From Rabbi David — 12 days. 10 hours a day. Meditate.
04/24/2020 03:28:22 PM
Apr24
Author
Date Added
Jewish Community of Greater Stowe
Dear JCOGS family,
Nothing would prepare me for a 12 day meditation retreat in 2004. Sitting for 10 hours a day on a hard cushion in a non-denominational setting was not exactly my idea of fun. It was quite literally painful. Not to mention that there was no talking for 10 of those days. It was almost the reverse of what we are all going through — no one to talk to, yet crammed together with 50 other people in a small meditation hall.
Still, I’d like to think this meditation retreat and the subsequent shorter ones prepared me a bit for this moment we are living through. Mostly, those retreats helped me face the difficulties that arise when left alone— the internal dialogue that can be as much a problem as the exterior problems that plague us. The mind slowly quiets over time. Problems once insurmountable have easier fixes or simply melt away.
Some moments, as I am sheltered at home with three boys aged nine, seven, and two, I think — why didn’t I choose a monastic religion? Sitting on a cushion right now might just be easier than trying to parent during social isolation.
Some of the ancient Jews were in fact monastic. But the beautiful thing about the evolution of rabbinic Judaism is its embrace of both the holy and mundane — the divine spark and the parenting chaos, the communion with nature and the grocery list. We have work to attend to and a world to repair. We must get to it. But we also need time to reflect and pray and meditate and slow down.
So, Thursday mornings at 11am, we pause for some prayerful meditation as a congregation. It is a gift. The time to reflect and write helped me remember how fortunate I am to share this time with such beautiful kids and that this time in our lives is precious. I am one of the fortunate ones, pu pu pu, as my bubbie would say.
So, then we return to our daily lives. And do our best to bring the holy sparks into our homes and our relationships and our world.
Tihiyu bri’im, be safe and stay healthy. Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi David
p.s. Tonight during services, we will hear a stunning poem that our member Susan Bauchner wrote after a writing prompt on gratitude during yesterday’s meditation.
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