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“Reb Shefa takes you into the House of Study of the Heart and the Soul and in this way engages the sacred creativity of the Spirit.” RebZalmanSchachter-Shalomi co-author of JewishWithFeelingandCredoOfAModernKabbalist

“No other contemporary teacher I know presents Scripture as so hands-on-accessible a tool for transforming personal suffering into happiness.” SylviaBoorstein, author of It’sEasierThanYouThink:TheBuddhistWaytoHappiness

“Torah Journeys is a remarkable book of profound depth. It has taught me much, drawing as the author does from the wells of different faith traditions in her life. Rabbi Shefa Gold is adept at teaching us how to grow spiritually using the Torah as the inexhaustible source. Please read this book if you too want to grow.” ArchbishopEmeritusDesmondTutu

“Even old places and familiar texts we thought we knew come alive again in this book of substance and deep spiritual refreshment. Here experience takes precedence over tired and literal dogmatic pronouncements.” MatthewFox, author of ANewReformation:CreationSpiritualityand theTransformationofChristianity

“If you dare be addressed by God — read it. If you dare be transformed by God — practice it.” RabbiRamiShapiro author of TheDivineFeminine

Torah Journeys The Torah is the map. You are the territory.

Following the framework of the ancient tradition of weekly Torah reading, Shefa Gold shows us how to find blessing, challenge and the opportunity

for spiritual transformation and practice in each portion of Torah. An inspiring guide to exploring the landscape of Scripture...

and recognizing that landscape as the story of your life. Destined to be a classic of Jewish spiritual renewal.

Torah Journeys

The Inner path to THe promised Land

Yillustration ©

Kit MahoneyBen Yehuda Press www.BenYehudaPress.com RAbbi Shefa Gold

Spirituality / Judaism / Sacred Texts $19.95

21

To r a h J o u r n e y s

Genesis

Bereshit

Incarnation

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S h e f a G o l d

G e n e s i s

Bereshit(In the Beginning)

Genesis 1:1-6:8

God creates the world.

The Blessing

Every Shabbat celebrates Creation and thus the continuing re-creation of our world.

Creation begins with Light, (Or), which is another word for conscious-ness. God wraps us within garments of skin, (Or), which is Light (Or) made dense. Our physical bodies and the whole world that we see enfolds the Light of Creation. In this way, our world both reveals and conceals the Light of Creation.

Describing Creation the Zohar says:

“The silkworm wraps itself within and makes itself a palace. This palace is its praise and a benefit to all.”1

Our journey of consciousness/ Light leads us through embodiment, the palace of existence, to Enlightenment, where God waits for us, ever present.

From the purity and innocence of Eden we journey forth through Du-ality (represented by the Tree of Good and Evil), through self-knowledge, suffering, and mistakes, towards the Tree of Life, a tree that is rooted in the Divine Reality, with branches that find their flower in our human-ity.

The blessing comes as we receive a vision of “the palace” (physical re-ality) and let its praise sing through us. God is here, inside all Creation, radiant and waiting.

The teachings of Kabbala address the mystery of how the Divine be-comes manifest, how the infinite enters the finite, how we might possibly bridge the chasm between God and Creation. Kabbala gives us the image of the Tree of Life with its roots in Heaven and its branches reaching into human awareness. The Tree has ten s’firot which form the pathways from the infinite to the finite. Each s’firah is perceived as a set of associated

1 Zohar 1:15a; translated by Daniel Matt, Zohar: The Book of Enlightenment, Paulist Press, 1983

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To r a h J o u r n e y s

Be r e s h i t

images that elucidate a certain quality such as Loving-flow, Boundaried-strength, Balanced Beauty, Endurance, or Sparkling-Glory.

The Tree of Life is a vehicle for Blessing. It is the connection be-tween Heaven and Earth, between the infinite and the finite.

The seven days correspond to the seven lower s’firot of the Tree of Life. Each of these seven days and s’firot blesses us with its own gift. Moving along the pathway of the Palace of Creation, we discover God Herself wrapped within. As we get closer, we ourselves unwrap the Mystery of existence: the presence of God within everything.

With the creation of Light (consciousness, the dividing of light from darkness) we receive the blessing of Chesed – of Love and Flow.

With the creation of the firmament (the separation of the wa-ters above from the waters below) we receive the blessing of Gevurah

– Boundaries, Strength and Discernment.

With the creation of land, sea, and vegetation, we receive the bless-ings of Tiferet – Beauty, Harmony and Balance.

With the Creation of the sun, moon, and stars, we receive the bless-ing of Netzach – Endurance.

With the creation of fishes and birds, we receive the blessing of Hod – Sparkle and Variety.

With the creation of land animals and humans in God’s image, we receive the blessing of Yesod – Foundation, Regenerativity, Creativity.

And with the creation of Shabbat, we receive Malkhut – the In-dwelling Presence.

In receiving all these blessings we enter “the palace” where we may hear the praise of all Creation. Then, the power of our shining awareness, overflowing gratitude, and resplendent praise can send all of those sparks back to their Source.

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G e n e s i s

The Spir itual Ch allenge

Our soul’s journey begins with the question, “Ayeka? Where are you?” Hearing God’s first question, Adam hides, saying, “I was afraid because I was naked.” The spiritual challenge of this beginning time is to know that we are utterly naked and vulnerable. Yet rather than hide, we are challenged to stand in our nakedness. We are spurred to uncover our essence, to let go of everything that we’ve acquired to keep us safe. We are required to stand in our vulnerability, to open to the power that moves through us. This vulnerability allows us to experience the energy and flow of an ever-shifting and dynamic Reality. Suzuki Roshi calls this condition Beginner’s Mind:

“…mind free from possessing anything, a mind that knows everything is in flowing change. Nothing ex-ists but momentarily in its present form and color. One thing flows into another and cannot be grasped.”2

Even one moment of Beginner’s Mind wakes us up to the knowledge that we always perceive the world through our own specific lens. Our first challenge is to examine that lens in order to learn its peculiar distor-tions and colorings.

The second challenge is to receive Creation as a gift, experiencing the complete, swirling re-creation of the world in this present moment. In-stead of trying to figure it all out by acquiring more and more data about the world, our challenge is to simply open to the gift of each breath and enter the process of freeing our attention so that we can receive, in radical amazement, the newness of each moment. This receptivity is dependent upon being present and finding a heart of gratefulness for this very mo-ment.

The third challenge lies in becoming co-creators with God. Know-ing that the world is being re-created at every moment, and knowing that I am created in God’s image, I am challenged to open myself to the flow of Goodness and to let that flow be expressed through the workings and play of my life. Then I can begin to know myself as a partner with God in the work of Creation. I can surrender the power of my imagination and the skills of my hands to the co-creative work of shaping a holy life. I am called into partnership.

2 Shunru Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, John Weatherhill, 1970, p.138

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To r a h J o u r n e y s

Be r e s h i t

Guida nce for Pr actice

I will suggest three practices for this week of Bereshit, of beginning time,

that might help us to rise to the spiritual challenges delineated above.

Seeing the world without its clothes on

Sit outside in a place of natural beauty and power. Close your eyes and gently let go of every thought. Return to the knowledge that the world you perceive consists of the garments of God. Immerse yourself in the knowledge that there is a special God-light hidden inside everything. Resolve to penetrate the surface of Creation in order to know God who is “wrapped” within this palace of Creation. With each out-breath, allow the world to undress, with each in-breath, breathe in the light that shines out from within Creation.

An Exploration of Gratefulness and Receptivity

Close your eyes and focus on your breath. Let the breath slow and deepen slightly. With each in-breath receive the gift of your life, and then let each out-breath be an expression of gratefulness for the gift you have just received.

A Very Simple yet Powerful Prayer

Just speak two words directly to God. “Use me.”3 If you are ready to say these words, (on some days I know that I am not ready or available) then open your eyes and be attentive to the opportunities for service that present themselves during the day. Another way to say this prayer is:

“Hineni, osah et atzmi merkava l’shekhina” 4

Here I am, transforming myself into a chariot for Divine Presence.

3 This practice was shared with me by someone who learned it from Rashad Field.

4 I learned this phrase from Yitzhak Buxbaum’s book, Jewish Spiritual

Practices.

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G e n e s i s

Noah

Genesis 6 :9 - 11:32

The world is destroyed by a great flood. Noah builds an ark and is saved along

with his family and a sampling of each species. He is given the rainbow as a

sign of covenant. His descendants try to reach Heaven by building the tower of

Babel. The tower is destroyed and the people are dispersed.

The Blessing

Our consciousness holds a memory of utter catastrophe, of the death and rebirth of this planet. The story of the Flood represents this awareness which awakens us to the preciousness of Life. And the story ends with a the blessing of a great promise.

It is upon this blessing that our spiritual life rests. God touches our memory of devastation and says, “This will never happen again.” She makes a covenant with all of life and places a rainbow in the sky as a sign of that covenant. “I will look upon the rainbow and remember.”1 The blessing of the rainbow is the remembrance, the assurance, that we are ultimately safe. This deep unquestioned sense of security and trust in the essential goodness and rightness of Reality becomes the foundation for the process of awakening. This sense is so basic that changing circumstances and events cannot disrupt it. A. H. Almaas calls this quality, “ Basic Trust.” Its presence allows you to relax and JUST BE with whatever is.

Basic Trust gives us the capacity to surrender, to let go of doubt and step into the unknown. As limiting ego-structures dissolve and we open to an expanded perspective, it can feel as though everything we know is falling apart. The rainbow reminds us that whatever happens, we are safe. Even when terrible things happen, when the outer structures are destroyed and we are seemingly paralyzed by fear, the rainbow appears and reminds us of a deeper safety. YES, EVEN DEATH IS SAFE! And that sense of safety becomes the springboard for our next step. This innate and implicit trust ultimately manifests as a willingness to take that necessary leap into the unknown. And so Basic Trust manifests in the courage to be with what is, and then instead of being a reactive victim

1 Genesis 9:16

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No a h

of circumstance, you learn to live your life from a deep wisdom, a wide perspective.

The Portion of Noah blesses us with yet another rainbow: the story of the tower of Babel. The tower of our arrogant singular purpose topples and we are given a rainbow of diversity in its place. As we seek to touch the Unity (prompted by hunger for mastery or control), we are answered with multiplicity. We are sent on the rainbow journey to acknowledge every shade of experience, to recognize the whole spectrum of what it means to be human. We are blessed with complex beauty, confounding paradox, and the opportunity to know and enjoy all the separate colors that together form the magnificent white Light of the One.

The Spir itual Ch allenge

The Slonimer Rebbe describes the three levels of faith (emunah):

There are three rungs of Faith (emunah): Trusting Mind (emunat ha-mo’ach), Trusting Heart (emunat ha-lev), but there is a rung still higher, Trusting with your limbs/embodiment (emunat ha-evarim): where Faith (emunah) penetrates every fibre of your being, where horror can’t seize you, for your whole body feels the protective divine Presence.

Complete emunah occurs when it unfolds in all three dimensions. As King David said, ‘My heart and my flesh [my body] sing to the Living God.’2 Not just the heart, but also the flesh, our skin and our muscles, our bones and limbs also sing to the Living God, for Emunah suffuses our entire being.3

The spiritual challenge is to suffuse our entire being with a sense of ultimate safety, to integrate into our very bodies, the promise of the rain-bow.

2 Psalms 84:33 Netivot Shalom, Parashat Beshalach, pp.113-115; also, Mo’adim, seventh day

of Passover, pp. 281-283. I learned this text with Rabbi Elliot Ginsburg and am indebted to his elucidations.

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G e n e s i s

This sense of security is our inheritance. And yet at some point we be-come disconnected from our Source and lose our Basic Trust. We feel be-trayed and lose our footing. The spiritual challenge is to re-connect with the truth of our safety, no matter what happens, so that we can again feel

“held” by the goodness of Life, the Ground of Being. Then we can rest in the Divine embrace. Almaas describes the challenge like this:

“It means experiencing the factors which brought about the profound disconnection from reality, and experiencing repeatedly the fundamental truth of non-separateness, to the point where the soul can again rest in the knowledge of that truth. Each new experience of essential truth deepens the soul’s contact with her own basic trust.”4

As we receive the blessing of the rainbow, we are challenged to remember God’s promise and dedicate ourselves to living our lives in its light. Whatever blocks that light must be examined with compassion, and dissolved through dedicated practice.

When the tower of our singular will-for-power topples and we are left with a multiplicity of languages, systems, conflicting stories, and values, our path becomes confused and scattered.

Yet our spiritual challenge is clear. Diversity must not be ignored as we seek a vision of Unity. The shining vision of our Unity should not fade as we celebrate our differences. We must not betray the Many for the One, or the One for the Many.

4 Facets of Unity, A. H. Almaas, Shambhala, 2000 p.27

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No a h

Guida nce for Pr actice

Sometimes experiencing God’s faith in us allows us to find our own faith.

Faithfulness Chant and Meditation

There is a sacred phrase in the morning liturgy:

“Raba emunatekha”How great is your faithfulness!

With this prayer, I acknowledge God’s profound faith in me. God’s faith in me

soothes the trembling in my soul and awakens my own faith.

Chant this phrase for a while, directing your heart towards a loving Presence.

After some time, sit quietly and bring your attention to the soles of your feet. Feel God’s loving attention seeing and knowing and loving every inch of your body, moving your attention up to the ankles, calves, knees, thighs… letting yourself be completely seen, known and loved…releasing any shame or hiddenness… allowing every part of you to be accepted by God’s loving attention… moving your attention up to the genitals, belly, hips, waist, chest, arms, hands… letting God’s gaze touch every wrinkle and crevice with complete acceptance… completely seen, completely known, completely loved… moving up your neck, face, between every hair on your head.

When you reach the top of your head, bring your attention to the breath, and imagine breathing in and out from every pore at once, your whole body alive with God’s attention in you.

Complete the meditation by chanting “Raba Emunatekha.”

(Thank you to Reb Zalman for his inspiration in composing this meditation)

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G e n e s i s

Lekh Lekha(Go to Yourself)

Genesis 12:1 - 17:27

Abram is called to leave his home and go on a journey. When he reaches the

Land that God shows him, Abram has to leave it because there is a famine. He

goes down to Egypt and back again, encounters many challenges, receives the

blessing of Malchitzedek and is given a Divine promise. He has visions and

makes a covenant with God.

The Blessing

We are blessed this week with a map for the spiritual journey: the soul’s path to awakening. I call it the “ Covenantal Journey,” because it describes the process of the maturation of the soul as it rises to stand in covenant with God. We begin this journey from wherever we are now. The invitation to embark is heard at the soul’s crossroad, calling to all that would hear.

It is Rumi’s invitation:

“Come, come whoever you are! Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving, come. This is not a caravan of despair. It doesn’t matter if you’ve broken your vows a thousand times, still, come, and yet again Come!” 1

Rabbi Yehudah Leib Alter of Ger sees this as a journey of self-real-ization.

“Go to the Land that I will show you – where I will make you VISIBLE – where your potential being will be real-ized in multiform and unpredictable ways.”2

The journey is mapped in seven stages, mirroring events in the life of Abram/Abraham:

Leaving – Abram leaves his home, family and everything familiar to set off for the unknown in order to “become a blessing.”

We sever the fixed identification with body, small self, social identity, and

begin to re-integrate our lost essence, reclaiming parts or ourselves that got lost

during the socialization process.

1 The Illuminated Rumi by Coleman Barks (Broadway Books, 1997). Rumi was a 13th Century Sufi Mystic.

2 Rabbi Yehudah Leib Alter of Ger, Sefer Sefat Emet al ha-Torah

u-Mo’adim, Lekh Lekha. I learned this text from Rabbi Art Green.

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Le k h L e k h a

Disappointment – As soon as Abram arrives in The Land, there is a famine, which necessitates the journey down into Egypt and back again.

We discover that defeat can be a teacher as we learn to unmask even disaster

as a blessing in disguise. The difficulties in our lives send us to our own depths

where we find the core of our passion, vision, mission, and love.

Development – Abram becomes a warrior in order to redeem his cap-tive nephew, Lot.

Becoming a spiritual warrior requires cultivating and honing the skills and

courage that are required on the path. We nurture those qualities that will help

us to redeem and maintain our own family ties.

Initiation – Abram receives the blessing of Malchitzedek who invokes “ El Elyon” (the God Most High).

There are moments of epiphany on the spiritual journey when we receive an

initiation, enter upon a wider perspective and enjoy access to a greater flow of

blessing. Our identification with that which is “The Highest” — El Elyon —

lifts us up to a new level.

Expansion – Abram looks to the stars (where before he looked to the dust) and receives a vision and promise of descendants and a place in the world.

We expand our sense of reality and know that we are connected even to the

farthest star. This vision sustains us through times of contraction (when we lose

our conviction of that deep and wide connection.)

Prophecy – Abram performs a powerful ritual and receives a startling vision, which reaches far into the future, through slavery and redemp-tion.

All of the hard work of spiritual practice brings us to a place of Prophecy,

where the structures of Time and Space dissolve, and we can see the whole of

our journey in this expanded moment.

Covenant – Abram is called into covenant and receives a piece of God’s name (the letter hey) incorporated into his own. As Abraham, he is given the mitzvah of circumcision as a physical sign of that covenant.

We receive the blessing of God’s essence (Name) at the very core of our iden-

tity. Our calling is to reflect that core essence and allow it to shine through the

prisms of our unique inclinations, experience, and personality.

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The Spir itual Ch allenge:

Having a map and knowing that we are on a journey awakens us to the realization of the wondrous path we’ve traveled thus far, and to the road beneath our feet, which is fraught with dangers and strewn with treasures. We can use maps to orient ourselves, recognize landmarks on our way, discern when we’ve hit a dead end, and inspire us to chart new adventures.

Each blessing on the journey of Abraham holds a challenge for the soul. Leaving the known world without knowing the destination, our challenge is to trust the journey itself and to risk being “no one.”

When we encounter disappointment or tragedy, we are challenged to surrender expectations and plant the seeds of compassion. Our lives become a journey of purification and as we are called into service, we are challenged to cultivate the qualities that are required for the work.

We are guided on the path just one step at a time as we seek out teachers, open to their wisdom, receive moments of initiation, and then spend years dedicated to integrating those moments.

Every initiation opens the way for an expansion of perspective and we are challenged to stay focused as we widen the view.

When those expansive states offer us moments of prophetic vision, the challenge is to allow those visions to transform our lives, moment-to-moment.

In accepting upon ourselves the covenant, the agreement to walk with God in simplicity and open-heartedness, we also take on the mitzvah of the circumcision of our hearts. Here the challenge is to continually cut through and release layers of distortion and defense that lay upon the heart, so that we can receive reality in its sparkling essence.

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To r a h J o u r n e y s

Le k h L e k h a

Guida nce for Pr actice:

Reflection

Either write in your journal or share with a Spirit-Buddy3 remembrances of your own life path that correspond to the seven stages of covenantal journey.

Leaving:

Disappointment:

Development:

Initiation:

Expansion:

Prophesy:

Covenant:

3 see Appendix page 232 for an explanation of this aspect of practice.

What people are saying about

tORAH jOURNEYS

“Deep study and contemplation went into the writing of this work. Reb Shefa takes you into the House of Study of the heart and the soul and in this way engages the sacred creativity of the spirit.”

Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomico-author of Jewish With Feeling and Credo Of A Modern

Kabbalist

In the days to come a new covenant will be written for us, one

that is carved not in stone but in our hearts. (Jeremiah 31:33)

“These are those days. Torah Journeys is that covenant. If you dare be addressed by God — read it. If you dare be transformed by God — practice it.”

Rabbi Rami ShapiroAuthor of The Divine Feminine

“Torah Journeys is a remarkable book of profound depth. It has taught me much, drawing as the author does from the wells of different faith traditions in her life. Rabbi Shefa Gold is adept at teaching us how to grow spiritually using the Torah as the inexhaustible source. Please read this book if you too want to grow.”

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu

“Even old places and familiar texts we thought we knew come alive again in this book of substance and deep spiritual refreshment. Here experience takes precedence over tired and literal dogmatic pronouncements and life comes alive again.”

Theologian Matthew Fox, author of A New Reformation:

Creation Spirituality and the Transformation of Christianity

What people are saying about

tORAH jOURNEYS

“The very word ‘torah’ is from the ancient Hebrew vocabulary of archery. It means not the bull’s eye, not the archer, not the arrow, but the process of aiming. This is what Rabbi Shefa Gold has given us — the truthful, artful aiming at the soul within. Within the Torah, and within each reader.”

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, director, The Shalom Center;author, Godwrestling–Round 2; co-author, The Tent of Abraham

“No other contemporary teacher I know presents Scripture as so hands-on-accessible a tool for transforming personal suffering into happiness.”

Sylvia Boorstein, author of It’s Easier Than You Think:

The Buddhist Way to Happiness

“Rabbi Gold opens each Torah portion in profound, new ways, pointing the way for us to find the Torah’s most usable blessings, spiritual challenges, and sustainable practices for our own journeys. In Torah Journeys, Torah becomes a mirror for our lives and a tool for personal transformation.”

Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, Jungian Therapist; author of The Receiving: Reclaiming Jewish Women’s Wisdom and With Roots in Heaven: One Woman’s Passionate Journey

Into The Heart of Her Faith

“Torah Journeys is a wonderful opportunity to discover the depths of Jewish wisdom teachings through the guidance of a teacher who brings a perfect combination of heartfulness and skillfulness along with a passion for profound spiritual inquiry.”

Rabbi David A Cooper, author of God is a Verb