Parshat Chukas

Parshat Chukas:  Ch. 20:7-9. "And the Lord spoke to Moshe, saying, Take the rod, and gather the assembly together .  .  .  and speak to the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth water .  .  .  And Moshe took the rod from before the Lord .  .  .  And Moshe lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly .  .  .  And the Lord spoke to Moshe and Aharon,  Because you did not believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, you shall not bring the congrgation into the land which I have given them. "

What kept Moshe's from entering the promised land?  What keeps us from entering the promised land both physically and in our hearts?

Happy are those who dwell in your house.  May we be blessed to realize that while smiting the difficult places within ourselves us may bring temporary peace, lasting peace arises when we allow our minds to quiet sufficiently to hear the still small voice within and to speak gently to the suffering in our lives.

Parshat Korach: Miracles of nature

Parshat Korach:  Ch. 27:23 – “And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and put forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and bore ripe almonds..” 

Miracles of nature are occurring at every moment of our lives.  May we be blessed to recognize and appreciate them.

Parshat Shelach Lecha: Seeing a grasshopper

 Parshat Shelach Lecha:  Ch. 12:32-33 – “And they spread an evil report of the land which they had spied out unto the children of Israel, saying .  .  .  And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”

When the children of Israel saw themselves as grasshoppers, when we see ourselves as grasshoppers, what if we were able to see not with fear, but with exquisite attention.  What if we were to carefully attend to the self that feels small and fragile? What insight would arise? 

The poet Mary Oliver shows us how to look carefully at a grasshopper:

Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention...

(see Mary Oliver’s complete poem, “A Summer Day,” and the wonderful insight she gains from careful attention at http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/133.html. 

A wonderful lyrical rendition of that poem sung by Sophia Smith-Savedoff and Emily Hurst may be found at
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/glassofwater.)

May we be blessed to see the grasshopper and the world not with fear, but with attention, as part of this one wild and precious life.