbit</i>
incorporating prostration in the <i>Amidah</i>—
followed by an hour of silent <i>dhikr</i> as an ideal model for this. No refreshments, no chat, no socialising, no
“guided” meditation, no (regular) lectures or speeches—just prayer. An alternative paraliturgical model might be a short <b><i>vocal</i>
<i>dhikr</i></b> session (using a simple unison recitation of a hebrew
mantra-phrase) followed by a much longer <b><i>silent dhikr</i></b> session. But we
shall see. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">In the meantime:</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #134f5c; mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><b><span style="text-align: left;">I would</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">like</span><span style="text-align: left;">
</span><span style="text-align: left;">to encourage more</span></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: left;">(i) Jewish-Sufi </span><u style="text-align: left;"><i>practitioners </i></u><span style="text-align: left;">and</span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #134f5c; mso-spacerun: yes;"><b><span style="text-align: left;">(ii) Jewish </span><u style="text-align: left;"><i>meditators </i></u><span style="text-align: left;">of like-mind</span></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #134f5c; mso-spacerun: yes;"><b><span style="text-align: left;">to join us online as </span><span style="text-align: left;"><u><i>active</i></u> </span><span style="text-align: left;">contributors</span></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #134f5c; mso-spacerun: yes;"><b><span style="text-align: left;"> to the development of our community practice.</span></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></b></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Hopefully this “Sufi” chapter of <i>A Hermit’s Tale</i> may
encourage that.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You can find<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>out more about our path </span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://jewishsufis.blogspot.com/2022/10/introducing-this-tariqa.html" target="_blank">HERE</a></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(<i>Jewish
Sufis Website</i>) or <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/jewishsufis" target="_blank">HERE</a></span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> (<i>Jewish Sufis</i> <i>Facebook Group</i>)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">©Nachman Davies<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Safed<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>March 19<sup>th</sup>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2024 <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><b><span style="font-size: large;">NOTES</span></b><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 103%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Idries Shah, <i>The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Way of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sufi</i>, Octagon Press,London,1968</span></p>
</div>
<span style="font-size: medium;">[2] A dream encounter in which I was told: “<b><i>Come you no further, Return to your bed, Seek that which was lost, But look for it not. Find in the spiral,The Way to Ascend, As the Sea flows back into itself</i></b>”
</span><div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 103%;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
"<b><i>Abraham Maimonides (1186-1237): Founding a Mystical Dynasty</i></b>"
by Paul B. Fenton, Chapter 3 in Moshe <i>Idel’s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Jewish Mystical Leaders and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>leadership in the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>13thcentury,</i>Jason
Aronson inc. ,1998</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 103%;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Rabbi Moshe Maimuni, known as Maimonides or HaRambam, was not (as far as we know) a member of the
Cairo Jewish-Sufi community (which<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was
already in existence long before<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>his
son’s nagidship<span style="color: #8eaadb; mso-themecolor: accent5; mso-themetint: 153;">). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 103%;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
In Egypt, during the mediaeval era when this<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>group was formed, the term <i>Hasid</i> was synonymous<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with “Jewish-Sufi”and its leading members
were often<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>identified by the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>appellation <b><i>HaHasid</i></b>.</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 103%;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<b>Kifaya</b> <i>(Kitab Kifayat al-‘ābidīn)</i> — known in Hebrew
translations as <i>HaMaspik L'Ovdei Hashem</i> and in
English translations as <i>The Guide to Serving God</i> (Wincelberg)
or <i>Highways to Perfection</i> (Rosenblatt). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 103%;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Rabbi Abraham uses this<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>exact arabic
term in his Judeo-Arabic writings , a fact which surely underlines the connection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Furthermore, we know<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that members of his<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>family and circle<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>practiced <i>khalwa</i> in the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Islamic Sufi manner when they visited
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>shrine<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>at Dammuh. On this<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>see my essay <span class="MsoHyperlink"><i><a href="https://jewishsufis.blogspot.com/2023/01/islamic-and-jewish-sufis-in-mediaeval.html">Mediaeval
Islamic and Jewish Sufis in Cairo</a></i></span> .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 103%;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
See<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><i><a href="https://jewishsufis.blogspot.com/2023/02/stations-on-path-maqamat-of-jewish-sufi.html" target="_blank">Stations
on The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Path: The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maqamat of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jewish Sufi</a></i></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn9" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 103%;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Nachman Davies, <i>The Cave of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Heart/Kuntres Maarat HaLev(A treatise on Jewish Contemplative<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prayer)</i>, page 56, KDP publications,2022</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn10" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 103%;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> Isaac
of Akko, Meirat Einayim ed. H. Erlanger, Jerusalem 1975 pp. 307-8 (pericope
nissabim.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn11" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 103%;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <i>Nachman
Davies, The Cave of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Heart/Kuntres
Maarat HaLev(A treatise on Jewish Contemplative<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Prayer), page 59, KDP publications,2022</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn12" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 103%;">[12]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> See <span class="MsoHyperlink"><i><a href="https://jewishsufis.blogspot.com/2023/01/islamic-and-jewish-sufis-in-mediaeval.html" target="_blank">MediaevalIslamic and Jewish Sufis in Cairo</a></i></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn13" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 103%;">[13]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Paul B.Fenton: <b><i>An Epistle on Esoteric Matters by David II Maimonides from
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Geniza</i>,</b> in <i>Pesher Nahum</i>,
(Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilisation Number 66), University of
Chicago,Illinois. (<i>emphasis<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>mine</i>)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn14" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 103%;">[14]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
There<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>many interfaith Jewish/Islamic groups <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that have practiced a Sufi <b><i>sema</i></b>—notably
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Israeli group <i>Tariqa Abraham—</i>
a communal Sufic recital of music and texts that may often become<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ecstatic...but to my knowledge<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a practice of <i>shared silent
zhikr/meditation</i> is rare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Music
and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>dance were a huge part of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>practices of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>B'nei Neviim</i> (and music as a prophetic
adjunct was<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>praised by Rabbi David ben
Joshua himself)..but my own wish would<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>be<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to see more<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>sober</i> <i>Sufic </i>— and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>silent— contemplative events. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn15" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 103%;">[15]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> For
example:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<i>Adonai melech,Adonai
malach, Adonai yimloch l’olam va’ed</i>”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>or “<i>Adonai Hu Ha Elohim</i>”</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn16" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 103%;">[16]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
A <i>tasbih</i> or <i>misbaha</i> is a ( 33 or 99 unit) string of beads used
to recite<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Divine<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Attributes and assist <i>zhikr</i> meditation. Some<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>have expressed the opinion that counting the <i>tzitzit</i>
knots and threads<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on the <i>Tallit</i>
may have been the origin of the practice. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn17" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 103%;">[17]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> Rabbi
David ben Yehoshua Maimuni: “<i>Al-Murs</i><i><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">hi</span>d ila al-tafarrud wa-al-murfid ila al-tagarrud</i>,”(The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Guide to Solitude and Aid to Detachment”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn18" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 103%;">[18]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> Paul
B. Fenton,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>The Literary Legacy of
David ben Joshua, Last of the Maimonidean Nĕgīdim</i>, Jewish Quarterly Review,
vol. 75, no. 1 (July 1984): 1-56</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn19" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 103%;">[19]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<span style="color: #3b3838; mso-themecolor: background2; mso-themeshade: 64;">The
Christian monastic<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Order of
Carmelites</i> was founded on Mt. Carmel at the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>start of the thirteenth century, but<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>there was a tradition that there had been a direct link<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with previous Jewish hermits living there
since the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>time of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>B'nei neviim</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Near the ruins of the original Carmelite
monastery at the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>seaside base of the
mountain, there is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a ‘Cave of Elijah’
which is a place of worship frequented by Jews, Moslems, Druze, and Christians
to the present day. The original Carmelite mantle was brown and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>cream striped, but later became an undyed
white woolen cloak-like garment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
always regarded as being symbolic of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>mantle of Elijah, passed on to his disciple Elisha (</span><b><i>Melachim</i></b>
II:2)<span style="color: #3b3838; mso-themecolor: background2; mso-themeshade: 64;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn20" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 103%;">[20]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Abraham ben HaRambam , <i>Kifaya</i>, translated in Y.Wincelberg,<i>The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Guide to Serving God</i>, page
370,Feldheim,Jerusalem 2008<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn21" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 103%;">[21]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: ES;"> <span lang="ES">Fenton, P</span><span lang="ES">. <i>Deux traités de mystique juive</i>;Lagrasse: Éditions
Verdier; 1987.(p269)</span></span></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn22" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 103%;">[22]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <o:p></o:p></span>See Chapter 4 of Ha Rambam’s <i>Shemoneh
Perakim</i>. There HaRambam criticises
many of the specifically Sufic practices that were to be avidly
practiced and promoted by his
Maimuni descendents. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p><span> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: justify;">[23] Bahya Ibn Pequda's work was later </span><span style="text-align: justify;">disseminated in Hebrew
translations</span><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span><span style="text-align: justify;">as </span><b style="text-align: justify;"><i>Hovovot HaLevavot</i></b><span style="text-align: justify;">
and in English</span><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span><span style="text-align: justify;">as </span><b style="text-align: justify;"><i>The Duties of the
Heart</i>.</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-60547690415863349192024-03-12T09:57:00.002+02:002024-03-21T18:34:53.077+02:00A HERMIT'S TALE: Part Five<div style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "Libre Baskerville"; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Other Chapters of <i>A Hermits Tale</i> may be accessed from the sidebar or via these Hyperlinks: </span></div><div style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "Libre Baskerville"; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2023/02/a-hermits-tale-part-one.html" target="_blank">Part One </a> <a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2023/03/a-hermits-tale-part-two.html" target="_blank">Part Two</a> <a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2023/03/a-hermits-tale-part-three.html" target="_blank">Part Three </a> <a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2024/03/a-hermits-tale-part-4.html" target="_blank">Part Four </a> ..... <a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2024/03/a-hermits-tale-part-six.html" target="_blank">Part Six</a></i></span></div><div style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "Libre Baskerville"; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "Libre Baskerville"; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDu16Bi1SUc8wdKMILKtE8Z_HQ9Y0qJR1AbGLvpxuhUNBQEGv5C0AyM-Pzv1fp4pd9NME3MDAAdOWIvigVPoIqmccOMIccYRxHViPfQpU8nLV7SqeaGCDHEWqLVLaCOhKS3AJA-YGnkMb-yy7fBfqwfhVP0wrcU9CKbE0gKASlC7qBFSVhZAUAtQ/s596/maarat%20ha%20lev%20barzakh%202.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="596" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDu16Bi1SUc8wdKMILKtE8Z_HQ9Y0qJR1AbGLvpxuhUNBQEGv5C0AyM-Pzv1fp4pd9NME3MDAAdOWIvigVPoIqmccOMIccYRxHViPfQpU8nLV7SqeaGCDHEWqLVLaCOhKS3AJA-YGnkMb-yy7fBfqwfhVP0wrcU9CKbE0gKASlC7qBFSVhZAUAtQ/w400-h265/maarat%20ha%20lev%20barzakh%202.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>"Between the Keruvim"</b></i></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%; margin-bottom: 8pt; text-align: center;"><span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: UDPrague; font-size: 28pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-font-size: 36.0pt;">עמד והתבונן נפלאות אל</span><span style="font-family: UDPrague; font-size: 36pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 28.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 103%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">Stand still
and contemplate the wonders that G-d has performed</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><b><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Iyov 37 14</span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: large;">The Gate of Transformation</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">There is an exceptionally
other-worldly moment in the Biblical account of the giving of the Torah at Sinai when the experience of
the entire nation of Israel becomes synesthesic. The initial (and some say all) words of that prophetic
revelation to an entire people were experienced not as something heard or
seen but as something resembling yet exceeding the limitations of
both those senses.</span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: UDPrague;">וכל</span><span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">־</span><span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: UDPrague;">העם ראים את</span><span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">־</span><span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: UDPrague;">הקולת</span> </span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">And all the
People saw the sounds. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="FootnoteTextcave" style="margin-left: 0in; text-align: right; text-indent: 0in;"><i>Shemot 20:15</i><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">We experienced The Voice in a uniquely inter-sensual or supra-sensual
way which was above<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and beyond normal
hearing. We were listening with our spiritual Heart.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 2003, I made a choice to
focus on developing the activity of listening to that Voice anew. I was
standing on the threshold of a metaphysical gate<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and once I had summoned the courage to pass
through it, my life would never be<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the
same again.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">This was my epiphany:</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 36.5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
auricular hearing was being taken<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>away
so that I would be able to experience a much deeper level of spiritual
attentiveness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I accepted that it was
not just a natural infirmity that I was experiencing, but also that it was
a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>supernaturally charged one designed to
give me the biggest thump of my life to date—to drag me kicking and screaming,
back into the dedicated contemplative life—a vocation from which I had fled
when leaving the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Carmelite monastic
order in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>my youth.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I began to pray at length again—with
newfound <i>kavanah</i> (intentional focus) for the first time<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in many years,and I ceased being “<i>a
semi-retired teacher experimenting with some studious and creative solitude</i>”
and became <i>“a full-time intentional religious contemplative”</i> again. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">I have never had any trouble believing that
prayer was a form of action or that contemplatives are as
spiritually and cosmically valuable (and perhaps as necessary) as any other
professionally philanthropic group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
in my thirties and forties, I never imagined that I would be re-joining that
contemplative work-force myself.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
surprised me even more was that I was about to attempt to do this <i>as a Jew</i>—and
as I have outlined in <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/CAVE-HEART-Kuntres-Maarat-Ha-Lev/dp/B0B573N46H/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.oFP5S5WFyXClYd7yKjGNc_9Vfy9sKTARxv59Jk2GNzq84RxQeveg6NNVHCEiqRxxIEm2FmistsFWd8HgnNy9wds4rpeQieVeFwIcib6-S0e0ZIQ9aNtceaIHt8RcD3EeOEd4WjpV12ziJncnYQF-0TjIWIkCnaTvAtFKaxlZuMHqSvPjP3shMi1_ohvjEr2eroI_5Mj9QYlriDkDpjlIjSstItEnKZ9oLVXlZXp3V5g.8VTbm4SmhZUjTpLaPPo1vPncLi7_U-CW32WKB6bFlzs&qid=1709625765&sr=8-2">The
Cave of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Heart: Kuntres<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maarat HaLev</a></i> and other writings—
Judaism<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a religion where solitary contemplative
lifestyles are a fringe minority activity that has become<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>almost extinct. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Furthermore, single and solitary
living is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>also a Jewish practice which
has many Jewish denigrators and few supporters in our own era.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Living and promoting <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>solitary contemplative practice gets me full
marks for <i>chutzpah</i>, but <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>always been cast (sometimes
unknowingly and unexpectedly) as something<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a pioneer in music education
and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>seems I was thus embarking on a similar project within Judaism.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Q:So how exactly had it all come about?</span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><b><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A: Ve-nahafoch hu</span></i></b><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">—everything was turned on its head:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">— I began to see my ‘curses’ as
blessings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My spiritual wilderness (<i>midbar</i>)
was actually a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>potentially productive
vineyard (<i>karmel</i>)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had been so
all along though I had not seen it for what it was.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">— Composing and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>making music <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>had been a way of praying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My hearing difficulties took music away, and<b>
</b>I was left with the sound of silence</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">—</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">which made space and time for a still small
voice to be heard.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">—Human relationships had been the motor of my
life. Relationships had failed or, even worse, dwindled into acquaintanceships
at a distance.<b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>I was left with
the One who had been waiting for me all along</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">—</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the One who may actually be my only intended
life-partner.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">—My music-teaching career was in shattered
ruins</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">, </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">but in fact it had only
ever been a preparation for something else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I could not hear well enough to teach music anymore and I did not<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>know what other skills I could use.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I despaired trying to see what I had left to
offer. <b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>The answer<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that had emerged was:</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">“<b>You can pray and give G-d your full
attention.</b>”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Accepting that this truly <i>was</i> the
answer I was<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>being given, and choosing
to do it full-time was a risky choice which I fought against for a very long
time. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It involved <i>ascesis</i> and it
necessitated being self-supporting with limited funds—so it was far from being
a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>cushy number.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">—During the period<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that led up to this transformation, I had
complained about my life-circumstances (to G-d <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>daily, and to my distant but long-suffering
friends periodically).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had spent so
much time moaning on and on about <i>my</i> lack of purpose, <i>my</i> health, <i>my</i>
poverty, and <i>my</i> needs that I bored myself silly, and the fire of that
particular hell simply<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>burnt itself out.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the <i>Hound of Heaven<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 103%;">[1]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></i> is no respecter of
denominational fences and it had been at my heels since the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>day I left the Carmelites.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I finally accepted that I had been pursued
and was now cornered in Judaism. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
began to see that the act of walking-out on G-d when<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I left the monastery as a young man was a
selfish mistake<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and that I was being
given a chance to prove my love for Him all over<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>again.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">I turned my whole attention to G-d in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>devekut </i>by attempting to maintain a
nebulous but near-constant awareness of Him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That produced an unexpectedly dynamic move into prayerful<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>tikkun<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>olam </i>as I found myself thinking about others for a change. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>remember that— sometimes and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>somehow — it felt<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as though I was
(as it were) seeing things through His<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">And almost imperceptibly, in jerks and bounds over a period of around
two years in almost complete solitude, it had simply clicked into place:</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">-Not lonely</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">—</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">but alone with G-d;</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">-Not alone</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">—</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">but united in spirit to all other
G-d-Wrestlers;</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">-Not unfulfilled</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">—</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">but now seeking fulfillment in </span></span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: x-large;">G-d alone;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">-Not inactive or escapist</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">—</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">but actively praying for all creation, all of
the time.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>With this new perspective, I returned to the
practice<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of reciting the formal daily
services. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: x-large; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOC1C8GkvV39a0dfvkkUlHVTQN0Mly7mVRuqd49pM8xAijBfpEAP_CmikFHmvt2-cdykNCGlxd82uR1PsyX-n3NP_vUDWHeHHQGj1cYBH0F9Wk7jqfwx533nV7Kztvro6D29jdcw3i7mt_Db8-_3SiKjRPip3ULrtCkTtz7-6mlYFvL6u2gD1xxg/s2016/safed%20zawiyya.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1508" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOC1C8GkvV39a0dfvkkUlHVTQN0Mly7mVRuqd49pM8xAijBfpEAP_CmikFHmvt2-cdykNCGlxd82uR1PsyX-n3NP_vUDWHeHHQGj1cYBH0F9Wk7jqfwx533nV7Kztvro6D29jdcw3i7mt_Db8-_3SiKjRPip3ULrtCkTtz7-6mlYFvL6u2gD1xxg/w299-h400/safed%20zawiyya.jpg" width="299" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>My current place of prayer in Safed 2024</b></i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">In the
first three years of the twelve year cave-retreat I am trying<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to describe for you, I focussed on the
recitation of the <i>Amidah</i><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 103%;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
with the utmost <i>kavanah</i> and <i>devekut</i> that I could muster.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>meant that the <i>Shemoneh Esreh</i> might often take hours. Though I frequently
took editorial liberties with the other texts in the siddur, for the last eight
years of this retreat period I davened every service without fail daily.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
mention this not to score piety points, but because there are many who doubt
that this<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>kind of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>liturgical regularity can be<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>easily achieved without the support and
incentive of community recitation in a physical <i>minyan</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my experience—within the context of an
intentionally dedicated life of intimate prayer— the regular<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>recitation of the daily services can become<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as reflexive as breathing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To forget to pray the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>daily services<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in such circumstances is almost impossible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">In those totally eremitic days in Spain, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>although this performance of the liturgy produced
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a major change in my routines, my return
to <i>regular periods of silent contemplative prayer </i>was <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of even<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>greater significance: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a
Carmelite monk, I had practiced two hours<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>of this kind of silent contemplative prayer each and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then it had been done<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>formally, in
community, and in a chapel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a
solitary Jew I practiced it either on the roof, in the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>garden, or in the cave-room itself. With its
woodburning stove the latter was the preferred location each winter.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
simply gave all my attention to G-d and sat or stood with Him (as it were)
morning<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and evening</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">—</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">sometimes words were involved, sometimes
issues were considered, sometimes I just sat in His Presence. Sometimes these
regular<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>periods of contemplative prayer lasted
thirty minutes or so, sometimes they lasted three or four hours—especially the
evening one.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This needs unpacking and I could<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>say much more about this<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>practice </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">— but for now, I need
to explain something<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>any non-Jews or Jews who are reading this who
are unaccustomed to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>talk of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘contemplative’ prayer.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">oo0oo</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For many observant Jews their most intimate
contact with G-d is made through <i>tefillah</i> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">(liturgical prayer)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and <i>Talmud Torah</i> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">(shared Torah Study)</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The most common approach of most Orthodox
Jews is to regard liturgical prayer<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as a
duty of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Divine praise; a time for self
examination and repentance; and a time<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>to recite set texts expressing love<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>and obedience. It is, for them, a time<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>when<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>one speaks to G-d using time
honoured and fixed formulae recited in common and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>at set times.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">The silent
<i>Shemoneh Esreh</i> allows for a small measure of personal silent prayer
and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>everyone is expected to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>recite the whole prayer with<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>intense mental concentration on fulfilling
the obligation to pray as perfectly as one<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>usually no space in public worship for <i>extensive</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>silent prayer during the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>liturgy itself.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Catholic Christians, for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>example,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>are very familiar with the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>practice of sitting in silent prayer <i>communally</i> after receiving
communion during the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eucharistic
liturgy<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and also in visiting churches <i>individually</i>
for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>silent prayer sessions<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>when the building is almost empty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In our days, the practice of silent <i>communal</i>
prayer is almost non-existent in most Rabbinic Jewish synagogues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was not the case in ancient<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>classical times as we know from <i>Berakhot 32b</i> in the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Talmud.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">As to the
individual and private practice of meditation in a synagogue building—whenever
I have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>sat in silent contemplative<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>prayer in a synagogue outside of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>formal service times, I have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>invariably been approached and invited to join a study group on the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>assumption I was a lonely would-be student;
asked if I am “O.K.” on the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>assumption
such<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a person,sitting alone at such a
time,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>must be<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>either depressed or distressed; or (on
several occasions)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>had a book thrust
forcefully into my hands on the assumption I<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>was neglecting study and had fallen asleep!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Torah
Study—whether undertaken<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ritually in the
middle of <i>Shacharit </i>or the other liturgical services, or as a
separate<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>activity—is almost always a
communal or partnership activity. The latter often involves animated argument
and even verbally aggressive conflict (<i>for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>sake of heaven)</i> as
differences of opinion are ironed out. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Together
with the ritual reading of the <i>Sefer Torah</i>,<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; line-height: 103%;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
such study periods are regarded as being the time to ‘hear’ what G-d is
saying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rarely is it something that
is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>done alone in meditative prayer or with
extended periods of silent reflection.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
believe<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that it is possible to receive <i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>direct and individual </i>Divine responses
during our solitary study, davening, and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>in our contemplative<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>prayer.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #444444; line-height: 103%;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To assume<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>that a person sitting alone<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in a
place of worship in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>silence, with eyes
closed,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>or without<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a book in their<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>hands is either dozing or depressed is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a tragic commentary on<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>common contemporary practice. That such
people are actually engaged in the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>silent ‘study’ of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><i><a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-torah-of-heart-shavuot-2021.html" target="_blank">Torah of
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Heart</a> </i></b>is often rarely understood or
appreciated <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>these days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Suffice it
to say, for the moment, that definitions<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>of what constitutes <i>essential Prayer</i> and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>essential Torah Study</i> are not so
rigidly<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>clear-cut when<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>one looks at the various schools of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jewish mysticism in antiquity, or at the
Kabbalistic or Chassidic traditions—all of which have been unanimous in
claiming that contemplative prayer in solitude is an authentic auxiliary to public
worship and study. Some have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>even<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>said it exceeds them in importance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>most definitely and passionately aligned with this latter approach.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">ooo0ooo</span></span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: x-large; text-indent: 11.35pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">I hope
that the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>reader will <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>appreciate that my choice to live<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as a Jewish hermit was not merely to
reinstate contemplative prayer or solitary practices into my life<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>because of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>a nostalgic longing for my catholic-monastic past. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">I was
consciously doing it because I believe
that <i>silent</i> <i>contemplative prayer</i> and <i>solitary ascetic retreat
practices<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>both have a legitimately
Jewish history that is in quite urgent
need of renewal after a long hiatus. (I outlined some of my views on this in an essay entitled "<i><a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2013/09/solitude-in-jewish-contemplative.html" target="_blank">Solitude in Jewish Contemplative Practice</a></i>") </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span color="windowtext" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Once I had decided to be a
full-time contemplative with a mission, my daily and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>seasonal <i>horarium</i> became<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>similarly transformed as follows:</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">The week I divided quite simply into <i>Shabbat
</i>and <i>l’chol</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The weekdays (<i>l’chol</i>)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>always seemed like one long day somehow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Shabbat</i> observance was a work in
progress: in the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>early years of the
cave-retreat, I observed <i>Shabbat</i> according to Masorti/Conservative<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>principles and then in the last eight years I
became (to this<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>day) fully <i>shomer
Shabbat </i>in the<i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Orthodox
manner.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 103%;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was,
as yet, unable<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to attend any communal
Jewish services as the nearest community was several hundred miles away—but <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I united intentionally in everything I did
with all Israel in spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>L’chol
</i>routine involved a morning of davening and<i> hitbonenut </i>(silent
contemplative prayer) followed by a walk and snack</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">—</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and a Spanish siesta.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the third year onwards, the walk was
frequently skipped as I often remained in the cloistered enclosure of the house
for three or four days at a time—sometimes for several weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I spent a part of each morning in study,
writing letters, checking world news online, and writing articles for this <i>Jewish</i>
<i>Contemplatives</i> website.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>afternoon became a period of manual work (housework, decorating,
laundry, gardening, or sweeping the street by neighbourly rota). To paraphrase
the Carthusian founder,</span></span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> Bruno of Cologne</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> : each weekday afternoon was a time
of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Quies</i><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 103%;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">—</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">leisure which is occupied and work which is
performed in tranquility</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">—and a</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">s
such, it was often my favourite time of the day.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Throughout this period I rested in G-d. My
hands and body in motion but with my attention on/in Him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ninety percent of the time I chose only tasks
which enabled this, and I was well<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>aware
that being able to do that, free from pressing family or career
responsibilities, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was an enormous
blessing in itself.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
the evening I would<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>daven and make
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>second (and usually longer) daily
period of <i>hitbonenut</i>, most often<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>on the roof. This would<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>be
followed by a main meal and an evening of text-based study, or writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had budget internet access in the evening,
and I made full use of it. The internet was my library and almost all<i> </i>of
my surfing time was spent on Jewish sites.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I had no access to Jewish library books and could not afford to buy more than one or two books per year, so the internet was gold to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Inside and
outside of the periods of liturgical prayer and contemplative<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>hitbodedut/hitbonenut</i>—one way or
another—my time was devoted to the cultivation of a ‘<i>shiviti</i>’ focus: keeping
the Presence/Name of HaShem in mind at all times.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For me, this did<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>not consist in
the maintenance of a literal focus<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on the
written Divine Name, nor<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was it a
kabbalistic activity as<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>expressed in the
beautiful <i>Hakdamos </i>to the siddur commentary <i>Keser Nehora</i></span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 103%;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"> by </span>Rabbi<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Aharon of Zhelichov.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <i>shiviti</i> text I refer
to is</span> a
popular meditational text that may appear at the top of a siddur page: or on a
calligraphic plaque <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>just above <i>Tehillim
67</i> in the form of a <i>menorah</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The text reads:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: UDPrague; font-size: 24pt;">שויתי יי לנגדי תמיד</span><span style="font-family: UDPrague; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><i>“I will set
HASHEM<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>always before me always.”</i> <i>(Tehillim 16:8).<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> Some take the <i>shiviti</i> graphic to be an
aid to hold the letters of the Tetragramaton visually <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in their minds, others regard it as a purely
ethical statement. Some others regard the concept it represents<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to be a description of the contemplative
practice of maintaining<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a more-or-less
constant awareness of the Presence of G-d. This is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the way I attempted to practice it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">For me it
was a way of remaining attached to the Divine Presence by a sort of
thread—sometimes verbal, sometimes conceptual—a thread somewhat like that which
is attached to a kite or fishing line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That is to say, it was sometimes taut and highly charged with activity,
sometimes passively floating in the wind/water: yet <i>always</i> attached.
This was a <i>persistent<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>attempt</i> to
practice <i>devekut</i> rather than the conclusive attainment of it, but<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was blessed to have been given both<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the time and the inclination to offer this
attempt as my Service of the Heart.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Many years<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>after writing those<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>last few paragraphs I was excited to discover<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that this is also a highly developed core
Sufi practice known as <i>dhikr. </i>I hope to expand on that discovery shortly.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">oo0oo</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Almost all of what you<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>read here in this ‘chapter’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>A Hermit’s Tale</i> was
actually written between 2010 and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>2014.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>merely added and deleted a few passages. In
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>very first version, I wrote:</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 23.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">“At first sight, it might
appear that what I have described in this chapter is simply the record of a
personal psychological solution to adversely changed circumstances: a possibly
defeatist or quietist approach to accepting the vicissitudes of life with
equanimity. This is not
so. For intentional religious
contemplatives, there is more going on
behind the veil.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 23.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">The process of turning things
on their head to see curses as blessings is a combative struggle which is
anything but passive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a process
which produces an <i>active</i> mode of acceptance which needs constant renewal
and reaffirmation. The process of purification seems<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to be cyclic and lessons are repeated on a
kind of learning spiral. The Teacher in this process is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>not the individual standing alone, but the
Divine One in whose Presence they stand.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 23.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Furthermore, I believe that the quest for a state of <i>hishtavut</i>
<i>(equanimity)</i> is, in itself, part of the answer to many of our global problems
and not a matter of self-improvement. I discovered, by experience, what the sages
and mystics have been telling us for centuries:
Contentment is something to do with seeing things in a certain light not
something to do with something that we lack or think we need—And the power of
individuals being used to channel Divine Peace and Harmony is under-estimated.”</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reading
those words again in 2024 I am convinced that the perspective<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I described in that passage is <i>still</i>
the prime motivator of my perseverance and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>development as an intentionally solitary contemplative. I did not
realise it<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>at the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>time, but—once again— I was experiencing and writing
about concepts<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that are central to
Judeo-Sufic<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">In<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Part
Six</i> of <i>A Hermit’s Tale</i>, I hope to give you<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>an account of the way that Sufic encounter arose and burgeoned to produce a new experiment in contemplative community.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">©Nachman Davies<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Safed<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>March 12
2024 <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-align: left; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Previous
chapters of<i> A Hermit’s Tale</i> can be found here: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-align: left; text-indent: 0in;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2023/02/a-hermits-tale-part-one.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a>, <a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2023/03/a-hermits-tale-part-two.html" target="_blank">Part2</a>, <a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2023/03/a-hermits-tale-part-three.html" target="_blank">Part 3</a></span></i></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><i><a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2024/03/a-hermits-tale-part-4.html">Part
4</a></i></b> .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/nachman/Documents/A%20HERMITS%20TALE/Hermits%20Tales%20Part%205/HT%20part%205%20FINAL%20DRAFT.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">NOTES<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 103%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> <b>Hound
of Heaven</b>: A reference to the title of a mystical poem by Francis Thompson
(1859-1907).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="FootnoteTextcave"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 103%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Aldine401 BT"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><b><i><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 10pt;">Amidah</span></i></b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">: </span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 10pt;">(Standing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>before G-d) The <i>Amidah </i>is the central
prayer of the daily services. It is also called the <b><i>Shemoneh Esreh </i></b>(the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eighteen Blessings) in reference to the
original number of constituent blessings—there are now nineteen.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 103%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Hand-written parchment scroll of the Torah<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 103%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also learn from<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><i>Midrash Tanchuma</i></b> and from Rav Yisrael
Salanter that one should actually consider Hashem to be one’s <i>chavruta</i>
(study partner) when<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>studying alone…and
regard the study as a personal and intimate conversation with the Divine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I heard this from R' Boruch Lev in “Are you
growing?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>( Feldheim, November,2010)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference" style="background-color: white;"><span color="windowtext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/nachman/Documents/A%20HERMITS%20TALE/Hermits%20Tales%20Part%205/HT%20part%205%20FINAL%20DRAFT.docx#_ednref5" name="_edn5" title=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--></a><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 103%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Aldine401 BT"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/nachman/Documents/A%20HERMITS%20TALE/Hermits%20Tales%20Part%205/HT%20part%205%20FINAL%20DRAFT.docx#_ednref5" title="">[</a>5] </span></span></span></span></span> In 2014 I had almost exhausted my private funds and was forced to sell the house and became a rental tenant. I relocated to live as part of the vibrant and supportive Spanish Moroccan Jewish Community of Torremolinos, where I studied and worshipped. I completed an Orthodox conversion in Madrid in 2016, made aliyah to Safed in 2019, and in 2020 returned to an intentionally solitary lifestyle.—but that is another story for another time. </p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 103%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">
see<span class="MsoHyperlink"><span color="windowtext"> <b><i>‘An Infinity
of Little Hours’, </i></b>Nancy Klein Maguire, page 161<i>(Public
Affairs/Perseus Book Group, Cambridge MA, 2006.)</i></span></span><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="FootnoteTextcave"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 103%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Aldine401 BT"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 10pt;"> Rabbi Aharon’s prefaces (<i>hakdamot</i>)
to this commentary contain instructions for developing a ‘shiviti’
consciousness in davening. <i>B’ezrat Hashem</i>, these <i>Hakdamot</i> will
hopefully soon be available in an English translation by Rabbi <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dovid Sears.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-72805886738287684972024-03-06T18:12:00.002+02:002024-03-12T13:07:01.788+02:00A HERMIT'S TALE: Part Four<h1 style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKLGEm94jmKh-Wyo0cEdWhjCcJe8JT-dtjPf31XUSnl5qI0q5fo9Rcn6gvUXQrK6hZFY_ow4XrgXVqEjGX9IKx_RJsohbYALVemvYzb0C2AKo0-6MwrIsrmX-18z2KsTVorMPGzAhVOgRoiHKLB4KwWuvjqSoUodv-jQNHMTEG-M4aBY-S6ToBIw" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="206" data-original-width="589" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiKLGEm94jmKh-Wyo0cEdWhjCcJe8JT-dtjPf31XUSnl5qI0q5fo9Rcn6gvUXQrK6hZFY_ow4XrgXVqEjGX9IKx_RJsohbYALVemvYzb0C2AKo0-6MwrIsrmX-18z2KsTVorMPGzAhVOgRoiHKLB4KwWuvjqSoUodv-jQNHMTEG-M4aBY-S6ToBIw=w400-h140" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Hermitage in 2003</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table></h1><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2e74b5; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 103%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2e74b5; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 103%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;">Parts 4 and 5 of <i>A Hermit’s Tale</i> are really
one (rather long) item because both are
concerned with one subject: The transformation process that I experienced
during an extended solitary retreat in Andalusia 2000-2014. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2e74b5; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 103%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;">Previous chapters of<i> A Hermit’s Tale</i> can be found here: <b><i><a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2023/02/a-hermits-tale-part-one.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a>, <a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2023/03/a-hermits-tale-part-two.html" target="_blank">Part2</a>, <a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2023/03/a-hermits-tale-part-three.html" target="_blank">Part 3</a></i></b>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2e74b5; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 103%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: x-large; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;">A Cave in Granada</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">The <i>Cave of the Heart</i> is my preferred
name for the place or state of meeting in which the contemplative Jew
encounters the Divine. It was the title
of a short book (<span class="MsoHyperlink"><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/CAVE-HEART-Kuntres-Maarat-Ha-Lev/dp/B0B573N46H/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.PSDXZIkQPnO86ChmGaLEr6eNZKnJI9sx37k22lUT0L_l33kM6oWHd_Ocqu9nc4WBbIc5tU6RWmIjUHErnolkgeuFM5FZdgIUUJCKCrk5kEtc0H-yTgJndSFKoLtdkgrbVEHpIeNndbNllVq8qVojTk5W8E7qigDASioiLTRybMigLmPPJxGx3HiMw0qu51EWQyM1RJxw5vb3DHLbeTEIzbH2BtVrjERTGxecAZV31ow.uUi2sHa1djFOdttzoLqibI2q1-iBQ_1xpoKhvlWHQ-0&qid=1708499359&sr=8-1">Kuntres
Maarat Ha-Lev</a></i></span>)
that I wrote in 2005—in the early days of my twelve year residence as a
solitary Jewish hermit in a cave-house in Spain. In the following autobiographical essay (Parts 4 and 5 of this <i>Hermit's Tale</i>) I
hope to describe what happened in my
‘Cave in Granada’ in more detail.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">My primary intention in doing this is (i) to shed some light on the way a disability or
unexpected spiritual trial can ignite a process of transformation, and (ii) to
give the reader a clearer impression of what a Jewish eremitical life might
feel like. One of my dearest teachers,
Rabbi Lionel Blue, often pointed out that our lives are our own scriptures, and
that—where spirituality is concerned—we should only write about what we have
experienced ourselves.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">My decision to return to life as a dedicated contemplative did not happen
overnight. It emerged slowly as my deafness progressed. In 1999, once I had accepted that I was
becoming so deaf that my life as a musician and a music teacher was about to
end, I chose to take some time away from
full-time employment to develop and finish “<i>The Song of Caedmon”</i>— an
orchestral-choral work I had been re-writing.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> I
accepted a friend’s offer to stay as a guest in her vacant mountain home
in the mountain-top village of Comares in Andalucia and soon afterwards,I took
her advice to make a new home in Spain. Her
advice was pertinent because she had remembered my time as a Carmelite (a monastic order
reformed by two Spaniards with Jewish ancestry: Teresa of Avila and Juan de la Cruz) but also she
thought that the climate might be suitable as I had spent so many years living in the tropical climate of South East
Asia. She was right—I can still remember
the shock of facing the late autumn British climate in London on the way back
to Europe—nor had I forgotten the romantic but freezing years living behind mediaeval stone walls in Storeton on the Wirral. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #9cc2e5; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themetint: 153;"> </span><span color="windowtext" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Following the re-location to Spain, my intention was to
compose and to look for part-time work
to make a living. I managed the former
but the later eluded me. As with so many
situations in my life, it seems that
Providence had different and quite unexpected plans for me.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">In 1999, after a few months living in Comares, and having no
other property to tie me down in any way— I bought a small, unusual, and
comparatively inexpensive home in Salobreña on the coast of Granada province. Shmuel (Ibn Nagrela) Ha Nagid had been
encamped with his army in nearby Almuñecar
and it is highly likely that he will have
visited the castle of Salobreña
whilst functioning as a general in the army of the Sultan of Granada.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> The Phoenician name of this town was “<i>Salambina</i>”
and I like to think that its name might
be related to the Hebrew “<i>Shalom-Binah</i>”. For me, it certainly
proved to be a womb-like gestator of the
peace and wholeness that comes
from intuitive understanding.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Situated in the shadow of that Arab castle, and in a pedestrian barrio of ten
other houses whose Spanish residents were mostly members of one extended
family, my new Spanish home was an old, traditionally-built house that nestled
seamlessly into a dramatic rock outcrop in a cliff-face. Its site on <i>Cuesta
de Gambullon</i>—<i>Cliffside of the Bubbling Spring</i>— had been a Bronze Age
settlement and to me and to many
visitors it had a strongly numinous atmosphere.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> The
house was in the top left-hand corner of the <i>barrio</i>, a small pedestrian <i>cul-de-sac</i> that was set apart on a limb from
the rest of the town, directly under the castle, on the western side of the <i>casco
antiguo</i> (old village). The area was sheltered at the sides by tall trees and huge rocks. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPUYJdaMiGVyVd_FRC39bP0EYTB3dycr64f5S4qkeTuK5tOGPGiKKM2bSAVlK4F_P2ParUr4UJU8DvsTpUWTcaNp0qkIQHE5T23_W0T3XREAqpx0iOy1X8oseUf74fsILTPj-WNZ9RzLnes0nOIjUGy_4pQ57emMqrYQiAdh5qKKSIdmYiO0nWcw/s816/Gambullon%20barrio.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="816" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPUYJdaMiGVyVd_FRC39bP0EYTB3dycr64f5S4qkeTuK5tOGPGiKKM2bSAVlK4F_P2ParUr4UJU8DvsTpUWTcaNp0qkIQHE5T23_W0T3XREAqpx0iOy1X8oseUf74fsILTPj-WNZ9RzLnes0nOIjUGy_4pQ57emMqrYQiAdh5qKKSIdmYiO0nWcw/w400-h313/Gambullon%20barrio.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">These features gave it a rural feel even though the bustling
town was only a few minutes walk away. It was an ex-monk’s dream and it even came
with a pseudo-cloister in the form of a small but private and high-walled patio: ideal for perambulatory or sedentary secluded
meditations.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxk4oMfhk_dv6fEdQ3aulp3oDaBSWN7x276b_ENBMz3nE5EeFjXnpDeZpd2mWeQ5oMKTniKzEpgLmRHkXzwpwC0NWwjShNbkaO3lSLs-DR10Jj_Se1PNAQeIHNP0M8ZNFH-JXpfvzz6xwRtt31ssj15v62slaDlUi-rYzFzXKK0wQIWwfxk4jprQ/s1266/Pasillo%20and%20Patio.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="943" data-original-width="1266" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxk4oMfhk_dv6fEdQ3aulp3oDaBSWN7x276b_ENBMz3nE5EeFjXnpDeZpd2mWeQ5oMKTniKzEpgLmRHkXzwpwC0NWwjShNbkaO3lSLs-DR10Jj_Se1PNAQeIHNP0M8ZNFH-JXpfvzz6xwRtt31ssj15v62slaDlUi-rYzFzXKK0wQIWwfxk4jprQ/w400-h297/Pasillo%20and%20Patio.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Patio cloister</i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> As a
young Carmelite in the 1970’s, I had visited the rarely seen interior of the
Carthusian monastery in Parkminster, and the layout of this little house with
its enclosed garden resembled one of the
many hermitages there. In fact that was
the reason I chose it in the first place.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">In those days, before property developers
destroyed much of the municipality’s natural beauty, it overlooked a coastal
valley filled with sugar-cane fields and countless wild birds. (I was once even
visited by a hoopoe). From its roof I was able to sit on a bench before a
Mediterranean sea-view that was crowned daily by an idyllically beautiful
and expansive sunset. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQUuLSfoWAEWDS51O_jLtaO7sZbNJP3U_WIpOYvC_7_iSKadk9TOxx_gA-QWbF8HYUZXlEgwd-NHGtmvhaWeqhzNeOBRHzSwJ-g2Y-Ln378ghgfTTrtYmFU17LnLZWSKAA3GMlRlCECM2jher1gBrn-5LcohS9nMNaQ6GaFMHu6n0co7kSnmC-Ng/s916/bedroom%20window.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="916" data-original-width="685" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQUuLSfoWAEWDS51O_jLtaO7sZbNJP3U_WIpOYvC_7_iSKadk9TOxx_gA-QWbF8HYUZXlEgwd-NHGtmvhaWeqhzNeOBRHzSwJ-g2Y-Ln378ghgfTTrtYmFU17LnLZWSKAA3GMlRlCECM2jher1gBrn-5LcohS9nMNaQ6GaFMHu6n0co7kSnmC-Ng/s320/bedroom%20window.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>View from my desk</i></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">In earlier
days, that bay of Almuñecar was the
point of maritime entry to Spain of the invading Islamic armed forces
from Morocco. Many of their soldiers
were Jewish mercenaries. In the later mediaeval
era, Almuñecar had a thriving Jewish
quarter though little memory of it
survived the expulsion of 1492.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Two of the house’s four walls were actually part
of the natural rock face, untouched save for being whitewashed with lime <i>cal</i>
annually. The living room and dining area was thus a cave, lit by a small
sky-light band of opaque glass bricks that filled the enclosed space with sunlight—warm in winter,
cool in summer— and the perfect place
for silent solitary encounter with G-d. It even came with its own "cleft in the rock" in the corner behind the pillar.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXrvacYckAyeGktIBsXab5p884dXgR-FwDQ2XTOYbu3-kvJzGXX1wzA5wg1LY4Atdp9fKFaP6hcjQWYX9GHLsLgn5ycHg4nS8AlW0hOaWunhnTjtYisYfMTrJYaK2LZjF3c7HezC_gGwXnIQQogvrotDyx86-kJlq6IKmy6hJ0c_5d3IX4LtgyOg/s1280/cave%20day.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXrvacYckAyeGktIBsXab5p884dXgR-FwDQ2XTOYbu3-kvJzGXX1wzA5wg1LY4Atdp9fKFaP6hcjQWYX9GHLsLgn5ycHg4nS8AlW0hOaWunhnTjtYisYfMTrJYaK2LZjF3c7HezC_gGwXnIQQogvrotDyx86-kJlq6IKmy6hJ0c_5d3IX4LtgyOg/w400-h300/cave%20day.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">As I spoke very little Spanish and there were
few English speakers in the town, my
idyllic domestic situation lent itself naturally to the development of a life of solitude, and I was able to experience ‘expanded
time’ away from the hustle and bustle of
the workaholic life I had left behind.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> I will
admit—I thought I had entered my own custom-made Paradise, and I will
remain grateful for the rest of my life
for the blessing I received in being able to live in such a place
for fifteen whole years, subsisting solely on my own savings until I was forced to sell it by encroaching
poverty. Storeton had been heavily
mortgaged, and this Spanish Hermitage was thus the first and only property that I have ever fully owned.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">As one visiting friend remarked, the rock
walls of the Salobreña hermitage seemed to envelop me in a protective embrace. I certainly felt
that way about it myself as I set to work on two fronts: to compose and to come
to terms with the loss of my hearing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">The routine which quickly developed went
something like this: Occasionally I was visited by old friends from the UK who stayed with me for three or four days. This would happen maybe once or twice a
year. For the rest of the year I lived
alone, left the village about three days in a year, and left the house once a
day on a regular, short walk up and down the hill: partly for exercise,
sometimes for food shopping, and often for
a solitary and anonymous <i>café con leche</i> in a locally run and
patronised <i>cafetería</i> where I was made to feel most welcome but was
otherwise left in silent peace.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">The entire time was spent in almost total silence.The few
Spanish words of business spoken on the shopping trip, or in a brief greeting
with my neighbours as we crossed paths in the street were my only ‘live’ human
contact. The rest of the time was spent in the house or in its small
high-walled garden doing manual jobs, reading, studying, composing, writing
letters—and eventually—praying.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">At first, such silence and solitude was not consciously sought out, but slowly and surely
it materialised as a path on which I was being asked to walk with full
intentionality of purpose.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Little by little, as the rhythym of that solitary silence enveloped me, and as my clinical deafness deepened — I began to
examine what was happening to me. I was well aware that I had landed in a comfortable home, in good general
health, with enough money in the bank to
be self supporting without income for a
few years. I have never for one moment forgotten that enormous good
fortune. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">But at the same time, I found myself stripped
of the character-supportive motivation and prestige that a job-title or
job-description brings; saddened by the hearing loss that now drastically
limited the musical and educational activities which had been my life; far from
old and dear friends and from the
comforts of hearing and speaking English—my own first language—and I found
myself set down thus psychologically exposed on a spiritual mountain top. On a ‘bad’ day I became increasingly lonely
and self-pitying.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;">My response was to spend most of my time
working on the completion of</span><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;">a
composition entitled</span><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;"> </span><i style="text-indent: 11.35pt;">The</i><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;"> </span><i style="text-indent: 11.35pt;">Song
of Caedmon. </i><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;">That project</span><i style="text-indent: 11.35pt;"> </i><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;">took
a little over one year of daily work to complete.</span><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;">I am not a technically gifted composer,
though I think I was an imaginative and hard working one. I lack the
intellectual capacity to compose works</span><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;">
</span><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;">of anything</span><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;">approaching genius,
even from a great distance.</span><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;">As a
composer (and performer) my reach has always exceeded my grasp.</span><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;">One of the skills that I simply never
possessed was the ability to hear complex music in my head. I could hold one
line of melody there easily. Simple counterpoint was</span><i style="text-indent: 11.35pt;"> just</i><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;"> possible
but</span><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;">multi-layered orchestral textures
have</span><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;">always been beyond my mental grasp without
the aid of a keyboard or an audible notation program, both of which I was using
to compose and revise my work.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><b><i><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">The Song of Caedmon<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> The story behind the text of the
<i>Song of Caedmon</i> is the reason I chose to spend so much time and effort working on this particular
composition. It had a message for me
personally and I wanted to share that with a wide audience
through music.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> The original story is to be
found in Bede’s <i> Historia
Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum </i>written in the early eighth century C.E. and it recounts the dream vision of a cowherd
at Whitby Abbey on the Yorkshire coast. In the dream he heard the Voice of G-d asking him to sing. Being untrained and uneducated he demurred
but, on being pressed by the Voice, he
produced the following song:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Anglo-Saxon original</span><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Nù sculon herigean
heofonrìces Weard,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Meotodes meahte ond
his mòdgeþanc,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">weorc Wuldorfæder,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">swà hè wundra
gehwæs,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">èce Drihten, òr
onstealde.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Hè ærest sceòp
eorðan bearnum<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">heofon tò hròfe,
hàlig Scyppend;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">þà middangeard
monncynnes Weard,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">èce Drihten, æfter
tèode,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">fìrum foldan, Frèa
ælmihtig."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Bede’s Latin:</span><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="ES"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Nunc laudere debemus auctorem regni caelestis,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">potentiam creatoris et consilium illius,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="ES"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">facta Patris gloriae.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="ES"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Quomodo ille,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="ES"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">cum sit aeternus Deus,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="ES"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">omnium miraculorum auctor exstitit,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="ES"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">qui primo filiis hominum caelum pro culmine tecti,<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="ES"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">dehinc terram custos humani generis omnipotens creavit.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="ES"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Modern English:</span><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Now let us praise
the Guardian of heaven<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">The Maker’s might
and His mind’s thought<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">The work of the
Wonder Father<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">How of all the
wonders that are,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">the Lord Eternal,
laid the first stone.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">He shaped the earth
for earthy man<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">He made him a
heaven,a heaven for roof, Holy Shaper<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Ruler of Middle
Earth, Mankind’s Guardian<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Lord Eternal, when
all else was created<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">He made him the
earth, Lord Almighty.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="left" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> He reported the event to Abbess Hilda—whose monastery was unusual
in that she presided over both male <i>and</i>
female monastics on one site—and he was given every encouragement to continue
composing poetry and music. He
eventually became a professed monk in
that establishment. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> The
story bears a message of
encouragement for all those who doubt their ability and underlines the
effectiveness of encouraging support from
one’s mentor or spiritual guide.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: justify;"><span color="windowtext" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> Here is part of my setting of the Anglo-Saxon text as
it appears at the start of the composition, to be sung by a boy soloist and
then taken up by a solo soprano:</span></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFQnBt0o_qHNxjWPr1prZPlnRz9bSEtcrcYRzHA3Q77mZ9jxZaH5y5h1tG-C_UbgPEKLellI9N54BYnplPTWJX_gWRK0SM0Pvc-soBmNCTyy4kw8jyguhFiiEGUtWqVWI1cfxTvQP4OwzRdNCKLSzIKxuzbN7jcqdMHlMFzrsexalrtvEGJV16Vg/s1663/Caedmon%20ex%201a.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="554" data-original-width="1663" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFQnBt0o_qHNxjWPr1prZPlnRz9bSEtcrcYRzHA3Q77mZ9jxZaH5y5h1tG-C_UbgPEKLellI9N54BYnplPTWJX_gWRK0SM0Pvc-soBmNCTyy4kw8jyguhFiiEGUtWqVWI1cfxTvQP4OwzRdNCKLSzIKxuzbN7jcqdMHlMFzrsexalrtvEGJV16Vg/w400-h134/Caedmon%20ex%201a.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>(click on graphics to enlarge all scores)</b></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM34GjDgCCOuWqGR8XuZVteqbQWmx5Nji4Q9YA0XTy8CJbOYCuF2IAIkNDjIihpmSLHz3GvchnSTnJbuD6OlCjpGnfNpKrNxKPZqVweFlYRT2hZpEBu0VCaJ9CP7dSz-Te1q-1vHcUhlOCTugsca67odVkZmX982gm8-l3PNmGtx7Avx29iRTK2w/s1387/Caedmon%20ex%201b.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="609" data-original-width="1387" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM34GjDgCCOuWqGR8XuZVteqbQWmx5Nji4Q9YA0XTy8CJbOYCuF2IAIkNDjIihpmSLHz3GvchnSTnJbuD6OlCjpGnfNpKrNxKPZqVweFlYRT2hZpEBu0VCaJ9CP7dSz-Te1q-1vHcUhlOCTugsca67odVkZmX982gm8-l3PNmGtx7Avx29iRTK2w/w400-h176/Caedmon%20ex%201b.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ1p5GtPsXTL6Mt-3D_8Fm9bIbgZKvBLFhe1BbO0IM5VrkJqhDwAj9nCDcP-GituxqBWgMF-z7WbGJXV-0xggEjMyMAuLalMA9Ilagi9m8N-Cv8AXzQzYi_7IafOW57q3pHWwzWT1H1bLgFVb1yZdp4QalWIANX-nJIJ_lJlAPq7Nsz4xuzFJIFg/s1317/Caedmon%20ex%201c.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="721" data-original-width="1317" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ1p5GtPsXTL6Mt-3D_8Fm9bIbgZKvBLFhe1BbO0IM5VrkJqhDwAj9nCDcP-GituxqBWgMF-z7WbGJXV-0xggEjMyMAuLalMA9Ilagi9m8N-Cv8AXzQzYi_7IafOW57q3pHWwzWT1H1bLgFVb1yZdp4QalWIANX-nJIJ_lJlAPq7Nsz4xuzFJIFg/w400-h219/Caedmon%20ex%201c.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">ooo0ooo</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> Many readers will
note that the autobiographical sketches I have presented in this “Hermit’sTale”
have been just that: sketchy. This
is because the Tale is written merely to
provide some outline background to the
texts I have written on Contemplative Prayer and lifestyles. In these sketches
therefore, I have tended to leave out all references to personal relationships
except for my relationships with my formal teachers. Of course we learn from everyone
we encounter, and in recounting the story of the <i>Song of Caedmon</i>
I must make an exception, and honour a special person who was not one of my formal teachers. In fact she was my ‘Hilda
of Whitby force’ <i>par excellence</i>. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Here is the tale:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> In my youth, as a student at St Anselm’s Sixth form College, I had a close friend at
school, Thomas—and very soon his family
became <i>my</i> adopted family. Quite unexpectedly (for both of us) his
Manchester-born mother, Claire Machell (née Ockleston) became the closest
friend of my adolescence. I was
seventeen. She was in her fifties. She
was a Roman Catholic, training to become a religion
teacher, and a person newly discovering the comparitive freedoms
of Vatican II, Focolare, and Liberation
Theology. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> We spent many evenings, sitting
in the corner of her ever-active kitchen while
the rest of the family watched the television, argued politics, or made
music in the front room. We often
discussed the spiritual writings of both classical and modern
theologians—but our discussions were most especially focussed on a person’s
relationship to G-d in contemplative intimacy and prayer.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> She also 'believed' in me (and the musical and
religious creativity she thought I had been blessed with) one hundred and twenty
percent and— just as St Hilda encouraged Caedmon to write poetry— she
encouraged me to write “spiritually
active” music for fellow spiritual seekers. For this reason, the first (1977) and all subsequent
versions of the <i>Song of Caedmon</i> score bear a dedication specifically to her. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> In later years when I lived in Storeton and could
not afford to heat my home
during the winter, I returned to her
centrally heated home for some physical
and spiritual warmth and comfort. By that time, most of her children had moved
out and so the piano was largely unused. I composed the second draft of the <i>Song of Caedmon</i> in
her front room—sustained by her food, drink, and overflowing kindness. She was
always there for me. May her soul
have an aliyah. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">ooo0ooo</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Earlier versions of the <i>Song of Caedmon</i>
had been performed by school orchestras in my places of work both in UK and in
South East Asia, and all versions of the
work featured orchestral and vocal parts for professional players and
also elementary parts for raw beginners.
As had been the case with the
1979 composition entitled <i>Sinai</i>
(described in <span class="MsoHyperlink"><i><a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2023/03/a-hermits-tale-part-three.html">A
Hermits Tale: Part Three</a></i></span>) I saw these performances of the work as a kind of place-holder in time and
space, designed to generate a
<b><i>prophetic </i></b>experience in both the performers
and the audiences.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> I
particularly wanted the orchestras
and choirs to be
composed of adults <i>and</i> children; gifted professionals <i>and</i>
struggling amateurs. This produced a rather strange score in which some orchestral parts included sections that were within the grasp of elementary level students; some quite
basic but with challenges; and
some only possible by virtuosi. Here
is the
moment when the full choir enters.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA0Ni5ZHDEHA1UqB74JBuQXGxDryXsdf7KXz-GHU-0C1v02qrO9AghjaA98fhdta1KHvuAes3RzCCpuSc2NtGXKS_F67PF2f_pGFUlnugdfO9aBmg4cCK98SntCCoQ6kGTdTCvtOtN9JSPkf_c89SOFaBLIVYZCSD0VYAJWc_-leNYIMoo75TkDA/s3029/Caedmon%20ex%202.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3029" data-original-width="2151" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA0Ni5ZHDEHA1UqB74JBuQXGxDryXsdf7KXz-GHU-0C1v02qrO9AghjaA98fhdta1KHvuAes3RzCCpuSc2NtGXKS_F67PF2f_pGFUlnugdfO9aBmg4cCK98SntCCoQ6kGTdTCvtOtN9JSPkf_c89SOFaBLIVYZCSD0VYAJWc_-leNYIMoo75TkDA/w284-h400/Caedmon%20ex%202.jpg" width="284" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>click on graphic to enlarge</i></b></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> Here
is an extract from the score which is
intended to represent a celestial
gamelan. (The crotales need to be played by several players and dampened as in gamelan....ideally they should be homemade as are the bells used in the composition)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Mri0xDk6b1-iQ1qNAnqTW4Y0UZaqjk0XIG3dSfOOMo70-61JzIvR6muA5nDHVQxSHznmmFUCA9Y79nRBU1g5pTRqzXvJ9yu0n9kSvRlpeb2cNbQJZm6sH6t2_PwgO8smNoOIEMgNyG5LdHUHNjR5JJB0Bc5Elng7980FW40ajs_hTsDkfoGLNQ/s2828/Caedmon%20ex%203.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2828" data-original-width="1950" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Mri0xDk6b1-iQ1qNAnqTW4Y0UZaqjk0XIG3dSfOOMo70-61JzIvR6muA5nDHVQxSHznmmFUCA9Y79nRBU1g5pTRqzXvJ9yu0n9kSvRlpeb2cNbQJZm6sH6t2_PwgO8smNoOIEMgNyG5LdHUHNjR5JJB0Bc5Elng7980FW40ajs_hTsDkfoGLNQ/w276-h400/Caedmon%20ex%203.jpg" width="276" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>click to enlarge</i></b></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> After completing the score in 2006, I approached several
well-connected academic and professional contacts in a quest to obtain a performance of the work...but to no avail... and
I was not really surprised by this: The unusual mixed ability scoring and
extensive resources required were
daunting. Also, there may well have been
errors in the score which I was unable to detect once the deafness had
progressed beyond the red-line, and I may well have overworked the material to the point of its structural collapse. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">During the period I was working on the <i>Song
of Caedmon</i>, I lost the ability to hear most of the upper frequencies and
harmonics of the music I was writing. When
using the playback features of the <i>Sibelius</i>
notation app that I used, it became impossible for me to distinguish a tone
from a semi-tone or the timbre of a
voice from that of a flute, violin, or trumpet. In despair, though I finished
the work as far as I was able, I gave up trying
to proof-read and edit it. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> I
still have a digital copy of the score
of the <i>Song of Caedmon</i>, and I
have a hope that someone with greater
ability might recast the melodic lines and general concept of the work as I left it,
regarding them as building blocks that
they might craft into a totally new and more perfect work.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">For every Mozart there are myriads of Salieris and
realising after so many years of work on the project that I was a “Salieri” was painful
but a great exercise in ego-control. Travelling through the labyrinth of the seven or eight versions of the <i>Song of Caedmon</i> that I had
worked on I had emerged to realise that the
real lessons learnt were extra-musical: The
power of inspiration;the
value of being encouraged by a
loving mentor;the determination that can produce relentless perseverance; and that
we do not always attain the completion
of our projects ourselves. As <b><i>
Pirke Avot </i></b>has it:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
</div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><b>“It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to
neglect it”</b></span></p></div></blockquote></blockquote><div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="color: #444444;">Pirke Avot 2:14</span><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">This seems to be the principle lesson I am so often invited to learn...both throughout my life and to the present day!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Here are the closing bars
of the score, which features an offstage
choir:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidxsNyIvrcj5gfOTxhWlRWhAWSc1GbseGAIBA3CMQCnwY_MSaxNhTf-L-TX3rY7dKRQpov52Fa_EsuOkYsQcdfJnK17iq3ohivRnhKDkHDihApcro3lfuqQi3MChJqNw2HNFei15SQ3NOV6lxrFIZZkh4rdWgO1TptW6G-Rh0ParxdgVCXRkaFuw/s2273/Caedmon%20conclusion%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1488" data-original-width="2273" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidxsNyIvrcj5gfOTxhWlRWhAWSc1GbseGAIBA3CMQCnwY_MSaxNhTf-L-TX3rY7dKRQpov52Fa_EsuOkYsQcdfJnK17iq3ohivRnhKDkHDihApcro3lfuqQi3MChJqNw2HNFei15SQ3NOV6lxrFIZZkh4rdWgO1TptW6G-Rh0ParxdgVCXRkaFuw/w400-h261/Caedmon%20conclusion%201.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAOnb9F3pdEKNKCRtntgtx0i25M0gDB_BnUlMP6liWSJt-nrTger5QpKKjSvw08ym0ycg05NZl-Gsn3Y0EKO8nZkrTlFI4dd9R8S-EsDXymbM3WELxvLI53MBpDKNo-fsTNhZTYwBJIXzzdv7RfHRwsnflkRh7lj53iny2QJioNUwYdM5O7qdy-w/s2157/Caedmon%20conclusion%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1455" data-original-width="2157" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAOnb9F3pdEKNKCRtntgtx0i25M0gDB_BnUlMP6liWSJt-nrTger5QpKKjSvw08ym0ycg05NZl-Gsn3Y0EKO8nZkrTlFI4dd9R8S-EsDXymbM3WELxvLI53MBpDKNo-fsTNhZTYwBJIXzzdv7RfHRwsnflkRh7lj53iny2QJioNUwYdM5O7qdy-w/w400-h270/Caedmon%20conclusion%202.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSngKI95tVziMuWmi-eyCd0iVLVa9J3eueQ7imz8gE8BEsA4SRDW4EOmc7PsEbqCPWfw70LNwU6KYvfvulfu17pqcrIhqZKXimpOD16_WiMzdNqquo62e8lbve1lAX17IzGfuW12-OYRMNPuZbhC5YEUXh3Z2zj5ceI9gW1NILhrw3_wNdr_gCMQ/s2134/Caedmon%20conclusion%203.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1011" data-original-width="2134" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSngKI95tVziMuWmi-eyCd0iVLVa9J3eueQ7imz8gE8BEsA4SRDW4EOmc7PsEbqCPWfw70LNwU6KYvfvulfu17pqcrIhqZKXimpOD16_WiMzdNqquo62e8lbve1lAX17IzGfuW12-OYRMNPuZbhC5YEUXh3Z2zj5ceI9gW1NILhrw3_wNdr_gCMQ/w400-h190/Caedmon%20conclusion%203.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnDhLtCsBnZoCOaC4wIEUOroFUcMEPTaBp6tyT8wPB0_ua3qVOV3_IOk6ef75lEhTb82gywV0Dqo8eAAizhU5hotSqjyo6LBjiCci99yg2P5Dos-mTK0_cX0o4ds7zrdk5Diplj0uze53fFz7wwiCX7bG7g254qtVi5I0j2rL3j-hUjwBwPV03tA/s2249/Caedmon%20conclusion%204.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="2249" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnDhLtCsBnZoCOaC4wIEUOroFUcMEPTaBp6tyT8wPB0_ua3qVOV3_IOk6ef75lEhTb82gywV0Dqo8eAAizhU5hotSqjyo6LBjiCci99yg2P5Dos-mTK0_cX0o4ds7zrdk5Diplj0uze53fFz7wwiCX7bG7g254qtVi5I0j2rL3j-hUjwBwPV03tA/w400-h161/Caedmon%20conclusion%204.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><p></p><p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: right; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><br /></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><b><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">ooo0ooo</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">In Spain, my newly eroded and transformed opinion of my worth as a composer
had produced a brutally honest assessment of my technical limitations, but the
onslaught of clinical deafness really put the
lid on the process.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Deafness had presented me with a challenge in
self-esteem, with an obstacle to finding employment, and with a deterioration
in the social and communication possibilities
left open to me. It then
precipitated something much more
serious: a loss of trust (<i>bitachon</i>) in G-d though not of
faith (<i>emunah</i>) in His existence.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> I
remember many solitary walks in the
desolate and barren paths through the unkempt and plastic-greenhouse filled
outskirts of the town of Salobreña .
Unable to bear the claustrophobia
of my seemingly pointless
confinement I would cast myself out of the house seeking wide open space.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> As I
walked further away from inhabitated dwellings a repeated silent scream emerged, playing over
and over in my head: “Can you see me!
Can you hear me!?” This was my only
prayer at the time.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">For the first two years in Spain when I was
struggling with this acute religious alienation I really felt more alone,
deserted, and self-pitying than words here can express and I had no sense of anything approaching a
conscious connection with the G-d I was screaming at. But to this
day, I believe G-d was watching and listening even if I was unaware of it and feeling unable to
link-up. G-d was, as it were, watching
and listening for me to stop wriggling in anguish and see the path that He had
prepared for this moment and was about
to reveal.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">The musical, aural, social, and spiritual
experience that I have just described was almost overwhelmingly
depressing. At the time it seemed like tragedy, but I am well over
all that now. Hindsight—seeing the
back-view as the Divine Glory passes by the cleft in the rock<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 103%;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
— now makes the whole thing seem like a blessing in disguise. Any trials I had during those years, I now see
in proper perspective and I am not looking for sympathy. I have written about
them here simply because they turned out
to be the door which opened into the positive experience of contemplative prayer which has been my life and its source motivation ever since.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Being hard of hearing or deaf or disabled
in <i>any</i> way is not necessarily a <i>nisayon</i>
(test) from heaven. Everybody has their
own burdens and difficulties in life and they are not <i>necessarily</i>
perceived as being negative by the one who experiences them</span></p>
<span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Our response to difficult experiences is dependent upon our personal capacity for equanimity-in-adversity (<i>hishtavut</i>) or upon the possession of a cheerfully optimistic perspective, whether we posess it by nature or by nurture. It is true that painfully depressing situations can sometimes result in a spiral of negativity that may even lead to self-destruction; disabilities and obstacles are not always the generators of personal enlightenment or positive change. But they are often just that.</div></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> Furthermore, in the religious life of a
wholehearted spiritual seeker, perseverance and fortitude in the overcoming of obstacles is almost a standard benchmark of
genuine progress and development. On this the
mystical and philosophical sages of all religions agree.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">Those who embark on a search for intimacy
with the Divine often encounter a paradoxical change in their spiritual perception
along the following lines: On the one hand they will temporarily lose any sense of intimacy with
the G-d they seek, even in some cases to the
point of rejection and divorce;
and on the other hand, if they
persevere, they will allow themselves to be found by Him <i>when the time is
right</i>.</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: x-large; text-indent: 11.35pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">That appointed time may seem long in coming and we are counselled to remember that G-d may not always choose to grant it— but if
we are blessed, we only need to make one
step towards Him—once such a time has come — and He is with us in a flash. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> This Divine-Human dance is often repeated on a kind of spiral of learning.
With the passage of time and with
maturing experience of the process, G-d
seems simultaneously more distant and yet somehow closer; our love for Him is
purified by awe at His otherness as we travel upwards and inwards to meet Him. That
is a journey that never ends, and while
we are on it we become aware just how little
we know, or ever could know—despite being aware that we are progressing
in intimacy and nearness with Our Source.
There is a profound hope that we may experience Union with that Source
and many share my own
thirst for that. G-d alone knows
if and in what manner that might be
possible.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> Something of this perceptual
paradox is described in Rabbi Nachman of Breslov’s tale of the Heart of the World—a parable which appears
within the <i>Tale of the Seven Beggars</i>:</span></p>
<p class="CAVEQUOTES" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">The mountain with the stone and the spring stands at one end of the
world. The Heart of the World stands at the opposite end of the world………When it (the Heart) stands
facing the mountain it can see the peak upon which the Spring is, but as soon
as it comes close to the mountain, the peak is hidden from its eyes.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;">[ii]</span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> <span color="windowtext" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">It is also, as I discovered quite
recently, a key concept in the profoundly Sufic mysticism of Rabbi David ben Joshua Maimuni (1335-c.1415).
He was the last of the great literary
descendents of Maimonides who formed the Judeo-Sufic movement known as the
Egyptian Pietists/Hasidim. In his “<i>Guide to Solitude</i>” (<i>Al
Murshid</i>) written in Arabic— Rabbi David ben Joshua described the contemplative’s paradoxical malaise and he
quotes an unnamed <span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Muslim poet’s refrain to express it poetically:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 1pt;"><span color="windowtext" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 38.5pt;"><span color="windowtext"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><i><b>When He is
distant, He torments me,<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 38.5pt;"><span color="windowtext"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><i><b>And
when he draws near, I retreat in fear.<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 38.5pt;"><span color="windowtext"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><i><b>When
I disappear, He appears,<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 38.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><span color="windowtext"><i><b>And when He appears, I disappear</b></i></span><span color="windowtext" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;">.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span color="windowtext" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span color="windowtext" style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> For this poet, the
experience is transformed into a statement on <i>bitul hanefesh</i> (the Sufi
concept of <i>fana)</i>. The cure for the anguish of separation from the Divine
is thus contained within the experience of alienation itself, for Rabbi David, it is only through the anihilation of
the ego that the mystic can experience <i>deveykut</i>
and begin (as it were) to be obliterated into the Divine Ocean,
and then (as it were) see through G-d own eyes.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> Almost all contemplative
mystics have produced written or quoted intimations of such
(often repeated and cyclic) dark nights of the soul and their
transformed break-ups and re-unions with the Divine. Neither are they the
exclusive experience of the great and holy alone: All of us seem to have
to go through this process if we
are to grow up spiritually.</span></p>
</div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> <i><b>Durch diese hohle Gasse muss
er kommen.</b></i></span></p></div></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><i><b>Es führt kein andrer Weg nach </b></i></span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; text-align: justify;"><i><b>Küssnacht</b></i></span></span></p></div></blockquote></blockquote><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Those words come from Friedrich Schiller’s William Tell where Küssnacht is a village. The word also means ‘Kiss-Night’ in a literal sense. The line can thus be read as “through this narrow mountain pass he must come, there is no other way to kiss-night.”</div></span><div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><br />For me it describes the gate of
transformation before whose threshold I was standing and which I will describe in Part Five.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><o:p> </o:p><b style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">©Nachman Davies<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Safed </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> March 5
2024 <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Part Five of A <i>Hermit's Tale</i> is <a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2024/03/a-hermits-tale-part-five.html" target="_blank"><b><i>HERE</i></b></a></span></p>
<div><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/nachman/Documents/A%20HERMITS%20TALE/Hermits%20Tale%20Part%204/HT%20Part%204%20%20text%20only.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""></a><b>NOTES</b></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 103%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> <b><i><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">Shemot
33:22</span></i></b></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 103%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> From<i>
‘<b>The Seven Beggars</b>’</i> , trans.
R’Aryeh Kaplan in ‘<b><i>Rabbi Nachman’s Stories’</i></b><i> , page 34 (
Breslov Research Institute, Jerusalem/New York,1983)</i></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 103%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> The
poet quoted may have been Ahmad b. Mohammad an-Nuri (10<sup>th</sup> Century),
Dun-Nun, or Abu Hamzah as-Sufi all of whom wrote almost identical versions of
this text.</p>
</div>
<div id="edn4">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 103%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> <span style="color: red;"> </span>see <span style="color: red;"> </span>P. Fenton, <i>Obadiah
et David Maïmonide, Deux traités de mystique juive </i>,Lagrasse, Verdier,
1987, page 233.</p></div><div id="edn5">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</div><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-weight: normal;"><br /><br /></span></div>Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-50368428919094172912023-09-24T11:42:00.002+03:002023-09-24T11:42:48.268+03:00Alone on Yom Kippur?<p><span style="text-align: justify;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Libre Baskerville"; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjygdcVMW67JvxwEB-7ws4VHXSUk5kuLvwcdwNv4bZFqmpz9Lck_NHHYIDafoXI0n2273sdFl1ajyGMXr77rcsVTPQLo4HZN16mSjVCDOAKLfPgOC42GzMxVAVTP3M8EPBzADS_zTNSWxvNZuxrCYB0C4J-HBB03EWcp9SclDufrrM-2IJJPE7VKQ/s1032/Yom%20KIppur%20grafo%202023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="918" data-original-width="1032" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjygdcVMW67JvxwEB-7ws4VHXSUk5kuLvwcdwNv4bZFqmpz9Lck_NHHYIDafoXI0n2273sdFl1ajyGMXr77rcsVTPQLo4HZN16mSjVCDOAKLfPgOC42GzMxVAVTP3M8EPBzADS_zTNSWxvNZuxrCYB0C4J-HBB03EWcp9SclDufrrM-2IJJPE7VKQ/w400-h356/Yom%20KIppur%20grafo%202023.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There are many Jews who are alone on Shabbat or on the
Festivals who would desperately wish they were with a family, or amongst other
Jewish friends, and who feel this ache especially acutely at times like Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur If you are going to be alone this Yom Kippur, these words are for you:</span></span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">In <b><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/CAVE-HEART-Kuntres-Maarat-Ha-Lev-ebook/dp/B0B9L1BTS1/ref=sr_1_1?crid=25P8DSV7OXMF4&keywords=cave+of+the+heart&qid=1695544101&sprefix=cave+of+the+heart%2Caps%2C760&sr=8-1">Kuntres M’arat ha-Lev</a></i></b> I wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">“The contemplative is always in community, whether that be a
handful of neighbours, a family, a circle of distant friends kept often in
mind, or the people they meet briefly or correspond with. Even if they were in
total solitude they would still be part of the community of Creation:
Responsible not only for themselves but for everyone. This is not just my own
reflection. It is one which permeates the liturgy of Yom Kippur.</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville";"> </span></span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"></span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Arizal asks:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">“Why was the confession composed in
the plural?</span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Because all Israel is one body and
each individual Jew is a limb of that body.</span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">We are all responsible for each
other …”</span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><b><i>Yesod
ha-Teshuvah 6</i></b></span></p></blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Prayer is one of the deepest and most selfless forms of caring for
others that we are privileged to exercise as human partners in the Divine Plan.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">It is a hidden activity which does not draw attention to the ego,
and it can be exercised not just by Leviim and Kohanim, but by anyone with a
good and pure intention. Such profound and atoning prayer may be performed in
physical solitude or in the midst of a congregation— It is a paradox of Jewish
prayer that it is always communal and (at its most profound) always a matter of
an individual’s intimate communion with G-d.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">When it is performed in solitude one never prays “outside”
the community, and when one prays in the company of other daveners, the real
“business” still takes place in the sanctuary of one’s own heart.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">In <i>Vayikra </i>we read the instructions for the High
Priest on Yom Kippur:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><b><i></i></b></span></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><b><i>“And there shall be no man in the
tent of meeting when he goes in to make atonement for the holy place, until he
comes out after having made atonement for himself, and for his household, and
for all the assembly of Israel.”</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><i><a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Leviticus.16.17?lang=he-en&utm_source=jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com&utm_medium=sefaria_linker" target="_blank">Vayikra 16:17</a></i></span></span></p></blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Though the vast majority of halakhic commentaries on the liturgy
place communal prayer in a firm position of superiority over individual prayer,
and though the strictest and most physical conception of “ minyan ” is
the one which has prevailed to this day—the fact remains that the <i>principal</i> prayer
in our <i>principal</i> liturgical ceremony, on our <i>most</i> holy
day is performed by a single individual in clearly commanded isolation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">He enters and prays alone, but (as his vestments underline) the
High Priest takes the whole community on his shoulders and bears them on his
heart. So do <i>we</i> if we bind ourselves to the whole
Community of Israel and to those we pray for. We may pray alone, but if
our prayer is to be true—we never pray without this awareness of the community.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev said that a person who prays with
sincerity is actually standing in the Holy of Holies when they pray, and that
such a person’s upheld hands are like the wings of the <i>keruvim</i> above
the ark.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">On Yom Kippur. Each of us<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a High Priest in the Inner Sanctuary
of our Hearts.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">oooOooo<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Along with all other full-time contemplatives I have attempted to
turn my solitude into a positive lifestyle. I persist (since 2003) in claiming that such such solitude is not loneliness if it is viewed and practiced as a form of active participation in the communal life of Knesset Yisrael. <br />
<br />
Such an eremitic lifestyle would not suit many Jews, but this year, and every year, there
will be millions of Jews who are unavoidably isolated and simply unable to attend
any form of communal worship over the High Holiday season. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">There will be many
who, rightly or wrongly, also feel unwelcome at such gatherings even if they
are physically able to attend them.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">There will be<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>those who are in the depths of spiritual
trials and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>who actually <i>choose</i> not to
attend religious services on Yom Kippur.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">If you are alone this Yom Kippur…whether by choice or
circumstance…..I invite you to make a “special remembrance” in your prayers for
those<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>other Jews who are also “alone”.</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"> Together, may it please God, may we make a sort of minyan which meets in
intention if not physically. </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">If you are fortunate enough to attend congregational worship on Yom Kippur ...I invite you to remember those who are alone and not present in the synagogue.</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">For despite
geographical, social, or ideological distances</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">We are all of us One Israel.</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">All of us together—each of us alone.</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">©</span>Nachman Davies<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">Safed September 24 2023<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<br />Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-48264288015848910602023-08-21T17:33:00.003+03:002023-08-22T14:22:07.915+03:00The Month of Elul <i><span style="font-size: medium;">A message for Rosh Hodesh Elul from Nachman Davies</span></i><div><br /><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9MCwz80ByFFryfk0oxKc_VpYtCqJiXKtgoH-d_r_duK4-aWDJDyPl-0T0Fe0yBMYxRNQWNj8zFy63cuF9CJyyQAzo3AtWdaNbKpTRXBxFnY3esAeMtmXAC98xA0D0QhvdOQZYbQ/s1600/Shofar+NRDavies.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: "Times New Roman"; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9MCwz80ByFFryfk0oxKc_VpYtCqJiXKtgoH-d_r_duK4-aWDJDyPl-0T0Fe0yBMYxRNQWNj8zFy63cuF9CJyyQAzo3AtWdaNbKpTRXBxFnY3esAeMtmXAC98xA0D0QhvdOQZYbQ/s1600/Shofar+NRDavies.jpg" /></a>My current home (and hermitage/zawiya) is a rented one-room wooden cabin in Safed, but in previous years my home-base, for around fourteen years, was a cave-type house in the Andalusian town of Salobrena on the coast of Granada.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">These days I practice a much deeper level of intentional solitude... as I usually only engage in face to face conversations about once every month or two, and do all I can to maintain an extended retreat. But in those days I was slightly more sociable....and I climbed up and down the steep hill ( 360 stair-steps) daily to drink a cup of "cafe con leche" with a "tostada" in the Town's friendly "<i>Cafeteria Plaza Alta</i>". </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here is something I wrote in those days in reflection on the month of Elul:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Sound the Shofar in Elul - (September 2008)</span></b></div></span><div align="justify"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I am writing this spontaneous posting on the first day of the Jewish month of Elul: The month which stands as a kind of “Jewish Lent” as it is a month of preparation for the High Holidays, the Jewish season of penitence and renewal.<br />
<br />
This morning I had my regular weekday “silent communal lunch” of toast and coffee in the cafeteria which serves as my neo-monastic refectory. I walk up and down the steep hill from my “hermitage” everyday to the same cafeteria by way of exercise. The walk and lunch is silent but friendly greetings or smiles from those I pass remind me that I am not quite in a Charterhouse. But then, I am reminded of a Thomas Merton saying that “One does not break monastic silence by speaking but by wishing to be heard.”<br />
<br />
Today, in that Cafeteria, a line in a local newspaper caught my eye. It was a simple saying, almost a cliché, but I don’t believe in accidents. It was remarkably apt for this particular day in the Jewish calendar.<br />
<br />
<b><i>"No podemos hacer nada respecto al pasado<br />
Pero si podemos hacer algo respecto al futuro."</i></b><br />
<br />
This little proverb reminds us that:<br />
<br />
<b><i>We can do nothing to change the past<br />
But we can do something to change the future.</i></b><br />
<br />
I often write about the importance of living in the present. Our present at the moment is the month of Elul. The time when we start to examine our past year to reflect on our broken promises or failed resolutions: the times when we “missed the target” we intended to aim for in our attempt to increase Justice and Charity in our hearts, in our homes, in our neighbourhood…..in the World.<br />
<br />
The Spanish proverb says that we can do nothing to change the past. But in a way we can. Often when we examine our actions we uncover something hurtful or unjust which we had done but still not apologized for. By seeking out those we have hurt or mis-treated we are in fact changing the past for the sake of the future. A genuine apology which is genuinely accepted erases the past. If it is not accepted, then there is more work to be done, but at least we ourselves can move on having done our best.<br />
<br />
There are ten days between Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year’s Day) and Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement) both of which occur in the month of Tishri. Those ten days are the time when we are enjoined to apologise and make reparation to those "neighbours" we have offended or neglected. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="color: white;">.</span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"></span></div>
<div align="justify"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">On the first day of Elul, those Ten Days seem a long way away.... and yet we are told to “Blow the shofar in Elul”. </span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">.</span></div>
<div align="justify">
<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Some say this is for practice as the shofar is blown ritually on those two approaching festival days, but many say that it is to remind us that if we are truly to make changes for the better in our lives, we have to start preparing for them in good time. That time is now. The Present.<br />
<br />
We expect/hope that God will accept our apologies. We are assured that God will erase our bad record and make us white as snow. Sometimes we need courage and an almost superhuman effort to imitate that benevolence. Sometimes we are reluctant to do any “soul-cleaning” ourselves. Though it is often stated that those “ten days” are there to give us a chance to make amends to those we have offended, I don’t know about you, but I often need longer to get up the courage to approach <i>some</i> people with apologies and I certainly need longer to reach a decent level of honesty about my own conduct.<br />
<br />
I have never been one for grovelling in penitence, but I am sure I have “missed the target” many times during the last year. I invite you to join me in starting this Season off with some hopeful, optimistic, and deep soul-searching that can lead to some timely action.<br />
<br />
There will be time to “Think Big” and “Universal” during the High Holidays. The Liturgy of the Days of Awe gives us the chance to unite with “All Israel” in begging communal forgiveness and renewal. Let’s start small: Elul is here for us to tackle those closer relationships which need examination, for growing in generosity in our immediate vicinity. A time for preparing the ground gradually so that the Days of Awe will not be quite so frenetic.<br />
<br />
It also gives us a chance to approach the High Holidays by means of a progressive and gradual ascent whereby we can attend to even weightier matters: The season is a time for increasing our attempt to inhabit/make consciously present the same dimension which God lives in…The Eternal Present. Say a prayer for me. I’ll say one for you….and may we have a deep growth-generating Elul …..and a very happy New Year.<br />
<br /></span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><br /></span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">© <b><i>N Davies</i></b></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Salobrena</i></b></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Spain</i></b></span></div><div align="justify"><span><b><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-small;">2008</span></i></b><br />
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<div align="left">
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="color: white;">...................</span>.<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><br />
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</div>Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-30867229623414919892023-08-17T10:32:00.000+03:002023-08-17T10:32:13.780+03:00Elul: Hide and Seek for Contemplatives<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSRSfkzqvxjpNNuOP24jzjV7vgAVXN3Lu0I7MZ012KtnCj-VzdtRFBzjW1JLDFvdDeedkkGXjpyGw0Ca2AYR11YmS5XBPGANoSgFUXXEpT94fIcIdWnLUm2nC23lgY4jcf7XOXwA/s1600/I+will+let+you+find+me.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="754" data-original-width="1600" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSRSfkzqvxjpNNuOP24jzjV7vgAVXN3Lu0I7MZ012KtnCj-VzdtRFBzjW1JLDFvdDeedkkGXjpyGw0Ca2AYR11YmS5XBPGANoSgFUXXEpT94fIcIdWnLUm2nC23lgY4jcf7XOXwA/s400/I+will+let+you+find+me.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Each year we enter into a period of deep reflection and prayer which begins with the month of Elul. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"> In Aramaic, 'elul' means 'search'. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">A Jewish Contemplative is one who seeks G-d with a special intensity.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">A Jewish Contemplative (a <i>Mitkarev</i>) is someone who seeks to be drawn near to the Divine. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Someone who wishes to be fully engaged in an intimate relationship with G-d.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">That relationship becomes the main activity, motivation, and even occupation of such a person. For a Jewish Contemplative the relationship is lived out through the activities of <i><b>deveykut </b></i>(a conscious attempt to be passionately attentive to the Presence of G-d), <i><b>tefillah</b></i> (liturgical prayer), <i><b>hegyon ha-lev</b></i> (a meditative and prayerful study of sacred texts) and <i><b>hitbodedut/hitbonenut </b></i>(a dialogue of informal prayer ,and receptive contemplation in solitude).</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">When one considers that the 'Object' of the contemplative’s desire is ultimately unknowable, inexplicable, intangible and utterly beyond human description or comprehension, it might well seem rather odd to describe a contemplative life-style as a 'relationship'.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Yet that is how I experience it and it is the way the vast majority of Jewish contemplatives and mystics have experienced it since biblical times. In the Bible, we are told that the G-d of Israel is our Father, our King, our Friend, and even our Betrothed. In the daily experience of prayer that is how it can feel even though we know we are using similes and metaphors to describe the indescribable.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
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Biblically, G-d is the One who insists that</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium; line-height: 150%;"> “If you seek me with all
your heart I will let you find Me”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> (<i>Yirmeyahu 29:13</i>).</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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David reminds us:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium; line-height: 150%;"> “If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you
forsake Him, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium; line-height: 150%;">He will reject you forever” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Divrei Hayamim I, 28:9</i>)</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Because of his violence and bloodshed, David was not the one chosen to build the Temple, and he obviously felt that Divine rejection keenly when he uttered those agonisingly bitter words to his son Solomon. In a more positive mood, and on a different day he would surely have focussed on the mercy and forgiveness of his Heavenly Judge. We ourselves can but hope that we will be forgiven our faults, and in that, we have many Divine assurances in Scripture to soften the message of David´s admonition.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Nevertheless, David reminds us, there are many times when G-d hides Himself because of our faults. And the greatest of these is not being there for G-d when He comes looking for us.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">In playing Hide and Seek for Contemplatives, there are times when we simply cannot be bothered looking for G-d, and times when we do not wish to be found ourselves.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Times when we push G-d away like spiteful children losing a game, and times when when we try to hide Him in a mental cupboard out of embarrassment or shame. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">This can sometimes be due to remorse about things we have done or said or thought ourselves. Sometimes it can be because we have chickened-out in a political, social, or theological world in which it is unfashionable to admit that we want to know G-d in an explicitly intimate way.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">G-d sometimes seems very close to us and we rejoice. But even when we feel we are doing our best, there can be a strong sense of His distance or absence.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Sometimes He hides from us in a sort of dance, in a sort of game, in a sort of lesson, in a sort of method we don’t really understand, and sometimes struggle against. It can go on for years like that. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">The absence of any sensation that G-d might be within hailing distance is a common and recurring state in the life of most full-time contemplatives. This is not punishment, cruelty, or the Divine toying with us like puppets. But it may be a refining test-situation.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">It may be a positive tool which ultimately helps us to see more of G-d and less of ourselves in the contemplative process. It can remind us that it is G-d Himself that we seek and not the gifts He gives us.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Yes, He will let us find Him...but we cannot make Him stay.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Yes, He will wrestle with us for a time....but at dawn He will be gone.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Yes, we may sense His Presence for a moment....but we cannot dwell in that moment for long and live.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">If we truly experienced the feeling of 'rejection forever' that David spoke of, the chances are that many of us would give up the search to find G-d. This does not mean to say that Mitkarevim always, or even often, feel truly close to Him. For some, there are times when it is a case of believing that the sun is there even when it doesn’t shine. For many others there are even times when faith itself disappears.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">We must also realise that our relationship can be intimate but our attention span is severely limited, and though we may describe the contemplative life as being a relationship, it can never be a relationship between equals."</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Maybe R' Nachman of Breslov came close to describing the situation we are in. He speaks of a 'Spring' and a 'Heart' which are in love but are separated by space and each located on the summit of a mountain. When the 'Heart' leaves its summit and runs to try to reach the Spring it feels anguish because, in the valley, it can no longer have an uninterrupted view of the Beloved on the opposite summit.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">So the intimacy of their love is expressed in periods of eternal gazing and unfulfilled longing....or in bursts of rushing to achieve a union despite an almost total loss of vision. It is a view which captures the paradox that the contemplative is in a passionate relationship with an immanent G-d, while simultaneously knowing the otherness of G-d and the chasm produced by His transcendence. </span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGrPbd0FASbMAZGdZsugmIhIS_H1wc6jf6ciBAagdes-xlua-uZHYyKRkLMs72AmmqFevIq48pWyuDWR0Fs4qleF0rb4U9XMQ4FISbT416xUZIeyxfsNXiw19m2BVvgPjLqRKbwQ/s1600/Ribon+kol+haOlamim+1994+2019.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1164" data-original-width="1600" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGrPbd0FASbMAZGdZsugmIhIS_H1wc6jf6ciBAagdes-xlua-uZHYyKRkLMs72AmmqFevIq48pWyuDWR0Fs4qleF0rb4U9XMQ4FISbT416xUZIeyxfsNXiw19m2BVvgPjLqRKbwQ/s400/Ribon+kol+haOlamim+1994+2019.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">(Spring and Heart
Illustration </span></i><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">©</span></b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">N.Davies
1994)</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">The month of Elul leads into the 'Ten Days', a period of confession, self analysis, and charitable giving at the end of which the Jew seeks forgiveness and the union of 'atonement” with G-d on Yom Kippur. Almost without pause, this segues into another festival, that of Sukkot during which we declare our trust in the protecting cloud of G-d’s Presence. <br /> <br /> For many Jews this period is the time of year when they become their most active in both prayer and in self examination. For those who live out the festival calendar with some intensity, there is a sense that one should 'seek G-d while He may be found' with the month of Elul being an annual retreat-time par excellence. For such people the month of Elul and the Ten Days of Awe can be extraordinarily charged and numinous. This can even be the case for contemplatives who have an intense prayer regimen all year round.<br /> <br /> For many Jews, the season provides an uncomfortable (but somehow also welcomed) opportunity to take stock and it gives them a formally sanctioned encouragement to engage in a more intense prayer-life than may be thought appropriate or even possible at other times. <br /><br /> The month of Elul and the Ten Days, are a time when the game of hide and seek is liturgically intensified. In a sense, it is a celebration of an awareness that G-d was/is "there/here" all along and we create the liturgy to highlight that.<br /><br /><br /> But the month of Elul and the climax of the introspection that is reached on Yom Kippur can sometimes be a sort of one-off binge which does not truly connect with the time preceding and following it. There is also the risk that our confessions can become rather pathetic exercises in perfectionism unless we remember that we are also confessing in the plural for 'kol Yisrael'.<br /> <br /> The long haul of the penitential period which opens with Elul, and which closes at the end of Yom Kippur can be a cathartic experience, but it is not magic. Neilah is best seen as being a part of a continuing journey rather than as a triumphal destination. A contemplative also knows that time is really an illusion. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow are simultaneous in G-d: The still point of Musaf Yom Kippur can be like a small flame inside the soul which burns all year round as a memory and a reference point.<br /> <br /> In this way of seeing things, though G-d has concealed Himself, His Presence is not altogether withdrawn but there is a sense in which this kind of hiding is for our own good. We are reminded that Moses saw the back and not the face of G-d and that Elijah covered his face with a mantle: both prophets experiencing the event thus shielded for their own protection. The times in which we are in our own cleft of the rock are rare events, and the obscuring cloud is actually our friend. <br /> <br /> We are given the Penitential/Holiday season as a chance to double up our half-hearted efforts to find G-d. Its message is really that He is more present in the world if we make Him so. But that is also a description of what a Jewish Contemplative is trying to do in every moment and not just once a year, or even once a week. <br /> <br /> Potentially, every moment can be 'the time when He might let us find Him'. Every place is His 'field' if we are actively looking for signs of His Presence.But it sometimes involves us seeing in the dark. It sometimes involves us standing still in order to see that He is right next to us.<br /> <br /> It may involve the ability to survive on the manna of hope when faith is all but lost. It certainly involves patience and determination. And in this game of Hide and Seek, whether we are playing it during Elul, during the High Holidays or on a normal weekday- it is the energy and consistency with which we make the search that counts: for we are told we can find Him..... but only if we search with all our heart.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">All of it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">It requires <i><b>total</b></i> commitment....</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">...but He is waiting for us and coming towards us as we turn towards Him in teshuva...</span><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville"; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville"; font-size: medium;">and He has a place in His Heart for us all</span><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville"; font-size: large;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">“For He will
hide me in His Tabernacle on the day of distress,</span></span> </span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">He will
conceal me in the shelter of His tent. </span></span> </span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 150%;">Upon a rock
He will lift me.”</span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville"; font-size: x-small;">(<b><i>Tehillim 27:5</i></b>)</span></blockquote>
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</span><b><span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif; font-size: 10pt;">©Nachman Davies</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif; font-size: 10pt;">Safed 2023</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif; font-size: 10pt;">(from an essay written in 2009)</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div>
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<br />Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-52739540849206357202023-04-04T10:52:00.000+03:002023-04-04T10:52:10.015+03:00Passover 2023: The Cup of Elijah<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2AQoiRPbZp7eHvjMPZGn_8tYw4QIroIiAgaJO0DEm-QbsTe4LaWLZLfy5NC-Shx4rC2SO2KUvDycRJflMYf_ed7Dns0mH_-7-Wm-ct_X6Kgp9FaO6iuweobmVhtkXV16-WdqRcs50gjE9ZwhLcOEqZyMQqE7EGLtR_gIksSNRnUGWUSWas6g/s3597/Pesach%202023.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3597" data-original-width="2454" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2AQoiRPbZp7eHvjMPZGn_8tYw4QIroIiAgaJO0DEm-QbsTe4LaWLZLfy5NC-Shx4rC2SO2KUvDycRJflMYf_ed7Dns0mH_-7-Wm-ct_X6Kgp9FaO6iuweobmVhtkXV16-WdqRcs50gjE9ZwhLcOEqZyMQqE7EGLtR_gIksSNRnUGWUSWas6g/w437-h640/Pesach%202023.jpg" width="437" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><i>From our sister website, "Jewish Sufis"</i>:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Our Tariqa is called "Derekh Eliyahu HaNabi" because the mediaeval Egyptian Pietists believed that they were following the "Path" of Elijah, Elisha, and the Sons of the Prophets. In the Passover Seder we call upon Elijah to hasten the redemption at an open door. Originally the prayer recited began "Pour forth your anger on the Nations". These words came from a time when we were being heavily persecuted. But in our days, we are invited to heal those wounds to bring about the time when the Name of G-d will be One. It is a slow process but we should not give up hope that peaceful coexistence will ever arrive. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Please join us in a prayer for tolerance where there is self-righteousness, compassion where there is unwarranted hatred (usually being transferred to a scapegoat enemy), and HOPE for those of us who are Jews, Moslems, and Christians who work for coexistence. At this time when all celebrate a time of Peace, Optimism, and Freedom, we can light a small but significant candle against the darkness. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">May Elijah the Comforter visit us all this week....with healing and a promise of redemption.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">For more on Eliyahu HaNabi see <a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2022/03/elijah-comforter-and-bringer-of-peace.html">HERE</a></span></div></div><br /><p></p>Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-72238542567211074922023-03-26T11:33:00.011+03:002024-03-21T18:26:23.710+02:00A HERMIT'S TALE: Part Three<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="font-family: Philosopher; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYrvt7V-rz7B47i4Z9iukSeyjiezHhHqaLUkRijOw01NQdpNq5Fi0BxB5co_7FUoyP0f0ilRJR_8dROjx6w2C9cWmhwBZvteBrA-DNgB5OcxB42MoO4OJt73k9RKcIksdq4Muw4k_JBAC_5TOuPHgYViPxaWQZ9-LFwaWLgu_4uZqQNuB0I-8/s2207/oxfam%20haggadah%201.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1321" data-original-width="2207" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYrvt7V-rz7B47i4Z9iukSeyjiezHhHqaLUkRijOw01NQdpNq5Fi0BxB5co_7FUoyP0f0ilRJR_8dROjx6w2C9cWmhwBZvteBrA-DNgB5OcxB42MoO4OJt73k9RKcIksdq4Muw4k_JBAC_5TOuPHgYViPxaWQZ9-LFwaWLgu_4uZqQNuB0I-8/w400-h240/oxfam%20haggadah%201.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Author's 1954 Israeli Haggada</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Philosopher;">This is the third installment of <i>A
Hermit’s</i> <i>Tale. </i></span></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">Part One is</span><a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2023/02/a-hermits-tale-part-one.html" style="font-family: Philosopher;"> HERE</a><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> and
PART TWO is </span><a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2023/03/a-hermits-tale-part-two.html" style="font-family: Philosopher;">HERE</a><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Philosopher;">Though
it is certainly true to say that my contemplative prayer-life had been on a
back-burner for years,the 1990’s were a period of great religious intensity for
me. I converted to Judaism, left my (then) spiritual home in Java, moved to
Singapore, and was then struck by a tragedy that overturned everything. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Philosopher;">In<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Part Two I described how the encounter with Javanese
Gamelan and kebatinan prompted a deepening of my spiritual awareness. I had
been born a Protestant in the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>early
1950s, converted to Roman Catholicism in the 1960’s, and on Java in the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>early 1990’s I was to convert to Progressive
Judaism. (<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I later underwent a
conversion<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ki halakha as an Orthodox Jew
in 2016.)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> In this installment, we pick up the story just
before I relocated to Singapore from Java</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet;">. </span></span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"> </span></span></i></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><b>CONVERSION TO JUDAISM</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> As a child I had felt some rather strange and unexplained connections with Judaism. To some, the following examples of this will seem like trivial and unrelated childhood memories. But even at the time—I knew something was being called to my attention, and in my later years these trivial events became stepping stones of awareness.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> My mother told me that my father used to attend Passover seders every year (causing some animosity with my mother that I never understood) and though no Jewish ancestry was ever discovered, I know something was ‘going on’ there that was never explained.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">We lived in a Victorian era "two up-two down" terraced house. My father’s half-sister, Eva Lowe, lived next door and one event has stayed firmly imprinted on my memory: I was singing one of my two favourite songs in the tiny and high walled back-yard. Near the coal-hole in the corner, I suddenly noticed my Auntie Eva who had stood on a stool to speak to me over the wall. She said, quite solemnly: “Every time you sing that song, I will put a threepenny-bit under this brick for you.” The song was the theme tune to the film “Exodus”with the lyrics: “This Land is mine, G-d gave this Land to me”. [i]</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> On another occasion when I was aged 10 or 11, I was waiting for my mother to finish work at Dashley's the Butcher's shop. To pass the time, I wandered into a nearby Oxfam charity shop. I picked up an Israeli Passover Haggada that was printed in the year of my birth....and was fascinated by the photographs and by the hebrew script. It cost me pennies to buy, and I used it ever after (as a Christian child and teenager during a private Maundy Thursday pseudo-seder). To this day, it sits on my table every Pesach.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbZT5HwHDzIGv5u_LBzfJxGBt0TUjH52ZnAf_BFA4bEEUUACcBqX1cGq55sSMA_GSWqNeXLsR0ImTdPtRhCntBhAts-I984ANbBciVC-k4LGgwWEFuQyv01dcHT2FaWI1XBcA8k50BYChNCPxvpE3ax5hpvUM-MWQcOgYwytQeYgHHOTblET4/s2385/Oxfam%20haggadah%202.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1353" data-original-width="2385" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbZT5HwHDzIGv5u_LBzfJxGBt0TUjH52ZnAf_BFA4bEEUUACcBqX1cGq55sSMA_GSWqNeXLsR0ImTdPtRhCntBhAts-I984ANbBciVC-k4LGgwWEFuQyv01dcHT2FaWI1XBcA8k50BYChNCPxvpE3ax5hpvUM-MWQcOgYwytQeYgHHOTblET4/w400-h228/Oxfam%20haggadah%202.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Author's Haggada<br />(click to enlarge)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> There were countless little premonitory starbursts like this throughout my Christian childhood and adolescence, but it is only when we see the “back” of G-d’s goodness that the pieces of the jigsaw can be seen fitting into place, <i>kav l’kav.</i> Everything has its season, and it was not until the Pesach lecture that Lionel Blue gave to the assembled Carmelite novices in 1973 that my eyes were,quite suddenly, opened. The choice I made in becoming a Carmelite was itself a kind of <i>siman</i>—the Order was founded in Israel and the white mantle with which we were clothed was thought to be a memory of the mantle Elijah passed on to Elisha and the Sons of the Prophets.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> By 1990, the seeds sown by that lecture in 1973 had been germinating—and a series of coincidences, dreams, restored memories, and a lot of philosophical and psychological struggle all combined to produce the personal conviction that I was <b><i>a Jewish soul reborn in a gentile body</i></b> and that I needed to rectify that situation urgently through conversion. I picked up the phone in Jakarta and telephoned Lionel in London to speak to him for the first time in decades to tell him this.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> At this point in the narrative, many of my rationalist and non-religious friends (and they are many) will sigh deeply and leave us. I can understand their imagined reaction to my last statement about souls and bodies. But for those readers who are unperturbed by talk of reincarnation and wish to continue reading, I will enlarge on my statement a little.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> Though it is not generally known outside of academic and Jewish circles, the Jewish religion has a strong traditional (but optional) belief in various forms of re-incarnation. Many of these forms come under the heading of ‘<i>gilgul</i>’ (transmigration of souls) and some, particularly those developed by the scholar-mystics of Safed, propose systems whereby each soul is composed of fragments of other souls either on a short term or a long term basis—usually to expiate sins or to complete the mission of a ‘saint’ that had passed on. It is a very complex subject which you can research at will, but my aim here is merely to point out that in many Jewish denominations and thought-systems, it is a commonly accepted notion with a pedigree, even if it is not mainstream. But then neither am I, so please bear with me.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">If you were to ask me what I considered to be the most significant and important event in human history— from the age of six or seven I would give the very same answer that I would give today:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><b>“The most important event in human history was/is the Revelation of G-d at Sinai.”</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">That is not any pious revisionism of my life-story. Nor am I exaggerating or Judaising it. I believed this and stated this even when I was a Christian. And though almost all Jewish sources would place the Redemption of Israel from slavery in Egypt in that exalted position, I personally find the Epiphany at Sinai,during which all Israelites experienced prophecy, to be The Event <i>sans pareil</i>. From a very early age, I genuinely felt that I had a personal memory of the event. (Yes I was always an imaginative child, but imagination is not always psychotic). It was for this reason that my very first serious composition in the 1970’s was an attempt to share this “memory” in the Orchestral and vocal setting of the Sh’ma that I entitled “SINAI”.<span style="color: #3d85c6;">[ii]</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_1ehO6ZB4ccmGVEFI5XZdj9ibYd7aYpSRUdIOsHMQvI4UCBeNmktPju0BnyGTQjLqY9Kg2-QUSUQ6TEKStm3WXXn-RBK5dxq08p1ztT-D8b_9u4Y9nDsXcIfY_3Qzvpr3Mqx6Tk-apmx4u8YtQeXHwyz4WkGOoRpadqT7wQLxo5o7F-Uy6qaw4A/s756/sinai%20score%20extract%20%20correct.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="610" data-original-width="756" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_1ehO6ZB4ccmGVEFI5XZdj9ibYd7aYpSRUdIOsHMQvI4UCBeNmktPju0BnyGTQjLqY9Kg2-QUSUQ6TEKStm3WXXn-RBK5dxq08p1ztT-D8b_9u4Y9nDsXcIfY_3Qzvpr3Mqx6Tk-apmx4u8YtQeXHwyz4WkGOoRpadqT7wQLxo5o7F-Uy6qaw4A/w400-h323/sinai%20score%20extract%20%20correct.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(open in new window to enlarge)</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> Not surprisingly, on hearing that my conviction concerning <i>gilgulim</i> was a prime reason for seeking conversion, Lionel tried to put me off—not because of the traditional three rabbinic rejections given to applicants for conversion to test their perseverance—but quite simply due to his benevolent common sense. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> He didn’t say so, but I am pretty sure he merely wanted to give my over-imaginative enthusiasm time to settle. As he often used to say to me: “My dear Norman, if you etherealise any more you will simply disappear.” </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> Of course, there were philosophical and theological issues involved in my decision and request to be accepted as a <i>ger tzedek</i> (a Jew who becomes so by conversion)— but, to me, the significant factor was something much less tangible: an <i>intuitive</i> sense of spiritual genetics that acted like a kind of magnet whose power was irresistible. I had no evidence of any biologically identifiable Jewish DNA, but I simply ‘felt’ Jewish. I had paradoxically been viewing myself as a "Jewish Christian" for decades before that phone call: celebrating my own solitary erev Shabbat liturgy since 1975, and with a personally written (pseudo) mezuza on my door since 1979. It really did feel like pieces of a pre-prepared jig-saw were fitting together. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> Several months and three or four phone calls later he accepted me as a candidate for conversion. Oddly enough, it was actually an ‘ethereal’ event which finally convinced him: I had heard a melody for the Birkat HaKohanim in my sleep, written it down immediately on waking, and I sang it to him over the phone.</span></div><p></p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAx8irJlSvgkLL0b7WJOCVm9aCfKrHF1OG5t3nJwNoBJDSiQA88uqA2qzp9iMaxmUGnRe1o58SD1dul6a0AXrg_17NXteMELY-KH-XwL6AM64gL3heGtZQ2BiuX0tkRyLheiDLdy15UHjb_0BREsk4RAjqh5_r0oJ0Ihx62OANPX9FQR5QxS4/s746/Birkat%20Kohanim%20grafo.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="407" data-original-width="746" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAx8irJlSvgkLL0b7WJOCVm9aCfKrHF1OG5t3nJwNoBJDSiQA88uqA2qzp9iMaxmUGnRe1o58SD1dul6a0AXrg_17NXteMELY-KH-XwL6AM64gL3heGtZQ2BiuX0tkRyLheiDLdy15UHjb_0BREsk4RAjqh5_r0oJ0Ihx62OANPX9FQR5QxS4/w400-h219/Birkat%20Kohanim%20grafo.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(click to enlarge)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><div style="text-align: justify;">After an inordinately long silence he simply said : “Well, that sounds very ancient.We’ll, have to try and get you into the tribe then”. Which he did.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> Rabbi Mark Solomon was forthwith despatched as the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain’s emmisary to interview and instruct me. He did this with an enthusiasm which went far beyond the call of duty: While I was at work, he was making (cantorial standard) tapes of liturgical texts and chants and preparing hand-written study materials for me. On my return from work he taught me intensively till the early hours of the morning. His visit lasted only a week, but it was something of a (much appreciated) boot-camp.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Like Stephen Pratt, my Composition Tutor, his motto might well have been “If you want something done, ask a busy man”, and also like Stephen, his outpouring of knowledge was extremely generous, kind, and freely given.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On later trips to London he also chose the books that formed the basis of my library (from John Trotter’s <i>Manor House Bookshop</i> ) and selected traditional Judaica and ritual paraphernalia (from Jerusalem the Golden in Golder’s Green). All of those books and accoutrements are with me still, and within my reach here in my Safed hermitage as I write.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> He had intuited that I ought to have more than the basic conversion course materials, and he had also picked up my hasidic, and mystical bent. Thus I returned to Jakarta with suitcases full of Scholem, Kaplan, Buber, Rosenzweig, Heschel, Steinsalz, Green, Waskow,Weisel, Greenberg, and Matt. I read the Buber "<i>Tales of the Hasidim</i>" daily for many years after that, and to this day I regard Aryeh Kaplan as one of my "personal' mentors. Amongst the books selected for me was a second hand copy of Nehama Leibowitz's<i> "New Studies in Bereshit"</i> . This book led me to search for the other volumes in the series and I found them on Ebay and purchased them one at a time. For over twenty years, on every Shabbat, I have continued to read and re-read these wonderful commentaries on the weekly Parsha. I never tire of them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">oooOooo</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> In the late 1980's and early 1990's, there was no resident rabbi in Jakarta, and its multi-denominational community met only on major festivals. Consequently I was more or less left to my own devices to study and pray alone—Teaching myself to read and write some Hebrew, and davening with the aid of the materials Mark had left me. I did not have a computer at the time, and, of course, the internet was not yet globally functional, but I studied thoroughly and intensively enough to be accepted both by that Jakarta Community and by the <i>Beit Din</i> of the London RSGB.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As part of this Reform Jewish conversion, I underwent a conversion <i>brit milah</i> (circumcision) and <i>tevilah</i> (immersion) both with deputised expatriate witnesses from the Jewish community in Jakarta. A follow-up certification from the Reform Beit Din of London was then forwarded to me. From there I went on to become the Jakarta community Cantor and Secretary from 1992-1995.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Finding a suitable <i>mikveh</i> in Jakarta for the conversion <i>tevilah </i> was no easy task. (For non-Jewish readers, part of the conversion ritual involves a totally naked immersion [tevilah] in a body of natural water in a tank called a <i>mikveh</i>, or in the sea, a river, or a natural spring). It must be witnessed by three Rabbis or their appointed representatives.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Jewish witnesses were two expatriate businessmen, and the USA Embassy´s Cultural Attache—all very busy people—consequently the venue needed to be in or close to the City. Local rivers and the Batavia coast were too polluted to be considered, but we eventually discovered a natural spring and pool in a holiday resort between Jakarta and Bogor that was clean and also met halakhic standards. I took the name <i>Aharon Nachman ben Avraham</i>—the former because of the connections to ‘light’ (my birthname being <i>Norman </i> and my ‘Javanese’ name being <i>Nur)</i> and the latter—at Rabbi Solomon’s suggestion—because of the Breslover Rebbe who had promoted solitary prayer.)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">These photos of the pool in which I was immersed were taken on the day before the ceremony iteself which took place at night after the resort had closed its gates to the public.</div></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe-_Bo16EfLsV7-0myy_kuhhNNYF4RaP3pM5KQBkvDYbYZ1W7x0mkW1hxeC_qtwBOTdWLPxJmjjDxu9YA34lyCfXdAYTLYpHFVGvgkNbRB6RLirieFwa-jeb1vX-CcVUHMAOctzmZYUGuHr6VPtSYUkgFij3Nt588LdghJgcQkg9D5Uubp_qE/w400-h288/Jakarta%20Mikve%20nrd.jpg" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> In the late 1980’s and 1990’s, the Jakarta Jewish Community was a small and informal community of expatriates which met semi-clandestinely (during the Suharto period) under the eminent leadership of Joseph Stern and Jonathan Fink. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> It was composed largely of American Conservative and Reform Jews with a few very broadminded Orthodox members. Joseph Stern (an Auschwitz survivor, Economist, and Harvard Lecturer) and Jonathan Fink (a passionate Musar facilitator from a zealous rabbinical line) led the services and I sang/led anything that needed to be sung. I have never had a cantorial voice by any stretch of the imagination, but I did my best. Until 2014, those four years were my only experience of official membership of a geo-physical Jewish congregation.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">oooOooo</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><b>An Interlude: Stations on the Path</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">My relationship with G-d may have been transplanted several times, but I am certain that The One I have been attempting to relate to, all along, is One and The Same. He, at least, has been consistent in maintaining an intense relationship with me, however much I may have vacillated or strayed from Him. I am still convinced that the deepest/highest part of my soul has always been Jewish, and that my realisation of this has also been a matter of Providentially arranged evolution. Some might view my religous progress as a series of conversions motivated by restless spiritual materialism. I see it as a slowly unfolding journey on a single path of development.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> I believe that we can never ‘see’ G-d without some form of intermediate enclouding and veiling, and for that reason it is not so hard for me to accept other people’s visions of Him. I would go so far as to say that, for me, this multi-form presentation is an aspect of the <i>Merchav-Kah</i> referred to in Psalm 118—the wide open and expansive realm of existence which is a part of G-d Himself—a mysterious environment of the knowledge of G-d in which people of all Faiths can share.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">The process of religious maturation is not just the preserve of converts who have moved between religious traditions. It is part of the process of a developing knowledge of G-d that can be experienced by all contemplatives. Conversion need not always mean that we view ourselves as having moved from error to truth. It can also mean that we have simply found our personal “religious home”.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">But, perhaps, a religion is actually not so much a home as a mode of transport.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">We are all seekers, wayfarers on a journey—some walk, some like buses and trains, some float or fly—and we can all take a respect for those on different paths with us as we move into our own personal futures.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">As a Catholic I had believed in what is termed the “Real Presence” of G-d in the consecrated bread and wine of the Eucharist. The term Eucharist refers to the Christian liturgical service of Holy Communion (the Mass) but also to the consecrated bread-wafer eaten at such services. When I was a Christian, that moment of ingestion in the Roman Catholic Mass was, for me, a very special focus of communication with the Divine.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> In converting to Judaism, I left such sacraments (outward ritual signs of an inward grace) behind me, along with the notions of the Trinity and the Incarnation. Nevertheless, I can still recognise a profound continuity between those earlier moments of Eucharistic communion and the deeper moments in my regular mental prayer sessions. It is only my perception of the Divine that has changed, along with the clothing and veils which filter His ultimately inconceivable Essence. “Everything changes , but G-d changes not.” <span style="color: #3d85c6;">[iii]</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">If I am honest (and I am) I miss the easy and daily access to intimacy with the Divine that the consumption of the Host offered. As a Jew, even though all grace is ultimately a Divine gift, one usually has to work harder to reach any awareness of the Divine Presence in one’s soul.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">Notwithstanding, my own knowledge of G-d may have become more apophatic, but my awareness of His action in my soul and my attempt to meet Him in prayer seem to share a common essence —in all stages of my life and in all my religious homes. They are on a spiral of learning that has involved the casting-off of certain perceptions and the assumption of certain newly-shouldered principles— but the Spiritual Goal is unchanged.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">The real and actual Presence of G-d in Creation may be constant, but our awareness of it vascillates and our fickle hearts often choose to ignore it. To us, it sometimes seems that the Divine Presence is utterly inaccessible and hidden. Sometimes any awareness of it is witheld from us in times of education, purification, and streamlining in the refining fire of our personal and individually tailored experience of revelation. This refining <i>askesis</i> is sometimes assumed intentionally by mystics as a blessing to be sought-out. Sometimes, Providence arranges a therapeutic or purifying experience for us against our will. That is what Providence had in store for me when I least expected it, and now it is time for me to take you into that dark part of this story.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><b>SINGAPORE</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">I moved from Java to Singapore where I worked for several years as Director of Music at Tanglin Trust School. As I mentioned in Part Two, I was fortunate to be able to develop a Javanese gamelan curriculum there as the school owned both a pelog and a slendro Suhirdjan gamelan.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">Tanglin was an ever expanding institution with around 1,500 students. At BIS I had teaching responsibilities for all Junior and Senior classes, at Tanglin, I had teaching duties that included Reception, Primary, Junior and Secondary classes. Each year group was composed of eight classes of around 20-25 students. Tanglin was a demanding educational establishment and, apart from those teaching duties, I managed a department of five talented and hard-working music teachers and a fleet of (three resident and ten visiting) dedicated instrumental tutors.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">Tanglin’s Music Faculty was a school and a concert-production company unto itself whose many consecutive termly concerts involved Infant, Junior, and Senior School Ensembles,Choirs, and Orchestras on a grand scale—concerts which also required annual programmes of music that were ever-changing. Our so-called extra-curricular Music activities programme consisted of some 27 ensembles which extended the teaching timetable of the music staff well beyond the normal school day. Standards and expectations were high and the job certainly taught me the meaning of ‘full-time’ employment.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">But those intense and productive years at Tanglin ended unexpectedly and I will now take you through the event which ejected me from the world of Music teaching and back into contemplative life.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> As I hope you will appreciate: the motivation for telling the story at all is not to record and share a mere journal of events in reminiscent nostalgia, nor is it to evoke any kind of pity—but to give some form of encouragement to those who find themselves unexpectedly challenged by apparent tragedy,illness, or disability. And we are many.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">oooOooo</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><b>The Challenge</b></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">It began quite unexpectedly and almost stealthily in 1999: I began to lose my sense of hearing through ischemia of the cochlea. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><b>To my great horror and distress, I was becoming rapidly and progressively deaf.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">At the early ‘hard of hearing’ times, I was able to teach music effectively as my pitch sensitivity was still intact. But I swiftly became inaccurate when judging volume levels, and began to experience difficulty in conversation, though hardly anyone seemed aware that I was losing my aural and practical musical ability by stealth.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">I left Singapore in 1999, ostensibly in order to devote time to the personal compositional tasks that I did not have time for at Tanglin—but in fact I had heard (as it were) the alarm bells ringing to announce the inevitable progress of the deafness. I was simply not prepared to face its implications publicly. Nevertheless, I actually returned to work at Tanglin a few years later at the school’s request as a supply teacher, teaching Years Two, Four, and Six classes together with some orchestral and gamelan teaching to both children and adults.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">Once again, to everyone but myself, my ability as a teacher and musician seemed intact, but by the year 2003, I was unable to hear very high pitches and harmonics and was preparing and conducting large scale concerts, in an echoey venue, largely by lip-reading (for choirs) and by sight (for orchestras). My last concert was a Year Five & Six concert in 2003.</span></div><p></p>
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">But it was no use—I could, for example, no longer distinguish an “f” from an “f sharp” in the higher registers and I had become unable to judge the volume level of my piano accompaniments reliably. I finally accepted the inevitable, and decided that I must say goodbye to my career as a musician. Within the short space of three years, I was thus forced to surrender both musical performance and music teaching in one blow.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><b><i>"O du Liebe Augustin----Alles ist hin!"</i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.5pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfFks9qDN1VHJ3vC7K9nhj0UzX2YttoCaSw41rxG8bB7v4pKcKjKzx-CDcBIcIIaVJpPoDtjpPBGkDWZ0m4nhzJfc688NEjcs2zaMkoGHf_0UtjDwT5fUDPW0IPHXAEEr5xLHE_H6unIiP8BJIZp6OPmF6KddTxxsAe7ClLrdvVrpQKefGGHM/s694/Covent%20Garden%20giggles.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="369" data-original-width="694" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfFks9qDN1VHJ3vC7K9nhj0UzX2YttoCaSw41rxG8bB7v4pKcKjKzx-CDcBIcIIaVJpPoDtjpPBGkDWZ0m4nhzJfc688NEjcs2zaMkoGHf_0UtjDwT5fUDPW0IPHXAEEr5xLHE_H6unIiP8BJIZp6OPmF6KddTxxsAe7ClLrdvVrpQKefGGHM/w400-h213/Covent%20Garden%20giggles.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frodsham Gamelan 1984</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5_EsZg2Z13YF8Vw2_AQl1ju090ZhBCiPdjNBnNlTUHyEoxSo1w4mfhvNa5NSsrsZ07gQ6_GTf6T5heC5vy-9TcGQOTfgYsIoWKlp0Hp-khSPEDJZKVQSwz7cYBpzjM8F-2wZCKpofWloVfQbLQNnQKCzfMv3TwFSEyUOaGB4Kls3h4xYWOIA/s844/Covent%20Garden%20Dogbowl%20kenong.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="565" data-original-width="844" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5_EsZg2Z13YF8Vw2_AQl1ju090ZhBCiPdjNBnNlTUHyEoxSo1w4mfhvNa5NSsrsZ07gQ6_GTf6T5heC5vy-9TcGQOTfgYsIoWKlp0Hp-khSPEDJZKVQSwz7cYBpzjM8F-2wZCKpofWloVfQbLQNnQKCzfMv3TwFSEyUOaGB4Kls3h4xYWOIA/w400-h268/Covent%20Garden%20Dogbowl%20kenong.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frodsham Gamelan 1984</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhASrkqRFvy5Bv0sWjt7jA65Y2XVnHnxwfj8P7PDuGhVsIds7EWSmunBTbEmVA6Opt2UXD8_EyJpSwVdt-i_sXqI-SYUOXl78FTnEl04rVxWgysTsD3VMfiRojxZHYVuVCBPgqnwH6cKSdlzUo9N60uOh_UYQhFMDZshkh6JrimHDXTya-ApCQ/s891/Covent%20Garden%20dancers%20focusing.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="891" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhASrkqRFvy5Bv0sWjt7jA65Y2XVnHnxwfj8P7PDuGhVsIds7EWSmunBTbEmVA6Opt2UXD8_EyJpSwVdt-i_sXqI-SYUOXl78FTnEl04rVxWgysTsD3VMfiRojxZHYVuVCBPgqnwH6cKSdlzUo9N60uOh_UYQhFMDZshkh6JrimHDXTya-ApCQ/w400-h243/Covent%20Garden%20dancers%20focusing.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frodsham Gamelan 1984<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiI6oTwbICV7iRMYZZGpY_32uhjWC2LZrAZo027MkfABg2SYDIS2YRiwvEqKN2V5GemNyAaQdh7a7aV5Rd5LIX_OpjcfIC8c1xviuj36lgCGPGHFHUPbhcddALb9dqkeMwmwkrk6MZgtbzPhLZfxtNkyTacXzzVAdTWPQ5fyVmt9hmzAx7KdY/s1150/scan0012.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; 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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvKjJjU49_ep_eJS_6LUW4FKF3hVs8crtlJ4eB1wrnH425jOP7Tol-lhRODoW6KtGbEqH5krjhvpjr8gGRro2FH1KwSHcQTWFgln87jL_kyHvP01UPj-4RD0DVY_Dx30utb5Y0_qLscdFiGdkFMdH3UfGK1rcGyLUV97jwHUXDH19uYNyoK1A/s985/scan0001.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="695" data-original-width="985" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvKjJjU49_ep_eJS_6LUW4FKF3hVs8crtlJ4eB1wrnH425jOP7Tol-lhRODoW6KtGbEqH5krjhvpjr8gGRro2FH1KwSHcQTWFgln87jL_kyHvP01UPj-4RD0DVY_Dx30utb5Y0_qLscdFiGdkFMdH3UfGK1rcGyLUV97jwHUXDH19uYNyoK1A/w400-h283/scan0001.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BIS Jakarta Infant class (1980's)</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_pSDS_5ibmDKvJbziW7THHvOQCTt7Zlo2nbCtABjosH4zaUSc-lpy6IPMPD21YFHeSPssRVFofqGZ-qD2oyRnH87rUTwuf2IA_albTBNrRuFa17R9KRhgbi9HENF0o7XTfvtEkQe4lqHDnWsjbeqxQzR-CV8w5yTfwfpSoiblDQ1v4X6IOKU/s966/scan0005.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="966" data-original-width="681" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_pSDS_5ibmDKvJbziW7THHvOQCTt7Zlo2nbCtABjosH4zaUSc-lpy6IPMPD21YFHeSPssRVFofqGZ-qD2oyRnH87rUTwuf2IA_albTBNrRuFa17R9KRhgbi9HENF0o7XTfvtEkQe4lqHDnWsjbeqxQzR-CV8w5yTfwfpSoiblDQ1v4X6IOKU/w283-h400/scan0005.jpg" width="283" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">BIS Jakarta Infant class (1980's)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhunwbV6aLWufYU31dmw9ydTbWa9nrgdwh705tN03yHN2UqRLYHk7uTtxYmsgzz1TsNWaxYbGv7-U1wtRiFsSOAYD7KLXURrXiB1Rxr3CuNlHG86XUkYm4uH-UxvpbfQH0ZIGfzLbmt0Wt9WPsJONgjfZfXcQIMx-TRmORThnscr7mO-iukM20/s1746/bis%20jun%20orch.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="952" data-original-width="1746" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhunwbV6aLWufYU31dmw9ydTbWa9nrgdwh705tN03yHN2UqRLYHk7uTtxYmsgzz1TsNWaxYbGv7-U1wtRiFsSOAYD7KLXURrXiB1Rxr3CuNlHG86XUkYm4uH-UxvpbfQH0ZIGfzLbmt0Wt9WPsJONgjfZfXcQIMx-TRmORThnscr7mO-iukM20/w400-h217/bis%20jun%20orch.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BIS Junior Orchestra (1990's)<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"></span></div><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3tH_PhUIG4wZYrCKxdsuO0pC6_GKaFMuVeJIENFwM3dYVNvOLDGEo_6NEObC-BSCuUvCIMaE8ErFvwHiPlXNhfM9btAK-ZOcXN5ma2NELKZ-DIj-yi8F04nIHJLmfe-8HdDHpJOfKw33PtZ5QSYvT-yXf49HzSGty_tPqkZS9nLS5g-IPC5o/s1183/scan0014.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="754" data-original-width="1183" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3tH_PhUIG4wZYrCKxdsuO0pC6_GKaFMuVeJIENFwM3dYVNvOLDGEo_6NEObC-BSCuUvCIMaE8ErFvwHiPlXNhfM9btAK-ZOcXN5ma2NELKZ-DIj-yi8F04nIHJLmfe-8HdDHpJOfKw33PtZ5QSYvT-yXf49HzSGty_tPqkZS9nLS5g-IPC5o/w400-h255/scan0014.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BIS Concert 1990's</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAgRZZsZe-p8jT2_WOQyJNp8j5mc2I352TD9lcfnYcwNSY2aCoCC8-lUA6Grc2dXDT7zrxd5-V7K7q_yTU_0Ns5WAPv0TSoiu-tuVLazGV8wPEd0CNREyC1sHSZVyPtRdqsE5aTb_-R3M6kuNsMc-FhZxCe5WPMxpGKt5tMYWLd0A3gOE8NUU/s1492/In%20Old%20Music%20room%201996%20silly%20version.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1044" data-original-width="1492" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAgRZZsZe-p8jT2_WOQyJNp8j5mc2I352TD9lcfnYcwNSY2aCoCC8-lUA6Grc2dXDT7zrxd5-V7K7q_yTU_0Ns5WAPv0TSoiu-tuVLazGV8wPEd0CNREyC1sHSZVyPtRdqsE5aTb_-R3M6kuNsMc-FhZxCe5WPMxpGKt5tMYWLd0A3gOE8NUU/w400-h280/In%20Old%20Music%20room%201996%20silly%20version.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tanglin Y6 classes 1990's</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="font-family: Philosopher; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3w0F7ovzJxqJnK6Df4Aio8sa39P3feZEgwSelCTq2kLp9N8ukxfheDW90jLk8OsxeQz5G00MdyUbY3mu6819IkpY0ByFVq2E_88iB3tZDe5imTh_er_vvJICdm1P1ySE281_n6BjyouTdyuat8hOjWdelgdAA0wHTAzBO1Z0v70KAT8JYq70/s1193/Tanglin%20Year%20Six%20choral.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="817" data-original-width="1193" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3w0F7ovzJxqJnK6Df4Aio8sa39P3feZEgwSelCTq2kLp9N8ukxfheDW90jLk8OsxeQz5G00MdyUbY3mu6819IkpY0ByFVq2E_88iB3tZDe5imTh_er_vvJICdm1P1ySE281_n6BjyouTdyuat8hOjWdelgdAA0wHTAzBO1Z0v70KAT8JYq70/w400-h274/Tanglin%20Year%20Six%20choral.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Choral Lesson at Tanglin 1996<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQYFevXHpw7dvLApKXU39csd4V8JAkedovQ1xB5Yx6RXVwFHe7ncGdKr5207lBFT8uSOO9EXtfjZUFC6OzSWCEfKS0TXKktLYmQAV9keAh6yFmKHWqYfM9lx3xJgbqQYXMnzT32wWrc_PoJoqCJr6G3GaiV6PuN3Vbxc2s9OgsUjqcuvebN5s/s1673/Tanglin%20Orchestra.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1183" data-original-width="1673" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQYFevXHpw7dvLApKXU39csd4V8JAkedovQ1xB5Yx6RXVwFHe7ncGdKr5207lBFT8uSOO9EXtfjZUFC6OzSWCEfKS0TXKktLYmQAV9keAh6yFmKHWqYfM9lx3xJgbqQYXMnzT32wWrc_PoJoqCJr6G3GaiV6PuN3Vbxc2s9OgsUjqcuvebN5s/w400-h283/Tanglin%20Orchestra.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tanglin orchestra 1990's </td></tr></tbody></table> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP3562GZZa8S7Pa1x8dqe76oEx3614gWgun2scYfvWAlfteTEsJsgk8x4s2AZJNFi0eN6rKZWulIH1pxg8XCohB1voTWWRbBjmdSOlymMiJwYUZcGLtVin7AJYiZ-Fb0prUStRFllpP4WDR2olCbO3jg_sCeKkB2y-I4FiU8sz_fzLGGacfv4/s1700/adult%20gamelan%202003.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1176" data-original-width="1700" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP3562GZZa8S7Pa1x8dqe76oEx3614gWgun2scYfvWAlfteTEsJsgk8x4s2AZJNFi0eN6rKZWulIH1pxg8XCohB1voTWWRbBjmdSOlymMiJwYUZcGLtVin7AJYiZ-Fb0prUStRFllpP4WDR2olCbO3jg_sCeKkB2y-I4FiU8sz_fzLGGacfv4/w400-h276/adult%20gamelan%202003.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tanglin Adult Gamelan 2003</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDZ6KVSBGPqjYvd10FNDX8XNnW8CCegsKUq9yaFZPusuEJXcQatiz0jMIlpIJo_nP9BnQs_lvpLTvuA31qpGrjMYPB5p-Ej2AC4GZisitt-Lk4Wew8uUTw6ByLDAt_ETdUWxHjg8ly_vm6eQa-LyzfWuuF63VqUqL1fiW4KgTNeyN18G8cw90/s2268/Yr%20Five%20and%20Six%20Concert%201999.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2268" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDZ6KVSBGPqjYvd10FNDX8XNnW8CCegsKUq9yaFZPusuEJXcQatiz0jMIlpIJo_nP9BnQs_lvpLTvuA31qpGrjMYPB5p-Ej2AC4GZisitt-Lk4Wew8uUTw6ByLDAt_ETdUWxHjg8ly_vm6eQa-LyzfWuuF63VqUqL1fiW4KgTNeyN18G8cw90/w400-h266/Yr%20Five%20and%20Six%20Concert%201999.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tanglin Y5&6 Concert 2003</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> </span> Music had been my deepest spiritual, artistic, </div><div style="text-align: center;">and creative form of expression for over forty years. </div><div style="text-align: center;">It was my voice and my language. My song in joy and in sorrow.</div><div style="text-align: center;"> It had given me many of the deepest spiritual epiphanies in my life to that date. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> Teaching and Education was my career and my trained profession</div><div style="text-align: center;">—my only profession—my source of income, </div><div style="text-align: center;">and the small but significant way I felt able to influence the world for the better.</div></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">All gone.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">I was no longer able to function with accuracy as a musician, but I was not yet severely deaf. I wore hearing aids for many years that enabled me to hear conversations sufficiently well. But by 2016 even the hearing aids failed to help, cochlear implants were not an option, and by 2017 I was severely and near-profoundly deaf. (I became an Israeli citizen in 2019, and in 2020 I was granted disabled status as a deaf citizen.)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">Back in 1999, with over half of my life-savings, I had bought a small cave-house in Andalusia as a retirement home, and in 2003 I left South-East Asia, Music Teaching, and the security of a well-paid career for good.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">In Spain, I mourned the loss of my hearing for almost three years. Though I never doubted that there must have been a reason for the loss, I still spent many months in self-pity and depression over it. In sharing these sad events and poignant photos with you in this website post, my aim was to take you with me into that slough of despond for just a brief moment. Forgive me.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">But take heart. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">I recovered and so will you (I trust) </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">when you read what then happened.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">The Baal Shem Tov is reputed to have said that there are no accidents/mere coincidences because everything falls within the plan of Divine Providence (<i>Hashgacha Pratit</i>). The Midrash assures us that the lowliest blade of grass or leaf on a tree grow and die by an expressly declared decree from Heaven, <span style="color: #3d85c6;">[iv]</span> and we are encouraged to search-out the hidden meaning and message concealed within every act of Providence—even when such acts appear to be negative at first sight.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">I worked hard on that task, and eventually I came to the conclusion that I had been forcibly turned around and made solitary by this deafness for a reason: to focus again on the interior life and to make something which seemed to be a negative into a true positive—to see the answer within the question, and to view the obstacle as a disguised blessing. It was an obstacle that threatened my will to live, but within it was the seed to generate renewal.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">Very slowly (and not without initial struggle) I decided that I had been re-called to live as a ‘dedicated contemplative’.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">In Part Four I will tell you how that awareness developed into what is, in fact, my newly re-discovered career—the practice of living as a <i>Mitkarev</i>, a Dedicated Jewish Contemplative.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br />©Nachman Davies<br />Safed<br />Nisan 2023
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25pt; text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">PART ONE of <i>A Hermit’s Tale</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>is <a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2023/02/a-hermits-tale-part-one.html">HERE</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">PART TWO of <i>A Hermit’s</i> Tale<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>is <a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2023/03/a-hermits-tale-part-two.html">HERE</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">NOTES</span></b><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 107%;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> The
other song was “Nelly the Elephant”, but this did not attract audience support
in quite the same way!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 19.26px;">[ii] </span></span></span>The work was scored for full orchestra with solo voice and solo violin. Orchestration included a full battery of gongs,bowed cymbals,a thunder sheet and a shofar. The bars quoted were sung against a fortissimo orchestral background and the soprano soloist required subtle electronic amplification (to create the impression that the voice was heard intimately and internally).</span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 107%;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
Percy Dearmer’s hymn based on Malachi 3:6<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 107%;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> Midrash
Rabba, Bereshit 10:6.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-15505141555069526802023-03-05T18:30:00.008+02:002023-03-28T10:39:56.069+03:00A HERMIT'S TALE: Part Two<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpyqWkCHMxcB_E-ujlZ91zSiMkFIXNdgmTaVNYm0XOYfG_6lOJDjlC0EOKFPEpLw92judvPwK154VJ1-iEyHrsp8BJpP0YP2P1vmZ3Hg44XIbO3jF1MTA2Mxz2uo6nDdNfFXkPen1Mmv_ECbj-yxhRoSQODDexrAp1y-QWRctZbOf1qdOmZgI/s5663/KRATON%20JOGYA%20MUSICIANS%203%20%20r%20vetter.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4210" data-original-width="5663" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpyqWkCHMxcB_E-ujlZ91zSiMkFIXNdgmTaVNYm0XOYfG_6lOJDjlC0EOKFPEpLw92judvPwK154VJ1-iEyHrsp8BJpP0YP2P1vmZ3Hg44XIbO3jF1MTA2Mxz2uo6nDdNfFXkPen1Mmv_ECbj-yxhRoSQODDexrAp1y-QWRctZbOf1qdOmZgI/w430-h320/KRATON%20JOGYA%20MUSICIANS%203%20%20r%20vetter.jpg" width="430" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><b><span style="color: #2e74b5; font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Aldine401 BT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Aldine401 BT"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;">This is the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>second installment
of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>The Hermit’s Tale</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><b><span style="color: #2e74b5; font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Aldine401 BT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Aldine401 BT"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: accent1; mso-themeshade: 191;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Part One<i> </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is <a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2023/02/a-hermits-tale-part-one.html">HERE</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Aldine401 BT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Aldine401 BT"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><b><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Introduction<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><i><span style="color: #444444;">In<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Part One I described how my musical life was
revolutionised by an unexpected encounter with the Gamelan Music of Java while
I was<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>living in England.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This second installment of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tale goes on to describe some<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>details of my life in Indonesia.</span></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><i style="font-family: Philosopher; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><i style="font-family: Philosopher; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="color: #444444;">Gamelan altered the course of my musical
journey, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but it was also a spiritual
catalyst—an opening of my inner consciousness as it were— and it <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>prepared<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>me for a return to the contemplative life. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><b><span style="color: #444444;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><b><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Javanese Gamelan: The Hidden Melody that Awakens the Soul<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25pt;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> Central Java is an exceptionally mystical and other-worldly part of our planet. Indeed, some say that its name is related to the term <i>jiwa</i> which means soul, and the significance of Javanese gamelan in my spiritual development is worth expanding on because it is in so many ways the expression of a Sufi form of meditation practice. There are jolly, playful, and “pop” types of modern gamelan performance, some mixed with western music and some delivered as avantgarde art. Popular and jolly styles are ubiquitous and are frequently quite raucous and frenetic.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> This is not the type of gamelan music I was interested in. I wanted to learn the very formal concert performance type of gamelan that was performed in the Royal Palaces.<span style="color: #3d85c6;">[1]</span> Playing such a <i>gendhing (</i>a piece for gamelan ensemble<i>)</i> or hearing it in its most classical <i>Kraton</i> (Palace) form provides the listener with an opportunity for reflection and meditation, and it can, and does, induce altered states of consciousness easily and frequently.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> There is a type of extremely meditative gamelan music for <i>gamelan gadon</i> which uses the soft instruments in virtuoso mode, and there are also special genres for <i>wayang</i> (puppet dramas) and <i>beksan</i> (dance) but a typical classical Javanese gamelan piece for concert performance (<i>Uyon-Uyon/Klenengan</i>) is highly contrapuntal, repetitive, modal and rarely modulatory, and it will most commonly but not exclusively involve</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: medium;">(i) a loud and strong statement of an often lengthy theme repeated several times;</span></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">(ii) a short transition in dynamics and tempo;</span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">(iii) an exceptionally long trance-like section of repeating the same theme at two, three, or four times the speed at a <b><i>mp</i></b> or <i><b>p</b></i> volume and with expanding and increasingly intricate decorative inner instrumental voices;</span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">(iv) ending with a gradual re-emergence and restatement of the first strong and loud section.</span></div><p></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><b>Such a piece might well last an hour (or much more) with the central slow section taking 90% of the time.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> To me, listening to this music feels like being in a boat that is slowly sinking amidst gigantic ocean waves to profoundly still depths, attaining a deep reflective tranquility in the barely moving waters at the deeper level, then slowly, ever so slowly, rising through the waters gradually but irrepressibly, to emerge— bursting through the ocean surface into the air again in momentous and buoyant triumph. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">oooOooo</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Before being transplanted to Java,my experience of gamelan had been minimal. In my teaching days in Frodsham, it is true that I was merely guessing much of the music. But at that time, in the UK, and unlike USA, Javanese gamelan was only just emerging into musical consciousness, and was rarely heard outside of the Indonesian embassy and the Halls of Academe. In Frodsham I had one Indonesian primary school karawitan booklet, a handful of cassette tapes, and my memory of the momentous first ASKI concert of 1979 to go by. Added to that were attendance at two EGO concerts; some kind and encouraging meetings with Neil Sorrel and Alec Roth of York University; together with the crash course in some of the basics that I received in brief encounters with the Heins family. In Frodsham we were simply (and shamelessly) making-up a lot of what we performed, but we performed with love and the greatest respect.</span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> In 1984 I had found myself transplanted from rural Wirral to the sprawling bustle of Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. My place of work was the British International School, and I made many long-lasting friendships with the staff, students, and families there; but I led something of a double life because all my out of school time was spent exclusively in the company of Indonesians. This was a deliberate choice as, after all, my motivation for moving to Java in the first place was to learn about the culture of the gamelan music I had been studying in Britain.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Like almost every European visitor and expatriate worker I know, I found the Indonesian people I met there to be the most friendly, polite, and optimistically cheerful people I had ever encountered—this is a generalisation made by many others who feel their lives were touched and transformed by the encounter. The cheering and uplifting education in <i>derekh eretz</i> that I received from my many Indonesian friends is one of the greatest gifts I have ever been granted.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Indigenous Jakartan life was grounded by the concept of <i>gotong royong</i>. This term refers to a certain <i>give and take </i>which meant that almost everyone would semi-automatically drop everything to help any other member of their community who had a pressing need of urgent assistance. In the inner city pseudo-kampong communities whose bamboo and corrugated-iron homes were hidden just behind the mainstreets—often leaning directly up against the walls of concrete villas of the rich — the concept was universally applied.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> This <i>gotong royong</i> activity could range from assisting neighbours to maintain their dwellings, clubbing-together to pay for a child’s surgery, sharing food even when they barely had any themselves, or just lending a hand if there was an accident or simply something that one could not do without the assistance of an extra pair of hands. I never saw the like again till I felt the warmth of the Spanish-Moroccan Jewish community I later joined in Spain, or in the deep level of mutual assistance that I witness here in my current Israeli home in Safed, where there are many organisations providing meals and financial assistance to the city’s isolated elderly and its many financially needy residents.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> In Jakarta, such mutual solidarity was generated by a sort of hive-mentality that would burst out before my eyes almost daily in practical and generous physical action. People would give both their labour and time with barely a second thought, and give it with a smile— immediately. The awareness that the family of humanity is an endlessly extended one was expressed all around me and it created a warmth and a sense of belonging in the hearts of foreign workers like myself as much as amongst the Indonesians themselves.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> The concept of <i>gotong-royong </i>is celebrated in the wonderful and playful <i>gendhing dolanan</i> composition for school children called “<i>Gugur Gunung</i>” by Ki Nartosabdo, with its refrain ‘<i>holobis kuntul baris</i>’ (<i>pull together in a line</i>). I taught it to children in this version with new English lyrics alternating with the Javanese original.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br />Come on, Let’s go, This song is fun<br />The lesson’s learnt, the job is done<br />We laugh and clap and sing and play<br />To drive the stormy clouds away. <br /><br />If we all listen hard,<br />we’ll always clap it right on time (clap clap)<br />If we all listen hard,<br />and think of others all the time. <br /><br />When we began to learn this song (clap clap)<br />We always got it wrong<br />Now we hear the bright kenong,<br />That leads us to the final gong. <br /><br />Pull together in a line<br />Pull together in a line<br />Work that’s shared will turn out fine!</span><div><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><b><i>(Open the graphic in a new window to read it clearly) </i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6xzsCOLDKUZO9loEb41oSzojhgirinshWFJjJnIbuE7VehzwETOE4c4-5DeOrr0QQ14z7Ic8UrZm6N8K9k71c0_XUDsBBGDKALd7kr_f6a4GGn0Fa31YtxsVNTjI7NLdZrRYzmiFvn4cJeCiSfWdzOcy8UhhB6PtqLENqVfh8E0ZqbMNr6yA/s3379/gugur%20gunung%20score.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3379" data-original-width="2295" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6xzsCOLDKUZO9loEb41oSzojhgirinshWFJjJnIbuE7VehzwETOE4c4-5DeOrr0QQ14z7Ic8UrZm6N8K9k71c0_XUDsBBGDKALd7kr_f6a4GGn0Fa31YtxsVNTjI7NLdZrRYzmiFvn4cJeCiSfWdzOcy8UhhB6PtqLENqVfh8E0ZqbMNr6yA/w271-h400/gugur%20gunung%20score.jpg" width="271" /></a></div><br /></b></span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></div><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: justify;"> Working as Director of Music in the British International School, I was welcomed with open arms and many smiles into the society of Indonesians of many backgrounds: including Sundanese, Betawi, Balinese, Central and East Javanese, Sumatran, and Indo-Chinese. But I had also come to Java as a student of Javanese Gamelan music (Karawitan) and consequently, outside of school, my time amongst the Indonesians was mostly spent within the huge subgroup of Central-Javanese Indonesians living in the capital.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> I was swiftly adopted by the Jakartan-Javanese who addressed me as ‘Mas Nur’, and I studied and performed with them—almost always as the only European member present— in various gamelan groups in the city—including <i>Karawitan Anjugan Yogjakarta TMI</i>, <i>Sari Laras</i>, <i>Subud Cilandak</i>, and <i>Swasta Widya</i>). These groups were amateur groups playing on very expensive sets of bronze instruments. They came from all social classes and usually met weekly in the cool evenings to play for around three hours a week....often more. Some of them were housed in grand locations and performed in concerts or at special events. But gamelan was everywhere. I will give two brief examples to illustrate this ubiquity:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> When I lived in the Jln Bangka district I was walking the two hundred yards between my home and the huge supermarket <i>Kemchicks</i> to buy food supplies and I took a slightly different route. I walked past a backstreet house and heard an informal amateur gamelan group playing. The full but modestly-cased set was laid out temporarily in the tiny front yard and I noticed there was nobody playing the <i>bonang</i> <i>panerus</i>. I put down my shopping bags and politely gestured if I might take the vacant place. The musicians just carried on playing but the <i>kendhang</i> player nodded in approval. I sat down, after respectfully making a <i>kulo-nuwun</i> gesture, just in time to contribute the missing element to the other <i>bonang </i>player's <i>imbal</i> pattern. Not a word was exchanged..... but the other bonang player turned with a smile and a raised eyebrow of surprise that I knew what to do. With no interruption in the flow of the performance, the music simply continued without pause. They made no fuss after I rose to collect my shopping bags, but we had a great time—and I left them silently smiling.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The second story refers to an even smaller group of amateur musicians. Alongside a canal in Radio Dalam, South Jakarta, deep inside one of the inner-city kampongs mentioned earlier, I lost my footing on the muddy path and fell down a steep ravine on the banks of a wide and deep canal. As a child I had avoided an injury when I slipped climbing over a Territorial Army base fence whilst playing with the other Whitford Road children. The iron spike went through my trousers but not my flesh. I was left suspended on that spike while the other children rushed to fetch an older and taller child to lift me off.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Here on the banks of that Jakarta canal, the same thing happened. I had fallen down the slope but a huge iron spike in the concrete canal-bank went straight through my trouser belt and left me suspended a metre below street level. Unsurprisingly, what seemed like an entire village rushed to the scene and I was rescued in moments by the concerned and excited multitude. Recovering from the shock in the modest home of one of the rescuers, I commented on the presence of some piled-up gamelan instruments in their home.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> Within moments the instruments were pulled out and we played <i>Ladrang Slamet, </i> a <i>gendhing</i> (musical opus) whose name means both ‘safe’, 'welcome', and ‘blessed’. The kind of gamelan music I was attracted to was always the deeply mystical and ritual style of the Central Javanese palaces of Surakarta and Jogjakarta, but I also experienced many deeply moving ‘serious’ performances in less elevated circumstances. This noble little performance is etched in my memory like a <i>widuri-bulan</i> gemstone. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> Gamelan is the musical and spiritual heart of the Javanese—for both Sultan and Villager. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> Here is a photo of that moment right after the rescue:</div></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnX_TBt993I-qt8perqFdMoiVsCuucP_QrY6ymo6tCHrGwLRfissSRr4uaIznPnwYs9EMux3TVIwUfrVGKZ-7cnmlsznuiNeGgMAjn-T8vkSN4rWLW6r5l_709Pame45pNqKDXm9w_UW9blw4qEf2PmUL4JyUNXMPrXEzfaqb1RYYTGNI7FqA/s1600/Rescue%20Team%20ndavies.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1108" data-original-width="1600" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnX_TBt993I-qt8perqFdMoiVsCuucP_QrY6ymo6tCHrGwLRfissSRr4uaIznPnwYs9EMux3TVIwUfrVGKZ-7cnmlsznuiNeGgMAjn-T8vkSN4rWLW6r5l_709Pame45pNqKDXm9w_UW9blw4qEf2PmUL4JyUNXMPrXEzfaqb1RYYTGNI7FqA/w401-h278/Rescue%20Team%20ndavies.jpg" width="401" /></a></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 1pt;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><b> </b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><b>Teaching and Learning</b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">Although my teaching and managerial duties at the ever-expanding British International School were considerable, in my free time I studied gamelan performance privately. In the UK, I had been moved by the Solonese (Surakarta) style of gamelan performed by the ASKI musicians, and in my early years in Jakarta I studied under the maternal and benevolent guidance of <b>Ibu Sutikno</b> in Jln Ciniru (following the Surakarta/Solonese style that I had heard in UK) but I soon moved on to specialise in the <i>Kraton </i>(palace) style of gamelan of the Mataram tradition of Yogyakarta.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">In those days the notations of Kraton gamelan pieces by Roger Vetter were pure gold to me. Nowadays Roger has shared his experience and knowledge of both the instruments and perfomance online and you can hear and see his work on the Mataram Palace style I am referring to <a href="https://vetter.sites.grinnell.edu/gamelan/online-performance-resources/">HERE</a> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> At exactly the right providential time I was introduced to a very special teacher. <b>Pak Rudatin Brongtodiningrat </b><span style="color: #3d85c6;">[ii]</span>—the uncle of the Sultan of Yogyakarta—and I began a course of study as his devoted <i>murid</i>. This process involved a private weekly lesson on the <i>bonang</i> at my home (with visitors or my friend Pak Bahrudin providing a <i>balungan</i> in assistance) for over four hours every Tuesday evening. Pak Rudhatin enabled me to access the gamelan groups of many Yogyanese musicians, and thanks to him I was able to meet the Sultan himself and ‘pledge allegiance’ to him personally.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25pt; text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"></span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx12vWDEYBGcJgTc0pPx_vcRJwDCArcND7MiJBKlUpLty8ME6-MpmUuZJQ_mUU07eClNL2HCdm3N0bHL3Ff7bpA3HVoqu5Vj8BQUt3pasq80FgB5E_YcSVzdtEwfTImSsEIaIIwMTrOnpRA53VEH0PrGsXHCY5r59xK5dCat4pP_7fTUqPnOE/s1209/2%20NIYOGO.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1209" data-original-width="750" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx12vWDEYBGcJgTc0pPx_vcRJwDCArcND7MiJBKlUpLty8ME6-MpmUuZJQ_mUU07eClNL2HCdm3N0bHL3Ff7bpA3HVoqu5Vj8BQUt3pasq80FgB5E_YcSVzdtEwfTImSsEIaIIwMTrOnpRA53VEH0PrGsXHCY5r59xK5dCat4pP_7fTUqPnOE/w249-h400/2%20NIYOGO.jpg" width="249" /></a></span></div><p></p>
<span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: justify;"> Pak Rudhatin taught me the palace style of performance by classical methods... theory was not explained but the student was expected to gain understanding by learning patterns that might be appropriate by imitation and repetition. I was reminded very strongly of the methods of my Novice master in the Carmelites who had never explained the spiritual life or the way to “practice meditation” but deliberately yet attentively left me to discover it myself, simply by sitting in silence daily— attempting to relate to G-d in whatever way I was led. The gamelan lessons were not quite so open ended.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> Gamelan works have a set form and a set '<i>balungan' </i>(sometimes called a skeleton melody) which is often memorised. Certain instruments in the ensemble weave their own intricate melodies around this outline <i>balungan</i> or anticipate its progress according to acceptable patterns. There is much talk of the truth being the inverse of this....namely that there is a hidden melody or melodies, and the <i>balungan </i>is derived from that/their voice/voices.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> Jewish readers will immediately see the correspondence between this concept and the notion of a written Torah and the Supernal Torah or Torah of the Heart.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> My Teacher was schooling me in the traditional manner, and if I played a <i>bonang</i> pattern that he did not approve of he would simply say it was ‘tidak enak’ (not pleasant) and invite me to try a different interpretation (from the battery of possibilities that he had previously taught me) until a more appropropriate <i>cengkok</i> met his approval. It was quite exhausting and largely wordless process that involved the devoted submission of the student to the teacher and great deal of mutual patience.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Slowly I began to let my mind rest </div><div style="text-align: center;">and let my hands go wherever my intuition led me.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Pak Rudhatin was teaching me music but actually,</div><div style="text-align: center;">he was teaching me much more.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Some of it I was aware of at the time.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Some of it still has me pondering to this day.</div> <div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">oooOooo</div></span></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> These days, being of decidedly limited financial means, I am blessed to receive a pension from the Israeli government and charitable support from some very kind and generous Jewish donors who help to put food on my table. On moving to Jakarta, I had sold my stone cottage in Storeton and the salary of an expatriate teacher at BIS was generous, and so in the 1980’s I was financially wealthy. Consequently, I was actually able to commission and own a full Slendro set of Gamelan Instruments (named <i>Chakrabhaswara</i> - Fiery-wheel of sound). It was on this set that I received my tuition from Pak Rudhatin.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQocegtz9a4JohvFStJ5plwrnh-AvQvfszNbUMqvBUmclS6Je8mWXJf8sJIT4DC_LCuIFM-qbfBfZUqxc-aDDDlA_Gz_HEdrV8UbrsbHWD4Nhmgs7P_UsiapYTxupwxeJD6XuJxFjnMBZbjuMLoYwI40xdFpDd5Osgazke6NF7fSsy5afZZxM/s1782/chakrabhaswara%20HR.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1086" data-original-width="1782" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQocegtz9a4JohvFStJ5plwrnh-AvQvfszNbUMqvBUmclS6Je8mWXJf8sJIT4DC_LCuIFM-qbfBfZUqxc-aDDDlA_Gz_HEdrV8UbrsbHWD4Nhmgs7P_UsiapYTxupwxeJD6XuJxFjnMBZbjuMLoYwI40xdFpDd5Osgazke6NF7fSsy5afZZxM/w400-h244/chakrabhaswara%20HR.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25pt; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">This beautiful and majestic set was made by the master craftsman and virtuoso gamelan musican, Pak Suhirdjan of Yogyakarta. <span style="color: #3d85c6;">[iii]</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Though I was never a Subud member myself, I was friendly towards the institution and Pak Rudhatin was their Gamelan tutor. Consequently, the Indonesian members of the gamelan group from Subud Cilandak used these instruments in my home for a special monthly rehearsal, and for a time they were actually housed and used at the British School for the children’s regular gamelan lessons.I later sold the set to a UK Education authority just before moving to Singapore.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Eventually, The British International school bought its own Gamelan, a small bronze pelog set in Solonese style cases, seen in the following picture. (along with some of my most stellar pupils, Faye-Anne Chylek, Andrew Bennett, Roshan Vaswani, Daniel Smith,Estelle Rees, and Alison Taudevin....some of whom are still in touch with me some thirty years after this photo was taken. )</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZpcipl4Rt_NbCgVJgq2TGvvcSAAYmE-IgkM3PGDNvdi_5H2Hq9Jg4zXjt-eHHk4fdJk_n-ZRYLdTsRJkDbSNWalwjzp6jWlt1UJ3X2ft97vVL_tTHYj7Lgm_EgbwotAgIUVhfBik3QZZIcTNeAUaAXeyc-ee9tDKNzmbM-Qi3He7AxaNQZq0/s1468/BIS%20GAMELAN%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1468" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZpcipl4Rt_NbCgVJgq2TGvvcSAAYmE-IgkM3PGDNvdi_5H2Hq9Jg4zXjt-eHHk4fdJk_n-ZRYLdTsRJkDbSNWalwjzp6jWlt1UJ3X2ft97vVL_tTHYj7Lgm_EgbwotAgIUVhfBik3QZZIcTNeAUaAXeyc-ee9tDKNzmbM-Qi3He7AxaNQZq0/w400-h233/BIS%20GAMELAN%201.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></span></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJxOrhmcscne9vvKtgVVbFSNqsgxqINyprnuYE0nFgGdAM0D2l_rvJZFeST2hE8tglPe9nZ1nzvbDOapzRO3hVCmjKUJs5zW8x8OOHqawgLJwI7MEeCcT91dRBWQeYJtZ5n5prNFUQthq5l3a7EkqWl-zr1uC56zuF9YbRRUhikszDHZrkhHM/s1468/BIS%20GAMELAN%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> One of the outstanding reasons for teaching gamelan in schools is the fact that it is a multi-level mixed ability system. There are instruments which demand great skill and dexterity; those which require an average manual ability; and those which are undemanding technically, but yet demand great attentiveness to the <i>balungan</i> and format of the <i>gendhing</i> being performed.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">When teaching the pioneering students of Frodsham High School in 1984, it was these skills that were in the forefront of my methods and that Cheshire group certainly mastered the spirit of <i>gotong royong</i> before we had even heard of the term.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">After moving to Jakarta I was at last able to see and hear the music close-up. And slowly but surely I developed a special course for children and adults that I was able to make a principal element in the school music curriculum at both BIS Jakarta and Tanglin Trust School in Singapore.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">The original “Frodsham” aims had remained constant throughout, but in teaching gamelan ( to both children and adults) my <i>tachlit</i>, my ultimate goal was never a purely musical or even a social/community building one. After a few years in Jakarta, I began to teach the music in a manner which consciously attempted to develop the students’ general powers of <b><u>intuition</u></b> and (possibly, even) their telepathic ability. I will unpack this just a little:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> In my teaching of the Year Six course, I would begin many class gamelan lessons with a game in which the entire group would follow my gently droned vocal monosyllabic instruction to play a certain note whilst gently tapping three lento-paced beats on the <i>ketipung</i> drum—all striking that cued note simultaneously on the fourth beat as I struck gently on the lower pitched large drum (<i>kendhang gending</i>). This process would be repeated with the pitch number/name of the note changing every fourth beat. In effect, generating a <i>gatra</i>-based line of melody.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuReFi63D7Nq_-Z1rj1gE7MsNz5Wyq8y125Gq9LmU5U2MJyYVsrFa4ecNZRizBt15Z3zltWmyqC143ADtvY257VMlPwfxi-K_w_GJHgxtnglZ14Q-k8aTXBI2qUv6UBVEDJLrmaVFnrtBPAhXMc9mdpzcregKFKLClLmGmpsgJbZ6MnY-uD1Q/s1322/BIS%20Gamelan%20class%20Ndavies.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="678" data-original-width="1322" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuReFi63D7Nq_-Z1rj1gE7MsNz5Wyq8y125Gq9LmU5U2MJyYVsrFa4ecNZRizBt15Z3zltWmyqC143ADtvY257VMlPwfxi-K_w_GJHgxtnglZ14Q-k8aTXBI2qUv6UBVEDJLrmaVFnrtBPAhXMc9mdpzcregKFKLClLmGmpsgJbZ6MnY-uD1Q/w400-h205/BIS%20Gamelan%20class%20Ndavies.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">[open image in new window to view clearly]</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="font-family: Philosopher; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; text-align: justify;">I would thus be cueing them to play a real or imaginary <i>gendhing</i> with typical melodic-phrase patterns while they were slowly being placed in a form of peaceful semi-trance. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; text-align: justify;"> Then, every now and then instead of announcing the next number I would simply say “next note”. The accuracy of children’s intuition in guessing and playing this note was almost universal. I believe this was a combination of (i) their having subconciously absorbed the characteristic melody shapes; (ii) being intensely attentive aurally but mentally asleep; and (ii) surprising “unison guesses” which really did feel like pure group telepathy.</span></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> I used similar game-like exercises in which students followed the <i>bonang</i> cues I was playing with no speech....but this was more tiring for the young children if I did it for too long. In any event, these intense lesson-openers were almost invariably followed by more lively and <i>soran</i> style pieces which certainly woke them up—and anyone next door trying to teach Year Four Maths. (Sorry Becky!)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">In further illustration of the “feel” of these Year Six lessons, Here is a recording of a regular Year Six class in Singapore. <span style="color: #3d85c6;">[iv]</span> There are musical errors as the students were recorded early in the course and the task was still beyond the <i>bonang</i> players' level—but they demonstrate what I consider to be a good level of intuition. The children look really miserable, but I can assure you they were not — they were just engaged in a very serious activity demanding concentration. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Children lining up for a session on the gamelan resembled kittens before a dish of food in their enthusiasm to play in this mode, and sometimes I had to ask them to be seated in smaller sub-groups to avoid a pile-up—so I know they were very much enjoyed. (Other aspects of my teaching were a lot more wild and jolly—ask them and they will tell you.) </span><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JPYo7LAoM9U" width="320" youtube-src-id="JPYo7LAoM9U"></iframe> </span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25pt;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">In Western ‘classical’ music we are used to being guided by fully-notated scores and the direction provided by a conductor. In Javanese gamelan a basic score is sometimes used, but the conductor’s role is shared by the <i>kendhang</i> player (drummer) —who controls tempo, transitions and conclusions, and certain cues for particular moods and their set styles of performance; the <i>bonang barung</i> player; and (often the) <i>peking</i> player—who anticipate and announce the <i>balungan</i>, transmitting melodic information and underlining the tempo/<i>irama</i> messages of the drummer. This second role is also sometimes assumed by soft style instruments— the <i>rebab</i> and the <i>gender barung</i>. According to this system one is led by (i) a knowledge of forms, moods, and stylistic patterns: and (ii) by listening attentively to those leading instruments and “guessing” what the next note should be.</span></div><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Listening with acutely intuitive ears.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Feeling what is being asked of one.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Allowing the ego to melt into ensemble solidarity.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">working in creative independance but within a tightly formal framework</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Being led by a pure melody whose nature is multi-facetted.</span></li></ul><br />Am I making my point about the connection between Gamelan and Jewish (and especially Jewish-Sufi) meditation clear enough for you? </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">The key to what I am writing about
here is the</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">term </span><i style="font-family: Philosopher;">Kebatinan</i><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25pt; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJbMj-c2BVqrHXWF99RFsxdrEh7Yn4n3SctrbIWOeUgJ-4gPQqvutzYs6NAlBjc-UdpOO64Cec376myZFBJMGz9S_w-0pnprH89gD1iMyHct6ERczYKNMUN-w5y0uFuJJSmfJFMacXavhvCqaLJgP5H4oA86NEmZSk5MU53WjQYzOZMAEQNYU/s1285/Ingkuliken%20N%20Davies.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="335" data-original-width="1285" height="115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJbMj-c2BVqrHXWF99RFsxdrEh7Yn4n3SctrbIWOeUgJ-4gPQqvutzYs6NAlBjc-UdpOO64Cec376myZFBJMGz9S_w-0pnprH89gD1iMyHct6ERczYKNMUN-w5y0uFuJJSmfJFMacXavhvCqaLJgP5H4oA86NEmZSk5MU53WjQYzOZMAEQNYU/w442-h115/Ingkuliken%20N%20Davies.jpg" width="442" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25pt;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i style="font-family: Philosopher;"> </i><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><b><i>Kebatinan</i></b> is a term which is often used to denote a magical or psychological philosophy whereby an individual might attain paranormal or supernatural ability. Consequently it is often given a bad name by power-seeking charlatans and certain outlandish cults— but at its deeper and purer levels, the term refers to the Javanese tradition of mystical spirituality (<i>batin</i> being Javanese for the interior aspect or soul of something). Significantly it is also called ‘<i><b>Kejawen</b></i>’ which might be translated as ‘Javaneseness’ —so essential is it to the mindset of even the most modern Javanese.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">The Encyclopedia of Islam (on Brill) defines <i>Kebatinan</i> as follows:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> </div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: medium;">‘In Indonesia, kebatinan is generally considered mysticism, in particular the spiritual approach to life in the Surakarta and Yokyakarta sultanates, the Javanese heartland. The term derives from the Arabic bāṭin, the inner or internal, particularly the mental, spiritual, and esoteric. As a practice, kebatinan is the cultivation of one’s inner being or secret self and the honing of one’s intuition (Indon., rasa) as the way to truth, to being in step with the pre-ordained order of existence, and ultimately to intuiting its presence in one’s bāṭin.’</span></span></div></div></blockquote></blockquote><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Though its realm of activity is psychological and philosophical, it has a religious heart. To the outsider it may seem to be infused with hints and practices that belong to Hinduism and animism (both of which are preserved in the gamelan music of Bali), <i>Kejawen</i> and its partner <i>Karawitan</i> are, at base, Islamic. Since the Royal courts were converted to Islam by the legendary <i>Wali Songgo</i> of the fifteenth/sixteenth century, many of the older Hindu stories that were told by dance, song, and puppet shows were re-cast with a much more Islamic flavour.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">The very purpose of the music ( at its highest stages) became the development of a person’s intuitive spiritual awareness. This was because the peak of human achievement in the system of <i>Kejawen</i> is <b><i>Manunggaling kawula Gusti</i></b>: the union of the (human) servant with the (Divine) Lord. This concept was ( and is still) represented in detail in the tale of Dewaruci (which concerns both the inner dwelling of the Divine in the human soul/microcosm and the presence and unity of the Divine in all creation (macrocosm).<span style="color: #3d85c6;">[v]</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">The path of <i>Kebatinan</i> involves asceticism,solitary retreats,fasting, and deep <i>bertapa</i> (meditation). Of course these were never part of my teaching in the classroom. There in the classroom, it was only the intuitive and psychological elements, present in <i>kebatinan</i>, that I was hoping to encourage—religious matters were never mentioned. Nevertheless, I am convinced that there is no better musical-mental training of the kind of attentive listening and ensemble intuition than Javanese Gamelan.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> But in my private musical studies and in my own spiritual education, it was the psychological and spiritual aspect of the music that became my lasting focus.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">The <i>kebatinan</i> tradition of Java is woven into the substance and hidden melody of gamelan music. <i>Kebatinan</i> has animist aspects, but it is most often expressed in Islamic-Sufi mode. Javanese <i>Kebatinan</i> speaks of the way in which the teacher ‘opens’ the soul, a term denoting a kind of initiation in intuition and sensitivity to things spiritual. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> For me that teacher was the gamelan music of the Yogja tradition itself, often specifically mediated through my teacher Pak Rudhatin.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A well known text from eighteenth century Surakarta reads:</span></span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">The music
itself disappears <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">and nothing
is left of it.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">It has
become<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a road,</span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> a guide to union with the
Divine.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">This is the
way that one should go:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">We should
return<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>all sound of instruments and
voices<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">to the One
who generates every sound<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Philosopher;">and who
gives man the faculty of hearing</span><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">.<o:p></o:p></span>[vi]</span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><o:p><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="color: #783f04; font-size: large;">(<b>Inghulikhen
Swara Mring Kang Duwe Swara</b>)</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">The gamelan music I was playing and studying was opening up long-closed spiritual doors anew, and I found myself pondering my place in the cosmos quite intensively. I also began, as it were, to notice the concealed worlds that are hidden alongside and behind the physical world—something that I had first encountered as a child and especially as a Carmelite but somehow lost in my workaholic fug. In Java it was somehow easier to spot the ‘angelic’ messages one encountered in coincidences and in synchronicity but had never really paid much attention to. Somehow, the veil seemed very thin on that Island.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> As I have hoped to show you here, Javanese <i>kebatinan</i> culture expresses the conviction that gamelan studies develop one's <i>rasa </i>(intuition) —a Javanese/Indonesian term closely related to sufic <i>dhawq</i>, and I am certain that this is true. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> My encounter with Central Javanese Gamelan in its more mystical forms prepared the way for my conversion to Judaism, which may sound paradoxical. But it is understandable if one has had true experience of this intensely mystical and contemplative form of music making. It can operate as a kind of gate or channel for the opening (<i>pembukaan</i>) of a person’s self awareness and awareness of spiritual matters.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Much of this developed in the time before I owned a computer, before the internet (in its current form) had been invented, and in a country where I had a very limited access to English language religious or literary texts of any kind. Consequently—and fortuitously—it was a process that simply had to take place inside my own mind and soul, and particularly through the vehicle of contemplative prayer.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> Most of
all, </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">it was marked by a return </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">to doing a great deal of talking to G-d again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.25pt; text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">Those enhanced contemplative discussions led to my conversion to Judaism which was supervised from afar but which took place on the Island of Java. And in the next installment it is to that part of the Hermit’s Tale that we will turn.</span></div></span><br /><br /><br />©nachmandavies<br />Safed<br />Adar 2023
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Aldine401 BT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Aldine401 BT"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .25pt; margin-left: .5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0.25pt 0.5pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.5pt;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Aldine401 BT"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Libre Baskerville;">Part One of <i>A Hermit´s Tale</i> is <b><a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2023/02/a-hermits-tale-part-one.html">HERE</a></b></span></div><div><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "Libre Baskerville";"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "Libre Baskerville";">Part Three of </span><i style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "Libre Baskerville";">A Hermit´s Tale</i><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "Libre Baskerville";"> is <a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2023/03/a-hermits-tale-part-three.html"><b>HERE</b></a></span><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><b><br /></b></span>
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<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote; text-align: justify;">[i] For some superb material regarding the gamelan music of the Yogya Kraton see Roger Vetter's website <a href=" https://vetter.sites.grinnell.edu/gamelan/">HERE</a> and also <a href="https://www.kratonjogja.id/kagungan-dalem/16-mengenal-gamelan-keraton-yogyakarta/">HERE</a>. The photo which heads this essay is also by Roger Vetter and shows Kraton musicians playing the 18th century gamelan <i>K.K. Kancilbelik</i> in 1982. </div><div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote; text-align: justify;">
[ii] Pak Rudhatin was born on August 27th 1925. His mother was GBRA Brongtodiningrat. He worked in the Perpustakaan Banjarwilopo Kraton Yogyakarta and studied music and dance there as a member of Siswo Budoyo,Dwi Budoyo,Paromo Budoyo, and Siswo Among Bekso. In addition he received music instruction from KRT Madukusumo,music and dance instruction from his own father GPH Brongtodiningrat, and from GPH Notoprojo.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">He relocated to Jakarta where he worked for the Direktorat Kesenian Dep. Dikbud. He was also active in teaching at INTI, Yayasan Ngeksi Gondho, and Candra Budaya. He is laid to rest at the Royal cemetary in Kota Gede. May his memory be for a blessing and may his soul have an aliyah.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">[iii] Other gamelans by Pak Suhirdjan may be viewed <a href="http://suhirdjan.com/">HERE</a></div><div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">[iv]</span></span> </b>The children are performing on slendro <i>Gamelan Sekar Laras</i> the last set
I commisioned from Joan Suyenaga<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and Mas
Hirdjan in Yogya, and in my opinion<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it
was the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>finest of all the instruments he
ever made for me or my employers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had
a beautiful presence and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>seemed to
generate great peace. I had requested a very noble and unusually-low tuning
when the instruments<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>were made (heard in
this<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>recording). Sadly the instruments
were re-tuned a pitch higher in later years and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>the intended tonal <i>embat</i>/character of the set was<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>lost.</p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><b>[v]</b> </span></span><a href="https://journal.uii.ac.id/Millah/article/download/2362/2155/2466">https://journal.uii.ac.id/Millah/article/download/2362/2155/2466</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="FootnoteTextcave"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 10.6667px;"><b>[vi]</b> </span></span> <b><i><span lang="ES">Serat
Centini</span></i></b><span lang="ES">, canto 277 stanza 28,R.M.A Sumahatmaka,
Ringkasan Centini, Suluk Tambanglaras (<i>PN Balai Pustaka, Jakarta, 1981)</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="FootnoteTextcave"><span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div></div></div>Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-65918407854043861302023-02-20T14:06:00.008+02:002023-03-11T20:54:21.854+02:00A HERMIT'S TALE: Part One<p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0UaX4oHMNQakwEzmo6KcvhsWxQsNXwmkFl3feldJXG45nJy0zvElv-UM1StDnNF1ifBSFtzbn5tWy_xbwa1dq4eIpF7K7P8sXcQmD1aY-FL4Rn7Y7W4BcoF_ReUKMt5NyWaPhdNtzI0asj65ZKidqvQ0Ib4VxvnNYu51spqstDRJLPMuI0wU/s1304/nachman%20and%20zippy%202022.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="815" data-original-width="1304" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0UaX4oHMNQakwEzmo6KcvhsWxQsNXwmkFl3feldJXG45nJy0zvElv-UM1StDnNF1ifBSFtzbn5tWy_xbwa1dq4eIpF7K7P8sXcQmD1aY-FL4Rn7Y7W4BcoF_ReUKMt5NyWaPhdNtzI0asj65ZKidqvQ0Ib4VxvnNYu51spqstDRJLPMuI0wU/w400-h250/nachman%20and%20zippy%202022.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">General Introduction</span></b></h2><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: medium;">I am writing two books at the moment. One of them is almost finished and the other just needs minor editing. The first book is concerned with intentionally dedicated and solitary contemplative lifestyles and is called “The Mitkarevim”, and the second is just Part Two of my short “Treatise on Contemplative Prayer. Part One of that treatise (<b>The Cave of the Heart</b>) is already published. It is available<a href="https://www.amazon.com/CAVE-HEART-Kuntres-Maarat-Ha-Lev/dp/B0B573N46H/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1EUVOYWF1QL2M&keywords=cave+of+the+heart&qid=1676888761&sprefix=cave+of+the+heart%2Caps%2C277&sr=8-2"> HERE</a> on Amazon.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: medium;">But there is a third text—one that was finished some years ago but is too brief to be issued as a book, and it does not belong as part of the other two aforementioned book-drafts as it is of a totally different character. This is because it is a personal memoir and not a practical or theoretical manual like the other works.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: medium;">I am in my seventieth year, settled in Safed in Israel as a full time intentional solitary contemplative (a Mitkarev). But I was once a Carmelite monk, converted to Progressive and then Orthodox Judaism, worked decades as a musician and school teacher in UK, Indonesia, and Singapore— and then lost my sense of hearing totally. I am entering a new and third stage in my life....and this autobiography traces the way I got here.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: medium;">Personally, I am irritated by the existence of this autobiographical text as, by definition, it is intensively self focussed. I am an aspiring Jewish-Sufi contemplative, and such mystics are supposed to transcend the ego. As autobiography, it indicates I have very far to go on that Path— and of course that knowledge hurts my ego. But I labour to develop equanimity in such matters. I long to “die before I die” and so I shelved the annoying text until today and hoped it would just go away.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: medium;">But I keep hearing the voice of one of my greatest teachers (now deceased) telling me “to write my own scripture and tell the story of my life for the benefit of others”. So here it is.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: medium;">Some parts of it are mindless froth designed to raise a chuckle, some parts of it are purely peripheral entertainment for musicians,teachers, or the spiritually minded; other parts tell the story of a personal journey in and out of tragedy—a transformation that may well be of comfort, and even inspiration for those experiencing disability, loss, or isolation in their own Spiritual Journey. That last statement is the main reason I am lifting it down from the shelf and publishing it online in installments here as “A Hermit’s Tale.” If you are meant to read it....you will find it....may it give you hope and strength.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Nachman Davies</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Safed</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Adar 2023</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><h2 style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: x-large;">A HERMIT'S TALE</span></b></h2><div><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvw1CNKwMwhDhNWF_sHrZrC0jUERio1zq8VPnRgod8wJ6p7ZBRTmXrzfBJmduteAJmfgEVP8lgDUXiOh2W60WVsk8BBsEDjH9IIbCljpvsUrdDe9g_MOgdyB_0DAPSbfN5xWW6AyBrd8rMWK2htWRRr2jwRK8Imf3_fUh7eruBdZi5-aVojqg/s1078/N%20Davies%20Chilswell%20organ%201973.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1078" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvw1CNKwMwhDhNWF_sHrZrC0jUERio1zq8VPnRgod8wJ6p7ZBRTmXrzfBJmduteAJmfgEVP8lgDUXiOh2W60WVsk8BBsEDjH9IIbCljpvsUrdDe9g_MOgdyB_0DAPSbfN5xWW6AyBrd8rMWK2htWRRr2jwRK8Imf3_fUh7eruBdZi5-aVojqg/w400-h250/N%20Davies%20Chilswell%20organ%201973.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><span style="font-size: medium;">PART
ONE. Planted and Transplanted</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">The journey of spiritual transformation is
often concealed when Providence is at work.
The route-changes and unexpected diversions, the traffic jams and
collisions in our spiritual journeys often reveal their hidden purpose many years after they have happened, becoming
clear to us only when we make time for retrospective reflection.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Today, I would call myself ‘a Jewish Contemplative’. It took me
many years to see that I had been
on a journey that was designed to produce that realisation. The journey is not
over—and never will be— but I am now aware that a vocational metamorphosis <i>was</i>
being effected step by step over many years.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">I was born to non-religious but nominally
Christian parents in north-western England, in Birkenhead on the Wirral, in the
early 1950’s. My genetic ancestry is North European, predominantly Welsh &
English (with smatterings of German-French-Russian and Sudanese) and though
there were family rumours of Jewish
antecedents in the patrilineal line, I have
never had firm evidence of this. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Most significantly, I was an only child and my parents allowed me enormous freedom to
develop an imaginative interior life from a very early age. I was a sociable child and joined in all the
street games of my childhood friends, but I was equally happy to play at home
alone....mostly being a wizard writing spells and potion recipes (in the years before H.Potter!), or as a pioneering spaceman
travelling in my wardrobe). Both of my
parents held several jobs down <i>simultaneously</i> in order to survive. My father was thus a “Bird’s Eye frozen-food
salesman/Liverpool taxi driver/Oxton Village undertaker” and my mother was a
“Dashley’s Meat butcher/ Liverpool Vernon’s pools-entry sorter/Prenton sweet
shop assistant”. For them, making ends meet was a never ending struggle, and so I spent a lot of time
in the house without them while they juggled with the timetables of their multiple jobs. I also
cooked lunch for myself from the age of ten onwards as they were both out at work.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">I think I had already ‘caught’ religion by
the age of six, ostensibly after
watching the 1960’s BBC television series <i>Paul of Tarsus</i> starring
Patrick Troughton. The morning after the
first episode was broadcast, I was to be
found preaching to the nations: Dressed in full Middle-Eastern-style finery
fashioned from the family bed-sheets and towels, in the vestibule of our ‘Coronation
Street’ style terraced house— I propped-up my Bible on a wooden pedestal ashtray
stand and delivered my prophetic message to anyone who happened to be passing
the open front door. One of my passing congregants was Mrs.
Williams the local Lollipop lady. (A <i>Lollipop Man or Lollipop Lady</i> was a
part-time traffic warden at a zebra
crossing near a school. They stood beside the Belisha beacons
and bore huge STOP signs resembling lollipops. Younger readers may need to
perform several google-searches to
make any sense of that statement.
Other readers will now be aware that we are currently in one of the “frothy
entertainment” sections of this story).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">From that day onwards (and until I moved to
Secondary school in my eleventh year) whenever I approached her zebra crossing
on Borough Road, she greeted me
affectionately as ‘Paul of Tarsus’. From this I assumed that my preaching as a six
year old had been effective. Patrick
Troughton went on to play ‘Doctor Who’. I
have exchanged the towels for a <i>tallit</i> <i>(prayer shawl)</i> but am otherwise more or less the same deep
down. Birkenhead seems to have recovered from the shock of my debut appearance
relatively unscathed. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">The house of my childhood was a musty two-up-two-down Victorian Terrace in Whitford Road, Higher Tranmere, later
declared insanitary and dangerous to
public health and forthwith demolished in the 1990’s. During my family’s residence there in the
1950’s and 1960’s, there were only five books in the entire house. Two of them were
religious: a Masonic Bible belonging to my father and kept (in its original and pristine boxed condition)
in his bedside drawer and my own
(battered and bruised) <i>Paul of Tarsus </i>Bible. Another one of the five was
an ancient and disintegrating edition of the <i>Chambers Dictionary</i> which had been given to me
with great love by my mother’s brother,
Edward Jones. I read it as though it were a text book intended to be read page by page, from cover to cover. That
gift contained the fully-detailed
etymological information that many other dictionaries lacked, and it provided
me with a precocious vocabulary and much of my
English language knowledge. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> The remaining
two books in the house were kept in a cupboard by the side of the kitchen
fireplace, where they kept company with the building’s indigenous silverfish,Whitney
blankets, and various hoarded remnants of decaying cloth that my mother had put aside for
repairs. The two books were <i>(i)</i> a 19<sup>th</sup> century
collection of Daguerreotype<i> </i>photographs of South East Asian culture, and <i>(ii)</i> an <i>A1</i>
size volume of indeterminate but considerable age entitled <i>The </i><i>Naval
Battle Plans of Cornelis de Witt (1623-1672).</i> Both books were brought back from the Second World War by my father
(who had served in the 8<sup>th</sup> Army in North Africa) when he was in Germany for a ‘clear up’ operation immediately after the Armistice.
Alongside these two books rested a (never displayed) twelve inch
diameter pewter plaque of Saint Cecilia, the patron of musicians, playing a
portative pipe organ.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> These three items
were strangely prophetic as I became a
music teacher and organist and also ended up living in Indonesia with a
long-lasting connection to a family of well known Dutch ethnomusicologists. (Greet Heins of Amsterdam was my second gamelan
teacher and her talented daughters,
Marleen and Saskia, taught my Frodsham High School students Javanese music and
dance with generosity and great kindness. My <i>first</i> Javanese gamelan
teacher was the composer Alec Roth of
Preston, who kindly interrupted a busy
schedule to give me tutorials in
Liverpool Lime Street train station cafeteria). The connections between those items in that cupboard and the later
parts of my life-story may seem to be
extremely tenuous connections to you, but to me they have always felt like a
revelation of Divine playfulness. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">As a pre-teen child, I spent most of my free
time devouring the books in the religion, history, and mythology sections of Birkenhead’s wonderful Central Library (built in neo-classical style
in 1934). Thanks to the foresight of Ms. Pinches, the local historian and senior
librarian, I was prematurely admitted to the enormous Adult Library at the age of
ten as I had already consumed all the material on those subjects housed in the Juvenile
Library. With the memory of the moment’s
excitement undimmed, I can still recall the <i>frisson</i> that accompanied
each step that I made as we walked from
the Juvenile Library to the Adult Library: Ms. Pinches led me by the hand,
through the magisterial marble and wrought-iron entrance arch, to the polished
oak and brass-hinged gate where, with measured ceremonial formality, she
introduced me to the beaming counter staff as an honorary member. I was issued with four cardboard adult tickets and <i>ipso facto</i> the Doors of Academia were opened to me. I walked or bicycled there each week or fortnight
after school, taking my little pile of study materials home
in a canvas haversack to be
hungrily devoured in solitude at home.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">At Primary School things were not
quite so idyllic. Though he was a very kind and able educator, Mr. Oliver—the
Headmaster of Woodchurch Road Primary
School—did not regard my choice of studies and their obsessive intensity quite
so positively. He summoned my parents to
the school to tell them that unless I ‘got my head out of Ancient Greek mythology and started to
focus on improving my appalling Mathematics, I would be nothing but a
source of worry for them’. I cried a lot about this— justifiably in a
way, as my mathematical and logical skills are atrocious to this day—but I was
rescued by Mr. Donald Clutton who was the visionary class teacher of Woodchurch Road’s class 4B. He inspired
me to read <i>and</i> write English
Literature, and he encouraged me to study history with the passion he had rightly
identified in the midst of my wayward daydreaming.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"> </span>Donald
Clutton bumped into me by chance on Thurstaston Common thirty years later and
despite the passage of so many years, he recognised me immediately and even greeted his former ten
year old pupil <i>by name</i>. He later
became Head of History at Gordonstoun. May his
memory be for a blessing.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">My parents did not attend any church except
for weddings, christenings, and funerals, but they gave me the freedom to go
wherever I liked, and between the ages of ten and sixteen I had been allowed to
discover and attend services and Sunday Schools in: St Catherine’s Church (<i>Church of England</i>); St Paul’s Church (<i>Scots
Presbyterian</i>); Maitland Meeting
Hall (<i>Evangelical</i>); and, for
one abortive session only, Grange Road
Youth Group (<i>Salvation Army</i>).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> After
these early experiments in community membership, I settled for several years
(aged ten to fourteen) in Christ Church,
Claughton (<i>Low Church CofE</i>)
as a choir member sitting in the choirstall of
Wilfred Owen the war poet. There I was taught musical literacy and basic keyboard skills by the charismatic
organist, Mrs. Dorothy Dearnley. Her inspirational tuition and her passionate
performances of Messiaen’s ‘<i>Dieu parmi nous’ </i>on the Church’s Father Willis
organ turned me, virtually overnight, into an aspiring musician and composer. Aged ten, and with emerging chutzpah, I wrote
to Olivier Messiaen personally to tell him this
and received in return a signed photo, a brochure on the organ of Saint
Sulpice, and a sheet music score of his
prayerful and uplifting motet, ‘<i>O
Sacrum Convivium</i>’ .</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">In the midst of a burgeoning and stormy adolescence,
I surprised everyone (except G-d) by concluding my search for a Christian home
by becoming a Roman Catholic, setting up a new religious base at St. Joseph’s
Church in North Road, Birkenhead. The church had a remarkable pipe organ (Two
manuals and pedalboard) which was often played by one of the parish priests,
Fr. James Molloy, and I was delighted to
be invited to act as his page-turner
during his twice-weekly practice sessions.
On his passing, I inherited his complete organ-works library and, not
having a piano or keyboard at home, I was fortunate enough to be granted permission to practice
regularly on the church’s pipe organ myself—something I did every weekday on
the way home from school. Armed with Fr.
Molloy’s legacy and a fair amount of zeal, I proceeded to teach myself to play the organ. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> Fr.
Molloy’s library included the principal organ works of J.S.Bach and Josef Rheinberger. Using the
money I earned playing at Church weddings at St. Joseph’s and across the
Wirral, I added scores by Charles-Marie Widor, Karg Elert, Louis Vierne, and
Flor Peters, together with the slower and blissfully ecstatic movements of works by Olivier Messiaen.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">The many hours of organ-loft observation that I had spent as a page-turner for both
Dorothy Dearnley and Fr. Molloy proved to be valuable free tuition for me, and I
served as parish organist at St. Joseph’s Church for the following four years.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> To this day I would claim that playing such
an instrument is one of the most
satisfying performance activities available
to a musician. In the world of
instrumental music, nothing can match the challenge and exhilaration of
controlling multiple keyboards, a pedalboard, swell pedals, draw-stops, tabs, manual
and foot piston buttons, and written scores simultaneously—the experience is
like being composer, conductor, orchestra, and audience at one and the same time in each intense moment of performance.</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; text-indent: 11.35pt;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Music
and spiritual experience often go hand in hand. R.Nachman of Breslov assures us
that it can that it can act as a foundation of true attachment to G-d. and he went so far
as to claim ( in <i>Likutey Moharan I:3 </i>and <i>Likutey Moharan I:54</i>) that it can even lead to a
level of prophecy.<b><i> </i></b>In the
light of this, it was not
accidental that it was also at St.
Joseph’s, at the tender age of sixteen,
that I first discovered the mystical writings of Teresa of Avila and Juan de la
Cruz, and simultaneously began the regular
practice of contemplative prayer in earnest.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">oooOooo</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> I set
up a personal connection with the Discalced Carmelite Convent in Oxton and
began serving Mass there and doing small gardening jobs for the nuns each
Saturday morning. In return, I
received the spiritual encouragement and
personal support of Sister Mary Immaculata O.D.C. She called me ‘her little brother’ in the
spiritual life, and we met—on either side of the parlour grille— for a
spiritual stock-taking/progress review, several times each year for many
years. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> I had
decided when I was child of seven or eight that I wanted to be a vicar (Anglican
minister) when I ‘grew up’ and that original aim was simply
transmuted into its Catholic format after my going over to Rome as an
adolescent. To the enormous grief
of my dear parents, I announced that I
intended to become a Roman Catholic
priest. My parents would have preferred it if I had remained <i>CofE</i>
and married to continue the family line, but they did not stand in my way and
they eventually accepted my decision with love—and so I left home shortly after
<i>A levels</i> to become a Discalced Carmelite monk. I was eighteen: full of self-regarding
religious zeal and almost oblivious to the searing pain I was causing them.</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; text-indent: 11.35pt;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">The Order of Discalced Carmelites is an order
of friars and nuns whose rule of life originated in the mediaeval Christian
hermit community on Mount Carmel near Haifa, a community which was given its official status by the giving
of the Rule
of St. Albert of Jerusalem in the early thirteenth century C.E. From that that date onwards it spread throughout Western Europe until it split into two factions: the <i>Calced</i> <i>Carmelites </i>and the <i>Discalced Carmelites</i>. The Discalced<i>
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b><span style="line-height: 103%;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">[i]</span></span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span> </i>branch is the more
contemplative and eremitical of the two branches and has its form from the hands
of two sixteenth century Spaniards of Jewish ancestry: the aforementioned
Teresa of Avila and Juan de la Cruz.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Interestingly, the tradition within the Order claimed that there were also Jewish and Islamic hermit communities living on Carmel who were hermits following the tradition of Elijah the prophet. But I am unaware of any archeological evidence to support this conj<span style="color: #3b3838;">ecture. To this day, near the ruins of the original Carmelite monastery at the seaside base of the mountain, there is a ‘Cave of Elijah’ which is a place of worship frequented by Jews,Moslems, Druze,and Christians.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #3b3838; mso-themecolor: background2; mso-themeshade: 64;">Speaking very generally, there are two
principal forms of Christian monasticism. <b><i>Eremitic</i></b> (individual
reclusives living in isolation) and <b><i>Cenobitic</i></b> (groups of celibate
devotees living,eating,and working in
common). Three monastic orders combine
both forms: the Carthusians,the Camaldolese, and the Discalced Carmelites. </span>The
Discalced Carmelites are <i>communal</i> hermits whose life consists of simple
community services recited in church, two separate hours of silent ‘mental
prayer’ in common each day, and a great
deal of time spent in one’s solitary cell in silent work, study, or
contemplation. Liturgy is simple and
spartan. The two hours of ‘mental
prayer’ usually take place in the church with all the friars
sitting or standing for each of
the two hours in silent free
contemplative prayer.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">[ii]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Though their emphasis is clearly on
contemplative prayer, in recent years the Discalced friars have undertaken a
more active ministry as well, but the nuns—to their great credit— have zealously
maintained the <i>purely</i> contemplative lifestyle to the present day.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> Looking back on my time as a
Carmelite, I can now see that I was too young—in experience as well as in years—to have realised what I had taken
on. I am ashamed to say that I lacked
perseverance and felt the call of the
secular world more than I ought to have
done. Though I was observant of
the temporary vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience to the letter, I found observance of the latter two almost unbearably difficult to
maintain. After a few restless but
deeply formative years in that Order (in Oxford, and then at Ushaw College Durham)
and before taking permanent vows<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">[iii]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span>—I
decided to leave the community, and to return to secular life. It came as a
shock to Fr. Bede Edwards O.D.C. who
had plans that I should become a historian under his mentorship at the <i>Teresianum</i>
in Rome, and to the community who had expected me to stay for life.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> There is also a part of me that still views my decision to leave as a
shameful rejection of the intimate relationship that was being offered to
me. In recent years, as I age and can look back on my life, I can appreciate just how selfish and short-sighted
that decision was. In Christian monastic
circles, Solemn Profession as a monk or nun is regarded as marriage with
the Divine.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> Ditching a Divine Partner is never an insignificant matter and it has far-reaching consequences.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> When I left
the Carmelites in 1976, my
Novice-master, Fr. John Bernard Keegan O.D.C. told me that he was absolutely certain that
I would one day return to what he believed was my true calling—a dedicated
contemplative lifestyle. He was
right. But it did not happen quite as he
might have envisaged it.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">oooOooo</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">During my time as a Carmelite monk two events
helped me to see that my technicolour helter-skelter tour through Christianity
was only the very beginning of a return journey to my true spiritual home. The first event was reading a book entitled “<i>Jesus the Jew</i>” written
by Geza Vermes in 1973. The book had been written only a few miles away from
the Chilswell Priory (on Boar’s Hill) that was my monastic home and had been
donated by the author to our community library. This scholarly book opened up a
criticical study of early Christianity which gave me a
good intellectual shake up on the mythology <i>vs</i> history plane, and it
helped to pave the way for me to begin the move out of Christianity. </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; text-indent: 11.35pt;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 103%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The second event was a providential meeting with a
visitor to the monastery: Reform Movement Rabbi, Lionel Blue. The meeting was highly significant as it led
to my conversion to Reform Judaism in 1992
and ultimately to my conversion <i>ki halacha</i> as an Orthodox Jew in 2016.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">[iv]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
</span><b><i><sup><span style="color: red; line-height: 103%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></sup></i></b><span style="line-height: 103%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It was also the beginning of
a lifelong friendship, and his practical support for my work as a composer and
religious writer was unconditional and unfailing. </span><span style="line-height: 103%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">(It was his advice on publishing this very text that is referred to
in the <i>General Introduction </i>above).</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 103%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="line-height: 103%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">My
debt to him is beyond measure.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 103%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> Lionel’s
version of Judaism was never my own,</span><b><i><sup><span style="color: red; line-height: 103%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></sup></i></b><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b><span style="line-height: 103%;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b><span style="line-height: 103%;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">[v]</span></span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></b></span><b><i><sup><span style="color: red; line-height: 103%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></sup></i></b><span style="line-height: 103%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">but despite profound and
fundamental differences in our conflicting approaches to the <i>halacha, </i>and
despite the fact that we eventually ended up on opposite sides of the
Orthodox/Progressive religious divide—we were nevertheless in <b><i>perfect</i></b> agreement
in holding that</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"></p><ul><li><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 103%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><i>(i)</i> <b>prayer is a two-way conversation with G-d,</b></span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 103%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> and <i>(ii)</i>
<b>that compassion and respectful consideration for others are the hallmarks of
the truly righteous in all denominations
or religious groups</b>. </span></span></li></ul><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 103%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">In 1974, when
we first met, he gave my group
of Carmelite novices a lecture on the <i>Pesach Seder</i> and when he sang the <i>Ha Lachma Anya</i>
with quivering <i>kavana, </i> my world stopped and was transformed. Quite simply: in the deepest conscious level
of my soul, I already <i>knew</i> and <i>recognised
</i>what I was hearing, and as the room seemed to fade and give way to another
world hidden just behind it, I was given
the first glimpse of my true home. </span></span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; text-indent: 11.35pt;"> </span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">It then took me seventeen years to fully accept that Christianity had been my soul’s route back to Judaism and not my final destination—that I had a soul-element that had stood at Sinai and that, for reasons beyond my comprehension, I had to climb back there through many denominational and circumstantial brambles and thickets before my re-incarnated soul’s <i>tikkun </i>would be accomplished.</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="line-height: 103%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Those who know me would tell you that I have every respect for religions other than Judaism. I believe (in particular) that the Abrahamic religions possess a <i>Providential</i> diversity: that the acceptance and co-existence of these Faiths is a Divine challenge not a "problem".</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> When Christian or Moslem friends ask me why I left Christianity I remember that principle. I know it often gives them some pain and disappointment (though it really shouldn’t) but my most simple yet all-embracing answer is:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> “Jesus the Galilean preacher said he came to lead people to “the Father”. I believe that Jesus the Cosmic archetype did just that—and then disappeared from my life,mission accomplished.”</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> That both those manifestations of “Jesus” continue to inspire and guide many of my non-Jewish friends does not irk me. It seems to me that they provide an equally valid religious experience to mine, and they have the potential to produce a personally authentic way <i>for them</i> to meet G-d. How the Divine Unity is revealed in religious diversity is beyond my comprehension, but it deserves my awe and respect.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">oooOooo</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">I left the Carmelites and the contemplative
lifestyle in 1976. Both my parents died shortly after that date. After several months of disheartening
unemployment (and four weeks of hard
labour as a cowherd in Storeton Hall Farm on the Wirral) I began a degree
course in Music and Educational studies at
Hope University Liverpool. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">There I was fortunate to have the composer
and professor Stephen Pratt as my
composition tutor and personal mentor,
and the concert pianist, Michael Young, as my long suffering piano tutor for four blessed years.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> Michael Young is the only pianist I have ever
heard who could make the piano sound
like a <i>legato</i> instrument (in the Berg’s<i> PianoSonata </i>), and also
like a symphony orchestra in full Mahlerian expansiveness. At my first lesson with him and on hearing
that my favourite composer was Mahler, he immediately broke into an
electrifying impromptu performance of
memorised extracts from Mahler’s Symphonic works.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> Stephen Pratt was perhaps the
most gifted educationalist I have
ever encountered. He was endlessly
supportive and helped me produce my
first composition (entitled <i>‘SINAI’) </i>which
was a setting of the <i>Sh’ma </i>for
vocalist, orchestra, percussion and a
shofar solo—and he inspired me to go on
writing for many years to follow.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">In private conversation Stephen Pratt had declared me to be a
‘cultural hermit’ and to expand my experience he (literally) sent me to
an Albert Hall Prom Concert on 24 August 1979 that was to change and re-direct my musical career for ever. He had
noted, in my own compositions, certain similarities to the gamelan music of Java, and the Promenade concert in question featured a gamelan
performance by the<i> Akademi Seni
Karawitan</i> <i>Indonesia</i> of Surakarta under the direction of Sri
Hastanto, coupled with a performance of Messiaen’s <i>Trois Petits Liturgies</i>
that featured Jeanne Loriod on <i>ondes martenot</i> under the baton of Simon
Rattle.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i style="font-family: Philosopher; text-indent: 0px;">(Gamelan</i><span style="font-family: Philosopher; text-indent: 0px;"> is South East Asian percussion music performed on large sets of bronze or iron metalophones and gongs. Vocal solos and choruses,bowed and plucked string soloists are sometimes added. The ensemble has no conductor but is “directed” by the drummer and/or the bonang or rebab player.)</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">For me, that concert was Earth Shattering beyond words.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">I stood on tip-toe through the entire Gamelan section of that concert,
straining to get a view of the performers, utterly paralysed in musical ecstasy
and frozen in a trance outside of time on hearing this music for the first
time: and from that day on, I became a
gamelan student and teacher.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> After obtaining a <i>B.Ed</i> <i>hons</i>.
degree in Liverpool, I turned my energies to the forging of a career in music
teaching and educational management. I spent over twenty ferociously workaholic
years doing that in Primary and Secondary schools in UK and in South East Asia—and made a good and secure living doing so.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">I taught the usual spectrum of Western
serious and popular musical genres, and
managed Music departments in Stanney
Comprehensive School in Ellesmere Port and then at Frodsham High School near
Warrington. My special area of focus became the teaching of Javanese Gamelan in
British schools, and this was the case
for the rest of my teaching career. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">I was involved in the introduction of
Javanese Gamelan into the English National Curriculum in the 1980’s, and my
childrens’ Gamelan group from Frodsham High School performed on British
television, in the Queen Elizabeth Hall and in the Albert Hall during the
national <i>Schools’ Prom</i> in 1984. The
students had built the entire set of instruments themselves and students
Jonathan Clark, Sorelle Kane, Alison Kaye, Gary Barlow, Kitty Prisk, Julie
Cowin, Penny Argust, and Andrea Julyan<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 103%;">[</span><span style="line-height: 103%;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">vi</span></span><span style="color: #444444; line-height: 103%;">]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
produced new gamelan compositions and lyrics in traditional style to
extend its repertoire. Here are some of the beautiful lyrics written by Sorelle Kane in 1984.</span></span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><b>"Seized by the eyes. Its pallor taking me higher. From shining skies eternal. Spread the Wings of Peace. Penetrate the mist. Like sun inscribed on shadow. The sharpest point of Talon. Unclasp the Golden secret. </b></span></span><b style="font-family: Philosopher; text-indent: 15.1333px;">For a glimpse everlasting. My veins run pure with gold. </b></span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Lift me higher. You carry my soul. I have at last the key. Then falling...falling...falling........ "</span></b><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-size: x-small;">[vii]</span></span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; text-indent: 11.35pt;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">Although I was working in Frodsham which
is near Warrington, I lived some
distance away in rural Storeton Village on the Wirral. After my parent’s death, I had bought a
stone-built cottage on a mortgage which I soon realised was totally beyond my
means. Most seriously, I found that I
could not afford to heat the place in
winter. The second-hand car in which I commuted to work was on its last legs
and I could no longer afford to run it <i>and</i>
pay the utility bills. It would seem that Mr Oliver’s concern over my
mathematical innumeracy was not so misplaced
after all. To this day it is still my area of <i>particular</i>
incompetence. </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; text-indent: 11.35pt;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">In December 1984, one of my fellow teachers
at Frodsham spotted an advertisement in the <i>Times Educational Supplement </i>for
a teaching post in Jakarta, Indonesia and
joked that it might solve my financial and heating problems in one
blow—giving me some hands-on <i>and</i> indigenous gamelan experience into the
bargain.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> I
appreciated the joke (and her concern) but replied that I was happy in my job
and lacked any desire to go abroad. I
was never a keen traveller and have usually settled in one place without
leaving its close environs for years at a
time, but relocations have often
happened against my will, out of the blue, or by ‘coincidence’. To me, it has <i>always</i> felt as if there
was a 'Pillar of Cloud' at work.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Moved more by the freezing cold of that
December evening in Storeton than by any cultural or career considerations— I
applied on impulse for the job in Jakarta and was interviewed in London. I was woken up a few days later by a telephone call from
Geoffrey Tomlinson, the school’s Principal, offering me the post—and I surprised myself by
accepting. I was still half asleep at
the time and as I put the phone down it
suddenly dawned on me what I had done. I had set a process of enormous change
in motion: I was about to leave my much loved native Wirral and go to live in an unknown country on the other side of
the world; in a type of school which was totally beyond my experience. I need
not have worried. Mr Tomlinson turned
out to be yet another one of the charismatic teachers I have been so fortunate to know, and I had the
happiest years of my teaching career under his benevolent leadership.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> I moved to South East Asia in
1985 as the principal Music Specialist
at the <i>British International School</i> <i>Jakarta </i> and
soon after, I became Director of Music during the ambitious and enormous
expansion of that school under Ronald Stones. He was to become my long-term and
highly supportive employer as I later moved on to become his Director of Music
at the <i>Tanglin Trust School</i> in Singapore where I was responsible for the general music education of thousands of
expatriate children. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> In both Jakarta and Singapore
I was fortunate enough to teach children—from <i>Nursery</i> to <i>A level</i>
age—in two educational environments that could only be described as ideal. They
deserved that epithet because of good leadership; dedicated and highly
competent teaching colleagues; and because the children taught there were
totally motivated to enjoy and derive the maximum benefit from a happy
time at school. Good schools are
always more about people than equipment and facilities. Fulfilled and
appreciated staff will always be found
in a classroom of happy children—and
<i>vice versa</i>.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> The students that I taught are
the children I never had, and many of
them are still in touch with me to this day. As is so often the case, they don’t
realise that they taught me much more
than I ever taught them.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> oooOooo</span></o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">If you made it this far...congratulations. I realise that this part of “A Hermit’s Tale”
is purely background and much of it would only interest people who are either
Scousers, or personal friends, or musicians........but it was necessary to state
much of it if readers are to make sense
of the more spiritual parts of the tale which will follow in later installments
of the tale. Hope you enjoyed reading it.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 103%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">©Nachman Davies<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 103%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">Safed 2023</span><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"> <span style="color: #45818e; font-size: medium;">PART TWO of <i><b>A HERMIT'S TALE </b></i> is <a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2023/03/a-hermits-tale-part-two.html">HERE</a></span></span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
</p><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville";"><br /></span></div><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><hr size="1" style="text-align: left;" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">ENDNOTES</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: x-small;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> So called because the ‘barefooted’ branches
of monastic orders were newly reformed and
stricter communities, often embracing signs
of religious poverty. In fact the original Discalced Carmelites wore <i>alpurgatas</i>
(rough espadrille sandals made of dried
grass-fibres).</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: x-small;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Nevertheless, Juan de la Cruz recommended that these two hours
of what we would call silent <i>hisbodedut</i> were spent in the fresh air
in a natural environment where possible.</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: x-small;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> A Roman Catholic monk or nun usually takes
Simple Vows (in a ceremony of Simple Profession) on an annual basis for several
years, and then makes a Solemn Profession of
Permanent Vows after which they are considered dedicated for life. The two states resemble an engagement
followed by a marriage.</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: x-small;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Progressive/Reform Jewish conversions are not recognised by Orthodox
religious courts. For Orthodox Jews, the only valid conversions are those
conducted “<i>ki-halacha</i>” (according to traditional Jewish Law) by the
court of an Orthodox Beis Din.</span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn6">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: x-small;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Orthodox Jews insist that the oral law (<i>halacha</i>)
is authoritative and binding. Reform and Progressive Jews frequently make
community and individual choices which do not adhere to the traditional codes
of Jewish Law or the directives of contemporary Orthodox halachic authorities.</span></p></div>
<div id="edn8">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 103%;">[vi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span> Under the tutelage of the Heins sisters, Andrea also performed
as principal dancer, taught some of the other dancers herself, and designed
and made many of their costumes. Jonathan was a creative genius in both the
arts and craftsmanship, but sadly died very young. Julie
became an Anglican minister, Sorelle a
gifted poet and visual artist, Alison
became a professional composer and a professor of composition at the Royal
School of Music, Penny a lawyer. Kitty
and Gary went on to become practical musicians, Gary as leader of the pop group “Take That” and Kitty as a Gamelan
musician and ethnomusicologist to this day.
These were the “builders” of the gamelan, but actually each and every one of the Frodsham group was a star. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[vii] The 1983 Queen Elizabeth Hall performance can be viewed <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HjGW2ywfPU">HERE</a> and the 1984 Albert Hall performance <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNMGAt0t-Ug">HERE</a></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn9">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/nachman/Documents/A%20HERMITS%20TALE/Hermits%20Tale%20part%20one.docx#_ednref9" name="_edn9" title=""></a><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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</div><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; color: #121212; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 103%;"><br /></span></b></p>Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-55875029315254340922022-12-20T19:24:00.002+02:002022-12-21T11:24:02.188+02:00Hanuka: The Light of the Tzaddik <p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht9Gbe1AkmHx5g-0LoR92cCFzkt25D2D0GXUlzg1fLrXQG-6uH4zbf-Q797LqoSXzdneKkbzztPUO8Y_-a5Euwt03S_GaFC3FdTIUbEcVgYOtf_7w_kG0CUIMHvxU0uf6JpJPW_g/s1600/light+in+darkness.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht9Gbe1AkmHx5g-0LoR92cCFzkt25D2D0GXUlzg1fLrXQG-6uH4zbf-Q797LqoSXzdneKkbzztPUO8Y_-a5Euwt03S_GaFC3FdTIUbEcVgYOtf_7w_kG0CUIMHvxU0uf6JpJPW_g/w400-h300/light+in+darkness.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b>To celebrate Hanuka 2022, Here is a reposting of an essay originally presented on this website in 2010.</b></i></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">" The story of Joseph, which is spread over four <i>parashot</i> in the book of <i>Genesis,</i> is always read at the time we celebrate the Festival of Hanuka. The themes of that festival are Light, Providence, Dedication and Miracles. The story of Joseph does not relate closely to the theme of Light and yet, in way, it is <i>all</i> about Light: the Light of the <i>Tzaddik </i>or “Righteous One” which is a beacon to those who would follow the path of righteousness..Though the sages disagree about whether Joseph’s youthful vanity and insensitive pride were due to naiveté or just to downright nastiness, they all agree that Joseph’s subsequent behaviour makes him <i>Ha Tzaddik</i>, and a model for all who would be “righteous”. His particular flame is one which burns to show us that miracles are happening all the time if only we would open our eyes to see them, and that behind all the efforts of man is the gift of God in Providence (<i>Hashgachah Prat<span style="font-size: small;">it</span></i>). As we read in <i>Psalm 85</i>:</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>“The Lord will provide what is good...</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>Righteousness (<i>tzedek</i>) will walk before Him</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>And He will set his footsteps on the path.”</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><i>Psalm 85 13-14</i></div></blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">In parshas <i>Vayigash</i>, Joseph reminds his brothers that:</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>“It was not you who sent me here, but God”.</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><i>Genesis 45:8</i></div></blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Even the call to live a life of prayer as a dedicated contemplative is a summons and not something we have truly initiated ourselves... and anything that happens thereafter is something that God does and not something anyone, however righteous, could ever attain by themselves. Joseph knew this and the rabbis who described the re-dedication of the Temple as a miracle knew it too.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">In the Joseph narrative we are given a model to follow.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">It is not an accident that Joseph is called “The” <i>tzaddik</i>.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">On the path of those who would be “righteous” his story is a beacon.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>Devekut: Becoming the Light which is “all Prayer”</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">The story of Joseph is a story about escaping from the confinement of spiritual captivity.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I have been considering the story of Joseph in the light of the Psalm text:</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>“In return for my love they accuse me,</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>But I am all prayer”</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><i>Psalm 109:4</i></div></blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">In Parshas <i>Vayeshev</i>, Joseph is cast into a waterless pit and then sold as a slave by his own brothers;</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">He is wrongly accused of attempted rape by his master’s wife and ends up in the dank dungeon of Pharaoh;</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">He is then used as a counsellor and dream-interpreter by his jail-mates, one of whom (the chief butler) does nothing to assist the captive Joseph once he himself is freed.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><i>In return for his love they accused him</i></b>.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">But there is no record of any complaint here, nor of revenge, nor of any resultant lack of faith in the heart of Joseph the righteous one.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Why?</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Because, as the psalm puts it: “He is all prayer”.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">One who cleaves to God does so through all the aspects of their life and not solely in their contemplation and meditation.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Joseph did not lose his trust in God’s Providence even when circumstances turned from good to bad.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Why?</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Because he knew already that “interpretations belong to God” (<i>Genesis 40:8</i>)</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">He knew that ultimately none of us can see the details of the Divine Plan accurately and that consequently it is foolish to question Divine Wisdom- even when this plan seems far darker and more painful than humans would themselves wish. Creation is not always explicable and some events only make sense to us in retrospect.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Joseph was sorely tried by the people he came into contact with domestically and socially- both at home and at work. It is not always our families or our friends or our colleagues who can appear to be sent to try us- though that surely happens. Sometimes the “accusers” are our very own thoughts.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">At times, we may be too hard on ourselves in self-criticism. At times we may feel that we are talentless or just plain lost in the world of contemplative action and feel that we are achieving little or nothing at all. If this worries us, it is because we have not freed ourselves from expectation...and it should humble us by offering us a clear proof that that we are still attached to the <i>effects</i> of our prayer-lives on ourselves or on others.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">God Himself seems to accept our failings, as we read:</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>“He frequently withdraws His anger, and does not arouse all His rage.</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>And He remembered that they were but flesh</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>A passing wind that does not return.”</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><i>(Psalm 78: 38-39)</i></div></blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">yet in our pride and desire for self importance or in our senseless perfectionism we set ourselves above Him and His Judgment.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">In doing these things we imprison ourselves. Our only hope in making our way out of that captivity, our only sure escape route out of our own “waterless pit” or “dank dungeon”- is to make our own lives “all prayer”. When we are completely engaged in doing that, we lose self-observation, and when we leave the outcomes of prayer and its effects on us to God then our failings are no longer perceived as obstacles- but can simply be accepted as character weaknesses we are aware of, are working on, but which we defuse so that they can no longer block our progress.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">We do this by remembering that the key to our spiritual liberation is not to shout at the dark but to light a candle. This is a message which is very appropriate to the current festival of Hanukkah but it is applicable throughout the year.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Prayer may seem a decidedly blunt weapon against the “accusers”...but it isn’t. As many have observed, a small flame can fill a very large dark space with light.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I read last week that (in deepest darkness, far away from artificial light) a small candle flame can be seen by the human eye from a distance of up to five miles.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">The flame of prayer is a bright reminder of the Original Light. Just because something is hidden does not mean that it is not powerful. It is by the light of the kind of prayer we call <i>devekut </i>that Joseph was able to interpret dreams, for the light of contemplative prayer is a guiding lamp on the path towards the near-prophetic state of <i>Ruach ha-Kodesh</i>.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Devekut</i> means “cleaving to God” in utterly devoted thought and action. When we pray and live in <i>devekut</i> we can become “God’s intimate friends” (to use Avraham ben Maimon’s term <span style="color: #666666;">[as translated by Wincelberg]</span>). In that state we may <i>sometimes </i>become channels for the Light. Not “directly” in the way a prophet does—but “reflectively” through receptive contemplative prayer.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">The small light of Prayer is only “small” in the way that a laser beam is small. In other words, its size belies its enormous power.... for the light of contemplative prayer is drawn from the Light of God Himself:</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>“For with You is the source of life,and in Your light we shall see light.</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>Extend Your kindness to those who know you</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>And your righteousness to the upright of heart.”</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><i>(Psalm 36: 10:11)</i></div></blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">It is no accident that a hierarchy is present in those verses. They describe a process:</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><ul style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><li><span style="font-size: small;">God originates Light.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">He makes this Light our point of connection with His Presence and our guiding beacon.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: small;">When we are “living in intimate relation” to those two statements -in contemplative prayer- we can become potential channels of that Light ourselves.</span></li></ul><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">In other words: Our act of prayer itself is sometimes the means by which the <i>Divine Chesed </i> is “extended” to others. Nor is it just our prayer that can become such a channel -our whole life can become suffused with this Light, at least potentially. As members of the Jewish People, each one of us has made covenant with the God of Israel and each one of us lives a life of dedication in His service. Whether we are engaged in prayer or washing the dishes, davening the liturgy or caring for our sick relatives, studying the <i>Parshah</i> or busy in our “secular” employment... we all have the potential to be “all prayer” as that little light of inestimable power can enter through the tiniest of cracks.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>Hishtavut: Allowing the Sons of the Tzaddik to Light the Way</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">In Parshas <i>Mikkeitz</i>, Joseph names his sons Menashe and Efrayim.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">They are “God has enabled me to forget my sufferings”</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">And “Fruitfulness in the midst of my affliction”.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">We are all Joseph.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">The name Joseph means “God increases”.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">We are all Joseph , for our spiritual progeny, our “increase” is like these two “sons”.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">In our journey through this life we are presented with situations, relationships, challenges, and trials which often require us to make decisions and choices in order to progress through the gates along the way.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Our reactions and decisions and the consequences of our choices are the fruitfulness (<i>Efrayim</i>) which follows the “first-born” experiences of awakened-equanimity (<i>hishtavut)</i> and a positive assimilation of whatever has happened to us in life previously (<i>Menashe)</i>. It is by conquering our regrets about the past, or the difficulties which challenge us, or the obstacles which are placed in our path that we produce Menashe and it is by the creativity of our resolution-making that we bring ourselves into the inheritance of <i>Efrayim</i>. We cut our ties with the pain and failure of yesterday when we rise up with a plan for a more devoted and productive today and tomorrow.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Again, I’ll consider Joseph’s life in the light of a psalm text:</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>“For you freed my soul from death.</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>My eye from tears,</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>And my foot from stumbling.</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.”</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><i>Psalm 116: 8-9</i></div></blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">He was “freed from death” when he emerged from the waterless pit in the desert and when he was vindicated before Pharaoh after his incarceration. His “tears were dried” when ( at the end of the Joseph narrative in Parshas <i>Vayigash</i>) he is re-united with his brothers in forgiveness and peace. He was able to avoid “stumbling” when he refused to respond to the seduction of his mistress and also when he chose not to punish his brothers in revenge or hateful retribution but, instead, chose to give them a hard but compassionate lesson in brotherly-love. A lesson which could lead not to destruction but to further creation.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Out of affliction came fruitfulness.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">In remembering God we can forget our failings.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">These two are the sons of Joseph sent to light our way.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>Hegyon ha-Lev: Meditating in The Light of the Torah</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">And there is another way in which we can see something of the light which guided Joseph and make its illumination the key to our escape from confinement:- Biblical Prophecy itself can also act as a beacon.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">We may not see the details of the Divine Plan, but there is one way to come close. In the Haftarah of <i>Vayeshev</i> we read:</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>“For the Lord will do nothing without first revealing His plan to His servants the Prophets”</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><i>Amos 3:7</i></div></blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">God speaks to each one of us in our hearts but he also speaks to us through the scriptures and his servants the prophets have given us texts through which we can glimpse some of the depths of that Divine Plan even if it we do not quite understand the half of it ourselves. The words of the Torah and the Prophets are channels of that Original Light in a way which can open the gates of our constricted consciousness to show us glimpses not just of the path to be taken but also something of the Expansive Realm of God Himself.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">By reading the words of our scriptures prayerfully in <i>Hegyon ha-Lev </i>(<i>Lectio Divina</i>) we may find that we ourselves are able to receive a form of revelation ourselves. It may not be “prophetic revelation”, but it is related to prophecy in its directness.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Our “study which is prayer” and our “prayer which is study” are the dual guides on the road out of spiritual captivity by our personal small-mindedness. They are like twin angels, <i>keruvim</i> of light, which show us the way to the <i>Merchav-Yah</i>, the wide open consciousness of the World of Thought- and their names are Observe (<i>shamor</i>) and Remember (<i>zachor</i>).</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>Bitachon: Seeing through God’s Eyes</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">The key to being a <i>tzaddik</i> after the fashion of Joseph is to see that though we are called upon to “walk before God” in righteousness...we should also be the first to see that even our efforts to do this are themselves gifts from God, because God enabled Joseph and enables us to overcome obstacles and become fruitful. If Joseph had not had explicit faith and trust in the Providence of God he would not have been able to endure his captivity so lightly- and perhaps he would not have been so charitable towards his fellow prisoners and to his offending brothers. His faith (composed of <i>emunah/hishtavut/bitachon</i> -each in good measure) was rooted in the knowledge that God Himself is the only true “force” for growth and for good.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is the message of the <i>Mikkeitz </i></span><span style="font-size: small;">Haftarah </span><span style="font-size: small;">text in <i>Zechariah 4:6</i>....and one of the key messages of the festival of Hanukkah which we are about to celebrate.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">The text reads:</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>“Not by might and not by Power,</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>But by My Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts”</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><i>Zechariah 4:6</i></div></blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>Not by might</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- through our own efforts and ambitions to make spiritual progress</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>Nor by power</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- through an attempt to coerce God to do our will rather than His</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>But by the breath of God</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">-An effortless caress of the will of God given to us (or not) according to His desire</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">This breath is the inspiration of <i><b>Adonai Tzevaot</b></i>,</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">(the all powerful Lord of Armies)</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">And so it defeats all our enemies for us</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Blowing away the cloying debris of our past lives,</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">And clearing the path before us.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">God Himself replaces the regrets of our past failings and the paralising fear of the future with the trust and hopeful creativity of the “sons” of Joseph. If we let Him.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">If Joseph’s life is a beacon for us in our own journey out of spiritual captivity.... It reminds us that Trust in God (<i>bitachon</i>) is the mark of a <i>tzaddik</i> (and the mark of one who would become a <i>tzaddik</i>).</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><ul style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><li><span style="font-size: small;">When we accept that God has a Plan which is often not immediately comprehensible to us--we are following the Light which Joseph followed.</span></li></ul><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /><ul style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><li><span style="font-size: small;">When we allow the Mercy of God to temper our own rage,frustration,envy or cold-heartedness- we are following the Path on which Joseph walked.</span></li></ul><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /><ul style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><li><span style="font-size: small;">When we make our lives an act of positive and outflowing Creation in partnership with the Eternally Present One-we are becoming like the “Sons” of Joseph.</span></li></ul><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">With God’s help, we can maintain our trust in Providence even when things are tough, and without expecting the world to be turned upside down for our own benefit..... then we might find, like Joseph, that God has been with us in the “darkness” of our captivity all along.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">As we say each morning in the blessing <i>Yotzeir Or</i>:</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>“Blessed are You Lord</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>who makes light</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><b>Yet creates darkness”.</b></div></blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Both light and darkness are His servants.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">When we see by that lamp of insight --so are we. "</span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Nachman Davies</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Nov 29 2010</b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(The photo which heads this article is of Hanuka in my hermitage in Granada-- taken in 2008. It may be used but please credit it, according to the terms of this website , as "Light in Darkness: Nachman Davies 2008 " )</span></div>Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-24757213093517877042022-10-20T10:54:00.015+03:002022-12-21T15:47:54.386+02:00Jewish-Sufis: The renewal of a Contemplative Movement<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOXJeX3OvHf006yonu2NjNptXfp3BNMEuaSIZ2jkTqm_DtFeFQsayTzGboGx5Q_ZtPykFDT7zVSawHCgxwIqITO7g5J6t-oETTrpES7hdDilcbM6fUIFpemVIiP_3_enc6XnM35uqJEKvYf5YYn3rRCPA38cjdE8lTh7e986u7fcc8QHPH7SY/s831/girardet%20sufi%20at%20prayer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="831" data-original-width="610" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOXJeX3OvHf006yonu2NjNptXfp3BNMEuaSIZ2jkTqm_DtFeFQsayTzGboGx5Q_ZtPykFDT7zVSawHCgxwIqITO7g5J6t-oETTrpES7hdDilcbM6fUIFpemVIiP_3_enc6XnM35uqJEKvYf5YYn3rRCPA38cjdE8lTh7e986u7fcc8QHPH7SY/s320/girardet%20sufi%20at%20prayer.jpg" width="235" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">This Jewish Contemplatives
website has always had a dual focus. Firstly it was <a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/p/introduction-to-this-website.html">created</a>
(in 2004) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to encourage the practice of
solitary meditation and prayer for all Jews. Secondly it was created to promote
<i>intentional</i> solitary contemplative lifestyles (for the very <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>small number of observant Jews who felt called
to this <a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2013/09/solitude-in-jewish-contemplative.html">exceptional
lifestyle</a>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that group were included all those who were
trying to convert situations of <i>unintentional</i> isolation or loneliness into
an opportunity for constructive prayer—generated by their desire to make a <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>spiritual contribution to the communal life of
<i>Kehal Yisrael</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">But behind all those
intentions there was a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>greater
intention. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">There is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a Jewish tradition that the experience of
prophecy (intimate and receptive communication with the Divine) had been
experienced not only by the biblical prophets, but by every single man, woman, and child who stood at Sinai. Furthermore, our Sages claimed that there would
come<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a time when this awareness of the
Divine (<i>ruach ha kodesh</i> and various levels of inspirational prophecy)
would be restored to Israel, —and indeed, to <i>all</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>human kind— “when the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>earth shall be<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>filled with the knowledge of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>glory of G-d, as the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>waters cover the sea-bed.” (Habakuk 2:14)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">To further this process, in 2005 I wrote
a very short booklet (<b><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/CAVE-HEART-Kuntres-Maarat-Ha-Lev/dp/B0B4KXHVHS/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1656576646&sr=8-10">Kuntres
Ma’arat Ha-Lev/The Cave of the Heart</a></i></b>) which <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>presented a method of contemplative prayer
that was, in fact and in intention, conceived as a method of prophetic training
in receptive contemplation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was
followed by several articles on this website with the same “prophetic” aim, including
one on general <a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/search?q=asking+questions">receptive
intuition</a> and one on a method of <i>lectio divina</i> called <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/search?q=hegyon">Hegyon Ha-Lev</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In 2008, and with the
assistance of Christine Gilbert (an academic scholar of Judaism <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a
lifelong contemplative practitioner), I formed an online <i>Community of Jewish
Contemplatives</i> aimed specifically at individuals already practicing an
intentional contemplative lifestyle. We never made a <i>minyan</i>—with only
seven members—and so after a few years I transferred the idea to form a
Facebook Group promoting the original concepts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was more successful (in
some<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ways) but although the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>group has around 1,400 members, they are
mainly there to support rather than participate. The first
community experiment had been aimed at a tiny minority of Jews geared to
eremitic practice, the Facebook Group version was inclusive of all Jews with a
personal contemplative practice— a much larger(and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ever growing) catchment group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> The burgeoning of these spirituality orientated groups</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>makes me<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>think that the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>time for “the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>return of prophecy” is coming closer. Almost daily.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In November 2021 I
began<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the third experiment in the
process by creating a <u>Jewish Sufi </u>Tariqa, <b><i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/jewishsufis">Derech Eliyahu Ha-Nabi</a></i></b>,
and recently<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>began accepting members.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This blogpost is an
introduction to that new<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>group. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the moment its membership is strictly
limited to observant Jews who already have some knowledge or a deep interest in
personal<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sufi practice and/or the Jewish
Sufi movement—but eventually its membership will become open to the general
public.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Watch this space, but please do
not hold your breath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are “preparing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the sukka” still and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are not yet ready “to receive guests” or passive
observers.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">First, here is some
necessary personal and group background.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I had been interested in
Sufism (a form of Islamic mysticism and philosophy) since my days as a student
of Javanese Gamelan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was taught by
teachers (like Pak Rudhatin Brongtodiningrat of blessed memory) who believed
that this kind of musical performance was a device to develop <i>rasa</i> (a
kind of spiritual intuition that the Sufis called <i>dhawq</i>) and whose <i>kraton
</i>based gamelan teaching was closely related in its methods and intention to
the notion of <i>kebatinan</i> (the Javanese ‘science’ of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘inner’ spirituality and mysticism).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were also all devout Moslems with a
strong connection to the Sufi traditions believed to have been brought to Java
by the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Wali Songgo.</i> It was during
my decades as a resident of Java that I (coincidentally?)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>first developed the form of receptive prayer <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and intuitive practices that were described in
<i>Kuntres Maarat Ha Lev</i>.<i> <o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Shortly after writing <i>Kuntres
Ma’arat Ha-Lev</i>, after relocating to live in Andalusia, Christine Gilbert
introduced me to a paper by Professor Paul B. Fenton, the leading academic commentator and translator of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Judeo-Arabic manuscripts of the mediaeval</span> Jewish Sufi Movement. (many of which he identified himself).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was stunned by this
discovery and began a slow but persistent study of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>R. Abraham’s <i>Kifaya</i> (in an English
translation by Rosenblatt and later by that of R. Wincelberg). This led to further reading on the Jewish-Sufi mode
of contemplative prayer in the writings of R. Obadyah Maimuni and the Egyptian
Pietists. In November 2021, I was blessed to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>have a two hour meeting with Professor Fenton himself who enlightened me
still further, and introduced me to some of the ideas of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>R.David ben Joshua Maimuni, whose sprituality
spoke to me most profoundly and personally.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">ooOoo<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">What was it that
excited and moved me<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>so much about this
mediaeval group of “Egyptian Pietists”— a group which had been very large and
influential for centuries, and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>whose ‘lost’
writings are still being discovered in the Cairo Genizah and in private
collections<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>globally? <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The answer to that question
is described in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>my book <i>“The
Mitkarevim—Jewish Contemplatives and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Return of Prophecy”</i> which
is in the final stages of preparation, but here are the headlines:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">(i)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Rambam and his descendents believed that
the era when prophecy would return was fast approaching. (It is, but we
have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to see “time” a little more in a Divine
perspective,as it were.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This belief was
crucial to the members of the mediaeval group of Jewish Sufis.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">(ii) The penultimate chapter
of R. Abraham’s <i>magnum opus </i>(the <i>Kifaya</i>) supports <i>hitbodedut</i>
(solitary seclusion) in four forms: (i) a personal practice of solitary <u>meditation</u>:
(ii) a temporary<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>practice of secluded retreat
(resembling the extended <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>khalwa</i>
of the Islamic Sufis),<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(iii) the
practice of “solitude whilst in a crowd” which the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sufis called “<i>khalwat dar anjuman</i>”;
(iv) the institution of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a form of “communal
eremiticism” for intentional (often celibate) Jewish Sufi contemplatives housed
in a “convent” or attached to a synagogue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These ideas are developed in the books and <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>fragmentary manuscripts that were penned by
members of the Maimuni family and its pietist circle.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">(iii) The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>mediaeval Jewish Sufis were an <i>elitist</i>
group. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They spoke of a “<i>suluk ha khas</i>”
—a special way for the minority of Jews attracted to a particularly intense
form of ascetic and contemplative practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It seemed to me when I discovered this, that I had “found my tribe” as I
had described it on this website.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
also<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>insisted that before one<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>embarked on this “special path” one<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>had to be meticulous in the practice of the “common
path” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of the Halakha: the loving and
meticulous obervance of the <i>mitzvo</i>t. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To me, as an observant<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Orthodox Jew, this<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was most significant.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">(iv) In their private individual
worship and in their congregational liturgy (in their own small houses of
prayer), the Jewish Sufis<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>under R.
Abraham’s tutelage practiced choreographed postures and silent acts of bodily
devotion that were designed to increase the more spiritual and reflective
moments in the recitation of the daily services. His motivation was to increase
decorum and the contemplative element in Jewish worship. This growing focus on
contemplative Jewish worship practice is precisely what we can see happening
online nowadays with the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>proliferation
of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jewish Meditation websites, Zoom
meetings, and “spiritual” literature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
is also what I have been writing about so passionately all these years <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as readers of this blog will have already
realised. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">It was with all this in mind
that I decided to form a new group (<i>tariqa/mesora</i>) whose aim is to renew
<u>the contemplative elements</u> of the mediaeval Pietist movement of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maimunis— in a totally Orthodox Jewish
manner.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYSqg2ynaxVGXerWmHoH_k2wzVE5EQkztM6oLjhpHpgjgMnKeCVatzzLe_Q-Tlz6Fm-8qAZgw5aKrSKMAlhA_rOLWA1EVytF-LU7EQgU8EA9z_GuWI-rEceWpeEPUg3GCTSTN78QTq-fV8bDQKd9MXA-CDdYklmuafMrLOM8hpsYVqSiXpZUs/s799/Jewish%20Sufi%20Logo%20bilingual.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="251" data-original-width="799" height="63" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYSqg2ynaxVGXerWmHoH_k2wzVE5EQkztM6oLjhpHpgjgMnKeCVatzzLe_Q-Tlz6Fm-8qAZgw5aKrSKMAlhA_rOLWA1EVytF-LU7EQgU8EA9z_GuWI-rEceWpeEPUg3GCTSTN78QTq-fV8bDQKd9MXA-CDdYklmuafMrLOM8hpsYVqSiXpZUs/w200-h63/Jewish%20Sufi%20Logo%20bilingual.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 18pt; line-height: 107%;">Tariqa Eliyahu HaNabi<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">This is a private
group for Orthodox Jews<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>who are also
(practising or aspiring) Jewish-Sufis in the tradition of Rabbenu Ba</span><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">ḥ</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">ya Ibn Paquda,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and (most especially) the Egyptian
Pietists<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of the Maimuni dynasty. This <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Group/Tariqa was founded to be:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(i) a community base for Orthodox Jews who are
also aspiring or practising Jewish Sufis;<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 4pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 6pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">(ii) an attempted renewal of the
contemplative practice of the mediaeval movement known as the Egyptian
Pietists;</span></i></b><i><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">(iii) a place where we could share and
study Jewish Sufi texts (classical and newly composed) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>formulate ways in which that renewal might be
developed<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in our own era.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Our prime goal is the development of <i>deveykut</i></span></b><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> <b>: an intimate
relationship with G-d.</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The
group’s <i>ta</i></span><i><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">ḥ</span></i><i><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">lit </span></i><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">is a mystical and
contemplative one—<i>wusul</i>/<i>wusla</i>/<i>ittisal</i> . This can not be
overstated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Other
groups of a similar nature may be focussed on politics, cultural/racial
co-existence, or interfaith matters or on the creation of congregational
experiences and social events. Ultimately our group is about the journey of the
individual soul towards <i>some kind of meeting/union </i>with Divinity in
solitary contemplation. In this we are not only walking in the footsteps of the
Maimuni Pietists, we are also (to some degree) following the Rambam. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">At the
moment our group is not concerned with real-time congregational activities such
as group <i>zhikr</i> or <i>sema</i>, and so our focus is on individual
practice:<b> Each of us Alone, but all of us united in spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>This<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>involves our study and development of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Jewish-Sufi meditation, formal <i>tefilla</i>, and supererogatory
devotions as well as the observance of the <i>musar</i> and ethical precepts of
the Judeo-Sufi Way that Rabbenu Ba</span><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">ḥ</span><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">ya and Rabbenu Abraham ben
HaRambam presented.</span><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">ooOoo<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">One
of the primary characteristics of Islamic Sufi groups is the lineage of
transmission known as<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>its <i>silsila</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is something like a chain of <i>semicha </i>ordination
whereby each member links to current and previous<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>masters through initiation rites in an
initiatory chain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Islamic Sufi Orders
this usually attempts<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to establish a lineal connection with the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>early leaders of
Islam and especially with its Prophet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">There is already in existence a
long-standing global Jewish-Sufi Tariqa which follows this pattern: The
Inayati-Maimuni Order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reb Zalman
Schachter Shalomi of the Jewish Renewal Movement set up a pioneering project to
renew the legacy of Rabbenu Abraham ben Ha Rambam. But he chose to do this by newly
creating a <i>joint silsila</i> binding Islamic-Inayati Sufism to (Ashkenazic-origin)
</span><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria;">Ḥ</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">asidism.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">In doing this he was creating an an
interfaith/universalist venture that included a <i>silsila</i> (lineage) marrying
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>semicha</i> (as it were) of the Prophets
of Israel and the <i>mesora</i> of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Baal Shem Tov <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to that of the Prophet
of Islam <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and the Islamic-Sufi Masters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, and to this day, I do not feel that is
what the Maimuni leaders would<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>have
wished.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is, of course a purely
unsubstantiated personal view and it can be contested. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">I intuit, in humility and accepting
that I may be mistaken, that we ought to take Rabbenu Abraham’s lead (as
expressed in the <i>Kifaya</i>)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and
count as our founders .....<b>ONLY</b> the Hebrew Biblical Prophets and not the
Prophets of our dear Abrahamic brothers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was with this in mind that I founded this Tariqa in 2021. I had
considered this view and kept it to myself for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>two decades but <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>felt that the
time<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was now right to look for like
minded Jewish Sufis who might share this intuition and outlook. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
term Jewish Sufi was coined by Professor Paul Fenton in the 1980s—specifically
to describe the Egyptian Pietist movement, but<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>the term “Jewish Sufi” has come<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to
mean many other things online.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For many
it describes <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>*<i>Jews who incorporate
Islamic-Sufi music and dance into their spiritual practice or cultural or
political activities</i>, * <i>People of Jewish heritage who happen to follow
an Islamic or Universalist/Inayati Sufi path</i> or *<i>Jews who have converted
to Islam and yet still align in some<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>way
with both Sufism and Judaism.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Other groups have every right to use the term in these ways, but in this group our meaning is clear: </span>Tariqa
“Derech Eliyahu” is neither Universalist (Inayati) or Interfaith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a group for <b>Jews who consider
themselves to be <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria;"><b>ḥ</b></span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>asidim (pietists) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of the movement that was led by the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maimuni Dynasty</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">As Orthodox Jews we are limited in the extent to
which we can accept open religious syncretism,eclecticism, and the mixing or
hybridisation of Jewish and Islamic or Christian faith-concepts and liturgy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The exact details of
those practical limitations for us–as Jews bound by the (Orthodox) Halakha–really
need to be discussed in our group as there are areas of controversy and
divergence in the interpretation of the <i>permissable,</i> the<i> forbidden</i>,
and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i>desirable</i> elements<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of authentically-Jewish
Sufism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Our Orthodox
character does not stop us from being promoters of religious co-existence, or
indeed: loving and warm in our relationship to those who are not Jewish, or
towards those who are not observant according to the Halakha as we see it—but
it does mean that we follow that Halakha as it would be defined by our models: R.Ba</span><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">ḥ</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">ya Ibn Pequda, R.Abraham He</span><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Ḥ</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">asid, R.Abraham ben HaRambam, R.Obadyah
Maimuni, and R.David ben Joshua Maimuni. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">ooOoo<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The classic Jewish-Sufi
claim is that the roots of Jewish Sufi practice<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>are in our own Scriptures but were lost or neglected until they were
restored by the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Egyptian Pietists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This may be the case (I personally
believe<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>so) or it may have been a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>political device used to counter accusations
of heresy from unsympathetic Jews; or accusations of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>suspicious<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“innovation” by both Jewish and Islamic authorities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also possible that the concept was a
creative way to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>legitimise a religious
revolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>fact remains: it was the belief of the
Egyptian Pietists themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is for
this reason (among others) that the Jewish Scriptures and the biblical
commentaries of Rabbenu Abraham and our own Jewish-Sufi leaders and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>masters on are this tariqa's<i> primary</i> sources.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Its <i>secondary</i> sources
are the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(often fragmentary but highly
treasured) <i>sefarim </i>and short texts of the Maimuni dynasty’s circle and their
subsequent followers. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To these we hope to add our own scriptural<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>novellae</i>....for we are attempting to
develop their legacy. For this reason it seems to me<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that, on our Facebook Group Page,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we should be posting and reflecting
profoundly together on these and on short extracts<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from Jewish Sufi classics intensively, each
of us<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>at our own level of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>understanding and inspiration. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The works of Islamic Sufis
are discussed in great detail by scores of websites and online groups and
members can consult these freely according to their own taste, but in Tariqa Eliyahu I have stipulated that that we really should not be<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>too focussed on those Islamic texts except when they have a specific
connection with our own Jewish-Sufi<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>tradition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having said that:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The very concept of a “sufi mentality” is
also something<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we can learn from a study
of Islamic Sufism, as the Maimuni dynasty themselves have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>shown us, and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as contemplative practitioners we have much
to learn from Islamic mystics and philosophers.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> Indeed, this could be said of
several classical works on contemplation and asceticism from Christian
authors—some of whom will have had an influence on both Islam and Judaism
themselves— if one can filter out the references to major problematic
theological issues. (The Desert Fathers,the Hesychasts, Juan de La Cruz, and
the Carthusian author of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cloud of
Unknowing come to mind in various ways).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Group’s <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>discussions and
practices are be<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>clearly and
primarily<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>focussed on the Egyptian
Pietist Jewish tradition:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in our history
and in our own day. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Our prayer will always be
“May His Name be One” and that His House<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>will be a “House of Prayer for all Nations” as we prepare for the time
when “the knowledge of the glory of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>G-d
will fill all the world, as the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>waters
cover the sea.” (Habakuk 2:14)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: right;"><b><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">©
nachman davies <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="right" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: right;"><b><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Safed
October 2022<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">___________________________________________<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">From time to time I will
post excerpts relating<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to <b><i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/jewishsufis">TariqaEliyahu</a></i></b> or Jewish Sufism here on
this Jewish Contemplatives website.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
brief article is merely to introduce the Group to you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the moment the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>group is private and as stated above it is
only open to a very specific membership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But if you are an Orthodox Jew and have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>a specific desire to develop a personal Jewish-Sufi practice, or if you
are engaged in academic research into the Egyptian Pietists please feel free to
contact me via my Facebook profile on messenger ( as <i>Nachman Davies</i>).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 107%;">There is also now a new sister-website to this one called "<b><a href="https://jewishsufis.blogspot.com/">JEWISH SUFIS</a></b>" where the general public can view certain files from the private website. </span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">ooOoo<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">For those for whom the mediaeval
history and philosophy of the movement is of interest, the work of <b>Elisha
Russ-Fishbane</b> is a gold-mine of detailed information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>a very comprehensive summary of his<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>opinions<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and researches online, for
free, <a href="https://kavvanah.blog/2016/01/23/interview-with-elisha-russ-fishbane-judaism-sufism-and-the-pietists-of-medieval-egypt-a-study-of-abraham-maimonides-and-his-circle/">HERE</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and I recommend it, most highly, to all who wish to know more on the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>subject. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Other approaches to the relationship between Judaism and Islamic/Inayati Sufism can be viewed</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/826016854193471">HERE</a> (Judaism and Sufism) and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/124269434277429">HERE</a> (The Sufi Way of Abraham)</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-34804769379211213382022-06-30T17:24:00.002+03:002022-12-21T15:43:37.281+02:00A Treatise on Contemplative Prayer (June 2022)<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><b><i></i></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj1_F2niWQ1Pre59HGnf3yvqvEvpdyQ82hoxt9UNXydOFDYzWfSYirrRXIjlfc3q4d-wJf55rMRlw0bdgvcndhMDqPTbTx2i5r1Bi0jrmgF2lF_EJeR6FUiyLt59wsQNeLqgyZpfz_B5TwlWkTwlUJXByuTKRg464izYiIha8p8xolzMlf8YY4" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="324" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj1_F2niWQ1Pre59HGnf3yvqvEvpdyQ82hoxt9UNXydOFDYzWfSYirrRXIjlfc3q4d-wJf55rMRlw0bdgvcndhMDqPTbTx2i5r1Bi0jrmgF2lF_EJeR6FUiyLt59wsQNeLqgyZpfz_B5TwlWkTwlUJXByuTKRg464izYiIha8p8xolzMlf8YY4=w172-h264" width="172" /></a></i></b></span></div><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><b><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Kuntres Maarat Ha-Lev (The
Cave of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Heart)</span></i></b><span style="font-size: medium;"> was the
generator of the <i>Jewish Contemplatives</i> Website and Facebook Page.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">It was a very short booklet —written in three
days in 2005— when the author (Nachman Davies) was living an intentionally
solitary lifestyle in a cave-house in Salobrena (southern Spain).</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">It became the core of this website’s
message,</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">and the</span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> </span><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">core of a much larger book entitled “The </span><i>Mitkarevim</i><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">”
(still in preparation).</span></div></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;">This short booklet </span><b style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"><i>The
Cave of the Heart—Kuntres Maarat Ha-Lev</i></b><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: large;"> is now
available globally for purchase as a hardback or paperback on Amazon.com (USA), and on all Amazon’s worldwide subsidiary branches.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">YOU MAY READ IT <a href="https://www.amazon.com/CAVE-HEART-Kuntres-Maarat-Ha-Lev/dp/B0B4KXHVHS/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1656576646&sr=8-10" target="_blank"><b>HERE</b></a> (USA) or <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/CAVE-HEART-Kuntres-Maarat-Ha-Lev/dp/B0B4KXHVHS/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1656576524&sr=8-5" target="_blank"><b>HERE</b></a> (UK)</span></p>Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-39347832126855276442022-05-18T17:12:00.008+03:002022-12-21T15:44:20.692+02:00The Kever of Rabbeinu Abraham ben HaRambam<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOlUFxzv5FmRO6uiaFlhvpWYrVSv9J1HcO-GhQSyG8Zl3B499Hv3XpMWUQ1Vhpu86040PwiC7uljgVTHtf9aFv41PaaNVnu2OiYHCoeG--lB-dGCLNVP8wAypgcdLP5k15_DwKHKkuzlGz3CfP_OJiYyJxGQdu-e49kJlLaYik0F32ADdH9ZQ/s1993/kever%20Rambam%204.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="923" data-original-width="1993" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOlUFxzv5FmRO6uiaFlhvpWYrVSv9J1HcO-GhQSyG8Zl3B499Hv3XpMWUQ1Vhpu86040PwiC7uljgVTHtf9aFv41PaaNVnu2OiYHCoeG--lB-dGCLNVP8wAypgcdLP5k15_DwKHKkuzlGz3CfP_OJiYyJxGQdu-e49kJlLaYik0F32ADdH9ZQ/w400-h185/kever%20Rambam%204.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><span>Last week, in conversation with the renowned Israeli field archeologist and historian, Yossi Stepansky,</span><span style="text-align: left; vertical-align: super;"><span style="color: #999999;">*1</span> </span>I was
so stunned by the information that he
shared that I had to sit down. Conveniently,
I was passing my favourite felafel restaurant near ‘Shem and
Ever’ in Tzfat at that moment, and so I was soon restored. Nevertheless,
I am still bursting with excitement over the information that he shared with me.</span></p><p></p><p>
</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">To cut to
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>chase:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>A recent
discovery in the Florentine Scroll (Megilla Firenza Ms. Magl. III, 43) </b></span><span style="text-align: left; vertical-align: super;">*2 </span><b>has revealed that the location of the</b>
<b>kever of Rabbeinu Abraham ben HaRambam may actually be right next to that of his father in Tverya (Tiberias).</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">I catch the bus to Tverya specifically to visit
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>kever</i> of HaRambam almost
every month, one of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>few
excursions<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I make from my hermitage in
Tzfat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The newly discovered possibility
that Rabbeinu Abraham is also buried there is an extremely uplifting one, and one<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which could make the Tverya complex a major
site of contemporary Jewish-Sufi pilgrimage<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>and devotion.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><o:p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">oo0oo<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">The Megilla Firenza is<o:p></o:p></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><span> “a little-known 14th-century scroll whose
illustrations and texts trace the journey of its maker, a Jewish Egyptian
painter, from Cairo to Lebanon through the land of Israel and its holy sites.
Eleven meters long and featuring some 130 places and landmarks, the Florence
Scroll (so-called because it is housed in the National Central Library of
Florence) is the second oldest extant document – after the 6th-century Madaba
map – to offer a detailed and extensive portrayal of the land of Israel.” <o:p></o:p></span><span style="text-align: left; vertical-align: super;"><span style="color: #999999;">*3</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><sup><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></sup></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">The curator of
the 2021-2022 Israel Museum exhibition of the scroll was Dr. Rachel
Sarfati and she has completed a fully illustrated study of the megilla, (in hebrew only at the
moment, but an English language edition is in preparation). Though the existence of the Megilla Firenza
was news to me, she has been painstakingly studying it since 2011.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">On Pages 106-108 of her new book, “<i>The Florence Scroll,a 14<sup>th</sup> century
pictorial pilgrimage”, </i>Dr. Sarfati states that the Florentine Scroll contains strong evidence
that the grave of Rabbeinu Abraham ben HaRambam (1186–1237 C.E.) lies in the near vicinity of the graves of his father and grandfather in
Tverya.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">In the Scroll’s
illustration of that Tverya site, to the left of the kever of the
Rambam, we see a tomb with the superscript “Abraham” and the word “Kifaya”. She writes:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">The
inscription accompanying the illustration of R. Avraham's tombstone [in the
Florentine scroll] consists of an abbreviation of the name of
the sefer that he wrote in Arabic: <b><i><u>Kifayat</u></i></b><i> al-Abadin</i>,
(Sufficient for the Servants of God), which surely indicates that this is a reference to [Abraham] the son of the
Rambam, who was governor of the Jews of Egypt in the first half of the 13th
century.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Dr. Sarfati reminds us that Rabbi Abraham ben HaRambam passed
away in 1237,and she concludes that the megilla had to be drawn after that
date, suggesting the first decade of the fourteenth century. Significantly, the
assumed Tverya tomb of R’ David Maimuni
I (died 1300)<span style="text-align: left; vertical-align: super;"><span style="color: #999999;">*4</span></span> does not figure in the Megilla Firenza. Dr.
Sarfati posits that the reason for the omission might be because she believes
that the scroll was written <i>after </i>R’<i> </i>David HaNagid passed away
but probably <i>before</i> his bones were brought to Tiberias for
reburial. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"> It is highly likely that that the Egyptian
owner of the Florentine Scroll was himself connected to the ‘Maimonidean’
Fostat Jewish community (though
obviously not at the time
Rabbeinu Abraham was Nagid) and consequently </span><span style="text-align: justify;">[in my opinion] he</span><span style="text-align: justify;">
</span><span style="text-align: justify;">would</span><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span><span style="text-align: justify;">certainly have been aware
of the </span><i style="text-align: justify;">Kifaya. </i><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Furthermore, I wonder if the reason for reference to the <i>Kifaya</i> is because the owner was a Jewish Sufi himself. <span style="text-align: left;">If this were so, perhaps the reason R’ David I Maimonides does not
get a mention on the scroll might be because of his somewhat negative attitude
to</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">the way the Egyptian Pietist movement
was developing during his nagidship. </span>Although many members of the Maimonidean dynasty (especially Rabbeinu Abraham, R'Obadya, and R'David ben Joshua) were all staunch supporters of ascetic and solitary practice, R'David (Obadya's brother) had strong reservations.<span style="color: #999999; text-align: left;">*5 </span><span style="text-align: left;">It is also notable that the tomb of R'Abraham, unlike some of the neighbouring tombs drawn in this section of the scroll, is crowned with the the same kind of prominent canopy attributed to his illustious father. </span><span style="color: #999999; text-align: left;"> </span>These factors would amplify the Jewish-Sufi significance of the illustration in the Florentine Scroll.</span><span style="font-family: Aldine401 BT, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Though the <i>Kifaya</i> we know today (usually in
translation as Rosenblatt’s <i>Highways to Perfection</i> or Wincelberg’s <i>Guide for the Servants of God</i>) is reconstructed from
fragments and is far from complete, the sections which have come down to us (so
far) are, without doubt, the foundational manual for Jewish-Sufis to this day—a
Jewish <i>Kitab Adab al-Muridin</i> as it
were.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">The mention of the <i>Kifaya</i> on the Megilla
Firenza is a clear indicator of its great significance to the creator of the
scroll, and may also be evidence of its general fame. As Professor Paul B. Fenton has intimated,
though it has been somewhat neglected in recent times Rabbeinu Abraham’s
complete and monumental <i>Kifaya</i> was once widely distributed and studied. Professor
Fenton writes:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">By dint of its sheer volume, this work was probably
the most important product of all Judaeo-Arabic literature. In its original
form the work consisted of four parts, each divided into ten sections, each of
which was again subdivided into ten chapters. Only two parts have come down to
us in a more or less complete state, they alone containing 500 pages. Supposing
that the remaining chapters were of the same scale, the work must have
consisted of about 2,500 pages, i.e. thrice the size of the Mishneh Tôrâh.</span><span style="color: #999999; text-align: left; vertical-align: super;">*6</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMzjZ5BU5FYSxSS4n3khbgy7xQAbibvPn5A71CROmGeiXOC3Z7gLGimmidV9GP3iETEVkp9QD5ogb85XZ_M9kLgY5jwPWV9kVbduqjefzWnhyPeGZ0eGJT6YzVxM0gGIge9J7AcqsZ8x-rdGbEclmL9b89DpxPmOQeTbAJedC27KNa9dERLaI/s574/Florentine%20inscription%20of%20kever%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="423" data-original-width="574" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMzjZ5BU5FYSxSS4n3khbgy7xQAbibvPn5A71CROmGeiXOC3Z7gLGimmidV9GP3iETEVkp9QD5ogb85XZ_M9kLgY5jwPWV9kVbduqjefzWnhyPeGZ0eGJT6YzVxM0gGIge9J7AcqsZ8x-rdGbEclmL9b89DpxPmOQeTbAJedC27KNa9dERLaI/w400-h296/Florentine%20inscription%20of%20kever%201.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: David; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">The section
of the megilla showing the graves of the
Rambam and R’Abraham <span style="color: #999999;">*7</span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgBRIq6NHVkUu1Z4at8CX4sjBuYZt4e838ze4sAFwXNXhIbjp79oabLliPGhF3Um2gwwIDa2mBuw7Zv_K5YOFk2fVKFIBZTGqMx4DrZuw-KMbg0WFE1nBrm84IaCdfxYVpmmuDzExVqszR60GvgWkkD_t9VlCVRIOPZFhUbqhrBAd2fzLgVY8/s201/Florentine%20inscription%20of%20kever%20closeup.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="201" data-original-width="190" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgBRIq6NHVkUu1Z4at8CX4sjBuYZt4e838ze4sAFwXNXhIbjp79oabLliPGhF3Um2gwwIDa2mBuw7Zv_K5YOFk2fVKFIBZTGqMx4DrZuw-KMbg0WFE1nBrm84IaCdfxYVpmmuDzExVqszR60GvgWkkD_t9VlCVRIOPZFhUbqhrBAd2fzLgVY8/w378-h400/Florentine%20inscription%20of%20kever%20closeup.jpg" width="378" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: David; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">The descriptor reads: </span></i><b><span dir="RTL" face="David, sans-serif" lang="HE" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">ר' אברהם בנו בעל הכיפאת<i> </i></span></b></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">The term <i>Jewish-Sufi</i> was first coined by Professor
Fenton to describe the mediaeval Egyptian Pietists who followed a Sufi pattern
of devotional life. They existed (in embryo form) at the time of the Rambam
himself but it was not until the
time of R’ Abraham HeHasid and Rabbeinu
Abraham ben HaRambam that the pietist group became a flourishing movement.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> I have considered
myself to be an aspiring Jewish Sufi since the 1980's, spurred on by experience as a gamelan musician in the environment of Islamic-Javanese <i>kebatinan, </i>but I
became a devoted <i>murid </i>(disciple<i>)</i> of R’ Abraham
ben HaRambam when I first encountered his <i>Kifaya </i>in 2003<i>. </i>For me personally, and for all other <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/jewishsufis" target="_blank">Jewish Sufis</a>
who follow the halachic-sufi path that he promulgated,
this revelation by Dr. Sarfati has great importance. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Were it not for the kindness of Yossi Stepansky, I
would never have been aware of the
Megilla Firenza and its Maimonidean significance, but Providence seems to work ‘at
the appointed time’ and that time is
Now: <b>The ‘Maimonidean’ Egyptian Pietists
believed that their activities would advance the return/restoration of
prophetic inspiration. I share this belief and consider the Jewish-Sufi ‘Path’ which the <i>Kifaya </i>describes
to be one of the <i>principal </i>means by which that restoration will be
brought about.</b><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="text-align: left; vertical-align: super;">*8</span> </span> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">The <i>Hidaya</i> of Ibn Paquda was a manual of ethics and spiritual practice that took the
form of contemporary and classic Sufi manuals, but it was written as a guide
for individuals. By contrast, Rabbeinu
Abraham’s <i>Kifaya </i> was (and still
is) the manifesto of a <i>tariqa</i>: a spiritual pathway, a community of like-minded
seekers, and an organised movement. The <i>Kifaya</i>
mentioned in the Florence Scroll was, to some
extent, a commentary and
expansion of the work of the Rambam, but
it was much more than this—its chapters described a pietest “special
way” (<i>al-sul</i><i>u</i><i>k al-kh</i><i>a</i><i>ss</i>) to be followed by gnostic aspirants alongside
and in tandem with their own meticulous and loving halachic observance of the “common
way” (<i>al-sul</i><i>u</i><i>k al-</i><i>‘a</i><i>mm</i>) followed by all Jews.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">These chapters of the <i>Kifaya</i> were (and still
are) an inspiring compendium of
principles for a specifically <i>Jewish</i>
form of Sufic activity that traces its <i>silsila</i>
(lineage) exclusively to <i>Jewish</i> prophets, whose <i>kirkha </i>(initiation
garment) was the mantle of the prophet
Elijah, and whose Sufic <i>arba’inniya</i> (forty day retreat in a solitary
cell) was modelled on that of Moses. Though Rabbeinu Abraham held the
literature (and many of the principles and practices) of Islam in the highest regard
and with profound respect, he did not trace his Sufi movement’s spiritual
lineage through any Islamic line, but sought to adapt and adopt only those
Islamic Sufic practices that he believed were remnants of the practices of
the biblical <i>bnei nevi’im (</i>schools of the prophets).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">
Rabbeinu Abraham writes:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> Do not hold us in contempt for comparing [our]
situation with that of the Sufis [of Islam], for it was the Sufis who imitated the [hebrew] prophets and
walked in their footsteps,not the prophets in theirs.<o:p></o:p><span style="text-align: left; vertical-align: super;"><span style="color: #999999;">*9</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: medium;">He also maintained, and frequently defended, his ‘orthodox’ Jewish integrity and that of his
followers in this context. As such, he
is truly the ‘rebbe’ of the kind of ‘hasidism’ we now call Jewish-Sufism and
his (presumed) <i>kever</i> is thus especially significant to us. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: medium;"><b>Addendum December 11 2022:</b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dr Sarfati's book is now also available in English.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><span><span style="color: #0b5394;">For those who found this article to be of interest: There is now a new online <b>Jewish Sufi group</b> ( <i>Tariqa Eliyahu HaNabi </i>) with its own website </span></span><span style="color: #0b5394;">and Facebook Page. </span><span style="color: #0b5394;">(click </span><span style="color: red;"> <a href="https://jewishsufis.blogspot.com/2022/10/introducing-this-website.html">HERE</a> </span><span style="color: #0b5394;">to view further details) </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">©Nachman Davies<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p><p align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">Tzfat, Lag
BaOmer 2022</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;">
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0rkw8k1I8RqctLpyitxndVL-VdgbV9k4ozLWnCNKHYKUDyX3jvPSMkXFvQ3wcnlFLmuParznVoGXX_VAxpnPqZAv17xvw9AAwBwfHVkIylWk9qggvBpkspSE64mpgA8Vd_wjl6doZSBMNsYaKq_1VC75x8rA19iZE2w9025CFpuPX8C-s1ZI/s1213/Kever%20Rambam%20A.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="820" data-original-width="1213" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0rkw8k1I8RqctLpyitxndVL-VdgbV9k4ozLWnCNKHYKUDyX3jvPSMkXFvQ3wcnlFLmuParznVoGXX_VAxpnPqZAv17xvw9AAwBwfHVkIylWk9qggvBpkspSE64mpgA8Vd_wjl6doZSBMNsYaKq_1VC75x8rA19iZE2w9025CFpuPX8C-s1ZI/w400-h270/Kever%20Rambam%20A.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">The kever of the Rambam in Tverya<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">May the merits of
the Rambam and his son, Rabbeinu Abraham shield us.</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">ooo0ooo</p></div><div><br /></div><div><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span style="font-family: times; text-align: justify;">Notes</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="text-align: justify;">*1 </span><span class="MsoHyperlink" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white;"><a href="http://www.stepansky.co.il/" target="_blank"><span style="color: black;">www.stepansky.co.il</span></a></span></span><span style="background: white; text-align: justify;"> </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px;"><o:p>*2 </o:p></span></span><a href="https://www.imj.org.il/en/exhibitions/painting-pilgrimage" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: times;">https://www.imj.org.il/en/exhibitions/painting-pilgrimage</span></span></a></div><div><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="text-align: justify;">*3 R.Sarfati, </span><i style="text-align: justify;">The Florence Scroll: a 14<sup>th</sup> century pictorial pilgrimage from Egypt to the Land of</i><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span><i style="text-align: justify;">Israel</i><span style="text-align: justify;">, 2021,Israel Museum Jerusalem.</span></span></div><div><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="text-align: justify;">*4 Not to be confused with R’David Maimuni II (R’ David Ben Joshua) who died 1415 C.E. and who authored the profoundly Jewish-Sufi classic entitled </span><i style="text-align: justify;">Al-murshid ila t-tafarrud wal-murfid ila t-tajarrud (usually </i><span style="text-align: justify;">known as</span><i style="text-align: justify;"> Al Murshid).</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><i style="text-align: justify;"><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;">*5 see <i>Midrash Rabbi David HaNagid</i>,Paris, MS BN Heb.297,fol.44a</span></span></div><div><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="text-align: justify;">*6 Fenton.P, </span><i style="text-align: justify;">Maimonides—Father and Son;Continuity and Change</i><span style="text-align: justify;">, in </span><i style="text-align: justify;">Traditions of Maimonideanism</i><span style="text-align: justify;">,ed. C. Fraenkel,Brill,Leiden 2009, page 114.</span></span></div><div><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px; text-align: justify;">*7 These two illustrations are scans from a purchased copy of Dr. Sarfati’s book on Florence, Ms. Magl. III, 43 / Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, Firenze. To purchase the book: </span><span class="MsoHyperlink" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="https://imjshop.com/product/the-florence-scroll-a-14th-century-pictorial-pilgrimage-from-egypt-to-the-land-of-israel/">https://imjshop.com/product/the-florence-scroll-a-14th-century-pictorial-pilgrimage-from-egypt-to-the-land-of-israel/</a></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="MsoHyperlink" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="MsoHyperlink" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 17.12px;"> </span></span><span style="text-align: justify;">*8 For more on this, see my book, </span><i style="text-align: justify;">The Mitkarevim: Jewish Contemplatives and the Return of Prophecy</i><span style="text-align: justify;">”.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;">*9 S.Rosenblatt,<i>Highways to Perfection,vol II</i>, Johns Hopkins Press,Baltimore 1938,page 320.</span></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div id="ftn1">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></p>
</div>
</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"></p><p></p><p></p>Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-40017960591724750112022-03-23T21:16:00.011+02:002023-04-11T16:04:08.177+03:00Nadav and Abihu: Annihilation in the Fire of Love<p><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbKaw8916lajM66lvg2wmGrCvi1WLhFupDC5UAuMiyni5S9NAk_CQjEbvskNisMNLh85Lfsa3Bp7Ftca6qKRtzCwgps3rLKtko3BGjhuyjdDN0WRl9gZ08x9j2RapSjoKFEY5qNWZSYxSGHtfJBlYGJexWk0-j6WnW6v1PV8lqek8w-xojrHg/s1310/Nadav%20and%20abihu%20desat%20grafo.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="1310" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbKaw8916lajM66lvg2wmGrCvi1WLhFupDC5UAuMiyni5S9NAk_CQjEbvskNisMNLh85Lfsa3Bp7Ftca6qKRtzCwgps3rLKtko3BGjhuyjdDN0WRl9gZ08x9j2RapSjoKFEY5qNWZSYxSGHtfJBlYGJexWk0-j6WnW6v1PV8lqek8w-xojrHg/w400-h146/Nadav%20and%20abihu%20desat%20grafo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Our
Biblical commentators have long been puzzled by the exact significance of the deaths of Nadav and Abihu,the sons of
Aharon the <i>Kohen Gadol</i>. In <i>Parshat Shemini</i> they enter the sanctuary
and offer an ‘unauthorised fire’, a sacrifice of incense (prayer) which causes
them to be wholly consumed in a Divine fire.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 106%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> The responses of Moshe Rabbeinu and Aharon Ha
Kohen Gadol are ambiguous and defy the ingenuity of our greatest scholars as
they balance off interpretations that either condemn these two <i>kohanim</i>
as rebellious criminals or extol them as saints of the highest order.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 106%;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><span>I side with those commentators who (like the
Sfas Emes and the Chatam Sofer) see
these two as “saints” rather than “sinners”. </span><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;"> Those who support the good name of
Nadav and Abihu were also championed (in the</span><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;">
</span><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;">mid thirteenth century) by R’Avraham ben Ha Rambam in his “</span><i style="text-indent: 11.35pt;">Kifaya</i><span style="text-indent: 11.35pt;">”
when he writes:</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">Our
Sages have blamed the deaths of Nadav
and Avihu—[eternal] peace be upon them—on an element of pride (Vayikra Rabbah
20:10). Many misguided people take this statement superficially,as they take
the other comments about them in the Midrash, thinking that they were
extremely arrogant. [However,to believe this] about such great men is
unacceptable...Nadav and Abihu were among the
first annointed and among the greatest of prophets...Therefore to
criticize them is a terrible sin...The bottom line,though, is that the cause of their problem was that they deviated
slightly from humility.</span><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 106%;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">[3]</span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"> The account of the death of these two tzaddikim is immediately followed in the Torah by an admonition against inebriation during liturgical worship, and this has led some commentators to accuse Nadav and Abihu of being drunk on alcohol. The idea that they were intoxicated with the love of God rather than
drink, but made a misjudgement in their zeal
might reconcile the texual
difficulties concerning the immolation of
these two in the divine fire.
For them, such a death was a blessing. The fire that consumed them has
also been seen as a sacrifical fire
of mystical union, and not a punishment. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><span style="text-align: left;">Perhaps the event can be viewed in three perspectives:
Firstly, for Nadav and Abihu it was an experience of extreme and holy </span><i style="text-align: left;">deveykut</i><span style="text-align: left;">;
Secondly, for the rebellious Israelites of its time it was a demonstration of
Divine Power designed to increase awe and obedience in worship; and</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">thirdly, it can be seen as having been recorded ambiguously to
conceal a hidden message for the future, a message which only Moshe Rabeinu and Aharon Ha Cohen
Gadol were party to—a private and prophetically delivered message to them in secret: A secret which might be glimpsed </span><span style="text-align: left;"> in </span><span style="text-align: left;">Moshe’s mysterious praise of the two sons and by Aharon’s
intuitive but knowing </span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">silence in Vayikra 10:3. </span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">This
is</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">all pure (and</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">far-fetched) conjecture, but it is my own
feeling about the matter.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">The
complex arguments on each side are convoluted and beyond the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>scope of this chapter, but as you<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>might expect, I see them as pioneer <i>Mitkarevim</i>
who wished to ‘draw near’ <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Divine<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>in a way which was beyond acceptability in their historical time-period.
For me,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>their immolation resembles more
the Fiery Chariot of Eliyahu that bore the prophet to full union with the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Divine than<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>it might<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>represent a particularly
fierce and almost vindictive Divine punishment. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To me it is very much a Sufic ‘<i>fana</i>’
event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>R´Hayim ibn Attar writes in
his<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Ohr Ha Chayim</i>:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">“They came
close to G‑d and died” (<i>Vayikra 16:1</i>)—they approached the supernal light
out of their great love of the Holy, and thereby died. Thus they died by a
“Divine kiss” such as that experienced by the perfectly righteous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The righteous die when the Divine kiss
approaches them, whereas they died by their approaching it... Although
they sensed their own demise, this did not prevent them from drawing near to G‑d
in attachment, delight, delectability, fellowship, love, kissing, and
sweetness, to the point that their souls passed from them.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 106%;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Some of
us share their impulse, and many of us are most definitely aware of a call to
be ‘near’ G-d which does not elevate us over others; does not lead us into
power-games with the spiritual world; and which is not an escape from
community—but an expression of profound involvement in its mission. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such contemplatives have the single-mindedness
which is expressed in the cry:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="CAVEQUOTES" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">One<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>thing do
I ask of the Lord, and only that shall I seek: To dwell in the house of The
Lord all the days of my life, to behold G-d’s beauty, and to meditate in His
Sanctuary.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 106%;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">All contemplative
Jews aspire to this, but a <i>Dedicated Jewish Contemplative</i> is a Jew with
a single-mindedness to devote <i>every</i> moment of their existence to the <i>practice
</i>of such nearness. Not as a form of self-perfecting asceticism, but as act
of religious community service; a sacrifice of prayer and devotion which
envelops all creation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not an
escape from society or responsibility. It is an embrace.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">I have
not seen this better expressed than in the following passage from the writings
of Rav Kook:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="CAVEQUOTES" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Whoever feels within himself, after many trials,
that his inner being can find peace only in pursuing the secret teachings of
the Torah must know with certainty that it is for this that he<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was created.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="CAVEQUOTES" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Let him not be troubled by any impediments in the
world, whether physical or spiritual, from hastening after what is the essence
of his life and his true perfection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
may assume that it is not only his own perfection and deliverance that hinges
on the improvement of his character, but also the deliverance of the community
and the perfection of the world. <span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 106%;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">I would go further
than Rav Kook, and state that to discourage the minority of Jews who wish to
live like this from doing so— might actually be <i>preventing </i>the light of<i>
</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the<i> tzaddikim</i> from reaching
all the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>nooks and crannies it is
intended to reach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The responsibilities
of the contemplative (and of the full-time <i>yeshiva</i> and <i>kollel</i>
student) are as necessary and as valuable as are the more pragmatic or more
easily quantified aspects of Jewish societal philanthropy and inter-personal <i>tzedakah</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Putting
this in a nutshell, I am saying that if an intentionally dedicated Jewish Contemplative -a <i>mitkarev- </i>(or
<i><u>any</u></i> contemplative Jew) wants to be one of G-d’s ‘nearest and dearest’ practitioners of
Justice and Good Deeds<i>, </i>the most direct path <b><i>for them</i></b> is
to focus exclusively on becoming ‘near’ to G-d.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><span style="text-indent: 11.5pt;">(From
</span><span style="text-indent: 11.5pt;">“The Mitkarevim: Jewish Contemplatives and the Return of Prophecy</span><span style="text-indent: 11.5pt;">”)</span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><b>©Nachman
Davies<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.5pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><i><b>Tzfat
2022</b></i></span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 106%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<i><b>Vayikra</b> </i> 10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 106%;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
The almost endless <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(if largely negative)
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>opinions on the incident<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are catalogued here: <u><a href="https://aish.com/48923142/">https://aish.com/48923142/</a></u>and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>there is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>a stimulating set of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>essays on
the subject at "thetorah.com": see <u><a href="https://www.thetorah.com/article/how-god-was-sanctified-through-nadav-and-avihus-death">https://www.thetorah.com/article/how-god-was-sanctified-through-nadav-and-avihus-death</a> </u> and <u><a href=" https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-incident-of-nadav-and-avihu"> https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-incident-of-nadav-and-avihu</a></u> A remarkably positive and highly recommended discussion is to be found at <a href="https://www.nitzotzos.com/post/parshas-shmini-consumed-by-a-strange-fire?fbclid=IwAR3x4bKr5twJOcXEXWZ_rven8yf10TpCLwyWzfmV-Qbsx8R5kedZRVDlBKA ">https://www.nitzotzos.com/post/parshas-shmini-consumed-by-a-strange-fire?fbclid=IwAR3x4bKr5twJOcXEXWZ_rven8yf10TpCLwyWzfmV-Qbsx8R5kedZRVDlBKA </a></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-family: times;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 11.3067px;">[3]</span></span></span> Translated by R’Ýaakov Wincelberg in <b><i>The Guide to Serving G-d</i></b>’, R' Avraham ben HaRambam, p115-117 <i>( Feldheim Jerusalem/New York, 2008)</i></span></p><p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 106%;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span>
<b><i>Ohr Ha Chayim</i> </b>commentary on <i><b>Vayikra</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>16:1</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="line-height: 106%;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span> <b><i><span>Tehillim 27:4<span><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="FootnoteTextcave" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 106%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><b><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Orot
Hakodesh</span></b><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> vol 1, pp. 88-89</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: times;"> as translated by Ben Zion Bokser in ‘<b><i>Abraham
Isaac Kook:</i></b> <b><i>Essential Writings’</i></b> <i>pp.</i> 201-203 <i>(
Paulist Press, Mahwah,New Jersey,1978)</i></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-29268315863826635982022-03-14T20:40:00.008+02:002023-03-11T20:56:13.261+02:00Elijah The Comforter and Bringer of Peace<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>
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<h3 style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Elijah and the Peace of Jerusalem (2010)</span></b></h3></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">" Elijah the fiery prophet of Carmel was without doubt a model fundamentalist zealot. Like many other prophets he was an aggressive defendant of his own God and his massacre of the prophets of Baal on Carmel stands as one of the most brutal incidents of slaughter in the Bible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Yet in post-biblical tradition he is known as “The Comforter” and as a “Peacemaker”.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br />
<span>So what happened?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Those who are familiar with my thoughts on Elijah will remember an article I wrote in 2007 called “In the Cave of Elijah”. I keep returning to its thesis that the bat kol of Horeb was a reprimand to an Elijah who was avoiding a call to a more contemplative lifestyle. Today I am returning to that Cave again to listen to a word about its political relevance...specifically in relation to the Palestine-Israel peace process.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">To begin I’ll restate the original 2007 article’s main points here to save you having to open other pages from the website:</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: small;">From article “In the Cave of Elijah” (2007)</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">In Haftarah Pinchas we read how Elijah had challenged the prophets of Baal to a duel. Each had to prepare an altar and an offering to their deity and the team whose offering burst into flames would be declared the winner. At Mount Carmel, Elijah’s prayer was dramatically answered by fire and he concluded his rather over the top demo by slaughtering every one of the false prophets. Zealotry certainly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Elijah flees for his life from Jezebel who was far from impressed with this outcome and within moments of his triumph Elijah slumps into suicidal depression.(<i><b>1Kings 19:4)</b></i> Fortunately he was refreshed by the shade of a tree, water and freshly baked angel’s cake. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Thus rested and fortified Elijah went on to Mount Horeb (Sinai). There Elijah enters a Cave. Some say it was the very same “Cleft in the Rock” in which Moses hid. (<i><b>E</b><b>xodus 33:13</b></i>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Both caves are presented as the “Place” of a Theophany and not simply personal spiritual experiences.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Elijah hears God’s Voice asking a question: Mah l’cha Po? (what are you doing here?).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Most Jewish (and many Christian) commentators on the place of this question in the Elijah story seem to read it with the inflection: “What on earth are you doing hiding away in here, wasting your time meditating when you should be up and doing stuff!?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I read it as:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">“What on earth are you DOING here, fretting and dwelling on the past, resting on your laurels one minute then focusing on your failings and anxieties the next. You are spending your time here in self observation when what you SHOULD be doing is listening to my voice. This Cave is a place of meeting . A place of mission not escape.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Let me explain where my perspective comes from.....I would suggest that Elijah’s answer is both apologetic and panicky and that it reflects the evasion of a truth he wishes to avoid.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Paraphrasing his tripartite reply in 1Kings 19:10, here is Elijah’s evasive response:</span></div>
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<span><b>1</b>: I have been very zealous for You…</span><br />
<span><b>2</b>: I am the only loyal Israelite left, the others are unfaithful...<b> </b></span><br />
<span><b>3</b>: I came here because they were trying to kill me for what I did...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">which I read as:</span></div>
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<span><b>1</b>: over compensating for insecurity in melodramatic action<b> </b></span><br />
<span><b>2</b>:delusions of self-importance masking those insecurities<b> </b></span><br />
<span><b>3</b>:Paranoia</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The reply is given through three “events” or “experiences”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span><b>A</b>: Wind</span><br />
<span><b>B</b>: Earthquake<b> </b></span><br />
<span><b>C</b>: Fire</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Which (<i>this time round</i>) I might read as representing:</span></div>
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<span><b>A</b>: Futile activity to mask a lack of understanding or facing up to facts</span><br />
<span><b>B</b>: Destructive or negative speech and actions which do not create anything<b> </b></span><br />
<span><b>C</b>: Violent extremism</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">In each case the biblical text tells us that “God was not in” any of these.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It is then that Elijah hears the “still small voice”...and this he recognises as the “Voice of God”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Elijah is asked the question again....What are you doing here?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Again he gives his flustered three part answer and (in my reading) fails the test.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The conclusion of the story is that he is told to leave the cave....shortly after which he passes on his prophetic mantle to Elisha.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>I believe the voice of his conscience was telling him that the way of peace and a life of contemplation were superior to the bustling activism of his political career. (I am not saying here that “contemplative lives” are superior <i>per se</i>...only that Elijah was, I believe, called to a more contemplative and peaceable lifestyle than the one he had followed.) His call to be a “Jewish Contemplative” was not heard....that is something which all those who seek to live and promote intentionally dedicated contemplative lifestyles in Judaism attempt to continue “in his name”. Such people are the sons and daughters of Elijah the childless--Though not prophets they aim to be “Descendants of the Prophets” if only in some small way.</span><br />
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<span>Though it may seem strangely quietist from the outside, the life of a dedicated or consecrated “Contemplative” is nothing less than a profound form of political/religious activism.</span></span></div>
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The “correct” response to the question “<i>Mah L’cha Po?</i>”...the question asked of all contemplatives... is perhaps the one which heads this article (from <i><b>Psalm 73</b></i>):</span></div>
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“Whom do I have in heaven but You?</span></div>
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And besides You I desire nothing on earth.</span></div>
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My flesh and my heart yearn for You,</span></div>
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The Rock of my Heart and my inheritance</span></div>
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Is God eternally.</span></div>
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My purpose in life is to be “one who is intimate” with God.”</span></div>
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This response indicates the "<i><b>true</b></i> zeal” of an Elijan and is spoken with "<i><b>mystical</b></i> fire”. A fire which envelops, inspires, and creates. It is a response which also reminds the contemplative that “Levites” (the ones specifically dedicated to the Sanctuary’s service) have no inheritance in the land of Israel...for God Himself is to be their inheritance. (<b><i>Ezekiel 44:28</i></b>).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">According to the Biblical legend, Elijah did not “die” but was taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Eliyahu the warrior prophet</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">The zealot fundamentalist</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Not in earthquake, wind, or fire,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Not in prejudice and hate,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Not in revenge or name calling.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">The legend is that he ascended to heaven in a chariot of fire. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">The violence of his “first” life is burnt out--</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">He becomes an archetype.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">In the biblical tradition, long after his “death” he is described as being the herald of the messiah (<i><b>Malachi 3:23</b></i>) and is described, somewhat mysteriously, as being the one who will “turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to the fathers” (<i><b>Malachi 3:24</b></i>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">According to traditional legend in that “second” archetypal life he has become “Elijah the Comforter”, “Elijah the Peacemaker”. In that post biblical legendary tradition he appears as the one who rescues the Jewish community, as one who tests the charity and forbearance of Jews by appearing as a needy beggar or an often tiresome and puzzling old man; and he attends every circumcision to comfort and effect healing (!) as well, it is sometimes added, to assess whether or not the newborn might be the messiah.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>In the Rabbinic tradition he also became “the one who will provide all the answers to those problems which seem to have no solution” (those declared tayku). The problems of the “Holy” Land come pretty high in my list of “problems which seem to have no solution” and so I am keen to have recourse to Elijah’s advice. In this I approach not <i><b>E</b><b>lijah the biblical Zealot</b></i>, but <i><b>Elijah the archetypal Comforter</b></i>... </span><br />
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<span>How can Jewish Contemplatives (or contemplatives in any religious tradition) hope to bring about the peace of Jerusalem? I am not sure that I am going to be able to answer that question, but I <i>can</i> tell you that I spend a great deal of time and effort praying about it. This article is a little "bursting through to the surface" of what has been going on those prayers. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The Peace of Palestine, Israel, Jerusalem, cannot be achieved by earthquake wind or fire.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Focusing on the faults of Israel will not bring peace--only hatred from those whose hearts are already anti-Jewish.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Focusing on the bitter hatred much of the Arab world feels for Jews does not bring peace- - it only encourages fear in the minds of the paranoid or xenophobic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">If we are to focus on anything, it should be a focus on the evidence of personal, organisational, denominational, religious, or political attempts on all “sides” to work for Peace. By focusing on them rather than on the sensational or the negative we encourage the growth of those channels of Peace. By supporting them we become creators of Peace ourselves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The way of<i><b> Elijah the zealot</b></i> is no longer appropriate...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Religious and political zealotry emphasises differences, settling scores, seeking revenge, declaring possession, asserting an often non-inclusive moral standpoint. As with any nation state, there are certain moral failures in Israel’s past...some acknowledged, some denied or hidden away. They should be known and rectified..... but making them the <i>central </i>or <i>focal</i> issue can add demolition to earthquake, anarchic chaos to an already windswept landscape, and can fan the fire of human hatred into an uncontrollable furnace.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Animosity between Palestinian and Israeli (or perhaps I should say Arab and Jew) are the cause and/or product of a deep-seated disagreement which needs the balm of compassionate co-existence and not the sharpened sword of further prolonged conflict. There is a place for argument and criticism but that place is within a respectful dialogue not on a verbal or physical battle-field.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">In the Torah (<b><i>Deuteronomy 3:24</i></b> and <b><i>34:4</i></b>) Moses is denied entry into the “Promised Land”. As Elijah passed on his mantle to Elisha immediately after the test of the Cave of Horeb, so Moses, on Nebo, deferred to Joshua. The traditional midrash explaining why Moses was denied entry into “the Land” refers back to an incident many years earlier: In Numbers 20:7 Moses had displayed what might be termed “<i><b>undue force”</b></i> coupled with a little self-promotion: The rabbis noted that, in the desert, he had been asked to “speak to” the rock in order for the miracle of flowing water to occur, but that he had chosen to “command it” (emphasing his own role in the process) and “struck the rock” instead. “Force and chutzpah” over “humility and dialogue”. Very “<i>Elijah the zealot</i>”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">During his encounter in the cave on Horeb, it seems that Elijah was given two chances to examine his personality and methods. The same seems to have been the case in the story of Shimon Bar Yohai (whose memory we celebrate on Lag B’Omer) who spent two separate periods of retreat in his cave in Meron. Shimon Bar Yohai and Eliyahu Ha Navi both shared the fire of zeal which can so easily become the fire of violent anger. Both were given opportunities to reconsider and reform, to allow the gentler power of Mercy and Compassion to temper that of Force and Might. It is an opportunity which is presented to all mystics, and to all contemplatives who follow in their footsteps. We are all invited to see that our interior world is both the seedbed and the sower of world peace.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">oooOooo</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I have a small piece of rock. Part of Eretz Israel. A stone from the spring of Elijah on Mount Carmel. Two very kind (Catholic) adolescent friends of mine brought it back for me during a summer spent on a kibbutz. I have treasured it for over thirty years. It speaks to me today:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">If Jew or Arab should strike the rock with undue force they run the risk of destroying something beautiful in a desire to “possess" the Land. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">To quote a famous zionist, Martin Buber:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">“It seems to me that God does not give any one portion of the earth away....a conquered land is, in my opinion only lent even to the conqueror who has settled on it- and God waits to see what he will make of it.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I am Jew who believes that the State of Israel should be proud of its achievements but should also acknowledge its mistakes. I am a Jew who works to fulfill the words of Ben Gurion <i><b>positively</b></i> when he said:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">“The State of Israel will prove itself not by material wealth, nor by military might or technical achievement, but by its moral character and human values.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">And I am a Jew that hopes that even more compassionate and tolerant Palestinians may emerge to confront their own prejudices and begin to forgive.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">Peace is not something we might create....</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;">it is the tool <b><i>with which</i></b> we create.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">That, perhaps, is part of what the little voice in the cave of Elijah’s mind said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">But it is a quiet and indistinct voice- <i>Kol d’mamah d’kah </i>....a voice which many believe to be nothing more than a puff of inconsequential religious wind...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It is voice which is often irksome, and in this case, profoundly challenging for any political or religious zealot to hear..... Many are afraid of its simple power:-</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It says “Peace <i><b>Now</b></i>”..... that means put the negative aside... Find the positive NOW and build on it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">As we pray every week at the close of Shabbat: “May Elijah come soon in our day”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>May the voice of Peace be heard over the din of Hate.</span><br />
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<span>May those who "pray for the peace of Jerusalem" help to create that peace by their lives of <i><b>contemplative</b></i> <b><i>zeal</i></b>. May the <i><b>fire of their</b></i> <i><b>love</b></i> scatter the gloom."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>Nachman Davies</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: x-small;"><i><b>April 20 2010</b></i></span></div>
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</div>Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-69346350078503444152022-03-13T15:38:00.003+02:002022-03-14T20:16:13.212+02:00"Becoming Elijah": Inspiration for Jewish Contemplatives from Daniel C Matt<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville";"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqj9BLg-oD3o65NkJVpejS0UdauZiJ5BbeSrWyWqru_8xYML6C7UfA0bEURKh0cH65spo-8f1JBMal8CKzRGiAJqFoCrUOMoayERKN2MUPYJr7Wt9wQZWEVoKX9rcmhpVwoKE-H4dUAGpfTh4lwBtuB64Vd9HPG3RObd69H6Ya3RL7SdOeZR0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqj9BLg-oD3o65NkJVpejS0UdauZiJ5BbeSrWyWqru_8xYML6C7UfA0bEURKh0cH65spo-8f1JBMal8CKzRGiAJqFoCrUOMoayERKN2MUPYJr7Wt9wQZWEVoKX9rcmhpVwoKE-H4dUAGpfTh4lwBtuB64Vd9HPG3RObd69H6Ya3RL7SdOeZR0=w299-h320" width="299" /></a></div><br />Eliyahu Ha Navi is the father of all Jewish Contemplatives. In my writings I have frequently claimed that intentionally dedicated Jewish Contemplatives (the Mitkarevim) are the "children of the childless Eliyahu"... and visitors to my website will also be familiar with my commentary on "</span><a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-cave-of-elijah-encountering-divine.html">The Cave of Eliyahu</a><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville";">" and the "still small voice."</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville";"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville";"> I am delighted to see that Daniel C. Matt is about to publish a new book which goes deeper and further into these issues than I ever could. We should rejoice that his book is part of the contemporary movement—that we sense is growing: to hasten the coming—</span><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville";">the development—of Gilui Eliyahu in our day!</span></div><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><b>Nachman Davies</b></i></div></span><p style="text-align: justify;">DANIEL C. MATT'S NEW BOOK IS <a href="https://www.jewishlives.org/books/elijah?fbclid=IwAR30YFGpCe2fuVb4-6fesN2X0_nmMYyNpXWUyP9rwa6VGUM0YH5KxqGiIes">HERE</a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-34063224389043201012022-01-16T20:10:00.002+02:002022-01-16T20:20:11.804+02:00Azamra: The Song of the Contemplative<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzEFBQ8rNWUbMQT4DUO0aAt8Gn3TtOPnQi4a-M0p19v6UkzidLaOTo7z4yDm9emmd1hpZDyc7UzUbLAdH6tvCtBUAE3BrghjJbBak_IsNlfT0J-Jprh-gjlMCCnURtKe9YBi_jaQ/s1600/Juan's+tree.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzEFBQ8rNWUbMQT4DUO0aAt8Gn3TtOPnQi4a-M0p19v6UkzidLaOTo7z4yDm9emmd1hpZDyc7UzUbLAdH6tvCtBUAE3BrghjJbBak_IsNlfT0J-Jprh-gjlMCCnURtKe9YBi_jaQ/s320/Juan's+tree.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><span style="color: #45818e; font-size: medium;">When we say <i><b>Azamra l’El-kai b’odi</b></i> –“I will sing to G-d with the little I have left” (<i>Tehillim 146:2</i>)— we are not referring to any lack of skills or about depleted resources. We are making a statement of mature experience.</span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><span style="color: #45818e; font-size: medium;"> We have just celebrated Shabbat Shirah (the Shabbat of Song) which commemorates the song recorded in <i>Parshat Beshalach</i> at the crossing of the Sea of Reeds) It is followed by the minor festival of <i>Chamisha-Asar beShvat </i>(The New Year for Trees, sometimes called <i>Tu B’Shvat</i>). </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><span style="color: #45818e; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #45818e;">Here is a short reflection on the juxtaposition of those two special days which I wrote in 2013:</span> </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">Our contemplative journey is the Song which makes the Tree of Life sing.</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">As we grow older our needs and our aims change. Things which were central to our contemplative practice often become peripheral and we may often be surprised to find that the converse sometimes becomes true. Most surprisingly, despite our age and experience, we may even find ourselves “singing a new song.” </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><span>Such change is not necessarily the product of inconsistency or flightiness. If we are engaged in a search and making a journey which is “for the sake of Heaven”, it can be like the healthy growth of a tree with its branches, leaves, and fruit: We may find that our personal evolution is like </span></span>new growth and new fruit emerging from a solid and rooted trunk—ever developing and producing. </span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">It can also be like the composition of a piece of music. Like a Symphony, our contemplative life has its themes and its developmental form. We present the main themes in the “Exposition Section” of our early spiritual lives, find them tried and tested in the “Development Section”, and at some point we return to a transformed statement of the original themes in the “Recapitulation Section”.</span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"> We <i>sing to G-d with the little we have left</i> once we have experimented, experienced, and been transformed by the contemplative process—and by Life itself.</span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">So what is this “little” that we find ourselves left with? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><span>Our Life-giving Tree is the Torah which was/is given at Sinai. It is unique but it also has seventy faces. It is received by each of us in accordance with our own diversity of understanding and perception.</span></span>We all hear the same “text” but according to our own ability and level of understanding.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">We were given the Torah as a united Holy Community, but as the Torah is also written on each of our individual hearts, the contemplative process is similarly something which is entirely personal and uniquely received. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"> When we have done all we can to exhaust our own skills and abilities in the understanding of its depths, and been stripped of all our false understandings—what we are left with is something that is highly personal. It is our own unique Song.</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">As each of us treads our path up Mount Horeb— the <i>little bit </i>which we are asked to distil from the story of that journey is the act of identifying “what exactly it is that I one is called to do and be”.
As I hinted at the start of this little commentary, that sometimes involves a re-adjustment of things we have had all along but not seen, or it may involve a change in direction.</span></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><span>But what is certain is this: It is called a “little” bit because </span></span>we have been spiritually pruned of excess growth. New buds and small blossoms emerge because we have been "pruned". It is “small” because we have been alchemically reduced to our most essential features. For a contemplative Jew....that moment of self-discovery is paradoxically a moment when we lose our self-focus and the “task”, or the Transformed Theme takes over. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">In a sense we cease playing or singing the music: The Music plays us. </span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">And what do we do now that we have been turned into Song itself?</span></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">We echo the words of Moses and the people of Israel at the Sea of Reeds and sing:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span face="David, sans-serif" style="font-size: 26pt; text-align: left;">מי כמכה באלם יי</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium; text-align: center;"><b> “Who is like You?”</b></span><span style="font-size: medium; text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;">(<i>Shemot 15:11</i>)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><p style="text-align: right;"><br /></p></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"> <span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro;">The silent but deafening answer of the heavens is the knowledge that there is none like G-d, and that insight draws us away from self-focus to focus on Him—and there is no place devoid of Him.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span dir="RTL" face="David, sans-serif" lang="HE" style="font-size: 24pt; line-height: 107%;">יי
ימלך לעולם ועד</span></span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><span style="font-size: medium;"> <span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro;">Our song is the beginning of our realising that our little contribution is not our “contribution” at all, it is simply our being released from being seed-like and husk-enwrapped in earthy confinement—to burst out and blossom in the light-drenched heights above. “There is none like our G-d”: He creates us as a tiny yet essential cell in the Tree of Life, fed and watered in every moment by His own Will, and singing the song of His own Name. </span></span></span></div>
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<i><span><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><b> Nachman Davies </b></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"><b>January 25 2013
</b></span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif">(The photo which heads this post is</span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"> of a tree planted by Juan de La Cruz</span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS",sans-serif"> in the Carmen de Los Martires,Granada) </span></span></i></div>
Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-1788921545770835102022-01-03T14:58:00.005+02:002022-01-13T10:31:46.366+02:00Prayer in Times of Anxiety<p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgM_gltsgclbH4mE4kdjLO03sbuR6CnlJz4xPAxtiMglYI_aOQH4iUx0IMyvfmzaTRo6gps08Hk4nSfICgEnHJkUT7jcRc7OOTcdEfry-K_tp6aMukbYVoWY9OUN0Uhvr7y7zHId81rcxTSZ9Mxqpkix_G_OzKar_cuEgaKoUCNXoSJzLJhQtw=s4032" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2252" data-original-width="4032" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgM_gltsgclbH4mE4kdjLO03sbuR6CnlJz4xPAxtiMglYI_aOQH4iUx0IMyvfmzaTRo6gps08Hk4nSfICgEnHJkUT7jcRc7OOTcdEfry-K_tp6aMukbYVoWY9OUN0Uhvr7y7zHId81rcxTSZ9Mxqpkix_G_OzKar_cuEgaKoUCNXoSJzLJhQtw=w400-h224" title="(Safed Sunset Nov 2021)" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Safed Sunset Nov 2021 <b style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">©Nachman Davies</span></span></b></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif;">Many of my friends
and acquaintances are among the</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif;">thousands
and thousands of people who have contracted COVID in recent months and among
them, many will have found it extremely frustrating</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif;">that they do not have strength to fulfill
their religious obligations as Jews in reciting </span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif;">the regular daily prayer services.</span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i> There is a chapter in my (still unpublished) book <b>The Mitkarevim</b>
which examines the problems of anxiety and trials of faith, stoic equanimity,and perserverance within the context of
contemplative practice—and the closing section of that chapter contains
recomendations for those unable to daven/pray whilst experiencing such
trials.</i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i> Motivated by a desire to
encourage my currently sick Jewish friends, and hoping to assist all those who
are also experiencing the fatigue which COVID brings I have decided to post the
following extract from that chapter from my book. It has a relevance to all those
contemplatives experiencing trials of faith or illness and I hope and pray that
they may be comforted and find that their struggle to worship G-d in such
situations can be turned to the good. </i></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">ooOoo<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><b><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 14pt;">How to pray on a Grey Day</span></b><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">We are
instructed not to daven the <i>Amidah</i> prayer (for instance) if we are sad
or depressed<a href="file:///C:/Users/nachman/Documents/MITKAREVIM/blog%20post%20PRAYER%20IN%20TIMES%20of%20anxiety.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> because
a <i>mitzvah </i>ought to be performed in joy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If we are honest with ourselves and with our G-d, there are also grim
times when such sadness and depression can turn to anger. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At such times, we might feel that avoiding
contact with G-d might be the only way we can avoid blasphemy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet there is much to be said for recognising
that it is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><i>precisely</i></b> at
such times that we ought to be in direct, though painfully conflicted, contact
with our G-d. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The specifically <i>Breslover</i> form of <i>hitbodedut</i> is
principally a method of discussing ones thoughts out-loud with G-d—often <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in the middle of the night, and <i>ideally</i>
in an isolated and deserted location— and it would seem to be a method geared
to effect this critical encounter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
the discussion can involve both the joyous<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>and the anguished by turns.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Davening
formal services with <i>kavanah </i>may be a difficult (or impossible) task to
manage in such times of deep aridity or anguish, but solitary contemplative
dialogue in private should surely flow naturally when we need to pour out our
hearts and release <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>painful things which have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>been bottled up.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Many
contemplatives also turn to the Psalms at such times. They can often<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>become doorways to the deepest forms of
ecstatic prayer. They are a comfort from a psychological point of view as well
as a religious one, because we can all relate to the very human conflicts and
experiences which they describe so
vividly. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">On those days when
one feels too depressed or too sad to pray the <i>siddur</i> liturgy in its
entirety or even to enter into the dialogue of contemplative prayer, this is my
suggestion: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Lydian BT"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">-Take just one psalm, or just
one prayer (maybe just the first paragraph of the <i>Amidah</i> or just the
first paragraph of the <i>Shema</i>)— more if you are able;<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Lydian BT"; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">-Tell G-d that you are both
too depressed to pray, and too stressed to sit down with Him and ‘chat’, but
that you wish to worship Him and approach Him;<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b><span style="font-family: "Lydian BT"; font-size: 12pt;">-Tell Him that you wish to
remember His mercies with gratitude and beg Him to help you</span></b><span style="font-family: "Lydian BT"; font-size: 12pt;">;<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Lydian BT";"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">-Then say your chosen short prayer or selection
of prayers as slowly and reverently as you possibly can.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Lydian BT";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Doing this has two
very practical advantages:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Firstly,
it actually prevents you from dwelling on your self or your own problems and
digging yourself further into a hole.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
may appear to be a meagre substitute for the full statutory <i>Avodat HaKodesh</i>,
but it’s a start. And to quote someone<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>far wiser than I: <i>a bissele iz euch gut</i>.<a href="file:///C:/Users/nachman/Documents/MITKAREVIM/blog%20post%20PRAYER%20IN%20TIMES%20of%20anxiety.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes we all need to examine our own careers,
thoughts, actions, and progress—but those who are living contemplative
lifestyles need to minimalise such activity if too much self-focus begins to
impede ones journey into G-d.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
balance should always be effected by looking at G-d not<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>at one’s own image.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we ‘look at’ G-d, we are moved to be compassionate
to all other creatures and our prayer for them spreads out ‘through G-d in us’
to the world.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or to put it another way: We can pray for the
needs of the <i>Shechinah</i> knowing that our own needs are included <i>de
facto</i> in that prayer. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Secondly,
it generates positivity by allowing us to express gratitude—the attempt to
worship in the midst of pressure is surely ‘acceptable’ on high.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The main thing is to do one’s best and not
fret.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">I can
also recommend another practice for such times of anguished lassitude, when<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>formal prayer is all but impossible: making use of a simple repeated
mantra-like prayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">I often use a string
of wooden worry-beads to assist me in praying in this fashion. The form of the
bead-string does not matter.<a href="file:///C:/Users/nachman/Documents/MITKAREVIM/blog%20post%20PRAYER%20IN%20TIMES%20of%20anxiety.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
They are simply a device to occupy the hands and regulate (or free-up) the time
taken to recite this form of prayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
recite the entire phrase <i>“Ribono shel Olam”<b> <a href="file:///C:/Users/nachman/Documents/MITKAREVIM/blog%20post%20PRAYER%20IN%20TIMES%20of%20anxiety.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a></b></i>
on each of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the small beads with a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>“Baruch Shem kevod malchuto l’olam<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>vaed”</i> <a href="file:///C:/Users/nachman/Documents/MITKAREVIM/blog%20post%20PRAYER%20IN%20TIMES%20of%20anxiety.docx#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
on the larger bead which marks the end<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>of each circuit. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgsgatLhIwJ9EBme0yELk-GHY-DGKGL2Af_Qa-Wu-CktBSP8VyMA1P2QrqYOaYqSvvkwUR-OTavgonwMAnE2aMS6pInKJph8HpulSFJ6O6rhuDQCdrG-OtloNBhrqqGx0OHP3Tn0M1HDlZ7n-6nqIc1nT4x5AUKjz3O0UkymnlVaTSdwB2vQBE=s2946" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1894" data-original-width="2946" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgsgatLhIwJ9EBme0yELk-GHY-DGKGL2Af_Qa-Wu-CktBSP8VyMA1P2QrqYOaYqSvvkwUR-OTavgonwMAnE2aMS6pInKJph8HpulSFJ6O6rhuDQCdrG-OtloNBhrqqGx0OHP3Tn0M1HDlZ7n-6nqIc1nT4x5AUKjz3O0UkymnlVaTSdwB2vQBE=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(my own 42 bead 'tasbih') </td></tr></tbody></table><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have found that it is possible<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to
pray at length<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>using this method no
matter how depressed one is, even in times of personal mourning and grief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often I pray a ‘circuit’ for a specific
intention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are also numerous
occasions when<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have begun to pray in
this mantra-like fashion and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>found, to
my great surprise, that it calmed me sufficiently to enable normal davening or
contemplative<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>dialogue to follow after
all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">At
other times when<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>certain physical
illnesses (such as migraine or ocular disturbances) have made reading
impossible, praying<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the repeated mantra
using these beads has often been the <i>only</i> form of prayer that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was able to manage.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">In
recent years I have expanded this practice by using various other repetitive
mantra like phrases, often taken from the psalms but also from the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>siddur</i> liturgy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such mantra phrases may be<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>chosen at random from a bible or a <i>siddur</i> or
they may be chosen to fit the particular anxious or ‘dark’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>situation the contemplative is experiencing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Sometimes
I have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>used my adapted ‘<i>tasbih</i>’
beads to mark cycles of repetition or simply to relax the body during<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the prayer exercise—usually ascribing a phrase or part of a phrase to each bead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At other times I have preferred to attempt to connect with G-d simply
through the (usually silent) repetition of such mantra-phrases without using a
bead-string....often with gently rocking movements of the head or body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such methods are reminiscent of the Sufi
practice of <i>Dhikr</i>, but then (following the lead of the Maimuni
Jewish-Sufis) I subscribe to the view that those (ostensibly Moslem) Sufi practices are themselves based on
the ‘lost’ or neglected contemplative methods of the biblical Schools of
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prophets.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Here
are some of the mantra-phrases that I have used, given here as examples for
those readers<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>who would<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>like<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>to make use of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jewish-Sufi
method I have described above:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span face=""Segoe UI Symbol",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">🔯</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><b><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">AD-NAI yimloch</span></span></u></b><b><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><u>l’olam va’ed</u></span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif">THE LORD will be King</span></u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><u>for ever and ever</u><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span face=""Segoe UI Symbol",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">🔯</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif">AD-NAI Melech</span></u></b><b><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><u>AD-NAI Malach</u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><b><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">AD-NAI yimloch</span></span></u></b><b><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>l’olam
va’ed</u></span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif">The L-RD<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is King</span></u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>THE
L-RD<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was King</u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif">THE L-RD will be King </span></u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for ever and ever<o:p></o:p></u></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span face=""Segoe UI Symbol",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">🔯</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><b><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Yimloch AD-NAI l’olam </span></span></u></b><b><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>Yimloch AD-NAI l’olam</u></span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif">The L-RD<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>reigns<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>for ever<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The L-RD<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>reigns<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for ever<o:p></o:p></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span face=""Segoe UI Symbol",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">🔯</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif" lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">(<u>Ki
l’olam chasdo</u>)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(<u>Ki l’olam chasdo</u>)</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif">For His<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>love endures forever</span></u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For His<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>love endures forever</u><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span face=""Segoe UI Symbol",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">🔯</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">(<u>Ana Ad-nai</u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>hoshiana</u>)</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif">Please G-d</span></u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>save us!<o:p></o:p></u></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span face=""Segoe UI Symbol",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">🔯</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><b><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Hineini AD-NAI </span></span></u></b><b><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> </span></span><u><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Hineini AD-NAI</span><o:p></o:p></u></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif">I am here LORD</span></u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><u>I am Here LORD<o:p></o:p></u></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span face=""Segoe UI Symbol",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">🔯</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><b><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Daber<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>AD-NAI ,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ki shomea<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>avdecha</span><o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif">Speak , Lord,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your servant is listening<o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span face=""Segoe UI Symbol",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">🔯</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><b><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Avinu<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Malkeinu<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></span></u></b><b><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> </span></span><u><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Avinu<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Malkeinu</span><o:p></o:p></u></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif">Our Father, Our King<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our Father, Our King<o:p></o:p></u></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span face=""Segoe UI Symbol",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">🔯</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><b><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Avinu<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Malkeinu</span></span></u></b><b><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">
</span></span><u><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Choneinu v’aneinu</span><o:p></o:p></u></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif">Our Father, Our King</span></u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be gracious<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>answer us<o:p></o:p></u></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span face=""Segoe UI Symbol",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">🔯</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif">Ein k’El-heinu </span></u></b><b><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ein
k’Ad-neinu </u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><b><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ein k’Malkeinu </span></span></u></b><b><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> </span></span><u><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ein k’Moshienu</span><o:p></o:p></u></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif">None (is) like our G-d,</span></u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><u>None like our Lord,</u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None like our King,</span></u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><u>None like our Saviour<o:p></o:p></u></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span face=""Segoe UI Symbol",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">🔯</span><span lang="ES" style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: ES;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><b><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif" lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">AD-NAI
echad<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>u’Shmo echad</span><o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif">THE LORD is One and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His Name is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One<o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span face=""Segoe UI Symbol",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">🔯</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><b><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Halelu Ad-nai </span></span></u></b><b><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>Halelu Ad-nai </u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>Halelu Ad-nai </u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><u><span style="color: #3d85c6;">l’olam vaed</span><o:p></o:p></u></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif">Praise G-d,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>Praise G-d,</u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Praise G-d</u> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>for
ever and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ever.<o:p></o:p></u></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span face=""Segoe UI Symbol",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">🔯</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><b><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Atah Kadosh<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></u></b><b><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> </span></span><u><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>v’Shimcha Kadosh</span><o:p></o:p></u></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif">You are<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Holy</span></u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>and Your Name is Holy<o:p></o:p></u></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span face=""Segoe UI Symbol",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">🔯</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b>Kol ha-neshama</b></span></span></u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b> </b></span></span><u><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b>HalleluYah</b></span><o:p></o:p></u></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif">All that has breath </span></u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>Praise the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>L-rd.<o:p></o:p></u></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span face=""Segoe UI Symbol",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">🔯</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif">Hu----- El-heinu </span></u></b><b><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Hu----- </span><u>Ad-neinu </u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: center;"><b><u><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hu----- Malkeinu </span></span></u></b><b><span face=""Narkisim",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> </span></span><u><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hu----- Moshienu</span></u></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">They
are formatted to indicate a suggested rhythm, progress through the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>bead chain, or pauses for breath. Sometimes
these repetitions<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>may be synchronised
with paces in a slow walking meditation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They may be recited in English or Hebrew, but (especially in the last example) resonant "m" sounds,strong "l" sounds, and extended aspirational sounds may make the Hebrew versions the preferred ones. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Such a
list could go on for many more pages but it is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>hoped that this brief selection may be sufficient to inspire those
looking<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for some models on which to base
their personal choices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(The <i>Selichot
</i>liturgy, The <i>Hallel</i> recited on festivals, <i>Sefardi Bekashot</i>,
and <i>Sefer Tehillim</i> are perhaps<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>the richest mine for such models). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Their
use is not simply relevant to times of stress or times when fervour is lacking,
for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>they may also become<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a part of ones<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>regular and continuous practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Intuitively, and in that situation, I feel
that it is best to use the same phrase (or perhaps two phrases) over time (say a period of weeks
or more) rather than take the list above<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as some sort of mix-and-match verbose practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The effectiveness of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>repetition seems to be consolidated and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>amplified once it has become<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>habitual, and it seems to me that this<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>takes time and concentration on one ‘mantra’
over time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Of
course it would<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>be possible<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to perform such excercises making specific
use of Divine Names and their variations, and this exalted practice<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is a major feature of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>pietistic devotion in Islamic Sufi, Jewish
Sufi, and Classical Kabbalah meditation)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>but such<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>practices are beyond the
scope of this book. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">oo0oo<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">But if
we <i>are</i> in the midst of a Grey (or Black) Time when our faith is tested to the very limit—<i>all</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>small attempts<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to make contact with G-d count far more than<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>we might<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>believe possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we really <i>are</i> doing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>all that we can in the midst of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>sadness or depression, we may find<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that a certain peace can be found in the
attempt to make even the smallest of devotional practices our prayerful
offering. For those of us living<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>alone
in contemplative<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>solitude, this sets the
scene<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for a return to a state of <i>quies
(a settled mind)</i> that will enable<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>us
to go about our ordinary actions while our subconscious is dealing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with our problems in the background.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sensation is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>one<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of
being connected to the Divine Presence<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>by a delicate thread.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">My
guess is that when<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>one<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is under duress, it is most often wiser to
take small steps than to attempt heroic leaps of faith and perseverance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Domestic cleaning, washing, decorating,
gardening, calligraphy, handicrafts, carpentry, cooking—can all be
contemplative exercises when practised in a state of acceptance that we are ‘working
our problem out’ subconsciously with our mind on G-d and not on our selves.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is
a state of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>devekut</i> in which one can
still be ‘at rest in G-d’ despite being in a Slough of Despond. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">G-d’s activity is
then ‘free’ to get to work on our innards while we are physically
occupied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fight has become less
of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a marital row or stand-off and more
like a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>tussle which becomes transformed
into an embrace.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">It
is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>not the kind of contemplative<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>activity that scales spiritual mountains with
drama and flashing lights, but potentially, it can reach the same summit. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">I remember being
advised once that in order to scale a seemingly impossibly steep mountain path, the knack was to look at
one’s feet and take just one step at a time without allowing despair to set in
at the sight or thought of the arduous way ahead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Poco a poco hace mucho</i> as they
say<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in Spain.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">But what does one do
if ones contemplative<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>anxieties are so
great that none of the above<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>suggestions
offer encouragement?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Then I suggest you
must arouse G-d’s mercy and beg His help by doing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>something like the
following:</span><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_7" o:spid="_x0000_i1025" style="height: 36pt; mso-wrap-style: square; visibility: visible; width: 35.25pt;" type="#_x0000_t75">
<v:imagedata o:title="" src="file:///C:\Users\nachman\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.jpg">
</v:imagedata></v:shape></span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Close your eyes<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Make the slowest and
most profound bow you can manage. Say just one brief<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>personal prayer with every ounce of your love
and dedication—even if you don’t feel it emotionally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps something<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>like this<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Lydian BT"; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">“I’m running away from You
Lord—<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Lydian BT"; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">I am sorry—<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Lydian BT"; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">I don’t want to be like this<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Lydian BT"; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Forgive me and help me to find
You again.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 1in; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 2pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> </span></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Or
simply declare</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">:<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Lydian BT"; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">“May Your Name be Blessed in
All the Worlds.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Lydian BT"; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Please Help me.”</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">I can make no
promises, but I suggest that you will walk in His Presence after doing this and
He will come to meet you during the day in other ways—through events, or
through the Torah spoken by his human messengers along the way.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">If you
find yourself saying “<b><i>I’ll do it later</i></b>”. If you find yourself
thinking “<b><i>I can’t concentrate now</i></b><i>—<b>I’ll pray properly at the
weekend</b></i>”— The chances are you are merely prevaricating and not living
in the honesty of the present moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The chances are that when the weekend comes, you won’t ‘pray properly’
either.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">It is
better to open a channel of communication than to nurse a grievance. Better to
declare that you need His help than to add insult to injury by thinking you are
better off sulking<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>or nursing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>your wounds alone.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">As
always, I am speaking as a fellow sufferer as well as attempting to be a sort
of doctor—both to you and to myself—but my guess is that, if you open such<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a channel of communication, He will be there
for you that evening, or the next day. You may also find <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that time will suddenly have been made for
that ‘proper prayer’ you had been avoiding.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;">Even
the briefest of genuine prayers in distress can have great potency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seeds planted in this way seem to sprout
rapidly without us having to watch out for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The way of evasion just lets the seeds of new
growth blow away in the wind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in the
desert of anxiety they will<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>just wither,
die, and be wasted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So go easy on
yourself on a grey day and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>just do your
best.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That may well<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>be a more acceptable offering Above than the ritual davening or recited prayers that you offer on sunny and sparkling days .<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">From Chapter 11 of <b><i>The
Mitkarevim: Jewish Contemplatives and the Return of</i></b> <b><i>Prophecy</i></b>
<b><i>(2021)</i></b></span> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif;">©Nachman Davies<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif;">Tzfat <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jan 2022<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="FootnoteTextcave" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/nachman/Documents/MITKAREVIM/blog%20post%20PRAYER%20IN%20TIMES%20of%20anxiety.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> <b><i>Berachot 31a</i></b> and <b><i>Eruvin
65a</i></b></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="FootnoteTextcave" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/nachman/Documents/MITKAREVIM/blog%20post%20PRAYER%20IN%20TIMES%20of%20anxiety.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;">R’ Nachman of Breslov: ‘A little is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>also good.’</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/nachman/Documents/MITKAREVIM/blog%20post%20PRAYER%20IN%20TIMES%20of%20anxiety.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> The beads I use myself<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are a home-made<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>string of 42 beads, the number being a
reference to the ‘<i>Ana B’Koach’</i> prayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="FootnoteTextcave" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/nachman/Documents/MITKAREVIM/blog%20post%20PRAYER%20IN%20TIMES%20of%20anxiety.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> ‘Master of All Time and Space / Lord of All
the Worlds’</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="FootnoteTextcave" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/nachman/Documents/MITKAREVIM/blog%20post%20PRAYER%20IN%20TIMES%20of%20anxiety.docx#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"> ‘Blessed be the Name of His Glorious Kingdom
for all eternity’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="FootnoteTextcave" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 8.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-27736917180004642502021-11-29T10:44:00.001+02:002021-11-29T11:18:13.615+02:00Hanukah: Two Trees Light The Lamp<p style="text-align: justify;"> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh0w02m1zBXmTxpd_7WajRFBUtcMY2puaCwfqRpAnOzP9sortWx_WzJ0sR0pub6v4r3hZu_WQ6b1sM4pZmN6-3ByVb71PI2amitutMVai6H6j5gtaRsRV0CQzOpfTYcAwQqwluvg/s992/light+in+darkness2021.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="779" data-original-width="992" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh0w02m1zBXmTxpd_7WajRFBUtcMY2puaCwfqRpAnOzP9sortWx_WzJ0sR0pub6v4r3hZu_WQ6b1sM4pZmN6-3ByVb71PI2amitutMVai6H6j5gtaRsRV0CQzOpfTYcAwQqwluvg/w400-h314/light+in+darkness2021.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">Each year, we
read the Joseph narrative during the Hanukah season. People often comment
that the tale is not so much a story of man’s relationship with G-d as one
which focuses on family relationships. It does not seem to focus on the notion
of “Divine intervention” unless we choose to see it at work through the various
dreams. Thanks to a brilliant commentary on <i>Mikeitz</i> by Nehama Leibowitz I can
see that this is not really the case. She highlighted that perfectly when she
pointed out the emphatic re-iteration in the following verses from <i>Bereshit 41</i>:</span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">In verse
25: “What G-d is about to do he hath declared to Pharaoh”</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">In verse 28: “What G-d is about to do he hath shown to Pharaoh”</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">In verse 32: “and G-d will shortly bring it to pass”.</span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">Similarly, in
the following parshah, <i>Vayigash</i> we read that, though the
brothers had sold Joseph into slavery, Joseph ascribed the real authorship of
this action to G-d when he said:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"></span></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">“G-d has sent
me ahead of you to ensure your survival and to save your lives by a great
deliverance.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">(<i>Bereshit
45:4-7</i>)</span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><i><b>The Two Trees</b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">The extent to
which we should rely on “G-d’s action” and the extent to which we should rely
on “human action” is at the heart of the history of the festival of Hanukah
too.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">In the
festival Haftarah, the menorah vision of Zechariah (<i>Zech.4:3</i>) describes
two trees which flank the candelabrum and which provide the oil. One is taken
to be Zerubabel- a messiah figure for the secular and physical, and the other
is taken to be Joshua - a messiah figure for the priestly and spiritual. They
are two complementary forces seen as separate in methods of action but united
in purpose.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">In the
written history of the festival’s origin, the tale of the Maccabees ended up in
apocryphal documentation and not in the Bible. The first book of Maccabees
focuses on the Rebel/Zealot movement’s victory which was attained by physical
force, while the second book focuses on the ideological cause and martyrdom of
the Pietist movement’s faith in the spiritual or supernatural.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">
Again, we see here two very distinct attitudes sharing a common purpose.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><br /></span></div>
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->
<!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">Perhaps the
Haftarah’s message is not so much that action and prayer are complementary but
that they both need something else, something more, in order to be “in-spired”
- in order to have the “Breath” or “Spirit” of G-d in them - namely an explicit
connection with G-d Himself. Taking that point of view, the text might be read
as:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"></span></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">“Not just by
the might of political action</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">Nor just by the power of spiritual faith</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">But by the spirit of G-d which joins them together</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">in effective and complementary balance.”</span></div></blockquote><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><i><b>The Light of Hanukah</b></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">In the
developing and rather confused history of the festival of Hanukah, it was not
so much the Maccabees’ victory or the Pietists’ martyrdom that was placed
centre-stage: The rabbis of the Talmud (<i>Shabbat 21b</i>) placed the miracle
of the long-lasting oil in that prime position. In doing so they were choosing
the “spiritual and miraculous” emphasis. I think that is also the intended
meaning of the Haftarah quote. Might and Power are predictable yet fallible.
Breath and Spirit, inspiration and revelation, can be wildly unpredictable, but
they can sometimes act as their beacon: a ner tamid which lights the way
forward. It might also be a beacon which warns of a way <i><u>not</u></i> to
be taken—and it can, at times, be a reminder of being ever in the present in
spiritual constancy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">The festival of Hanukah has one sole mitzvah:
to "light the Light of Hanuka". Perhaps this is the core of the festival too: even more significant than the battles of the zealots or the miracle of the oil?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">In some sense, "lighting the Light of Hanukah"</span><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville";"><i>(l'hadlik ner shel Hanuka)</i></span><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville";"> is a "recollection/actuation"
of the Divine Light in our interior Temple: a Light which of its nature will
overflow to all worlds and all we come into contact with. That is perhaps the
true </span><i style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville";">tachlit</i><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville";"> of the festival.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">oo0ooo</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">Despite
Jacob’s vow in <i>Bereshit 28:20</i>, I do not know to what exact extent I should rely on
God to provide for me, I do not know to what extent we should believe that our
prayers have a direct effect on the progress of the cosmos (from assisting our
friend’s struggles in illness, to world politics), I do not know to what extent
we should fight wars to achieve anything believed to be “good”. Despite
choosing to walk a comparatively quietist path, the working out of this
“Maccabean enigma” is a work still very much in progress for me, and no doubt
for you too.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><b><i>Conclusion</i></b></span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">Despite such human uncertainties, I feel
that it is the specific duty of the dedicated Jewish Contemplative-the <i>Mitkarev</i>,
to be the “Joshua”, the “Pietist”, above all else and to declare explicitly
that all is in the hands of heaven. It is also,perhaps, unrealistic for anyone to think that
all Jews be both Joshua and Zerubabel, some specialisation is both inevitable
and beneficial.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">Both trees
feature in the vision that feeds the lamp.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">A
contemplative’s special task is to pray… and if that is done, it is my hope
that “action” will be done:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"></span></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">by G-d as a
“miracle of inspiration”;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">by G-d through “human hands”;</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">and</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">by G-d through the miracles of His Providence.</span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"></span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">As the daily
<i>Modim</i> prayer reminds us, those miracles are not confined to the festival of
Hanukah but are with us at every moment of every day.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">©</span><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">Nachman Davies</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Tzfat,November 29, 2021</b> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(Updated from a previous 2016 article on this website)</span><o:p></o:p></p>Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-44417728578501475632021-10-27T10:56:00.001+03:002023-04-16T17:53:08.705+03:00Contemplative Practice: Praying For Others<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdaqfnsJ6c8oVT9vYEsZacOA_G4OtN4jDYHdZy8UIkWMZXyX2J5UTKVV7W_exo5HFjTr63p1aTFu0ilR04jCwjU6eRRwEg_wwPuFgb81wTfwZp8Kaoz2P31acHmj4koxrbIvIs1A/s1255/ani+tefilah+grafo+2021sm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="1255" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdaqfnsJ6c8oVT9vYEsZacOA_G4OtN4jDYHdZy8UIkWMZXyX2J5UTKVV7W_exo5HFjTr63p1aTFu0ilR04jCwjU6eRRwEg_wwPuFgb81wTfwZp8Kaoz2P31acHmj4koxrbIvIs1A/w400-h189/ani+tefilah+grafo+2021sm.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In Parshah <b><i>Va-etchanan</i></b>
we read: ‘I pleaded with G-d at that time.” (<b><i>Devarim 3:23</i></b>) Moshe
Rabeinu begs G-d to allow him to cross over to the Promised Land. The response
he hears is “No, You have enough. Speak to me no more of this matter” (<b><i>Devarim
3:26</i></b>). This rather distressing moment may teach us many things: that
though we may plead with G-d-we may receive negative replies; that we may not
expect our prayers to be answered in the affirmative if they do not fit in with
whatever plan G-d may be said to have for creation; that negative replies may
actually be there to encourage us to see a positive somewhere else. It is also
the expression of an instinctive and natural urge to acknowledge<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>our dependence on G-d<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and our genuine belief in his omnipotence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our formal liturgy defines an optimum number
of requests (principally in the later blessings of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Shemoneh Esre</i>) and communal worship
presents us with many opportunities for expressing both our needs and our trust that G-d is
listening and responding to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
our contemplative prayer and meditation, and indeed our very contemplative
lifestyles are also potential ways to express and practice compassionate
concern and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>action for others.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">As Jews, we accept that our
petitionary prayer is always conditional upon the will of G-d. We are not
spiritual wizards or cosmic manipulators. When we plead for the welfare of
others we accept that our idea of the best outcome may be mistaken. Sometimes, though
it grates on our soft-heartedness, we have the naivety smashed out of us by the
realisation that G-d also created pain and the things we call ‘evil’ to do His
will, even though the paradoxical balancing of opposites is surely way beyond
our merely human comprehension. Sometimes, out of impudence and sheer
stubbornness, we employ our prayers with the very best of intentions to attempt
to manipulate and force the Hand of a G-d who will not be so manipulated.
Prayer is not magic. If we are sensitive and spiritual people, we
are sure to feel compassionate empathy and sometimes emotional distress
on behalf of those we care about or who request our prayers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the danger present in that
emotional empathy is that we might become swamped in the pain of others
to the point that we become a negative force ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">This can happen
in several ways.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">We may become so sad
that we forget that, often, the prayers of the joyful are truly the <i>most</i> acceptable as they reflect both equanimity and faith.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Or we may think our
emotions are a sort of badge to prove our love of G-d, when in fact
we are just revelling in being important or simply emotionally alive at all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Or we may develop a messiah
complex in which we grow to overestimate the significance of
our personal effectiveness in prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">There are simple remedies:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">We should remember that we
do not need to punish ourselves or weep tears of blood to get G-d's attention—a
simple one line prayer such as that of Moshe Rabeinu for Miryam is
what He asks of us. Doing penance <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>for others</i> is not a feature
of Judaism and even in religions which stress<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>redemptive<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>self sacrifice, there
are those who came to realise that mortifications and self
deprecation can sometimes actually be a perverted form of ego building.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Nevertheless, as caring and
spiritually active humans we hope that we are motivated by compassion, by what
we believe to be the greater good, and by the noble desire to help our
suffering friends in an imperfect world in any way that we can. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moshe Rabbeinu praying for the healing of his
sister Miryam, Avraham Avinu for the citizens of S’dom, and Hannah begging for
a Nazirite son are models of Jewish prayer which we should not be ashamed to
emulate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Our petitionary prayers are
requests to an all-seeing, ever-present G-d. All that happens is, as it were,
known to Him already. But if <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we
contemplative<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jews are to consider ourselves
as being, in some<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>way, a conscious
expression and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>part of G-d’s mind in the
world: our prayers are, in some sense, causal. If that is so we have a duty to
pray <i>for G-d’s intentions</i> above all else. We may not often be able to
identify them, but one thing we can be<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>sure of:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Compassion is <i>imitatio
Deo</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and His Thirteen Divine
Attributres are revealed to us as a model for petitionary prayer and all forms
of acts of kindness. Nor is it coincidental that contemplatives and mystics of
all persuasions have identified Compassion as a prime motivator of common human
spirituality.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">If we are<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>attempting to live<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a life<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>of intimacy and nearness to G-d for its own sake,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we will not be expressing a transient mawkish
sympathy or empathy with others in their misfortune only to forget them and
move on to some other diversion, some other page on the internet, some other
hobby awaiting our rapt attention. We will seek to hold them close to The One<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>who is our central focus in sustained
compassion. The Quakers sometimes call this “holding someone in the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Light”, and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>heard no better
description of what we are attempting to do when<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we “pray for” others, and especially when we
are doing that within the general context of our contemplative<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>worship. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">If we do this we can perhaps
identify with the Psalmist who declares: “But as for me, I am all prayer” (<b><i>Tehilim
109:4</i></b>) and hold that by cleaving to G-d we are praying for the needs of
others and quietly but determinedly doing our bit to increase compassion in our
world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;">oooOooo</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br />
Shortly after writing that commentary, I came across a passage from the <i>Zohar </i>which
sparked off the following little postscript.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The text is a commentary on the verse “And Abraham went down to Egypt” (<b><i>Bereshit
12:10</i></b>) and reads:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“The
verse hints at wisdom and the levels down below, to the depths of which Abraham
descended. He knew them but he did not become attached. He returned to face His
Lord. He was not seduced by them like Adam nor like Noah. He went up and
did not come down. He returned to his domain, the high rung he had grasped
before."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The text speaks of descent
into “lower worlds” and though it is referring primarily to “lesser”
states of awareness and practice (wisdom), it might also apply to the
descent into the sad and distressing world of “empathy and sympathy for
those in pain or profound distress” which we often make during our petitionary
prayers. It seems that the <i>Zohar</i> too is suggesting a way that this can be
something borne on the shoulders of one cleaving to G-d and not something at
the centre or forefront of our consciousness.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br />
There is a sort of feel-good effect to praying for others. This can actually be
“seductive” and distracting. On the other hand it can be a way of proving that
the “reward of a mitzvah is another mitzvah” as it can represent an overflowing
of compassion and a stimulus to further compassion. But the place of a
contemplative is standing before G-d with attention on the Divine Presence.... and the way
to balance both activities (the contemplative and the redemptive) continues to
present me with a knotty problem: </span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif; font-size: 12pt;">We want to serve G-d and be useful to Him, butwe may </span><b style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><i>feel</i></b><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> more
useful if we flap about and jump up and down making a fuss - But it is perhaps
humbler to stand in His Presence and let Him make use of that in any way which
suits Him. </span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif; font-size: 12pt;">This idea finds a paralel in
the idea of praying “for the</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif; font-size: 12pt;">needs of
the Shechinah”, often without specifying any particularly request of our own. That
we may rarely (or never) see or feel the results of our prayer ourselves may
actually be to our advantage in becoming truly generous servants.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet, in seeking to "draw near"
to G-d, we are human <i>keruvim</i> not angelic ones so perhaps I am
being a little too demanding in suggesting we make our requests less
emotionally charged and specific? As contemplatives we are vocationally
predisposed to suffer crises of faith both in our own abilities or mission and
also in our very belief in G-d. Could it not also be argued that we <i>ourselves</i>
might need the accompanying and consoling “seduction” of <i>feeling </i>useful
and <i>feeling </i>that we are sharing our light with others even if
this might make us feel self-satisfied. Perhaps. To a certain degree. An image
comes to mind:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the baking hot
summer I climb up the steep hill which leads from the supermarket to my house
with many kilos of shopping in both hands and in the rucksack which is strapped
to my back. The ascent takes about thirty minutes. I walk deep in prayer. I
never think of the destination— for that would only make the climb seem
endless. I never focus on the difficulty of the weight on my back for that
would cause me to stop moving altogether while I caught my breath and rested my
bones. The days on which the climb passes most rapidly and with least stress
are those when I am most deeply focussed in my prayer. Of course, the awareness
of the weight is always there, but it does not debilitate or weigh me down.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br />
By deepening our focus on G-d we carry the burdens of others more efficiently.
We help those we are praying for best if we lift their pain and grief and
distress from out of <i>our </i>minds and into the realm of Light Itself. Perhaps the
“light” which is then reflected back to them and in which they are "held" is not ours but G-d’s.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif; line-height: 107%;"><br />
<br />
<b><i>©Nachman Davies<br />
Tzfat October 2021</i></b><br /><i>
(originally published here on this website in July 2010)</i></span></p>Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-16390400684794090072021-09-20T16:27:00.002+03:002021-09-20T16:27:42.747+03:00Sukkot: Clouds of His Glory,Shelters of His Peace<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuLixNEk6eQMiKltXoUKVLePA5t6wcCJl0a1iCnuGx3RCTqu0EnOV-Ex2q0sejyy_Y_EwRTNRwOzPMKt6RtnYmoEDdtSzLWfvxJKkZzUddPqYrVh9HBb7IlNrAssJtJxPRVceeDg/s1600-h/Clouds+of+glory+grafo.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="148" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5255976906135272594" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuLixNEk6eQMiKltXoUKVLePA5t6wcCJl0a1iCnuGx3RCTqu0EnOV-Ex2q0sejyy_Y_EwRTNRwOzPMKt6RtnYmoEDdtSzLWfvxJKkZzUddPqYrVh9HBb7IlNrAssJtJxPRVceeDg/s400/Clouds+of+glory+grafo.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" width="400" /></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;">According to the text of Vayikra 23:43,
the commandment to dwell in sukkot (booths/shelters) is observed:</span><span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5pt; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">“In order that future generations will
know that I made the children of Israel live in booths when I brought them out
of the land of Egypt.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 5pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;">In the Exodus narrative itself, these
booths are not mentioned. This gave rise to a Talmudic dispute in which R.Akiva’s
claim (that the festival of Sukkot refers to physical booths built in the
desert) is contested by R. Eliezar, who suggests that the shelter referred to
is none other than that of the “<i>annanei kavod</i>”…the Divine clouds of The
Glory which protected Israel in the desert. (<i>Midrash Sifra 17, Talmud
Bavli, Sukkah 11b</i>).</span><span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;">There is a sense in which both
opinions are correct.</span><span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The hut (sukkah) which is built during
the festival of Sukkot is a reminder of our reliance on Divine Providence and
Protection. For some the emphasis is on the idea that it is <i>we
ourselves </i>who build it-literally by our labour and creativity and
figuratively by our attempt to live according to the Torah. For others it
is a reminder that ultimately we are totally reliant on the Protection of God,
and that He will be gracious to whomsoever He chooses. Both ideas are part
of the liturgy of this festival, and both ideas can be a fruitful source of inspiration for our
meditation,prayers, and other <i>gemilus
chasadim</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvNOoCNajNheeqdvffceUWcj6imd4tsXnSIvr6FcV8oFWWyCTtsPOR4387kNWiPmBaJNhkAL8MKjDwWnA41V3OwtQ0eP4BK0NbEUXF9HvThCF7x9kXNHVdjyYl23ovh8hlsqLZFg/s1600-h/Clouds+of+glory+grafo.jpg"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Though the nature and symbolism
of the Shelter/shelter under which we celebrate generated much creative
argument - one opinion on the festival of Sukkot which was
always universally agreed upon is that Sukkot is the "<i>Season of
our<b> Joy</b></i>". </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Joy which characterises
this season celebrates a “time in the desert” which was no Nature Ramble or
jolly summer-camp vacation. As Rabbi Irving Greenberg wrote in 1988:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">“In the desert, the people of Israel
met their God, ate the bread of heaven, and followed the pillar of fire. In
that same desert, The Amalekites attacked, the water springs were bitter, the
Israelites lusted after meat, the flocks were thirsty.”</span></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
<br />
The Joy of Sukkot is the joy of optimism in all<b><i> </i></b>circumstances-those
we perceive as “good” <i>and</i> those
we perceive as “bad”- and it is the fruit of authentic and expansive gratitude
for <i>whatever</i> we are provided with daily.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqMt5Tkqdu_XmrHcxUFJflCnqkuXJjUTX-h3TqVNeJXEahqaOZqVeXl2lTSjmIULfyPvKDPywsJ4pBRjF90NjaIAV1Q6H71pz8qJsnboN5AVT6JZZXrI4sj7MaDswkqxGQsyABhQ/s1600/jakarta+sukkah+1995+b+small.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="470" data-original-width="759" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqMt5Tkqdu_XmrHcxUFJflCnqkuXJjUTX-h3TqVNeJXEahqaOZqVeXl2lTSjmIULfyPvKDPywsJ4pBRjF90NjaIAV1Q6H71pz8qJsnboN5AVT6JZZXrI4sj7MaDswkqxGQsyABhQ/s400/jakarta+sukkah+1995+b+small.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
<br />
How can we feel joy at ANY time when we are aware that there is so much
poverty, suffering and cruelty in our broken world?</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> The sukkah in the photo
above (one I built when I lived in Indonesia) would be a palace to millions of people in our
world right now and at any time of year. Sometimes G-d’s reality seems to be more cruel than we humans can perceive or even
begin to understand. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
Those fulfilling the commandment to build and dwell in a sukkah during Sukkot are
challenged to cope with the mix of <i>Chesed</i> and <i>Gevurah</i> in
Creation and find ways to make their reliance on the Providence of G-d and their attempt to generate equanimity overflow to all worlds. Even if we begin "small":<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> Sitting in the Sukkah, we are given a
choice: We can moan and grumble when the roof leaks,or we can try to keep
our spirits up and focus on the beauty of the stars we can see through the
hole.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">We can give up the task of re-building when the winds blow the makeshift
walls down or we can be optimistic and remember that all we have is temporary
anyway, and just plod on with hope.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">It
is by reflecting on such common aspects of life in a modern sukkah when we are safe and in
"good" circumstances that we can generate the sort of positive
outlook that stands people in good stead in times of crisis.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
That is all well and good when we are talking about minor domestic difficulties
and personal trials, But what use is this to someone whose entire family has
just died in a flood, or to someone whose REAL house is now a pile of rubble
after an earthquake, or who actually doesnt have a roof over their heads at all? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
Not much.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
Which is why we try to get practical assistance to those who are struggling in
the wake of tsunami, flood, and earthquake.
It is why we do whatever we can daily to heal the mess our species is
creating. It is why we act to alleviate poverty and homelessness in any financial or temporal way
that we possibly can, both in our local environment and “globally”.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The contemplative believes that prayer
has a role to play in this too even though it may not be so readily measured. </span></span><span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif; font-size: large;">Relying on Divine Providence does not mean that we expect magic to be performed
on our behalf. Our prayers for the victims of natural disasters, for those
trying to repair the damage done</span><span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif; font-size: large;">to our
broken planet, and for those politicians,volunteers, and</span><span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif; font-size: large;">caring professionals who work to raise up the</span><span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif; font-size: large;">bodies and</span><span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif; font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif; font-size: large;">souls of the afflicted and persecuted.... are not an attempt to overturn
the laws of nature.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">They are an attempt to generate
positive thought and energy, and to make a plea for inspiration and comfort to
descend into the hearts of those in the midst of difficult times, and to those "In Power" and those with influence to
make positive and compassionate
changes. In this way they are imploring HaShem to make his Compassion "overcome" His Strict Justice. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Perhaps this is a form of “positive
visualisation”, a healing stream of optimism whose beneficial effects we can
only hope for. Some of us claim to have experience of the power and
effectiveness of such prayer, for others it is a form of hope and trust in G-d
whatever the outcome. All of us can surely see the value of the psychological
support effected by solidarity and positive encouragement—and its results can be surprisingly and even dramatically tangible. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
<br />
One thing is certain: a Jewish Contemplative cannot be an escapist.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
Our faith in Divine Providence is not quietism. Our belief that our prayers
make a difference is part of our active community service. Our prayer
is meant to encourage and to generate positive and creative events in
ourselves and in other people. As the Yom Kippur prayer book has
recently reminded us : Our prayer may not “avert the harsh decree” but it can
“transform it”. It may actually give hope to those who have no hope. It
may be one of the ways which the "sukkah of G-d's Presence" is
extended over His wild and broken earth.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">All of this is above national and partisan politics. All of this is above political Governments or leading personalities who we may have made into scapegoats for our our own failings or to bolster up our excapism in the face of genuine anxiety and pain. There is no person who cannot be an agent of G-d's Providence, for all is "in" Him. </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">And it is better to light a candle than
to rant and rave at the dark, </span></span><span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif; font-size: large;">to be grateful for the Sukkah and its apparently flimsy protection. And to try to see its hidden beauty even in a storm.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">May He shelter us all in the Sukkah of
His Peace.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Chag Sukkot Sameach!!</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Nachman Davies<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">10<sup>th</sup> October 2019</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(The photo at the top of this item was taken near my home in Granada Costa, Spain in December 2008)</i></span><br />
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Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-53947213259888002412021-08-07T21:51:00.003+03:002021-08-08T09:44:28.562+03:00ELUL: Hide and Seek for Contemplatives<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSRSfkzqvxjpNNuOP24jzjV7vgAVXN3Lu0I7MZ012KtnCj-VzdtRFBzjW1JLDFvdDeedkkGXjpyGw0Ca2AYR11YmS5XBPGANoSgFUXXEpT94fIcIdWnLUm2nC23lgY4jcf7XOXwA/s1600/I+will+let+you+find+me.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="754" data-original-width="1600" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSRSfkzqvxjpNNuOP24jzjV7vgAVXN3Lu0I7MZ012KtnCj-VzdtRFBzjW1JLDFvdDeedkkGXjpyGw0Ca2AYR11YmS5XBPGANoSgFUXXEpT94fIcIdWnLUm2nC23lgY4jcf7XOXwA/s400/I+will+let+you+find+me.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">"Each year we enter into a period of deep reflection and prayer which begins with the month of Elul.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"> In Aramaic, 'elul' means 'search'. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">A Jewish Contemplative is one who seeks G-d with a special intensity.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">A Jewish Contemplative (a <i>Mitkarev</i>) is someone who seeks to be drawn near to the Divine. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Someone who wishes to be fully engaged in an intimate relationship with G-d.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">That relationship becomes the main activity, motivation, and even occupation of such a person. For a Jewish Contemplative the relationship is lived out through the activities of <i><b>deveykut </b></i>(a conscious attempt to be passionately attentive to the Presence of G-d), <i><b>tefillah</b></i> (liturgical prayer), <i><b>hegyon ha-lev</b></i> (a meditative and prayerful study of sacred texts) and <i><b>hitbodedut/hitbonenut </b></i>(a dialogue of informal prayer ,and receptive contemplation in solitude).</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">When one considers that the 'Object' of the contemplative’s desire is ultimately unknowable, inexplicable, intangible and utterly beyond human description or comprehension, it might well seem rather odd to describe a contemplative life-style as a 'relationship'.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Yet that is how I experience it and it is the way the vast majority of Jewish contemplatives and mystics have experienced it since biblical times. In the Bible, we are told that the G-d of Israel is our Father, our King, our Friend, and even our Betrothed. In the daily experience of prayer that is how it can feel even though we know we are using similes and metaphors to describe the indescribable.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium; line-height: 150%;">
Biblically, G-d is the One who insists that</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium; line-height: 150%;"> “If you seek me with all
your heart I will let you find Me”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> (<i>Yirmeyahu 29:13</i>).</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; line-height: 150%;"><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">
David reminds us:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium; line-height: 150%;"> “If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you
forsake Him, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium; line-height: 150%;">He will reject you forever” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Divrei Hayamim I, 28:9</i>)</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Because of his violence and bloodshed, David was not the one chosen to build the Temple, and he obviously felt that Divine rejection keenly when he uttered those agonisingly bitter words to his son Solomon. In a more positive mood, and on a different day he would surely have focussed on the mercy and forgiveness of his Heavenly Judge. We ourselves can but hope that we will be forgiven our faults, and in that, we have many Divine assurances in Scripture to soften the message of David´s admonition.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Nevertheless, David reminds us, there are many times when G-d hides Himself because of our faults. And the greatest of these is not being there for G-d when He comes looking for us.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">In playing Hide and Seek for Contemplatives, there are times when we simply can’t be bothered looking for G-d, and times when we do not wish to be found ourselves. Times when we push G-d away like spiteful children losing a game, and times when when we try to hide Him in a mental cupboard out of embarrassment or shame. This can sometimes be due to remorse about things we have done or said or thought ourselves. Sometimes it can be because we have chickened-out in a political, social, or theological world in which it is unfashionable to admit that we want to know G-d in an explicitly intimate way.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">G-d sometimes seems very close to us and we rejoice. But even when we feel we are doing our best, there can be a strong sense of His distance or absence.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Sometimes He hides from us in a sort of dance, in a sort of game, in a sort of lesson, in a sort of method we don’t really understand, and sometimes struggle against. It can go on for years like that. The absence of any sensation that G-d might be within hailing distance is a common and recurring state in the life of most full-time contemplatives. This is not punishment, cruelty, or the Divine toying with us like puppets. But it may be a refining test-situation. It may be a positive tool which ultimately helps us to see more of G-d and less of ourselves in the contemplative process. It can remind us that it is G-d Himself that we seek and not the gifts He gives us.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Yes, He will let us find Him...but we cannot make Him stay.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Yes, He will wrestle with us for a time....but at dawn He will be gone.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Yes, we may sense His Presence for a moment....but we cannot dwell in that moment for long and live.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">If we truly experienced the feeling of 'rejection forever' that David spoke of, the chances are that many of us would give up the search to find G-d. This does not mean to say that Mitkarevim always, or even often, feel truly close to Him. For some, there are times when it is a case of believing that the sun is there even when it doesn’t shine. For others there are even times when faith itself disappears.</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">We must also realise that our relationship can be intimate but our attention span is severely limited, and though we may describe the contemplative life as being a relationship, it can never be a relationship between equals."</span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Maybe R' Nachman of Breslov came close to describing the situation we are in. He speaks of a 'Spring' and a 'Heart' which are in love but are separated by space and each located on the summit of a mountain. When the 'Heart' leaves its summit and runs to try to reach the Spring it feels anguish because, in the valley, it can no longer have an uninterrupted view of the Beloved on the opposite summit.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">So the intimacy of their love is expressed in periods of eternal gazing and unfulfilled longing....or in bursts of rushing to achieve a union despite an almost total loss of vision. It is a view which captures the paradox that the contemplative is in a passionate relationship with an immanent G-d, while simultaneously knowing the otherness of G-d and the chasm produced by His transcendence.</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">(Spring and Heart
Illustration </span></i><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">©</span></b><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">N.Davies
1994)</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">The month of Elul leads into the 'Ten Days', a period of confession, self analysis, and charitable giving at the end of which the Jew seeks forgiveness and the union of 'atonement” with G-d on Yom Kippur. Almost without pause, this segues into another festival, that of Sukkot during which we declare our trust in the protecting cloud of G-d’s Presence. <br /> <br /> For many Jews this period is the time of year when they become their most active in both prayer and in self examination. For those who live out the festival calendar with some intensity, there is a sense that one should 'seek G-d while He may be found' with the month of Elul being an annual retreat-time par excellence. For such people the month of Elul and the Ten Days of Awe can be extraordinarily charged and numinous. This can even be the case for contemplatives who have an intense prayer regimen all year round.<br /> <br /> For many Jews, the season provides an uncomfortable (but somehow also welcomed) opportunity to take stock and it gives them a formally sanctioned encouragement to engage in a more intense prayer-life than may be thought appropriate or even possible at other times. <br /><br /> The month of Elul and the Ten Days, are a time when the game of hide and seek is liturgically intensified. In a sense, G-d was/is there all along and we create the liturgy to highlight that.<br /><br /><br /> But the month of Elul and the climax of the introspection that is reached on Yom Kippur can sometimes be a sort of one-off binge which does not truly connect with the time preceding and following it. There is also the risk that our confessions can become rather pathetic exercises in perfectionism unless we remember that we are also confessing in the plural for 'kol Yisrael'.<br /> <br /> The long haul of the penitential period which opens with Elul, and which closes at the end of Yom Kippur can be a cathartic experience, but it is not magic. Neilah is best seen as being a part of a continuing journey rather than as a triumphal destination. A contemplative also knows that time is really an illusion. Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow are simultaneous in G-d: The still point of Musaf Yom Kippur can be like a small flame inside the soul which burns all year round as a memory and a reference point.<br /> <br /> In this way of seeing things, though G-d has concealed Himself, His Presence is not altogether withdrawn but there is a sense in which this kind of hiding is for our own good. We are reminded that Moses saw the back and not the face of G-d and that Elijah covered his face with a mantle: both prophets experiencing the event thus shielded for their own protection. The times in which we are in our own cleft of the rock are rare events, and the obscuring cloud is actually our friend. <br /> <br /> We are given the Penitential/Holiday season as a chance to double up our half-hearted efforts to find G-d. Its message is really that He is more present in the world if we make Him so. But that is also a description of what a Jewish Contemplative is trying to do in every moment and not just once a year, or even once a week. <br /> <br /> Potentially, every moment can be 'the time when He might let us find Him'. Every place is His 'field' if we are actively looking for signs of His Presence. <br /> <br />But it sometimes involves us seeing in the dark. <br /><br /><br />It sometimes involves us standing still in order to see that He is right next to us. <br /> <br /> <br /> It may involve the ability to survive on the manna of hope when faith is all but lost. It certainly involves patience and determination. And in this game of Hide and Seek, whether we are playing it during Elul, during the High Holidays or on a normal weekday- it is the energy and consistency with which we make the search that counts: for we are told we can find Him..... but only if we search with all our heart.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">All of it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">It requires total commitment....</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">...but He is waiting for us and coming towards us as we turn towards Him in teshuvah...</span><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville"; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville"; font-size: medium;">and He has a place in His Heart for us all</span><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville"; font-size: large;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">“For He will
hide me in His Tabernacle on the day of distress,</span></span> </span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">He will
conceal me in the shelter of His tent. </span></span> </span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 150%;">Upon a rock
He will lift me.”</span></span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville"; font-size: x-small;">(<b><i>Tehillim 27:5</i></b>)</span></blockquote>
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</span><b><span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif; font-size: 10pt;">©Nachman Davies</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "aldine401 bt" , serif; font-size: 10pt;">Tzfat 2021</span></b></div>
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<br />Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-32637817551138440402021-07-01T07:51:00.003+03:002022-12-21T15:46:23.393+02:00The Cave of Elijah: Encountering the Divine <h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "EB Garamond"; font-size: large; font-weight: 400;">The Threshold of the Cave of Eliyahu is an image for the place or state in which we encounter the Divine. It bears a profound connection with the Cleft in the Rock in which Moshe Rabbeinu heard the Divine Attributes, and also with the prophetic discourse which he engaged in whilst in the Tent of Meeting. But even more remarkably, we can share all those encounters, to some degree at least, when we stand at the threshold of our own Tent...our own interior Cave.... and realise that by our attention to the still small voice, we can stand with them (as it were) and thus we can prepare the way for the return of Prophecy to Am Yisrael. </span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: EB Garamond;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: EB Garamond;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPJcb-WTQ1Hf6u4HtgbrgXTdB1ODXaRLbmFQBNfFegxuIVXeOi0TvrMIY8MdFDdPhBn4hoeFHQ15G3aZ97hkOhnkiXk8XCfB1CRLrHiD9QCdszXqtCil7RGoNWtg8ij2US2zi59A/s2048/galil+cave+threshold.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1948" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPJcb-WTQ1Hf6u4HtgbrgXTdB1ODXaRLbmFQBNfFegxuIVXeOi0TvrMIY8MdFDdPhBn4hoeFHQ15G3aZ97hkOhnkiXk8XCfB1CRLrHiD9QCdszXqtCil7RGoNWtg8ij2US2zi59A/s320/galil+cave+threshold.jpg" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: EB Garamond;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span></span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: EB Garamond;"></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="direction: rtl; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span lang="HE" style="font-family: UDStamAri; font-size: 16pt;">והיה כבא משה האהלה ירד עמוד הענן ועמד פתח האהל ודבר עם־משה: וראה
כל־העם את־עמוד הענן עמד פתח האהל וקם כל־העם והשתחוו איש פתח אהלו:</span><span lang="HE" style="font-family: UDStamAri;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="direction: rtl; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span lang="HE" style="font-family: UDStamAri;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-size: medium;">“And when Moshe entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and <b>stand at the entrance of the tent</b>, and He would speak with Moses. Whenever all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing <b>at the entrance of the tent</b>, all the people would rise and prostrate themselves, <b>each one at the entrance of his tent</b>.”</span></div><div style="text-align: right;">Shemot 33:9-10</div></span><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> This passage describes a communal liturgy which took place in the period between the destruction of the golden calf and the erection of the Desert Sanctuary. It would seem possible from </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shemot 33:7</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that Moshe Rabbeinu had set up a special ‘Tent of Meeting’ outside the camp specifically for his private contemplative prayer. This tent was guarded by Yehoshua who seems to have been in full-time retreat there (</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shemot 33:11</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) and so it may have had a wider cultic usage. </span></span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-0d3e4d27-7fff-c832-a612-2e9431bcec06"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We read of the liturgy to which I refer in </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shemot 33:8-11</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: As Moshe Rabbeinu leaves the community to speak with G-d in the Tent, he is respectfully observed by all the Israelites who are positioned in prayer at their own tent doors. When Moshe Rabbeinu enters the Tent of Meeting, the Pillar of Cloud descends and takes up a position at the threshold of the Tent of Meeting. At this point the community prostrates in worship while facing the Pillar of Cloud as before, with each one at the door of his own tent.</span></span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[i]</span></span></span></span></span></p><div><br /><div id="edn1">
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</div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I hope that the reader is immediately aware of the important resonances between this biblical passage and the symbolism of the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maarat Ha-Lev</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>,</b> for it is significant that the intimate prayer of Moshe Rabbeinu initiates the appearance of the Cloud at the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">threshold</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of the tent of meeting, and doubly significant that Moshe Rabeinu’s intimate </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hitbodedut</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is mirrored by that of the individual members of the community who share in Moshe Rabeinu’s communion at the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">threshold</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of their own dwellings. The prayer of the People is thus bound to the prayer of the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tzaddik</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. The Divine Presence is being revealed at the various thresholds according to the capacity and specific perception of each individual.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The Presence inside the Tent is simultaneously active (i) in the form of the cloud at the Tent threshold and (ii) as the synchronised communion taking place in the hearts of each Israelite as they prostrate themselves at their own tent doors. Time and space are somehow blurred and fused in this liturgical-contemplative event. Reading this extract gives me an overwhelming vertigo-like sensation of awe at the way the Torah has here decribed the fusion of the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Olamim</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and the communal yet paradoxically <i>individual</i> nature of G-d’s revelation to Israel. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From all of the above, it certainly provides a remarkably good model for Jewish contemplative prayer. It might also, one day, be taken as a model for communal silent </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hitbonenut</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in Jewish eremetic communities or retreat centres. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The significance of the threshold, (the doorway of a tent or the mouth of a cave) is something which links the biblical liturgy with the Theophany to Moshe Rabbeinu in the cleft of the rock; with the Theophany to Eliyahu at the mouth of his cave; and with the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kodesh HaKodoshim</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> declaration of the Divine Name</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">on Yom Kippur. In a sense—these events are all one.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The interior of the Tent of Meeting may be said to represent the ‘realm’ of G-d Himself. The Pillar of Cloud may be said to represent the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shechinah</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, G-d’s Presence as we encounter it. This encounter takes place for us at the point represented by the door of the Tent of Meeting. The door of our own tent—our own interior centre of prayer—is present, in some way, at exactly that same point when we worship.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">Moshe Rabbeinu is said to have spoken with G-d ‘Face to face’ inside the Tent of Meeting. Each of us is encouraged by the possibility of such Human/Divine contact and that is suggested symbolically in the Torah text because there we read that the ordinary Israelite faced in the direction of the Tent of Meeting and followed Moshe Rabbeinu’s lead, thus sharing in the contact despite spiritual and spatial distance.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When we pray as Jewish Contemplatives, we have located ourselves at the threshold of the Tent of Meeting by having oriented ourselves in that same supernatural direction. We are, as it were, standing at the ‘point’ inside the Pillar of Cloud which is the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maarat Ha-Lev</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the Cave of the Heart. We are standing at the threshold of that ‘cave’ looking </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">inward</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Our focus is on a process, an event, an encounter that takes place within our souls. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When you imagine Eliyahu Ha Navi standing at the mouth of the cave listening to the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">kol d’mamah dakah</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (still small voice), do you imagine him standing at the cave’s entrance, looking out at a dramatically expansive panoramic landscape?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> If you do, you are maybe missing a significant detail which makes it quite clear that his attention and vision was actually directed </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">inward</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: The Biblical text tells us that he had wrapped his face in the prophetic mantle. His focus was inward-looking.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">The text in question is a familiar and especially significant one for all Jewish Contemplatives:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">“And after the fire, there came a still small voice. And when Eliyahu heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out, and stood at the mouth of the cave.” </span></span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[ii]</span></span></span></span></span></p><div><br /><div id="edn1">
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</div><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eliyahu had encountered the earthquake,wind and fire </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">within</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the cave of his own mind—and then on hearing the first ‘sound’ of the Voice he moves to the threshold of the spiritual cave of contemplation and faces into it. The cave is now filled with a ‘concentrated’ form of the Divine Presence that has usurped the inner turmoil of the symbolic earthquake, wind, and fire. It is thus an image of the way the contemplative seeks/is inspired to make room for the Divine through </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">bitul ha yesh</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (self-nullification). There is a tradition that Moshe Rabbeinu’s cleft in the rock and Eliyahu’s cave were one and the same.</span></span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[iii]</span></span></span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Their attentive focus, and their revelation experience was internal rather than something they were watching, as it were, on a cosmic cinema screen outside the cave. They were inside the cave of their hearts—and simultaneously, at the core of the Divine Presence. The prophetic mantle of Eliyahu and the Divine Hand which blocked Moshe Rabbeinu’s gaze (in </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shemot 33</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) both underline the introspective nature of the experience.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Significantly, the Gemara in <b> </b></span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Megillah 19b</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> positions both Prophets </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">inside</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the cave at the time of the Divine Revelation:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Had there been left</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> open </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a crack</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> so much as </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the size of a small sewing needle in the cave in which Moses and Elijah stood</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> when God’s glory was revealed to them…</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">they would not have been able to endure it due to the intense light</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that would have entered that crack.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">If you would follow me for a moment into that description in the Gemara, I would like to suggest a possibility, just a possibility, that we are here reading a description of the Presence of G-d as simultaneously filling a space (the interior of the cave), the interior world of the prophetic soul, and (incomprehensible to us) as the One who fills all worlds but is contained by none of them. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">oooOooo</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">Turning now to examine the powerful connection between the Mosaic-Elijan Cave and the Holy of Holies in the Desert Sanctuary and Temple:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Parshat</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pekudei</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">describes a special moment in the dedication of the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mishkan</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> as follows:</span></span></p><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">“So Moshe finished the work. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the Glory of the Lord filled the tent. And Moshe was not able to enter into the tent of meeting, because the Cloud rested there, and the Glory of the Lord filled the tent.” </span></span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[iv]</span></span></span></span></span></p><div><br /><div id="edn1">
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</div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Haftarah</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> reading attached to </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Parshat Pekudei</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> we read of the dedication of the Second Temple in Yerushalayim:</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="vertical-align: super;"> </span></span></span></p><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">“And it came to pass, when the priests had come out of the Holy Place, that the Cloud filled the House of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the Cloud: for the Glory of the Lord filled the House of the Lord.” </span></span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[v]</span></span></span></span></span></p><div><br /><div id="edn1">
</div>
</div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was immediately struck by the way that the ‘descent’ of the Divine Presence in the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mishkan</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Beit HaMikdash</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> caused such an overwhelming sense of </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yirah</span></span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[vi]</span><i> </i></span></b></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in Moshe Rabeinu, Shlomo HaMelech</span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[vii]</span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">,</span><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and their attendants that they had to flee the enclosure. Perhaps this is exactly what made Eliyahu HaNavi move to the ‘threshold’ of the cave. Was the encounter almost too intense to be bearable? </span></p><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The descriptive terms ‘Cloud’ (</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Anan</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) and ‘Glory’ (</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">K’vod)</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> used in the two scriptural texts just quoted are terms relating to G-d’s Presence. In making the following comments about the Elijan experience, I will refer to both using the term ‘</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Presence</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">’ for a moment, as I try to demonstrate how my thoughts developed:</span></span></p><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> At the start of each of three narratives</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(i) Moshe Rabbeinu and his team had just completed the construction and ritual dedication ceremonies of the </span><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mishkan</span><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">;</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(ii)Shlomo HaMelech’s team had just completed the construction and dedication of the </span><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Beit HaMikdash</span><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in Jerusalem;</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; text-indent: 11.35pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">(iii)Eliyahu had been seeking G-d desperately in the activity of earthquake, wind and fire but had neither found G-d nor made G-d a dwelling place.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Then:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(i) </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Presence</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> descends upon the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mishkan</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in the form of a cloud and totally fills it;</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(ii) </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Presence</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> descends upon the Temple of Shlomo HaMelech in the form of a cloud and totally fills it;</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(iii) </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Presence</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> fills the cave (or Eliyahu’s mind) in the form of a Voice.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We might observe that the reactions of the human participants in each narrative are very similar: (i) Moshe Rabbeinu cannot enter the Tent any more as </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Presence</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is overpowering; (ii)Shlomo HaMelech’s priests cannot remain in the Temple Sanctuary as </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Presence</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is overpowering; (iii) Eliyahu HaNavi cannot bear the power of The </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Presence</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> inside the cave and he does two things, he covers his face and he moves to get out of the cave fast.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In each of these three narratives, the human protagonists are now standing at the threshold of the ‘Place where </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Presence</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is’. In all three cases they are facing </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Presence</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> but unable to be ‘in it’. Yet being at the threshold they are susceptible to its radiation outwards, so in some sense they are in an intimate relationship with it.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Immediately after the quoted verse, Shlomo Ha Melech says: </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The Lord has said that He would dwell in the thick darkness”</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[viii]</span> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Temple priests see nothing but an impenetrable cloud (</span><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; font-size: large; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Arafel</span><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">). Moshe Rabbeinu has already ‘seen’ more than anyone before or since, yet even he is aware that the particular extended revelation he (and all Israel) is experiencing is beyond his power to bear at close proximity.</span></p><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And Eliyahu? He has </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">seen</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">nothing, yet he covers his face with his mantle. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Presence</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is heard and not seen. Similarly, when Moshe Rabeinu stands in the cleft of the rock, the Hand of G-d blocks his sight.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Presence</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is <b><i><u>heard</u></i></b></span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><i> .</i></b></span></span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[ix]</span><br /></span></span></span></span></p><div><div id="edn1">
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</div><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Moshe and Eliyahu have each covered their eyes because they are in a state of Divinely infused contemplation. They are ‘seeing the sounds’ of Sinai.</span></span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[x]</span></span></span></span></span></p><div><br /></div><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">oooOooo</span></span></div><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">I would like to comment on the content of the vocal revelation to Eliyahu: </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">The Voice which Eliyahu heard came with a persistent question,</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: UDStamAri;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">מה־לך פה אליהו</span></span><span style="font-family: UDStamAri; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><b>What are you doing here,Eliyahu?</b></span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[xi]</span></span></span></span></span></p><div><br /><div id="edn1">
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</div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">According to my perspective, this is not a reprimand questioning his retreat from zealous activity and social engagement. Far from it. The </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">mah l’cha po?</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> question of the Voice of Horeb can be regarded as a reprimand to a man avoiding a call to a more contemplative lifestyle.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">Eliyahu HaNavi, the fiery prophet of Carmel was without doubt a model fundamentalist zealot. Like many other prophets he was an aggressive defendant of his own G-d and his massacre of the prophets of Baal on Carmel stands as one of the most brutal incidents of slaughter in the Bible.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Haftarah Pinchas</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> we read how Eliyahu had challenged the prophets of Baal to a duel. Each had to prepare an altar and an offering to their deity and the team whose offering burst into flames would be declared the winner. At Mount Carmel, Eliyahu’s prayer was dramatically answered by fire and he concluded his display by slaughtering everyone of the false prophets. Zealotry certainly. Eliyahu flees for his life from Yezevel, who was far from impressed with this outcome, and within moments of his triumph Eliyahu slumps into suicidal depression.</span></span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT",serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[xii]</span></span></span></span></span></p><div><!--[if !supportEndnotes]-->
</div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: red; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fortunately he was refreshed by the shade of a tree, water and freshly baked angel’s cake.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">Thus rested and fortified Eliyahu went on to Mount Horeb (Sinai). There Eliyahu enters a Cave where The Voice confronts him with the question we are considering.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Most Jewish commentators on the place of this question in the Eliyahu story seem to read it with the inflection: “What on earth are you doing </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, hiding away and wasting your time meditating when you should be up and doing?” </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I read it as: “What on earth are you </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">doing </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here, fretting and dwelling on the past, being self-congratulatory one minute then focusing on your failings and anxieties the next. You are spending your time here in self observation when what you should be doing is listening to My Voice. This Cave is a place of meeting. A place of mission not escape.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">Let me explain where my perspective comes from—I would suggest that Eliyahu’s answer is both apologetic and panic-ridden, and that it reflects a truth he wishes to avoid.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Paraphrasing his tripartite reply in </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I Melachim 19</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, here is Eliyahu’s evasive response: </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; white-space: pre-wrap;">(i) I have been very zealous for You;</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; white-space: pre-wrap;">(ii) I am the only loyal Israelite left, the others are unfaithful;</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; text-indent: 11.35pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">(iii) I came here because they were trying to kill me for what I did.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; text-indent: 15.1333px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>One might identify those responses as representing: </b> </span></i></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; text-indent: 11.35pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">(i) his over compensation for insecurity in melodramatic action;</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; text-indent: 11.35pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">(ii) his delusions of self-importance masking those insecurities;</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; text-indent: 11.35pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">(iii) his fundamental paranoia.</span><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; text-indent: 11.35pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></p><p style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Voice is not satisfied with this answer and responds by replying with three symbolic events or experiences which are called </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wind, Earthquake, and Fire</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. To my understanding these are the embodiment of the self-focussed psychological issues which Eliyahu had been pondering inside the cave (of his mind), and they might be unpacked as: the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wind</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of futile activity to mask a lack of understanding or facing up to facts; the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Earthquake</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of destructive or negative speech and actions which do not create anything; and the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fire</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of violent and uncontrolled extremism. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">In each case the biblical text tells us that G-d was not in any of these. At this point the question “What are you doing here, Eliyahu?” is repeated.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I would like to suggest that the Voice which questions Eliyahu in </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I Melachim 19: 9</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is not </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">quite</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the same Voice that he encounters in </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Melachim 19: 12 </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">even though its descriptive text is identical.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first time Eliyahu hears the question, he is listening to the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dvar HaShem</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Word of G-d)</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> as it begins to enter his troubled mind. It is the classic voice of conscience that he is struggling with. It is predominantly a function of his own mental ruminations. The second time he hears the question it is described as coming from the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kol d’mamah dakah</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(still small voice)</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. These two voices share the same Divine source but they are as distinctly nuanced as the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Presence over the Ark</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pillar of Cloud at the threshold</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> were in the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mishkan</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span></p><h2 style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kol d’mamah dakah</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is the infused revelation of the Divine Voice which is capable of overpowering all the human obstacles we might care to place in its path (however surreptitiously) whenever it comes too close us with its burning Truth. </span></span></span></h2><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eliyahu’s shocking but understandable reaction to the approach of the Vocal Presence of the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kol d’mamah dakah</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is to blather his flustered three-part answer a second time and (in my reading) he thus fails the test—he is dismissed from the cave of meeting, from the mountain of contemplative intimacy, from his prophetic post—and shortly afterwards, in verse 19, he is retired and passes on his prophetic mantle to Elisha.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif; font-size: 14.6667px; text-indent: 15.1333px;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[xiii]</span></span><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; font-size: large; text-indent: 11.35pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I believe the voice of his conscience was telling him that (specifically for him) the way of peace and a life of contemplation were superior to the bustling activism of his political career. I am not saying here that ‘contemplative lives’ are superior </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">per se</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—only that Eliyahu was, I believe, called to a more contemplative and peaceable lifestyle than the one he had followed.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">In the biblical narrative, Eliyahu did not die but was taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">Eliyahu the warrior prophet, the zealot fundamentalist, hears a fragile but insistent voice: not in earthquake,wind, or fire—but in silent retreat. The violence of his ‘first’ life is burnt out in the chariot’s ascent. He becomes an archetype. As a result of this purifying closing chapter to his earthly life, Eliyahu HaNavi becomes the father of all contemplatives who seek the revelation he only experienced as his life was coming to a close.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the biblical tradition, long after his passing he is described as being the herald of the messiah</span></span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif; font-size: 14.6667px; text-indent: 15.1333px;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[xiv]</span></span><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and is described, somewhat mysteriously, as being the one who will “turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to the fathers”</span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif; font-size: 14.6667px; text-indent: 15.1333px;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[xv]</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Perhaps the</span><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; font-size: large; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> fathers</span><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> referred to are an overly inflexible tradition and the </span><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; font-size: large; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">children</span><span style="font-family: "Source Serif Pro"; font-size: large; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 11.35pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> are its permissible development and flowering. Perhaps the text is speaking of the balance and compromises which both types of Jew will need to make as the stabilising authority of one needs to be respected just as much as the envigorating new-growth of the other.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">According to traditional legend in his ‘second’ archetypal life he has become Eliyahu the Comforter and Eliyahu the Peacemaker. In that post-biblical legendary tradition he appears as the one who rescues the Jewish community, as one who tests the charity and forbearance of Jews by appearing as a needy beggar or an often tiresome and puzzling old man; and he attends every circumcision to comfort and effect healing. Interestingly, the Midrash states that he attends every circumcision as a kind of reparative penance because he claimed to be so zealous and had criticised Israel for not being meticulous in observing the covenant of the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">brit</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT", serif; font-size: 14.6667px; text-indent: 15.1333px;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[xvi]</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;">In a very special sense, Eliyahu is the father of all Jewish Contemplatives. We are, as it were, the Descendants of Eliyahu the childless. I would suggest that what he realised too late in the cave is a task we develop and perhaps even embody ourselves today.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Perhaps when we stand at the mouth of the cave which is the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maarat Ha-lev, </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to some</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> we may appear to have turned our back to the world, but that is only appearance. Priests and levites faced the Sanctuary but that is not to say they were turning their backs on society. They were facing the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aron HaKodesh</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(Ark) </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">because their vocational focus was entirely on G-d. In maintaining this focus they simultaneously bore the needs and the prayer intentions of the nation on their shoulders in an attempt to offer a prayer of atonement and healing.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As children of Eliyahu, we cover our eyes with Eliyahu’s mantle. You can take that literally and regard yourself as one who hopes to receive a portion of his contemplative spirit as did Elisha. Or you can take it more generally as meaning that when you stand before G-d in prayer, you are demonstrating or declaring the same awe as Eliyahu did. You can take it practically and imitate both his gesture </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and </span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> his intention when you pray under your tallit. Beneath that mantle, with our eyes closed, we stand in prayer ‘facing’ </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Presence</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Though our perception of </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Presence</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is always filtered by an almost impenetrable cloud, we too can still hope to see G-d’s Voice.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Like Eliyahu,we too can allow ourselves to be waylaid by distractions, self-obesession, or anxieties and may fail to hear what the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">still small voice</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is really demanding of us. We should not fail that test of the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Earthquake, Wind, and Fire.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 11.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Source Serif Pro; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Dedicated Jewish Contemplative, the <i>Mitkarev</i>, may </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">appear</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to be facing away from other people in solitude, but in the very next moment our inner vision can turn as we begin to see through G-d’s eyes, back into our own world. At this point spatial or geographical direction is actually irrelevant: As we are at the threshold of the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mishkan</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the threshold of the core of the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Beit HaMikdash</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the threshold of the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maarat Ha-Lev</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> : we are enveloped in the outpouring radiance of the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shechinah</span><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and we ourselves can become a point of its entry into the world. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: EB Garamond;"><br /></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><b>© Nachman Davies</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><b>Tzfat June 2021</b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><b>NOTES</b></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[i]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
To a certain extent and despite the disagreement amongst poskim, this liturgical format
was also reflected in the
“porch minyanim” in use during
the global coronavirus
outbreak that began in 2020.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[ii]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span> <i>I
Melachim 19:12<o:p></o:p></i></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[iii]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span> In <i>Pesachim 54a</i> we read that one of the ‘<i>ten things
that were created on Erev Shabbat at
twilight’ </i>was<i> ‘the cave in which
Moshe and Eliyahu stood.’</i> <i><o:p></o:p></i></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[iv]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span> <i>Shemot
40:33-35</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class="FootnoteTextcave" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[v]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <i>I Melachim 8:10<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[vi]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
being in fearful awe of the Divine<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[vii]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
King Solomon (builder of the Second
Temple)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[viii]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span> <i>I
Melachim 8:12<o:p></o:p></i></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[ix]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
(in the verbal proclamation of the Divine Attributes)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[x]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span> <i>Vayikra
20:14</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[xi]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span> <i>I
Melachim 19:9, </i>and again in <i> I Melachim 19:13 <o:p></o:p></i></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[xii]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span><i>
I Melachim 19:4</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[xiii]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
A similarly consecutive forced retirement/appointment of a successor after a
failed test seems to have occurred to
Moshe Rabbeinu in <i>Devarim 3:27<o:p></o:p></i></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[xiv]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span> <i>Malachi
3:23<o:p></o:p></i></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[xv]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span> <i>Malachi
3:24<o:p></o:p></i></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-language: HE; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">[xvi]</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
In <i>Shir HaShirim Rabbah 1:6. </i>See
also<i> Zohar 1:93a<b><o:p></o:p></b></i></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">(This essay is from Chapter Three of "The Cave of the Heart"</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> and based on an earlier essay from 2007)</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Thanks are cordially made to <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/?home" target="_blank"><b>SEFARIA</b> </a>for enabling citation links on this website.</p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Aldine401 BT"; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 26px; overflow: hidden; width: 210px;"><br /></span></span></div>Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37433753.post-55997374209071832082021-05-12T16:09:00.003+03:002022-06-03T11:34:12.918+03:00The Torah of the Heart - (Shavuot 2021)<p> We have posted an essay with this title in previous years at Shavuot time, but this version is a new and greatly expanded edition taken from the (still unpublished) book <i>"The Mitkarevim: Jewish Contemplatives and the Return of Prophecy"</i> .</p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="direction: rtl; line-height: normal; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6GqiMF2iDe5sNmXZKmSzIU9AIjiPKJFYcDzhOyH6SSh1u1UmHTEL-6FwNEMlnAbTt1z3kOJfYPoPTwK63ZOuOg0WYf5UrOMV2XbqtLqdg39bHNoX4UjTqMXog0E3VeTr1jX2FlQ/s600/chagal+rabbi.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="465" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6GqiMF2iDe5sNmXZKmSzIU9AIjiPKJFYcDzhOyH6SSh1u1UmHTEL-6FwNEMlnAbTt1z3kOJfYPoPTwK63ZOuOg0WYf5UrOMV2XbqtLqdg39bHNoX4UjTqMXog0E3VeTr1jX2FlQ/w310-h400/chagal+rabbi.jpg" width="310" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none; unicode-bidi: embed;"></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="direction: rtl; line-height: normal; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span lang="HE" style="font-family: UDStam;">ושמתם את</span><span lang="HE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">־</span><span lang="HE" style="font-family: UDStam;">דברי אלה</span><span dir="LTR" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher; font-size: x-large;"><span lang="HE" style="font-family: UDStam;">על</span><span lang="HE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">־</span><span lang="HE" style="font-family: UDStam;">לבבכם ועל</span><span lang="HE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">־</span><span lang="HE" style="font-family: UDStam;">נפשכם</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">“Therefore you shall lay up these words</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Philosopher;">in your heart and in your soul.” <a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#">[1]</a></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">The <i><b>heart</b></i> is our intuitive intellect. The <b><i>soul</i></b> is our very life-force. The Torah of the Heart is eternally given and when we receive it intentionally, it produces a connecting link between our intellect and our life-force. Our tangible experiences and our spiritual perceptions are thus bound up with our essential soul root, and from there, bound up with our G-d.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">When we open up this channel we deepen our relationship with the Supernal Torah, because our obedience to the commands of the Torah would be incomplete if love and true internalisation were absent.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">G-d speaks to all of us through the <b><i>Torah She-bi’chtav</i></b> <i>(Written Torah)</i> and the <b><i>Torah She-ba’al Peh</i></b> <i>(Oral Torah).</i> He also speaks to us in our own prayers and in our own private study and meditation. When we read the scriptures with pauses for meditation or when we meditate in silent prayer, we are hoping to access the Torah of the Heart.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">We know how and when we are called to action as a nation and as individuals through the words of the written and oral Torah—but we each receive that Torah according to our own abilities and character, and for this reason we also need to receive and digest those ‘words’ <i>personally</i> in the Cave of the Heart, alone with our G-d.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Speaking of the text of the Torah, R’ Avraham Joshua Heschel writes:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><span style="text-align: left;">“In the hands of many peoples it becomes a book; in the life of Israel it remained a voice,a Torah within the heart. (Isaiah 51:7)” </span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[2]</a></span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">The <b><i>Zohar </i></b> is forcefully explicit:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">“The stories of the Torah are its outer garments and whoever looks upon those garments as being the Torah itself, woe to that man...Referring to this, David said, Open my eye that I may behold wondrous things out of your Torah <i>(Tehillim 119:18)</i>, for that which is under the garments is the real Torah.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville";"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span>The commandments of the Torah are called the “body” of the Torah... The fools of the world look on nothing save the garment... The wise, who worship the Most High King, those who stood at Mount Sinai, look only at the soul, It is the true Torah. In the world-to-come, they will look at the soul of the soul of the Torah.” </span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#">[3]</a></div></span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></blockquote></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><span style="text-align: left;"> The <b><i>Zohar</i></b> also tells us that each one of souls of <i>Kehal Yisrael</i> has “their own letter” in the Torah.</span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[4]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> Interestingly, the <b><i>Talmud Yerushalmi</i></b> posits that this refers to letters in the primordial Torah written in black and white fire. </span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[5]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> The Arizal concurs with this view and adds that by contemplative activity one can actually access the way one’s soul root is linked to that letter/spiritual particle in the Supernal Torah in order to set up a channel of blessing on all worlds. </span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[6]</a></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><span style="text-align: left;">The Baal Shem Tov suggests that the Torah can be fractally or microcosmically presented,</span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[7]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> and many sources emphasise that the Torah we see is not the whole story.</span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[8]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> In <i><b>Kedushat Levi</b></i>, Rebbe Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev reminds us that:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><span style="text-align: left;">“In fact, the entire Torah is G-d’s name.It originally contained combinations of letters and secret mysteries that ‘no eye has uncovered’ (<b><i>Yoav 28:7</i></b>). In its descent to our lowly world, the Torah must become clothed in a material garment.” </span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[9]</a></span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><span style="text-align: left;">The Kotzker Rebbe </span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[10]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> tells us that the words of the <i>Sh'ma</i> are “laid on the surface of the heart” so that they may sink into those hearts which are truly receptive later on:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><span style="text-align: left;">“<b><i>And these words which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart.”</i></b> The verse does not say: “in thy heart.” For there are times when the heart is shut. But the words lie upon the heart, and when the heart opens in holy hours, they sink deep down into it.</span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[11]</a></span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">This implies that the ‘words’ are only received when they are reflected upon and internalised personally—we may observe the letter of the Law, but we have not received it until we go beyond that letter to access its soul. This is done most especially in silent contemplative prayer.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><span style="text-align: left;">I am reminded of a parallel example of this pre-condition for authenticity in the tale of the Baal Shem Tov’s encounter with the righteous and learned R' Dov Baer of Mezeritch. After asking the latter to recite holy words of Torah, the Baal Shem Tov declared Dov Baer’s recitation to be “correct” but without “true knowledge” because there was “no soul” in what he knew. </span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[12]</a></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"> I can remember when reel to reel tape-recorders and cassette players were a miraculous novelty. I can remember the invention of the internet and the shock of realising (so comparatively recently) that we have wireless and satellite infotech connections of such power and speed that the entire <i>Tanach, Talmud Bavli, Zohar and Shulchan Aruch</i> can be transferred onto disk drive or pen drive and printed or viewed in any synagogue or home with sufficient resources to possess the equipment with which to open and view the files.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Only a few years ago, our world did not have the wonderful treasury of <i><b><a href="http://Sefaria.org">Sefaria.org</a></b></i>, an ever growing (and free) online resource of Torah texts for all. These developments in human knowledge and capability have thus attained that which previous generations had thought to be impossible or mere fantasy.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"> We can watch and listen in amazement as many centuries of Torah commentary and study are transferred from PC to PC, from personal email to personal email, and from smartphone to pen drive—in seconds. And by the time you read this most of those miraculous inventions will almost certainly be superseded. Even as I write, there are forms of bio-implanted data that are being developed and perfected, and I suspect it will be years rather than decades before they are commonplace human accessories.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><span style="text-align: left;"> Living in such an era, the traditional Jewish concepts concerning the transmission and the receiving of the Torah do not seem at all fanciful. Living in these times, we can easily comprehend the possibility that Moshe Rabbeinu may have received the ‘entire’ Torah in several intense download instalments,</span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[13]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> and credibly— in less than a second. How much of this may have reached his conscious awareness, or how much of it he would have understood personally at the time of the revelation is, I think, another matter.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><span style="text-align: left;"> I have no difficulty in imagining the truth concealed in the tale that we each knew that same Torah in the womb—and that an angel tapped us at birth so that we should forget its Light in order to spend all our lives looking for it.</span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[14]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> I also have no difficulty in considering that it is possible that, in one moment, our G-d can infuse our brain or soul with his pure word in a way that is currently beyond our comprehension—But not beyond our receptive capability, and not beyond our experience.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><span style="text-align: left;">The Sfas Emes </span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[15]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> writes:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><span style="text-align: left;">The essence of the Torah is G-d’s pure light shining to us through its Hebrew letters. They are spread throughout the universe, and the Jewish people are assigned to find them. </span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[16]</a></span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"> We all stood at Sinai. We all heard the Voice. The Words of the Living God have been laid upon our hearts, and they are a form of data which our intuitive hearts can access.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"> The data which forms the ‘daat’ I am referring to here is a bit like having the <i>Talmud</i> and the <i>Tanach</i> on our soul’s hard drive. Some of that data has been opened and viewed, but much of it may lie unopened in the background. There may be thousands of ‘words’ we have yet to read, or yet to understand—but they are there—and we can choose to ‘click on them’ to open their ‘folders’ if we want to.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"> One might even say that just knowing that they are there inside us is an act of spiritual knowledge even though we may not realise it on an explicitly conscious level. The Torah which we had seen and known in the womb (and before) was not erased. It remains in our soul’s storage system for us to discover anew—letter by letter, word by word, line by line.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"> We may be the type of people who need to discuss our lives with G-d frequently as though He were at our side. We may be the type of people who prefer to use the texts of prayers written by other people when we want to get closer to Him. We may be the kind of people who prefer to discuss His Words in the company of other humans. Or we may be the kind of people who can’t bear to do much of any of these activities, yet find we meet Him most intimately in acts of compassion and charity, in the ordinary events of an apparently secular life. All of these can be the way one hears and reads the Torah of the Heart.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">But for the Contemplative?</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Well, we are those who need, more than anything, simply to turn the receiver on and let G-d broadcast to us. We may not hear what He is saying in a way that is clear, but we can sense that, by being thoroughly attentive, we are doing what we were created to do. Standing or sitting or walking in contemplative prayer; praying the liturgy; performing ritual mitzvot—in our small way, we are attempting to both <b><i>study</i></b> and <i><b>practice</b></i> the Torah of the Heart.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: justify;"> R’ Avraham ben HaRambam distinguishes three levels of Torah study: the reflective,the meditative,and the contemplative, and he suggests that the contemplative way is the one followed by an 'Intimate Servant of G-d' who finds “bliss in his Maker as His sublime lights enter him” as he begins to perceive the “profound bonds with G-d that are generated by the intellect and the Torah”. <span style="color: #2b00fe;">[17]</span></div></span><br /><div><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"> When we lay <i>tefillin</i> and bind the written texts of the Torah on our <i>head</i> and <i>arm</i> we make a highly symbolic statement to underline this process:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><span style="text-align: left;">“Therefore you shall lay up these words in your heart and in your soul and you shall bind them for a sign on your hand and as frontlets before your eyes.” </span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[17]</a></span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"> When we lay <i>tefillin</i>, the Pure Words of the Supernal Torah are transmuted, laid-up, and stored in the file-system of our heart and soul. The ritual is like a daily program update that renews and refreshes our communication with our G-d. Perhaps as ‘signs’, <i>tefillin</i> can speak to us more clearly than words. Perhaps these signs are closer to the Pure Words of G-d Himself than we realise. Perhaps they are laid-up (stored) in our heart and soul because it is only there—beyond the limitations of our intellect— that we can hold <i><b>all</b></i> of His Torah.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">The Torah of the Heart is the medium whereby the Supernal Torah is revealed to the individual soul. The task of the contemplative is to make this explicit by intentionally running to receive it daily.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"> What I have suggested in <b><i><a href="https://jewishcontemplatives.blogspot.com/2021/02/kuntres-maarat-ha-lev.html" target="_blank">Kuntres Maarat Ha-Lev</a></i></b> is extremely simple: During private prayer, ask G-d to speak to you and then wait in humble silence to let Him respond. It is possible that you may only be able to hold your attention on listening out for Him to ‘speak’ for a minute or so before you lose concentration. But it is also possible (sometimes after years of making this effort) that you may find yourself standing there waiting for many minutes— or even hours— and cannot account for the time passing. But believe me, the Voice of Sinai is calling still—if only we would listen. Our effort to do so may often seem to fail but we are commanded in the <i>Sh’ma </i>we recite daily to at least try. And try again.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">In the Ethics of the Fathers <b><i>(Pirkei Avot 6:2)</i></b> we are told that everyday a voice goes out from Sinai admonishing the Jewish people to return to Torah. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">In the <b><i>Zohar</i></b> we read:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><span style="text-align: left;">"The acts of G-d are eternal and continue for ever. Every day the one who is worthy receives the Torah standing at Sinai. He hears the Torah from the mouth of the Lord as Israel did….Every Jew is able to attain that level, the level of standing at Sinai." </span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[18]</a></span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">And the midrash in <b><i>Shemot Rabbah 5:9</i></b> confirms this by pointing out that all members of the Community of Israel heard the Voice of Sinai “according to each individual’s capabilities and strengths”. This kind of <i>inspired listening</i> is potentially attainable every day.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">ooOoo</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"> Prayer and study are so closely interrelated in Judaism that it is often almost impossible to separate or distinguish one from the other. The most common forms of Jewish study are done during the congregational reading from the Sefer Torah, in pairs over a study text with a <i>chavruta </i>(partner) or by listening en masse to <i>shiur</i> (lecture by a sage). These days they are also enacted as group discussions in shared video conferences online. In such situations also, there is plenty of scope for accessing the Torah of the Heart.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"> There is a dual process of access to the Supernal Torah through study, and it seems to me that it is referred to in <b><i>Devarim 30:12-13</i></b>:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;">“It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?”</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville";">Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?”</span><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></blockquote><span style="font-family: "Libre Baskerville";"><b>No, it is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart</b>, to observe it.”</span><br /></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><br /></span></span></div></blockquote></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"> What one hears at a <i>shiur </i>and what one reads and discusses with a <i>chavruta</i> is, as it were, brought down from heaven by the act of study and discussion (mouth) and personal meditation/reflection (heart). Though the study sessions may initiate and develop direct contact with the Divine, the student may only grasp the full significance of such study texts after solitary reflection after the event.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><span style="text-align: left;"> It is, however, especially pertinent to Jewish Contemplatives to be aware that <b><i>solitary</i></b> study </span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[19]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> also has its own respected history in Jewish tradition. This kind of activity has been practiced in isolated circumstances by countless scholars, mystics, and kabbalists who have sequestered themselves with Holy Texts in attics and hermitages (for hours, days, and even years), and by those <i>talmidim chachamim</i> who have arisen during the night to spend the quiet hours alone in prayerful reflective study. </span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[20]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> Significantly such intense solitary study has been practiced by both Chasidic and Litvish scholars.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">I call this kind of study-prayer “<b><i>Hegyon Ha-Lev</i></b>”—Meditations of the Heart.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"> For those Mitkarevim (Dedicated Jewish Contemplatives) who might wish to develop a practice of such <i>lectio divina</i> —I would like to present the following highly informal step-by-step guide which was originally prepared for our online community in 2010. There are many Jews who may never have tried such meditative reading, and this simple guide may be of especial use to them. Something they might build on with their own ideas:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: large;"><b>HEGYON HA-LEV</b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="124" data-original-width="371" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdfWF2dIhTAgiXPYOc4QOeTOBUyWm0uq-27Mav_Ket9BKaG26AqdPRovEj2gd9ObgB4beocIKil_dukurQRoVHRj-Yojhwh2MOQAaIdk4PuIVJ1jQVkk1jzGnV-EpyIBu-stOU2g/w400-h134/hegyon+halev+header.jpg" width="400" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">All Jews are commanded to listen to G-d’s Voice.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Each individual according to their own ability and each in their own way.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">A Dedicated Jewish Contemplative might attempt to fulfil this commandment specifically by listening to G-d in silent receptive contemplative prayer and through private meditative Torah study. We call such prayerful study/studious prayer “<i>Hegyon ha-Lev</i>”.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><b>So how do we do it?</b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><b>ONE</b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><b><i>Take a psalm a day as part of your quiet time/mental prayer.</i></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">1. Make a short prayer of intention to listen/be attentive to its meanings and significance.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">2. Read it silently and slowly.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">3. Leaving a pause (perhaps after each sentence or pair of sentences),close your eyes and let the words sink in.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">4. There is no need to be slavish about this—just read on if you wish, pausing only when you feel like it.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">5. If a particular phrase jumps out at you—stay in reflection on that phrase with your eyes closed for as long as you like.</span></span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Maybe you might choose to do this with several Psalms per day. Three seems a good number to me. That was something I did one year as the basis for a regular mental prayer session of around an hour, and the rhythm seemed right. It goes without saying that the aim is to put you in a position where item 5 may happen and there will be times when a single verse will be enough to do that. Be free and just go with the flow of that.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">We should not expect G-d to speak to us like the telephone, (though He can) but I guarantee that you will be amazed at the directness and appropriateness of those phrases which jump out during such meditation sessions to enable you to hear His Voice personally.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><b>TWO</b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><b><i>Once a week take the Torah or Haftarah portion and read a section meditatively</i></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">1. Make a prayer of intention to listen attentively</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">2. Read the portion (or part of it) very slowly.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">3. Do not be distracted by the commentaries of others—simply read the words themselves slowly.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">4. Whenever you feel something has jumped out for your attention, close your eyes and dwell on it in prayer.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">5. Resist the temptation to analyse too much—just let the words sink in.</span></span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"> My guess is that, some weeks, you will suddenly see something which you had not realised or understood or even noticed before. Later you can check the verse which was revealed to you with commentaries and you may well be amazed to see that someone has had exactly that same ‘new insight’ you thought you alone had been given. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Because it came to you directly and not through the study of another person’s thoughts—to find that your idea was the one Maimonides or Nachmanides had also heard is not a disappointment. It is the ‘voice of approval’ I wrote of in <b><i>Kuntres Maarat Ha Lev</i></b>, the voice which confirms that you are on the right ‘prophetic’ track.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><b>THREE</b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">The above two suggested methods are the most suitable for use during prayer because they are prayer. There is another way of performing <i>Hegyon ha-Lev</i> where the focussed intention is to train <b><i>heart </i></b>and <b><i>mind</i></b> (intuition and intellect) to work together even more closely, and this is the method I use(d) each week to produce the set of texts for our private community <i>Hegyon ha Lev</i> articles.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">1. Take the two readings for the week and a book of the Psalms.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">2. Make an intention to listen to the readings with an open heart and mind.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">3. Read through the entire weekly <i>Torah</i> and <i>Haftarah</i> portions slowly without using commentaries.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">4. On a piece of paper or in a special book ,each time a phrase or verse ‘jumps out’ as being significant to you personally in ANY way (especially if you don’t really know why!) write it down.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">5. When you have done that open the book of Psalms <b><i>at random</i></b>.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">6. Perhaps say the prayer “If there is anything you would like to tell me, please do.”</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">7. See which verse has arisen (after finger was randomly pointed at it) and write it down.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">8. Then look <b><i>deeply</i></b> at the page you have written and see if there are any links between texts. Sometimes the psalm text will unite a <i>Torah</i> text with a <i>Haftarah</i> text with stunning results.</span></span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">There will be times when you will be shown connections as though you were <b>“as one who is awakened from sleep”</b> <i>(Zech 4:1)</i>. There will be times when you will see that the separate texts are actually speaking of the same topic, as though they were <b>“a stone with seven facets” </b><i>(Zech 3:9)</i>, and in more times than you will be able to count you will be shown things that may help illuminate your path like the menorah which sheds its light <b>on us</b> not just on the Sanctuary (<i>Bemidbar 8:2</i>).</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">In the end it will be part of the process which I believe we are incarnating—that contemplative prayer is action and that we are declaring the message “<b>Not by Might or Power but by God’s Spirit</b>” (<i>Zech 4:6</i>)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: justify;">(I am aware that this third example may not be attractive to some Jews who prefer more scientific or cooly academic methods of study. But I am recommending it from years of positive experience. If it seems too bizarre or outlandish for you, just ignore it and move on. But try it first. You may be surprised.)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><b>Question: </b>Why should we practice <i>Hegyon ha-Lev</i>?</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><span style="text-align: left;"><b>Answer:</b> Because we want to <i>train ourselves</i> to listen to the Torah of the Heart and we want to make that a service of prayer and heed the words of the Berditchever when he reminded us that such spiritual action creates “a new sustenance” that “flows into all the universes, a sustenance that did not exist previously.”</span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[21]</a></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">The practice of <i>Hegyon ha-Lev</i> is a training discipline which complements our mental prayer and enriches our formal Torah studies</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">Our Biblical Prophets were those who <b><i>heard </i></b>and <i><b>spoke</b></i> the Word of God— We are “neither Prophets nor Sons of the Prophets” but we seek to develop a climate of inspired awareness and attentiveness in our prayer lives</span></span><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">. That climate is a necessary precondition for the promised return of prophecy to our nation</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">.</span></div><p class="CAVEQUOTES"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">All of us need to enter an interior ‘School of the Prophets’ (as it were), for it is there, in <i>Hegyon ha-Lev</i> that we may learn to think and speak with our intuitive minds—our hearts— as well as with our rational brains.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">ooOoo</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">The Sfas Emes tells us:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><span style="text-align: left;">“There are two blessings for the Torah, one before and one after reading it. The first is to connect the Torah to its roots in heaven, and the second is to connect it to our inner heart of hearts.” </span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[22]</a></span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">The Supernal and Eternal Torah whose nature we are unable ever to grasp, the Torah which was the Heavenly blueprint of Creation, and the Torah which was given at Sinai and which puts forth branches and flowers anew every day are all present in the heart of every individual Jew. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;">We just need to spend time with it and open our ears to its voice.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><b>©Nachman Davies</b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><b><i>Rosh Chodesh Sivan</i></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><b><i>Tzfat 2021</i></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;">-----------------------------</div><div style="text-align: justify;">NOTES</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[1]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> <b><i>Devarim 11:18</i></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[2]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> Abraham Joshua Heschel in <i><b>A Philosophy of Judaism</b></i> p275; (Farrar Straus and Giroux,New York,1955)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[3]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> <b><i>Zohar 3:152a</i></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[4]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> <b><i>Zohar Chadash</i></b>, Shir HaShirim 74d</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[5]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> <i><b>Talmud Yerushalmi</b></i>, Shekalim 6:1, Midrash Tanchuma (Bereshit 1)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[6]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> This idea is expounded at length by the Shelah (R' Isaiah Horowitz 1555-1630) in <b><i>Shnei Luchos HaBris</i></b>.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[7]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> Ben Poras Yosef 23b states that the entire Torah is included in every single word. Other sources cite the Baal Shem as saying that the entire Torah is present in a single one of its letters.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[8]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> Notably <b><i>Tikkunei Zohar 21b</i></b>. R' Chaim Vital (1543-1620) conceptualises the facets of the Torah as “PaRDeS” (pshat-remez-drush-sod).</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[9]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> In <b><i>Kedushas Levi</i></b>: Parashas Beshallach. The idea is also to be found in the Zohar at <b><i>Zohar II:87a</i></b>, and <b><i>III:98b</i></b> as well as in the <b>Ramban’s “Introduction” to his Torah Commentary</b>.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[10]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> R' Menachem Mendel of Kotzk (1787-1859)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[11]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> ‘<b><i>Tales of the Hasidim</i></b>’ vol 2, Martin Buber, trans. Olga Marx, page 278, ( Schocken Books Inc,New York, 1949)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[12]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> See ‘<b><i>Tales of the Hasidim</i></b>’ vol 1, Martin Buber, trans. Olga Marx, page 99, (Schocken Books Inc, New York, 1949)</span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[13]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> <b><i>Gittin 60a-b. </i></b>see also <i><b>Berachot 21b</b></i></span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[14]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> In the <i><b>Midrash Nidda 30b</b></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[15]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> R' Yehuda Aryeh Leib Alter of Ger (1847-1905)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[16]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> Translated by Moshe A.Braun in ‘<b><i>The Sfas Emes</i></b>’, page 70 (Jason Aronson inc, Northvale, 1998)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><br /></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><span style="text-align: left;">[17]</span><span style="text-align: left;"> ‘<i><b>Sefer HaMaspik</b></i>’ Chapter 1, Rav.Avraham ben HaRambam, trans R' Yaakov Wincelberg in ‘<i><b>The Guide to Serving G-d</b></i>’ page 13,( Feldheim,Jerusalem/New York,2008)</span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[18]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> <i><b>Devarim 11:18</b></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[19]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> <i><b>Zohar 1:90a</b></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[20]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> <i><b>Pirkei Avot 3:2</b></i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[21]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> See <i><b>Zohar III 12b </b></i>and <b><i>13a</i></b>;</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><span style="text-align: left;"><b><i>Zohar II 19b</i></b>;</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><span style="text-align: left;"><i><b>Reshit Chochmah</b></i> (Gate of Love Chapter 3); Rules of Mystical Piety (in L.Fine '<i><b>Safed Spirituality'</b></i>, Paulist Press 1984,New Jersey. especially pages 34 and 68)</span></span></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[22]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> <i><b>The Chassidic Masters</b></i>, R'Aryeh Kaplan, page 73 (Moznaim Publishing Corporation,New York/Jerusalem, 1984)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#"><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"></span></a><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville;"><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/#" style="text-align: left;">[23]</a><span style="text-align: left;"> <b><i>The Sfas Emes</i></b>, Moshe A.Braun,page 89. (Jason Aronson inc. 1998,Nort</span></span><span style="font-family: Libre Baskerville; text-align: left;">hvale,New Jersey)</span></div><p></p><div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><div id="edn22" style="mso-element: endnote;"><p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p></o:p></p>
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</div>Jewish Hermithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12412802565282360700noreply@blogger.com