Jewish Meditation: Light From Darkness

A meditation using the Hebrew bible's creation story of the creation of light & darkness - that we experience every day. Creation & awareness is renewal.

Transcript

This is a recording about light and darkness.

Sit in a relaxed but alert position.

Sit so you feel supported.

If you're in a chair,

Sit at the edge so your feet are flat on the ground.

Adjust your posture so that you are relaxed but alert.

You might want your knees to be lower or even with your hips.

Tuck your tail so you feel this slight arch in the small of your back.

When you do,

Notice how your upper body lifts and reaches above and that your lower body falls to the earth below so that you feel this balance point in your center.

Relax your shoulders.

Relax your jaw.

Relax anywhere that you feel a sense of tension.

This is time just for you,

A time of stillness and awareness.

As you allow your body to become still,

Bring your attention to your breath and become aware of the movement of your breath as it comes into your body and as it leaves your body.

Don't force the breath in any way or try to change it.

Simply become aware of it and the feelings in your body associated with breathing.

Notice how your abdomen expands gently on your in-breath and as you exhale how your belly contracts.

Just be totally present in each moment with each breath.

Nowhere to go.

Just simply being with your breath and the sound of my voice.

When you find yourself distracted,

Thinking,

Pondering,

Just gently turn yourself around with compassion and love.

And do teshuvah,

Which in Hebrew means return.

I'm going to invite you to imagine in any way that makes sense to you the very beginning,

The creation of the universe as described in Genesis,

Which I'm going to first read through without instruction so that you just imagine.

And then I'll read a second time slower with a slightly different translation.

There's no one right way to imagine creation.

In the beginning of God's creating the heaven and the earth,

The earth was unformed and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep.

And the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters and God said,

Let there be light via he or and there was light.

And God saw the light that it was good and God divides the light from the darkness.

God calls the light day and the darkness.

God calls night.

There was evening and there was morning one day.

At the beginning of God's creating of the sky and the earth,

The sky being Shemayim and the earth Haaretz.

The earth was unformed and void chaos.

The Hebrew is Tohu Vavohu.

Just imagine that unformed liquid being and darkness was behind the face of the deep.

And imagine that darkness feel the darkness.

And the Spirit of God,

Ruach Elohim,

Hovers over the face of the waters.

The waters are trembling.

And then God declares via he or let there be light.

The Zohar Judaism's mystical text suggests that there was a tiny prick of light that pierced the darkness.

And there was light.

Imagine light filling up the darkness.

And God saw the light that it was good,

Tov.

And God divides then the light from the darkness.

And God calls declares the light day.

And the darkness God calls night.

And there was setting and there was dawning one day,

Echad.

We take for granted and trust that the light comes in the morning,

That the sun goes down,

That there's darkness at night.

And we know that light is going to come through no effort of our own.

And yet when we're in dark times,

Whether emotional or psychological or spiritual,

Sometimes we have a difficult time having faith that light will come.

So I want you to carry the idea through every day that whenever you feel chaos or darkness,

Tohu Vavohu,

Choshech is the Hebrew word for darkness,

That in that space that you settle yourself,

Take three mindful breaths and call for light.

It might not come right then.

It might not come the next day.

But invoke the light in the darkness via he or let there be light.

Let that be your intention to see the light,

To bring the light.

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Reviews

Wonderful cadence and tone of voice and great pace of the meditation. Look forward to hearing another! Thank you for this beautiful space.

Thank you Rabbi

Thank you for this beautifully guided meditation. I find it extremely helpful with contemplating and understanding darkness.

Peaceful meditation. Rabbi Jill’s voice is soothing.

Excellent I'm a victim of violence crimes legal fraud lying in courts so this helps calling for G-d's light. I never made the connection of the biblical concept
of G-d bringing light, giving of light in the darkness , when I find myself in darkness because of humans doing terrible cruelty CRIME UPON CRIMES MY CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATED I believe even my human rights violated since I was going to be false arrest and Saturday on the sabbath 4 PM unless I drop charges because NYPD were going to make all crimes disappear in my case they've committed very serious crimes in New York City at a doctors office the doctor his employee the NYPD ... Their evil took a terrible toll. So it feels great to ask G-d to bring light. Sometimes it's so upsetting I now visualize returning their dark energy to them it's almost like I was a sponge absorbing their terrible crimes so I imagine returning their darkness to them it's their's their choices it's their evil. It feels good to add to this imagining light HaShem shining light on me healing light and being so grateful today when the sun comes up. So I found this helpful. SHALOM! Thanks and gratitude

I love how this meditation included grounding, body awareness, attention to breath, and visualization of the creation story. Very relaxing and enjoyed the gentle guidance!

Wonderful
Simple and practical
Love it. Thank you!!

This is beautiful, practical and reassuring. I love the idea of invoking the light. I feel desperate for it in these difficult times. Thank you.

Meditative and reflective and educational

Thank you for that beautiful interpretation. I am currently studying the soul trait of Gratitude and this reminding me to give thanks to G-d everyday for bringing light to the world (literally and figuratively).

This is just what I needed and will carry it with me and return to it again. תודה רבה.

Beautiful way to start my day and this chaotic week before Pesach! Thank you dear Jill.

Love love love,
Laura

Thank you. This was a most needed meditation.

Thank you. I good way to start your day.

Shalom. As stated in my previous feedback this is my go-to Guided Meditation as I exit Havdalah. A wonderful way for me to remember the instances of assisting in the continuous co-creationing of Light when darkness, as necessary as reality requires at the least, visits upon me just when I least expect it. Each time I encounter with R'Jill's guidance here I learn something totally new. This tells me the meditation is full of seeds for the meditator's eventual nurturing, which makes it expansive, not limited. Thank you again Rabbi Jill. Shavuah tov. don

I love this, keep returning to it

I love it. Peaceful and meaningful.

This is such an importantLife Lesson. Difficult to remember when in the midst of Chaos. Important to practice in good times!🐞

What a blessed way to get out of the shadows being cast these days. I will use this many times over the next few months I am sure. Thank you.