Parshat Naso: Receiving peace

Parshat Naso: Ch. 6:24-26 -       "May God bless you and protect you.

  May God’s face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

May God’s face be lifted up to you, and grant you peace."

Numbers Rabbah 11:7 "Shimon ben Halafta said, Great is peace, for no vessel other than peace can receive blessing."
Another teaching:  “Great is peace, for even at a time of war we need peace, as it says, when you draw near to a city to fight against it, you shall proclaim peace to it.”

It is easy to speak of peace at peaceful times, but how much more difficult—and necessary—to pursue peace in the midst of conflict, in the midst of threat and war.

May we find a place of peace in our awareness even in the midst of great aversion and agitation.

(with thanks to Rabbi Toba Spitzer)

Parshat Bamidbar - Opening to inspiration

 Parshat Bamidbar Numbers 1:1 The Lord spoke to Moses in the Sinai Desert, in the Tent of Meeting on the first day of the second month, in the second year after the exodus from the land of Egypt…

To receive an insight, we must allow our minds and hearts to be clear, and lay ourselves open and bare like the wilderness at Sinai. However, even if we do the work of opening,  an inspiration is not guaranteed, for inspiration comes  in its own, specific time and place.

Parshat Bechukosai - Walking with God's presence

 Parshat Bechukosai:  Lev. 26:3,12 - "If you walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them; then .  .  .  I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people."

Take a step.  Pay attention to the sensation of your feet leaving the ground and touching the earth again.  When you are fully connected to the sensation of walking, open your awareness and ask how you feel God's presence walking with you.