Some Meditations for a Stressful Time

Some Meditations for a Stressful Time

I’m posting this a few days before Passover, in the midst of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Let me take this moment to send blessings of health and safety to each and every one of you! As a rabbi, I’ve been busy getting my synagogue online and supporting my community, but I wanted to share some resources with all my Wellsprings readers, too! Here are some Wellsprings of Wisdom Posts that may be helpful right now: Some calming guided meditations: A simple Breathing Meditation AND also a more involved but every effectve: Calming Ocean Breath And here is a recent post from my @Wellsprings account on Instagram, describing two more breathing meditations that are proving very helpful to me: Simple and Spiritual Breathing Meditations
Finally, as you celebrate Passover, enjoy these Wellsprings of Wisdom posts with Inspiration from Nature for Passover. As you can see, this entire site has a brand new look, thanks to talented web designer Sean Leber-Fennessy. (Still working on a few of the technicalities but really excited about it!) I hope that this virtual retreat center will be an oasis of calm away from the news and social media, and God willing I hope to add to it for your benefit. Be well and may this Passover bring hope and redemption to our world! Featured Image: Daffodil Hill at the New York Botanical Garden, Julie Danan

 

Ocean Breathing

Ocean Breathing

I learned “Ocean Breath” from a wonderful yoga teacher, Marcia (Me-esha) Albert, at the original Elat Chayyim retreat center in Accord New York (now incorporated into Isabella Freedman retreat center). Based on yogic foundations, this breathing technique takes a little practice, but I find that it can have a very calming effect. I think of it like a portable beach that I can carry around when I need to relax or re-energize.  (more…)

Meditative Breathing

Meditative Breathing

Our breath, our inner wind, keeps us alive. I learned from Reb Zalman and from Rabbi Arthur Waskow, that the divine name YHWH represents the breath of life. The sounds of our breath are the very sounds of that sacred unpronounceable name. God is as close as our breath. Although there are many powerful breathing exercises, we don’t really need to be fancy. Breathing is itself a moment-to-moment miracle. Just to stop and breathe with awareness can instantly center us, reduce stress, and connect us to our souls.

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Winter Holds the Promise of Spring 

Winter Holds the Promise of Spring 

We are experiencing tumultuous times, but that very turmoil calls more people to take personal action for service, healing, and bettering the world. To avoid burnout and bitterness, it’s important to stay centered and nurture our inner lives. Wellsprings of Wisdom strives to integrate the timeless and the timely, Tikkun HaLev (healing our hearts) with Tikkun Olam (repairing our world).

What’s New on the Site

First snow of the season, JHD

 

New Gateway (Content Page), the Gateway of Seasons, which explores the beauty of changing seasons and the meaning of life cycles and timeliness, from earliest Jewish sources to our own lives. This Gateway is “in development” and I continue to add pathways (posts) for you to explore.

As the site relaunched, the Gateway of Darkness was added, exploring the beauty and wisdom of night.

 

 

 

 

New pathways (posts) on existing Gateways:

 

It is my joy to share Wellsprings of Wisdom with you. If you benefit from the site, the most helpful things you can do are to comment, especially in the Sharing Circles, so that we can have more interaction on the site, and also to share the site with your friends by word of mouth and by sharing posts on social media. You can also find us on Facebook and share with your friends.

Thank you so much for being a friend and fellow-traveler on Wellsprings of Wisdom. I look forward to continuing the journey together.

 

Keeping our Heart Open

Yellow leaf with a heart shaped hole, held in fingers

Heart Leaf, Photo by JHD

In the book of Exodus that we are currently reading in the Torah in synagogues around the world, we grapple with the famous phrase that “The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh,” (Exodus 9:12). This creates a moral dilemma; how can we blame Pharaoh if God took away his free will?  Scholars have pointed out that God only does this after Pharaoh hardens his own heart five times. Rabbi Simon ben Lakish is quoted in Exodus Rabbah, a collection of Midrash: “Since God sent [the opportunity for repentance and doing the right thing] five times to him and he sent no notice, God then said, ‘You have stiffened your neck and hardened your heart on your own…. So it was that the heart of Pharaoh did not receive the words of God.’”

The story of the Exodus is eternally relevant. In our modern times, our hearts get hardened by the news, by the overload, by the powerlessness we may feel. We get a constant feed of news, of things we can’t do much to solve. The continual headlines may make us want to shut down or “change the channel.” We all need a break sometimes, but becoming Pharaoh-like and hardening our hearts to suffering is not the Jewish way.

At a recent Shabbat service my congregation discussed many ways to keep our hearts open when we read distressing news: by supporting worthwhile organizations, participating in community service activities, or  simply “doing something kind for the next person you meet.” A doctor who was present shared about the benefits of mindfulness meditation and especially of friendship and community for well being. We can balance our news consumption with more positive sources and take small actions for Tikkun Olam, repairing the world. As taught in the Jewish wisdom book Pirke Avot: “It is not up to you to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.”

Here’s a meditation that I shared that you might want to try when you want to create a softer, more compassionate heart:

Focus on your breath (neshimah In Hebrew) to connect to your soul (Neshamah).

Breathe into your heart …You may want to put your hand gently on your heart

Consider a painful situation in the world where you have closed your heart to protect yourself.

Send a loving message, a blessing from your heart to those involved: May they be relieved, be well, be safe.

Send yourself a loving message, too: May I be well, be at ease. May I find my way to serve and help someone near me or far away.

Focus again on your breathing for a while.

Allow your heart to feel open and compassionate.

As you go about your day, be open to opportunities to connect with and help others.

What’s New – First Post

What’s New – First Post

January 1, 2017

8th Day of Hanukkah 5777

Welcome to the NEW Wellsprings of Wisdom!

The confluence of the solar New Year with the Hanukkah festival of re-dedication brings an auspicious time to relaunch this site.

Thanks to our talented and dedicated web designer Rivkah Walton, and after many months of work moving all the material, Wellsprings has moved to this new WordPress Platform. Our new format will make it easier to update regJHD in Boulder, Coloradoularly. I look forward to sharing more frequent teachings, images, videos and music, and to showcasing the work of many rabbis, teachers and creative artists. Wellsprings aims to be a truly alternative online experience, a place where you can nurture your soul and learn about retreat centers, outdoor adventures, and worthwhile organizations that help the environment and society.

If you are new to the site, you can start here for a full explanation of how it works.

If you are a past reader of Wellsprings of Wisdom, you will find the four Portals of Earth/Water/Air/Fire, and your favorite original Gateways. Explore them anew to discover some updates and new pathways (posts), including videos, images, and meditations.

In honor of our relaunch, at this season of the Winter Solstice, a new Gateway has been added: Darkness, where you can learn about the night side of nature, tradition, and spirituality. Thank you to Rabbis Fern Feldman, David Evan Markus, and David Seidenberg for sharing your wisdom, and to Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael for sharing music.

Wellsprings of Wisdom will continue to add new pathways (posts) to existing Gateways (content pages), and to add whole new Gateways, so be sure to subscribe to this “What’s New” blog to know what’s been added each week!

 

Elijah: God is not in the wind

Elijah: God is not in the wind

Jewish folklore portrays Elijah the Prophet (Eliyahu HaNavi) as a kindly old man who visits our Passover Seder to drink his cup of wine. In the Tanakh/Hebrew Bible, Elijah was known as a zealous champion of monotheism and opponent of idolatry. Since Elijah ascended to heaven without dying, he was viewed as an immortal. In Rabbinic tradition, Elijah was the most popular character, in a new guise of a folk hero who often appeared in disguise to help the poor, rescue people, and convey messages between heaven and earth.

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