Reclaiming Judaism as a Spiritual Practice

Goldie Milgram

Description

Wake up your Jewish spiritual life and restore your soul.

“Has your heart ever been broken—by loss, divorce, disappointment, awe, fear, hope? Have you multitasked, worked past the level of your endurance, accumulated possessions, jumped the hurdles, and gotten the grades only to wonder, “Is that all there is?” Do you wish for a life that is physically grounded, emotionally satisfying, intellectually expansive, and profoundly connected? These are the qualities Judaism can provide when you understand how to practice it.”
—from the Introduction

This inspiring guidebook is your wake-up call for understanding the powerful intellectual and emotional tools that are essential for a lively, relevant, and fulfilling Jewish spiritual practice.

Designed to become a lifelong resource for holy days and Shabbat, it presents Judaism as an evolving tradition in which you are the entrusted heir. The exercises and practices draw from the foundations of Judaism and empower you to create meaningful, satisfying, contemporary Jewish experiences for how you live today.

Introduction PART ONE: RECLAIMING HOLY DAYS 01 Understanding the High Holy Day Season 02 Sukkot: Community and Meditation in Nature 03 Simhat Torah: The Practice of Scroll Reversal 04 Hanukkah: A Celebration of Holy Hutzpah 05 Tu Bi-Shevat: Fruit for Thought 06 Purim: Odd Lots of Spirit 07 Passover: Learning the Exodus Process 08 Shavuot: Renewing Vision 09 Yom HaShoah, Yom HaAtzmaut, and Tisha b' Av: Healing from the Hard Knocks of History 10 Rosh Hodesh and Kiddush Levanah: Revitalizing Natural Cycles PART TWO: RECLAIMING THE SABBATH Glossary Suggestions for Further Reading Index

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• High Holy Days
• Jewish philosophy
• Shabbat
• Judaism
• Religion
• Chabbat

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 13 avril 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781580236225
• Langue: English

Extrait

This book is dedicated to the memory of my friend and mentor, Louise P. Vanett, and in honor of my teacher, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART ONE: RECLAIMING HOLY DAYS
1 Understanding the High Holy Day Season
2 Sukkot: Community and Meditation in Nature
3 Sim h at Torah: The Practice of Scroll Reversal
4 H anukkah: A Celebration of Holy H utzpah
5 Tu Bi-Shevat: Fruit for Thought
6 Purim: Odd Lots of Spirit
7 Passover: Learning the Exodus Process
8 Shavuot: Renewing Vision
9 Yom HaShoah, Yom HaAtzmaut, and Tisha b Av: Healing from the Hard Knocks of History
10 Rosh H odesh and Kiddush Levanah: Revitalizing Natural Cycles
PART TWO: RECLAIMING THE SABBATH
Glossary
Suggestions for Further Reading
Index

About the Author
Copyright
Also Available
About Jewish Lights
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book has been made possible by a grant from the Nathan Cummings Foundation, with the support and encouragement of Dr. Ruth Durchslag.
Generous, creative, perceptive, honest, and direct, the minyan of my life is forever enriched by the companionship of the Reclaiming Judaism Trans-denominational Internet Focus Group: Adam Beitman, Reva Bernstein, Dr. Ivan Bub, Suzie Garfinkle-Chevrier, Gary Cohen, Esq., Ellen Weaver, Carola deVries Robles, Dr. Fred Harwin, Lynn Hazan, Iva Kaufman, Dr. Paul Levy, Gerrit Locher, Dr. Samuel Milgram, Karen Stuck Mortensen, Shira Reiss, Lara Rosenthal, Rabbi Robert Scheinberg, Nancy Sher, Cantor Meredith Stone, Dr. Sharon Ufberg, and Dr. Laura Vidmar.
The author s heartfelt appreciation goes to:
The core team of P nai Yachadut-Reclaiming Judaism: Sara Harwin, Dr. Sharon Ufberg, and Rabbi Shohama Wiener. This is the teaching and educational research non-profit that is the predominant vehicle for my work in the world.
My dear hubbatzin, Barry Bub, who, during the course of this work s research and writing, drove to over forty-four sites of teaching and mutual exploration around the world. So often I sat beside you, silently working on my laptop and occasionally asking for help, which you offered with a generous spirit accompanied by many important insights.
Ann Edelstein, my literary agent, whose belief in the importance of this material and whose warmth, clarity, professionalism, and creativity sustained this process at every step.
Stuart M. Matlins, publisher of Jewish Lights, who has created a much-needed publishing vehicle of quality and integrity for this time when Judaism is being renewed in spirituality and meaning.
Dr. Ruth Durchslag, for so selflessly and unobtrusively providing the support for an entire season of my life s work.
Emily Wichland, Judy Kern, Lara Rosenthal, and Tracy Bernstein, four amazing copyeditors, who read and edited with talent and gave professional guidance with real feeling for the text.
The generous guidance and encouragement of a number of experienced authors gave me the courage to do this, particularly Rabbis David Cooper, Wayne Dosick, Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer, Michael Lerner, and Rami Shapiro, as well as Arthur Kurzweil, Marcia Cohen Spiegel, and Dr. Gene Gendlin.
The following teachers have been a primary source of inspiration to me. I hope readers will seek out these remarkable beings and their works: Rabbi Judith Abrams, Rabbi Samuel Barth, Dr. Judith Baskin, Sylvia Boorstein, Rabbi David Cooper, Rabbi Gail Diamond, Dr. Marcia Falk, Dr. Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Rabbi Yaacov Gabriel, Dr. Elliot Ginsberg, Dr. David Golomb, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, Dr. Arthur Green, Rabbi Shefa Gold, Rabbis Victor and Nadia Gross, Dr. Judith Hauptman, Rabbi Linda Holtzman, Dr. Irving Greenberg, Dr. Aaron Katcher, Rabbi Myriam Klotz, Arthur Kurzweil, Dr. Shulamit Magnus, Rabbi Isaac Mann, Rabbi Itzchak Marmorstein, Dr. George McClain, Rabbi Leah Novick, Dr. Peter Pitzele, Dr. Judith Plaskow, Rabbi Marcia Prager, Rabbi Geelah Rayzl Raphael, Dr. Simcha Paull Raphael, Dr. Lester Ruiz, Rabbi Margot Stein, Rabbi Jeff Roth, Peninnah Schram, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Hazzan Neil Schwartz, Rabbi Daniel Siegel, Rabbi Rami Shapiro, Dr. Dick Snyder, Dr. Jacob Staub, Dr. Adin Steinsaltz, Dr. David Teutsch, Rabbi Shawn Zevit, Dr. Arthur Waskow, Rabbi Shohama Wiener, Rabbi David Zaslow, and Dr. Aviva Zornberg.
I wish also to draw your attention to teachers who changed my life in a variety of ways, who are now niftar , departed from this world far too soon and far too young: Rabbis Seth Brody, Shlomo Carlbach, and David Wolfe-Blank, z l .
And finally, deepest appreciation and abounding love to my students everywhere. Your questions and responses are the best teachers.
With love and appreciation from my heart to all of yours, R Goldie Milgram
INTRODUCTION
Religion has had a terrible history. Tens of millions of people have died of its side effects in Jerusalem, Belfast, the Crusades, the Salem Witch Trials, the Spanish Inquisition, and the World Trade Center. And let us not forget the Buddhist atrocities in Sri Lanka; the Hindu underpinnings of the caste system; the Bosnian Orthodox Christian ethnic cleansing of Muslim and Roman Catholic Croats; and the Muslim genocide of Catholics in East Timor, among many examples, including the ever-raging situation in the Middle East.
It is tempting to throw the baby out with the bathwater, to declare oneself a secular humanist and be done with religion. Religion is clearly a dangerous entity.
I almost did that-I almost walked away from being Jewish. Were you ever asked to make a list of oxymorons in high school? Mine included Jewish spirituality, women rabbis, and honest politicians. The Judaism I grew up with was desiccated, disappointing, depressing, and, quite frankly, boring. Stunned by my own experiences of anti-Semitism and frustrated by sexism, I surveyed other religious options but, in the end, still felt called to uncover the meaning of being born a Jew.
I embarked on a passionate search to find the missing puzzle pieces, to reclaim Judaism. Then, one day, after years of thoughtful input from seekers and teachers the world over, it all came together. I was able to see the elegant infrastructure of Judaism, as well as the missing ingredient: applied spirituality. In Hebrew school and rabbinical school we are taught the body of the tradition. On my spiritual journey, I ve found those who understand how to restore its soul. The combination is exquisite.
Has your heart ever been broken-by divorce, loss, disappointment, awe, fear, hope? Have you multitasked, worked past the level of your endurance, accumulated possessions, jumped the hurdles, and gotten the grades only to wonder, Is that all there is? Do you wish for a life that is physically grounded, emotionally satisfying, intellectually expansive, and profoundly connected? These are the qualities Judaism can provide when you understand how to practice it.
A healthy religious system supports life by infusing it with meaning, integrity, and joy. It offers holy day practices and everyday practices, as it is written in Deuteronomy 6:7, for when you walk on the way, when you lie down and when you rise up. Here, in Reclaiming Judaism as a Spiritual Practice , you will find a wide variety of Jewish practices, offered as a series of recipes, that support, expand, and provide a meaningful context for the experience of being alive. Taste them as a way of enriching your own religious experience.
Suppose you have never tasted h aroset , the Passover ritual food made of specific ground fruits, nuts, spices, and wine that symbolizes the building mortar used by the Israelites when they were slaves in Egypt. Since you will be building memories and meaning at every step of a h aroset experience, ideally you will be able to prepare it with a dear friend, an elder, a partner, or a child assisting you. In your heart you might have feelings about the holiness and wholeness of preparing sacred foods for a seder; by sharing these feelings as you labor, you build and convey to others important and unforgettable life nutrients.
At the actual Passover seder, as you taste the h aroset , deepen your Passover practice by discussing its metaphorical meanings. For example, you might invite an elder to share her thoughts on the building materials that are important for a satisfying life. As others offer additional perspectives, the emphasis might shift to contemplation of which building blocks in life lead to the feeling of being enslaved and which build freedom? And even if you have solid blocks to set in place, what do you need as the mortar, the glue that holds a life together? The range of what can emerge through this kind of exchange is limitless and will vary according to the stages of life and the human condition of those at the table at any moment in history.
You won t truly experience h aroset , and know whether it speaks to you or not, until you select a recipe, collect the ingredients, then actually prepare the h aroset , taste the results, and savor the flavor and texture as its symbolic meaning comes alive at a seder that serves the inner circle of your life.
The same is true of all the spiritual practices in this book. You can t experience or judge them until you ve tried them. No one expects to use every recipe in a cookbook. As you read, you might think about which ones sound good, which ones you d like to try. This book is designed to be a lifelong resource you can turn to as holidays come around, so that you can test specific recipes in their season.
I hope you ll avoid analyzing the recipes before you ve tried them, because the moment you begin to analyze spirituality, it s lost. After you ve tasted and savored the flavors, however, you might reflect on the experience. If a practice seemed valuable, continue it. But if anything I suggest strikes you as unsafe or inappropriate, don t do it; trust yourself and your body. Your needs come first. There are no requirements here. This is not a cult. The Judaism you will be