What is Jewish about Jewish Meditation?

This question, like most questions about Jewish practice, has many answers. Perhaps the question is best answered experientially, by attending a Contemplative Shabbaton. Our February Shabbaton, cosponsored by TBZ and NH, began with a forty-minute silent meditation prior to our Friday night service. Our TBZ Kabbalat Shabbat Service was enriched by the rhythm of alternating chants and silence led by our NH teacher and chant-leader, Yocheved Katz. Shabbat morning began with another silent sit prior to Torah Study. In the davenning that followed, we were invited to pay full attention to each prayer we chanted and to appreciate the quality of the silence that followed.

In our Torah Service, several of us who teach at TBZ and NH invited the congregation to participate in the process of using meditation to illuminate our understanding of Torah. Because meditation can help to loosen us from our habitual patterns of thinking and interpreting, we are able to understand the familiar passages of Torah in the new, fresh context of the present moment. Our understanding reflects whatever we are struggling with in the present moment, set in the context of what has been known about the human condition for millennia.

In addition to reading and understanding, we have an opportunity, on Shabbat, to receive a blessing as we read each aliyah. Our NH teachers prepared for the Torah Service by reading the aliyot from the week's parasha and discovering some particular wisdom that spoke to a current challenge or dilemma. Each challenge or dilemma is, of course, a blessing on its own, a sign in our lives that says: "This is an opportunity to deal with some of your old habits in a new way, a way that might liberate you from the places where you usually get stuck." So we invited the congregants to come up to receive any aliyot that spoke to them in a meaningful way. The Torah Service is transcribed here:

First, let's take a moment to introduce where we are in the story. A couple of weeks ago, the Children of Israel were finally liberated from slavery under Pharaoh. No sooner were we liberated, than we were given the opportunity to take on a new and complex system of laws, rules and regulations that we were required to follow. We accepted them all in their entirety. How liberating can that be? How can following all these rules bring one freedom?

Today's parasha, Mishpatim, begins with several rules governing slavery and the freeing of slaves. We can of course, feel blessed, that in our community, many of us who suffer from feeling enslaved are enslaved by forces within, rather than by external masters.

This parasha raises for me the question of how following the rules can lead to an experience of freedom. From my own meditation practice I have learned that following certain rules of how and when I practice does indeed lead to an experience in which I have greater freedom from the thoughts, impulses, whims of the moment, and feelings of urgency that constantly disrupt, distract and derail my attention. As I sit and try to follow the breath, all sorts of urgent thoughts and impulses arise, and it is my job, in meditation, to simply watch them rise and fall away for the 20 or 40 minutes that I commit to non-action. In doing this, I have begun to recognize that my attention does not have to be jerked around by every wish or fear that comes up. Sometimes we think we are free if we can do whatever we want. But if every time we want something, we feel compelled to get it, we are slaves to our addictions and cravings. Each time we sit down to meditate and say, "I'm not going to get up for 10 or 40 minutes." we are practicing inner freedom, freedom to watch our own needs arise and fall, without being enslaved by them. Meditation is a workout for the inner muscles that keep our attention and focus strong.

So, the first aliyah (Exodus 21:1 - 21:6, offered by Bobbi Isberg) is an invitation to those of you who would like a blessing in your current struggle to feel less enslaved, less driven, by the usual distractions, cravings, addictions, or impulses that can derail you.

The second aliyah (Exodus 21:7 - 21:11, offered by Seth Castleman) highlights issues of fairness to women, who were not recognized as having equal rights. For this aliyah, we invite those who have been feeling unappreciated or not recognized.

The third aliyah, (Exodus 21:12-19, offered by Eliana Jacobovitz, our rabbinic intern) speaks harshly of offenses against others for which the penalty is death. But most of us don't need external judges to assign harsh penalty to ourselves. Some of us naturally feel horrible when we think we caused another being pain. If you feel as if you hurt someone this week, and this knowledge causes you pain, come join us for this aliyah and maybe it will make you feel a bit better.

The fourth aliyah (Exodus 21:20-27, offered by Yocheved Katz) includes the punishments: life for life, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, hand for a hand, foot for a foot, burn for a burn, wound for wound, bruise for a bruise. These laws come right out of Hammurabi's code written in stone in around 1700 BCE. While the laws sound harsh to us, their original intent was to stop the endless cycle of violence that continued over generations, inflicting ongoing harm back and forth over many years long after the original crime was forgotten. So this aliyah is for you if you have experienced being stuck in some kind of cycle of bitterness, anger, resentment, powerlessness and wish to let go of, find some freedom from whatever your habitual ways of responding has been to those who hurt you, in the past, present, or future.

The fifth aliyah (Exodus 21:28 - 21:32, offered by Reb Moshe Waldox) addresses the question of what you can do to make amends if your ox gores someone. Today, few of us own oxen. So how do we understand this teaching about what you do if something in your possession causes damage? Today, people own investments in companies and are often unaware of whether these companies might be doing damage to others or to our world. This aliyah is for anyone who is concerned about ethical investing.

The sixth aliyah (Exodus, 21:33 -36, offered by Reb Eliana) also speaks of the damage animals under our care may cause. I think of animals and pets that are under our care as something that we may want to be able to control, but we really cannot control (a bit like a teenage child). If you feel that you can use slightly more control over your life this week, or if you feel the need to accept those things that happen out of your control, please join us for this aliyah.

The seventh aliyah (Exodus 21:37 - 22:3, offered by Carl Woolf) covers making restitution for theft, and also how one treats a thief caught in the act. In a perfect world, no one steals. But the Torah teaches about the imperfect world that we actually inhabit. If we or others misbehave, we must act with principle (and compassion) in every scenario. For this aliyah, we invite those who are striving to act with integrity and compassion, even in the presence of their or others' mistakes.