Keeper of the Covenant and the Lovingkindness

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Keeper of the Covenant and the Lovingkindness . . .

Check-ins brought us very present with our stories of crime, illness, job loss, and other events that have transpired since the last time we sat together. 

I Kings I, 8:1  “Solomon gathered together the Elders of Israel – the heads of the tribes, the carriers of the ancestors”

At first glance it is unclear who Solomon is gathering.  Are these 3 different categories of leaders among the people – elders, tribal heads, ancestor-carriers?  However, close look at the Hebrew shows no letter vav between these 3 descriptors, suggesting that the latter 2 are defining characteristics of an Elder of Israel.   Thus, those who can be called “Elder” are the leaders in their tribes who carry the ancestral legacy.  Thus, an Elder is one who carries the ancestral traditions, offering the gift of that knowledge to the community.  We may consider ways to manifest this at our PV gathering this year – perhaps in the section of the 4 Questions?  Or the 4 Children? 

I Kings, 8:5.  “. . . offerings too abundant to be numbered or counted”

It is clear what physical offerings to Spirit were made back in the ancient times.  The offering of animals was a standard practice, and at this dedication of the new Temple, the offerings were astounding in number, unable to be counted.  This was how we communicated with Spirit.  While the animal sacrificial rites were predominantly transformed into prayer during subsequent centuries of Jewish history, we wonder what still may remain in the Hebrew tradition in the form of physical offerings, and what their role may be in these modern times?  Native Americans offer tobacco, or cornmeal in many personal ceremonies as a way to seek relation with Spirit.  Is there still a role, or similar physical ritual, that persists in the Jewish tradition that plays the same role?  Is such a physical offering necessary, when we have such rich prayerful ways to approach the Divine?  Does use of prayer alone keep us separated from our earth-based connection, aspects of God that are all around us at all times? 

I Kings, 8:13 “ I have surely built a house of habitation for You . .  . ”

The Cloud of the Shechinah rolls into the Beit YHVH (translated into English as “temple”), and the Cohanim have had to leave, unable to stay and serve in the Presence.  It is a bit unclear: did the Cloud fill only the Holy of Holies, or did it roll out of the Holy to fill the entire Temple?  Solomon uses here the feminine form of the pronoun “You”, a fact of considerable import that is lost in the English translation, as it is clear the Cloud is Shechinah, Divine Feminine, intimate dwelling Presence.  The Hebrew also indicates in its grammatical way, without bold font or underlines, that Solomon is emphasizing his accomplishment in building the Temple.  Hard to know his mindset, 3000 years later, but is there a hint of youthful arrogance present in this statement?  Solomon was only 16 years old when the building of the Temple began, and the construction took 7 years, so he is now a man in his early-mid twenties.  

A more mundane explanation for the cloud: the smoke from all the burning sacrifices filled the Temple and the Cohanim had to leave because they couldn’t breathe or see!

I Kings, 8:23 “ . . . there is none like You . . . guardian of the convenant and the the lovingkindness . . .  ”

Solomon raises his palms toward the Fire-Water Place (Shamayim – typically translated as “heaven”) and addresses YHVH directly and profoundly on behalf of all the people.  He opens with this acknowledgment of YHVH, God of Israel, as the keeper of the covenant (The B’rit) and love (The Hesed).  But what is The Covenant, and what is The Love?  There have been a number of covenants God has made with the Hebrew people and their predecessors: that which was made with Noah to never again destroy the earth; with Abraham, that his descendants would inhabit the Land and be as numerous as the sands on the edge of the sea; with each individual male child at the age of 8days; and most recently with David – that his descendants would always sit on the throne of Judah.  So, which of these is being referred to?  Or is there something much more personal being referred to here?  A possible explanation: the covenant is that which Creator makes with each individual Neshamah that comes to this physical plane and embodies in order to do the work for the completion of creation on this level.  Is the lovingkindness then that which follows as necessary, and what is so profoundly present, to allow us some space for our human flaws, errors, and distractions that keep us from fulfilling that Covenant?  When we say the Ahl Chets on Yom Kippur, are we not appealing to that Hesed, for that reason – acknowledging that we have really not kept up our part of the bargain.  And YHVH in the role of great gentle loving One, accepts our prayers like a parent consoles a teenager who has just stupidly totaled the family car, and allows us to get back on the bicycle and keep trying.  Perhaps this is the covenant and the love that Solomon is acknowledging. 

I Kings, 8:28 “ . . . prayer, supplication, and cry . .  . ”

Solomon uses three different words for prayer, suggesting 3 different ways to pray, 3 deepening levels of prayer. Tefillah – the standard text of the prayer;  T’chinah – a supplication, special plea, perhaps one that one has no merit to justify; Rinah – a cry out, from either joy or pain.  Are we aware of the difference in these modes of prayer?  Are we familiar with their uses and the feelings behind them in ourselves as we use them?  How does our connection with YHVH differ when we use these 3 forms of prayer? 

Final Discussion: Losing My Religion?

The idea was expressed that this event, the completion of the Temple in Jerusalem, may mark the beginning of the end of Earth-based Judaism.  What was once a tribal people living in intimate connection with earth, with the knowledge that God could be found in the stones and trees around them, that God could be wrestled with on the edge of a river in the dead of night, would no longer be the same.  This was the actualization of the warning from Samuel: that if you have a king, you will become like other nations and will stop being individually close to HaShem.  So now, the personal altars are outlawed, and the connection to the Divine is through a single structure in a single place determined by a single individual.  The Temple of stone, unmovable, a place you must go to for worship, perhaps too grandiose in its use of precious metals and other precious materials, compared to the simplicity of the fabric-covered and enclosed Tabernacle that could move amongst the tribes, reminding us that God really doesn’t need such fancy digs.  Whose idea was this Temple anyway?  Apparently David had the initiative, but God held him back from building it.  Was this a delaying tactic that didn’t quite work out, just as Aaron had tried to pacify the rebel crowd by allowing the Golden Calf to be built in the hope that Moses would return from the mountain before the line of idolatry had been crossed?  Could the building of the Temple by Solomon, rather than representing the crowning achievement of  a people dedicated to service of Spirit, instead actually represent a Cheyt, a missing of the mark, a break from the covenant between Soul and Creator that was actually intended? 

 Feelings were strong, as we discussed these ideas - anger.  resentment.  alienation.  Does the Jewish focus on the Temple, even to this day, border on idolatry?  Is it not a movement away from the idea that the Presence is everywhere?  In today’s temples and synagogues, do we rely too much on our rabbis and cantors, no matter how knowledgable and respected they may be, to be our interlocuters rather than maintain the stance of the mystic – to have that individual relationship with the Holy One?  Do we rely too much on buildings of concrete and steel, ornaments and stained glass, rather than on a simple path by the creek, or a small altar of stones? Can attention to earth-based, elemental practices bring us back to the covenant and the lovingkindness that was initially intended?

Another way to consider the issues:  Perhaps the timing of switching to a more institutional form of Judaism was intentional by Divine calculations or necessary in order to establish and/or maintain a certain State of the Emerging Culture, that was not ready with David and was then appropriate under Solomon. Though there is definitely a loss to mourn with no longer having a close and personal and creative connection with haShem and ritual design, perhaps there would have been unwanted developments. Change is rapid in those early personal stages. Perhaps something essential had to be captured and passed on to coming generations before it evaporated or became distorted.  When change is again needed we "Return" to earth based ways as the Baal Shem Tov did with Hasidism, allowing a direct connection with the divine that did not require stuffy education, and the poor had access, nature was important.  But then they became static too.  It is a cycle to be recognized throughout our history, or perhaps an expanding spiral, change followed by rich practice, then rigidity, then realization of what's missing and rebellion for revitalizing change. We may be now on the cutting edge of current Return and the beginning of a new, beautiful cycle. Our mourning is an occasion for celebration, as it marks the recognition and reconnection with our soul needs as a people. 

Next Meeting: Saturday, February 1 – location TBA.

Jachin and Boaz: Preparation and Inner Strength

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Preparation and Inner Strength . . .

Chanukah 2013, aka Thanksgivukah, brought us together to learn on a Sunday afternoon followed by an evening of latkes, candles, and deep sharing.

I Kings I, 7:21  “Jachin . . . and Boaz”

Solomon appointed a master coppersmith, Hiram, to work on the temple ornaments and utensils.  Hiram was to Solomon and the building of the temple as Bezalel was to Moses and the building of the Tabernacle, a master craftsman embued with Hochmah, Binah, and Da’at – the wisdom, understanding, and knowledge that could translate the primordial Divine thought into physical manifestation of art and beauty.  He built 2 massive columns of copper over 30 ft high (18 cubits to be exact), with ornate tops or capitals, copper meshwork, and designed with images of pomegranates and flowers.  In architectural history, columns were a major invention, and the Egyptians were the first to use them and use flower motifs to adorn them.  This implied connection to Egypt in the Temple architecture is interesting, as we had of course come out of Egypt almost 5 centuries earlier, and Solomon’s first wife was the daughter of the current Pharoah of Egypt. 

Hiram named the 2 pillars.  The one on the right, to the South, the side of the Menorah, he named “Jachin”, meaning establishment or preparation, from the root of the word Kavannah, intention.  The pillar on the left, North, the side of the Bread Table, He named Boaz, meaning “strength is in it”.  Thus, in entering the sanctuary, the part of the Temple just outside the Holy of Holies, one passed through this portal of intention and inner strength, perhaps homiletically acknowledging that establishing and maintaining the intention to Divine connection brings an inner strength, to the individual and to the people who carry that intention.

I Kings, 7:25.  “It (the Sea) stood on 12 oxen, 3 facing north, 3 facing west, 3 facing south, and 3 facing east”

Hiram next built a huge, round copper “sea”, 10 cubits (~20 feet) in diameter, one handbreath thick, supported on the backs of 12 copper oxen.  This sea of Mayim Chayim would be used for the Cohanim to wash and purify themselves for sacred service (Avodah).  The structure replicates the directions occupied by the 12 tribes during the journey through Sinai, suggesting the waters are only held aloft for their sacred purpose when the entire community is involved.  And the ox, or water buffalo, is the totem of the tribe of Joseph (as well as the tribe of Ephraim, once Joseph split into the tribes of Ephraim and Menasheh, whose totem was the oryx).   The Buffalo in general holds the direction of the West in Hebraic indigenous cosmology, based on Ezekiel’s mystical vision of the Chariot (Ezekiel, Chapter 1), as well as Ephraim/Joseph’s position in the wilderness.  This suggests the healing role of the water being held in the Sea, as West is the direction of healing, the place of Raphael (“healer of God”).  And calling this structure “sea” brings to mind the crossing of the Red Sea 840 years earlier, that healing moment in the life of the Hebrew people when we stepped out of the narrow limitations of physical oppression and towards the path of Spirit.  Copper is an element of passion in our tradition, thus these waters in the copper sea were embued with the passion for life, for relationship to Spirit, that would cleanse and heal those who would wash in it. 

It is noteworthy that the text describes the positions of the oxen in the counterclockwise direction, starting in the North, the place of mystery; moving to the west, the place of blending, merging, and healing; then to the South – place of clarity; and finally to the East – place of new beginnings.  This counterclockwise movement can also be seen as the unfolding path of our life journey: receiving some new influx of mystery from Spirit (North), blending it into ones being  (West), clarifying the meaning of the new piece one has received (South), leading to a new integration, a new beginning, a new way of being in the world (East), only then to begin another cycle of the journey with a new piece of mystery unfolding from the North (see Winkler, “Magic of the Ordinary”, pg 55).  Perhaps then, the Cohanim approached the Sea each time to wash knowing they were about to do ceremony with the kavannah of bringing the people closer in connection to their Divine wholeness. 

I Kings I, 7:27: “He made 10 copper stands . . . ”

Having made the Sea, Hiram next constructed 10 ornate copper stands to carry 10 lavers, smaller water-containing vessels.  These stands are clearly physical manifestations of the images of the Chariot, seen by Ezekiel in his vision over 300 years later, with images of lions, oxen, and embracing human figures.  The latter are described cryptically in the Hebrew, and imply the embrace of lovers, alluding to either intense human love, the archetypal unification of Masculine and Feminine, or the d’vey’kut (intense connection) of the Divine with Israel.  All of these themes are expressed in Solomon’s opus, the Song of Songs, and were manifested in this instance in the passionate copper of the 10 laver stands.  Why 10 stands?  No doubt a desire to include within the physicality of the Temple the 10 Sefirot, Divine Emanations, described in Sefer Yetzirah and much later by the Kabbalists of the Middle Ages. 

It is awesome to read these passages and experience directly the power of the sacred symbology of the Hebrew people, manifested from our very inception, grounded in indigenous wisdom, transmitting through the ages the energies of Spirit in the forms of animal beings, plant beings, human beings, minerals, water, earth.  We are therefore the beneficiaries, those who can receive these transmissions from our ancient ancestors, and gain an understanding of their connection to Spirit, how they understood YHVH from before a time when our people were physically removed from our land, displaced, oppressed and disconnected from our roots.  These symbols of Divine relationship have survived in our texts, hidden in our prayers, offering a path to reconnect to the energies of our ancient ancestors and prophets, a way to reclaim our indigenous, original connection, a Great D’vey’kut, to the Holy One. 

I Kings, 8:3 “All the elders of Israel came, and the Cohanim carried the Ark . ”

Once the building of the Temple was completed, after 7 years of construction, in the month of Eitanim (“the mighty ones” – the month of Tishrei), there was a great procession and inauguration of the Temple.  This was held just before Sukkot, the autumn harvest festival, so many people from all over the land were no doubt there on their pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the festival.  This was the Sukkot of Sukkots, as Solomon sought to harvest all that he had been spiritually planting for the past 7 years.  All the leaders of the people were there: “the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the ancestral familes.”  All the sacred implements from the Tabernacle were brought into the Temple – the Ark, the utensils, the sacred vessels – and there were offerings made “too abundant to be numbered”.   Like father like son, this procession of Solomon is reminiscent of the procession that occurred when David first brought the Ark into Zion (2 Samuel 6:12-19).  The Ark is placed in the Holy of Holies, under the “wings of the C’ruvim”, the 10 cubit wingspan between the 2 golden Cherubim Solomon had built.  It is quite something to close your eyes and imagine yourself back in that Jerusalem, experiencing the joy and expectations of being in that procession, witnessing that momentous event.

I Kings, 8:10-11: “the cloud/glory of YHVH filled the house of YHVH ”

The Shechinah, the Feminine, intimate, in-relationship manifestation of Spirit, described here as a “cloud” in one verse, and as the glory of YHVH in the next, fills the Holy of Holies.  The Cohanim had to flee the space, not able to be present as the Cloud entered and dwelt there.  She’hech’eh’yanu - Solomon has completed his preparations for just this moment.  All the building in the past 7 years, all the preparation, the use of the best materials, the best artisans, the best and most intentional building methods, have been for this moment.  And even up to the procession and the bringing of the Ark and implements to the Temple – one wonders what Solomon was thinking about.  Could he be sure it would all be acceptable to Spirit?  Hadn’t David stumbled in his first attempt to bring the Ark to Jerusalem, resulting in human deaths?  Hadn’t Nadav and Abihu, the well-meaning, priestly sons of Aaron, stumbled in their over-eagerness to offer incense to YHVH resulting in their deaths?  Hadn’t even as spiritually evolved a person as Moses misconstrued the way God wanted him to make His/Her Spirit present by striking the rock, and thereby lost the honor of entering the Land?  It is not a trivial thing to make a home for Spirit, to make a proper offering, to be truly pure in your intention.   There are many places where ego, arrogance, narcissism can trickle in and mess things up.  Solomon, Hiram, the Cohanim, and all those involved in this procession must have been quite pure in their Kavannah.  Offering a home, a Bayit, for Shechinah to dwell, offering it in the right way, in the right relationship, She comes in as a mist.  And the Temple from that point on becomes a focal place for the Hebrew people, the kingdoms of Judah and Israel unified as one kingdom under Solomon, to come and be in relationship with Spirit. 

Next Meeting: Saturday, January 4 

Each Under His Fig Tree

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Each Under His Fig Tree . . .

Kings I, 4:1  “So King Solomon was king over all Israel”

The next several verses name Solomon’s advisors, cabinet, military leaders, and priests.  This seems to be a new stage of development of the Jewish people, as they consolidate into a unified, national government rather than as the confederation of independent tribes or relatively loose structures characterized under the rule of Saul and David.  The people were taxed to support the centralized government which required a lot of wealth to run the affairs of state (detailed in Chap 5:2).  The country was divided into 12 federations, not aligned or affiliated with the previous divisions of 12 tribes, each of which provided crops and funds to fund the national government for one of the 12 months of the year.  This represented an economically-based social structure of sharing, crop rotation, and division of labor for the sake of the whole. 

Kings I, 4:20.  “Judah and Israel were numerous . . . eating, drinking, and rejoicing.”

Kings I, 5:5: Judah and Israel dwelt in tranquility, each man under his grapevine and under his fig tree, from Dan to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon.” 

Freed of other demands by the sharing of responsibility, with a sense of security provided by Solomon’s truces with neighboring peoples, the people had time to party.  These were the “good old days” of the Hebrew empire, the golden years, with   visions of fulfillment, a beautiful visual, after all the previous wars and battles and strife of David’s period of rule.

Kings I, 5:1: “Solomon was ruler over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines”

The Hebrew used for “ruler” is the word “Moshel” rather than “Melech” (king).  We sense this has to do with ruling an empire, from a distance, like a chairman of the board.  This was how Solomon ruled his vast empire.  This contrasts with the Melech, the king, who takes the knowledge from above (Mem), teaching through himself (Lamed), to ground it in Earth for the sake of his subjects (final Chaf).  There is a sense of a bit more intimacy and familiarity, or at least proximity, of the Melech to his subjects, versus the distant administrator represented by the Moshel.

Kings I, 5:9 “God gave wisdom and great understanding, and an expanded heart  . . . ”

This is the manifestation of the “listening heart”, Lev shomeah, that Solomon had  asked from HaShem in his prior dream. So Solomon is gifted with a heart that perfectly balances wisdom, Chochmah, the formless influx of wisdom from Spirit, and understanding, the structure of Binah, that gives that formless wisdom the structure it needs to move further into the world.  Solomon is thus the model of a leader with a brilliant mind, one that balances both left and right brain.  This was the wisdom that “spoke 3000 proverbs and 1005 songs” (verse 5:12), giving us the wisdom teaching books of Proverbs, Song of Songs, and Kohelet (Ecclesiastes). 

Kings I, 5:15: “for Hiram was beloved by David . . . ”

Solomon begins the building of the Temple, asking King Hiram of Lebanon to provide the cedar trees that would be needed for building material.  Hiram was on great terms with David, and extends the alliance to David’s son.  Although he had wanted to build the temple, David was not able to.  He was a man always at war, probably had few preserved resources, and was spiritually not the one to build the temple.   Solomon on the other hand had consolidated the kingdom, brought peace and plenty, and had the spiritual wisdom needed to transfer the nation’s place of worship from the desert-built Tabernacle to the more permanent structure that would be the Beit HaMikdash.