A NEW RELIGION - Wisdom/Truths

Various Masters

9/22/2019

102.

Various Masters

B'rakhot of Request

Knowledge

The Hasidic master Isaac Meir of Gur taught: Of all the b'rakhot of request, only this one begins with “You” rather than with the verb expressing the request. We thus begin the prayers of request by creating a space, a space that is open to a mysterious You, a space that acknowledges our own lack of understanding, which makes us realize that we have to seek understanding.

In the name of Baal Shem Tov it is said: What is knowledge? It is the constant awareness that God dwells within you.

Yehudah ArYer Lev of Gur

What is the understanding for which we pray? It is a prayer for empathy: an understanding of the other.

Based on Elijah De Vidas

What is wisdom? It is the increasing knowledge of the world, for the more you know of the world the more you will come to love God.

Based on Maimonides

Repentance

Every day a voice goes out from the Temple Mount: Return, O My wayward children!

Based on The Midrash

Forgiveness

In asking for forgiveness, we first of all address God as parent, that is as creator, for what we seek is to return to your true being, our origin, to be who we truly need to be. This is the meaning of t'shuvah, return.

Redemption

God is called Redeemer, in the present tense, for redemption is always present.

Jacob Emden

Holy Quiet

9/22/2019

101.

Holy Quiet

Quietly you utter
the word “quiet”
and already you have
marred
the quiet.

I was in a holy quiet
only once.

Once--
Once I had an orchard--
apples, pears, cherries,
plums,
and at the fringes, by themselves fences,
raspberries, gooseberries,
currants,
and all kinds of flowers.

Summer dusk. Alone in my
orchard.
A moment, an eternity,
the owl held back its
poo-hoo,
the cuckoo forgot its
cuckoo---
a wild berry by the path in
the weeds
fixed in its gaze.
And I--
quiet multiplied by
quiet--
did not interrupt my quiet
prayer
with even a quiver
when the Shekhinah
kissed a leaf down from a
pear tree,
carried it away,
and let it fall onto themselves
brook
at the orchard's edge.

Malka Heifetz Tussman

(translated by Marcia Falk)

The Renewal of Friendship

9/22/2019

100.

The Renewal of Friendship

The new moon is a signal of renewal.

Maremar and Mar Zutra, two of the greatest sages of their age, would hug each other while reciting the blessing of the new moon, thus renewing their friendship.

Babylonian Talmud

The Canopy of Peace: the Sukkah of Peace

8/25/2019

99.

The Canopy of Peace, the Sukkah of Peace

Peace comes to us in the recognition that when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable, when we recognize that we cannot control everything, redemption can be achieved. The central image in this prayer is the “sukkah of peace.: The sukkah is a fragile structure, open to the elements. Peace is pictured not as a temple, solidly built, gulded, perhaps ornate, but rather as created out of the most fragmentary of materials, leaving us vulnerable and at risk.

Shalom

8/25/2019

98.

Shalom

A man growing old is going
down the dark stairs.
He has been speaking of the
Soul...
Of dreams
burnt in the bone.

He looks up
to the friends who lean
out of light and wine
over the well of stairs.
They ask his pardon
for the dark they can't help.

“It's alright,” answers
the man going down.
“It's alright ---there are many
avenues, many corridors of
the soul
that are dark also.
Shalom.”

Denise Levertov

Exiles

8/25/2019

97.

Exiles

A Hasidic master taught: When we bring into the light the parts of ourselves that we have let languish, that is the ingathering of the exiles.

Healing

8/4/2019

96.

Healing

Heal the people I know
and heal the people whom
I don't know. Heal those
who have helped me in the
past and heal those who
have harmed me. Heal
those I love and heal those
with whom I am angry.

Elijah De Vidas

Sages

8/4/2019

95.

Sages

Who are the sages? They are the people who teach children.

The Righteous

8/4/2019

94.

The Righteous

In speaking of the reward for the righteous, the Hebrew uses the word 'tov,' meaning “good” (translated here as “truly”). At the end of the creation story in Genesis, we are told that God saw all that was created and it was good (tov). The reward of the righteous is that they will have eyes that see the good as God did.

Justice

8/4/2019

93,

Justice

A world of true justice is a world in which God's love is sovereign.

Siddur