{"id":68,"date":"2009-03-07T22:22:04","date_gmt":"2009-03-08T03:22:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.josephzitt.com\/home\/?page_id=68"},"modified":"2011-10-12T21:45:22","modified_gmt":"2011-10-13T02:45:22","slug":"shekhinah-birchot-hashachar-morning-blessings","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.josephzitt.com\/home\/books\/shekhinah-the-presence\/shekhinah-birchot-hashachar-morning-blessings\/","title":{"rendered":"Shekhinah: Birchot Hashachar (Morning Blessings)"},"content":{"rendered":"

(return to Shekhinah: the Presence)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Click on the image to your right >>
\nto purchase Shekhinah: the Presence. >><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Shekhinah:<\/em><\/em>
Shekhinah: the Presence<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/em>
\nSection 2 of “Shekhinah: The Presence” by Joseph Zitt
\nThis is an unedited scan of the text, courtesy of Josh Ronsen
\n– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

There in the dreamworld\r\nthe distant spheres\r\nthe world whose name\r\n  is formed before our eyes\r\n  by the letters that float there\r\n  when we shade them\r\n  when we shut them\r\n  when we turn our souls\r\n    toward the outside within\r\n  in creation\r\n  in meditation\r\n  in prayer\r\n\r\nwe crouch\r\nclose to the ground\r\nabsorbing magic from the earth\r\n\r\nas we slide along the water\r\nacross, along, above each other,\r\nour simply being near each other\r\nblending spirits,\r\nlike a remote caress\r\n\r\nas we slide along the water\r\nfrom the darkness into the light\r\n  as we emerge\r\n  and we brush against the rushes\r\n  as we roll, roll along the banks\r\n  seeing each other,\r\n    the water,\r\n    each other,\r\n    the sky\r\n  the black of the riverbed,\r\n  the black of the night,\r\n  the white of the foam,\r\n  the white of the clouds,\r\n  the blue of the water,\r\n  the blue of the day,\r\n  the black then blue then white\r\n    of expanding circles\r\n    in each other\u0092s eyes,\r\n  as if our world were woven from\r\n  the strands of the prayer shawl\r\n  of an unseen mystic\r\n\r\nHere in the prayer hall\r\nwe speak our words\r\n  just loudly enough\r\n  to be sure that\r\n  we have spoken them correctly,\r\nnow pausing for breath\r\nstand and rock slightly\r\n  to the unmetered rhythms\r\n  of our long-prescribed speech,\r\n\r\nspeak words of praise to the one\r\nwho designed our bodies\r\n  and sculpted our souls\r\nwho created the animals,\r\n  earth, and the air.\r\n\r\nfor giving us the duty of prayer,\r\nfor giving us what freedom we have,\r\nfor giving us the sight\r\n  and clothes\r\n  and guidance\r\n  and strength\r\n\r\nfor giving us the knowledge\r\n  of good from evil\r\n  of love from hate\r\n  of the world of dreams\r\n    from the world of law\r\n    as we slide along the water\r\n      a basket, a raft,\r\n      a small padded platform\r\n\r\n    on which rests a girlchild\r\n    asleep, silent,\r\n    newly formed\r\n    from the dreams of the creator\r\n\r\n    a token on his presence\r\n    her hair trailing in the water\r\n    like the light from the tail of a comet\r\n\r\n    on her face the gentle smile\r\n    of one who has only known heaven\r\n    her limbs unmoving\r\n    yet speaking in their stillness\r\n    of the potential energy of joy\r\n    waiting for her wakening\r\n\r\n    as we slide along the water\r\n    summoned toward the doorway\r\n      in the pillar of smoke\r\n      to which the water flows\r\n    summoned by the voices\r\n      of those who praise\r\n      our common creator\r\n      in ancient words of\r\nhidden power\r\n    summoned toward the doorway\r\n      to which\r\n      at the end of days,\r\n      all doors will lead\r\n\r\nand we read the prescribed sections\r\n  of the books of the Bible\r\n  of the books of law\r\n  of the books of the secrets\r\n    of our creation\r\n\r\n  of how Abraham was called\r\n    to throw away his only son\r\n    (as if Ishmael,\r\n    not yet lost in the wilderness,\r\n    somehow didn\u0092t count)\r\n  of how Sarah stopped laughing\r\n    when she feared the death of her child,\r\n  of how the creator called it off\r\n    when he saw that Abraham would obey,\r\n  of how Abraham,\r\n    seeing his child allowed to live\r\n    knew he had found a god\r\n    that he could follow\r\n\r\n      listening to the voices\r\n        proclaiming the creator\r\n        we slide forward to the door\r\n\r\n  of how Moses was commanded\r\n    how one must prepare\r\n    to approach the altar of sacrifice\r\n  of how Aaron was told\r\n    what he must kill,\r\n    and where and when,\r\n  of how they prepare the fragrances\r\n    to rise into the air\r\n\r\n      we approach the pillar\r\n      and in the margins\r\n        between shadow and smoke\r\n      we slide our child onward\r\n\r\n  of how our teachers fondly described\r\n    in minute detail the Temple laws\r\n  of how they prayed\r\n    when the Temple was gone\r\n    and there was no home for sacrifices\r\n  of how they replaced\r\n    fire with learning\r\n    slaughter with prayer\r\n    the Temple with the hall of worship\r\n\r\n      and bidding farewell\r\n        to the water\r\n        for the moment\r\n      we drift into the doorway\r\n        to the voices\r\n        to the world that awaits outside\r\n        far from the heaven\r\n        far from dreams\r\n\r\n  of how we now determine\r\n    the workings of the law\r\n  and yet we pray we may return\r\n    to the Temple\r\n    to the sacrifices\r\n    to the vivid rituals\r\n    that would speak more clearly\r\nand yet we praise the one\r\n  who placed us where we are today:\r\n\r\nGlorified, sanctified is the great name!\r\n\r\n      Glorified, sanctified is the great name!\r\n\r\n      The voices, in the holiest of prayers,\r\n      pull us onward through\r\n      the doorway that divides\r\n        the temporary\r\n          from the infinite\r\n        the light of love\r\n          from the light of day\r\n        the distances\r\n            between hand and hand\r\n          from the nearness\r\n            of soul to soul\r\n\r\n      Glorified, sanctified is the great name!\r\n\r\n      into the solid\r\n      onto the dry land\r\n      into what those who dare not dream\r\n        call the real world\r\n\r\n      as we pass through the door\r\n      our transitions unseen\r\n      by those who clothe their souls in earth\r\n\r\n      we take on temporary flesh\r\n      and moving\r\n        to their voices\r\n        by the creator\u0092s will\r\n\r\n      we emerge.<\/pre>\n
(return to Shekhinah: the Presence)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(return to Shekhinah: the Presence) Click on the image to your right >> to purchase Shekhinah: the Presence. >> Section 2 of “Shekhinah: The Presence” by Joseph Zitt This is an unedited scan of the text, courtesy of Josh Ronsen – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – … Continue reading “Shekhinah: Birchot Hashachar (Morning Blessings)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":35,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-68","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.josephzitt.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/68","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.josephzitt.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.josephzitt.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.josephzitt.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.josephzitt.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/www.josephzitt.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/68\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":438,"href":"http:\/\/www.josephzitt.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/68\/revisions\/438"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.josephzitt.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/35"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.josephzitt.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}