Meditations

MEDITATION: What Unites Our Fragmented Parts (Parashat Vayakhel-Pekudei)

/ Meditations, Vayakhel, וַיַּקְהֵל, Pekudei, פְקוּדֵי

This meditation explores the relationship between the mishkan (Tabernacle), work and Shabbat. We start by noticing the multiplicity of vessels and labors and creations in the mishkan, noting that multiplicity inside ourselves as well, and feeling into the sense of overwhelm and fragmentation we sometimes experiece as a result. And then we consider what makes […]

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MEDITATION: Leaning In To Uncertainty (Parashat Ki Tisa)

/ Meditations, Ki Tisa, כִּי תִשָּׂא

What if the Israelites could have stayed with the feeling of uncertainty and unease, allowed the feeling but not acted on it? What if we could do that, learn to stay with the unease, with the questions, with the not knowing? (Click image to read more)

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MEDITATION: Standing Up For Ourselves (Parashat Zachor, Purim)

/ Zakhor, Meditations, Purim

We, too, are given permission by the King of Kings to do the work of standing up for ourselves against internal — as well as external — attack. (Click image to read more)

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MEDITATION: Putting Distance Around Our False Beliefs (Parashat Mishpatim)

/ Meditations, Mishpatim, מִּשְׁפָּטִים

In this meditation, we apply the phrase מדבר שקר תרחק, “keep yourself distant from falsehood’ (Ex. 23:7) to our inner falsehoods, to the core false beliefs about ourselves that lie hidden and unquestioned inside us, things like: “I am not enough” and “I don’t matter” and “I need to do everything just right.” We work

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MEDITATION: Envy and Our Own Inherent Value (Parashat Yitro)

/ Meditations, Yitro, יִתְרוֹ

This meditation deals with the tenth commandment, lo tachmod, “you shall not covet” or envy what your neighbor has. Bringing to mind a situation in which we might feel some envy around the accomplishment or quality of another person, we then look at the healing response that the experience at Mount Sinai offers us —

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MEDITATION: What Stops You From Singing Your Soul’s Song (Parashat Beshalach)

/ Beshalach, בְּשַׁלַּח, Meditations

In this meditation, we focus on one line from the Song at the Sea: עזי וזמרת יה ויהי לי לישועה, “The Lord is my strength and my song. The Lord has become my deliverance” (Exodus 15:2), looking at the connection between strength and song, and then finally, deliverance. We consider the strength it takes to

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MEDITATION: Relaxing into Redemption (Parashat Va’era)

/ Va'era, וָאֵרָא, Meditations

In order to achieve our own redemption, we need to become like Moshe in his ability to surrender to God and to open to the divine redemptive process. (Click image to read more)

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MEDITATION: Not Consumed By Our Fiery Emotions (Parashat Shemot)

/ Shemot, שְׁמוֹת, Meditations

In this meditation, we look at the image of the burning bush that was not consumed. We become aware of our internal fires of suffering and emotion and we find within them a pont of perfect stillness, like the eye of the storm. We experiment with holding both energies at once, both the raging fire

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MEDITATION: Hope Amidst It All (Parashat Vayechi)

/ Meditations, Vayechi

In the middle of Yaakov’s final words to his children, he suddenly turns to God in prayer with three words — לישועתך קויתי ה, “I hope for Your salvation, O Lord!” (Click image to read more)

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MEDITATION: Our Hidden Inner Light (Chanukah)

/ Chanukah, Meditations

In this meditation, we take the concepts of darkness and light into our internal world, exploring the parts of us that feel most dark and bringing some warm Chanukah light to keep them company. There is a tradition that the Chanukah light is related to the or haganuz, the divine light that God originally created,

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