Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Light


1 Elul 5771
It's still the first day of Elul, now around 11 a.m. It is traditional to read Psalm 27 daily during this month. With my first glance at the text, it struck me in a whole knew way. YHVH! Yah! Creator! Infinite One! Holy One! The One! However I choose to name the One who is beyond the beyond...that Divine Presence is "ori." My light.
Since deciding to relocate to Sweden, I've been afraid of the(potential) dark. I've visited this latitude many times in the winter, but never spent more than 2 weeks at a time. I know that people here have ways of making space cozy and warm and bright during the dark months, with creative uses of "living light." There are candle-light breakfasts, and lovely candelabras  illuminating displays of bread and cake in bakery windows. But still, there is a  lump in my stomach at the thought of getting up and out every morning when the sky is still dark. I worry about my mood sinking with the light.
So, to be reminded that the Divine Presence is my light; that  I need not dread the shortening of the days...that is a gift. After reading the Psalm in Hebrew, I found a wonderful array of meditative translations into English.  Below is from my teacher, Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi. 
During the month of Elul it is still light, but the days are growing shorter. It offers me the opportunity to meditate on the meaning of light, and how to find it--literally and metaphorically--in my new location, as the season changes.

Do you have a favorite meditation on or translation of Psalm 27? Perhaps just the thoughts that come up when you read this? I'd love to hear from you.

Psalm 27, as translated by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Yah! You are my light.
You are my savior.
Whom need I dread?
Yah, with you as my strong protector who can make me panic?
When hateful bullies gang up on me, wanting to harass me, to oppress and terrorize me
They are the ones who stumble and fall.
Even if a gang surrounds me my heart is not weakened.
If a battle is joined around me my trust in You is firm.
Only one thing do I ask of You, Yah:
Just this alone do I seek, I want to be at home with you, Yah,
All the days of my life.
I want to delight in seeing You.
You hide me in your sukkah on a foul day.
You conceal me unseen in Your tent.
You also raise me beyond anyone's reach
And now, as You have held my head high despite the presence of my powerful foes
I prepare to celebrate and thrill, singing and making music to You, Yah!
Listen, Yah, to the sound of my cry
And, being kind, answer me!
My heart has said, I turn to seek you.
Your presence is what I beg for
Don't hide Your face from me.
Don't just put me down, You who have been my helper.
Don't abandon me, don't forsake me, God my support.
Though my father and my mother have left me
You, Yah, will hold me securely.
Please teach me Your way.
Teach me Your way and guide me on the straight path.
Discourage those who defame me
Because false witnesses stood up against me belching out violence.
Don't let me become the victim of my foes.
I wouldn't have survived
If I hadn't hoped that I would see, yet,
Your goodness, God, fully alive on earth.
So I tell you, my friends: you too hope to Yah! Be sturdy!
And make strong your heart. And most of all, keep hoping to Yah.
Seeing You when I come to visit You in Your temple.
To learn more about Reb Zalman, visit the Reb Zalman Legacy Project:

2 comments:

  1. "I wouldn't have survived
    If I hadn't hoped that I would see, yet,
    Your goodness, God, fully alive on earth."

    This vision for a world filled with the living God, the light of God, gives hope which can lead us forward every day.

    Thanks for reminding me.
    Shoshana

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  2. This really, really resonates. I, too, am fearful of the waning light. I just ordered a replacement bulb for my desktop light-box and hope that it arrives soon.

    I had momentarily forgotten about this Psalm, but maybe I will make it an Elul habit to recite it daily. The part that speaks to me the most is " כִּי-אָבִי וְאִמִּי עֲזָבוּנִי; וַה' יַאַסְפֵנִי." It is translated as "Though my father and my mother have left me / You, Yah, will hold me securely" above.

    I love the idea of God "יַאַסְפֵנִי," or gathering all of my scattered bits in. It's what I long for.

    The part about parents abandoning me is probably better expressed in a more private forum.

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