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Love and Awe — Insights for Rosh HaShanah — Shabbat Study at Ohr HaTorah
Shabbat Ki Tavo
16 Elul 5769
4-5 September 2009
Dear Friends,
Here is an overview of our studies this Shabbat.
Morning Study
During the weeks linking the 9th of Av to Rosh HaShanah, I have been offering my ruminations on "Love, Justice, Truth and Beauty" (though I taught about these spiritual concepts in different order this year). Last week, I taught about beauty from a religious and spiritual perspective. Our most immediate definition of this concept is typically connected to visual beauty and then perhaps to musical. We then can go to admiration of moral qualities in a person or in a moment, even to abstract senses of beauty ("the beauty of life"). From a spiritual perspective, one can define the state of one’s soul by asking what you find beautiful.
The spiritually and mystically inclined speak about the exquisite and intense apprehension of the beauty of the Holy and often connect that experience to feelings of reverence and awe. The eye has its sense of the beautiful, and the soul has its own (and they certainly can overlap).
The discussion of beauty leads us to the discussion of Ahavah/Hesed, which we normally translate as love, benevolence or loving-kindness. The experience of Ahavah/Hesed, of being loved by another, or by God, or feeling Ahavah/Hesed toward another - the simple desire to bring blessing to another, or to serve God, is one of the most beautiful experiences that a human being can undergo. Love is truly at the apex of human experience, as we are taught in the Torah: to love each other, and to love God. And because Ahavah/Hesed is at the apex of human experience, it is fraught with the power to go wrong, sometimes very wrong.
We’ll conclude this Shabbat our discussion of Love, Justice, Truth and Beauty (for this year, at least), and link those studies up with our preparation for the Days of Awe.
Torah Study
I will be using Torah study time these next couple of weeks for spiritual preparation for the Days of Awe. Last week, I covered the narrative that the ancient Rabbis created and which the Hasidic rabbis deepened, that links the giving of the Torah at Shavuot, to the giving of the second tablets at Yom Kippur. For this Shabbat, I would like to address directly some of the liturgy and themes of Rosh HaShanah.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Mordecai Finley