 |
| A shofar, in the shape of vav, on wall of our sukkah. |
After the intensity of personal introspection involving the High Holy-Days, on Sukkot we are asked to celebrate a state of joyful gratitude.
And You shall Rejoice in Your Holiday
ושמחת בחגך
V'Samachta B'Hagecha
And Be in Complete Happiness
והיית אך שמח
V'Hayita Ahh Sameach
Our ancestors apparently knew that being in a state of happiness and gratitude is like a muscle we need to "pump and work out" especially when facing inner or outer challenges.
I am count this day's blessings before I lay my head on the pillow
The few hours we spend at Devorah's blessed home filled my soul with pure libation.
Turning a shed into a mishkan with you all felt like being children engaging in holy play.
I am forever grateful to Marc who comes prepared with radical teachings that stretches the imagination and show us another way to access our divine home base.
I bless the tears that got shed, the laughter, the smiles, the caring eyes, the songs and also doing the "line dance" with the Lulav.
Bill Finn aka Billbob
When
we sat by the Sukkah at Devorah’s place, our talks were interrupted by noises
from the sky. Planes overhead drowned
out our teachings and sharing. One
magical moment was when unusually loud songbirds chimed in during Mark’s
insights about the Great Mother, the 8 days of Sukkot, and the directions of
the lulav.
As
Marc began the lulav ceremony, a large palm leaf, full of nasty sharp thorns,
leaped off the roof, and fell down near where he had been sitting. Afterward, another large noise interrupted his
explanation of the ritual. He remarked
something to the effect that there were forces trying to stop us.
Linda
remarked that waving the lulav on the Sabbath was prohibited by halachah, so
perhaps interruptions were evidence of spiritual forces at work. There arose a discussion if we should proceed
with the ritual waving. Mark decided that we should proceed with the lulav
ceremony and that each person would decide for themselves about individual
waving.
Afterward,
I recalled a Talmudic story about a dispute between Reb Eliezer and Reb
Joshuah. Even after a succession of
miracles and a Divine Voice declared Reb Eliezer’s opinion the correct one, the
Sages still ruled that in favor of Reb Joshua.
They stated, "The Torah is not in heaven!" (Deut. 30:12). We
pay no attention to a divine voice because long ago at Mount Sinai You wrote in
your Torah at Mount Sinai, `After the majority must one incline'. (Ex.
23:2)" (http://www.jhom.com/topics/
Even
if the interfering noises from the sky were Divine Voices, it would have been
legitimate to “incline” after the “majority,” and follow the opinion of our
teacher, Marc.
Avram
A congregation was faced with a serious moral/ethical issue and
after a great deal of discussion asked the synagogue board and the rabbi
to make the decision. At the next meeting of the synagogue board, the
issue came to a vote. The 15 members of the board voted one way, and
the rabbi voted the other.
At the next board meeting, the rabbi said to the
board, "I know we voted on this last time; I know the vote was 15-1; but
still I am very troubled by this issue. Would it be alright if we
asked G-d to weigh in?"
The board agreed that this would be appropriate, and
all prayed for Divine guidance. After a while, the voice of the Holy
One came to the board meeting, proclaiming, "The rabbi is right!"
After a moment's silence, the board chair said, "OK, Rabbi. Now it's 15-2."
Michael
The word "shofar" appears over 70 times in the five books of Torah. In
most instances, it is spelled shin-vav-peh-resh. However the first use
of the word, at Sinai, is spelled without the vav, shin-peh-resh. I
intuitively know there must be teachings we can learn from this
variation in spelling; I have written about some teachings, and continue
to look for more.
Sitting in a sukkah, today, I learned that "sukkah" also appears in Torah with and without vav. I have written about this on my blog at Sukkot - Shofar Connection: No Vav
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment