ORDER | SEDER | סדר
PHRASE/SLOGAN
Emulate the regularity of nature
Organize and structure your space, time, and person
Regulate your soul around daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly cycles
Set in place deep patterns or habits for the good
Cultivate consistency
Regulate yourself with a balanced schedule
Be the program director of your life
Create a personal daily "siddur" or guidebook for living
Plan ahead to make the most of your lifetime
Do first what you dread most
Rise above personal habits of narrow self-interest to serve others and God
Pay attention to detail in your external and internal environments, including your house, community, body, and mind
Prepare so you can be available in the moment for others
Baal tashchit, do not destroy or waste time, space, energy, or things
Find conceptual order through myth, philosophy, theology, psychology, cosmology
Hakol b'seder, everything is in order
Organize and structure your space, time, and person
Regulate your soul around daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly cycles
Set in place deep patterns or habits for the good
Cultivate consistency
Regulate yourself with a balanced schedule
Be the program director of your life
Create a personal daily "siddur" or guidebook for living
Plan ahead to make the most of your lifetime
Do first what you dread most
Rise above personal habits of narrow self-interest to serve others and God
Pay attention to detail in your external and internal environments, including your house, community, body, and mind
Prepare so you can be available in the moment for others
Baal tashchit, do not destroy or waste time, space, energy, or things
Find conceptual order through myth, philosophy, theology, psychology, cosmology
Hakol b'seder, everything is in order
SOUL TRAIT (MIDDAH) SPECTRUM
ETYMOLOGY
Seder / סדר
- to arrange, put in order
- succession, sequence
- root - סדר
- row, battle line
- place one after the other
- prepare for battle
- set up type (in printing)
- settled down
- regulated
- Siddur, prayer book
- Hakol b’seder, “Everything is in order” or "all is contained in the middah of seder"
- Seder, for Passover, contained in Hagaddah
- remembrance, bitter suffering, affliction, liberation from suffering, freedom, rebirth
- Seder, name of each section of Mishnah
- Sidrah, weekly Torah portion
MUSSAR
Dr. Alan Morinis, Everyday Holiness: The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar (2007)
Order helps create an inner sense that the things that matter have been properly arranged and tended to and, as a result, that the details of life are under control. Calm and unworried, at that point the channels to the divine will are as open and unencumbered as they can get, and the possibility of serving—and happiness—will have become real for you. (Chp. 11: Order)
Order helps create an inner sense that the things that matter have been properly arranged and tended to and, as a result, that the details of life are under control. Calm and unworried, at that point the channels to the divine will are as open and unencumbered as they can get, and the possibility of serving—and happiness—will have become real for you. (Chp. 11: Order)
הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, עֲשֵׂה רְצוֹנוֹ כִרְצוֹנְךָ, כְּדֵי שֶׁיַּעֲשֶׂה רְצוֹנְךָ כִרְצוֹנוֹ. בַּטֵּל רְצוֹנְךָ מִפְּנֵי רְצוֹנוֹ, כְּדֵי שֶׁיְּבַטֵּל רְצוֹן אֲחֵרִים מִפְּנֵי רְצוֹנֶךָ.
He used to say: do His will as though it were your will, so that He will do your will as though it were His. Set aside your will in the face of His will, so that he may set aside the will of others for the sake of your will.
Rabbi Avi Fertig, in The Mussar Torah Commentary: A Spiritual Path to Living a Meaningful and Ethical Life (2019)
In the Yeshiva of Kelm, the middah of seder was not seen as simply an external matter, but rather a vital aspect of our personality and a mirror to our innermost self. If something is out of order in our external life, it is a sign that something is wrong within our inner world. If things are messy, then our mind will be confused as well. The Alter of Kelm summed up his primary educational focus by saying, "External order brings us to think clearly and act with restraint." (B'midbar: Seder—Order: The Measure and Ideal of Middot)
In the Yeshiva of Kelm, the middah of seder was not seen as simply an external matter, but rather a vital aspect of our personality and a mirror to our innermost self. If something is out of order in our external life, it is a sign that something is wrong within our inner world. If things are messy, then our mind will be confused as well. The Alter of Kelm summed up his primary educational focus by saying, "External order brings us to think clearly and act with restraint." (B'midbar: Seder—Order: The Measure and Ideal of Middot)
Rabbi Yisrael Salanter (1810–1883), in A. Morinis, Every Day, Holy Day: 365 Days of Teachings and Practices From the Jewish Tradition of Mussar (2010)
First a person should put his house together, then his town, then the world. (Week 32, Day 1)
First a person should put his house together, then his town, then the world. (Week 32, Day 1)
Dr. Greg Marcus, The Spiritual Practice of Good Actions: Finding Balance Through the Soul Traits of Mussar (2016)
First things first and last things later. (Chp. 13: Order)
First things first and last things later. (Chp. 13: Order)
Dr. Greg Marcus, The Spiritual Practice of Good Actions: Finding Balance Through the Soul Traits of Mussar (2016)
Order in balance relies on routines to create structure without conscious thought, which in turn saves stress and time. (Chp. 13: Order)
Order in balance relies on routines to create structure without conscious thought, which in turn saves stress and time. (Chp. 13: Order)
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche (1939-1987), Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior, in C. R. Gimian (Ed.), The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa (Vol. 8) (2004)
The phenomenal world that all human beings experience is fickle and flexible and also merciless. You often wonder whether you can ride on that fickle and merciless situation or whether it is going to ride on you. To use an analogy, either you are riding on a donkey or the donkey is riding on you. Ordinarily, in your experience of the world it is questionable who is riding on whom. The more you struggle to gain the upper hand, the more speed and aggression you manufacture to overcome your obstacles, the more you become subject to the phenomenal world. The real challenge is to transcend that duality altogether. It is possible to contact energy that is beyond dualism, beyond aggression--energy that is neither for you nor against you. That is the energy of drala. (p. 86)
The first is invoking external drala, which is invoking magic in your physical environment. . . . How you organize and care for that space is very important. If it is chaotic and messy, then no drala will enter into that environment. On the other hand, we are not talking about taking a course in interior decoration and spending a great deal of money on furniture and rugs to create a "model environment." . . . invoking external drala is creating harmony in your environment in order to encourage awareness and attention to detail. . . . Beyond that, how you organize your physical space should be based on concern for others, sharing your world by creating an accommodating environment. The point is not to make a self-conscious statement about yourself, but to make your world available to others. When that begins to happen, then it is possible that something else will come along as well. That is, when you express gentleness and precision in your environment, then real brilliance and power can descend onto that situation. . . . That is real magic. The attitude of sacredness toward your environment . . . You may live in a dirt hut . . . but if you regard that space as sacred, if you care for it with your heart and mind, then it will be a palace. . . . In summary, invoking the external drala principle is connected with organizing your environment so that it becomes a sacred space.
Then, there is invoking internal drala, which is how to invoke drala in your body. . . . You invoke internal drala through your relationship to your personal habits, how you handle the details of dressing, eating, drinking, sleeping. We could use clothing as an example. . . . Sometimes if your clothes fit you well, you feel that they are too tight. If you dress up, you may feel constricted by wearing a necktie or a suit or a tight-fitting skirt or dress. The idea of invoking internal drala is not to give in to the allure of casualness. The occasional irritation coming from your neck, the crotch of your pants, or your waist is usually a good sign. It means that your clothes fit you well, but your neurosis doesn't fit your clothes. . . . You are tempted to take off your tie or your jacket or your shoes. Then you can hang out and put your feet on the table and act freely, hoping that your mind will act freely at the same time. But at that point your mind begins to dribble. It begins to leak, and garbage of all kinds comes out of your mind. That version of relaxation does not provide real freedom at all. Therefore . . . wearing wellfitting clothing is regarded as wearing a suit of armor.
Internal drala also comes out of making a proper relationship to food, by taking an interest in your diet. . . . you can take the time to plan good, nutritious meals, and you can enjoy cooking your food, eating it, and then cleaning up and putting the leftovers away. Beyond that, you invoke internal drala by developing greater awareness of how you use your mouth altogether. You put food in your mouth; you drink liquids through your mouth; you smoke cigarettes in your mouth. It is as if the mouth were a big hole or a big garbage pail: You put everything through it. Your mouth is the biggest gate: You talk out of it, you cry out of it, and you kiss out of it. You use your mouth so much that it becomes a sort of cosmic gateway. Imagine that you were being watched by Martians. They would be amazed by how much you use your mouth.
To invoke internal drala you have to pay attention to how you use your mouth. Maybe you don't need to use it as much as you think. Appreciating your world doesn't mean that you must consume everything you see all the time. When you eat, you can eat slowly and moderately, and you can appreciate what you cat. When you talk, it isn't necessary to continually blurt out everything that is on your mind. You can say what you have to say, gently, and then you can stop. You can let someone else talk, or you can appreciate the silence.
The basic idea of invoking internal drala is that you can synchronize, or harmonize, your body and your connection to the phenomenal world. This synchronization, or connectedness, is something that you can actually see. You can see people's connection to internal drala by the way they behave: the way they pick up their teacups, the way they smoke their cigarettes, or the way they run their hands through their hair. Whatever you do always manifests how you are feeling about yourself and your environment--whether you feel kindness toward yourself or resentment and anger toward yourself; whether you feel good about your environment or whether you feel bad about your environment. That can always be detected by your gait and your gestures--always. It is as if you were married to your phenomenal world. All the little details--the way you turn on the tap before you take a shower, the way you brush your teeth--reflect your connection or disconnection with the world. When that connection is completely synchronized, then you are experiencing internal drala. (pp. 88-91)
The phenomenal world that all human beings experience is fickle and flexible and also merciless. You often wonder whether you can ride on that fickle and merciless situation or whether it is going to ride on you. To use an analogy, either you are riding on a donkey or the donkey is riding on you. Ordinarily, in your experience of the world it is questionable who is riding on whom. The more you struggle to gain the upper hand, the more speed and aggression you manufacture to overcome your obstacles, the more you become subject to the phenomenal world. The real challenge is to transcend that duality altogether. It is possible to contact energy that is beyond dualism, beyond aggression--energy that is neither for you nor against you. That is the energy of drala. (p. 86)
The first is invoking external drala, which is invoking magic in your physical environment. . . . How you organize and care for that space is very important. If it is chaotic and messy, then no drala will enter into that environment. On the other hand, we are not talking about taking a course in interior decoration and spending a great deal of money on furniture and rugs to create a "model environment." . . . invoking external drala is creating harmony in your environment in order to encourage awareness and attention to detail. . . . Beyond that, how you organize your physical space should be based on concern for others, sharing your world by creating an accommodating environment. The point is not to make a self-conscious statement about yourself, but to make your world available to others. When that begins to happen, then it is possible that something else will come along as well. That is, when you express gentleness and precision in your environment, then real brilliance and power can descend onto that situation. . . . That is real magic. The attitude of sacredness toward your environment . . . You may live in a dirt hut . . . but if you regard that space as sacred, if you care for it with your heart and mind, then it will be a palace. . . . In summary, invoking the external drala principle is connected with organizing your environment so that it becomes a sacred space.
Then, there is invoking internal drala, which is how to invoke drala in your body. . . . You invoke internal drala through your relationship to your personal habits, how you handle the details of dressing, eating, drinking, sleeping. We could use clothing as an example. . . . Sometimes if your clothes fit you well, you feel that they are too tight. If you dress up, you may feel constricted by wearing a necktie or a suit or a tight-fitting skirt or dress. The idea of invoking internal drala is not to give in to the allure of casualness. The occasional irritation coming from your neck, the crotch of your pants, or your waist is usually a good sign. It means that your clothes fit you well, but your neurosis doesn't fit your clothes. . . . You are tempted to take off your tie or your jacket or your shoes. Then you can hang out and put your feet on the table and act freely, hoping that your mind will act freely at the same time. But at that point your mind begins to dribble. It begins to leak, and garbage of all kinds comes out of your mind. That version of relaxation does not provide real freedom at all. Therefore . . . wearing wellfitting clothing is regarded as wearing a suit of armor.
Internal drala also comes out of making a proper relationship to food, by taking an interest in your diet. . . . you can take the time to plan good, nutritious meals, and you can enjoy cooking your food, eating it, and then cleaning up and putting the leftovers away. Beyond that, you invoke internal drala by developing greater awareness of how you use your mouth altogether. You put food in your mouth; you drink liquids through your mouth; you smoke cigarettes in your mouth. It is as if the mouth were a big hole or a big garbage pail: You put everything through it. Your mouth is the biggest gate: You talk out of it, you cry out of it, and you kiss out of it. You use your mouth so much that it becomes a sort of cosmic gateway. Imagine that you were being watched by Martians. They would be amazed by how much you use your mouth.
To invoke internal drala you have to pay attention to how you use your mouth. Maybe you don't need to use it as much as you think. Appreciating your world doesn't mean that you must consume everything you see all the time. When you eat, you can eat slowly and moderately, and you can appreciate what you cat. When you talk, it isn't necessary to continually blurt out everything that is on your mind. You can say what you have to say, gently, and then you can stop. You can let someone else talk, or you can appreciate the silence.
The basic idea of invoking internal drala is that you can synchronize, or harmonize, your body and your connection to the phenomenal world. This synchronization, or connectedness, is something that you can actually see. You can see people's connection to internal drala by the way they behave: the way they pick up their teacups, the way they smoke their cigarettes, or the way they run their hands through their hair. Whatever you do always manifests how you are feeling about yourself and your environment--whether you feel kindness toward yourself or resentment and anger toward yourself; whether you feel good about your environment or whether you feel bad about your environment. That can always be detected by your gait and your gestures--always. It is as if you were married to your phenomenal world. All the little details--the way you turn on the tap before you take a shower, the way you brush your teeth--reflect your connection or disconnection with the world. When that connection is completely synchronized, then you are experiencing internal drala. (pp. 88-91)
Dr. Alan Morinis, Everyday Holiness: The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar (2007)
Failure to honor the need for order brings on chaos. . . . How much time, energy, emotion, and life is diverted into the channels that spring from disorder? . . . How many relationships are challenged or even destroyed by lack of attention to order? (Chp. 11: Order)
Failure to honor the need for order brings on chaos. . . . How much time, energy, emotion, and life is diverted into the channels that spring from disorder? . . . How many relationships are challenged or even destroyed by lack of attention to order? (Chp. 11: Order)
Dr. Alan Morinis, Everyday Holiness: The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar (2007)
Disorder inevitably involves some sort of dishonor. The only question is, what or who is the target of the dishonor? When you live with other people and you are content to make a mess in shared spaces, you dishonor the people you live with. When you are careless and sloppy in your business dealings, you dishonor the people you work with. When you can’t keep anything straight for your customers, clients, or students, you dishonor the people you work for. And not just people. . . . to be disorderly also dishonors the inanimate things that are also part of our lives and may also be our responsibility. (Chp. 11: Order)
Disorder inevitably involves some sort of dishonor. The only question is, what or who is the target of the dishonor? When you live with other people and you are content to make a mess in shared spaces, you dishonor the people you live with. When you are careless and sloppy in your business dealings, you dishonor the people you work with. When you can’t keep anything straight for your customers, clients, or students, you dishonor the people you work for. And not just people. . . . to be disorderly also dishonors the inanimate things that are also part of our lives and may also be our responsibility. (Chp. 11: Order)
Dr. Alan Morinis, Everyday Holiness: The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar (2007)
Disorder is often the child of a rebellious ego that resists humbly occupying a rightful space. . . . The wisdom of Mussar tells us to be humble and then the resistance to order will evaporate. Honor others and order will come about as a natural consequence. (Chp. 11: Order)
Disorder is often the child of a rebellious ego that resists humbly occupying a rightful space. . . . The wisdom of Mussar tells us to be humble and then the resistance to order will evaporate. Honor others and order will come about as a natural consequence. (Chp. 11: Order)
Dr. Alan Morinis, Everyday Holiness: The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar (2007)
It is common (though insightful) Mussar guidance that to control or diminish one trait, our efforts are not to be focused on that trait itself but rather on one of its corresponding partner traits. (Chp. 11: Order)
It is common (though insightful) Mussar guidance that to control or diminish one trait, our efforts are not to be focused on that trait itself but rather on one of its corresponding partner traits. (Chp. 11: Order)
Dr. Alan Morinis, Every Day, Holy Day: 365 Days of Teachings and Practices From the Jewish Tradition of Mussar (2010)
Order is an inner trait that rests on other traits. A person who is not punctual, for example, may be lacking in the trait of order; but in reality their problematic behavior has a deeper root, like perhaps laziness. On the other side of the spectrum, the deeper trait that causes a person to be overly strict in the rule of order might be a lack of trust in God. If order is an issue in a person’s life, that person should peer deeply within to discover the root trait that is at the real heart of the matter. (Week 32, Day 1)
Order is an inner trait that rests on other traits. A person who is not punctual, for example, may be lacking in the trait of order; but in reality their problematic behavior has a deeper root, like perhaps laziness. On the other side of the spectrum, the deeper trait that causes a person to be overly strict in the rule of order might be a lack of trust in God. If order is an issue in a person’s life, that person should peer deeply within to discover the root trait that is at the real heart of the matter. (Week 32, Day 1)
Rabbi Avi Fertig, in The Mussar Torah Commentary: A Spiritual Path to Living a Meaningful and Ethical Life (2019)
The Nazis (may their names be erased) were extremely orderly. Every diabolical step was carefully planned and precisely executed. Clearly, this order was not a virtue. When they stamped a number on the arm of a prisoner, they tattooed those numbers to remove all sense of individuality and to rob human beings of their intrinsic worth. (B'midbar: Seder—Order: The Measure and Ideal of Middot)
The Nazis (may their names be erased) were extremely orderly. Every diabolical step was carefully planned and precisely executed. Clearly, this order was not a virtue. When they stamped a number on the arm of a prisoner, they tattooed those numbers to remove all sense of individuality and to rob human beings of their intrinsic worth. (B'midbar: Seder—Order: The Measure and Ideal of Middot)
אֶ֤רֶץ עֵיפָ֨תָה ׀ כְּמ֥וֹ אֹ֗פֶל צַ֭לְמָוֶת וְלֹ֥א סְדָרִ֗ים וַתֹּ֥פַע כְּמוֹ־אֹֽפֶל׃ (פ)
A land whose light is darkness, All gloom and disarray/disorder, Whose light is like darkness.
Rabbi David Jaffe, Changing the World from the Inside Out: A Jewish Approach to Personal and Social Change (2016)
The middot function along a continuum or axis. For example, at one end of the order/chaos axis is rigid, almost compulsive attention to organization, while at the other is chaotic disorganization. Neither of the extremes is good. Maimonides, among others, instructs us to live at the golden mean—the midpoint on the axis between rigidity and chaos. This midpoint would be effective, flexible organization. Rabbi Salanter taught that we need to develop each middah and its opposite so that we can flexibly call on whatever middah is needed in any moment. A moment may in fact call for rigid order and another for chaos. (Part Three: Walking the Path)
The middot function along a continuum or axis. For example, at one end of the order/chaos axis is rigid, almost compulsive attention to organization, while at the other is chaotic disorganization. Neither of the extremes is good. Maimonides, among others, instructs us to live at the golden mean—the midpoint on the axis between rigidity and chaos. This midpoint would be effective, flexible organization. Rabbi Salanter taught that we need to develop each middah and its opposite so that we can flexibly call on whatever middah is needed in any moment. A moment may in fact call for rigid order and another for chaos. (Part Three: Walking the Path)
Rabbi Nicole Auerbach, in The Mussar Torah Commentary: A Spiritual Path to Living a Meaningful and Ethical Life (2019)
Humans in general—and the nation of Israel in particular—vacillate between chaos and order, between sin and repentance. In the Book of Leviticus, ritual is employed as a way to create and maintain order within society, and also to reestablish order when we inevitably fall short of what God demands. . . . Rather than meet every transgression with permanent exile, God commands that Israelites who have strayed offer a sacrifice to make amends and to mark their intention to re-order their behavior. (Tzav: Seder—Order as Response to Transgression)
Humans in general—and the nation of Israel in particular—vacillate between chaos and order, between sin and repentance. In the Book of Leviticus, ritual is employed as a way to create and maintain order within society, and also to reestablish order when we inevitably fall short of what God demands. . . . Rather than meet every transgression with permanent exile, God commands that Israelites who have strayed offer a sacrifice to make amends and to mark their intention to re-order their behavior. (Tzav: Seder—Order as Response to Transgression)
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (1924-2014), in D. Siegel (Ed.), Yom Kippur Kattan and the Cycles of T'Shuvah (1999)
The Periodicities of T’shuvah
There’s a teaching that at the end of each period, day, week, month or year, we must do what we can to clear our system of evil imprints.
Originally I saw this in connection with Thursday night. Thursday night is the special night in which to make the cheshbon ha-nefesh for the week. If you had to have a [weekly time], not Yom Kippur Kattan of the chodesh (monthly), erev Rosh Chodesh, but erev Shabbat, that’s the time to do that. In some books they say you should do that, and if you can’t do it Thursday night, you should do it before you begin Kabbalat Shabbat.
And what do you need to do? Look over the days [remember] what you have done and those things that were not right, you do t’shuvah on them. And to do t'shuvah on them simply meant you confess it, you say: Ribono Shel Olahm, I did such and such wrong, I will not do that again, and I will take on such and such a thing as a penance. T’shuvat ha-mishkal, I want to straighten it out; I want to make tikkun on that, I want to complete it. So what they say is, please try and do it before Shabbat, because all the avayros of the week haven’t yet been filed, they’re still around as it were on the table, but with erev Shabbat they’ll file them. And when you have to afterwards retrieve them from the files, it is much harder to do t’shuvah. It’s like you have to pull them out.
So you can imagine if once a year we do Yom Kippur, to have periodic maintenance and to clean the filter and whatever is to be done, is desirable. Then Thursday night [i.e. once a week,] would be good, [and] every night at kri’aht sh'mah she’ahl hah-mitah is of course the important thing, so that you don’t have a day go by without clearing what you can. It’s like looking at what’s waiting in the basket to be deleted for the day. (pp. 10-11)
The Periodicities of T’shuvah
There’s a teaching that at the end of each period, day, week, month or year, we must do what we can to clear our system of evil imprints.
Originally I saw this in connection with Thursday night. Thursday night is the special night in which to make the cheshbon ha-nefesh for the week. If you had to have a [weekly time], not Yom Kippur Kattan of the chodesh (monthly), erev Rosh Chodesh, but erev Shabbat, that’s the time to do that. In some books they say you should do that, and if you can’t do it Thursday night, you should do it before you begin Kabbalat Shabbat.
And what do you need to do? Look over the days [remember] what you have done and those things that were not right, you do t’shuvah on them. And to do t'shuvah on them simply meant you confess it, you say: Ribono Shel Olahm, I did such and such wrong, I will not do that again, and I will take on such and such a thing as a penance. T’shuvat ha-mishkal, I want to straighten it out; I want to make tikkun on that, I want to complete it. So what they say is, please try and do it before Shabbat, because all the avayros of the week haven’t yet been filed, they’re still around as it were on the table, but with erev Shabbat they’ll file them. And when you have to afterwards retrieve them from the files, it is much harder to do t’shuvah. It’s like you have to pull them out.
So you can imagine if once a year we do Yom Kippur, to have periodic maintenance and to clean the filter and whatever is to be done, is desirable. Then Thursday night [i.e. once a week,] would be good, [and] every night at kri’aht sh'mah she’ahl hah-mitah is of course the important thing, so that you don’t have a day go by without clearing what you can. It’s like looking at what’s waiting in the basket to be deleted for the day. (pp. 10-11)
Rabbi Dr. Kohenet Jill Hammer, Return to the Place: The Magic, Meditation, and Mystery of Sefer Yetzirah (2020)
Sefer Yetzirah [3:3] divides reality into the three basic realms of existence: space, time, and body-soul (olam, shanah, and nefesh). . . . These three realms of the universe--space, time, and human experience--provide the fundamental playing field on which creation can unfold. (p. xviii)
Sefer Yetzirah [3:3] divides reality into the three basic realms of existence: space, time, and body-soul (olam, shanah, and nefesh). . . . These three realms of the universe--space, time, and human experience--provide the fundamental playing field on which creation can unfold. (p. xviii)
שלש אמות אמ"ש חקקן חצבן צרפן שקלן והמירן וצר בהם שלש אמות אמ"ש בעולם ושלש אמות אמ"ש בשנה ושלש אמות אמ"ש בנפש זכר ונקבה:
Three Mothers: Alef Mem Shin (אמש)/ He engraved them, He carved them,/ He permuted them, He weighed them,/ He transformed them,/ And with them He depicted/ Three Mothers AMSh (אמש) in the Universe,/ Three Mothers AMSh (אמש) in the Year,/ Three Mothers AMSh (אמש) in the Soul,/ male and female.
בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃ וְהָאָ֗רֶץ הָיְתָ֥ה תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י תְה֑וֹם וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם:
When God began to create heaven and earth— the earth being chaotic/unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water.
וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִ֣י א֑וֹר וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר׃ וַיַּ֧רְא אֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶת־הָא֖וֹר כִּי־ט֑וֹב וַיַּבְדֵּ֣ל אֱלֹהִ֔ים בֵּ֥ין הָא֖וֹר וּבֵ֥ין הַחֹֽשֶׁךְ׃ וַיִּקְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ לָאוֹר֙ י֔וֹם וְלַחֹ֖שֶׁךְ קָ֣רָא לָ֑יְלָה וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם אֶחָֽד׃ {פ}
God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, a first day.
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֔ים יְהִ֥י רָקִ֖יעַ בְּת֣וֹךְ הַמָּ֑יִם וִיהִ֣י מַבְדִּ֔יל בֵּ֥ין מַ֖יִם לָמָֽיִם׃ וַיַּ֣עַשׂ אֱלֹהִים֮ אֶת־הָרָקִיעַ֒ וַיַּבְדֵּ֗ל בֵּ֤ין הַמַּ֙יִם֙ אֲשֶׁר֙ מִתַּ֣חַת לָרָקִ֔יעַ וּבֵ֣ין הַמַּ֔יִם אֲשֶׁ֖ר מֵעַ֣ל לָרָקִ֑יעַ וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃ וַיִּקְרָ֧א אֱלֹהִ֛ים לָֽרָקִ֖יעַ שָׁמָ֑יִם וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם שֵׁנִֽי׃ (פ)
God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the water, that it may separate water from water.” God made the expanse, and it separated the water which was below the expanse from the water which was above the expanse. And it was so. God called the expanse Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים יִקָּו֨וּ הַמַּ֜יִם מִתַּ֤חַת הַשָּׁמַ֙יִם֙ אֶל־מָק֣וֹם אֶחָ֔ד וְתֵרָאֶ֖ה הַיַּבָּשָׁ֑ה וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃ וַיִּקְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ לַיַּבָּשָׁה֙ אֶ֔רֶץ וּלְמִקְוֵ֥ה הַמַּ֖יִם קָרָ֣א יַמִּ֑ים וַיַּ֥רְא אֱלֹהִ֖ים כִּי־טֽוֹב׃ וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים תַּֽדְשֵׁ֤א הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ דֶּ֔שֶׁא עֵ֚שֶׂב מַזְרִ֣יעַ זֶ֔רַע עֵ֣ץ פְּרִ֞י עֹ֤שֶׂה פְּרִי֙ לְמִינ֔וֹ אֲשֶׁ֥ר זַרְעוֹ־ב֖וֹ עַל־הָאָ֑רֶץ וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃
God said, “Let the water below the sky be gathered into one area, that the dry land may appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering of waters He called Seas. And God saw that this was good. And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation: seed-bearing plants, fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so.
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים יְהִ֤י מְאֹרֹת֙ בִּרְקִ֣יעַ הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם לְהַבְדִּ֕יל בֵּ֥ין הַיּ֖וֹם וּבֵ֣ין הַלָּ֑יְלָה וְהָי֤וּ לְאֹתֹת֙ וּלְמ֣וֹעֲדִ֔ים וּלְיָמִ֖ים וְשָׁנִֽים׃
God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate day from night; they shall serve as signs for the set times—the days and the years . . .”
וַיַּ֣עַשׂ אֱלֹהִ֔ים אֶת־שְׁנֵ֥י הַמְּאֹרֹ֖ת הַגְּדֹלִ֑ים אֶת־הַמָּא֤וֹר הַגָּדֹל֙ לְמֶמְשֶׁ֣לֶת הַיּ֔וֹם וְאֶת־הַמָּא֤וֹר הַקָּטֹן֙ לְמֶמְשֶׁ֣לֶת הַלַּ֔יְלָה וְאֵ֖ת הַכּוֹכָבִֽים׃
God made the two great lights, the greater light to dominate the day and the lesser light to dominate the night, and the stars.
וַיְכַ֤ל אֱלֹהִים֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔י מְלַאכְתּ֖וֹ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֑ה וַיִּשְׁבֹּת֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔י מִכָּל־מְלַאכְתּ֖וֹ אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשָֽׂה׃ וַיְבָ֤רֶךְ אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־י֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔י וַיְקַדֵּ֖שׁ אֹת֑וֹ כִּ֣י ב֤וֹ שָׁבַת֙ מִכָּל־מְלַאכְתּ֔וֹ אֲשֶׁר־בָּרָ֥א אֱלֹהִ֖ים לַעֲשֽׂוֹת׃ (פ)
On the seventh day God finished the work that He had been doing, and He ceased on the seventh day from all the work that He had done. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because on it God ceased from all the work of creation that He had done.
Dr. Alan Morinis, Everyday Holiness: The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar (2007)
Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe says in the name of the Alter of Kelm that order can be compared to the clasp on a pearl necklace. The pearls are what make the necklace, and they are definitely more important than the clasp, but without the clasp the pearls will fall off and scatter, and all that will remain of the necklace is the string alone. Similarly, a person contains an abundance of strengths, intellect, character traits, and qualities. But without order, all these virtues will scatter, and he or she will be left with nothing. (Chp. 11: Order)
Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe says in the name of the Alter of Kelm that order can be compared to the clasp on a pearl necklace. The pearls are what make the necklace, and they are definitely more important than the clasp, but without the clasp the pearls will fall off and scatter, and all that will remain of the necklace is the string alone. Similarly, a person contains an abundance of strengths, intellect, character traits, and qualities. But without order, all these virtues will scatter, and he or she will be left with nothing. (Chp. 11: Order)
Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz (1873-1936), in A. Morinis, Every Day, Holy Day: 365 Days of Teachings and Practices From the Jewish Tradition of Mussar (2010)
The knot that ties together a string of pearls is not the main part of the necklace, but should it come untied, the entire necklace falls apart. The knot guards the pearls from getting lost. (Week 32, Day 7)
The knot that ties together a string of pearls is not the main part of the necklace, but should it come untied, the entire necklace falls apart. The knot guards the pearls from getting lost. (Week 32, Day 7)
Dr. Alan Morinis, Everyday Holiness: The Jewish Spiritual Path of Mussar (2007)
Mussar itself also depends on order. (Chp. 11: Order)
Mussar itself also depends on order. (Chp. 11: Order)