Shalom. [...] Shalom Shalom Shalom

[01:14]

Shalom [...]

[02:28]

Shalom. Shalom. Shalom. Shalom [...]

[04:08]

Shalom Shalom Shalom Shalom. Shalom. Shalom. Shalom [...] means, we use it to say hello and goodbye, but it really means peace.

[06:19]

Shalom, wir benutzen es um Hallo und auf Wiedersehen zu sagen, aber in Wirklichkeit bedeutet es Frieden. And on a much deeper level, Shalom comes from the word Shalem, which means wholeness. So when we're saying Shalom to someone, we're really wishing them wholeness. Atum began with a sort of explanation introduction to

[08:05]

to Sufism and to this lineage that has brought us here. And Richard also presented, in a sense, a general sense of what Buddhism, what Zen Buddhism is, and this practice of sitting still and gaining this presence. So I have to keep my spine a little. And I am short, so I really need this practice. And I also want to introduce right away Halima,

[09:10]

my translator now for a second year. So I want to say a few words also about a kind of history of Judaism. At least the way I see the history. Because I think we know so many of the traditions, either sort of looking at them from the outside, we sort of, you know, see what we can see.

[10:33]

And I think we're here at this Sufi camp to celebrate the inside of these traditions. Judaism is in a sense a tradition of experiencing God.

[11:49]

And perhaps most importantly, to experience God through other people. So as much as we talk a lot about God, the essence of the practice is in relating to people, is in loving people, is in helping people.

[12:51]

So our classic story of Abraham, one of the sort of the father of our tradition and also of the Muslim tradition. We share a common father. And I should mention Sarah as well. It was the two of them. And a very early and important story about Abraham as he was sitting, not in his tent, but at the opening And we're told that he was having an experience of God. And in the middle of this experience, Three strangers.

[14:18]

He doesn't even know who they are. Not three friends, three strangers. Fremden. And they pass by. And in the middle of his experience of God, he says, wait, please don't. Pass me by. Come, sit down, wash your feet. Sit under the tree. And I'll feed you. We're told that he is saying to them, first he's saying, wait, not to the strangers, but to God.

[15:21]

Saying, it's very nice having this experience of God. But it's more important to take care of these people. And it's not that we separate people from God, but that we strive to see the God in each and every person. And we seek to serve God through people. So our history starts with Abraham, Abraham, Ibrahim. who has his experience of God, which leads him to serving and helping people.

[16:34]

And our history is very much a lineage of individuals who had their own experience of God, and from that served the people around them. So I like to stress very much that as much as Judaism today is described as the people of, or Jews are described as the people of the book, I brought a lot of books, I mean, But we are a lineage of the experience of God.

[17:46]

And everything that we learn and study I have to say this a different way. We began with individuals having their experience of God. But one of the interesting things in the Jewish lineage is that we went from the individual experience to an experience of the whole people.

[18:52]

And pretty much everything that we are learning and studying. And the learning and studying is a very important part of our practice. But the learning is the printout, the printout from the computer. That was plugged in from the moment of this experience of God. So that the learning should bring us back to the experience of God.

[20:02]

And that each aspect of our practice, we need to continue to experience God. And over and over again come back to experiencing God through people. Basic to our teachings is also the importance of seeing many levels of meaning in everything.

[21:25]

and so that everything in a sense is a metaphor. So though we have a history for the sake of its history, for the sake that we have a lineage, But the history is its own teaching. And it parallels the history, the story of every single person. So we can say in our history that we became slaves in Egypt.

[22:45]

And then we became free and went into the wilderness. And we received this God experience and received the Torah. And wandered 40 years in the wilderness. And then came into the promised land. I wasn't raised myself. I wasn't raised religious. I didn't come from a religious family. My father was a psychologist following the path of Jung, Carl Jung. And for us, the holiday of Passover, Passover?

[23:56]

Passover is Ostern? Yeah. It was described in a very Jungian way. So I grew up learning that each of us is a slave to our personality. So I grew up learning that each of us is a slave to our personality. And we have to break free from this pharaoh, from this ruling of the ego. And we have to break free from this pharaoh, from this ruling of the ego. even if it means giving up everything and going into the wilderness, And only when we've broken away from the slavery of our, I guess what Richard said earlier, our mindset, our normal way of perceiving of things,

[25:15]

Then we can have a revelation. Then God can come through to us. And even then we may have to wander for many, many years. What the Jungians call the process of individuation. And from that perhaps we come to full realization to the full capacity of self. So I thought that was a Jungian interpretation and not a Jewish one. But only years later as I began my own Jewish journey, Und Jahre später, als ich meine eigene jüdische Reise begann, entdeckte ich, das ist wirklich die tiefere Bedeutung im Judentum.

[26:37]

And that one of our greatest Kabbalistic masters, Rabbi Yitzhak Luria, from Sfat, yeah, the city of Sfat, Safed, he said that the The Jews coming down into Egypt is like the soul entering the body. And so he turned all the teachings of the Bible, of the Torah, as an explanation of the dynamics between the

[28:05]

the soul and the body, or the ego and the soul, so that every story in the Bible, every story in the Torah, is a story about something that I have gone through, am going through, will go through. And that each of us will go through. The holy Baal Shem Tov, who is the founder of the Hasidic movement, he said the same thing in slightly different ways.

[29:17]

Every journey that was taken from Egypt to Israel represents the journey of every single individual. From birth, which is coming out of Egypt, out of the constriction of the womb. And coming into the promised land was in sense dying and going beyond the limitations of the womb of this world. . So in the practice of Judaism, the

[30:43]

There is a cycle of learning that throughout the year we're reading different parts of the Torah. But whatever we're reading, we don't read as history, but as metaphor for our lives today. And the other cycle we're always going through is the cycle of the of the year, which takes us through the different holidays, most of which are connected to things that happened in our history, but also learning it as going through the process of each of our own unfolding.

[32:10]

So we're always going through different kinds of cycles. The cycle of the story in the Torah itself. The cycle of the historical celebrations during the year. We even do it a little bit every day. Because we wake up in the morning and it's like coming out of Egypt. And we have certain prayers in the morning to remind us of what we want to do with the day, with our life. In our serving of other people, our helping of other people.

[33:23]

And we have a prayer in the afternoon sort of evaluating how have we done today. And we have a prayer at night when we're back in the dark. So the cycle of morning and afternoon and evening is like the cycle of spring, fall and winter. And we have the cycle of the week, which always cycles back into the Sabbath, which represents a time beyond time. But we'll talk about that at another time.

[34:35]

I don't mean to go on so long with this, but why I'm taking the time to talk about these cycles. is to explain the cycle that we're moving into right now within the Jewish calendar. and to present this as a way of understanding part of that psychological and spiritual journey that each of us is on. So let me sing a song and tell a story.

[36:11]

Dāi, dāi, [...] ya dāi, [...] ya dāi, [...] ya dāi, [...] ya dāi, [...] oi, [...] yo [...] Doi oi [...] Doi oi [...]

[37:33]

Oi oi [...] doi [...] Didi dai [...] ai ai ai Didi dai [...] Ai dai [...] Da dai da dai dai Didi da dai da dai dai dai Da dai da dai da dai da dai

[39:19]

do [...] All religions, as far as I know, celebrate many different kinds of events and holidays. It can be events in the history of the people as a whole. It could be events in the life of a particular individual within that tradition.

[40:31]

And they're celebrated during the year. At the time when they happened. The one thing might have happened 2,000 years ago. Something happened maybe 800 years ago. And so on. But it all gets put back onto the calendar of the year. And everything is put back into the calendar of the year. So our cycle, most people know it beginning in the fall.

[41:37]

So unser Zyklus begin, wie die meisten wissen, im Herbst. With the new year Rosh Hashanah. Mit dem neuen Jahr Rosh Hashanah. Which really celebrates the creation of the world. Wo wirklich die Erschaffung der Welt gefeiert wird. We're not so much here concerned with evolution versus creation, but concerned with the fact that there is a reason for the world to be. And then we move through the year, we have Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Hanukkah, which is more well known to people. Though Hanukkah happened 2,000 years after some of these other events or 1,000 years after some of these other events.

[42:42]

We celebrate Purim. We celebrate Passover. Passover, we come out of Egypt. Then we have the holiday celebrating the revelation on Mount Sinai. And then the next one coming up is again really Rosh Hashanah. So we're right now in between those two very important holidays. But between the holiday of revelation and the holiday of creation, Again, remembering the revelation isn't just the historical time that happened 3,000 years ago.

[43:55]

But each of us at a time like that can seek our own personal revelation. And remember what other revelations we've had whenever they happened in our lives. I mean, how many of us have had experiences that changed our lives? That have brought us to places like this Sufi gathering? Or maybe we came here by accident and had the experience here. But we know when we come here that we're meeting people who have had their own personal experiences.

[45:06]

And we're trying to learn how to how to sustain those experiences and how to apply those experiences in our lives and apply them in our love towards the people around us. So we all celebrate some form of personal and it can be a very simple small little thing it can be very holy and impressive it doesn't really matter it matters whether it changed your life So it's very important how we celebrate our revelation.

[46:32]

How we honor our revelation. And, as I said before, how we try to continue to have access to that experience of God. Here before I just said experience, and I said experience of God. So some of you say, wait, I had an experience. It wasn't an experience of God. I don't know. We had our experience and we want to have more. And we wanted to change our lives. We want to remember more often. We want to forget less often. Because it's from these experiences that we have new creation, that we have new creativity, that the world

[47:52]

changes so much, that we suddenly understand, oh, there really is a reason for being here. There really is a purpose for each of our lives. So we have the experience, and then we have the understanding, the new beginning. My life's different. And if we could just constantly do that, it would be wonderful. And maybe in other traditions they say, yeah, it's all you have to do.

[49:13]

Maybe they say. I think most are quite realistic. But in Judaism right now we have a very realistic tradition. day coming up and it says no matter what my experience was whatever my revelation was I forget it And I lose track of where I'm going. And I forget why I'm here. We have our experience.

[50:33]

And shortly afterwards, we've put it in a museum of our godly experiences, of our enlightenment experiences. But we've fallen right back into our everyday materialistic life. Just had this glorious summer experience at Sufi camp. And how many days after you go back down from this Mount Sinai, how quickly will we get swallowed back up with our everyday life? Because one of the stories in the Torah, I think a very well-known story,

[51:49]

40 days after the revelation, God has just thundered through the heavens, I am the Lord your God. And he's given over the 10 commandments. And again, each one of these commandments on deep, deep, many, many, many levels of meaning. And we're told this wasn't a revelation of information. It wasn't that God had a very big microphone and very big loudspeakers. We're taught that people became, for a moment, became one with God.

[53:01]

complete and total experience of God's oneness and all inclusiveness. And then they said to Moses, this is so overwhelming. You go and get the rest of the teachings, the rest of the revelation. And then come back down and tell us. And in the 40 days from that incredible experience, before Moses has come back down from the mountain, the people have made a golden calf. So from their high spiritual experience, they were right back into their material pursuit and focus.

[54:26]

How long does it take from Sufi camp back to everyday life? Maybe we can do better than the Jews in the wilderness. Maybe not. But the story comes to tell us that human nature is such that from the highest God revelation you can be right back with your golden calf. With worshipping the materialistic aspects in your life. And celebrate, remember this wonderful experience you had. But it may not necessarily really seep into and become a part of your everyday life.

[55:54]

So we take this story as a teaching about our own human nature to forget. Shortly after that event, The Jews were still wandering in the wilderness. With all kinds of miracles and wonders happening all the time. Our clothes haven't worn out. Food has been provided. And yet, when we're told we're very close to this promised land, we say, well, we'd like to send some people to check it out for us, just in case.

[57:22]

You know, thanks God for everything, but we want to check it out. So Moses says, okay, you want to check it out, go check it out. And they send out 12 spies. And they check out the land. And 10 out of the 12 come back and say, It's terrible. It's frightening. We can't do it. The people are too many. They're too strong. They're whatever. And nobody heard the two spies who said, it's really okay and we can really do it.

[58:29]

And this is what's meant to be. And all the people cried from the frightening report of these spies. And God said, you're crying because of what these people say they saw? And he said, this will be a day for you to remember. And hundreds of years later, the Holy Temple was destroyed on that day. In our calendar, That day starts tonight.

[59:48]

And so tonight and tomorrow throughout the day, it's a day of mourning. And of fasting. And of fasting. For many people, it's just remembering something horrible that happened 2000 years ago. And a pain to have to fast. But for many, it's a time to again say, just like how could I have this revelation and fall into my material golden calf?

[60:51]

So how often on my journey when the possibilities around the corner are absolutely glorious, but I go in with my perceptions, with my preconceptions, not with my ability to really take in the sense, the sensations, but everything is so distorted by my preconceptions, How much are we aware of how little we really see of what's around us?

[62:13]

Of the people around us, from our families, how little do we really see? And how much destruction do we cause through our misperceptions of those people, of that place, of whatever it is. How can we become a little bit more conscious of just how unconscious we are? What does it take to wake us up? In Hebrew, the word for spies, miraglim, and miraglim comes from the word regal,

[63:41]

And when we talked about Abraham sitting in front of his tent, and who said to the strangers walking across the way, he said, wash your feet. The word for feet is rego. The base for the word for the spies. And it's the root of the word of habits. So he was saying to these strangers, wash away your habits. Wash away your preconceived ideas. Wash away your habits. Wash away your habits. Wash away the distorted way that you see everything and everyone around you.

[65:20]

Because only then can you sit under the tree, the tree of life, Only then can you come out of your slavery, to come into your promised land, to your revelation. So the word we have for spies, the thing with which we check everyone and everything out in our lives, There are habits.

[66:25]

Our preconceived, stuck ways of seeing and knowing. And it's such a strong habit that we don't even know we're doing it. We automatically see people the way we see them. We automatically see ourselves the way we see ourselves. And we're constantly in the process As long as we're subject to this spying, of this misperception, it is a destructive process. And we destroy our home and others' homes like we destroyed the holy home, the holy temple.

[68:01]

In Hebrew, the word for temple and home is the same word. So along the spiritual journey of awakening, we have to stop from time to time to evaluate where we've gone with our revelations. Where are we with our golden calves? Where are we with our perceptions and misconceptions? Because it's only through looking deeply at this part of our human nature can we wake up just a little bit more.

[69:02]

and go through another cycle of creation and revelation before we fall again in order to wake up again and to continue the journey. In the Jewish journey, the Jewish psycho-spiritual journey, It is filled with this reaching very high, falling down. picking up some pieces down there where we've fallen, that allow us to become more whole after we've been shattered.

[70:38]

in order to rise even higher. And then from there we fall. And we pick up some pieces we never had before that make us more whole and allow us to rise even higher. But the bad news from Judaism is you have to fall in order to rise higher. There's just no such thing as just up and up and up. And this is the psychology of the Jewish psychology of the spiritual journey. To remember, though, when you've fallen, when you're broken, when you're in the dark, when you're hurting,

[71:52]

that in that very fallen place are the sparks, the pieces to take you even higher. It's very hard to remember when you're down there. So here's the story I promised you. Finally! Right. Okay. The story is of a Jew who had a little inn somewhere.

[73:14]

And it wasn't easy to make a living. And he already owed rent for three months. And his landlord said to him, if you don't pay me this next Tuesday, It's going to be all over for you. Well, of course, he was terrified. He didn't know what to do. Obviously, if he had the money, he would have paid him. But he wasn't making enough. He didn't know what to do, and he was afraid for himself and for his family.

[74:16]

And he's walking around worried and worried and worried. And his wife says to him, what's walking around in circles so worried going to do to help pay the rent? In the town not so far away is a very, very great rabbi, a very great tzaddik. His name is Rabbi Eli Melech. And everybody knows. You can go to him with your problems. You write it down on a piece of paper. And he takes this paper and he looks deeply into it and he sees what really has to happen and he tells you what to do.

[75:25]

So you should go see him. So you're right, of course. Why didn't I think of that myself? So he went to the town scribe, a person who writes, because he couldn't write so well. And he said, please write me a note that says Moshe needs 500 rubles by Tuesday or else. 500. And he takes this little quittle, it's called, this little note. It wasn't so little, actually, it was pretty big, so he wrote in big letters. And he went home and he asked his wife to get him his good suit.

[76:43]

And he puts his suit on and he takes his good shoes and he puts them over his shoulder because he doesn't want to wear them out walking to the town. And he walks and he walks and he walks. And finally he gets to the town of Luzhansk. And he's brushing the dust off of his suit. And he takes his shoes and he puts them on his feet. And one of the students of this rabbi who later became a very great rabbi himself, he became known as the seer of Lublin because he could also see into the future.

[77:46]

And he sees this person dusty and putting on his shoes and he's got this little piece of paper tucked under his arm. And he says, oh, you're here to see the rabbi. And Moshe says, how did you know? I said, listen, you know, we also have these powers like the Rebbe. We can see deeply into things. In fact, you know, the Rebbe is very busy. So many people come to him for advice. Why don't you show me your quiddle, your piece of paper? I can do it too. I'll help you. Someone says, no, no, look, I came to see the rabbi.

[79:03]

Thank you very much. This year of Lublin is very busy. Please let me take a look at it. The rabbi is so busy and I can really help you. He said, look, I came to see the rabbi, thank you very much. He still tries to say no. So the seer of Lublin says, listen, how are we supposed to develop our skills if nobody comes to us and they all go to the rabbi? Yeah. So finally Moshe says, okay, okay. Gives him his kvittle. The Seville Blaine taster reads, Moshe needs 500 rubles by Tuesday or else.

[80:06]

And then he looks deeper. Moshe, I don't want to frighten you or anything, but look on Tuesday, just stay out of town. Just, you know, just... It's not good. It's real. It's not good. Just don't be around. Don't let your landlord find you. Moses is very shaken up by this. He says, I think I'm going to go see the rabbi anyway. So he goes to the rabbi Elimelech. The rabbi opens up.

[81:20]

500 rubles by Tuesday or else. He looks a little deeper. And he sees what the seer of Lublin saw. And he looks a little deeper. He says, Moshe, my advice to you is when your landlord comes to the door, tell him you won't make a deal unless he gives you 2,000 rubles. I said, what, for crazy advice like this? I traveled all this way. I'm asking for help and you tell me to tell him to give me 2,000 rubles. this is crazy the rabbi says look I'm sorry you think it's so crazy but I'm a very busy man so please leave thank you very much Moshe really doesn't know what to do now this was his one hope

[82:49]

Now if he was wandering around in circles before, he's even wandering in more circles now. And even forgot to take his shoes off. He lost all sense of time. And Tuesday comes. And the landlord comes. And the landlord says, Moshe, where is my money? And Moshe said, is it Tuesday? Oh, look, I mean, I'm really trying. Just give me another couple of days. One more week, I'm sure I can get it. And the landlord starts to beat him. And his horse is on top of him. And it's gefährlich. Some people come and kind of carry Moshe back to his home.

[84:19]

And they bring somebody to try and fix him up a little bit. And he's in bed for two weeks. And the landlord's wife asks her husband, where's Moshe? I haven't seen him in, it seems like two weeks. I always go to his inn. Because everybody in town sort of comes in and out of there and it's the only way to know what's happening in town. And Moshe is always so helpful with his information and so kind and friendly. Now I haven't seen him in two weeks. Is he sick? Do you know what's happening?

[85:21]

And the landlord says, for all I know, he's dead. I gave him such a beating, you know. She says, you what? You beat that sweet man? I mean, how could you do that? I'm so tired of this violence and this way you are, you know. If you don't go and get his forgiveness, I don't want to talk to you anymore. really shocked what's he gonna do what's what's he gonna do okay so look i'll take a bottle of wine and i'll take some herring and i'll take some pickles i don't know you know bring something you know so And he puts it on the wagon and he rides over to Moshe's house.

[86:33]

And Moshe sees him coming. He says, he's coming to finish me off. He found out I'm not dead. Quick, pull the curtains. Push the table against the door. And Don't answer when he knocks. So he'll think nobody's home. He said, they're shaking. The landlord comes to the door. Moshe, Moshe, it's me, your landlord. Moshe, it's me, your landlord. Moshe, it's me, it's your landlord. Moshe, please, please, it's me, your landlord.

[87:56]

Moshe is so scared. He says, Moshe's not here. Moshe is not at home. What have I done? Moshe, I know you're in there. It's me. It's the letter. Look, I've come to say I'm sorry. Moshe is in such shock. Moshe is so in shock from his having said that he's there and still so frightened that the next thing that comes out of his mouth the words of the Rabbi. He says, I won't make a deal unless you give me 2,000 rubles.

[89:00]

Oh, no. Oh, no. Now he's going to kill me for sure. How could I let that come out of my mouth? If Moshe is in shock at this point, the landlord is in big shock. He's come to apologize. He thinks he can offer some wine and herring and gherkin. And Moshe said, 2,000 rubles. And his wife said, if you don't get his apology, his forgiveness, I'm not going to talk to you.

[90:03]

So, okay, Moshe. I'll give you the 2,000 rubles. Moshe gets the money. Moshe bekommt das Geld. He leaves his inn. Verlässt sein Gasthaus. Wasn't good business. Das war kein so gutes Geschäft. Gets into a more stable, reliable business. Geht in ein zuverlässigeres Geschäft. Becomes very successful. Wird sehr erfolgreich. Makes some money. Verdient Geld. Pays the landlord back his rent. pays him the 2,000 rubles back. He's become one of the most respected people in town. And now poor people can come to him for help. And he's walking around feeling quite good about himself.

[91:14]

And his wife says, Mr. Big Shot. Don't you think you maybe owe a little thank you to the rabbi? I mean, it was his crazy advice. He says, you're right, I totally forgot. I have to go see him. So he puts on one of his good suits. And he puts on his good shoes. Because he's riding on his horse and wagon. And he goes to Luzhansk to see the rabbi. And he rides into town. And the seer of Lublin sees him coming in. Moshe, is that you?

[92:28]

Moshe, is that you? How can this be? Moshe, tell me what happened? Moshe rides by. I'm here to see the rabbi. Moshe, please tell me what's happening. He's running alongside his wagon. Moshe, tell me what's happening. He's running alongside his wagon. Moshe continues on to the Rebbe's. All the students, all the Hasidim of the Rebbe come because they know this is going to be a good story. And Moshe comes to the Rebbe. And the Chassidim, they're leaning in the window and they're leaning in the door and they all want to hear what's happening. And Moshe says, Rebbe, Rebbe. And Moshe said, I'm so sorry, please forgive me for what I said to you.

[93:44]

I mean, you must understand, for where I was at then, it really seemed crazy. But Rebbe, thank you so much. You've changed my life. You've saved my life. You know, I don't know how to thank you. Well, the seer of Lublin is looking at this whole thing, you know. The seer of Lublin looks at the whole scenery. His mouth wide open. Wide open mouth.

[94:31]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_49.07