Awakening Shofetim 5783: Torah Mussar Mindfulness, 44th SIT

AWAKENING SHOFETIM 5783: TORAH MUSSAR MINDFULNESS, 44th SITTING

קהילת מוסר - Kehilat Mussar
Mussar Mindfulness

Welcome to The Institute for Holiness: קהילת מוסר - Kehilat Mussar’s weekly public offering to study Torah together from the lens of Mussar Mindfulness.

We engage in a teaching and then in a guided mindfulness meditation practice.

Transcript

On Sunday,

August 20th,

2023 at 7.

30 p.

M.

Israeli time.

And as always,

We cover the Torah portion of the Hebrew Bible that happened yesterday on the Jewish Sabbath called Shabbat in Hebrew,

Where we covered the Torah portion from Devarim,

Known as Deuteronomy in English,

Called Shofatim,

Judges.

And in Shofatim,

Which actually covered,

That was yesterday on August 19th,

On the second day of the Hebrew month of Elul,

Tafsh and Pegimel of the Hebrew year of 5783.

So for those of you who have studied and followed along or would like to read this afterwards,

To know what we're sharing and discussing today,

You want to follow chapter 16,

Verse 18 through 18 through 22.

I believe I might not cover all of it,

Actually.

Give me one second.

If it is,

It's a it's a short Torah portion.

No,

It goes on.

It goes on until,

Let's find this for you.

All the way through.

Chapter 21,

Verse nine.

Okay.

And so,

Before we begin,

What do we do,

What do we always do together of any spiritual discipline,

But particularly the discipline of Muslim mindfulness,

We always cover our covenant,

Our intentions for today's practice.

So that means we may merit them.

And we call on God and our ancestors to strengthen us to merit this.

Okay,

So I'm going to go ahead and share screen with you.

For those of you who are watching by video right now live streaming on our YouTube channel,

Or any other social media,

Or on the website.

You can see these three intentions,

These three covenant before us.

And for those of you who are either low vision or blind or listening from podcast audio,

And you will hear me read these out loud.

So,

We say that we see this practice together of the next 45 minutes.

God willing,

As an act of caring for the self.

And we say this is something I'm doing to strengthen my own soul.

In order to be a benefit to others in the future.

This practice is that we strengthen us in our daily practice so that we can basically be authentic and genuine in the service this wholehearted devotion service to God by caring for others.

And the second one is that we say that we're doing this practice together today on behalf of others who say I'm doing this to strengthen my relationship with all the other amazing human beings in my life.

And that I do this so that I can be a better conduit of God's good to others when they need me.

And finally,

In order to strengthen our relationship with the divine.

We say we're doing this in order to strengthen that relationship.

To be a better conduit of God's good to others when they meet us.

So,

May we merit that today,

As we jump into show for team together.

First I always provide a brief summary of the Torah portion.

And then we delve into a very specific area for us to be able to learn from what the path of Musa mindfulness has to inform us and give us insight and wisdom into how to navigate and live our lives from the,

This ancient texts,

Correct.

So,

What happens on this week's Parsha.

It focuses on leadership and justice,

Which should have the minute you hear show for team judges,

What what do we associate in its ideal form it should be about leadership and justice.

The teachers been a Israel the children of Israel,

Must appoint the people themselves must appoint show for team judges,

And show to read officers enforcers of what the judges,

Create as law.

As we are told,

Said,

Said,

Said,

Which is one of the most famous.

Right,

Which means that we are to work hard to create justice,

Just like we are running or chasing after it.

And that there be some type of case or law that is just too baffling to them that we have certain branches of government if we want to call it that ways of governing that they will be able to turn to and rely on one another in specific cases in order to strengthen one another and move forward.

It also covers of whoever will end up being a king of been a Israel,

What that King is not allowed to own,

And that that King needs to fear Hashem and follow the Torah,

And not raise his heart above everyone else.

And then been a Israel are also told to stay away from magic and sorcery and be aware of false prophets,

You might be thinking what does this all have to do with one another,

We'll try to touch base on that.

We also cover again,

And that if a person,

God forbid kill somebody by accident involuntary manslaughter.

They have to go to one of the RDA meek lot right to the cities of refuge.

And that the courts that will be created by the Shofa team the judges that we appoint need to rule based on honest testimony from more than one witness and in a capital crime,

Two or more witnesses,

Right.

So when it's a time for war,

God forbid,

Not everyone has to fight before a battle but the Israel should propose peace,

And they must be careful to only destroy enemies or fight enemies who pose a threat and not people who were not soldiers,

And not natural matter of fact there is a commandment to only a knock down and use the trees that don't bear fruit.

You might be wondering what is that about and why would that be commanded in national security policy and policy of war.

Right.

So,

And finally if someone is mysteriously,

I am seriously is not the best word but if,

God forbid,

And a corpse of dead human being is found in the middle of kind of nowhere.

The leaders of the nearest town are to perform a special ritual,

Which is known as a lot.

And,

And this is this is also tied it this is all related,

Which I'll touch upon.

Let me see what else I want to summarize for you before I close this out.

Just that there are four main types of human authorities that get discussed here about what kind of society.

We are to build right with judges,

Kings,

Priests and prophets right and nothing is said of the actual elders themselves,

The Zikinim,

Because,

And perhaps their authority was traditional and taken for granted.

And it talks about the responsibilities of these officials that we appoint.

What you should know about this Torah portion which is common in the Torah,

Is that the text will not give the like thorough definition of the office and what that office the duties and responsibilities are that office,

But rather emphasize broad principles that can then be later used and practice among human beings in real time.

Right.

So,

After dispersing authority to these various officials,

And the text in Deuteronomy and Devarim and Shophatim seeks to prevent the development of a strong kingdom in the sense of a dictatorship.

Right.

And that this is a one that will not be focused on prestige and power.

The basically prominence is given limitation by God right there's a real concern to lay limits.

And this is a very important and original feature of the Torah among ancient Near Eastern texts.

It really lays the ground for our responsibility as citizens for public supervision,

And even criticism of human authorities,

Obviously.

Right.

And I think I'll close with that summary and then delve into what we're going to today to see what I want to concentrate on for you.

And,

Okay,

So what are these,

What are these broad principles and what do they have to do with one another.

First of all,

You might even think be thinking let's just start in general.

Well,

What a lot of people in modern Western countries tend to think that the spirituality religion is something that is kind of a make feel good endeavor.

And not what we perhaps witness here in the Torah,

Which is the Torah has a very specific projects through Hashem and our ancestors,

That to manifest God's presence in the world that we have within every single one of us created in the image and the likeness of the divine.

Then there has to be certain behavior,

Words,

Thoughts and deeds that are authentic and sincere wholehearted devotion with God to manifest the presence of God to manifest that which is upright,

Wholesome,

Wise,

Moral,

Ethical,

And it must be done through specific behavior.

Specific behavior that will hold society,

That will contain extremes,

That will seek and pursue and chase justice.

This is the foundational and often makes perfect sense to those who do well in religious communities,

Where we witnesses and feel the benefit of it essentially.

It's almost like a birthright,

We expect that there are certain behavior that is to be taught and modeled and celebrated.

And if you're not from that and say you're just raised in secular humanistic environment,

Society,

Some of this may rub up against you or it may not make full sense yet of like,

Why does this need to be commanded?

How is this religious or spiritual?

Lots of,

I guess,

Discussion and learning has to take place that this is seen as profoundly religious and spiritual.

That is foundational,

The law,

The ethics.

So,

For instance,

The very fact that I've been and you and all of us have been endued and trusted from God to take it upon ourselves to appoint judges,

For instance,

And that this is going to be one of the foundational acts that we manifest God's presence.

It's profoundly rewarding and full of life and purpose that you make sure that you are an active citizen and participant and creating these institutions and upholding them and speaking out when they go to the extremes.

When you have one leader that is attempting to remove the other branches of government and rule as a dictator,

Which we are witnessing,

Unfortunately,

In many countries in the world right now.

So,

I will just delve in to say that when we as a whole,

As the public,

Fail to appoint judges and enforcers,

Officers,

And to strengthen them,

It is upon us,

Then,

The responsibility.

We fail as a society when we fail to appoint these.

The real value and functions of these judges and officers is to compel all of us to observe the Torah,

To keep on the path towards holiness,

To really show that there's consequence for unwholesome,

Unjust deeds.

So,

It's incumbent upon all of us.

And this is quite beautiful.

It's not incumbent upon a certain class or only a certain tribe or only,

Say,

The priests.

This is profoundly democratic.

So,

And what's so beautiful about this world of creating these institutions,

Upholding them,

And upholding that which is just and right,

Is that besides the manifestation of God,

You allow others to witness your relationship with the divine.

And good conduct and us wanting to live upright moves us out of a state of that we're doing it out of fear,

Perhaps,

Right,

To one where we're accustomed to do justice.

We're accustomed to speaking up and moving for what is just and right,

And we do so out of love,

Right?

And that's very profound.

It's very beautiful.

What else do I want to share with you?

The other beautiful thing that this,

This comes actually from one of our,

Harshanim,

One of our classic rabbinic commentators from the Middle Ages,

Rashi from France.

And I believe he's around 900.

And he really wants us to pay attention to the text about that.

We are doing justice and judgment for the Lord,

Right,

That the justice and the law is God's right.

But that we ourselves in this process is that God is with us in giving judgment.

It's not for ours alone.

We are never to rely on our own convictions in a sense,

Right,

Where there could be a perversion of judgment.

But there's this beautiful concept that when we are judging and when we are creating these institutions,

We're doing it along with God.

And I find that profoundly moving and beautiful.

So the specific text here of appointing the judges that I had mentioned,

And then making sure to turn to other branches of government.

For instance,

The Kohanim,

Should the Shofotine not,

The judges not understand,

Or something's too baffling.

The making sure to contain the office of the king,

The staying away from prophecy and magic and such,

Instead of rooted,

Strong foundational institutions in relationship with God and wholehearted devotion to God,

Right.

And to creating,

Essentially there are open air prisons in some way where these cities of refuge for the people who commit involuntary manslaughter to go to,

To serve,

To be there until the Kohen Gadol passes away.

And this is about the whole concept of the blood revenge that was so common when individuals took matters into their own hands instead of relying on institutions,

Instead of a rule of law,

Which is what God is entrusting us to do to create a just society.

Also,

That when we go to war,

We are to contain those impulses towards hatred,

Greed and delusion that can happen so easily in war,

That it has to be contained,

That we're not to just wanton destruction every tree that we see or every person,

Particularly who's not a soldier.

There's just like the office of the king has to be maintained for his own greed.

So too,

When we,

There must be a containment of what the military can and cannot do and the individual soldier.

And the same thing with God forbid we find a corpse in the middle of everywhere that we honor that body and that loss and the blood meeting the earth,

And that we have that special ritual to say we are not responsible,

We don't know who is,

And to move through that and to honor it instead of just passing by and ignoring the body.

So what are these all have to have in common.

Right.

They're all wholehearted devotion with God,

That we be authentic,

That we serve God have the inner,

The inner behavior the thoughts and the emotions match the outer words and deeds in service to others,

And adjust society.

And essentially,

When we are at variance right when we have conduct that is contradictory.

We can't be trusted.

And the same thing goes with judges and courts and enforcers and officers if they are upholding the law,

And they're saying one thing and doing another.

They can't be trusted and then therefore we can't who appointed them.

So,

Um,

There has to be a real sincere service.

Where there isn't contradiction.

One thing I want to say to you is this enlargement they were witnessing an enlargement of state interest and of institutions and what had been previously considered private injuries and private interest.

And this is a profound shift.

Because there's more and more population.

You can't just live in isolated small tribal communities anymore and not have the effect of the larger world.

There's this real relying on not only justice but justice comes with the war,

The strength to practice self restraints,

Both individual and institutional very keen me that soul trade in Moosa practice.

So that absolute power is moderated by the separation powers.

So that absolute power of the soldier and the army traveling through town doesn't just murder everyone there doesn't burn down or take every tree that there is a real lane of strong self restraint and communal restraint that has to be practiced.

And,

And that strict justice,

Right.

Is tempered by chesed by loving kindness by compassion in these prescriptive roles that we have right that there must be at least one witness for regular cases two or more for capital in the sanctuary cities,

So that the involuntary manslaughter case can not be murdered in blood revenge but rather go serve.

They don't call it serving but it is a form of open air prison,

Essentially,

And that in monetary restitution and personal injury we witness also.

So this is very important because you may not see them all as related or really understand the relationship but it's all.

It's all there and you know what it was all there from the very beginning.

You think about back at the relationship.

When cayenne murdered the first murder recorded in the Torah murdered his brother have them.

And he knew of the concept of blood revenge,

It obviously was very alive and part of the culture there and he cried out in fear of it he said to God.

You can't make me go and wander as my as my consequences my punishment for murder,

Because people will see me and they'll come and kill me that I will be held responsible for spilling that blood for what I did.

And so God essentially.

I will put a mark on you and you know one will harm you because of that mark.

So we have that concept on the individual level level.

This is way back and better sheet which will visit again after all the holidays and a month or two.

And now we see it on the institutional level,

God's mark on involuntary well this was,

You know,

Obviously his was actually real manslaughter with intention.

So we have involuntary manslaughter,

And the mark is that they go to a city of refuge.

Right this open air prison.

And they won't be murdered there won't be blood revenge there's not going to be individual taking manners matters into one's own hands anymore that this is going to be held by the collective by the people who are pointing these judges and officers.

And earlier,

We have a case where Abraham,

When he,

Our beloved ancestor,

First of the patriarchs,

When he goes to begin his journey and being commanded to leave his homeland his father's house,

Everything he knows,

He is told to serve God for wholeheartedly walk with God right there's a whole heartedness to it.

And that very language of be upright,

Be whole walk with me wholeheartedly serve God wholeheartedly with God right is again found in this partia and show fatigue,

Where we too are serving God.

This way,

Caring for others in society and all sentient beings.

It is God's earth.

We are to be the protectors of it.

We are to not cause wanton destruction.

So,

One of the key practices that I want to encourage two things I want to leave with today before we move into our my moves our mindfulness meditation practice,

Which is that balance between Gabor of strong self restraint and boundaries,

And also having this tempered by festive this loving kindness.

This compassion is the real sense that when it says static static,

Your dog.

It means chase pursue.

But be slow to judge.

Do so mindfully.

Be awake and aware of the whole situation around you.

You might have thought to yourself,

The very concept of chasing or pursuing has a kind of fast agitation to it.

But not so we are being taught to slow down to gather all the information to make sure we have enough witnesses that we have all that we can see in our,

In our limitations as human beings.

That we slow down to counteract that current trend that's so strong in our society right now full of reactive judgment and reactivity,

In general,

That we adopt as a practice today.

And in our lives,

Particularly this whole week of being slow to judge towards others,

Even towards ourselves.

This will not only make us better more involved citizens,

But should be serve as judges or as officers,

Or in any presidential or prime minister office today.

In any of the branches of government,

Being a strong fellow citizen,

That we be slow to judge.

I,

That we pursue with passion with very good.

That is mindful.

Okay,

That combination we temper the no space between the match and the fuse with our practice.

That will make us all better judges and officers in the end.

So,

I want to encourage all of you to realize on the global level.

This is my call to all of us today.

We are in a state of crisis with the climate change.

There can be no more denial.

Do not allow yourself to practice that privilege.

Here we must have the aura of strong self restraint.

To be aware of the state of the world and that we are causing wanton destruction of Hashem's earth.

All of us are responsible.

That we advocate and be strong citizens,

The very ones who appoint judges and officers to advocate that our countries,

Move off of fossil fuels as soon as possible,

That we help fund and research and learn about and become in the process to invest in other forms of energy,

Wind,

Solar and whatever else we can even imagine right now.

That we move off of gasoline on our vehicles,

That we move as much as possible if we have in our diet of eating red meats,

That of cow,

Pig,

Whatever else represents that.

It is upon all of us.

We are witnessing now as I am across the whole world.

The earthquakes,

The hurricanes,

The forest fires,

The extreme heat,

The drought that's going on for years in Africa.

Hashem sending the sign that was given to Kayin from our behavior of this wanton destruction from our grandparents,

Our great grandparents to our parents to us,

That we not force ourselves and our children and grandchildren to have to wander the earth as Kayin did.

That nobody take blood revenge,

Because we didn't appoint and practice justice,

Justice you shall pursue.

Educate yourself,

Speak out this information.

I highly recommend looking at National Geographic's video on before the flood.

Although that is a bit outdated I think it's from 2018.

It's a beginning for you to look at,

And then you can research and do more.

Let's continue today and our mindfulness meditation practice now.

Assume one of the four classic postures,

Either standing strong mountain pose,

Gently walking back and forth.

Eyes open so you remain awake and alert.

Or,

If you're like me,

Either seated on a Zafu on a meditation cushion,

Or at the edge of the seat,

So that we remain upright,

Awake and alert,

And at ease at the same time.

Grounded in Mother Earth,

So that we feel held.

Heavy sit bones,

Full of honor,

That heaviness.

We begin with three deep cleansing breaths,

Inhalation the gift of oxygen to us.

And exhale.

Inhalation raising the shoulders this time.

And exhale.

And inhalation.

Inviting ease,

Inviting comfort,

Inviting to be here in the present moment,

Let go of your breath.

You like me may feel the desire and urge to smile.

And if it feels healthy and natural to you,

Please do so.

I welcome you to close your eyes if you feel safe and comfortable.

Otherwise lower your gaze.

And we begin.

We begin this practice by paying attention.

We notice what is here for us.

So we'll begin with a short body scan to see what is calling for your loving attention if anything.

Beginning at the toes,

Bringing your full attention to your toes.

Moving up the feet slowly through the arches if you have any.

Exhale.

Lower leg.

Your knees.

Notice if there's any tension or soreness.

Maybe there's full body breathing you feel the air flowing through your body down to your thighs.

Notice how when you take a deep inhalation,

There's actual pressing of your thighs and your sit bones further into the seats if you are seated,

And you become even more dignified and upright created in the image and likeness of the divine moving through your up your tummy into your chest into the shoulders,

The collarbone blowing through the front of your neck.

Letting the jaw relax the tongue,

Be soft inside the cheeks,

Relaxing,

Even behind the ears,

Coming to more ease and inviting your breath behind your eyes through your eyebrows into your forehead.

Your crown.

Feel the love,

The breath flowing through you have this full body breathing.

What is here for you.

What sensations are you experiencing in the body.

As we head down the back of the head down the back of the neck into the shoulder.

Feel as you tap your way down your spine.

Feel the energy of the nervous system flowing through your nerves as they dance out of your spine with the breath to every corner of your body down to your sit bones,

The back of your legs,

Even allowing the flow out to your arms to your fingertips back down to your beautiful feet.

Noticing what emotions arose for you are right now,

Where we scan the body.

Anything stuck.

Anything feeling constricted.

Then name your loving breath and ease to open with expansiveness.

Let's do this by following path,

Bringing in the love of the Brahma Viharas of loving kindness,

Metta,

Chesed,

And joy,

Simcha,

Rachamim and compassion,

Menuchat ha-nefesh of equanimity,

Strengthening those in our practice each day that we are able to meet yourself,

Whatever arises.

Notice now any emotion that arises in you.

It'll always have a certain shelf life,

It will become a laya,

Like a state.

It'll have a certain shelf life and then it passes.

Because these are one of the inarguables that all life is impermanent.

We too are born,

Will become sick.

Notice your thoughts.

Bring your full loving attention to your thoughts.

Bring loving curiosity and kindness to whatever arises.

No need to identify with your thoughts or to push them away.

Notice that the body,

Heart,

Mind,

Soul connection is a bit like the branches of government that we are to create from command from director of the Torah,

That we as the people are to appoint judges and officers,

And to create the limit,

And that there's a direct relationship to how those institutions behave and the health of our society.

When we don't set those proper boundaries and limits of how we treat the earth,

How we treat the enemy,

How we treat those who are in our borders,

How we treat ourselves.

We suffer the consequences.

God's earth suffers the consequences.

And so to the human body.

We see the direct relationship to sensations and thoughts and emotion.

And this heart body connection that when we have reactivity.

When we live a life of almost high blood pressure high reactivity and response to whatever the stimuli is.

We cause the body to begin to be sick.

The same when we are in high reactivity.

When there is not slow,

Low slow slowness to judgment.

We cause society to be sick and then the planet to be sick.

And it's all one,

It's all one great deep loving relationship.

And it's the gift from God that we care for our bodies that we care for our society.

We care for the planet.

With God.

We'll spend the next minute in silence before I ring the bell.

Thank you for your practice.

Thank you to Hashem for bringing us to this moment.

Your eyes were closed,

You can gently and slowly open them to allow the light back in.

Thank you to the ancestors for providing us this practice and also mindfulness,

This path.

Thank you for all of you and for entrusting me to teach you and lead you on the paths of holiness,

It is a great honor and privilege.

And if you feel any sense of holy,

Righteous,

Siddic,

And urgency behind my spirit and voice tonight is because we have entered the Hebrew month of Elul.

And it is upon us to practice and prepare to be ready for as we say the king is in the field,

Waiting for us.

As we head towards Rosh Hashanah,

The new year,

Which will be at the end of Elul,

We're on the third day of Elul today.

Ten days later,

After much what we call teshuvah,

Repentance,

And tzedakah,

Giving of righteousness and charity,

And tefillah,

Lots of praying,

We will head to the gates of Yom Kippur,

Where there will be the day of atonement.

One that we have to face what we and our ancestors have created and benefited from at the destruction of the planet.

And so I invite you to begin to each day of Elul,

Look to how you can change your life,

How you can advocate,

How you can make this world a better place to leave it for our generations after that,

Which our patriarchs and ancestors expected that they entrusted us.

So join me,

Join me every day of Elul,

You will find both on the website and on our YouTube channel,

The 40 days Elul practice of Muslim mindfulness,

It will also be posted on all social media,

Where we can practice and learn together.

And grateful for your comments and questions and any support you give to the Institute for Holiness,

Kehillat Musa and Mindfulness,

For us to continue to perpetuate this holy and good work together.

Thank you for today.

I look forward to seeing you,

God willing,

A week from today on August 27,

Where we will jump into the Torah portion of Ki Tetzeh.

So be sure to read the Torah portion,

Read some commentary on it if you're able,

And hear it read and chanted in communities all over the world on Shabbat,

And we've all practiced and strengthened ourselves to be of service to God and others.

Thank you again,

Take care.