Several years ago I was serving
as a scholar in residence at a synagogue in Wayland, MA, a suburb of
Boston. While the standard fare for such weekends are lecture/presentations,
I always make the offer to lead all or part of a Shabbat service using
some experimental modalities of prayer that I have created over the
years, many of which I have piloted at Adat Shalom congregational retreats.
Often, my rabbinic host will take me up on the offer.
So it was that I was leading
a family service on Friday night when I led the congregation through
a meditative sh’ma. The comment made after the exercise by
an 8-year old boy was so remarkable, that it serves as the keynote to
a Kol Nidre sermon more than 10 years later. The meditative technique
should not be unknown to Adat Shalom members as Cantor Rachel will utilize
this same technique periodically and no prayer lends itself as well
to it as the sh’ma. In order to appreciate the comment, we are first
going to experience the exercise: (Instead of lecture/lab, we
will do the lab first and then comes the lecture. BTW-you can try this
at home. No need for a prayer book, batteries or clergy!)
3 breaths…SHMA……
(allow 15 seconds for quiet when finished).
What was the experience like for you?
If the room and crowd were
not so large I would do what I usually do at this point after the prayer
exercise. I would invite sharing. Among the things that people have
shared is:
Undoubtedly there were some
of you who might not have connected to the experience at all. You either
chose not to participate or tried it without deriving anything from
it. Three of you thought this was just a way for Rabbi Sid to provide
some filler for a sermon that was too short.
By show of hands—raise a
hand if you found the meditative Shma to be a valuable experience. My
guess is, if I changed one word in my question, we’d get a lot fewer
hands. By show of hands, how many found the meditative Shma to be a
“spiritual experience”. What that tells me is that we have
not done a very good job at conveying the meaning of “spiritual”
and how we might bring more of a spiritual quality into our lives.
Which brings me back to my
8-year old friend in Wayland, MA about ten years ago. We did the meditative
Shma, not unlike the way we just did it here. I took some comments,
offered primarily by people who were deeply moved by the experience.
I then saw the young man raise his hand and I was quick to call on him.
He offered the following: “I imagined that I was an antenna, sending
signals out to God and being able to receive signals back from God in
a way others might not be able to receive.” The young man saw himself
as a human God antenna.
The Soul’s Longing
I thought about what it means
to be a “God antenna” recently when reading Arthur Green’s new
book, Radical Judaism. Deeply influenced by the teachings of
the Hasidic masters, Green reminds us that within each of us is a “soul”,
not a physical piece of our anatomy but a spiritual piece of our consciousness.
The soul is that aspect of our being that never separated from the Divine
Source, a source that many call God.
Now comes the really cool
part. The Hebrew word for Soul is neshama. The very same word
in Hebrew can also be translated as
“breath”. So every breath we take connects us to the Source of the
Universe, the Cosmic One, to God. The line from the liturgy that
is written on the beam above our Ark at Adat Shalom says: kol haneshama
tehallel yah, “with every breath, I offer blessing to God”.
But another way to interpret that line is “the soul that is part of
my consciousness is the part of me that celebrates and yearns to connect
to the greater oneness of the cosmos”.
Now keeping that in mind, there
are several ways that I could describe what happened when we did the
meditative Sh’ma together. I can say that we breathed in unison, as
part of reciting the key Jewish affirmation about God. I can also say
that we “souled” in unison, each of us using our God antennae to
connect with a transcendent reality that is the Source of Life. Finally
I could say that we engaged in the most intimate spiritual expression
that the Hasidic masters called devekut, attaching ourselves
to God, in the company of 1,000 other human beings. (You should therefore
not give a second thought to inviting anyone in this room out for a
cup of coffee and conversation or for a Shabbat dinner at your home.
You have already shared something far more intimate.)
Spiritual Technology
There is a teaching in the
Talmud that says: lo hamidrash ha-ikar eleh hamaaseh: “as important
as the teaching is, it is the application that is essential”. So what
is the application to what we experienced together with the meditative
shma and the way I have now framed it?
Every religion comes with a
certain technology. I am not talking about laptops. I am using the
term “technology” with another one of its meanings: a method or
practice used to achieve an objective. Shaking hands is a relationship
technology. It is a practice we engage in to meet another person and
possibly initiate a conversation with that person. That is the objective
of that particular technology.
Prayer is the oldest form
of spiritual technology. It is designed to connect the pray-er
(that be you) with God. The meditative
shma that we did is a slightly upgraded version of that same
technology. In fact, all religious ritual is a form of spiritual technology.
I use the word technology because
it helps us realize that ritual is not an end in itself. It has an objective.
Many Jews are quick to label rituals as “empty” and abandon those
very rituals when, in fact, the problem is not with the ritual but with
the person trying to engage with the ritual. Any technology in the hands
of a person who lacks familiarity with the technology’s design and
purpose, is useless. Think of giving an I-Pod to a caveman (or maybe
to me!). If the caveman couldn’t figure out a way to use the I-Pod
to make a fire or kill a bear, he would throw it away. The caveman’s
primary life objectives do not match what the I-Pod’s technology is
designed to do.
Most modern Jews are as
ill-equipped to make wise use of Jewish ritual technologies as the caveman
with the I-Pod. And yet, many of those same Jews hunger to find some
larger meaning in their lives. We try to be loving spouses, good parents,
dutiful children, loyal friends, resourceful professionals and responsible
members of our communities. In each of those endeavors we fall short,
not because we are bad people but because we are fallible human beings.
Yom Kippur reminds us of those fallibilities, quite specifically in
fact, and tells us that we are capable of doing better. And there are
spiritual technologies that can help us in each of the realms of life
that most matter to us.
I was at the cleaners recently
and overheard the following brief exchange: two men in their 60’s
arrived at about the same time. They knew each other but it had been
a while. Both men were on their way to work so they were not going to
give the encounter more than 30 seconds. “How are things?” said
the first man. “Oh, I’m still trying to figure it all out”, replied
the second man. “Welcome to the club” said the first, as he took
his newly starched shirts and headed off to face another day.
The “club” they were both
part of is the human family. And the “it” that they were trying
to figure out was how to see past all of the things they had to do each
day so as to make their lives more meaningful. I suspect that many of
us are members of the same club.
Let me share two brief anecdotes
that might shed some light on what my unidentified friends at the Cleaners
had yet to figure out. I spend many early mornings at the JCC working
out and one of the most beloved members there, who I often see, is Herman
Siegel. Herman always has twinkle in his eye and a smile on his lips.
You just look at the guy and take an immediate liking to him. He is
also in great shape, all the more remarkable because he just turned
100. Just a few weeks ago Herman hosted a small bagel and coffee breakfast
in the JCC lobby in honor of his birthday. My wife, Sandy, who was also
there at the time, went up to him and asked him for the secret to his
longevity and positive disposition. Without hesitation he had an answer:
never hold a grudge. Not bad advice. Even if it doesn’t guarantee
that we will live to 100, it might make us much happier people.
A second example comes from
Richard Carlson’s book: Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. He notes
how often our mind takes an event, a comment or a set of circumstances
and jumps to the worst possible conclusion. We conjure up from these
random and perhaps, innocent moments an elaborate soap opera in which
we are, inevitably, the victim. All of these events are perceived as
something intended to make us look bad or foolish or wrong. We turn
the actors in this drama into demons. Sometimes the demons turn out
to be our spouses or close friends. Carlson observes simply: “turn
the melodrama into a mellow-drama”. In other words, mellow out. Realize
how often we work ourselves up into a frenzy for no reason and, as a
result, have difficulty enjoying our lives and the people in it.
Both Herman Siegel and Richard
Carlson are offering examples of what it might look like to live with
a tuned-up “God antenna”.
The God Antenna Workshop
If someone came to you and
said that they had ten specific practices which, if you did them regularly
and with full mindfulness, would help you lead a richer and more fulfilled
life, you probably would pay a lot of money and find the time for the
6-month course. Well, surprise! Judaism offers an array of ritual technologies
that do just that. There happen to be more than 10 in fact, (which
I am willing to throw in for no extra charge). Each has the ability
to elevate us above the routine of our daily and weekly tasks to gain
a glimpse of something sublime and transcendent all around us. Each
comes equipped with a God antenna to help you do what my 8-year old
Wayland friend suggested was possible.
I want to offer here three
examples. If you find them helpful, you may want to sign up for my God
Antenna Workshop which I will be offering at Adat Shalom this winter.
After each example, I will pause. Instead of your mind assessing whether
my example was interesting, I want you to consider what it would look
like if you actually adopted the practice I am suggesting.
Aleph: Imagine if once a week, you found a place of great natural beauty. It could be a local park, a hill overlooking a few miles of terrain or your backyard. Think about the incredible intricacy and interdependence of the natural world. Stand silently as you consider how trees grow, flowers bloom, birds sing their melodies and how water nourishes all. Think about creation as an incredible gift from God and consider your place in that design. Now consider what changes you will make in your life to be more fully aligned with the energy that this experience generated in you.
Baruch ata adonay, eloheinu
melech ha-olam oseh maasey b’reishet.
Bet: Imagine if once a week, you took a moment before a meal to think about how that food got to your table. Think about whether you are eating wisely, modestly and mindfully. Consider whether you have been a good steward of the environment in terms of the way you travel, consume, and get rid of the waste that you create. Think about others who may not be able to put food on the table, what that might require of you. What does it mean to be in a position to be a giver of food and not a client at a soup kitchen? Now consider what changes you will make in your life to be more fully aligned with the energy that this experience generated in you.
Baruch ata adonay, eloheinu
melech ha-olam ha-motzi lechem min haaretz.
Gimmel: Imagine if once a week, on Friday night, you set a beautiful table, perhaps invite over some friends, prepare a festive meal and then chose to begin the evening by lighting two Shabbat candles. Imagine that you have been transported to a dimension where every daily concern is suspended for a full day and that all that is required of you is to be grateful for all the good things in your life. According to Jewish tradition, there is royalty at our table every Friday night—the Sabbath queen-- as long as we invite her in. Imagine having a meal with royalty. What would you wear? How would you behave? What would you serve? Jewish tradition also teaches that on the Sabbath we acquire a neshama yetarah, an extra soul. Now some of us have not even done a lot with our original soul, no less an extra one. But neshama yetarah is simply another way of saying that on Shabbat, we mystically acquire a fully tuned-up God antenna. How might you use it?
Baruch ata adonay, eloheinu
melech ha-olam asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu lhadlik ner
shel Shabbat.
The Jewish tradition calls
on us to say no less than 100 brachot every day. Imagine finding
the time, 100 times a day, to “count your blessings”! How might
that change our dispositions! How might that turn our many petty melodramas
into mellow-dramas! How might that turn our attitude into gratitude!
We just did three blessings here, but we did them really well.
And we were just warming up! If you are serious about wanting to
craft a more spiritually fulfilling life for yourselves, there is a
lot more where that came from.
How Strong is Your Antennae?
I was recently teaching at
a Jewish Learning Weekend outside of Atlanta. I met another member of
the weekend faculty who teaches religion at Emory University. He wore
a big kippah and belongs to an Orthodox synagogue and lives a
fairly observant Jewish life. But to my surprise, I discovered that
he was not Jewish. He was raised Southern Baptist and has explored many
religions of the world. He teaches courses in Judaism, Islam and Christianity
at Emory. He said to me: “I love religions, all religions. I have
always found myself to be spiritually musical in a world where most
people are spiritually tone deaf.”
I loved his use of music as
a metaphor for spirituality. Music is in the world whether we are tone
deaf or not. For people who know and appreciate music, it is very life
enhancing. There are others who simply never come to appreciate music
and it is, at best, background noise.
Spirituality is much the
same as music. Each one of us comes equipped
with a God antennae. It is our soul,
our neshama the part of us that longs for
holiness, sanctity and transcendence. Like a muscle, the more you use
it, the stronger it gets. If you ignore it, it can atrophy. If the
shma exercise was hard for you, it may be a signal that you have
ignored your God antennae for too long.
You may be ready for a tune up. You might even be in the right place
at the right time to start the work right now.
When I attend or officiate
at funerals, I always seem to walk away with greater clarity about what
is important in life. As the family members and or clergy raise up the
best qualities of the deceased, I commit to myself to re-double my efforts
to focus on what is most important in life. I know that I have to
engage my God antennae so that I can
seize the opportunities to be kind and compassionate, to be more patient,
more giving and more loving.
I ask myself: How can I best use the time I am given on this planet
to make a contribution to the world? How can I be more present to the
loved ones in my life?
How am I doing? Each year at
this time, I hold a scorecard in my hand and I know that I just barely
get a passing grade. But I do not despair. For as long as I have left
within me my neshama, the breath of life, my God antenna, I know
that I can do better in the year ahead.
And so can you.