Torah for Healing -
April 2013 Torah
for healing brings you the current month's Torah portions with
study suggestions that encourages the healing process. Each
month, the current Torah portions will appear
here. Be sure to come back to us. Before clicking on to
any of the Parshiot, please read the following articles below
: The Mystery of Torah Torah: Jewish
Spiritual Therapy
A Brief Introduction to
the Healing Value of Studying Torah Torah
consists
of both story (aggadah) and law (halacha). Our particular
interest with regard to healing is story (aggadah). The Torah is therapeutic in
the sense that each of us finds our own solutions, through
contemplating what the story seems to imply about our inner
conflicts at any moment of our lives. The content of any
chosen story usually has nothing to do with out external
lives, but a lot to do with our inner problems, which seem
unintelligible and therefore unsolvable. The text does not
refer to the outer world, all though it may begin
realistically enough to have everyday features woven into
it. The unrealistic nature of these stories is an
important device, making it obvious that the Torah's concern
is not useful information about the external world, but the
inner processes taking place in each individual.
Imagery is the language of the
soul, and of the unconscious. The study of Torah brings to
you, through the faculty of our imagination, to the higher
energies that give rise to the healing power. It makes
little difference how much Torah you presently know. There's
no need to have a scholarly background; the important thing
is to study, but that doesn't necessarily mean to read. It
implies that you apply concerted effort in trying to
understand the text. The study of Torah is the Jewish means
to connect us to the higher energies that induce healing.
The
traditional format for Torah study is known as Torah Lishmah...study
for it's own sake. There are no tests, no money to be made,
no special distinction other than the spiritual benefits.
Healing takes place by itself, you don't have to do anything
but to open yourself to the healing energies of the Torah.
Try to
read the entire text by yourself. Each Parashat (weekly
portion) link below contains a brief summary of the chapters
for that week. The abridged story makes following the actual
text easier. By making a practice of study in the
fascinating world of Torah we begin to absorb the higher
energies, which bring about healing and many other spiritual
benefits. As one verse explains, "Surely, this Instruction
which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for
you, nor is it beyond reach." (Deut. 30:11)
insights" that
focus on one important spiritual theme in the text. Their
repetitive appearance helps bring your attention to the
messages the Torah is trying to bring into consciousness. The
Torah imparts spiritual insights in each weekly portion
to help you contemplate issues that are meaningful to your
life.
The questions posed in "Key Verses",
also contained in each parashat, are there to help you
find meaning into your own life story. The Rabbis of old have
been questioning these verses for over 2500 years in an
attempt to uncover the mysteries of the Torah. We have
purposely eliminated the views of the classic commentators to
that you can explore the mysteries of your own life as a means
toward healing.
Driving home, one clear but frosty
January evening, from a Kabbalah class I attended each week, I was
mulling the very recent discussion around in my head, with a sense
of uneasiness. We were learning a segment of the Shaar Ruach
Hakodesh, Gates of the Holy Spirit, a 16th Century text by Rabbi
Chaim Vital, a disciple of Rabbi Issac Luria, the celebrated
Kabbalist of Safed. I read and reread the material several times
both before and after the class, and I kept running into a stone
wall. The text implied something more than just the words alone
conveyed, but I couldn’t quite grasp it; I could almost feel it. I
realized there and then that words, particularly those of holy
text like Torah, were limited by the boundaries of the human mind.
I then set out on a path to uncover a way in which we can indeed
transcend the limits of the written word.
First I
decided to find out what the world of psychology had to offer on
the subject. The first bit of information I stumbled upon came
from Awareness, a book by John O. Stevens, a colleague of Fritz
Perls the founder of Gestalt therapy. Dr. Stevens writes,
“Awareness is based on the discovery that it is more useful to
simply become deeply aware of yourself as you are now. Rather than
try to change, stop, or avoid something that you don’t like in
yourself, it is much more effective to stay with it and become
more deeply aware of it. You can’t improve on your own
functioning; you can only interfere with it, distort it and
disguise it. When you really get in touch with your own
experiencing, you will find that change takes place by itself,
without your effort or planning. With full awareness, you can let
happen whatever wants to happen with confidence that it will work
out well.” In other words awareness surpasses the spoken word, the
pensive word and the written word.
I looked up
“awareness” my dictionary: Conscious, cognizant, sensible, alive
awake alert, watchful, and vigilant. To be mindful or heedful of
something. Awareness implies knowing something either by
perception (experience) or information. “Conscious” emphasizes the
recognition of something sensed or felt. This definition, I
realized, is almost identical with the Hebrew word “kavannah”
except it lacked the notion of intention, to have a plan or to
give something meaning.
With that in
mind, I explored a few Kabbalah texts a little closer to tie some
of these thoughts together. The Kabbalah teaches that, the
fundamental reality is not matter, but energy, a set of vibrations
that pass through the world, making it dynamic and alive like a
person’s thoughts or the human soul. Man can feel these energies
and control them, change them, and channel them in other
directions. Thought is the tool for mastering the energy; it can
channel unconscious vibrations into conscious meaning. Each person
has the power to perceive his vibrations and bring to light, that
which was previously hidden. Thus, each person is responsible for
himself, his needs and his beliefs. According to Kabbalah, we are
capable of changing physical, psychological and spiritual
vibrations through thoughts.
Just as
awareness applies to life’s situations, it applies to Torah as
well. Many of us grapple with the text, leaving dissatisfied with
the meanings or answers that we are seeking. For over two and a
half centuries, sages and scholars have been offering commentaries
on every aspect of Tanach (the Jewish bible) to the extent that we
now possess such exhaustive collections that makes it impossible
for anyone to digest completely, let alone research. These varying
and often opposing interpretations encompass thoughts from the
sages of antiquity, right up to today. But all this material
leaves us with nothing more than intellectual satisfaction, while
the spiritual benefit is neglected. Somehow we believe that only
trained rabbis are capable of interpreting holy text, but in fact
we’re all qualified to understand from the narrative what we
require to put our lives together. We don’t have to know any
answers; Torah study is not a test of your knowledge. Each verse,
each mitzvah is an opportunity to breakthrough old limits
(barriers) and venture into uncharted territory. Through the
relentless intent (Kavannah), we breakthrough the old barriers of
knowledge and see the light.
The Talmud
defines “Kavannah” as directing the heart. By heart, it seems to
be implying a kind of higher level thought, a contemplative
thought. When we study or observe with mochin gadlut, higher mind,
we come to understand, as Dr. Stevens points out “that change and
understanding takes place by
itself”
Everything we need for our development we already know; it’s just
a matter of bringing it into consciousness.
By studying
Torah with “kavannah”, and observing our lives with
“kavannah”, we become able to explore new possibilities of
spiritual and emotional breakthroughs. We can look at a piece of
text or a shortcoming in our lives, focus our awareness upon it
and soon utter “aha”; that’s it. It’s incredible how much you can
realize about your existence by simply paying close attention to
it and becoming more deeply aware of your own experiencing.
What the sages have said for centuries is really true: the world
is right here—all we have to do is empty our “minds” and open
ourselves to receive it.
The questions posed in "Key Verses",
also contained in each parashat, are there to help you
find meaning into your own life story. The Rabbis of old have
been questioning these verses for over 2500 years in an
attempt to uncover the mysteries of the Torah. We have
purposely eliminated the views of the classic commentators to
that you can explore the mysteries of your own life as a means
toward healing.
