You are here: Home / Archives for High Holy Days Meditations

Meditations for the Days of Awe: Today! – Day 9

October 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Those of us who gathered on Rosh HaShanah morning were privileged to listen to a new song that our musicians added to their repertoire this year. It is called HaYom, which means either “this day” or “today.” And so here it is, this day – that in a lot of ways we have been waiting for all year long – is now upon us, and we are definitely not ready for it. We’re not even sure what “ready” would look like anyways.

I remember growing up, walking into the synagogue on Yom Kippur, being impressed by those who prayed with so much fervor, singing all the songs, knowing all the tunes; their eyes glued to the pages of the prayer book, and always standing up for the next prayer long before the rabbi would ask the rest of us to rise. I was sure that they embodied what “ready” should look like.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Adult Learning, High Holy Days Meditations Tagged With: , , ,

Meditations for the Days of Awe: I Got Nothing! – Day 8

October 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Tomorrow evening we will meet again to enter, together, into the holiest of days in Jewish tradition; the day called Yom Kippur or Yom HaKippurim. Kapparah, the noun form – issue from the same Hebrew root as the word Kippur – is often translated as Atonement.  The process itself, which takes place on Yom Kippur, is that of spiritual catharsis.

It is interesting to notice that the Hebrew name, Yom HaKippurim, could also easily be understood as Yom Ha-Ki-Purim: The day like Purim. However, the holiday of Purim is the Jewish carnival; we dress up and wear masks, drink and eat a lot, and engage in raucous partying.  How could that be analogous to Yom Kippur? At first sight it might seem, indeed, that Purim is the exact opposite of Yom Kippur where, traditionally, we fast (abstaining from both eating and drinking,) dress modestly, wear no make-up and altogether let go of any physical concerns. So, how is it that Yom Kippur is a day like Purim?
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Adult Learning, High Holy Days Meditations Tagged With: , , , , ,

Meditations for the Days of Awe: The Path of Blessing – Day 7

October 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Y’varech’cha Adonay V’Yish’m'recha
May the Holy One bless you and keep you always.

The Torah portion called “Re’eh” (Deut. 11:26) begins: “See, I place before you a blessing and a curse.” The relevance of this verse to our everyday reality is most striking. We turn on our TV, we open our newspaper and, it seems, we are continuously presented with opportunities to curse. Day after day, we are barraged with everything that is wrong with our world, divisive politics, and doomsday predictions. Fear reigns supreme.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Adult Learning, High Holy Days Meditations Tagged With: , , ,

Meditations for the Days of Awe: In the Book of Life – Day 6

October 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

During the Ten Day of Awe we engage in a process of deep introspection. We open our heart with love and compassion while acknowledging our own limitations and taking responsibility for the hurtful ways we show up in our lives. At the same time, we seek to shake ourselves out of the torpor of a life of unhealthy habits and, sometimes, cruel behaviors, in order to wake ourselves up. In many ways, we pray during the High Holy Days to be supported in living a wakeful life.
We say:

B’Sefer Chayim – May we be all recorded in the Book of Life, Blessing, Peace and Abundance.

When we write ourselves in the Book of Life for the year about to be, the words we find are words that speak of such a wakeful life. They are not words that describe all the ways we should think and act so as to manifest the total perfection of our self. These kinds of words are as self-defeating as they are unattainable. Instead, they are words which speak of increasing self-awareness, of gentler ways of being toward self and others, of looking for opportunities, each day, to bless what is exactly as it is. They are words which convey our renewed sense of awe and wonder for a world of abundance, of incredible beauty, and a world of darkness and shadow, all at once. They are words of celebration, of aliveness, of tasting to the fullest the precious moments of our too short life. Ultimately, they are words of love.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Adult Learning, High Holy Days Meditations Tagged With: , , ,

Meditations for the Days of Awe: The Awe of God – Day 5

October 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

We read in our High Holy Days meditation booklet this prayer:

Now give the awe of You, Eternal God, upon all Your works, and the reverence for You upon all Your creation.

These are the Days of Awe, an invitation to open to the wonder of each moment, to become increasingly aware of the Divine Presence in every experience. We perceive through our senses what appears to be an outer reality. Awe opens our heart to the realization that this reality is God manifesting moment to moment.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Adult Learning, High Holy Days Meditations Tagged With: , , ,

Meditations for the Days of Awe: Shabbat Shuvah – Day 3

October 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Return again… return to Where you are, return to What you are, return to Who you are.

Today is Shabbat Shuvah, the Shabbat of turning, of returning. Today is, especially, a day for introspection, a day for reflection.

On this day we might be looking at our world, at our nation, in disbelief; seeing that division and hatred not only still prevail, but have seemingly taken a more radical turn. At home the political debate has seen so sharp ideological lines be drawn, that dialogue seems impossible and pragmatism a lost principle. Abroad, fear of economic collapse, violence and war continue to dominate our news media headlines. Though we have seen glimmers of hope in the Arab Spring, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict might have taken two steps backward this summer; each side more virulently accusing the other of harboring genocidal aims now than ever before.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Adult Learning, High Holy Days Meditations Tagged With: , , ,

Meditations for the Days of Awe: Rosh HaShanah – Day 2

October 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Al Chet Sheh-cha-tanu l’fanecha…
For the ways we acted out our conditioning before You…

On this second day of Rosh HaShanah, of the New Year, I wanted to invite you to enter into a daily meditation process; that we might support one another as we travel through the ten days of awe. Each day I will offer a phrase, a prayer or a song out of our High Holy Days meditation booklet and share a few words about them.
Let not my words limit you, however. Find the words awakening within you, inspired by the quote, and take them to be with you through the day.

The “Al Chet” prayer, for example, calls me to open my heart to greater self-awareness; to take the risk and begin gently noticing the hurtful ways I show up in my life. Noticing is at the core of many meditation practices, but you could just as well journal whatever you notice on a piece of paper.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Adult Learning, High Holy Days Meditations Tagged With: , , , ,