Shabbat Shalom
Moishe is driving in Jerusalem. He's late for a meeting; he's looking for a parking place, and can't find one. In desperation, he turns towards heaven and says, "God, if you find me a parking place, I promise that I'll eat only kosher food, I'll respect Shabbas, and all the holidays."
Miraculously, a place opens up just in front of him.
He turns his face up to heaven and says, "Never mind, I just found one."
Moishe could be any one of us. We call upon God when we need it. When trouble is in our lives we ask God for a solution but we are quick to take God out of the equation when our problems are solved. And yet we are quick to blame God-or take our anger out on God when there is pain, suffering, or injustice and our prayers seemingly go unanswered.
And yet Jewish tradition teaches us something different. Jewish tradition teaches us to put God at the center. When God is the center of our lives rather than only on the outskirts- God won’t just be situational. God is present in all we do—good and bad, successes or failures, joy or suffering. When we put God at the center of our lives—we can allow a different relationship not only to the world around us but also to ourselves. When our very being has God at the core of our foundation we allow ourselves the chance to hope be part of a never-ending fountain.
In Jewish tradition, God helps us be mindful of the present as well as the future and the past. A sense of the divine in our midst shapes our thoughts and behaviors in a very different way. Take a simple example of eating. If we simply prepare and buy our food then consume it. We might stop to enjoy the taste, smell, and look of it. Or we might rush through a meal—never bothering to think about what we are doing. In fact we might be doing something else as we are eating—driving, reading, writing, talking. Watching television.
But when we put God at the core of our lives—and then thank God for the food—we add a dimension of holiness to the simple act of eating. We slow down—we take a moment to appreciate where we are, what we are doing, and the effort it took to prepare the food—even if we bought it.
Our prayer before eating bread or a full meal—the Motzi—helps us in many ways. It puts God front and center in this process of nutrition. It reminds us of the miracle of food—the miracle that we have it at all and the miracle it took to grow it. The very words of the motzi—who brings forth bread from the earth—hamotzi lechem min haaretz- reminds us of the process it took to go from wheat to bread. And also the partnership we have with God –who created the universe and the seed and cell but that it takes our talent and creativity to grow the wheat, cultivate it, mill it and turn the flour into baked goods. All of this from putting God at the core and allowing a moment of prayer- the Motzi meditation if you will—to bring you into the moment prepared and mindful of where you are in the world and your place in it.
Buddhist tradition calls this idea of presence –Mindfulness. Mindfulness is the ability to pay attention to an experience from moment to moment —without drifting into thoughts of the past or concerns about the future, or getting caught up in opinions about what’s going on. Mindfulness is a practice that helps us to wake up to the truth of our experience.
Judaism too is built on a series of prayers and meditations to help the spiritual journey of a person be present and acknowledge the holiness around us. As Rabbi Jim Mirel writes in his book, Stepping Stones to Jewish Spiritual Living: Walking the Path Morning, Noon, and Night, (Jewish Lights Press) “Judaism offers a rich tradition for the spiritual seeker: its spirituality infuses daily activities with holiness and purpose.”
The Jew’s daily prayer routine has built into it –opportunities to practice mindfulness. But as Rabbi Jonathan Slater, Program Director, Institute for Jewish Spirituality writes, “Distant from God, alienated from their true home and their true self, Jews may have come to sense that God is not involved in the workings of the world, and that we alone must do God’s work.” Thus for many of us—God is absent or non-existent. We don’t pray daily, or for even the simple things. God is far away—unformed—until like Moishe the Driver –we are in a pinch and need God.
The mindfulness movement has grown beyond the hallways of spirituality and religion—to the halls of academia because the benefits of these age-old traditions have measurably improved lives.
Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn is founder of the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness which is part of the UMASS Medical School. As he says "We are moving so fast, it is harder to know who we are," We're living great lives, but we're never there for them. We have no time to linger or savor. We are starving for that." The research at University of Massachusetts and Harvard and most recently at Duke Center for Integrative Medicine has shown that disciplines for mindfulness when measured help with stress reduction, pain management and improvement in the overall quality of lives.
In a recent LA Times article (Monday July 18, 2005, p. F5) the issue of mindfulness and health was highlighted. The article (perhaps you saw it) was entitled “Being Mindful of Each Mouthful.” It highlighted the work and several studies that have been done on the notion that a mindfulness practice can help people diet and deal with their food issues. As it said in the article quoting Dr. Jean Kristeller of Indiana State University “It involves a very brief meditation to center you before eating, and an emphasis on eating with full attention—getting pleasure from food and noticing when you have had enough.” (Sounds like the Motzi to me!)
They have had a number of controlled studies done on the notion of mindful eating and measured them against outcomes of those who receive expert nutritional and diet and fitness information without the meditation. And it seems that the mindful eating group—who meditated prior to eating, on average, lost weight, reduced binging, and improved blood sugar levels, and had less insulin resistance and lessening of other problems that often lead to diabetes. The National Institute of Health is so encouraged by the initial results that they are spending 1.8 million dollars over four years on studies of it!
They are discovering what Judaism has taught for millennium. That prayer helps. That Prayer matters. And when we bring prayer and we would say, God into the center of our being—we can have an inner strength and peace that helps us to face even our darkest hour.
The motzi before we eat, the shehekiyanu prayer for moments of thanksgiving and gratefulness, the blessing over the candles for the beginning of Shabbat, the blessings upon awakening and the shema at night before you go to bed, the prayer upon seeing a rainbow, or a learned person, or the prayer for a safe journey –are at the core of Jewish tradition and the notion of Jewish mindfulness. These brachot are at the core of helping us –be present in the moment— to make us aware and suffuse our spirits with a sense of connectedness, wholeness and yes, shalom—peace. It reminds us that we are not alone—that God is in our lives and we are in God’s. And perhaps most importantly in this crazy, fast-paced, 24/7 society, that we can take a few moments out—to appreciate our surroundings and our lives.
Mindfulness is not for Buddhists alone. It is an age-old Jewish practice that is being rediscovered and scientifically shown to improve the quality of one’s life. Tradition teaches that we are to say meah brachot—100 blessings a day. These blessings help us in the practice of mindfulness. Help us put God at the center of our lives. So many of you say, “Rabbi, I want to study the kabbalah.” You tell me you want to be more spiritual, that you want to understand the wisdom of the mystics. And I am telling you this—if you want a more spiritual life,--one that is more at peace, practice JEWISH MINDFULNESS. Practice our prayers—put them into your daily life. And do what the kabbalists do—begin to put God at the core of your being.
Baruch atah Adonai—Praised are You Adonai who hears our prayers—shomea tefilah—Helps us to be mindful of the many gifts that surround us. And let us not walk in fear as we reach out to You for sustenance, health, and well being.
Ken yehi ratzon
Shabbat Shalom,
On the top of a mountain in the wilderness, generations ago, our people heard the call of God. Through Moses, God gave our people ten rules for living. Simple rules that built the basis of Jewish civilization and became the foundation for Western society. Judaism expanded upon those ten simple rules for living—that we call the Ten Commandments. And our Torah and received tradition of laws and precepts and commandments or mitzvot formed a world view and way of being that called upon the Jew to act in the highest ethical manner in everything we do.
As Rabbi Asher Meir writes in his book the Jewish Ethicist, (Ktav, 2005) “Despite the unbelievable degree of physical dislocation experienced over the millennia by the Jewish people, our legal tradition displays and astonishing degree of continuity and coherence.” (Jewish Ethicist, xi)
These ethics as embodied in Jewish law provide a pathway for behavior and action that guard our relationships with our fellow human beings. Jewish ethics keep our world woven together with a common thread of justice and dignity with God at the center.
The ethics of Torah and the Talmud provide more than a framework, but a high standard for our conduct in business as well as daily life. Judaism unlike some religious traditions acknowledges the importance of the marketplace and of commerce. We do not condemn business or as Meir says, “consider it religiously irrelevant.” (Jewish Ethicist, p. xi) Instead our tradition like it always does, tries to elevate the level of holiness of the profane. This includes bringing the realm of the holy within the marketplace. In other words, yes, you can find God at Bloomingdales!
Thus Jewish tradition looks for ways to take business transactions and ensure that they are achieved in the highest ethical and holy manner. Even in business God is your partner!
The ethical maxims and instructive examples of the Talmud and Midrash in addition to the Torah and Tanach provide us with mandates and principles for ethical living. They are our roadmap to those awkward moments when the temptation is to get one over on another, or when we might inadvertently take advantage of a situation. In today’s world this takes on an even greater importance. The ethics that we practice and live by measure not just our integrity and our character but our society’s health and well-being. Thus when the Governor can have a conflict of interest as large as he does now—you know that our society is at risk.
Schwarzenegger’s contract with various body building magazines for a cut of the ad revenue, (which some say is worth 8 million dollars) that primarily comes from the food supplement industry, is just one of the myriad examples of severe ethical lapses. It becomes an ethical problem and conflict of interest when he vetoes legislation regulating the food supplement industry. Thereby enriching himself at the risk of harming the public. The Governor has an ethical problem on his hands and this doesn’t speak well for him or for our State.
It is an ethical problem when Congressman Duke Cunningham, of the San Diego area, member of the Appropriations subcommittee on Defense, sells his home to the chairman of MZM, Inc., a defense contractor, for over 1.675 million dollars and then Mitchell Wade, chairman of MZM, turns around and sells it for a $700,000 loss. In the months following that business transaction, the company, MZM, INC reported that its revenues from Defense Department Contracts had tripled. In 2002 the same company received a no bid contract for up to $250 million dollars. In addition Rep. Cunningham now under federal investigation, stayed on Wade’s 42-foot yacht rent free for over a year, paying only $13,000 in dock fees. Cunningham lining his pockets speaks to the illness that pervades our culture. His actions rot our way of life and cause our American people to turn away from civic engagement. This is a threat to our very liberty.
And what of the president’s advisor, Karl Rove? This week he is at center of growing storm. While New York Times reporter Judith Miller sits in prison, trying to uphold the dignity of the press and her sources, Mr. Rove is involved in the Plame affair which named a covert CIA operative in the press, seemingly to get back at her husband who disagreed with the policy of the Bush administration and their justification for going to war in Iraq. As the Grand Jury meets and Federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald who has for two years been investigating the leak that named Valerie Plame, Karl Rove has now been named as the source. Again, ethical questions arise.
Why? First and foremost because laws have been violated. It is against the law to name covert agents. Secondly, because Rove has denied being the source and the White House, particularly the press secretary has denied his involvement these past two years. Now that he has acknowledged his being involved, but denying that he ever stated her name, Rove tries to parse and wiggle his way out of responsibility. Further the co-mingling of his security hats and political operative hats blurs the lines of just action and just behavior.
This is wrong. Plain and simple. And once again, if ethical behavior had been followed – if integrity had been the motto, Mr. Rove wouldn’t find himself in this predicament. Integrity? Hardly.
These three ethical lapses are problems in and of themselves. But each also speaks to the cynicism of our time. For when so called leaders engage commonly in unethical practices, it infects our whole society. It causes us to turn away from our civic duties and responsibilities. It eats away at the common culture that binds us as a society. Ethical breaches such as they degrade not only the people involved but all of us.
So whether in Politics or business when the books are cooked, like at Enron or WorldComm, we tear open a gaping wound in the well being of our world. It goes as deep as any terrorist attack on a London Subway—and perhaps the violation of our communal soul is just as deep an injury. When ethics are thrown out the window, we live in a morally contaminated environment.
As former Czech President and playwrite Vaclev Havel wrote:
We are living at a time when humankind can
face whatever threatens it only if we, by which
I mean each of us, manage to revive, with new
energy and a new ethos, a sense of responsibility
for the rest of the world.
As Jews our sense of responsibility to the world must reach to the moral and ethical way of life our tradition teaches.
Whether in business dealings or in relationship with our partners, family and friends we must set the highest standards of behavior. For God is a part of our equation. God is and must be at the center of how we act.
Our haftarah lesson this week is from the book of Micah—it contains perhaps my favorite verse of the entire Bible. In its few words, are the kernal, the essence of our task here on earth. Its flowing language sums up our ethical concerns and goes right to the core of the message.
God has told you what is good. And what does God require of you? Only to do justice, to love compassion and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)
Justice and compassion with God by our side. This evokes for us a clear path to the road of ethics and values. Jewish ethics and values—which are a high standard for right behavior and living. If we all followed this advice—our world would be a better place.
So even as there are some who infect our society, who by their actions and reactions, destroy the ethical fabric of our time, who eat away at the sacred relationships human beings are to have with one another, let us delve deeper into our spiritual lives to live with integrity, honesty and dignity making ethical decisions in all we do. Let us walk humbly with our God and strive to bring justice to all the decisions we make. That is our challenge, our quest and yes, the Jew’s job #1.
