Meditations

MEDITATION: Moving into “Merkhav Yah” — a Place of Expansiveness (Passover)

In this meditation, we explore the obligation to see yourself as if you personally left Egypt by understanding the leaving of Mitzrayim as the leaving of a narrow constricted emotional space and entering into merkhav Yah (based on Psalm 118 in Hallel), a place of divine expansiveness which is open and inclusive and welcoming of […]

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MEDITATION: Release and Renewal (Parashat HaChodesh, Passover and Parashat Bo)

The first commandment the Isarelites receive as a nation is to mark the new moon. In this meditation, we look at this commandment as an invitation to remember our own capacity for renewal. (Click image to read more)

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MEDITATION: The Stillness that Can Hold Pain (Parashat Shemini)

This meditation connects Aharon’s stance of demamah, of stillness, at the death of his sons, to the “still, small voice” of God that Eliyahu experienced, understanding stillness as a divine point implanted in each of us that can hold any pain, no matter how intense. We work first on developing a sense of this stillness

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MEDITATION: Amalek, Ukraine, and Moshe’s Strong Arms of Faith (Parashat Zakhor)

In this meditation, we imagine the war with Amalek with all its tenuousness and feel inside us the fear and hopelessness that come from a cruel unprovoked attack by the powerful upon the weak. We allow ourselves to feel that gnawing doubt that evil will triumph in relation to Amalek, and in relation to the

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MEDITATION: All Parts Have a Place (Parashat Pekudei)

We see and honor each of our internal parts as having a place insde us, just as Moshe saw and anointed each of the vessels of the Mishkan (Tabernacle). (Click image to read more and listen)

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MEDITATION: The Cleft in the Rock (Parashat Ki Tisa)

In this meditation, we explore the feeling of being held in the cleft of the Rock of Life as a response to the shakiness which the people experienced upon awaiting Moshe’s return, and which we all regularly experience.

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MEDITATION: Our Inner Ner Tamid, Eternal Light (Parashat Tetzaveh)

In this meditation, we work together to access the Ner Tamid (eternal light) inside us, to feel its glow spread through us, to know its steadfastness, and to spread its light to the other parts of us that are needing light. Photo by Pixabay at Pexels

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MEDITATION: Becoming a Mishkan, a Dwelling Place for Divine Presence (Parashat Terumah)

In this meditation, we focus on the Aron, the ark, as the meeting place for Divine Presence in the Mishkan, and we find that meeting place inside ourselves in our hearts, and specifically in the hole (like the open space above the Aron between the angels where God spoke) of our vulnerability. We find in

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MEDITATION: The Vulnerable Inside you (Parashat Mishpatim)

One theme running through the parsha’s laws is taking care of the vulnerable in society — the stranger, the widow, the poor, the slave, . . . In this meditation, we look inward to our own vulnerable parts, we get to know them and the shame and judgment surrounding them, we listen to them and

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MEDITATION: A World of Praise (Ashrei)

This meditation considers the entire universe as a world of praise to God, and explores our ability to enter and join that praise. The meditation is based on a study of Ashrei we did together in my Psalms group, and plays with the words מהולל, mehulal, “praised,” and כל, kol, “everthing,” which both appear often

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