CyberTorah

Activity: Stand up. Take a deep breath. Take three steps backward and three steps forward. Imagine that you are entering a sacred space of immense power, calm, and compassion. Perhaps you are accompanied by parents, mentors, grandparents. All sharing a moment of connection with each other, with the Divine, with all that is.

Now, pick one of two paths. Either say the words of the first paragraph of the Amidah linked here in either English or Hebrew, noticing each word with meaning and intention. Or: Continue to envision this sacred moment with oneness. How might your parents have experienced this? How might your children or grandchildren? Can you imagine for just a moment, regardless of what you believe about God, that right now you are just like Moses at the burning bush, realizing something is there, something that wants our connection and communion.

Take another breath, take three more steps backward and three forward as you return to normal time, back into the universe as it is. Take one last breath and offer a hope for wholeness for yourself and the world. Now go about your day!

Background: The Amidah was written around 2000 years ago. Its form as we have it represents a spiritual roadmap to guide us towards communion with God and an invitation to express the deepest yearning of our heart. Its construction, replete with Biblical verses, has a layered depth which also offers a path for spiritual growth over time. Each new level of engagement with the Amidah brings with it a new quality of spiritual growth.

The first paragraph is called Avot or ancestors. After a long blessing, (meaning one that both says “Barukh atah Adonai” + “Eloheinu Melekh Haolam”), the author of the Amidah quotes Exodus 3:6. This is the moment when Moses stood before God at the burning bush. God introduces God’s self to Moses by saying, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.” In choosing to quote this verse, the author of the Amidah invites us into revelation. The author is saying: Moses was not unique. We can all have a moment of connection with God.

Go back to the narrative for a moment. Moses, in order to notice God, had to be attentive to the world around him. He had to pause long enough to notice the miracle of the burning bush rather than just passing it by. Quoting this verse challenges us to bring awareness into our prayer experience and our daily lives. Breath, connection to our sacred past, an openness to God, transforms our daily experience. Moses had a moment of revelation; we too can experience this if we allow ourselves the time and richness of lived experience to notice.

Choosing this verse also invites us into Jewish history. We are suddenly alongside our patriarchs and matriarchs. We are challenged to think of Abraham’s hesed or Sarah’s joy. We are invited to see ourselves on a journey with them. And further, by saying “God of our ancestors” we are invited to imagine our own parents, grandparents, great parents with us in this journey. (I would encourage those who have chosen Judaism to engage in the same fashion. I believe your parents and grandparents helped form the spiritual/religious self you are today.) By describing God as One who will bring a redeemer to our children’s children, the Amida invites us to imagine our children and grandchildren with us as well.

This first paragraph begins a journey of 18 steps. Next week we will explore our next stop.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi David Booth