Shabbat: One who wants to enter the holiness of the day must first lay down the profanity of clattering commerce, of being yoked to toil. He must go away from the screech of dissonant days, from the nervousness and fury of acquisitiveness and the betrayal in embezzling his own life. He must say farewell to manual work and learn to understand that the world has already been created and will survive without the help of man. Friday night arrives. I know what my task is at this moment. I am to stop affecting the world and live in harmony with it. Even though I am a tangle of yearnings, on this day everything is to be perfect. I am to be satisfied with the many blessings that I have in my life. For once, I am to be at peace with the universe. Softly the Shabbat has plucked The sinking sun. Slowly the Shabbat descends, The rose of heaven in her hand. How can the Shabbat Plant a huge and shining flower In a blind and narrow heart? How can the Shabbat plant the bud of angels In a heart of raving flesh? Can the rose of immortality grow In an age enslaved to destruction, An age enslaved To death? Light a candle! Slowly the Shabbat descends And in her hand The flower, and in her hand the sinking shine. We ask ourselves – who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually who are you not to be? You are a child of God. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some; it is in everyone, as we let our light shine. Shabbat is known by many names. It is a Rest Day, and the Day of Peace, a taste of the messianic world to come. It is simultaneously a wedding day, a day of love for our Bride, Shabbat, and its metaphoric wedding ring is a band that ties us to God and to eternity. May it be God’s Will, that I be privileged to receive this holy Shabbat with happiness and joy, with song and excitement. Protect me so that no sadness or depression, no anguish or worry will mar my Shabbat. May I be happy with all my soul, with all my heart and with all my strength. Let this happiness without limit encompass the entire world and the people. A person reaches in three directions: inward, to oneself. Up, to God. Out, to others. The miracle of life is that in truly reaching in any one direction one embraces all three. The virtue of angels is that they cannot deteriorate; their flaw is that they cannot improve. The flaw of human beings is that they do deteriorate. Their virtue is that they can improve. It takes three things to attain a sense of significance: God, a soul, and a moment. These three things are always here. Just to be is a blessing. Just to be is a blessing. I love to change the world, But I rarely appreciate things as they are. I know how to give, But I don’t always know how to receive. I know how to keep busy, But I don’t often listen. I look, but I don’t often see. I yearn to succeed, But I often forget what is truly important. Teach me, God, to slow down. May my resting revive me. May it lead me to wisdom, to holiness To peace and to You. Refreshed and renewed, Attired in festive garments, With candles nodding dreamily to Unutterable expectations, To intuitions of eternity, Some of us are overcome with a feeling As if almost all they would say would be like a veil. There is not enough grandeur in our souls To be able to unravel in words The knot of time and eternity. One should like to sing for all men, For all generations… There is a song in the wind And joy in the trees. The Sabbath arrives in the world, Scattering a song in the silence of the night
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 13:26:02 +0000
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