in which we feel that and that state doesn't necessarily last forever. And then we are separated out from it. But we're left with the remembrance of it and the longing for it. So in alchemy, the journey is a continual movement toward union and meeting and then separating out and then meeting in a union again. And each separation is in order for a further purification to take place. So that the next union may be a more complete union. And that's why in Sufism one finds that also this sense of The experience of being one with the beloved and then separated from the beloved.

[01:18]

Because the lover and the beloved is a duality. But then in the state of separation one goes through these states of purification again. so that the next union is able to be a more complete union or a more sustained union. Okay. Separatio is the separation and conuntio is the coming together. So it's all the language of Sufism, this union and separation, these two operations in particular.

[02:20]

And then I'll just mention briefly four other pieces, very briefly. which is marriage, conception, birth and death. And here I'll use Sufi language. When the soul, which is in Sufism a state of consciousness, is purified, of that which it has become identified with, but is not its essence, that allows a marriage with spirit, and out of that marriage of soul and spirit, a new life is conceived in the soul, a new life.

[03:37]

And that's one of the ways we could describe initiation. It's a new station, a new life that reflects a new station that is a new state of consciousness. And that... in a sense, has to then be developed and anchored and incorporated like the alchemical child has to be embodied, given birth to. And then there is also the death of that in order that the process may repeat itself again. So I thank you. I hope it hasn't been too much information. And believe it or not, I find it clarifying.

[04:44]

Especially in a tradition that has so much feeling and not a lot of clarification about the levels of that feeling and what to do with it. So thank you. I just wanted to announce that at 2.30 I usually teach yoga, but today I'm going to open it up just for women to come. We did this last year and talk a little bit about what it is to practice as a Jewish woman and the questions you might want to know and just a little bit about relationship inside practice. Oh, I'm sorry, that was last night.

[05:52]

Because of my brothers and friends Because of my sisters and friends Please let me ask, please let me say Peace to you Because of my brothers and friends Because of my sisters and friends Please let me ask Please let me say Peace to you This is the house, the house of the Lord I wish the best for you This is the house, the house of the Lord I wish the best for you

[07:51]

Because of my brothers and friends, because of my sisters and friends, please let me ask, please let me say, peace to you. Because of my brothers and friends Because of my sisters and friends Please let me ask, please let me say Peace to you This is the house, the house of the Lord I wish the best for you This is the house, the house of the Lord I wish the best for you

[09:00]

L'man achay v'rayay L'man achay v'rayay Adab rana, adab rana Shalom bach L'man achay v'rayay L'man achay v'rayay Adab rana, adab rana Shalom ach L'man beit Hashem Elokeinu Na bakshatav lach Because of my brothers and friends Because of my sisters and friends Please let me ask, please let me say

[10:27]

Peace to you Because of my brothers and friends Because of my sisters and friends Please let me ask, please let me say Peace to you this is the house the house of the lord i wish the best for you this is the house the house of the lord i wish the best for you Ay la lai [...] Ay la lai [...]

[11:34]

Ay lalai, lalai, lalai... Because of my brothers and friends Because of my sisters and friends Please let me ask, please let me say Peace to you Because of my brothers and friends Because of my sisters and friends Please let me ask, please let me say Peace to you

[13:09]

The End This song, the words mean... What do they mean? The simple meaning. God says to us... With length of days I will satisfy you, meaning I will give you long life, is how it's usually understood.

[14:38]

With length of days I will satisfy you and I will show you my liberation. Mit langen Tagen werde ich euch sättigen und euch Befreiung schenken. But in some Hasidic circles, it's understood that... I mean, in a sense, God is saying, if you will come to me, if you will serve me, if you will give your life to be conscious of me... In Hasidic circles, they say, if you give yourself to me, if you devote your life to me, then... then I will give you this length of days. But it specifically says length of days and not length of years. Aha, genau sagt es, länge der Tage und nicht lange Jahre.

[15:40]

Though people understand it as lange Jahre. They understand it as many years. But in Hasidism, they really understand. People say, I don't have time to get up to do Zazen, and then I have to do my davening, and then I have to do my zikr, and then, you know, when am I going to have time for my breakfast? So God says, you may think that all of these things practices that I ask you to do in calling out to me, in longing for me. You might think this will take away from your time. But when he says with length of days, he means, God means, I will make your day longer.

[16:58]

If you'll take time out for me and to do kind acts, good things to other people, I'll make your day longer. If you take the time to do good works and to pray, I will prolong your day. Orek yamin azbiehu ve'yarehu b'shuati Orek yamin azbiehu ve'yarehu me issue a tea or a yummy must be a you they are With long days I will fulfill you and I'll show you my saving grace.

[18:12]

With long days I will fulfill you And I'll show you my saving grace This is God's promise To the one who follows His way This is God's promise to the one who follows his way. Lie, lie, [...] lie. I lie, [...] lie. I lie, [...] I lie.

[19:48]

Lai lai [...] Lai lai [...] Ay lai lai lai, ay [...] lai lai lai. O rech yamim az b'yehu ve'arehu b'yeshu ati O rech yamim Shalom. Shalom. Me.

[21:18]

Well, I'm always ready to jump into more material and learn more and sing more and do more meditations, but I realize I haven't opened up the space for any questions, and I thought maybe I should do a little bit of that too. If there are any... Then there is duality in paradise. Well, it's a pair of dice, you know.

[22:40]

According to some teachers, It says in the text in the Torah itself, it says that there were two trees in the middle of the garden. So many people have said two things can't be in the middle. There's only one middle. There's really only room for one tree in the middle. And so accordingly, some people say there really was only one tree.

[24:07]

The question is, if you If you eat from the tree before its time, it will give you duality. And if you eat from the tree at the right time, It gives you oneness and true life. So some say that when God said, look, here are these trees, but you have all these other trees to eat from. Just don't eat from this one. And we're told that God was saving the fruit of that tree for Shabbat.

[25:15]

But they were created on Friday and they just couldn't wait. No. And so they got duality and were in a sense thrown out of the garden. But the fact is they weren't really thrown out of paradise. Because paradise is a state of oneness. from having eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge of opposites, the knowledge of duality, paradise just disappeared. In fact, as paradise remained, they disappeared, however you want to put it.

[26:34]

Because basically, again, the real teaching that we get from the tree of knowledge, tree of life... And what we'll learn a little bit more and taste a little bit more tonight. Paradise doesn't go away. You can't get thrown out of paradise. But you can lose your ability to see it and experience it. Okay. And this is basically, I mean, our teaching both on this idea, and I've mentioned this before, about the Sabbath is not the seventh day of the week.

[27:37]

It's the ground of all time. Paradise is always here. The Sabbath is always here. Our soul is always here. We are don't always have the ability to see it or to feel it or to taste it. Yes. Oh, don't let him bother you.

[28:40]

He can't remember where he parked his car. Um... In most... It's a good question, it really is. Actually, he knows where the car is, he lost the keys. This is it. It's important that we understand that the way back to paradise And I hope it's okay we're using this word paradise.

[29:46]

Maybe we should look at that too. Because to me it's not some idyllic, angelic realm somewhere. You know? It simply is a state of consciousness. We might also call it a state of grace. Because sometimes it comes without working for it. And we might even say that when God said, you can have anything you want to eat, just don't eat that tree there.

[30:59]

So we say that was a setup. That maybe God wanted to make sure that we'd eat this forbidden fruit. As every parent knows, as everybody knows, when you're told not to do the one thing, of course I'm going to do it. What, do you think I'm a fool? Of course. So we're told that God set it up for us to eat the fruit early.

[32:03]

Because to be in paradise, but to be unconscious that you're in paradise is not good enough. And so God does whatever it takes to get us out in order to say, Work your way back here. Come back consciously. Know. how special it is to see the oneness in everything. And it's a very, very important idea in Judaism and, again, to my knowledge, in most other traditions.

[33:19]

The beloved wants to be known consciously. He wants to be longed for consciously. And so the way into paradise isn't an easy way in. And our own demons and our own fiery angels will make sure that we get in the right way. I mean, incidentally, in Judaism, the beginning of Satan, the devil, right?

[34:34]

In the story of Bil'am, who is a great prophet of you know, other nations. He wasn't a Jewish prophet. And he has been called to do something against God's will. And God sends an angel to stand in his path. And he can't see the angel. His donkey sees the angel. And the angel is turning aside because he doesn't want to bump into this angel standing in the way.

[35:37]

The donkey turns aside because he doesn't want to run into the angel. And Bilaam keeps beating the donkey, why don't you go? And eventually the donkey speaks to him. It's already a miracle that this animal who can see the angel, that he can't, this great prophet. Can't you see this angel standing in front of you? Have I ever in all the years I've served you, have I ever done you wrong? And then God opens his eyes and he sees the angel and realizes that the further he went away from walking god's path he was losing his ability to see god's world now why did i bring up this story when um

[36:56]

when this angel is sent to stand in his way. And this was doing him a favor. I mean, how often are we on the way to do something not so good? And if only somebody had stood in our way, something had come up to block me from continuing. So this idea of an angel standing in the way is really a very positive act from God. And the word in Hebrew to stand in the way is le-satan.

[38:18]

So the origin of Satan, of the devil, was a messenger of God sent to prevent you from doing wrong. Yes. Later on it evolved a little bit. So then there might be an angel sent to tempt you to do wrong with the hope that you will stop yourself. So that you are functioning. You are choosing yourself. of your own free will to serve God, which is the highest form of serving God.

[39:28]

So these angels are there often for our own good. Okay, good. Other questions? Aziz. I know I shouldn't ask him to ask a question, but I'll try it anyway. Okay. Does any brand of Judaism deal with God evolving as an idea? I don't think so. I think the only evolving of the idea of God is our understanding. But we call God Ein Sof.

[40:37]

Wir nennen Gott Ein Sof. It means without end. Ohne Ende. So anytime I say, ah, now I know what God is. Jedes Mal, wenn ich sage, jetzt weiß ich, was Gott ist. Well, that's good, but there's more. Ja, das ist gut, aber da gibt es noch viel mehr. But there's not so much a sense that God, him, her, itself is God. changing but that our understanding of it is is changing in fact i mean something that i i had meant to mention when when the three of us were sitting together and perhaps tomorrow i mean i'll say it now anyway There's a very beautiful teaching by one of the greatest rabbis and scholars of the 1700s. Yeah. And he wasn't a chassid, and he wasn't crazy, and he wasn't from California.

[41:52]

You know, he was from Vilna. And in fact, this year is the 200th anniversary of his life. Of dying of birth. I think of his death. And I shouldn't be nasty and say 200 years too late. But now they're making a big to-do about this great hero from Vilna, this product of Eastern Europe. So, you know, now he's on the postage stamps. The great, you know, accomplishment in the modern world, you know, can you get onto a postage stamp?

[43:02]

This is why we must fight email. This is, you know... Our future place on the postage stamps of the world is being threatened as we sit here. The Vilna Gaon, the genius of Vilna, he was called. And he was the spokesperson for all of European Jews in his time. You know, his opinion, his interpretation was law. It happened he was also a great Kabbalist.

[44:11]

And in one of his books he wrote that when the light of creation came into the world, Part of it, he said, went straight into Torah, into the wisdom of Judaism. And he said that part of it went into the wisdoms of other peoples of the world. Dieser Teil verteilte sich auf die Weisheit anderer Völker. Now that was a radical statement for the 1700s when most tradition says, we are it, you know, whether it was Christian, Jewish, you know, Buddhist, whatever, it was like, this is it.

[45:18]

Und das war ein sehr mutiges Statement damals, als die allgemeine Auffassung noch eher So for him to say that the light, part of it went into Torah, but part of it went into other world wisdoms. Yeah. And he said, and the day will come when the light that has passed through the wisdoms of the other traditions that it will be shown into the Torah and it will reveal it will reveal teachings and understandings that we were not able to understand before.

[46:26]

Now, that's even a more radical statement for someone in the 1700s. So I think in his own way, he was saying our understanding of God has many, many changes still to other traditions. Those are my words. So that would be my way of answering that. Thank you. Okay, other questions? Yes. how do you manage to live in Israel in a country which by its politics and also by the behavior of the religious Jews is so cruel to I would say not right in front of God how do you manage as a rabbi in this country you want to say it in German or shall I translate

[47:57]

I want to answer that in a couple of different ways. On the one hand, it is very different from the way it is shown in the media. I'm not saying we don't have problems and so on, but it is nothing like it's shown on the media. That's important to know. On the other hand, I was talking with some people during one of the breaks today about this.

[49:10]

Not the political question, not the theme, but the idea of seeing another country and what's wrong there. And here I'm not picking on you. Yeah. There's a whole... In the Torah, there's a very specific mitzvah, specific commandment. And incidentally, I mean, in Hasidic teachings, when we talk about a commandment, The word in Hebrew, mitzvah, can mean a commandment.

[50:23]

I command you to do. But it also comes from a very different word, which means to join together. So that the mitzvot were not these outer things we're commanded to do, they were invitations how to connect with God through people. So among the many commandments, one of them It says you shouldn't hold a grudge. You shouldn't seek revenge. On the other hand, if you see someone doing something wrong, you should surely rebuke them.

[51:36]

And then it continues and says, and love your neighbor as yourself. And completes the sentence saying, I am God. And why did I bring all this up? Because The issue of giving rebuke, of seeing something in the other. Rebuke, to scold. To say what you're doing is wrong. There's many, many, many teachings that come out of this. And without going into all of them, the Baal Shem Tov the founder of the Hasidic movement, he said, if I'm able to see something wrong in someone else, it's because I have that in myself.

[53:16]

because others I wouldn't even see it I wouldn't recognize it so in this way I said this isn't you personal but it's I travel all over the world and wherever I go people are aware of what we're doing wrong in Israel And I don't see them dealing with all sorts of problems within their own country, in their own politics and so on. So, I mean, I just want to put that out that it is an interesting fact, you know, what we say Jews is news. I don't want to turn this into a political discussion. My question is, how do you manage personally to live in this country? Because as we

[54:29]

Again, there are some. It's not all. As soon as we talk in any language in any country about them, I know I'm in trouble. In a relationship between friends, husband, wife, you, you, you, again, I'm in trouble already. Them, the neighbors. Them, the Arabs. Them, the very religious Jews. That there are some crazy ones. Yeah.

[55:56]

There's crazy people, fanatic people in every population in the world. And that has to do with human nature. And not Judaism or Buddhism or Sufism or Islam. Yes, there are times, it looks like one group is louder, more violent, more I don't know what. I mean, look at world history. When you told the story of Rumi and Shams, you know, and what a shock that spiritually evolved but jealous people followers could kill an enlightened teacher.

[57:03]

And what Hanasara told me about Suzuki Roshi's wife. She was killed by some crazy monk. Religion doesn't guarantee you're going to be sane. You may want to leave early, you can still catch the illness. Martin Buber.

[58:14]

one of the great Jewish writers of this last generation. He said in the name of, he started quoting God. So he's, as if God says to us, yeah, yeah. God says, whatever you do may be a way to me. Providing you do it in such a way that it leads you to me. But it's not guaranteed. So we have... People from all different sides in Israel. And it's not an easy issue that we're dealing with. Most people think that all religious people are against the peace movement and all non-religious people are for it.

[59:21]

It's not true. There are many religious people who are very strongly supportive of the peace process. And many, many non-religious people are against the peace process. Depends what they went through personally, what their families went through. So many different issues. And the same is true with the Palestinians. There are many who want peace. There's a small, very loud, explosive number. that will do some incredibly horrible things to stop it.

[60:36]

I refuse to hate all Arabs and all Palestinians because of a couple reasons. of crazy people or even a movement or whatever. Because they did it. Yeah. Some of them, I don't know what they must have gone through in their life that they could believe such a thing, do such a thing, whatever. Einige von ihnen, ich weiß nicht, was die im Leben mitgemacht haben, dass sie in der Lage waren, solche Dinge zu tun und solche Dinge zu glauben. So there are things that the ultra-orthodox do that I disagree with. There's things that they do that I understand deeply.

[61:38]

Yeah. And maybe we should leave it like that. It's interesting living over there. Es ist jedenfalls sehr interessant, dort zu leben. Okay, who haven't I offended yet? Wen habe ich noch nicht beleidigt? You have talked about that we have been part of a oneness. And when we dropped out of this oneness in order to be capable to reach the oneness consciously again,

[62:47]

As part of unity, there are no singular beings. So who are we? How can we be singular individuals when we have not been that? Who are we? I always count on my postage stamps to tell me who I am. Es mag eine lächerliche Frage sein, aber ich empfinde sie wichtig. Ich bin noch nicht sicher, ob ich deine Frage ganz wirklich verstehe. Lass mich nachhaken. Returning to a sense of what I'm calling oneness does not mean the disappearance of the individual.

[64:13]

I would say really the opposite. That the of who each individual really is only can come through when we are in an atmosphere or a consciousness of oneness. Yes, we have an image of I'm going to become one with God. And it will dissolve in the ocean of bliss. I don't believe that that's the real goal of the world.

[65:33]

I think there is a stereotype of the eastern paths Every person for themselves. So the faster I can get enlightened and get out of here. Where did I put my tickets? Oh, I forgot the keys. Okay. Yep. Again, as Richard said before, there are different paths and different goals and different ways there. Richard already said there are different paths, different ways, different goals.

[66:33]

And I would not want to be the one to prevent, to stand like the angel in somebody's way. If you want to jump into the ocean of bliss and dissolve in the oneness of God, my path, as I understand it, says that if the goal of all life is just to melt back into the infinite oneness, then I'm not sure why we bother creating a world.

[67:47]

I think that there is something higher than oneness. And that's union. That when two come together as one, I think it's higher unity. than one just melting back into the one. Now maybe this is semantics again. But I think there's a difference. So the more whole, the more conscious I become, the more unique in a way I am, but not from a competitive, I've got more money than you, my thing is bigger than yours, my, you know...

[69:18]

My uniqueness comes because each and every one of us has a unique essence. When I'm in touch with my essence, I don't need to compete with anybody else. I don't have to worry that somebody's going to take away from me something. They can't take it away. So that's more the sense that when I talk about oneness, it is a consciousness where we see the soul quality of a person and not just their ego, outer qualities. So paradise for me is the ability to see the essence in all people.

[70:36]

How are we doing here? Are there still... Yeah, let's sing a song, jump up and down. Okay. Well, a very appropriate song for all these questions came from one of my earliest teachers, Woody Guthrie. Woody Guthrie. He was a great American folk singer. And the words are just why and because.

[71:36]

Why, oh why, oh why, oh why. Why, oh why, oh why. Because, because, because, because. Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye. I forgot that last word, okay. Why, oh why, oh why, oh why? Why, oh why, oh why? Because, because, because, because Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye Why, oh why, oh why, oh why? Why, oh why, oh why? Because, because, because, because. Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.

[72:43]

One of the profound songs of this century, I think. This is a song of some of the teachings of Rabbi Nachman. And he said it's a very great mitzvah to always be happy. You okay over there? Okay. Mitzvah gedolah, a mitzvah, gedolah, a great mitzvah.

[74:12]

L'hiot, to be. B'simcha, enjoy. Tamid, always. Mitzvah gedolah, a great mitzvah, a great way to become one with God, to join with God. Is to always be happy. mitzvah gedolah liyot b'simcha liyot b'simcha tahamid mitzvah gedolah liyot b'simcha liyot b'simcha tahamid mitzvah gedolah L'yod b'simcha b'tzva g'dolah L'yod b'simcha, l'yod b'simcha tamim

[75:26]

Ay lai lai lai, ay lai lai lai... mitzvah gedolah liyot b'simcha liyot b'simcha tahami mitzvah gedolah liyot b'simcha liyot b'simcha tahami mitzvah gedolah L'yot b'simcha mitzvah g'dol L'yot b'simcha l'yot b'simcha tamim Ay la la la la... I was going to do some introduction to some of the ideas of Shabbat that we'll be doing tonight.

[77:11]

But I'm also aware there's staff and people who come tonight who won't be here now, so I'm thinking maybe I should do more of that there. One thing that I wanted to say And I had mentioned it a little bit on Wednesday, I guess, when I did my paper cuts.

[78:14]

And I was saying how we all know that energy comes down into matter. but to understand in a sense how godliness, how the infinite comes down into the finite, into the material. That where energy comes down into different atoms and molecules, Wie Energie in verschiedene Moleküle und Atome hineinkommt. We would say that God comes down in different qualities. Wir würden sagen, Gott kommt herunter in verschiedenen Qualitäten.

[79:28]

In the quality of love. Eigenschaft der Liebe. In the quality of strength. Der Stärke. in the quality of beauty, and so on. We don't always recognize God in those qualities. We get caught up in the qualities without the God. So I may encounter love as a love for chocolate or ice cream, or sex, let's be honest here.

[80:46]

But the fact is, this is just a very simple level of experiencing love. So we learned that when it's hard for us to experience love in its higher forms, so it comes down into a form that I can grasp it.

[81:47]

And this can be true of my love. It can be true of my anger. It can be true of all sorts of feelings that move me and move through me. And the challenge in every situation is whether I just get caught up in my love for chocolate, my anger or my judgment towards those kind of people, or whether I begin to see that every situation in my life, every feeling that arises, is an invitation,

[83:17]

to discover the godliness hidden in it, and to lift it up to a higher form. So one thing I wanted to say about the Sabbath that I don't think I'll be able to explain so simply tonight, so I won't say it there. There is a sense that during the six days of the week which are our real link to the tree of knowledge of duality.

[84:33]

So to bring the opening question maybe around here in a way, And this also raises some interesting issues in terms of how people perceive whatever this is we're calling God. that supposedly were thrown out of the Garden of Eden as punishment for eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.

[85:38]

Though as we already learned, it really disappears because I'm now in a duality consciousness. So it was not an act of a punishing God that throws them out. It was the consequence on their consciousness But what we would then say God's compassion was to say, even though you blew it, though I set it up, though I made it happen, I will give you access to this paradise, to this realm of oneness.

[86:54]

And that access will be through the Sabbath. So that you can go through your week with things you must get done and you've got to do this and you have to do that. And you can feel incomplete and unfinished. And you can feel incomplete and unfinished with your duties. But if you really know how to come into the Sabbath, when you enter into that dimension, while you're in it, There is nothing incomplete.

[88:06]

There is nothing unfinished. It's a different state of being. So, As much as I may struggle with these different ways that God comes down into my life in the day-to-day loves and desires and needs and so on, so sehr ich mich auch damit abplagen mag, wie Gott durch die verschiedenen Schichten in meine täglichen Sehnsüchte, Bedürfnisse hineinkommt, Ideally, the Sabbath comes as a way of going beyond it. That we have a different taste of love.

[89:08]

That we can take a deeper look at the very qualities that are moving through us. So, as I was saying a couple of days ago, that part of what we're learning to do is to turn the volume up on my soul. and turn the volume down on my ego. Again, because the soul is always there whether I hear it or see it or not. So as we approach the Sabbath, the work is how to turn down the volume of my six days.

[90:20]

And turn up the volume on my Sabbath. How can I turn down the volume on my tree of knowledge? On my duality. And turn up the volume on my tree of life. On my tree of oneness. So we'll see what we can do. It's quite a challenge. It's a challenge we deal with every day in our meditations.

[91:41]

But that in our tradition we have it built into also the cycle of the week where a whole day we work at not working. So let's sing a little before we end this session. When I spoke on Wednesday about the different levels of the soul, the nephesh was more connected to the physical reality.

[92:51]

And already through the ruach I can connect to my spiritual heights. So this is a song about Ruach, which means spirit or wind. Ruach. Ruach. oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[93:41]

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