My newsletter is named after a traditional Jewish blessing upon encountering the majesty of a large body of water: “Blessed are you, our eternal G-d, Ruler of the Universe, who made the great sea.” BTS is a free, monthly publication which shares Jewish and non-Jewish approaches to mindful, contemplative living. Some come from from spiritual teachings from the past and the present; others from my Zen practice and Jewish faith. Included here are also some of my own news as well. BTS is a conversation, and I enjoy hearing from and responding to the readers.
“Teshuvah [return, response, repentance] restores everything – repairing above, repairing below, mending oneself, mending the whole world.”
— Zohar 3:122b (Moses de León, 1240-1305)
The High Holidays season is the time to return to the Source, “to readjust the sparks within your self,” to quote my teacher and friend Rav Daniel Silverstein. Yet it is also the hardest time to find that contemplative space because we celebrate these great holidays – Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah – as a community, in public. There is no isolation from the madding crowds.
In my current piece in Applied Jewish Spirituality, I provide suggestions for where to find this precious Quietude in a Multitude. You are welcome to read the whole article, but let me share below some ideas which apply to participation in any public ceremony.
- When reciting a prayer, slow down to focus on a particular word or phrase.
What does it open for you at the intuitive level? How is it relevant to your experience? - Mark the prayer’s end as the time to pause and reflect.
Was there something in it that truly spoke to you? What was it saying to you when you were saying it? - Focus on one of the High Holidays rituals, for example, fasting, striking the chest at Al Chet, leaving the sanctuary during Yizkor, or lining up before the Arc during the Neilah.
In what way does this ritual help you “readjust the sparks within”? Or, to use a metaphor from the Hasidic mystic Ba’al Shem Tov, how does it “elevate the sparks of that action to the higher world”?
These are just some of the ways where liturgy can take you into the space between and beyond words.
Enjoy, truly enjoy your High Holidays season, Shana Tovah!
–Lane
PS. Five years ago, during the pandemic, I published an essay in Forward about celebrating a very different High Holidays season. So glad we don’t have to live in that reality anymore.
Lane Igoudin | Author, Professor, Dad 