Separate from Secular

Chevre (friends):

Monday, Day 2, in Creation, God separates water from water.  Today, and every day, we try to separate the ordinary from the holy, the secular from the sacred.

I have had the opportunity to visit and experience many different Jewish worship experiences, and one of the toughest tasks that  I face is trying to integrate Judaism and Jewish living into the 'rest of life" that we all live in, outside of the sanctuary, away from an hour or two of worship.  Similarly, it can be challenging to find elements of the secular world that can blend with and enhance the meaning of authentic Jewish worship.

As the chaos and pace of living accelerates, our temptation is to find a way to "speed up" Judaism to interface it better with our lives of tweets and texting and posting.  We are so comfortable with the quick-fix secular world, often less familiar with the core principles of Judaism.  The tendency, for me and maybe also for you, is to breathe artificial Judaism into some secular cadaver of an impulse or event in order to justify it.  We attempt to empower and resuscitate something meaningless  into something Jewish, without success.

I used to work selling natural health products, and I had a mentor who was a medical herbalist from Scotland.  Together, we prepared a workshop tracing the evolution of fresh food from the turn of the 20th century to the present.   In 1920, food was picked fresh and delivered locally, subject to it's short window of freshness. 

The advent of the supermarket changed this, because a new concept became the buzzword surrounding food: shelf-life.  The focus on extending the life expectancy of fresh food invited new perspectives, and the food-chemist became as important as the farmer.  Heat and pasteurization became common in order to sterilize food, extending shelf-life (and profit) at the cost of degrading live enzymes and nutrition.  Food additives further extended the life of food, and along the way, we found ways to make this increasingly old food look appealing through coloration and flavor enhancing additives.  Over a short period of time, we transformed our grocery store from a farmer's market of fresh food into a showcase for dressed up lifeless mock-ups of food.  Essentially, it became cost effective to kill the live food product, and then embalm and dress it back up to become a stylized representation of something once alive.

I fear that sometimes, though without ill intent, that we attempt to shoehorn Jewish values into secular situations that really are devoid of any serious meaning;  just as we sometimes convince ourselves that the embalmed, processed cadaver of a peach that has traveled 1500 miles to reach the supermarket is the same as a fresh tree-ripened peach from the neighborhood orchard.  It is not.  And I really don't think that we need yoga or crystals or seances or guided meditation to help expand Judaism.  By itself, Judaism is complete and full and fresh and vital. Although our ego might disagree,we need to also recognize that not all that we do is important and meaningful and in touch with God.   
The way to make our everyday moments meaningful and holy is not to decorate them with Jewish artifacts, but rather to take the decidedly Jewish idea of consciousness and b'rachot (blessing) and to reveal God in some of our everyday actions.  Sometimes, there is a fine line between uncovering true meaning in a life moment, and trying to put window dressing on something that is inconsequential.  Being spiritual means filtering out the mundane and staying tuned in to our higher self, our connection with the Divine, and being able to recognize the difference between the two.

While we seek to make everyday moments holy, we need to recognize that much of what we do and encounter is disconnected from our higher selves, and that is okay.  We need to reach for holiness from a different mind state than the ordinary.  Rabbi Lawrence Kushner puts it well  when he states "There are worlds more real than this one.  Shabbat is more real than Wednesday.  Jerusalem is more real than Chicago.  A sukkah (temporary shelter used in celebration of the autumn  harvest festival of Sukkot) is more real than a garage.  Tzedakah (charitable giving) is more real than income taxes".

A tree-ripened peach is tastier and more nutritious than canned peaches,  and... fresh challah is far more real than white bread.   Five days until Shabbat!

Your turn.  Take a moment. Help us with our HALF-A-CHAI fundraising during October with your contribution or membership commitment.
Your donation and support is fully tax deductible, and every contribution, large and small is appreciated and important.

Birthday, anniversary, or celebration this month? Something to be thankful for? Honor the day by supporting Shir Hamakom.
Donation information here.

Shalom,

Arnie Davidson
Worship Leader

 

Havdalah with Julie Silver and a day of Jewish Learning.

Shir Hamakom

music worship:
465 Oak Street
East Hartford, CT 06118

mail and donations:
PO Box 271

East Hampton, CT 06424

Please note our new mailing address!

shirhamakom.com