Rabbi Kedar

Friday, September 11, 2009

22 Elul 5769

PSALM VII

O Lord, my Father--
number my days this way:

Days of strength to lie,
if the truth brings torment.
Days of weakness,
if strength gives rise to suffering.
Days of noise,
if silence is the cause of loneliness.
And
Nights of disconcerting dreams
if I turn smug to the taste of hunger.

Pursue me,
Discomfort me,
Destroy my own complacency
with paradox and contradiction.

Remind me I am Yours,
                        Father.

Nine Entered Paradise Alive, Danny Siegel

Friday, September 4, 2009
15 Elul 5769 

The idea and reality of God can seem so far away. So opaque, obscure, invisible. Over the years, I have contemplated the following three passages and they have helped me bring a sense of holiness and spirit to my ever present yearning for God.

Rabbi Karyn Kedar

God says to man as He said to Moses: “Put off thy shoes from thy feet” – put off the habitual which encloses your foot and you will recognize that the place on which you happen to be standing at this moment is holy ground. For there is no rung of being on which we cannot find the holiness of God everywhere and at all times.

Jewish Philosopher, Martin Buber, Ten Rungs: Collected Hasidic Sayings

Earth’s crammed with heaven
And every common bush a fire with God
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes
The rest sit around it and
Pick blackberries.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Friday, August 28, 2009

8 Elul 5769

Throughout the entire year, you should always look at yourself as equally balanced between merit and sin, and the world as equally balanced between merit and sin. If you perform one sin, you tip the balance and that of the entire world to the side of guilt and bring destruction upon yourself. On the other hand, if you perform one mitzvah, you tip the balance and that of the entire world to the side of merit and bring deliverance and salvation to yourself and others. This is implied by Proverbs 10:25: “A righteous person is the foundation of the world,” – that is, one who acts righteously tips the balance of the entire world to merit and saves it.

-Maimonides, The Laws of Repentance 3:4

Friday, August 21, 2009
1 Elul 5769

The spirit brings us a sense of wonder and beauty. Without wonder or beauty, I doubt if we are fully human. Beauty stirs the soul, and the soul guides us to beauty.  That is why Selichot – forgiveness – prayers that mark this season open with a meditation on the work of creation and the natural beauty of the world:

To you belongs day, to you also night,

You fashioned the luminaries and the sun.

In your hand are the hidden depths of the earth

And the heights of the mountains….

We are reminded that we belong to a wider plane of existence, that we are connected to the creative power that unites all being, through our participation in which – if only momentarily – our mortal nature is transcended and we are joined to immortal life.

The Eternal Journey: Meditations on the Jewish Year, Jonathon Wittenberg

Welcome to the Hebrew month of Elul. This powerful month marks a thirty day period of introspection where we observe a daily practice of slichot. Slichot are the forgiveness prayers which we recite in preparation for the High Holidays. For an entire month we listen to the sound of the shofar and listen for the yearnings of our heart; the shofar calls to us to pay attention, the heart whispers to us the vision of our higher selves. Who have you become? Who do you want to be? Our tradition invites us, obligates us, to spend a month in reflection, introspection and forgiveness. Life is a series of choices. Today choose to reflect on your life; choose to forgive; choose to become the person you were always supposed to be.

We will join you on this journey through weekly Shabbat emails beginning tomorrow. And during every Friday night Shabbat service during Elul, we will perform a ritual of prayer, reflection, and sounding the shofar.

Rabbi Karyn Kedar

Dear Congregants,

I just returned from vacation in Israel. We were together as a family for the first time in a long time. Talia is pregnant, due in five weeks; Shiri is in her second year of army service; and Ilan is a senior in high school preparing to follow his sisters to Israel and serve in the army. We did what families do when they are reunited: we laughed, talked, argued, ate, shopped, hung out. When the war broke out, many of you wrote me with prayers for our safety. Everyday I said to Ezra, "I have to write an email to the congregation." But I just couldn't. It was as if, to think too much, to try to express in words what I was feeling would have brought me out of the mundane, yet divine, role I was occupying during those days - mother to my children.

The time is upon us, he said. The time for truth, and not anger. When you are angry you are blinded to what is really true. You cannot see the light out of the maze of confusion and darkness. Anger blinds you. The time is upon us, he said. The time for courage, not cowardice. Courage requires that you simply do what you can. No more. But also no less. The time is upon us to reconcile. It does not matter who is right and who is wrong. All I really want is peace. Peace for myself and peace for my family.

Paraphrased by Rabbi Kedar as told to her
by a man days before his death

We are approaching the days that were given to us as a gift. It's time to wake up, to awaken the essential spirit within you. Do not shun this gift of time. Beginning Monday night we have ten days to think, muster courage, reassess, forgive, repent, and try again. Some thoughts to keep with you as you enter the world of introspection:

A Psalm of David

God is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear?
God is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalm 27:1

There is a candle burning on my dining room table. It smells like cinnamon bark floating in a cup of steaming tea. I light a candle when I need to remember something essential, yet elusive, something sacred, though I am surrounded by the ordinary. The light of a candle reminds me that eternity and hope and destiny shadow our every step, even when all we see is a shadow. The light of Shabbat reminds of the miracle and goodness of creation, the light of Hanukah reminds us to be dedicated to faith and religious practice, the yartzeit candle reminds us of our loved ones, and the eternal light in our sanctuaries reminds us of the constant presence of God.