Institute for Jewish Spirituality Daily Online Meditation with Cantor Kerith Spencer-Shapiro, Wednesday, December 17, 2024

“But he refused. He said to his master’s wife, “Look, with me here, my master gives no thought to anything in this house, and all that he owns he has placed in my hands” (Gen. 39:8)

We must understand that first he refused to act, without giving any explanation. This is in line with the teaching in Sifra Kedoshim: One should not say, “I don’t want to eat pork” – rather, you should respond, “It is true, I may want to eat it, but what can I do, my Divine Parent has decreed that I not do so.”
It is only on the basis of this degree of yirat shamayim that we are able to come to good reasons to choose the good and avoid the bad. Thus, by first refusing, Joseph was led to giving proper explanations. If we rely on our “common sense” we may be misled and mistaken. Only the wisdom that arises from fear of heaven will be true and proper. This is what the sages meant when they taught, “All whose fear of sinning precedes their knowledge will see the product of their knowledge sustained” (Avot 3:9), as it says, “The fear of the Lord is the discipline of wisdom” (Prov. 15:33) – this is the wisdom that arises from the power of reverence.

Rabbi Sheila Weinberg has taught a practice for those moments when we sense uncertainty, when faced with difficult choices, when we seek to act with wisdom: first, stop; then, take a breath; then, think. This practice sounds very much like that which the Sefat Emet recommends. He couches his teaching in classical terms: aligning with a divine decree; employing fear of sin as an antidote to the seductions of the yetzer hara; fear of heaven as an experience of expanded consciousness, recognition of consequences. How would we translate this? When we sense unclarity – an uneasy feeling in the body, confusion about what is a correct response – we are invited to stop the forward motion. This halt can be both in physical action, but perhaps more importantly the forward motion of thought. Perhaps we simply need to pause in thinking about the unfolding moment and be present to what is right now. When we take a breath, we both find a new point on which to focus our attention – thus terminating the forward motion of thought – and come into our bodies, to better identify what is arising as sensation: fear, lust, anger, jealousy, greed. When we can identify the presence of that sensation – and the potential outcomes of acting out of that emotion – we are given an opportunity to choose differently. It is more likely that whatever we might do next will be wiser, more compassionate toward our self, and toward others. The good of our intention, and our action, will be sustained. (Rabbi Jonathan Slater, from IJS Itturei Torah Commentary)

Tonglen practice, also known as “taking and sending,” reverses our usual logic of avoiding suffering and seeking pleasure. In tonglen practice, we visualize taking in the pain of others with every in-breath and sending out whatever will benefit them on the out-breath. In the process, we become liberated from age- old patterns of selfishness. We begin to feel love for both ourselves and others; we begin to take care of ourselves and others. (Pema Chodron, https://www.lionsroar.com/how-to-practice-tonglen/)

Always we hope that someone else has the answer,
some other place will be better,
some other time it will all turn out.
This is it.
No one else has the answer.
No other place will be better.
And it has already turned out.
At the center of your being you have the answers.
And you know what you want.
There is no need to run outside for better seeing,
nor to peer from the window.
Rather abide at the center of your being.
For the more you leave it,
the less you know.
Search your heart and see that
the way to do is to be.