Parashat Toldot: Genesis 25:19- 28:9

Middah for the month of Kislev: Gratitude

This week is the new moon – Rosh Hodesh – of Kislev, a month in which both the Hebrew and secular calendars converge in calling us to gratitude.

The holiday of Thanksgiving, this year on the 9th day of Kislev at the time of the waxing moon, overtly asks us to pause, share a festive meal with family and friends, and consciously acknowledge our appreciation of the natural world for its sustenance. On this Hag HaHodayah, the day of giving thanks, we recognize our indebtedness to the Source of All.

Then, on the 25th of Kislev, with the waning moon, the holydays of Hanukah arrive, a time of gratefulness for the miraculous, a time of consciously bringing more light into our world. The daily blessing for gratitude – Birkat Hoda-ah recited thrice daily in the Amidah, is expanded to explicitly express thankfulness for past wonders, and implicitly to acknowledge the ongoing miracles in our lives.

Two levels of gratitude: for the ordinary and for the extraordinary. Both are especially recalled during Kislev: Thanksgiving Day rituals emphasize honor for our natural world; Hanukah memorializes the miraculous order of Existence. Both are essential to a sense of grateful awe.

With blessing for generosity and wisdom of heart as we deepen our communal practice of gratitude,

Rabbi SaraLeya

30 Heshvan 5770 Read the rest

Parashat Hayei Sara — Genesis 23:1-25:18

Middah for the Month of Heshvan: Equanimity

“V’Avraham zakein, ba bayamim, va-Adonai beirakh et Avraham bakol – and Abraham was old, advanced in days, and Hashem blessed Abraham with all.” (B’reisheit 24:1)

The late Slonimer Rebbe, in his opus, Netivot Shalom, reminds us that each day uniquely illuminates a specific spark, showing us a tiny piece of what we must accomplish during our lifetime. Each day is a special creation, unique unto itself. Each day has its own integrity. When we bring intentionality to our living of every day, the sparks coalesce to create a vessel that receives Divine love and bounty, enabling us to share this richness with the world.

We hope, then, to receive the blessing of Abraham in this parasha – to be blessed with all that we need for our purpose to be fulfilled. As we advance in days and years, we pray for the strength and integrity to be present to life’s vicissitudes with equanimity. In this way, we can, b’ezrat Hashem (with Heaven’s help), each become a source of blessing to our world.

Rabbi SaraLeya
23 Heshvan 5770 Read the rest

Parashat Vayera∙ Genesis 18:1-22:24

Parashat Vayera∙ Genesis 18:1-22:24

Middah for the Month of Heshvan: Equanimity

At the start of Parashat Vayera, Abraham is sitting in the opening of his tent, in the heat of the day: “YHVH appeared to him….and [Abraham]…lifted up his eyes and saw 3 men standing before him”. (B’reisheit 18:1-5).

Presumably Abraham is resting, recovering from the pain of his circumcision at age 99, and from the miraculous recent events including new names for himself and his wife, the news that 90 year old Sarah will birth a son, the promise of a covenantal relationship throughout the generations, and that Yishmael, his first son, will also become the father of a great nation. [Incidentally, later, v 18:19 – we receive the first hint that our covenant with Divinity will involve walking the spiritual path and of righteousness and justice.]

How does one maintain equanimity in the midst of the turmoil of such events? The mystical tradition teaches that Abraham is sitting in deep meditation. Through meditation, we experience an opening into worlds not otherwise accessible. As we continually re-focus our awareness on the present moment – yeshuv ha-da’at, the return to consciousness (a Hebrew translation of equanimity as we have discussed previously) – we experience the connection with Consciousness. As our verse teaches us, by sitting in the opening, Infinity can be manifest to us.

Of course, then, when we open our eyes, the verse continues, we see each other and our world, reaffirming our knowing – da’at – that it is through the manifest world we know and experience Infinity. And this knowing leads to actions of hesed, of loving-kindness.

The blessing of this practice is that the ability to re-center and re-connect with the godplace within, will, over time, bring less reactivity and more equanimity to our moment-to-moment interactions.

Writing from Jerusalem,

Rabbi SaraLeya

14 Heshvan 5770 Read the rest