| Heart-Fire Healing | Repair of the Soul Tikkun HaNefesh תיקון הנפש |
| Spiritual Guidance & Shema-nik Healing | Listening for the Sacred Shomei-a BaRuach שומע ברוח
(Listening with the soul / Hearing in the wind) |
Led by Rachmiel Langer
Jewish Meditation
“In Your mysteries I meditate, and I gaze at Your paths ...
Uncover my eyes; I will behold wonders from Your teaching.”
Psalms 119
Jewish mystical tradition teaches that God brought about creation by interweaving universe (space), year (time), and soul. Torah lays out the calendar of sacred time as an ever-widening spiral. We'll use a monthly meditation practice to open our awareness of the sacred and anchor ourselves in the soul's path through the cycle of the holidays and seasons.
Come join us as we explore and practice various Jewish meditation techniques using Hebrew and Aramaic chants, focused contemplations and guided visualizations. Our sources will be Torah, the prayerbook, midrash and mystical texts.
No prior meditation or Hebrew experience required.
Come join us for any or all classes.
"I recall my melody at night, I meditate with my heart, and my spirit seeks." Psalms 77:7
Thursday evenings 7:30 - 9:00 PM
Sep 6, Oct 4, Nov 1, Dec 6, 2007, Jan 10, Mar 6, Apr 10, May 8, Jun 5,
2008
at Kerem Shalom, 659 Elm St, Concord, MA
No pre-registration. Fee: $10 per session. Free to Kerem Shalom members.
Sep 6, 2007, Elul: Selichot - forgiveness
The month of Elul is a time for introspection, for self-examination leading up to the rebirth cycle of Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. We'll use chants and meditations to lead us into an accounting of the soul (cheshbon ha-nefesh). A cleansing ritual will help us open our hearts to letting go of the shortcomings of the past year - own own and others. Together, we can return toward wholeness.
Oct 4, Tishrei: Soul celebration & renewal - Sukkot
Tishrei is a time of regeneration. After the rebirth of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we rejoice in the harvest of living in the abundance of God's blessing (Sukkot); we dance in celebration of reading Torah anew (Simchat Torah). Our meditations will open us to receiving this renewal, so that recharged, we may be blessed and be a blessing.
Nov 1, Cheshvan: Nothingness, Ayn Sof - personal transformation
After the busy-ness of last month, Cheshvan is a time of quiet, with no major holidays – a time for inward deepening. As we see the bare trees around, it is a time to acknowledge our letting go, too; a time to embrace the emptiness that allows us to be re-filled, re-inspired. We will chant a selection from the Zohar that allows us to find our roots in the transformative power of ayin – of divine nothingness – that fills and surrounds all.
Dec 6, Kislev: Rekindling, light out of darkness – Chanukah
Kislev finds us in the dark of the year. We'll seek Jewish enlightenment with meditations for amplifying the light – as at Chanukah when one day's oil lights eight days. With a chant from the Zohar and a guided visualization, we'll see how a tiny light in the darkness can be the “wonderous light by which you can see from one end of the universe to the other.”
Jan 10, 2008, Shevat: Regeneration, wisdom of the trees - Tu B'Shevat
The month of Shevat is the time of the stirrings of inner renewal. Outwardly, all is still quiet, but inwardly, the sap is starting to stir and attention is focused toward the coming Spring. In honor of Tu B'Shevat – the new year of trees – we will honor the wisdom of the trees in our meditations. We will use a chant from the liturgy to direct our attention toward the Tree of Life, focus with a Tu B'Shevat seder meditation, and use a Kabbalistic visualization to seek Etz Ya'Etz - the council of the tree.
Mar 6, Adar: Joy, order out of chaos – Purim
The Talmud tells us that “Joy is increased in the month of Adar.” This is a time of great healing through joy and laughter, especially when it arises from the realization of oneness emerging out of the apparent contradictions of chaos. When we meet at this time of Purim, we won't be drinking together to blur the differences between Haman and Mordecai, but we'll chant the Ana B'Koach and see how it encodes the opposites of Ecclesiastes (a time to be born, a time to die ...) in the mystical 42-letter name of the Divine.
Apr 10, Nisan: Exodus transformation – Pesach
During Nisan, Pesach is the time when “every person, in every generation must regard his or her self as having been personally freed from Mitzraim”. We will follow the pathway of the Exodus story as a roadmap for spiritual growth and freedom. Our meditations will give us the opportunity to face the constraints that afflict each of us in our Narrow Place; the struggles that plague us in the process of leaving it; crossing the parting sea into the vast unknown of the Wilderness; and the possibility of entering the Land of Milk and Honey, where we can find a nurturing and sweet life.
May 8, Iyar: Integration, climb the Tree of Life - counting the Omer
Iyar is a time for healing and purification, of opening new eyes to the world. The Counting of the Omer lasts for 7 weeks and brings us from Pesach to Shavuot, when we celebrate receiving the revelation of Torah. This is the time of passage through the Wilderness, learning the awareness of a new landscape of life. The Kabbalists identify this mystical journey of 7x7 days as a journey through the Tree of Life. This Kabbalistic tree is the map of energies or emanations through which the Infinite Divine manifests – like light through a prism. We will meditate on these divine energies and see how Counting the Omer each day can be an opportunity to make each day count.
Jun 5, Sivan: Receiving the light of Torah - Shavuot
Sivan is the time for blossoming, for realizing the depths of creativity of which we are capable, and for receiving the grace of God. The work we have done in leaving our narrow places and forging ahead in the unknown wilderness, now pays off at Sinai with the revelation of Torah. We'll use a chant to open us to this celebration, a focused YHVH meditation to experience our unity, and a Kabbalistic visualization to listen for the sacred.