49 days for those who may be counting
Walking on dry ground with great walls of water on our left and right
is the symbol of transcendence, going from bondage to freedom
50 days later at Mount Snai, so the story goes
We receive the dharma, the eternal wisdom
There's a holiday called Shavuot that allows us to relive that experience
Which is being celebrated even now, today
Here are some Shavuot notes
Hope you enjoy them, my most beloved ones
God makes these
sounds:
These
words, these power images
I am the Lord your
God.
The
indescribable, unpronounceable, transcending one
I am El, your God, your Goddess, who brings
you out of bondage
Set no other gods
beside me (have
no other objectives of this value)
Don’t try to limit me
to any one form or likeness
In heaven, on the
earth or in the waters under the earth
Don’t bow down before
something else (don’t
prostitute yourself)
I’m full of passion
and reveal kindness to those who love me
For thousands of
generation (and
incarnations)
Don’t misuse my
sacred names,
But use them to
empower your honesty and authenticity
Remember the majesty
of the seventh day
Imbue it with
holiness. It’s the Sabbath
I am blessing and
hallowing the seventh day
Bring honor to your
father and mother
Long endure in the
land I’m giving you
With
virtuous actions we honor a sacred heritage
Thus
we are content and illumined
Vigilantly avoid
murder, adultery, stealing
And speaking falsely
of others
Admire, but don’t
covet someone else’ home or companion
Nor their servants,
their livelihood, their cars
Or
anything that is another’s or you’ll miss your
own inheritance
Students of reality
You can see that I’m
speaking to you from the very heavens
Don’t make gods even
out of my magnificence:
Silver and gold (courage and love)
But make an altar
before me of this very earth
And offer to me here
the fruits of your self-discipline
Your suffering and
your joy, your ignorance and your very
self
Then wherever you
utter my names
I’ll come to you and
bless you
And if you make an
altar of stones (sacred
letter symbols)
Keep
them lower case. Use simple unhewn
stones
Don’t show off your
gifts and powers
Don’t advertise your nirvana, your mind nakedness
Just ascend my altar
step by step
The
waving of two loaves of bread on Shavuot
represents both bread from heaven and bread from earth, the written Torah and
the oral Torah. Both giving and receiving are awakened on this day.
R’
Green
We
might think of revelation as dialogue; one giving, the other receiving. In fact
there’s only one. God gives and God (operating within us) receives. The two
loaves, bread from heaven (manna), a gift from God; and bread from the earth,
our own product. Both are equally divine gifts. The written Torah given
directly from heaven, and the oral torah seeming to well up from within us –
both are gifts from God The oral Torah is “implanted within us” by the hand of
God.
Sefat Emet
Two
sorts of “drawing near” on Shavuot.
The hearts [of devotees] draw near to God; and God, the Everpresent, draws
close to [us]. These are also the two loaves waved on this day. We call this
“the day of the giving of our Torah” [God draws near to us]. God also delights
in the closeness of our hearts to heaven, so this day is [also] called “the day
of offering the first fruits.”
Take your first fruits and offer them to God
That is, offer them to everyone;
love all and serve all
All fruits are first fruits; each
of our children is our first-born
Dine on this sacrifice every year (these
offerings, this generosity)
Wherever you are when you offer sincerely
That place is chosen and forever sacred
Don’t offer anything to God that is blemished
Looking for thanks or
appreciation, examples of a slight blemish
Don’t eat the blood of animals (be kind, don’t eat
animals)
Their blood comes from the ground (just
like ours)
It pours out on the ground as water
We are the waters of the earth,
the life-giving waters, Torah Deut.
15.23
Remember the evening
sunset
Which is the time of
our departure from the straits
Sacrifice (offer up useless habits of mind)
In the evening as the
sun is setting
Even if fruit trees
won’t bud and there’s no yield on the vine
Even if our crops
fail and our fields produce nothing
Even if our herds (our livelihoods) vanish before our eyes
Yet do I rejoice in Yah (our God - YHVH)
Exulting in El (this God/Goddess) who is delivering me
From
bondage to freedom
My Yah-El (Lord-God) is my strength
Who gives me deer
feet
To stride in the
heights
