Dear TBZ Community:
Accomplishment in any discipline involves repetition. Think about it: If you practice a sport or play an instrument, if you meditate or do yoga, repetition is intrinsic to these practices. It is interesting to realize that repetition is counterintuitive to our consumer culture. Our stores are stuffed with variations on the same things, feeding our need to constantly seek new foods, clothing styles, appliances, technological devices, and other objects of our desires. We are always looking for the next new thing that might improve our lives.
But the power of repetition lies in how we understand practice as a way to grow and change, and not necessarily as a boring mechanism that expects us to do the same again and again. We have the capacity to see in each repetitive practice something new, an opening, a possibility of growth.
For some of us, repetition and routine is soothing. For some of us, it is boring. (And for some, it depends…) Of course this can change throughout our lives. The question to pose is how ongoing practice allows us to grow and change.
Religion and spiritual growth hold the idea that a repetitive practice provides a route towards meaning and growth. We have set prayers, set religious practices, things we do at certain times and things we don’t, not always with a clear explanation or reasoning. Routine is at the center of Jewish practice. For some of us, certain melodies or words can never change. Those repetitions become an anchor in our lives.
Parshat Nasso, this week’s Torah portion, includes at the end what many think as some “boring passages” (especially in a Torah portion that contains much more interesting passages), Parshat Ha’Nesi’im. The chieftains (“ha’nesi’im”) bring their gifts to the tabernacle, each chieftain one at a time, one each day. The reading is repetitive, the same again and again and again, just changing the name of the chieftain and of the day (which, though repetitive, makes it much easier for a Torah reader to chant all those verses). This parasha is also read on the festival of Hanukkah, each day another day, another gift for the tabernacle. The gift is the same, the day is different, the person is different. The first are brought to the tabernacle, to the place where God resides.
Perhaps we can learn that for change to happen, or to be noticed, there needs to be a structure to hold it. Jewish practice, spiritual practice, daily prayer can (and should) have innovations and change over time, though it first and foremost has a structure to hold.
Since my children were little, I have been marking their height on one of the doorposts of our living room. The doorpost has not changed, it is a structure that allows me to mark with a pencil the change, the growth of my kids. Change is part of existence, and we need some doorposts and structures to be there for us to hold it.
As you know, I use the word practice all the time, not just for the traditional ways we practice halacha (Jewish law) and traditions, but also when talking about the practice of gratitude, the practice of joy, the practice of kindness. Perhaps because without structures to hold us, it can be hard to keep going, especially in challenging times.
When the world around us feels shaky, I try to hold to that which is stable. My Jewish and spiritual practice are definitely a place to hold on – they provide structure. My invitation to you is to tap into the practices that give you stability and allow growth.
I continue to pray that we may have the audacity to build, to believe, to love, to forgive, to create, and to imagine a better world for all human beings and to live in ways that bring blessings to each of us.
May this Shabbat bring blessings and consolation to all of you and your loved ones. May we find strength, courage, and patience, and open our hearts with generosity. May all those who are ill find healing.
And may the hostages soon be returned to their families and friends; may the Israeli and Palestinian peace workers in the land continue their sacred work and not be deterred or turn away from the vision of peace and dignity for all.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rav Claudia