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