Awakening Mishpatim 5783: Torah Mussar Mindfulness, 18th Sit

Awakening Mishpatim 5783: Torah Mussar Mindfulness, 18th Sitting

The Institute for Holiness: Kehilat Mussar livestream

Welcome to The Institute for Holiness: Kehilat Mussar's weekly public offering to study Torah together from the lens of Mussar Mindfulness. We engage in teaching and then in a guided mindfulness meditation practice.

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Allow yourselves to settle and arrive.

Welcome to today's awakening Torah,

Musa,

Mindfulness,

Just take the next minute to make sure you have everything you need for today's session,

Whether it be water or a journal or anything of that sort.

Delighted to have you.

Today is Sunday,

February 19 2023.

And it is for all of us the 28th of Shabbat in the Hebrew calendar,

We are heading towards the new moon of Adar on Tuesday.

So this is a nice time to really be together and engage together as the moon starts looking and being as if it's smaller and smaller.

I am Rabbi Chastu Uriel Steinbauer,

The founder and director of the Institute for Holiness,

Kehilat Musar.

And we are covering this week as we do every week,

The weekly Torah portion that happened yesterday the day before.

And,

And on that day,

It was the 27th of Shabbat and it was the 18th of February.

And really a blessing to be together to jump into this learning a practice where we look at the weekly Torah portion from the lens of Musar mindfulness.

And before we begin,

We always begin with our intention,

Our Kavanot for today's practice.

So for those of you joining visually,

You have before you beautiful purple flower here with three intentions,

Three Kavanot.

Because we see this act of joining together to learn the Torah portion as a radical act of self care,

And also one that we are doing for strengthen our relationships with others and our relationship with the divine.

We say that this time together and awakening Torah,

Musar mindfulness is something that we're doing to strengthen our own soul in order to be of benefit to others in the future,

And to strengthen our relationship to others so that we can be a better conduit of God's good to others when they need us.

And this is something we're doing to strengthen our relationship with the Creator.

So it's this threefold practice,

Which is part of the whole Kitlam Dut,

The practice of Musar,

Where we're looking at our relationship with ourselves,

Our relationship with others,

And our relationship with the divine,

That we're doing all the practice around it,

To really strengthen that threefold relationship,

As if it's a triangle that is really holding us and strengthening us in the daily practice being together to do this.

So quite an honor,

May we merit to fulfill these intentions,

These Kavanot today and our learning and practice together.

So for those of you who are on podcast or audio today,

You basically got to hear a summary of what our intentions are Kavanot are today.

So as we always begin,

We do a summary of the Parsha,

Which this past Shabbat,

This past Saturday,

The Sabbath was the Parsha,

The Torah portion called Mishpatim.

And Mishpatim mean laws,

Okay.

And the way that it's understood,

If you look at the very first word,

In the Torah portion in Hebrew,

It says Ve'ele,

Ve'ele Mishpatim,

These are the laws and it's and,

That's Ve,

It's with a Vav,

And these are the laws,

Okay.

And it's an understanding in the Jewish tradition that this is a continuation of the Torah portion that came before of Yitro and the laws that came before us in what we call the Aseret Hadibrot,

The 10 utterances,

Which are sometimes known in the Western tradition,

And coming out of Christianity,

The 10 commandments.

Okay,

And so what how we understand this,

And I'm getting to it,

Is that what happened in Yitro at Harsinai at Mount Sinai,

Is this Parsha is a continuation of that we receive 53 more laws.

And for those of us reading this for the first time,

New,

New laws,

More laws,

In addition to the 10 that were given,

If you even call the first one,

A law,

Because all it says is I am,

I deny your God,

Like it's not really what is that?

Is that a law?

I mean,

It's up for discussion.

But basically,

The 10 utterances is now continuing with 53 more laws that are being presented to us.

And the understanding is that this is still happening at Mount Sinai,

This is still happening at Harsinai,

Where these are being given to Moshe Rabbeinu,

To Moses,

And passed on through our tradition,

Essentially.

So this is why it starts with Ve'ele.

And so for a summary of this,

Parsha,

As I said,

It's loaded with all sorts of commandments for us to understand how to treat one another,

What is expected for a just and society that is one that is guided by rule of law,

And compassion,

And,

And,

And what is expected for tzedek,

For righteousness,

Of how ideally we want to live with this inner moral compass,

That's an alignment with the rule of law and how we take care of each other in community.

And so what we begin to see here in this Parsha is it has many laws dealing with work,

Money,

Property,

Courts of law.

And it also emphasizes how you treat the ger,

The stranger among you,

Meaning someone who has come in to dwell in the community that isn't born and raised in your community.

And also in the concept is also how we treat widows and orphans and people who are poor.

There are all sorts of commandments and guidance on how we treat this most vulnerable part of our society with compassion.

And one of the key principles of why we are to do this is that we were garym,

We were strangers in mitzvah in Egypt,

The whole project of being in Egypt almost was this,

I would only once I almost part of the intention is our understanding and these laws as it lays out that we were in a training as a through that institution of slavery of learning really how it was to be as someone as a slave and as a stranger and the land meets rhyme and that is to inform our experience and what passes down to us generation to generation of how we are to see someone else who's very vulnerable,

Whatever that might be in today's society.

So today,

I would still say widows and orphans and the poor definitely fit among this,

But also you can add,

You know,

The refugee,

All sorts of different groups that could fall in that are the most vulnerable segment of society.

And we are supposed to through this parsha as we'll get into more,

That's supposed to affect us of how we see them and how we are to take care of them.

So we'll get into that a little bit more.

What else do we cover here?

And there's this wonderful whole section on laws and how we are supposed to help people that we're obligated to even if we don't want to and in particular,

If that person is someone that we don't like,

Or as an enemy,

We are commanded to help them regardless.

And it's not only to help them that we have to show up and share and the physical burden of it,

Which is very key.

I'm going to touch a little bit on that.

What does that mean?

Right.

And then we cover the laws of celebrating what we are going to be considered the three major festivals in the calendar,

Which are considered our pilgrimage festivals,

Right,

By the reggae,

Right,

That we go by foot to participate in in this future temple that will be built this Beit Nikodash,

Right.

So they are going to be Pesach,

Passover,

They're going to be Shavuot,

Which is the festival of the harvest,

Also known as Katsir,

And also Sukkot,

Which I mean,

All these are in some ways,

Tied to the harvest.

But the festival Sukkot is a festival of booths,

The idea that we are to build booths just like we lived in the desert,

Coming out of Egypt.

And finally is the Torah finishes with what happened at Harsinai at Mount Sinai,

Where Bnei Yisrael received the Torah.

And this beautiful wording where our ancestors say,

Naaseh v'Nishma,

Which is really understood to say that they're saying we will do we will do these laws,

We will live this path and way.

And we will listen,

We will obey.

And people throughout centuries have said,

Why would you say we will do and then we will listen.

And this is,

I think,

A key teaching in the Jewish experience.

And in what we understand as a practice,

And how we live,

Is this concept that we will trust in God,

And we will do and then we'll learn from the experience,

We'll listen,

Then it's like you have to jump in with both feet and trust that this is the path and and learn from it.

And that you can only learn from something by doing it.

It's not enough to say,

Okay,

I'll listen to the laws.

And if I think they're just and right and fair,

Then I'll do them.

Instead,

This is saying no,

You must live by them and do them and then you will listen.

And and what is it that we're listening to,

Right?

This is so interesting.

This is such a beautiful way to continue to have this ongoing generational discussion of what it is that we're doing in this project.

So finally,

Moshe closing spends 40 days and 40 nights on top of the mountain.

And that is a summary of our Torah portion.

Now,

There are some really key things here I want to share with you that I think is going to frame today's discussion.

Because as I said,

There are so many laws that a that come out here.

Okay.

And what does this mean for our daily practice?

Okay.

So the first is really understanding that the laws I want us to look at like the framing the structure of these laws and how they're brought to us.

So first we jump into the laws of how we treat a slave.

What is remarkable about this is all the other ancient laws that were written by the Assyrians and the Hammurabi code and others at that time,

If they address the laws of a slave and how a slave gets treated and such such for those come for those the Assyrians and the Hammurabi and other at the end of their laws,

Where this is coming first.

And this is remarkable,

Because it's basically saying,

This is such an important thing of how you view and treat the slave,

Because of your experience in meats fine.

And we may say,

Why is there slavery at all?

I can't answer that in the sense that in that is the culture of at the time when the Torah is given what people know and and is part of how they live.

But what is remarkable is,

This is such an important thing that you have been framed that you have been structured by your experience of slavery,

That now you are going to have to pay attention to if and when you have a slave,

That they get freed after a certain amount of time,

That they have the ability to choose to stay with you through their own consent and voice,

That if you hurt or harm them,

That there are ramifications and consequences so much so that if you murder them as the owner of the slave,

You are held accountable with your own life.

There's nothing like that.

And all nature,

Ancient Near Eastern law,

Where the owner would be held responsible in that way,

Because they saw the slave so much as other,

They did not see the slave is also created in the image and likeness of God that happened to be in a financial situation that causes them to have to be in the institution of slavery.

And this is remarkable.

And because we're seeing a shift,

We're seeing a shift in morality,

That even will continue,

Obviously,

To our time today,

Where there is certain intolerances towards how you're going to see and treat the slave that will continue to today.

And in some ways,

I feel like we should all be thankful that this has been given to us and strengthened by it,

Because we do see this growth and shift and how we not only see things,

But how we treat each other.

So it begins with slavery to structure this.

And then one of the key things that suddenly gets brought up,

Right,

Is how if God forbid,

We end up afflicting bodily injury to someone how it gets handled.

And in particular,

What happens when someone gets actually killed,

Okay,

Whether it happens by accident,

Or on purpose.

So prior to the Torah,

Things were based on class,

If I even want to use that term,

I think I would rather use caste,

Meaning there was the stock,

Or see those who had wealth and land ownership,

And then there was everyone else.

And if someone God forbid,

Who was from the have nots,

Meaning no property and no stock or see actually caused harm to someone in the stock or see and the land ownership,

That person would be killed,

Maimed,

Or depending on what they did,

The punishment was more severe if you hurt someone from a higher caste,

From a higher class.

And,

And then the opposite is someone from that higher caste hurt someone from the lower,

They were less responsible.

So for instance,

Their life would not necessarily be taken if they ended up murdering someone who comes from outside of the aristocracy.

Okay.

So all of a sudden,

The Torah comes.

And the Torah is saying,

And handed down to us these laws,

That no,

Every life,

No matter if you're wealthy or not,

Is valuable and considered holy to God,

We're all created in the image and likeness.

And if someone who happens to be a part of the stock or see the land ownership or the has more power or more wealth,

Kill somebody who is poor,

That they too will lose their life.

And that's remarkable.

We may not agree with that today,

We actually a lot of people will say that our morality is that we don't take the life of someone who kills somebody else,

They're against the death penalty.

That can be discussed of how this move and path towards morality happens.

But this is significant in the Torah,

That you're suddenly having this voice that's saying we're all coming on an equal level here,

Regardless of what caste or class we come in,

Even what race,

What group,

What nation,

What location,

Okay.

So that is the beginning of how I want to structure this,

That it also moves it from a private family issue,

Meaning before the Torah,

Throughout the ancient Near East,

If God forbid,

Someone in my family murdered someone in your family,

That would basically cause what would be the response and react reactivity around it would be what we call a blood feud,

Where I am obligated that the person the family that had someone who was murdered is obligated to respond with killing someone from my family,

In order to correct that,

And in order to contain the vengeance of that family,

You might think,

Oh,

There's,

There's no containing if they're actually murdering someone,

But that's how it was practiced and treated for hundreds of thousands of years,

Essentially,

Okay,

This concept that a private wrong is settled between the families of the assailant and the victim.

And what happens in the Torah,

A basically when you have that private,

The private wrong,

It ended up being this,

It's so affected the social fabric of society in the sense that it was this cycle of violence and counter violence,

And the the ability to even suggest monetary compensation for a wrong committed,

Say it wasn't murder,

Say if God forbid,

My somebody in my family chopped off the hand of someone from your family while we were working on a tree by accident.

Back then before the Torah,

Someone in my family,

Or even myself who did it would have my hand chopped off as a response to that,

That that was considered a settling,

Whatever happened this concept of eye for an eye in some sense,

Right.

So also,

Now the Torah comes along and shifting this from a private concern,

A private thing that needs to be handled between this blood feud between the two of two families,

To a social one that's going to be ruled by courts and a rule of law.

So what on one hand,

It's saying this is not just a private feud,

This is something that's going to affect the whole society,

The whole community,

It needs to be addressed.

And that we're going to address it in such a way that that we're not going around and killing one another or maiming one another in response to our vengeance,

Essentially.

So it's going to be controlled and contained through institutions.

And in particular,

If you think of the case where someone God forbid,

Kill somebody by accident,

There was no intention,

There was no animosity between the people,

This God forbid,

I don't,

You know,

You could come up with an example,

Again,

They're chopping trees,

And my axe like slips back and kill someone by accident,

Right?

It wasn't my intention.

In in previous societies,

And before the Torah,

I would still be held accountable.

And I through the blood feud would have to be murdered or someone in my family.

And in the Torah,

For someone who ends up,

God forbid,

God forbid killing someone with no intention.

They create up the they create these places of refuge,

Three of them at the time where the person will be able,

They're expected to,

They're obligated to go to these place of refuge where they will wait and stay there.

And they have to go there because if they stay in regular private society,

That blood vengeance will still be so internal and strong in this other family that they will come to hurt you or your family,

But you particularly you and so you are to go away.

So we're seeing the shifts in and what's happening here,

That person who murdered by accident goes away into this place of refuge,

And they have to stay there.

They have to stay there until the chief priest,

The Kohen Hagadol,

The head priest passes away.

So we understand that mostly to be like almost a 70 year cycle,

Obviously it can be less.

But the idea is,

It's so huge,

I can't even begin to discuss the structure of this of what's happening,

When you have a society that is wrestling with what they see in front of them.

And they don't want to continue down this like a violence counter violence,

Private blood feud.

They want to move into institutions and structures holding and helping contain them and living by this rule of law.

And that you want to also acknowledge that we still have that animal spirit in us,

Right?

This this drive to want to cause revenge for when someone hurts us or our family.

And so the beauty of what happens,

The intelligence,

The wisdom of what God commanding this place of refuge,

Is that it's recognizing that this other family who lost someone by accident,

Is still going to have all those animal internal pulling,

Right,

The desire,

The greed,

The hatred,

That comes up to comes up in us,

Right,

These delusions,

These hindrances,

They're going to arise when we lose someone that we love,

And we want to hurt and punish someone back,

Right.

So it's recognizing this,

This animal side to us what we call in Musa,

The Yitzhara,

This evil inclination,

Which is really this drive to,

You know,

Not be hurt anymore,

Not to live with pain.

Right.

But we all know that hurting someone in response really doesn't get rid of our pain.

But the Torah is still recognizing that that family is still going to have that.

So you go away to this place of refuge,

So no one can see you,

They're not going to be reminded of it.

It's like,

It's,

It's a solution for God willing for us today that we have the privilege to look back on,

That we feel that God willing today through our structures of government and institutions and our rule of law and even our own personal practice that we feel that we're containing or redirecting or working with these hatred and the greed and delusion that might arise when someone hurts us,

That we practice around it,

That we don't cause violence or harm and suffering to others in response to it,

That we see that that's not a solution.

That even the concept that we don't need to draw blood because blood has been drawn,

We don't need to kill because someone has been killed.

If anything,

We're trying to stay away from causing harm and suffering in our practice today.

So the Torah gives us this amazing gift from our ancestors and God to see that,

That no longer,

That essentially no longer are these things when we hurt someone or kill them,

God forbid,

Are private wrongs.

But moving us,

Biblical law and the Torah is moving us to accept the principle that even assault and battery and all the other forms are public crimes now,

That the society through its institutions,

Through its court of law,

How it responds,

Essentially,

Is going to be equal justice for all citizens in its form,

In its desire of how it wants to live out.

So it's a profound shift.

For those of us who have studied and aware of how the ancient Near East was,

And then the shift even continues from not only how we're going to shift from private wrongs to seeing this as a public crime or a public issue that needs to be addressed.

We move to concerns for the disadvantage of society,

Which is this huge,

Seminal importance of these laws,

Right?

It's apparent from how often they're reiterated in the Torah and the Bible and all biblical literature,

Right?

And there's these twin motives behind them that we think is really there that Israel as a people really need to develop through and this is why it's commanded and passed on to us this empathetic regard for the disadvantage in society,

Right?

And that it should be stimulated by our historical experience of slavery and that being passed down the stories and the living of that through through our ancestors and that God's concern,

Right,

Arises out of God's essential nature that God is intolerant of injustice,

Right?

And that in that we are to really internalize this sense of injustice when the disadvantage are treated that way,

And that we're to rely on God's compassion to really,

Really cause there to be this drive for us to care for the other essentially.

And so these laws that begin to shift the children of Israel and our ancestors really begin to put into expectations of practice and living out a path that is trying to address how the humans can treat how we can treat each other and the bad things that can happen the unpleasant and how to contain them as best as possible so that we're causing less harm and suffering long term,

Generation to generation,

And how we're going to take care of the gear of the stranger of the aton,

The orphan of the Ammanah,

The widow and those who are most vulnerable in our society.

Okay,

So basically,

These laws and then we move into the like I said,

These the all these laws reflect the same thing.

They're kind of amazing,

Actually,

If you pay really close attention to them,

Which is that these laws like even the laws of lending money,

Right that you don't lend with interest.

And the word for interest usually,

Rebeats,

Rebeats is neshech in the Torah and this Torah portion and neshech means to bite.

And the concept is that when you loan money and you charge interest,

You're biting the person,

Because obviously the person already is poor enough that they don't have the money to pay for something already.

And you might be saying,

Well,

They shouldn't loan money,

But people loan money all the time,

Right?

So say someone loans me,

They need to be so that I loan them $10,

Right,

They need to buy some food,

I loan them $10.

And say,

If I charge interest,

Say,

If I say,

Okay,

It's going to be $1 each day,

And you'll owe me at the end of the month,

When you get paid.

And so that's another $30 added on to the 10.

So now the person owns 40.

Well,

The person couldn't afford 10 in the first place.

How are they going to afford 40?

And so what the Torah is saying here is like,

You,

You cannot live this way,

You cannot do this way,

Because essentially,

They're designed to safeguard the dignity of someone,

Right,

And to protect people from living in this cycle of poverty,

Essentially,

Right,

To protect the means of subsistence of an impoverished debtor,

Essentially.

And why should this be of concern?

Think about what this does to the social and moral fabric of the society.

And then you got to think at first,

These were,

This is a small community,

It's a nation,

It's a people,

They're together as a tribe,

You,

You see the effect of society when,

And you get to see the effects of how if we don't treat each other with dignity,

What ends up happening to this social and moral fabric of society as you go on.

And so we can still see this and apply this in our larger lives today,

No matter where we live,

If we live in Canada,

If we live in Taiwan,

If we live in Israel,

Wherever,

Even though we live in larger nation states today,

We are aware of how either laws or how practices either cause more harm and suffering,

Or they alleviate it.

And we turn to these examples of are we taking care of the most vulnerable.

And this is the gift of Torah constantly,

In teaching us and reminding us to be compassionate.

God even says,

I am compassionate,

You be compassionate,

Essentially,

Right.

And this is brought here in our Torah.

It's so profound,

If we really internalize this,

As a practice in our life,

That we want to be on this path and living in an alignment with these values that really do support this path and the potential of it,

That really support people and ourselves as we grow and practice together.

So in closing,

We are going to move into our mindfulness meditation practice.

And I'm going to guide you in it with a few thoughts.

And that will frame our practice,

Essentially,

That this practice and this learning involves what's called Savlanot,

The mida of Savlanot,

Of patience.

And patience is not the right word,

The right translation in English,

In my opinion,

Because what it means in Hebrew,

Lisvot or savlanot,

Or sever,

Is you're carrying a burden.

You're carrying a burden,

And it can be like a physical one or an internal one.

And you're bearing the burden,

Meaning you're aware that it's there.

And you're carrying it in the most graceful way without reactivity,

So that you can be present for others and your own self care.

And this is part of our long journey together as we learn these Torah portions,

There's a certain burden.

It's also a gift to be able to know this history and these stories and to carry it and what we're going to do with it,

And how we're going to continue to transform and practice together.

So with that,

I invite you into your posture.

If you're seated in a chair like me,

I encourage you to come to the front of the chair,

So that you can be upright,

But also at ease.

And if you feel safe and ready,

I encourage you to close your eyes or lower your gaze and begin with three deep cleansing breaths,

Inhalation and exhalation.

Inhalation inviting awareness,

Exhalation letting go of any tension in the body.

And inhalation,

Inviting kindness and compassion,

Curiosity,

Inhalation,

And exhalation,

Beginning to fully arrive,

Allowing whatever is going on inside of you to settle,

Allowing the teachings of today to begin to answer you,

Knowing that you are created in the image and likeness of the divine,

That no matter your class,

Your race,

Your language,

Your nation,

Your religion,

Your people,

Your ability or disability,

No matter who you are right now in this moment,

That you are equal and loved,

That you are here being held by the social and moral fabric that guides us and strengthens us on the path.

At our worst moments,

And we all can trace those in our own personal histories,

These laws and these practices really help us exercise self control,

Especially when we are at what we call the Bikira point,

That choice point where our temptation to harm,

God forbid,

Is greatest.

To those who may be weak or defenseless,

The Torah cautions us regarding our behavior towards the stranger no less than 36 times.

If you walk away with anything today,

Internalize that what God and Torah and tradition want from you is to be kind and loving and compassionate to the stranger among you.

Internalize that there is a stranger among you,

And to remember there is a stranger among you.

And then to even radically turn inside and figure out who is the stranger within.

Who have you tried to push away within?

What part of you?

What have you denied?

What have you hurt or caused harm and suffering?

And to remember to also love that stranger within,

That you are here and you are welcome.

I want you to feel where in your body right now,

Whether it's words of sharing or words,

Where you are feeling it.

What are the sensations in the body if you can quietly name them to yourself,

Which is open chest and heart,

Warmth,

Joy,

Whatever it might be.

We all know the feeling of we were strangers,

Or I feel as a stranger right now,

In my society,

In my village,

Wherever I might be,

Or I feel the calling that here our ancestors were always to have at the forefront of their daily practice of what it felt like when they were strangers in another land.

And realize the wisdom and what is being passed down to us always create different paths,

Different practices,

Because all of us are different learners and have different needs.

And it might reach you differently than how it reaches me.

And this is very important in such an ancient tradition of ours that's been passed down is a different paths that will affect each of us differently,

Right?

So for someone,

It might be enough for them to remember that they were strangers in another land in order to shield against the impulse to hurt or dominate or exploit.

That might be enough.

This memory of bondage of exile,

It acts as a protective shield.

And for others,

That might not be the practice that works for them that strengthens them from being harmful towards themselves and others at our most vulnerable point.

So then of course,

The tradition dresses an attitude of tolerance and love to the stranger among us,

Tapping into our motivation for love,

For equality,

For all those beautiful me dotes,

Internalized love and personality traits and how we live out our lives,

That it's enough to motivate us to want to tolerate and love the stranger among us and within.

And that will work for some of us,

When we're commanded that we shall love the stranger as ourselves,

As we are later on in Leviticus,

Chapter 1934,

You know the feelings of the stranger.

So tapping into that that works for many people on their path and practice.

And then of course,

There's also the path that some of us need the fear factor,

Right?

If you wrong him the stranger or her,

That she will wrong you back the fear of consequence of behavior of the karma that will follow us if we cause harm and suffering to others.

And so the beauty of an ancient tradition is recognizing that sometimes we have to come at our practice from different angles that address different people and how they learn and what they need at the time.

So allowing yourself to sit right now and think to yourself,

Where am I right now?

And a learner am I in this journey in this path and practice?

What motivates me to my higher self,

My best self,

One that's in alignment with my values?

Is it fear of consequence or punishment?

Is it the drive and beauty of love for the stranger and equality?

Is it the rituals and traditions,

Reminding me that I used to be a slave and a stranger,

And my ancestors were and to learn that I've learned from that experience passed down generation for generation to treat the stranger with kindness?

What is your practice today?

What is it that you need to hone in on?

And as we move in our last few minutes of this meditation,

We can apply this as a daily practice this week.

When we recall anyone that we don't like,

Or that we're bothered by,

What the Torah even calls our enemy,

You might recall some several parashiotikos Torah portions a while ago,

Not too long ago,

Though,

Where Moshe Rabbeinu,

Moses was commanded when he was at his strongest reactivity,

When the people were complaining about their lack of water when they had just left Egypt,

And he was caught up in his reactivity.

He didn't know how he was going to deal with it.

He even said to God,

These people will probably stone me.

And God,

At the greatest moments of awareness and compassion,

Really understood that the people were not about to stone Moses,

People were fearful,

And in their own reactivity,

And were in need of water.

So what did God do to bring Moshe out of his reactivity?

Even think in your own life,

What brings you out of your reactivity?

It's about connection.

It's about seeing the other person fully.

So Moshe was commanded by God to walk in front of the people.

And Moshe walked in front of the people before he was told to speak to or hit the rock to allow water to come.

But that act of walking in front of the people was to actually see them,

See them for how they really were,

Who they really are,

And their needs and their fears to relate to be in relationship.

So this week here,

We learned from Mishpatim that we are to help our enemy or the person we dislike or that we fear when that person either loses their animal,

That we are to bring it back to them,

Or God forbid the animal ends up falling from the burdens on its back that you are actually to physically go and with that person lift up the burden and help it straighten it on the animal and taking care of that situation.

And you're to do that because you're supposed to see them.

You're supposed to relate to them.

That is the only way we get out of our fear of the enemy or the person that we think we don't know or like is to see them fully is to relate to them,

To be in relationship,

To have that connection.

And that is our practice,

Right?

If we're going to move away from people who have vengeance or grudges,

Right,

That we shall not have them we are commanded again in Leviticus,

Right?

If your enemy is hungry,

You give him or her bread.

This comes from Proverbs 2521.

If he or she is thirsty,

You give them water.

So as we close out this meditation,

And we sit in the last minute of silence,

I want you to think this week with covenant with intention,

Who is your feared one?

Who is your enemy?

Or who is it that you don't like?

Or who is it that you run away from relating to?

And each day,

One small act,

Connect,

Walk in front of that person,

Relate,

Ask how you can help.

See if there's any burdens that they need your assistance,

Attempting to do it daily.

And if you can't do it daily,

At least once this week,

We move into a minute of silence.

And then I will bring us out of the meditation.

If you had your eyes closed,

Gently and slowly open them back up to meet us in this shared sacred space in this room together.

Or if you're listening to us on podcast or audio,

May you feel that we're connected.

Thank you for your practice today.

Thank you for God,

Bringing us together to learn and practice.

Grateful for this moment to be alive and to learn and practice together.

Any thank you for today.

Is there any comments or questions before we say goodbye today?

No.

Okay.

Please go ahead.

My partner has a line of credit.

Owing the bank,

I assume that it's $100 interest is very high.

And then I suggest to him that he better let me lend all the money to him to repay line of credit and charge the money,

The interest that he has to pay line of credit and give those interests to me rather than keep on behind and then interest is increasing all the time.

So the way I'm doing it is this not right,

Because I'm charging him interest.

So if you want to live according to how we live in Jewish law and in the Torah,

You wouldn't charge him interest.

The log changes through what's called Jewish law halakha over time and of an understanding as society developed toward capitalism,

Correct,

Where people loan money or banks did eventually banks start to emerge,

Right,

Which is a whole different institution.

And banks and credit,

Where what happens in Jewish law,

It says that you can,

For instance,

Loan money at interest for people who aren't from your nation and community.

That is troubling to some people today,

And they'll feel that it should be applied to everyone.

But since he is someone obviously that is from an of you,

I would see if you can afford it that you loan without interest,

Of course,

Be sure,

In my opinion,

I've done this with my own mother,

Actually,

I'm glad that you brought this up,

Where we actually wrote out a contract to protect both of us stating what it is that she's what amount she's borrowing,

And how much time was expected that she needed to pay it back.

And what would happen if it wasn't paid back,

You both have to decide that together,

Right?

What is what happens if that money doesn't get paid back,

Which sometimes people have to decide what is the risk?

And what they're,

You know,

What works for you,

Essentially,

For my own mother,

I decided the risk was that I wouldn't get the money back someday,

If she never could pay me back,

And I was willing to do that.

Not everyone can afford that or is willing to do that.

And that's also okay,

Depending on who you're loaning to in your relationship.

But we laid it out in a contract.

And we signed it and we had someone else who was a witness who also signed it.

So someone else knew that this was going on,

And would be recognized.

And we both kept a copy of the contract.

She ended up paying me over a period of five years because she needed that she someone on a fixed income and is retired.

And it took that long.

And so I tolerated that and was willing to because I only loaned her when I had the means to do so.

You know,

It's the that's the other thing is we have to make sure that we have the means to do so and it's not going to harm or hurt hurt us.

We don't want to cause ourselves to be someone that has to request help because we loan to someone else.

Does that make sense?

Yes.

Yes.

So that's something that you and your partner are going to have to figure out and work.

I think it is smart that when people decide to move it away from a bank that is charging way too much interest,

If they can find a family member or a spouse or somebody who can loan them the loan than the money.

And if you can do it without interest and want to live that way,

Then that is the path you take if you can't afford that.

And you have to have some interest and you have to decide what is a reasonable interest for you.

Does that answer your question?

Jeannie?

Yes.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah,

Of course.

And I wish you guys well with that.

It's such a beautiful thing to question because this is the spirituality.

This is the practice right as mundane as it seems,

How we're going to treat each other and how we're going to take care of each other financially is the stuff of how we live out our practice.

This is it right?

Like this is the holiness.

This is the Kiddusha.

And so I just think it's beautiful and amazing that we're sharing this and learning from one another.

So thank you.

It is his pride that he he does not want he would rather keep asking you the money that you pay for your line of credit.

Use those interest rates.

So that I have some spare money to spend.

Yeah.

That's beautiful.

I think he has paid me back everything.

Yeah,

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I advise you both drafting a contract protecting you both of yourself.

And just to in deciding what is the consequence,

Right?

It can you live with it if it's not paid back,

But just to protect yourselves.

Yeah.

Okay,

But I did not have someone to witness this just that he has he keeps a piece of paper.

Okay.

Okay.

Well,

We are your witnesses today.

And anyway,

Oh,

Good.

All the money.

Oh,

Mazel Tov.

Wonderful.

See,

That's a beautiful example.

I love hearing that.

And I think you helped him from living under like the boot of like interest,

Right?

It's just unbelievable.

What banks and credit charge today.

It's hurting everyone in society.

So yes.

All right.

He is in line of credit.

Again.

Yeah,

As much as that last time.

Okay.

Yeah.

And maybe you can learn some of this with him in the sense of questioning the path of why are we living beyond our means that we have to tap into credit?

And can we change that long term?

Yeah.

He never asked for.

And I never asked to give him the loan anymore.

Right,

Right.

But so long as the line of credit is not,

It's not too huge.

It's up to you.

All right.

God bless you.

And I look forward to learning and practicing together next week,

Whether on zoom or on livestream.

Again,

This is for everyone.

I'm Rebecca Casio Riel Steinbauer,

Founder and director of the Institute for Holiness.

Kehilat Musa mindfulness.

Delighted to have you and God willing,

We'll see you next week on Sunday.

Take care.

Thank you.

You're welcome to not pronounce your name.

One day at a time.

Bye.