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March

At this writing, Louise is in Bodhgaya India, meditating under the Buddha’s tree “on behalf of all of us,” she tells me.

Many of us have thought about meditation or yoga as a means of quieting down, centering ourselves, and allowing ourselves to be present in the moment. But most of us can’t find the time to do anything like that in our frenetic, uncontrollable and meshuggah lives.

We often associate meditation with Eastern religion. Most of us don’t realize, however, that we also have a tradition within Judaism. Judaism, in fact, developed an important system of meditation in the Middle Ages, and Jewish mystical masters were in active dialogue with Sufi masters and aware of Indian traditions. This tradition has been revived in recent years by such writers as Aryeh Kaplan whose books Meditation and the Bible, Meditation and the Kabbalah, and Jewish Meditation have become modern classics. An important technique involves meditation on a verse or a word – known by the mystics of Safed in the 16th century as gerushin. Perhaps the word used most frequently for this purpose is the Tetragrammaton: the Hebrew letters yod, heh, vav, heh – the word we pronounce as “Adonai.”

Jim Levinson, Sh'liach Tzibur, and Rachel Prabhakar, BAJC President
 

There is another Jewish tradition, requiring no instruction at all, which we could do any time we wish to get centered and become present in the moment. This is the tradition of the Jewish bruchas or blessings which we can offer even while proceeding with the activities of the day. These blessings, in fact, give thanks for the wondrous things we experience daily but almost always take for granted. By offering the blessings, we become genuinely conscious and appreciative of these gifts in our life, and we are able to be present in the moment – a double benefit.

I’d be glad to share with any of you these blessings – recitable in Hebrew or in English – which we can keep in a pocket and pull out as the occasions arise during a day. There are blessings not simply for food and drink but also for smelling herbs or plants or fruits or fragrant oils, and for seeing wonders of nature: lightning, shooting stars, deserts, mountains, a sunrise, a sunset. There are blessings for hearing thunder, for seeing a rainbow, for seeing trees blossom, for seeing the ocean, for seeing creatures of striking beauty, for meeting knowledgeable persons, for hearing good news, even for hearing bad news, for wearing new clothes for the first time, and for traveling.

Imagine what our lives would be like if we were able to be fully appreciative of these gifts provided to us daily and to be fully present in the moment, rather than spending so much of our time flitting around in the past or the future!

I find it instructive to reflect on the fact that when we’re tourists (and want to make sure to get our money’s worth from the tour package) we do look, notice and observe. Our antennae are very high. We also are attentive when we are reunited with loved ones after a lengthy absence. We notice everything about these persons, from their speech, to the length of their hair, to their clothing, and whether they’ve gained or lost weight. But then the antennae usually drop, our attentiveness begins to fade, and our minds are back to yesterday’s annoyance or tomorrow’s busy schedule.

If, however, we can remain more present in the moment and fully appreciative of the gifts which surround us, we will experience rare joys; it will color our lives with some darker shades but also some brilliant hues. And it will all be first hand – a premier performance, if you will, of God’s creation.

B’Shalom, Jim