Chapter 9
Living One Day at a Time
In This Chapter
Fulfilling the three daily tasks
Walking through the day the Kabbalistic way
Being a Kabbalist is no part-time job. For Kabbalists, every thought, gesture, inclination, and action has significance. In fact, every moment of every day presents spiritual opportunities, from the moment you wake up until you’re sound asleep and dreaming. Also, there are things Kabbalists do every day and Kabbalistic ways to do everything.
In this chapter, I explain the three activities that are part of the Kabbalist’s daily routine, and I show you how Kabbalists make all the activities in the day special.
Three Daily Tasks of the Kabbalist
A few thousand years ago, a righteous man named Shimon taught a remarkable idea that Kabbalists think about every day. What’s the big idea? That the world depends on three things:
The study of the holy teachings
Prayer
Acts of lovingkindness
The prayer book most Kabbalists have used daily for centuries quotes this teaching, and Kabbalists strive to include these three activities into their daily routines.
Prayer: You can (and should) pray just about anywhere and anytime
Going to a synagogue (or anywhere else, for that matter) to pray isn’t necessary. For the Kabbalist, God is conceived of as Infinite, which means that there’s no place where God is absent (for more on this topic, see Chapter 16). In fact, two of the most well-known Kabbalists in history, Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov and Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, are both famous for their shared preference to pray alone in the forest.
Praying is a serious activity, and you can find plenty of recommended prayers and instruction on how to pray (see Chapter 15). But the place to start is . . . wherever you are. Keep the following in mind:
You don’t need to get all dressed up to pray.
You don’t need to wait for the Sabbath or a holy day to pray.
You don’t need to find the right prayer book to pray.
You don’t need to face any special direction to pray.
You don’t need a rabbi to pray.
You don’t need to pray in any particular language.
Kabbalists have a special relationship to prayer: Because the soul is a divine spark within people (see Chapter 6), and because prayer is the process of connecting with the Divine, in a way, the soul is always connected to God. It’s as though the soul is always praying. The point of prayer is connection to God. Prayer helps people remember that they aren’t the center of existence, but rather God is the center.
Creating individualized prayers
At any time and for any reason, a person can
Praise God: “O God, what delicious ingredients are in this hot fudge sundae!”
Express gratitude to God: “Thank you, God, for this delicious hot fudge sundae!”
Make requests of God: “What I would like right now, God, is a hot fudge sundae!”
People who pray regularly usually discover that they have favorite prayers and get into the habit of reciting them regularly. Even though throughout history most serious Kabbalists have prayed three times a day using a fixed formula (see Chapter 15), Kabbalists are encouraged to speak to God from their hearts at all times. Eventually, Kabbalists report reaching a point at which they feel as if they’re speaking to God nonstop, all day long.
Saying a blessing upon leaving the bathroom
Kabbalah has blessings for everything: eating, studying, putting on new clothing, seeing a shooting star, and countless other activities. Generally, a person says a blessing before doing something, such as eating a piece of fruit (an activity that has its own special blessing). God is in the bathroom, too, but out of respect, Kabbalists wait to recite this blessing until they’re leaving the bathroom:
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who has formed humans in wisdom, and created in them a system of ducts and tubes. It is well known before Your glorious throne that if but one of these be opened, or if one of those be closed, it would be impossible to exist in Your presence. Blessed art You, O Lord, who heals all creatures and does wonders.
Getting help and guidance from a prayer book
Even though Kabbalists can pray in their own languages and can pray to God by talking off the tops of their heads at any time and in any place, they may also take a little help from prayer books. A prayer book is an anthology of prayers, and over the centuries, prayer books have gotten bigger and bigger because every generation adds to them. The point of using a prayer book is not to read every word but rather to dip into it to find words of inspiration. After all, a good prayer helps people to express themselves, and a prayer that’s just right for one person may not be right for the next.
A friend once told me that, when he was a little boy, he sat next to his grandfather in the synagogue and listened as his grandfather mumbled the Hebrew words from the prayer book. When my friend asked his grandfather, “Do you understand what you are saying?,” his grandfather pointed upward to heaven and said, “No, but God does.”
Even though God understands people and knows what’s in their hearts, it’s also important for people to understand what they’re saying when they pray. Praying isn’t about spouting incomprehensible words in a foreign language. So, although learning Hebrew (the language that Kabbalists have prayed in for centuries) certainly is meaningful, one can find authentic Kabbalistic prayer books available in bilingual editions.
Over the centuries prayer books have appeared in Yiddish, Spanish, French, Russian, and many other languages. But Kabbalists have a special relationship to the Hebrew language, known in Hebrew as lashon hakodesh (lah-shone hah-koe -desh; the holy language). The Torah was originally recorded in Hebrew, and Kabbalists believe that God creates the world through a combination of Hebrew letters.
Hebrew words are rich with meaning that simply can’t be conveyed with a translation. So although prayer is important in any language and should be spoken in words that the speaker can understand, Kabbalists feel that Hebrew is the ultimate language for prayer. In fact, some even feel that Hebrew should only be used for prayer and Torah study. Many traditional Jews in Israel resist speaking Hebrew in everyday conversation, feeling that the holy tongue should be reserved for the sacred tasks of study and prayer.
Kabbalists also often pray by using the biblical book of Psalms. In Hebrew it’s called Tehillim (teh-hee- leem ). It consists of 150 psalms, most of them written by King David (who’s known in Hebrew as Dovid ha-Melekh [doe -vid hah-mel -ekh]). If you read through the psalms, you’ll see that they express just about every human emotion. For centuries, Kabbalists have used this magnificent book of spiritual poetry to express their deepest yearnings.
Study: Kabbalists do it every day, even if just for five minutes
Kabbalists don’t let a day go by without studying at least one spiritual text. To a Kabbalist, just as people breathe every day and eat everyday, they also need to pray every day and study every day. Often, people who want to adopt this habit get discouraged before they even start. After all, with such busy lives, who has time to study every day?
The rule of thumb for study is the same as it is for going to the gym: Doing it for only five minutes every day is better than doing it once a week for five hours. By praying every day, God’s presence is felt as an integral part of one’s life; by studying every day, one’s life is sewn with the holy activity of contemplating the ideas that lead to knowing the unknowable God (see Chapter 16).
Study involves asking questions, questioning assumptions, probing for inconsistencies, and raising doubts. Prayer involves expressing faith, putting trust in God, and giving voice to emotions. To get stuck in either activity — prayer or study, faith or doubt — is a terrible error on the spiritual path. Prayer without study or study without prayer are both incomplete; the “back and forth” between prayer and study, between faith and doubt, is considered proper and the way of holiness.
Choosing texts for study
Kabbalistic literature is vast, and most Kabbalistic books require quite a bit of knowledge. So picking up most Kabbalistic texts and diving right in isn’t very practical (see Chapter 14 for more on the study of Kabbalistic texts). In fact, one of the reasons a teacher is so important for the Kabbalist is to recommend the right book to study at the right time. Two books are particularly useful for the student who wants to get into a daily study routine:
The Bible
Pirke Avot
Believe it or not, the first book Kabbalists read and study on a regular basis is the Bible, also known as the Holy Scriptures. Most of the world knows it as the Old Testament, but Kabbalists don’t use this term because “old” is a reference to the word “new” in New Testament, a book that’s not generally on the Kabbalist’s bookshelf. In Hebrew, the Holy Scriptures are referred to as Tanakh (tah-nakh ), which is an acronym of three words:
Torah (toe-rah): The Five Books of Moses, consisting of the biblical books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy
Nevi’im (neh-vee-eem): The books of the Prophets, like Isaiah and Jeremiah
Ketuvim (keh-too-veem): The other books of the Bible, often called the Writings, including Proverbs, the Song of Songs, and the Psalms
For the purpose of Kabbalistic study, the Bible can be read from beginning to end, but it also can be, and often is, read by jumping around from place to place. A principle of Bible study among Kabbalists is Ein mukdam u’meuchar b’Torah (ayn mook-dahm oo-mooh-khar bah-toe -rah; there is no before or after in the Torah), which means that the Torah isn’t chronological even though the first chapters begin with creation and even though there’s a certain chronology in the Bible. So although you may want to systematically read the Bible from “beginning to end,” the book is really not set up that way, and jumping around is perfectly acceptable (kind of like this book, although I’m certainly not equating Kabbalah For Dummies with the Bible!).
The other ideal book for daily study, Perke Avos (peer -kay ah -vohs), which means “the chapter of the sages,” is available in English in many different editions. It consists of brief yet profound sayings that have been contemplated by Kabbalists for at least two millennia.
Finding the right study partner
Kabbalists have a special term for one’s study partner: khevrusah (khehv-roo -sah). Although it comes from khaver (khah-vair; friend), the study partner is a special friend, a friend who occupies a unique roll in the life of a Kabbalist.
Finding a study partner isn’t always easy. It’s important to find someone who’s willing to make a firm commitment to meet regularly and on schedule. Many study partnerships have fallen apart because one member doesn’t make it a priority.
Often, the two members of a study partnership are on different levels. One may know Hebrew while the other doesn’t. One may be more familiar with the text than the other is. Don’t assume that when one person “knows” more than the other that he or she becomes the teacher. It’s often the case that a newcomer to a text will raise questions and offer points of view that the more experienced partner has overlooked. In fact, one of the primary reasons to study with a partner is that when you study alone, you can easily fool yourself into thinking that you understand a passage well. The Talmud teaches that when two people study together they “sharpen each other’s blades.”
A teacher can often recommend a study partner, but finding just the right study partner, like finding the right spouse, is often a matter of luck. You never know what the actual dynamics will be. One person I know finally had to drop out of his study partnership because the partner was always harping on the same issue. It wasn’t that the issue was unimportant, but the person whose issue it was just made too big a deal out of it constantly.
I know people who have standing telephone appointments with their study partners every day. Again, even if the studying lasts for just a few minutes a day, it all adds up.
Shopping for contemporary Kabbalistic books
In recent years, some bookstores have devoted sections of their shops to books on Kabbalah. Just because a book is in that section doesn’t mean it’s reliable, of course. Just because a writer finds a publisher doesn’t mean that the book is accurate, insightful, or even worth the paper it’s printed on. In this regard, books on Kabbalah are no different from books on any other subject. When you’re in the market for contemporary Kabbalistic books, consider the following points of advice:
Books on Kabbalah by traditional Jewish publishers are generally reliable because Orthodox Jewish publishers pay particularly close attention to accuracy and authenticity. I don’t mean to suggest that Jewish publishers who aren’t Orthodox are suspect, but I’m simply saying that Orthodox publishers are known to be extremely careful about who and what they publish, and they make special efforts to be certain that their authors are qualified and have sterling reputations. In fact, one rarely sees a book published by an Orthodox Jewish publisher without at least two pages of haskamot (hah-skah-mote; approbations), which are testimonies by authorities in the field who state that the manuscript was examined with great care.
Your best bet is to buy a book on Kabbalah based on the author’s reputation, but you have to know what you’re looking for. If you want an academic history of Kabbalah, then obviously you should research the reputation of the author to make sure that this academic has a good reputation among his or her peers. If you want a book about Kabbalistic ideas, readability isn’t enough; nor is selecting a book based on its popularity. A book can be a bestseller and be all wet.
If you see a book on Kabbalah spelled with a “C” (as in “Cabala”) rather than a “K,” be suspicious. The accepted transliteration of the word among knowledgeable people is “Kabbalah.”
Rely on the guidance of a teacher. As I stress throughout this book, a student of Kabbalah must have a qualified teacher who can offer this sort of guidance.
Kabbalah has become a pop subject and one that many publishers who want to jump on the Kabbalah bandwagon try to cash in on. There are even a number of books with the word “Kabbalah” in the title that have absolutely nothing to do with the subject of Kabbalah! It’s important to read reviews and do a little research on the reviewer or the publication in which the reviews appear. The old saying, “May the buyer beware” is an important one when it comes to books of or about Kabbalah.
Acts of lovingkindness: In principle, Kabbalists do as many as possible
The Kabbalistic term for acts of lovingkindness is gemelut chasadim (geh-meh-loot khah-sah-deem ). This term is meant in both a general way as well as in many specific ways. Generally, a person’s approach toward people should be filled with kindness. A Kabbalist is always on the lookout for opportunities to offer kindness to others. For the Kabbalist, kindness is the basis of his or her daily lifestyle.
More specifically, there are many acts of lovingkindness that are well-known and commonly discussed within Kabbalistic texts. A few of the most highly valued acts of lovingkindness in Kabbalistic tradition are:
Bikkur holim (beer-koor khoh-leem; visiting the sick)
Nichum Avelim (nee-khum ah-vay-leem; comforting mourners)
Hakhnasat Orchim (hakh-nahs-aht oar-kheem; hospitality)
Hesed shel emet (kheh-sed shell eh-met; true kindness)
Kevud av v’em (keh-vood ahv v’eem; honoring one’s father and mother)
One of life’s goals for Kabbalists — perhaps life’s main goal — is to become an instrument of God’s will. Achieving this goal is somewhat of a paradox for Kabbalists, however, The Bible says that man is made “in God’s image,” and Kabbalists take this to mean that humans have free will. Kabbalists believe that the divine spark within people gives them the ability to choose freely. On the other hand, the goal of Kabbalists is to give up their will in order to do God’s will.
How does the Kabbalist find out what God’s will is? Through study and prayer, of course. Kabbalists study the wisdom of great sages of the past and the present in order to learn how to behave. And the Kabbalist prays to receive divine guidance when making choices. When a Kabbalist learns how to live, his or her will and God’s will merge into one.
When a Kabbalist learns from the sages the righteous way to act, he abandons his will for God’s will. So when a Kabbalist walks down the street and sees a person in need, for example, the Kabbalist reaches out his hand to give charity, which is an example of an act of lovingkindness. That simple act has a larger meaning, however: The Kabbalist knows that with the right inner intention (see the section “Intending to be intentional” later in the chapter) and the right understanding, his outstretched hand actually becomes the outstretched hand of God.
Kabbalists give charitable donations with great frequency. Some put coins into a charity box before each prayer session, and others make sure to give something to everyone who asks, whether it be a request for a donation through the mail or an approaching beggar in the street. Ancient tradition teaches that everyone has an obligation to give charity. In Hebrew, the word for “charity,” tzedakah (tseh-dah -kah), really means “justice.” For the Kabbalist, giving charity is actually an expression of justice.
For centuries, the great sages have discussed just about every question imaginable related to giving charity: How much money to give (at least 10 percent of one’s income), how much is too much (more than 20 percent of one’s income puts the giver at financial risk), how to give (quietly), how not to give (never in a way that causes a person public embarrassment), and many others. A simpler instruction comes from the great Jewish sage, Maimonides, who taught that one should develop the practice of giving a small coin to every beggar who makes a request.
For Kabbalists, God is in the details. Jewish tradition and Kabbalistic tradition examine every aspect of every subject in order to thoroughly understand the recommended behavior. With this in mind, it’s not sufficient simply to believe in giving charity. One must understand all the possible ramifications and questions prompted by the act of giving charity.
Giving charity is required of every Kabbalist. The basis for it is found in the Torah (the Five Books of Moses, also known as the first five books of the Bible), which says that a person is required to give a tenth of his or her income to the poor. The Torah has other laws about giving charity as well; for example, the produce at the corners of a farmer’s fields is supposed to be left for the poor.
Kabbalists give charity many times over the course of the day, including:
Before each of the three prayer sessions (morning, afternoon, and evening)
Before sitting down to study
When passing a poor person on the street who asks for a coin
Any other time that he or she is so inspired
Figuring out how to love
Kabbalists don’t assume that lovingkindness is easy to perform. They know that it’s all too easy to say, “Everyone must love each other.” The real questions are: How do people love each other? What is love anyway?
I once asked the Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel what he learned from the Holocaust. He told me that he learned to fight evil and not to wait, not to think that “it will get better.”
Sometimes love is the absolutely wrong emotion. For example, I know a photographer who created a photographic study of a battered women’s shelter and its residents. She told me that, quite often, the battered women go back to the men who beat them up. When asked why, they often say, “Because I love him.” Sometimes love is the wrong emotion.
Getting in shape to perform acts of kindness
Kabbalah differs from many other forms of mysticism in that it’s deeply connected to law. Kabbalists throughout history have been just as bound to Jewish law as they have been to the sublime ideas of mysticism. The study of the law and the discussions that result from the law guide Kabbalists in their behavior. Simply believing that acts of lovingkindness are important to perform isn’t enough; the Kabbalist studies the holy texts in order to fully understand just what makes for a true act of kindness.
Kabbalists find the curriculum of life in the holy books, beginning with the Torah and including all other great works of spiritual literature of the Jewish people, including the Talmud, the Midrash, the Zohar, the Codes of Law, and the great commentaries up to the present (see Chapter 13). There is no way around it; to be a Kabbalist means to be a student, and to be a student means to study the sacred texts in order to learn how to live.
Smiling is very important
Every serious Kabbalist throughout history has studied the wisdom of a great sage named Shammai (shah-my). Shammai was known to be a rather strict person and was sometimes impatient. Nevertheless, he taught a lesson that’s recorded as a law that all Kabbalists must follow. Shammai said, “Make your study regular; say little and do much; and greet every person with a smile.” To Kabbalists, smiling when you greet someone is the law!
Feeling good about yourself and accepting praise for acts of kindness
An ancient saying reveals this balance between continuing improvement and praise for one’s accomplishments. A few thousand years ago, a great sage taught, “He who flees from honor, honor will pursue him.” People often think this teaching means that the way to obtain honor is to run away from it. But the ancient teaching has a different meaning that’s based on the Hebrew word rodef (roe -def; pursue). A rodef is a pursuer and may even be a person who wants to murder someone. This particular teaching means that, for the person who deserves honor and runs away from it, honor will become a pursuer and will track down the deserving person until he or she accepts the honor that’s deserved. Essentially, false modesty has no place. If you do something that’s not right, you deserve criticism; if you do something right (such as performing an act of kindness), you deserve (and should accept) praise.
Waking Up
Kabbalah isn’t a hobby or a part-time activity. To be a Kabbalist is to be alert to the principles of Kabbalah at every moment. A Hebrew phrase mounted on the wall of many synagogues says it best: Dah lifnay me attah omed (dah lif-nay mee ah-tah oh-maid; Know before whom you stand). From the moment a Kabbalist wakes up, he or she knows that God sees everything and cares about everything.
Intending to be intentional
Kavanah (kah-vah-nah; inner intention) is the basis of all actions made by a Kabbalist. Basically, to have kavanah is to be conscious and deliberate. A Kabbalist must be alert, awake, aware, and intentional in his or her actions so that he or she doesn’t just go through the motions. Instead, every action needs to be accompanied by the proper inner intent.
Even though kavanah is a full-time job, it’s especially important first thing in the morning. Starting one’s day with the right inner attitude is the launching pad for the entire day the lies ahead. Kabbalistic tradition urges everyone to begin the day with an awareness of and gratitude to God.
Kabbalists believe that one’s actions and one’s intentions must be in sync. To use an extreme example, you can’t say “I love you” to someone while feeling hostility. It’s dishonest, of course, but it’s also simply the wrong intention. In general, Kabbalists want to make sure that their thoughts, words, and deeds are in concert with each other. While one can do the right thing for the wrong reason, it is best to strive for each act to be pure and complete.
Cultivating gratitude at the first moment of consciousness
When a Kabbalist wakes up in the morning, one thought should be on his or her mind and lips. No, I don’t mean “What’s for breakfast?,” “I better rush; I have an appointment,” or “I’m going to make a lot of money today.” I’m talking about the Modeh Ani:
I gratefully thank you, living and eternal Ruler, for You have returned my soul within me with compassion — abundant is your faithfulness.
In Hebrew, “Modeh Ani” means “I am grateful.” The whole sentence is fairly easy to memorize in Hebrew. Here’s the pronunciation:
Moe-deh ah-nee leh-foh-neh-kha meh-lekh khai v’kah-yohm sheh-heh-kheh-zar-tah bee nish-ma-tee b’khem-lah rah-bah eh-moo-nah-teh-kha.
The Kabbalist doesn’t just say these words habitually without thinking of their meaning. They’re said, like everything else, with kavanah (see the preceding section). By saying the Modeh Ani, the Kabbalist is
Thanking God for restoring his or her faculties after a night’s sleep
Acknowledging that God gave a new day in order for one to become more aware of God
Acknowledging that God is faithful to those who feel and express gratitude to God
Getting Washed and Dressed
A Kabbalist’s day must be filled with an awareness of God and God’s presence. Even someone busy with a task as seemingly mundane as getting washed and dressed must be filled with the awareness of God. Kabbalists believe that the only Reality is God — there’s nothing and no place without God. (One of the names Kabbalists have for God is HaMakom [hah-mah-cohm; the place].)
The body is holy
Kabbalists don’t believe that the body is obscene or dirty in any way. Iggeret Ha Kodesh (ee-geh-ret hah-koe-desh; The Holy Letter), a well-known Kabbalistic book written by Rabbi Moses the son of Nachman (also known as Nachmanides), states that every detail of the human body is holy and saying that any part of the body or any normal human bodily function is unholy is an affront against God.
Washing your hands when you awake
A custom that has existed for a few thousand years and is practiced daily by Kabbalists is washing one’s hands immediately upon arising in the morning. In fact, some say that you shouldn’t even walk four cubits (an ancient measurement that’s approximately the length from the tip of one’s middle finger to one’s elbow) after getting out of bed without washing your hands. Some people even set a large cup of water and a basin next to the bed at night in preparation for washing their hands in the morning.
Many explanations have been provided over the centuries for this custom, but all basically point to the same idea: The body is the vessel of the soul, and the soul is holy. One must treat the vessel in a special way because its function is to house the holy soul, and that’s a lofty purpose.
The proper way to wash one’s hands in the morning is to pour water over the right hand and then the left three times while saying this blessing:
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and has commanded us regarding washing the hands.
Putting on your shoes with purpose
Kabbalah teaches that there’s great significance to the right side and the left sides of things (see Chapter 4). According to Kabbalah, the sides are connected to two major cosmic forces in the universe.
Chesed (keh-sed): Signifies expansion and is related to the right side
Gevurah (geh-voo-rah): Signifies contraction and is related to the left side
Chesed and Gevurah are always working in combination with each other. For example, as a parent, I must offer a certain amount of Chesed to my children; specifically, I must encourage them to expand in the world and become who they are to become. I must also impose a certain amount of Gevurah, or limitation and discipline, on my children. Presenting too much of either is a terrible mistake for a parent to make, but the proper combination of the two is the path of healthy parenting. (I discuss Chesed and Gevurah in further detail in Chapter 4.)
Kabbalists are always aware of the significance of these two cosmic forces, and putting on one’s shoes — the right and the left — is a perfect opportunity to remind oneself of these two forces and the need to combine them properly.
Kabbalists disagree on the proper procedure for putting on shoes. Some say you should begin with the right shoe, whereas others say you should begin with the left. Still others offer a compromise: Put on the right shoe first but don’t tie it, and then put on the left shoe. After both shoes are on, the order is reversed for tying, with the left shoe tied first followed by the right shoe. In every method, the value of the cosmic forces of right and left, Chesed and Gevurah, are evident.
Dressing with modesty
The Hebrew concept of tzniut (tznee-oot; modesty) is important in Kabbalistic tradition. Some Kabbalists apply the general concern for modesty to modesty in how a person dresses and have many specific rules about it (such as how long sleeves and hemlines should be among women), but others are willing to take a more relaxed approach and suggest that local and contemporary standards should apply. After all, a woman or a man can wear the most modest clothing and still behave inappropriately, just as people can dress in more relaxed and modern attire and yet act with exemplary behavior.
It’s generally recommended that the Kabbalist dress neatly and modestly when praying in the synagogue. On the Sabbath, tradition urges Kabbalists to dress as they would if they had an audience with the King. (For more on the Sabbath, check out Chapter 10.)
Offering Prayers and Meditation
The Kabbalist must always be aware of God, which is why the morning activities have a special intensity. It’s so easy to jump out of bed and get wrapped up in all the activities and demands of one’s life. The Kabbalist also gets involved in the tasks of the every day, but only after beginning each day with sufficient kavanah (inner intention) to make the day a holy one. Launching the day properly involves attention to prayer and meditation.
Reciting the standard morning blessings
Included in the 100 blessings that Kabbalists are to recite each day (see Chapter 15) is a list of blessings traditionally recited in the morning, one right after the other. These blessings appear in traditional prayer books and have been recited by Kabbalists for centuries. They suggest that people express their gratitude to the Creator for all the gifts and blessings that have been bestowed upon them. Here’s a sampling of the blessings:
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who gave the heart the understanding to distinguish between day and night.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who has not made me a heathen.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who has not made me a slave.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who opens the eyes of the blind.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who clothes the naked.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who sets the captives free.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who straightens those who are bowed down.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who spread a forth the earth above the waters.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who has provided for all my needs.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who guides the steps of man.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who girds Israel with might.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who crowns Israel with glory.
Blessed art You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who gives strength to the weary.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who removes sleep from my eyes and slumber from my eyelids.
Morning prayers
Kabbalists can pray any time they like, but they also have three major prayer sessions: morning, afternoon, and evening. The morning prayer session, known as Shakharit (shah -khah-reet) comes from the Hebrew word Shakhar, which means “morning.” I discuss the afternoon and evening prayer sessions, which are quite similar to the morning prayers, in Chapter 15.
After the recitation of the morning blessings that I mention in the preceding section, one moves on to the part of the morning prayers known as Songs of Praise. Kabbalists begin their days thinking about God, meditating on God, and singing songs of praise to God. Some of those songs, as found in the prayer book, include the well-known word Hallelujah (praise to God).
I once led a Kabbalah prayer service for beginners and suggested that the tune of the song “Michael Row Your Boat Ashore” be used as a Song of Praise. To the tune, I sang, “I am happy to be here today,” and everyone responded, “Hallelujah.” I asked the others to suggest additional phrases of praise and gratitude. Someone called out, “And I am grateful to be alive,” to which the group once again responded “Hallelujah.” We went on like that for a while, with people calling out their words of praise precisely in the spirit of the traditional morning prayer session as Kabbalists have done for centuries.
Focusing on the oneness of the universe: A daily Kabbalistic meditation
The most famous prayer in Jewish life — and one that has been recited by Kabbalists for dozen of centuries — is called the Sh’ma (sheh-mah; hear). The Sh’ma is as follows: Sh’ma Yisrael, Adonai Elohaynu, Adonai Echad (sheh-mah yis-rah-ehl ah-doh-noy eh-loh-hay -noo ah-doh-noy eh -chahd; Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One).
Kabbalists recite this prayer twice a day — once in the morning and once in the evening. The prayer is rich with meaning, every word having layers of significance. But the essence of the prayer is a meditation on the oneness of the universe: God is One, everything is God, everything is One.
Grabbing a Bite
Kabbalists don’t simply eat. When a Kabbalist eats, something quite profound happens. You can’t see it, but it’s very much on the mind of the Kabbalist. According to Kabbalah, the act of eating is part of the repairing of the world (see Chapter 8). The basic idea is that when God created the world, he poured divine light into a vessel. The vessel shattered, and the “stuff” of the world became the shards of that broken vessel, so that contained within the shards are sparks of the divine light. By eating, Kabbalists aren’t just nourishing themselves, they’re releasing the divine sparks that are embedded within the food. Awareness of this release is the proper kavanah for the Kabbalist who’s eating.
Another thing on the minds of Kabbalists as they eat is that the food is giving them the energy to do holy acts in the world, including repairing the world (see Chapter 8) and performing acts of lovingkindness. So, when a Kabbalist eats, he or she is aware that the food is contributing to the holiness of the world.
Blessings to say before eating
The theme of gratitude permeates everything for the Kabbalist, and eating is no exception. A Kabbalist never eats without first expressing gratitude for what he or she is about to eat. Even if a Kabbalist eats only a tiny piece of chocolate or a spoonful of green peas or a sip of water, the blessing for that particular food item must be said. The blessings are simply expressions of thanks and gratitude. These blessings are found in the standard prayer book.
For blessing purposes, different foods fall under different categories, and each category has a special blessing. The categories are
Bread
Wine
Baked goods other than bread
Food found in trees (fruits and nuts)
Food from the ground (like cucumbers and strawberries)
Everything else (like fluids, meat, cheese, and so on)
Some foods are trickier to categorize than others. For example, peanuts aren’t really nuts, they’re legumes. The appropriate blessing for a peanut isn’t the blessing said for nuts but rather the one said for plants that come from the ground. The whole system of different blessings for different foods helps the Kabbalist to be extra conscious of just what kind of food God is providing.
Here’s a personal example of a food blessing in action. In my opinion, the greatest commercially available cookie is the Mint Milano. I often eat them after a long day (I suggest freezing them first), but I don’t go home, head to my freezer, and pop down a few Mint Milanos. First, I hold the cookie in my hand and recite the Kabbalist blessing for eating baked goods (something along the lines of “Thank you God for creating the ingredients that make up Mint Milanos!”). Then I blissfully toss a few back.
Braving the blessing bee
You’re probably familiar with school spelling bees. Well, in the yeshivas (yeh-shee-vahs; Jewish schools) my children went to, they didn’t have spelling bees — they had “blessing bees.” They were actually called Bracha (brah-khah) Bees. The teacher would name a food, and the students would have to recite the blessing appropriate for that food.
Blessings to say after eating
After finishing a meal, a Kabbalist doesn’t just push away from the table. A meal isn’t complete until grace is recited; it’s simply another way of saying “thanks.” The concept of eat and run is really unthinkable for a Kabbalist.
When a Kabbalist eats alone, he or she recites the grace after meals by himself or herself. When a group of people eat at the same table, the grace after meals has a special introduction that brings everyone’s expression of gratitude together. But each person still recites the grace after meals individually. Nobody can say it for anyone else.
There are a few different forms of grace after meals:
After a full meal (that is, one that begins with bread), a series of four blessings may be said.
After having a snack, a shorter grace is recited.
In either case, Kabbalists know that God provides them with nourishment and therefore must be thanked. The texts of these words of thanks can be found in the traditional prayer book.
Repairing the World
In Chapter 8, I explain the Kabbalistic idea that the world, by definition, is in need of repair. Kabbalists believe that God didn’t finish the world and that humans need to participate in the creation of the world by adding to it and repairing it.
The process of repairing the world, known as tikkun olam (tee-koon oh-lahm ), and acts of lovingkindness, known as gemilut hasadim, are quite similar. In fact, the two concepts overlap. I would say that acts of lovingkindness are ways to repair the world, but they’re generally interpersonal in their nature.
Repairing of the world isn’t an assignment for professionals or specialists — everyone participates. Every Kabbalist knows that, and every Kabbalist is supposed to be conscious, all day long, of the countless opportunities to participate in the repair process.
Of the many ways to repair the world each day, here are a few:
Social action
Recycling
Making the world a better place
Supporting medical research
Picking up some garbage from the sidewalk
Writing a letter to the editor of the newspaper
Teaching one’s children something important
Bed Sheets and Balance Sheets: Ending the Day
In the same way that a Kabbalist doesn’t wake or navigate his or her day without thinking about God, going to bed requires special consciousness. After all, every moment of every day for a Kabbalist must be infused with God-consciousness.
Making a nightly accounting
A Kabbalist doesn’t just climb into bed at the end of each day. The day that’s ending was a gift from God. The day began with a statement of gratitude for providing the Kabbalist with another opportunity to enjoy the world’s pleasures and to engage in holy acts (flip back to the section “Cultivating gratitude at the first moment of consciousness” earlier in this chapter). The end of the day has its appropriate Kabbalistic activity, Cheshbon Hanefesh (kez- bone hah-neh -fesh; an accounting of the soul), which involves looking back on the day and examining it in detail by considering these questions:
What did I do right?
What did I do wrong?
What could I have improved?
How may I have hurt someone?
How may I have not been conscious?
Were my ethical goals for the day met?
What will my ethical goals for tomorrow be?
Meditating on the oneness of the universe before falling asleep
As I explain earlier in this chapter (see “Focusing on the oneness of the universe: A daily Kabbalistic meditation”), the Sh’ma is a meditation on God’s oneness. This meditation happens twice a day for the Kabbalist — in the morning and at night — because of a statement found in the Torah indicating that people should meditate on God’s oneness “when we lie down and when we rise up.” The words of the Sh’ma are the same each time: Hear O Israel, the Lord Our God, the Lord is One.
Kabbalists always want to be deliberate about the things they say and do, so with the Sh’ma, they think long and hard about the oneness of the world. An example of this oneness lies in an ancient teaching that the reason God created Adam and didn’t create many other people at the same time is so that nobody can say, “My ancestor was greater than yours.” The human family, despite all the races, religions, and nations, is really one human family.
Handling bad dreams
Kabbalists take dreams seriously. They have a traditional belief that dreams often signal things to come, so if a Kabbalist has a bad dream, he or she may perform a ritual in order to express the hope that the dream is for the best despite the bad feelings it generates. The ritual consists of finding three friends and telling them the dream; the dreamer and the friends then declare that the dream should be interpreted for the good. (A specific text providing the words to this ritual can be found in the traditional prayer book used by Kabbalists.) Because Kabbalists believe that everything is for the best, it must be possible to interpret even a bad dream in a positive way.
Another aspect to the oneness of everything is reflected in environmental issues. Even 2,000 years ago, Kabbalists were keenly aware that people have an impact on the environment of their neighbors. They developed laws to protect neighbors from bad environmental practices. For example, if someone gathered a pile of animal dung to be used as fuel or fertilizer, that person had to be conscious of where that pile was put and if it was downwind from the neighbors.