2012 Bio Omer Counting Days 4-7

4. Netzah sh'b'Hesed  Perseverance in Expansion


Image:
a. The Sun beaming nourishing light to our mostly blue planet Earth allowing life and beauty.
b. A mountain sides with a small channels of water flowing tricking midst the rocks.
c. Loving something or someone very very much.


Spiritual Challenge: 
a. Unrelenting sunlight can  scorch Earth and deplete her resources. 
b. Impatience. Time. A slow trickle and slowly chisel away hard rock over enough time.  
c. Wanting more of them or from them. 


Guide for practice:  
a. Sun shines on Earth by day and Moon by night. 
b, Tuning into Divine time. Appreciating the blessings available to us during our finite time on Earth as they are available.
c. Though the impulse to be together can be very strong, it is key to modulate the desire for balance and health.  We've all been the recipient of needy love. It can be overwhelming and unpleasant. We've also all felt the tendency toward over indulgence. Learning to balance is key to a happy life.


5. Hod sh'b'Hesed


Image:
a.The tiny plants growing alongside cactus in the dry desert.   
b.Birds flying upon the air currents*.  
c.Fish Swimming with the waters*.  


*Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi


Spiritual Challenge:
a.  Resources and energy are finite.  


Guide for Practice:
Just like the delicate cactus flowers find enough to exist, and the birds and fish conserve their own energy by supplementing it with the air and water flow, 
Pause to recognize and utilize the blessings (resources) that are available.  Open to using them in simple and creative ways.  


Note: This is useful when considering oil consumption.


6.Yesod sh'bHesed


Image:
a. Trees blossoming.
b.  Pregnancy.


Spiritual Challenge:
Nourishment, Patience, External conditions beyond our control, Grace is needed.


Guide for practice:


a. Proper water and fertilizers. We pray that the weather and external conditions will support the fruit's development. 
b. Thoughtful nourishment for the pregnant mother, low stress environment. Prayer and intention that the baby be born healthy.




7.  Malkhut sh'b'Hesed


Image:
a. A juicy apple. 
b. An infant.  An individual.  




Spiritual Challenge:
a. Hunger.  Waiting for the delicious apple to grow to it's fullness. 
b.The baby is an individual distinct from the parents.




Guide for practice:
a. Walt until the time is right to harvest the fruit.
b. Get to know the individual that has been brought into the world.  Listen. Pay attention to what the infant individual tells you.  This is true for individuals of all ages.

Last night we counted Day 3 - Tiferet sh’be’Hesed Compassion, Balance in Expansion

Last night we counted Day 3 Tiferet sh’be’Hesed
Compassion, Balance in Expansion


The birth canal pressing and coddling the infant, massaging and nourishing it as it enters into the world.  The act of nursing; breast milk is formulated specially for the infant. It is what the infant can receive and take in.  Just the right nourishment and flow. 


Giving must be offered in a way that can be received to be effective giving.  Tiferet calls to tuning into the one receiving.  Compassionate giving holds the needs of the recipient as primary.
Not enough or too much do not nourish adequately.  The offering must be matched, that is tuned to the one receiving. 
Guide to Practice; Ask yourself, am I giving in order receive something in return?  Am I giving to demonstrate my superiority?  Am I giving too much and burdening the recipient?
How can I give in a manner that better supports the recipient’s fuller receiving what is being offered?  

Counting the Omer Day 1 and 2

Week One:
Day 1) Hesed Of Hesed.  Expansion that is within Expansion
The blessing if lowing unconditional nourishment flowing like water flows freely abundantly nourishing.  
Image: water flowing, love given
The spiritual challenge is that while water can be nourishing and is essential a “just enough” quantity need be received to sustain life.  Too much can be devastating.  Imagine the floods of Katarina or the tidal waves that resulted from the earthquakes in Japan. Not enough and life does not sustain. Similarly, loving something too much can be devastating.  Too much of a good thing is too much.  Consider how the love is given and actualized.
The guide for practice:  Infinite flow, like infinite blessings sound like they are for the good. Infinite flow, like infinite water can be damaging, like the flood or typhoon.   We are reminded of  the importance of sustainability. We pray for a right amount of blessing to sustain spiritually, intellectually, creatively and physically. We offer a right amount of blessing to nourish those in our sphere of influence, not too much and not too little.





Last night we counted Day 2)
G’vurah sh’beHesed; Contraction within Expansion
Image; a typhoon, a flood, too much chocolate
Spiritual Challenge; healthy love always includes an element of restraint. Rain is a blessing only because it falls in drops and does not flood.
Guide for practice; Is my love disciplined enough?  Am I hurting others by allowing myself to become a crutch for them?  Do I respect the one I love or is my love a selfish love?  Am I projecting my wants and needs upon others?  Do I take into account my partner’s capacity to receive love before I give it?

March is upon us. Purim is this week. 

 I've been away looking inward. And it is good to be back.

The whimsy of this season is witnessed by mercurial weather;  The arctic breeze chills, as the sun warms our skin here in Southern California.

This is the season of mischief, masks and mystery.  Is Springtime here yet?  or it a brief bit of warmth masking Winter's chill ? 

The veil between good and bad is thinner now than any other time of the year.  

We can look at the good and the bad with expansive eyes to witness goodness, even in what seems very bad.  As the shadow side  of what seems very very good.  Life is indeed mixed and glorious.

There is good in all, when we really open our eyes to tune to it.

Continuum Movement Musings

Many of you know that I am a long time aficionado of Continuum Movement.  This practice is has guided many to becoming more alive, enlightened and feel better.  It is a moving meditation that uses sound.  It makes me feel more connected to the Earth. Continuum Movement is best experienced by doing it. For more info on Continuum : http://www.continuummovement.com/

My friend, the holy and gifted artist Judith Margolis asked me to explain how Continuum  Movement make me more connected.

The 4 world model from classical Kabbalah is a good way to enter into the layers simply.

1)Assiyah - Realm of doing Sensation   YHVH   Reptilian Brain
I can track breath and fluid moving and  unraveling in my body.   This helps me track my state of well-being.   It serves expand awareness locally and identify where the stickiness may be physically in my body.   I can also track  Tissue movement - subtle and gross  in others.  This teaches me to feel the subtle vibrations of our beautiful living and breathing planet.

2)Yetzirah – Feeling  YHVH    Limbic Brain
This offers a sense of connection and well-being; being a  part of the global community.  Satisfaction; when insights come. Curiosity. Interest.  Whimsey.  The unfolding of life becomes less mysterious - the ability to determine what is likely to happen - what the unfolding will be like offers peace.  It helps eliminate anxiety.

3)Breeyah - Intellect and Creativity.  YHVH  - NeoCortex
True Intellect is Creative. We work with fluids and breath.  Breath is God - YHVH. Every time we breathe we are invoking The Holy Blessed One. This is a secret of the 4 letter Name.
Fluid/Water is Hesed; unbounded giving.  Living in a desert , as the Israelites did, makes the appreciation for water deep.  It is easy to see why mystics equate water Hesed - unbounded love with H2O. Water’s nature  is expansive.  It fills a container fully.  Water needs a container for us to use it well. Its tendency is to not be container.  Water has this consciousness wherever it is.  On Earth or in the Heavens.  )From Torah and Science - the water on top of the Rakkia and the Earthly waters.

4)Atzilut - Spirit. Being close to the Holy Blessed One  YHVH  - Cerebral Spinal Fluid
Continuum is a prayerful modality.  It connects me more deeply and profoundly to the First Source and Center of All.  It is a holy experience of dvaykut; cleaving to the Creator.

Rahamim; Compassion

The word that had been resonating in my heart  is RaHaMim; commonly translated as compassion. 

What is RaHaMim?  Most commonly it is translated as Compassion.

There are two players in any compassionate act.  The giver and receiver. 

Let’s consider both modalities.  An optimally compassionate act, is when the giver, gives the receiver what she or he is able to receive fully and completely. No waste.  No miscommunication. No hurt feelings.   It feels so very good and right when it flows that way.

Compassionate Giving calls for tuning into what the receiver really needs -  really listening and tuning into the heart of the one receiving.  It can mean altering the offering to give what is truly called for. This could be different from what a giver may have intended initially.

Compassionate receiving is receiving what is being offered with integrity and kindness.  “I really wanted ice tea, but thanks anyway for this espresso.”  We can choose to receive the tea and focus on what is perfect and wonderful about it.   For example, Tea has Less Caffeine than coffee... and the polka dot glass is so very festive.

Here’s another example.  We have 2 cats, Tesla and Mo. Tesla, aka Tessy is quiet and demure - she tends to keep to herself, Mo is full of vim, vigor and mischief.  He has a mind of his own.  Mo likes to venture outside, unnoticed. 

From time to time I look for Mo in the house, calling “Mo!  Mo-she!” I go outside go outside.  “Mo!  Mo-hammed!” I wait.   Then a gentle nudge. It is Tessy.   I am learning to pause and appreciate Tessy’s loving response; meet her, pet her, and have a moment with precious Tessy.  Even though I know that I still need to figure out where Mo is. 

You just may not want what is being offered. It may not be good. For you. There are skillful means of saying, “no thank you" that lets the person making the offer feel good about the offer.  Perhaps it is possible to suggest and alternative, that you do want.  “I’ll pass on the coke, but that orange juice looks really good, thanks,"

There is a sod; secret within RaHaMim.  the word ReHeM is its root.  ReHem means womb.  Noticeably a feminine attribute.  RaHaMim, in its highest form is compassion in the way a womb is compassionate to the unborn child; pressing against it, holding it, nourishing it.  Expecting no-thing from it, more than its well being.  A little kick and everyone is delighted.  The womb is the model of the ultimate Earthly compassion source. 

13 attributes are chanted often during these holy days.  It is a method of invoking Compassion given over in Torah.  Compassion from the HBO is what we seek.

When we chant Adonai Adonai El RaHuM v’HaNuN*, it is RaHaMim we are invoking, first.

It is significant that the first of the 13 attributes references the  feminine maternal aspect of wombing and nourishing.  

This is what we are asking of the HBO for when we chant the 13 attributes the sages teach - the totality is included in the beginning and the attributes start with RaHaMim.

When a cord is strummed on one guitar, the other responds by resonates the same tone. The resonance is shared. The impact is shared.

It is accepted in classical Kabbalah that heaven and Earth sit as 2 guitars adjacent to one another.  So, strumming a cord on Earth; results in a resonance on high. 

Jews all over the planet, gather in synagogues and pray to live another year. We ask for a good life.  We ask that the Holy Blessed One assess us all from a perspective of compassion.   

The best way to invoke Rahamim on high is practice it on Earth amongst ourselves. This way, we can co-create a compassionate world. 

Let’s start the year by being the compassion we crave.  

May you be woven into the spiral of life and love..

* 13 attributes

Adonai Adonai Eyl Rahum v’Hanun Erekh Apai-yim v’Rav Hesed v’Emet Notzer Hesed Lalafeem Notzer Avon v’Feshah v’Hata-ah v’Nakeh

Three translations (they are different spins on the Hebrew)

> 1) Adonai, Adonai, Eyl gracious and Motherly, Patient for The Long Term, abundant Love and Truth;  Bringing Love to the masses, Carries away crimes,  negligent errors,  mistakes and cleans up after.

> 2)Yod Hey Vav Hey, Yod Hey Vav Hey, Compassion and Tenderness, Patience, Forbearance, Kindness, and Awareness; bringing Love from Age to Age, Lifting Guilt and Mistakes; Making us Free.

> 3)Adonai, Adonai, Eyl of Mercy and Grace, patient, and abundant love, and truth; gives love to the myriads, carries off transgressions, violations, mistakes and cleans up any residue.

Happy Rosh Hodesh Elul; New Moon of Virgo

Every Month has distinct 4 letter permutation connected with it offered by R Joseph Ashkenazi ( ~1450)  of blessed memory. 

It can be found in his inspiring commentary on Sefer Yetzirah.

The 4 letter permutation for Elul is:

Heh Vav Heh Yud:

Focusing on this Name is meant to provide access to the Holy Blessed One; it is like the key for the month. It supports prayers being received on high and answered.  

Every year at this time, tradition invites us to intentionally revisit the journey inward
- to do the important spiritual work of T'shuvah; re-turning to Source. Elul; the month
preceding the High Holy Days is specifically designated for T'Shuvah. We are asked to
take measure of our lives and repair relationships that have been compromised by our
actions, by the actions of others or by the vicissitudes of time. We have this vital opportunity
to reassess intentions and embrace what is healing, nourishing or useful and to release
what no longer serves us.

On the Northern Hemisphere, this time of year marks the end of the growing
season. The farmer's markets are filled with ripe, sweet smelling fruit; the last of the
peaches and nectarines are making space for juicy figs and plump persimmons. Soon
pomegranates will abound. Farmers harvest the fruits of their labor and weigh in their
crops. 

Each growing season starts with intention. Farmers set out to grow produce of quality
and quantity. The end of the summer's growing season ushers in a new harvest
and initiates the weighing in of our lives journey. Harvest is the process of gathering
mature crops from the fields. This abundant time of year marks the focus of seasonal
celebrations of many religions and cultures around the world. 

Farmers hope that their produce will be enough to sustain them the winter; as now
growth has slowed down or stopped all together. Will the food grown be sufficient for
our needs? It is natural to reflect and assess how we can improve the growing and
harvest processes in future years. 

Jewish tradition teaches that the Earth's cycles manifest deeply in the human psyche
and are mirrored in our life experience. Just as the farmers weigh in produce and hope
that their crops exceed expectation, so too, we reap what we sow during this season.
Elul and the High Holy Days are the time of harvesting the fruits of our work. It is a
time to weigh in and measure what our life has yielded. We ask: Are our intentions
drawing us closer to what we truly value? Are we experiencing the depths of life and
love? Or is our current situation untenable? Do life and love appear blocked? Do we
need to modify our intentions to draw us closer into peace, joy, productivity?

Death and Rebirth also arise as themes during the harvest season and the period of the
High Holy Days. We will chant the awesome and familiar words 'Who will live and who
will die?' 

These powerful words call us to reflect on our own practices and habits;
to examine our lives and ask which habits are useful and nourishing in contrast to those habits which
have become a blockage to joy and love and are perhaps destructive. Let us extend
this question to consider, “what” aspects will live and “what” will we choose to let die.
Some habits are best to be allowed to die - to be released. 

The good news is that this release creates a vital space. For those of us with very full
lives, making space can provide a big relief. New dreams, habits and practices can then
take root. Now, during these High Holidays we have a potent opportunity to co-create
our world for the upcoming year.

Blessings for a nourishing Elul and a year of good health, abundance, clarity, healing, community, generosity,
compassion, understanding, wisdom and inspiration.


Infinite Blessings,

Rabbi T'mimah Ickovits

www.KabbalahTmimah.org