David Arfa, Maggid

This is the second edition for this essay.  Rewritten for the anthology, Earth Etudes for Elul: Spiritual Reflections for the Season.  Edited by Katy Z. Allen.  Published by Strong Voices Press in 2018.

“Self-respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.”(1)—Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

When you were a kid, did you also feel the unbounded delight that I felt when I learned that a few small coins could get me individually wrapped yellow cakes with creamy filling? In my childhood, I felt that this unbounded joy was the ultimate freedom.

Growing up, I learned that instant gratification has grave impacts on our lives, our communities and the entire planet. Thanks to corporations built on historic conquest, slavery, massive waste and pollution, we have expanded to the point where we can carry all the musicians of the world in our pocket; we can place all the foods of the world on our table; we can search through all the hard-won intellectual treasures of the world; and we can play and watch all the games, movies, comedians and news of the world on demand. For the first time, we can buy stuff at the push of a button.

And yet, we all know our planet is in dire need, waiting for us to collectively learn limit-setting. Our planet is being severely impacted by our collective means of energy production, food systems, transportation choices and buying habits. Our planet is changing and human society cannot withstand continued consumer growth. We need to recognize limits. We need to learn to live with the reality of riddles like this(2): lily pads are doubling on a pond every day, Day 1—1, Day 2—2, Day 3—4, Day 4—8 and so on. On day 30, the pond is filled. On what day is the pond half filled?

Let’s dive into our treasury of stories and see what may be imagined. I am writing one week after the destruction that is Tisha B’Av. It is now the time of consolation. And yet, in Torah Moshe Rabbeinu, Moshe our great teacher is begging to cross over into the good land. He is old, but still of strong mind and strong eye. He has done so much: he grew up as Egyptian royalty; grappled with social injustice; responded with mortal violence; healed by land, love and a new wilderness community; followed his calling into a fateful showdown with Pharaoh and chose to spend the rest of his days leading an enslaved people into freedom. He is not a man used to taking no for an answer.

But here he is, reduced to pleading to be able to join his people as they cross over the river Jordan and enter the Land. Confusingly, the response from Gd is not consolation; instead it is the harsh rebuke—“Enough!” (Deuteronomy 3:26). I can’t help but wonder, might there be consoling insights hidden for us?

My mind connects back to another ‘Enough!’ that was shouted by the Holy One to the expanding World at the very beginning of time. The Holy One noticed the speed of the expanding world and understood that if the expansion continued at break-neck speed, it would all be over in an instant. In response, the Holy One shouted ‘Enough!’ (BT Hagigah 12a). This slowing of time brought the gift of Shabbat into our world. This allowed us to slow down, remember what is most important in our lives and connect with the holiness at the root of our world.(3)

I wonder, might the Holy One saying ‘Enough!’, preventing Moses from crossing over the Jordan, also have gifted the rest of us with the opportunity to seek out and connect with holiness? After all, the Kabbalists say that if Moses actually crossed over with that desert generation, then he would have unified time and space, bringing the Messianic era and consequently ending the world as we know it.

Connecting these two ‘Enough’s!’ allows us to imagine that these ‘limits to growth’ may be mythically woven into the very fabric of our world. Waiting for us to activate this cosmic power to counter the material affluence that is consuming and drowning the world.

Amazingly, the Rabbis, at their mythopoetic finest, show us how to activate the power of limit-setting. They remind us that we are not just passive receivers, but also wielders of power as co-creators with the Holy One!

The Rabbis teach us that each week, when we lift the goblet of grape for Kiddush and we invoke words from Torah, we are holding and wielding the power that limits the expanding world. At that moment, we become partners with the Holy One when we say “Vayechulu, and they were finished” (Heaven and Earth were finished). The Midrashists creatively shift a few vowels, raising our participation by turning Vayechulu into Vayechalu: ‘They finished’ (Creator and Human finished together) (BT Shabbat 119a).

We all know how hard it is to set and maintain limits. Any of us who have tried a diet or negotiated the limits of screen time with children know this; let alone limiting the work of a week or Moshe’s ultimate challenge of limiting the work of a lifetime.

The Rabbis have been showing us the way all along—the way through the gate of limits. Through this gate of limits, we can nurture the power of voluntary simplicity and consciously reverse the trends of non-stop industrial growth. Inspired by the power of our own voices saying ‘Enough!’, buoyed by the Holy One, we can look into our lives and talk with our families, our synagogues and our communities and find new ways to simplify, to reduce consumption, and to advocate for the holy sacredness of our world.

As Rabbi Heschel teaches, this holy work of limit setting does not have to be the work of self-deprivation; instead, it can be the work of growing in dignity.

This Elul, how will your powers of limit making deepen?

(1) Heschel, Abraham Joshua. God in Search of Man: a Philosophy of Judaism. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1955, p. 216.

(2) Riddle Answer: The 29th day. And the 28th day the pond is only a quarter filled. The 27th day one-eighth. The 26th day? From Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., Randers, J., & Behrens, W. W., III. The Limits to growth: A report for the Club of Rome’s project on the predicament of mankind. New York: Universe Books, 1972.

(3) Epstein, K.K. and Wineman, A. Letters of Light: Passages from Ma’or va-shemesh. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publishers, 2015, p 124.

This is the second edition for this essay. Rewritten for the anthology, Earth Etudes for Elul: Spiritual Reflections for the Season. Edited by Katy Z. Allen. Published by Strong Voices Press in 2018.

I’d like to speak about joy and love. I know that Elul is upon us; a time for relentless self-reflection, spurred on by the blasts of shofar. And yet, the rabbis in their complexity have added another dimension to Elul: love.

Remember the acronym for Elul? It’s from the Song of Songs 6:3, Ani l’dodi v’dodi li—I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine. Reciprocal love is spiraling back and forth right here in Elul along with our lists of how we missed the mark. Isn’t this worthy of attention? What might it mean?
Here’s where it takes me. “Rabbi Akiva said that all of Tanach (the five books plus all the prophets plus all the writings) is Holy, then the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies!” (Mishnah Yadayim 3:5) The Song of Songs is sensuous and loving, filled with tension, desire and yearning; lovers are seeking fulfillment in gardens and fields on every page. We all know that steamy passion can easily burn and destroy, and yet, Rabbi Akiva holds this up as the archetypal place of holiness. Blessed be.

The Song of Songs reminds us on every page that loving, sensual energy is paramount in all of our relationships—with each other, the natural world, and the Source of Life. Seeking love yearns for the reward of receiving love; and then I feel fully me, fully seen, feeling even fuller than me! I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine. Is it possible that t’shuvah can inspire us to reclaim this loving joy in all of our life and remind us that this is our birthright?

I heard that the great psychoanalyst Milton Erickson(1) tells a story of a mean nasty man who never smiled. He became thunderstruck and lovesick with the new school teacher in town. He asked to see her formally, and she said, only if you clean up your ways and try to smile once in awhile. The goofiest grin came over his face, kindness filled his heart and he never looked back. They lived happily ever after, smiling and holding hands like young fools until the end of their days. Here, the power of love drives t’shuvah.

Of course, the allure of romanticism is just that fantasy of “happily ever after.” Deep down, we all know the sequence: Beauty meets Beast, Beast turns into Prince through love, Beauty marries Prince, Prince turns back into Beast. (In all fairness, Beauty has her transformations too!) Undoubtedly, the mean nasty man of Erickson’s story slips and falls too. Perhaps this is why the linkage with Song of Songs and Elul is so very critical. Life is also Kafka, not just Disney. Here, t’shuvah can be our remedy, reminding us that we can actively participate in the work of turning our sense of “unlove” back into “love.”

Rabbi Akiva is saying that this great love is our birthright, there is nothing to earn. Contrary to Hallmark cards, this is very different than our relationships in this world, inside our families. I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine. Our very natural relationship with the world and God itself is to love and be loved in return merely because we are alive! This love, is a much more holistic love that applies to our entire being. Forgetfulness of this birthright of joyful loving is the way of our world. Much happens every day to blur our vision. From ordinary, imperfect attachment in childhood all the way through adulthood.

T’shuvah is like clearing our vision. T’shuvah helps me learn the ways that I actively block this joyous knowing; the many ways that I choose judgmentalness, pickle myself in anxious worry and bewitch myself with harsh fears. T’shuvah shows me that by tending to my relationships with kindness and care, I can enter the apple orchard of love once again, to know love and be re-inspired to grow love and trust once again my passions, desires, and hopes for my partner, my life, my world and my God. After all, I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.

(1) Bradshaw, John. Creating Love: A New Way of Understanding Our Most Important Relationships. New York: Random House Publishing Group, 2013, p. 178.

This is the second edition for this essay.  Rewritten for the anthology, Earth Etudes for Elul: Spiritual Reflections for the Season.  Edited by Katy Z. Allen.  Published by Strong Voices Press in 2018.

“For many of us, the march from Selma to Montgomery was about protest and prayer….Even without words, our march was worship. I felt my legs were praying.” —Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

Yes, our legs pray. Not just when marching either. Our legs, our entire body and all of our words are continuously interwoven in deep connection with the entire cosmos. Rabbi Heschel the Kabbalist may have been shy sharing this full power of Judaism’s mythological grandeur. For me, Judaism’s mythological grandeur, beauty and deep integration with Jewish practices have kept me Jewish. How can this ancient mythological power be activated in a single protest, a single dance? Listen in.

In the ancient days, when midrash was the cutting-edge commentary of the day, our Rabbis taught about the secret holiness of our bodies. They said that every commandment has a corresponding place in our body and a corresponding day of the year. Because of this, we can carry the holy commandments (which come from the Holy Torah and Gd the Source of All) in our bodies and days. This is a powerfully bold take on being created in the image of Gd.

This teaching was carried forward into Medieval Kabbalah where the Kabbalists actually taught that the entire cosmos needed our actions, our prayers for Gd’s own healing. Our actions close the loop, and we participate in an abundant and interconnected flow of blessing continuously falling from the ‘heavenly realms’ and raised back up again, being replenished by our actions and prayers. A sacred spiritual ecology, if you will. We are not only saying, ‘As above, so below’, but also, ‘As below, so above.’

Our wonderfully creative teachers from the 1700’s transformed this teaching by adding everyday dance (song, story and plain words too!) to the list of powerful spiritual recycling tools that help ‘unify the unities.’ Did you know the Shpoler Zeide continued to dance with the lightness of youth well into his old age? Once, a Jewish life was in danger. A giant Cossack soldier was cruelly treating him like a cat treats a mouse. The giant declared that if anyone could out-dance him, then he would spare the life of this simple Jew. However, if not, then both dancer and hostage would die! Everyone was so scared. It was the grandfatherly Shpoler Zeide who stepped forward. He danced the Bear Dance with such focused power and vigor that the Cossack was unable to keep up. He fell down laughing saying, ‘You win old man, you win.’ For the Shpoler Zeide, dance was a superpower! Able to affect t’shuvah with a single bound.

Other times, when disputes would reign, the Shpoler Zeide would dance the Heron Dance, slow and graceful, and conflict would melt away. So much so, people would say that the Shpoler Zeide was a master of dance and able to achieve Holy Unifications with each step of his foot!

Reb Nachman of Bratzlav, another holy teacher from that generation, actually prescribed dance as a remedy for the hopeless despair that prevents joy. He knew the act of dance was enough to raise joy high in the saddest of souls. Dance as medicine. How’s that for creative health care!

This is Rabbi Heschel’s legacy. He’s not just protesting, he’s praying with his legs—adding healing unifications for the world and for all of us. And his powerful feet are still inspiring us today! Inspiring us today to take a stand in the streets with our neighbors. Reminding us of the power we hold in our legs, in our actions. Reminding us to appreciate the miracle that we have legs to stand, ankles that rotate, 26 humble bones of the foot that allow us to stand steady even on uneven ground.

This Elul, let’s bring all of the enchantment we can muster to our prayer, to our t’shuvah. Let’s remember the spontaneous freedom of prayerful dance that we carry and its ability to mark a new path. We truly can alter the shape of tomorrow. As Emma Goldman is known as saying, “If I can’t dance, I don’t want your revolution!” Rally Ho!

• Shploler Zayde stories adapted from Tales of the Hasidim by Martin Buber.

• Feet were praying story shared by his daughter Susannah here: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~vox/0405/0404/heschel.html                           Emma Goldman quote http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/goldman/Features/danceswithfeminists.html       For additional background on the powers of dance see, “The Mystery of Dance According to Reb Nachman of Bratzlav” in The Exegetical Imagination by Michael Fishbane.

The only midwives mentioned in the entire Bible are the protesting duo, Shifrah and Puah. They had the gumption to stand up against Pharoah, not believing his mean-spirited lies, not obeying his murderous orders. They were dedicated to life and simply refused(1) .

Like them, Utah midwife Donna Young followed her conscience and raised concerns about the alarming increase of infant deaths that coincided with the rapid increase of fracking wells in her home community of Vernal(2) . In fracking fields everywhere there is no desire for killing children, and yet, our leaders are ignoring the truth that our fractured natural gas energy boom is also yielding widespread poisoning of air and water and harming our communities.

Back in 2013, when Donna Young raised her questions, Rolling Stone magazine reported that health officials conducted a study and eventually concluded positively that the deaths “were not statistically insignificant”. However, they chose to exclude the impact of air pollution- air pollution so bad that some days it rivaled NY, LA and Mexico City. “When pressed on possible causes for the deaths, (the epidemiologist) suggested the health problems of mothers, citing smoking, diabetes and prenatal neglect among the Basin’s residents. (He) made it clear he was sympathetic to the crowd’s concerns. “I know what it’s like to lose a pregnancy,” he announced. “My wife’s had eight, and only four live births.””(3)

What will it take to open our eyes? How do we counter longstanding biases like this: A pulitzer prize winning news organization, InsideClimate News, tracked down the writers of that infamous Bush Era EPA report that facilitated the ‘Haliburton Loophole’. The actual writers were the Cadmus Group of MA and they refused to sign the report and to add their name when officials demanded to include the erroneous statement in the conclusion that the toxic brew of chemicals used in fracking had no impact on drinking water. The body and substance of their report stated there was an impact to drinking water, but they were unable to quantify the impact without more data. Read the whole story of this corrupt action below(4) .

What will it take to open our eyes? We have great resources like this:  The most comprehensive study to date on the impacts of fracking was just published earlier this March. The scientific landscape is changing with peer reviewed articles growing from 130 in 2013 to 1300 in 2018. A full 25% were published just last year(5) . After examining nearly all of the available peer reviewed studies, investigative articles and government reports their conclusion is clear: “Our examination of the peer-reviewed medical and public health literature uncovered no evidence that fracking can be practiced in a manner that does not threaten human health.(6)” Please see the 10 Plagues of Fracking below for an introduction to the report.

This Passover let us stand with Shifrah, Puah, Donna and all others who are brave enough to discern and follow the way of truth. We all know ‘the world of truth’ is under fresh and vigorous attack, where all news outlets are smeared as fake, when relativism is extended so far that nothing is left trustworthy, no journalist, no politician, no lawyer, no scientist, and the age of endarkenment struggles for a foothold(7). As spring awakens, what truth will you help raise from the ground?

Prepared by Maggid David Arfa, Nisan 5778; www.maggiddavid.net; david@maggiddavid.net

(1)Exodus 1:15
(2) What’s Killing the Babies of Vernal Utah, Peter Solotaroff, Rolling Stone Magazine, 2015. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/fracking-whats-killing-the-babies-of-vernal-utah-20150622
(3) What’s Killing the Babies of Vernal Utah, Peter Solotaroff, Rolling Stone Magazine, 2015. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/fracking-whats-killing-the-babies-of-vernal-utah-20150622
(4)Industirial Strength: How the US Government hid Fracking’s Risks to Drinking Water, Neela Banerjee, ClimateInside News, Nov, 2017. https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16112017/fracking-chemicals-safety-epa-health-risks-water-bush-cheney
(5) Concerned Health Professionals of New York & Physicians for Social Responsibility. (2018, March). Compendium of scientific, medical, and media findings demonstrating risks and harms of fracking (unconventional gas and oil extraction) (5th ed.). http://concernedhealthny.org/compendium/ page 10
(6) Concerned Health Professionals of New York & Physicians for Social Responsibility. (2018, March). Compendium of scientific, medical, and media findings demonstrating risks and harms of fracking (unconventional gas and oil extraction) (5th ed.). http://concernedhealthny.org/compendium/ page 15 The report continues: “Despite this emerging body of knowledge, industry secrecy, and government actions and inaction continue to thwart scientific inquiry, leaving many potential problems—especially cumulative, long-term risks—unidentified, unmonitored, and largely unexplored. This problem is compounded by non-disclosure agreements, sealed court records, and legal settlements that prevent families and their doctors from discussing injuries and illness. As a result, no quantitative and comprehensive inventory of human hazards yet exists.”
(7) No one is more articulate about this than Yale Historian Timothy Snyder. Check out his video blog series here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BygGl2idW4k  His specialty is Eastern Europe and relations with the west throughout the 20th century.

The 10 Plagues of Fracking is an introduction to this new and comprehensive report; an exhaustive exploration of nearly all the peer reviewed studies, investigative articles and government studies- Concerned Health Professionals of New York & Physicians for Social Responsibility. (2018, March). Compendium of scientific, medical, and media findings demonstrating risks and harms of fracking (unconventional gas and oil extraction) (5th ed.). http://concernedhealthny.org/compendium/

1. Drinking water contamination. Cases of drinking water sources contaminated by drilling and fracking activities, or by associated waste disposal, are now proven. EPA’s assessment of fracking’s impacts on drinking water resources confirmed specific instances of water contamination caused by drilling and fracking related activities and identified the various pathways by which this contamination has occurred: spills; discharge of fracking waste into rivers and streams; and underground migration of chemicals, including gas, into drinking water wells. P18

2. Air pollution plus climate threats– Researchers have documented dozens of air pollutants from drilling and fracking operations that pose serious health hazards. Areas with substantial drilling and fracking build-out show high levels of ground-level ozone (smog), striking declines in air quality, and, in several cases, increased rates of health problems with known links to air pollution. P31
Natural gas is not a climate-friendly fuel. Methane, which leaks from all parts of the natural gas extraction and distribution system, is a powerful greenhouse gas that traps 86 times more heat than carbon dioxide over a 20-year time frame. All together, these studies disprove the claim that natural gas is a transitional “bridge” fuel that can lower greenhouse gas emissions while renewable energy solutions are developed. p171

3. Radioactive releases High levels of radiation documented in fracking wastewater from many shale formations raise special concerns in terms of impacts to groundwater and surface water. Measurements of radium in fracking wastewater in New York and Pennsylvania, from the particularly radioactive Marcellus Shale, have been as high as 3,600 times the regulatory limit for drinking water, as established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). p93

4. Earthquakes are a proven consequence of drilling and fracking-related activities in many locations. A growing body of evidence from Ohio, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado links fracking wastewater injection (disposal) wells to earthquakes of magnitudes as high as 5.8, in addition to swarms of minor earthquakes. Both the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and state geological agencies such as the Oklahoma Geological Survey now acknowledge that earthquakes can be caused by wastewater injection. p131

5. Flood risks Fracking exacerbates flood risks in two ways. First, massive land clearing and forest fragmentation that necessarily accompany well site preparation increase erosion, run-off, and risks for catastrophic flooding. Second, the vulnerability of fracking sites to flooding increases the known dangers of unconventional gas extraction, heightening the risks of contamination of soils and water supplies, the overflow or breaching of containment ponds, and the escape of chemicals and hazardous materials. During Hurricane Harvey flooding in Texas in 2017, Eagle Ford operators reported 31 spills at oil and gas wells, storage tanks, and pipelines. p160

6. Infrastructure damages The infrastructure for drilling and fracking operations is complex, widespread, and poses its own risks to public health and the climate. Beginning where silica sand is mined and processed and ending where gas is burned or liquefied for export, infrastructure includes pipelines, compressor stations, dehydrators, processing plants, rail tankers, flare stacks, and storage deports through which oil or gas is moved, filtered, pressurized, warehoused, refined, and vented. It also includes injection wells and recycling facilities that dispose and treat the prodigious amounts of liquid waste that fracking generates. Air pollution is produced at every stage of the process. p193

7. Abandonment [Abandoned pipeways] are pathways for gas and fluid migration. An estimated 2.6 million oil and gas wells across the United States are no longer in production. The location and status of the vast majority are not recorded in state databases, and most remain unplugged. Whether plugged or unplugged, abandoned wells are a significant source of methane leakage into the atmosphere and, based on findings from New York and Pennsylvania, may exceed cumulative total leakage from oil and gas wells currently in production. No state or federal agency routinely monitors methane leakage from abandoned wells. Abandoned wells also serve as underground pathways for fluid migration, heightening risks of groundwater contamination. P151

8. Public health problems associated with drilling and fracking include poor birth outcomes, reproductive and respiratory impacts, cancer risks, and occupational health and safety problems. Studies of mothers living near oil and gas extraction operations consistently find impairments to infant health, including elevated risks for low birth weight and preterm birth. Studies of mothers living near oil and gas extraction operations consistently find impairments to infant health, including elevated risks for low birth weight and preterm birth. A 2017 study that examined birth certificates for all 1.1 million infants born in Pennsylvania found poorer indicators of infant health and significantly lower birth weights among babies born to mothers living near fracking sites. P19, p114

9. Inherent engineering problems that worsen with time Studies show that many oil and gas wells leak, allowing for the migration of natural gas and potentially other substances into groundwater and/or the atmosphere. According to Schlumberger, one of the world’s largest companies specializing in fracking, about five percent of wells leak immediately, 50 percent leak after 15 years, and 60 percent leak after 30 years. Recent research suggests that the act of fracking itself creates pathways for leaks. The problem of leaking wells, identified by industry, has no known solution. P87

10. The economic instabilities of fracking further exacerbate public health risks. Challenges to the industry’s claim that fracking is good business are increasingly apparent. Inaccurate jobs claims, increased crime rates, threats to property values and mortgages, and local government burden. Experiences in various states and accompanying studies have shown that the oil and gas industry’s promises of job creation from drilling for natural gas have been greatly exaggerated. Many of the jobs are short-lived, have gone to out-of-area workers, and, increasingly, are lost to automation. With the arrival of drilling and fracking operations, communities have experienced steep increases in rates of crime, including sex trafficking, rape, assault, drunk driving, drug abuse, and violent victimization—all of which carry public health consequences, especially for women. Social costs include road damage, failed local businesses, and strains on law enforcement and municipal services. School districts report increased stress. Economic analyses have found that drilling and fracking threaten property values and can diminish tax revenues for local governments. Additionally, drilling and fracking pose an inherent conflict with mortgages and property insurance due to the hazardous materials used and the associated risks. P26
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The report closes “with this observation by Maryland physician Judy Stone, MD, whose recent essay in Forbes speaks for all who have contributed to this Compendium: ‘Fracking profits go to private industry but the public—families and communities—bear the costs of the many health complications from the drilling. There is growing evidence of a variety of health problems being associated with fracking. Common sense dictates that drinking and breathing cancer-causing agents will take their toll. The correlation is too strong to ignore, especially when we have other, cleaner energy options. For our safety and that of future generations, we should not allow the new administration to sell off public lands, nor allow drilling on our land, and should ban fracking completely.’” P1124

Prepared by Maggid David Arfa, Nisan 5778; www.maggiddavid.net; david@maggiddavid.net

Shalom Shachna, the son of Holy Angel, the grandson of the Maggid of Mezeritch, learned to dance from the Shpoler Zeide.  For the rest of his life he would share with all who would listen how the Shpoler Zeide was a master of dance and able to achieve Holy Unifications with each step of his foot.  Adapted from Tales of the Hasidim by Martin Buber.

“For many of us the march from Selma to Montgomery was about protest and prayer….Even without words, our march was worship.  I felt my legs were praying.”  Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

Sometimes, when I can no longer stand my careless abuse of the Earth, I know I have to take a stand- In the streets with my neighbors.  Teshuvah as protest.  The power is in the action.  My legs hold real power to help me remember what’s most important and start fresh.

Amazingly, it used to be common knowledge that the power contained in our legs affects the cosmos.  An ancient midrash says every commandment has a corresponding place in our body and day of the year. We are not only saying ‘As above, so below’, but also ‘As below, so above’  This teaching was carried forward into Medieval Kabbalah providing a unique form of empowerment.  The Kabbalists actually taught that the cosmos needed our prayers and our actions for its own healing.

The Hasidic creativity of the pre-modern world transformed this teaching applying it specifically to everyday dance ( song and story too!).  Did you know the Shpoler Zeide continued to dance with the lightness of youth well into his old age?  Once, a Jewish life was in danger.  A giant cossack soldier was cruelly treating him like a cat treats a mouse.  The giant declared that if anyone could out-dance him, then he would spare the life of this simple Jew.  However, if not, than both dancer and hostage would die!  Everyone was so scared.  It was the Grandfatherly Shpoler Zeide who stepped forward.  He danced the Bear-Dance with such focused power and vigor that the cossack was unable to keep up.  He fell down laughing saying, ‘You win old man, you win’.  For the Shpoler Zeide, dance was a superpower!  Able to affect Teshuvah with a single bound.

Reb Nachman of Bratzlav, actually prescribed dance as a remedy for the hopeless despair that prevents joy.  He knew, the act of dance was enough to raise joy high in the saddest of souls.  Dance as medicine.  How’s that for creative health care!

Now we come to Rabbi Heschel and his creativity.  He’s not just protesting, he’s praying with his legs!  This power still reaches us, like light from a distant star. It is testimony to Rabbi Heschel’s strong cosmic powers.

How many of us are inspired to do more because of Rabbi Heschel?  The power of praying legs in protest.

This Elul, let’s bring all of the enchantment we can muster to our Teshuvah. Let’s add our modern awareness for the evolutionary miracles that allow legs to stand, ankles to rotate, and 26 humble bones in the foot that allow us to stand steady even on uneven ground.  The spontaneous freedom of dance, the improvisational prayer of protest reminds us that we can choose a new path. We can alter the shape of tomorrow.  As Emma Goldman said, “If I can’t dance, I don’t want your revolution!”  Rally Ho!

For additional background on the powers of dance see, “The Mystery of Dance According to Reb Nachman of Bratzlav” in The Exegetical Imagination by Michael Fishbane.

Shemot 2: 23-24 …and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.  And God heard their groaning, and God remembered God’s covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

I raise the burnt egg of the seder plate.  Inside a cry lies dormant; a cry that contains all cries.  The Rabbis teach us not to avoid this cry.  Further, they say, trust, feel, open, speak; know that these cries will not lead to annihilation, but to regeneration and redemption.

Yet, this wisdom is so hard to trust.  Have we not been trained since childhood to avoid pain, to avoid tears?  I have. All year our family ate a steady diet of American hope and optimism, wonders and miracles, in the form of Wonder Bread and Miracle Whip mayonnaise.  Our childhood seder was no different, under guidance from the house of Reb Maxwell, we had no burnt egg at all.  Instead, we had a pre-peeled, gleaming and tasty hard-boiled egg on our seder plate, laden with birth and spring joy.

It wasn’t until I was a college student studying in a Jerusalem Yeshiva that I saw a grown man cry.  It was Tisha B’Av and the heat of the summer was intense.  We first ate hard-boiled egg dipped into ashes, and then we sat on the ground and began prayers that included mournfully chanted lamentations.   These laments of the persecuted and starving community in ancient Jerusalem were accompanied by unabashed groans, shouts and tears.

I couldn’t breathe, I was overwhelmed.  I was sitting inside the day of the burnt egg.  A day of many tragedies including the destruction of both ancient temples, the destruction of the city Betar, many medieval anti-semitic persecutions and even the Shoah, the Holocaust, are all folded into Tisha B’Av.

The burnt egg of Pesach is deepened by Tisha B’av.  Tisha B’Av invites us to understand that no matter how much we do, hunger, hatred, greed, murder and malice will continue throughout the world.  No matter how much we organize, the atmosphere will continue to heat.  No matter how much we protest, species will stop being; the ending of birth; the death to all that could have been.  Burnt eggs all.  Can we sit still long enough and allow ourselves to grock this immense, on-going pain?  Can we feel the sadness as it fills us?  To hear the Earth cry?  To weep with the Holy One?

This is so hard.  Inner voices from childhood, from past generations, caution against crying.  They warn of the attack that comes with vulnerability, they fear annihilation and the WAIL transforms into enemy.  The burnt egg transforms into searing flame, burning all who come near.  All the while, we become hypervigilant; choosing to live inside a lookout tower, dedicating ourselves to plugging leaks, plastering over, preventing disturbance.  Or perhaps, we just skip merrily towards utopic redemption; forever choosing Disney’s ‘happily ever after’, over the pain and realism of Kafka.

The Rabbis offer us a helping hand, a contradiction to the path of avoidance and numbness.  They know, from Shemot 2 found above, that redemption is activated by crying out; our very tears and groans are able to wake up this world; wake up ourselves.  Rabbi Kalonymous Kalman Shapiro, the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto, taught from experience that avoiding the pain of our lives and the pain of the world, while seeming smart, only brings a numbness and silence that threatens both our very being and the Source of Life which animates the world.  His teachings, from that ‘Time of Wrath’, testify that through our painful depths we also connect with the pain of the world and the Source of Life itself.

In the ritualized poetry of Tisha B’Av, the Mashiach is born only on the afternoon of Tisha B’Av after lamentations. In the words of the Safed Kabbalist Moshe Cordovero, with breaking, comes hope.  Our Rabbis know that if we skip lamentations, we are in trouble.  If we succumb and silently accept the misery and pain of our life without complaint, be it the slavery in Egypt or living blithely through mass extinctions, poisonous products and heating climate, then we are surely lost.  Lost in numbing distractions, cynical, powerless anger or the constant busyness and distraction that is America.

So the burnt egg is kept on the seder plate.  Allowing us to connect ancient temple sacrifice with the temple that is our body; the temple that is our earth; and the temple that is our home.   Containing every ash laden egg, midnight lament, unpatched wall and heart-felt cry that is uttered.  Reminding us to trust, feel, open and speak.

And our story begins.  Guiding us, encouraging us to not sidestep, sugar-coat or harden our hearts with indifference; to not turn away from places of pain and catastrophe.  Spin the seder wheel and we also have Karpas, green leafy hopeful Karpas, the real spring joy.  We are blessed with visions of new growth, of actual escape from Egypt, of sustaining Manna, formed with the regenerative powers that are continually flowing through our world.  Trusting this inherent wisdom is waiting inside our story of wholeness, waiting to be retold, refreshed and relived.  We step inside the spiral again this year, knowing that redemption is not a ‘once and for all time’ event.  After all, we are only human.

I’d like to speak about joy and love.  I know that Elul is upon us; a time for relentless self reflection, spurred on by the blasts of shofar.  And yet, the Rabbi’s in their complexity have added another dimension to Elul, Love.

Remember the acronym for Elul?  It’s from the Song of Songs, Ani l’dodi v’dodi li- I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.  Reciprocal love is spiraling back and forth right here in Elul along with our lists of how we missed the mark.  Isn’t this worthy of attention?  What might it mean?

I’m not sure, but it’s certainly not insignificant.  Rabbi Akiva said that if all of Tanach (the five books plus all the prophets plus all the writings) is the HolyTemple, then the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies!  The Song of Songs is sensuous and loving, filled with sexual desire and yearning; lovers are seeking fulfillment on every page.  We all know that steamy passion can easily burn and destroy, and yet, Rabbi Akiva holds this up as the archetypal place of holiness.  Blessed Be.

This is why I’m turning to joy this Elul.  The Song of Songs is reminding us that loving and desirous energy defines our relationship with the world, with the Source of Life.  Far from being unrequited, it is given back fully.  And then, when I receive the love I’m desiring, I feel fully me, fully seen, feeling even fuller than me!  I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.  This face of loving joy is also a face of Teshuvah.

I heard that the great psychoanalyst Milton Ericson tells a story of a mean nasty man who never smiled.  He became thunderstruck and lovesick with the new school teacher in town.  He asked to see her formally, and she said, only if you clean up your ways and try to smile once in awhile.  The goofiest grin came over his face, kindness filled his heart and he never looked back.  They lived happily ever after, smiling and holding hands like young fools until the end of their days.  Who says love is not powerful!

But wait, if Rabbi Akiva is saying that this great love is our birthright, then it also means there is nothing to earn.  I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.  Our very natural relationship with the world itself is to love and be loved in return merely because we are alive!  Why is it so hard to imagine and carry this intense level of joyful loving?

Teshuvah can help me learn the ways that I actively block this joyous knowing; the many ways that I pickle myself in worry and bewitch myself in fear.  The ways we are unaware that our lifted hand blocks the sun and yet we can only whine and wonder why the light is so dim.

The social scientist Brene Brown adds another facet.  She asked why is it so hard to maintain our joy?  Her research discovered our fear of the vulnerability that leads to grief.  She noticed a widespread and uncanny ability to use fantasies of disaster to try and inoculate ourselves.  You know, the way we can look at something beautiful and say, ‘uh-oh, what’s coming’.  The sad truth is that these fantasies do not protect us at all, they just rob us of our joy.

Amazingly, her remedy, her tikkun is gratitude.  Practices of gratitude in the moment; utterances of thankfulness for what is here right now, irregardless of what may happen in the future.  Hmmmh, the Rabbi’s teach that 100 blessings a day keeps the Dr. away (or something like that-smiles). A good practice for Elul, eh?  With blessings of gratitude, I can remember the utter uniqueness that is life; the perpetual joyous singing that is the symphony of the natural world.  Fortified with joy, I can face the stark truth about the many ways that I and my community inflict personal and planetary harm.  Like Milton Ericson’s mean man, If I’m bathed in love who knows what I will be capable of!

Let the Joy deeds of gratitude be fruitful and multiply! As Rumi said, “Let the beauty we love be what we do.  There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”  In the name of Joy, let’s bless all that we hold precious… the Rabbi’s blessings, yes, and even more!  A child’s song, a friends laughter, cooking (and eating) a special meal for/with loved ones, silent welcoming of dawn and dusk, calling good morning to the birds, saying Shechianu when the Junco’s come in the fall and the constellation Orion appears overhead, when the chicory blooms in July and the tomatoes ripen in August are all for me special joyful moments worthy of honoring with a blessing of gratitude.  What other myriads of blessings would you like to add?

May your Elul be meaningful and filled with the joy that only love can bring.  Here’s a joyous love poem I’ve adapted from psalm 150.

Jump, Sing Out,

Raise Joy, right here in your chair.

Celebrate life’s source 

in your home, in green fields,

at rivers edge, from high ledges.

Remember how we are supported,

as lilies in open water.

Blast your car horn,

turn up the radio,

sing loud with the windows rolled down.

Whisper love at night. Remember Nothing,

than moan with delight,
whistle with puckered lips,

click your tongue.

Tap one, no, stomp

both your feet;

pop fingers, clap hands, slap knees,

hoot, howl, bang your chest,
clash and rattle your tin pots.

 Raise joy high with this holy commotion.

With every single breath. Hallelujah.

 Adapted from psalm 150 by Maggid David Arfa

Reminiscence
For Reb Zalman
 

I first met you in the summer of 91’
You were leading services in a Mt Airy church.
We sat in a circle with a basket of fun and inviting instruments in the center; egg rattles, tambourines, bongo’s!
 

You said the Psalms were the songs of David- that caught my attention!
You continued by asking us what were our psalms?  Do I have psalms too?  You invited us to turn to our neighbor and combine our psalms with King David’s. And when we turned, you said, remember that your neighbor is not your neighbor but nothing less than the Face of G!d.
 

I don’t know why, but when you talked of the Psycho-Halachic Process I would get chills.  When you opened the emotional and imaginal dimensions of prayer with such ease, I was yours.
 

You were a teacher’s teacher, a premier experiential educator. I was able to journey with you through dream-like biblical landscapes, go on pilgrimage to the holy temple, and learn how animal sacrifice could actually be seen as an ancient path of devotion.
 

For $35 I could join your Mt Airy classes that summer.  I didn’t know what I was in for.  For instance, after locating Buber as a pioneering ‘Neo-Hasidic Renewalnik’, you told us this haunting story: One night, Buber was deep in study and contemplation.  A knock at the door, a young man wanted to talk, Buber wanted to continue his studies. He briskly ordered, “come back later”.  The next day that youth was found drowned in the river.  Even many years later, I still can’t help but wonder, how can I bring more attention to my relationships?
 

I learned that you really loved verbs when you dedicated an entire class to describing Kabbalistic ideas in terms of verb tenses. I didn’t understand even one lick.  I said as much to another student in that Germantown Jewish center classroom.  He said, “of course you didn’t, that’s because Reb Zalman’s a certifiable genius!  He not only reads everything but remembers it too!”
 

Most importantly, you taught paradigm shifting as an active verb.  That made all the difference.  You shifted the stodgy (and brilliant) description of how physics and science change over time, to an active process, a participatory adventure that included all of us.  You not only chronicled the change from temple, priest and sacrifice to synagogue, rabbi, prayer and deed; you also inspired us to ask, where are the winds of change blowing today?  This allowed me to Jew with zeal and passion.
 

I have a beloved and whispered name for you: Heart’s Gate.  I’m sure your intimate writings in Gates of the Heart opened many hearts.  It certainly did mine.  All of your prayer services and retreats taught us that contemplative practices were core.  Every part of you taught that our kabbalistic heritage is both old and new and carries great relevance.  Even your casual socks and sandals seemed to radiate the importance that living with care and growing in caring were vitally important for both people and planet.
 

I love that you shared your first step.  There, by the NY subway in 1947, you found a book on prayer written by a catholic monk.  What inspired you to actually read it?  I’m sure it was not on the Rebbe’s reading list!  With shock and awe, you realized that more than Chabad knew about prayer.  With great excitement, you began a life long search leading to advanced degrees in psychology and comparative religion.  With great strength you began learning with great teachers and sharing what you love.
 

Somehow, supported by the Age of Aquarius, a post-triumphalist new religious order began to take shape.  You managed to find common ground with Native Americans blessing the morning sun; you gazed deeply into the Dalai Lama’s eyes and spoke of surviving exile; you went on retreat at catholic monasteries, and even prayed with Muslim’s in Jerusalem.  When those students of that Sufi Sheikh challenged you directly, even threateningly, you answered with your usual charm, grace and calm, “I’m a child of Abraham guided by the Holy One of Love and Peace”.
 

I remember your mischievous smile, when teaching with Roshi Bernie Glassman, you wanted to play a trick on him.  You had us all chant the Shema with each word being a full ohm long.  When Bernie came in, he was not surprised one bit, in fact, he thought we were actually praying.  A new tradition was born.
 

Bnai Ohr had already become Pnai Ohr when I met you.  Your work with Shlomo, your Summerville years, Esalon experiments, and imaginative mystery schools were all behind you.   Your non-heirarchical, egalitarian and earth-centered values were already set.  After all, you were nearly 70.  You were launching your newest project, Spiritual Eldering.
 

When I heard you share your vision at Borders Books, describing spiritual eldering plus the infrastructure that would give it legs, I just stood back in awe at your audacity, can-do spirit, hopefulness and organizational mastery.  I ran to the shelves and found a biography of one of my favorite elder/visionary/organizers: David Brower.  In my excitement, I wanted to share it with you.  You listened and took the book with such a warm smile.  I still wonder with anxiety if you thought that book was actually paid for? I do hope the door alarms did not go off when you left that day.
 

A favorite moment: I was so glad to honor you at Elat Chayyim.  We learned a complicated niggun and all stood in that packed room when you entered.  You were a regal Rebbe, wearing fur streimel and satin robe.  The joy and reverence of Rebbe and Hasidim carried that moment of awe into eternity.
 

I do not actually remember the niggun or if your robe was black or white.  I do remember the excitement of exploring a post-modern Judaism for the 21^st Century.  When someone mentioned your new book of Hasidic stories, I stood, with heart beating, I quickly gave my testimony- saying it was an incredible mix of Martin Buber and Gershom Scholem, scholarship and story combined, with the best part being that personal memories were included too!  Your instantaneous, “Thank you Maggid” is a blessing that I still carry with me here in my heart.
 

Later, when we sat together, I remember your tired eyes.  You shared stories of your free-lance work with summer camps and synagogues, and gave counsel to let the future rise like bread.  You also shared sage advice to not be afraid of technology! After all you said, “digital recorders are coming down in price everyday”.
 

Most of all, I remember your love of imagination.  Your conviction that imagination is everpresent, engaged with every story we hear; with every lift of our arms.  This is why the landscape of prayer is also the landscape of imagination.
 

The power of imagination is such, that you were able to guide us in meeting our grandparents.  It was so simple.  We closed our eyes, imagined a path in the forest and followed it to a clearing by a cool flowing stream.  And there we could visit with our Bubbie or our Zayde, whether we ever actually met them in this world or not.  Sitting streamside, we could talk together, share our excitements, our questions and receive too.
 

For me, this was your greatest gift of all.  It’s like a master key hidden in a cake given to a prisoner.  Because with this gift, I can still visit with you.  All I need to do is close my eyes, imagine a path in the forest and follow it to a clearing by a cool flowing stream.  And there we can visit.  We can talk together, share our excitements.  I can hear about your contact with Reb Shlomo, Rabbi Heschel, Martin Buber, Hillel Zeitlin.  I can hear about all the Hasidic masters you are davenning with in Gabriel’s Palace.   I can ask questions and receive your guiding wisdom.  In all these many ways, your life will continue to be a blessing.
 

Maggid David Arfa, Tammuz 5774

Malchut b’ Malchut

I heard a group of historians debating whether we can say Hasidism carries “green” values.  The nays were winning when, as I remember it, Rabbi Tikvah Frymer Kinsky stands up and says that our people’s project has always been ‘recombinant theological engineering’.  Don’t you love that phrase?  She reminded us that textual associations have always reflected contemporary influences, are built on the past and can even contain creative flair!  Fitting for our work here, eh, as we have chosen to combine Omer counting with Sefirot and Earth.

We started out 48 days ago politically free but hurting.  We’ve journeyed over hill and dale to spiritual freedom and have now reached the penultimate step, Malchut b’Malchut which will carry us to the peak and revelation at Sinai.  How do we honor Malchut?  What portrait is worthy?  The key was unlocked for me when I found this truly subversive Shavuot teaching from the Sfat Emet, a grand Rebbe of for the Jews of Ger and Warsaw.  He emphasizes that our awe is more important than our learning.  He calls learning ‘the gateway’ and awe ‘the dwelling place’.  This Talmudic quote is all the proof needed! “Woe to the one who has no dwelling place, but makes of their life a gateway”.  Yes, Torah can open our hearts, but the dwelling place is the awe and love we carry in our lives.

In a beautiful series of creative associations, the Sfat Emet says this is why we read the scroll of Ruth on Shavuot- after all, Ruth is the great grandmother of David, which is linked with Malchut which is linked with awe.  If awe and wonder is connected with Malchut, than Malchut b’Malchut becomes Awe b’Awe.   Here’s my story offering to take us into revelation, a 6 minute story I’m calling Sense of Wonder b’Sense of Wonder. Chag Shavu’ot Same’ach.

Reflection/Action: Please find a friend or a loved one to sit with and share your sense of wonder b’sense of wonder story.  Perhaps share at a meal and ask others for their stories as well.  What would it mean if we could remember on our hearts that this everyday world we live in contains experiences such as these?  Chag Shavu’ot Same’ach.