{"id":85,"date":"2009-03-07T22:28:11","date_gmt":"2009-03-08T03:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.josephzitt.com\/home\/?page_id=85"},"modified":"2011-10-12T21:46:24","modified_gmt":"2011-10-13T02:46:24","slug":"shekhinah-borchu-bless-the-lord","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.josephzitt.com\/home\/books\/shekhinah-the-presence\/shekhinah-borchu-bless-the-lord\/","title":{"rendered":"Shekhinah: Borchu (Bless the Lord)"},"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 4 of “Shekhinah: The Presence” by Joseph Zitt
\nThis is an unedited scan of the text, courtesy of Josh Ronsen
\n– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

\"Bless the Lord, who is blessed!\"\r\n\r\nOur leader returns,\r\nher arms waving\r\nsemaphores and signals,\r\ndisrupting our focus,\r\nreturning our eyes\r\n  voices\r\n  hearts\r\nto the service we are sworn to perform\r\nreturning our attention\r\n  to the call to the Creator\r\n    who demands prayer\r\n      attention\r\n      obedience\r\n  away from the Presence,\r\n    his Presence in her form\r\n      she who radiates love\r\n        comfort\r\n        joy\r\n\r\nWe breathe and turn,\r\n  delaying,\r\n  denying ourselves\r\n  the ecstasy\r\n  for the moment\r\nuntil we can complete\r\n  the patterns of prayer\r\n  dictated by law\r\n  and debated by teachers\r\n  over the centuries,\r\n  yet still, in their variations,\r\n  very close to the same;\r\n\r\n  any one of us,\r\n  transported to a hall of prayer\r\n  anywhere in our world\r\n  would recognize the litany\r\n  and find comfort in its cadences,\r\n\r\n  another door which is all doors,\r\n  another portal of words\r\n    which connects our world\r\n      to a world without words\r\n    our world today\r\n      to the world to come,\r\n      or, at least,\r\n      to the world to which\r\n      each of us,\r\n      individually,\r\n      may someday come\r\n\r\n  though we know well\r\n  (some more consciously than others)\r\n  that the world to come\r\n    is already here,\r\n  that we may dwell within it\r\n    and it within us\r\n    in our prayers\r\n      meditations\r\n      fantasies\r\n      dreams\r\n  that the stillness of the Sabbath\r\n    is a precreation\r\n    of what we will\r\n    (someday, somehow)\r\n    see.\r\n\r\n\"Bless the Lord, who is blessed!\"\r\n\r\ncalls our leader,\r\nand the phrase loops back on itself\r\nin its simplicity\r\n\r\nthe Lord is blessed,\r\n  so we must bless the Lord\r\nthe Lord is blessed,\r\n  and from the Lord derives all blessing\r\n  so how could we bless the Lord?\r\nthe Lord is blessed\r\n  and blesses all of us\r\n\r\nso we bless the Lord,\r\nas the Lord has blessed us,\r\nour blessings\r\n  the reflections in a pitted mirror\r\n  of the blessings he bestows on us\r\nour souls\r\n  reaching out, reaching in\r\n  trying to find and echo\r\n  the shards of the infinite\r\n  embedded, glowing deep within us,\r\nour hearts\r\n  pulsing with a rhythm\r\n    (in the silence of true meditation\r\n    we can hear it, feel it)\r\n  that we hope may match the\r\n  breaths and tempos\r\n  of the root tone of the universe\r\nour voices\r\n  when we raise them in song\r\n    all in tune\r\n    all in key\r\n    all in rhythm\r\n  so that when we find a share\r\n    the central tone\r\n    the pulse beat\r\n      of the heart of the Lord\r\n    the frequency, the pitch and color\r\n      of the Lord's power,\r\n      the Lord's Presence\r\n        (who stands among us\r\n        surrounded by us,\r\n        surrounding us\r\n        joining us,\r\n        her glowing resonance\r\n        synchronized with\r\n          the power of the Lord\r\n          her ancient\r\n            father\r\n            groom\r\n            child)\r\n  the shards in our souls\r\n  may again\r\n    emerge\r\n    merge\r\n    vibrate\r\n    fuse\r\n    and join all worlds\r\n      with the greater world\r\n\r\nso we bless the Lord\r\ncalling back to our leader\r\n\r\n\"Blessed in the Lord who is blessed\r\n  now and in eternity\"\r\n  here and out to other worlds\r\nblessed\r\n  praised\r\n    glorified\r\n      exalted\r\n        upraised\r\nevery soul will bless the Lord\r\n  who is blessing\r\n  who is blessed\r\n\r\nthose of us who may or may not be\r\n  blessing the Lord\r\nwho may or may not be\r\n  caught up in the\r\n  circle of blessing\r\nstill feel the prayer that flows\r\n  from (to)\r\n  the hearts of the believers\r\n\r\nthose of us who may or may not\r\n  believe\r\nstill share the words\r\n  so that from the words\r\n  from the letters and silences\r\n  of the prayers we might\r\n  deconstruct and reconstruct\r\n    rebuild\r\n    rephrase\r\n    reinterpret\r\nthese feelings\r\ninto new prayers\r\n  new statements\r\n  new beliefs\r\nthat might resonate\r\n  with our own hearts\r\n    minds\r\n    souls\r\nand with the different tone\r\n  of the prayer\r\n    as written\r\n    as spoken\r\n    as believed\r\nby those of us\r\nwho do fervently believe\r\n\r\n\"Blessed is the Lord who is Blessed\r\n  forever and ever\" \r\n\r\nas our leader proclaims\r\n  repeating our response as her own\r\n\r\nthen\r\nwithdrawing\r\nfrom this moment\r\nof joined voices\r\nand statements\r\nsample in words\r\nyet tangled in meaning\r\n\r\nwe pray the details\r\nall our voices\r\n  joined yet unjoined\r\nspeaking larger yet smaller words\r\n  in private utterances\r\ntogether, yet unsynchronized\r\n\r\nand the Presence\r\n  for that moment focused\r\n  in a single beam of holiness\r\ndiffuses\r\n  spreads\r\n  surrounds us\r\nand we grasp the Presence\r\n  our hands warmed\r\n  by the contact\r\n  the warmth is spreading\r\n  through us from the touch\r\n    as the night chill\r\n      dissipates\r\n    as the sun appears to rise\r\nfrom the East, behind the Ark\r\nas the beams and shadows\r\n  shorten, widen\r\n    as we spin toward it,\r\n      until it, later,\r\n      meets and illuminates\r\n        the roof of the sky\r\n\r\nand we raise her up\r\nand she raises us up\r\nand she spreads her arms\r\n  (slender,\r\n    like the legs of grasshoppers,\r\n  gentle,\r\n    like the wings of swans,\r\n  lithe,\r\n    like the upraised branches\r\n    of an inverted willow)\r\nand echoes our leader's\r\n  signs and cries of supplication\r\n\r\nas our legs,\r\nsupporting us,\r\nand, by extension,\r\nsupporting her\r\n  as her radiance,\r\n  in its fields of power\r\n  supports our souls\r\necho the steps of our leader\r\nthrough the pathways of the law\r\n  the litanies we speak together\r\n  the unseen trails\r\n    of the wonders of which we speak\r\n\r\nas we move and speak\r\n  in the phrases of our Teachers\r\n  in the motions of our leader\r\n  in the comfort of the Presence\r\n  of the actions of the Lord\r\n    echoing\r\n    cascading\r\n    rippling out\r\n    like the wake of a skipped stone\r\n      upon the surface of\r\n      what was once\r\n      uniformed and uniform\r\n      undistilled and undifferentiated\r\n      until a word\r\n      Let there be\r\n    spread among\r\n      the sacred and the mundane\r\n    and formed the frames of radiance\r\nthat\r\nilluminate the Earth\r\n  and those who dwell upon it...\r\ncreated glory for his Name,\r\n  and placed luminaries\r\n  about his majesty...\r\nthe leaders of his legions,\r\n  the holy ones...\r\n  the ministering angels,\r\n  who stand at\r\n    the summit of the universe...\r\n  beloved,\r\n  flawless,\r\n  mighty\r\n\r\nand our leader,\r\nhearing our independent streams of prayer\r\n  approach the merging point,\r\n  the delta where prayer\r\n  comes again together,\r\ncalls out:\r\n\r\n\"and they all give each other permission\r\nto sanctify the One who created them\r\n  in tranquility\r\n  with pure speech\r\n  and sacred melody\r\nand all proclaim in reverence\r\n  in holiness:\"\r\n\r\nand our voices merge\r\nand our songs and bodies move together,\r\n  we,\r\n  our leader,\r\n  the Presence\r\n    (with her ever-widening glow),\r\n  those who believe,\r\n  those who may or may not believe,\r\n  the Seraphim,\r\n  the Ofanim,\r\n  all the holy beings,\r\n  one joined people\r\n  and ten levels of angels,\r\n  proclaiming:\r\n\r\n\"Holy!\" (we rise up on pointed toes)\r\n\"Holy!\" (rise higher,\r\n  straining toward the heavens)\r\n\"Holy!\" (that the glow of the Presence\r\n  might meet\r\n  the light of the Creator)\r\n\"is the Lord, Master of Legions!\r\nThe world is filled with his Glory!\"\r\n\r\nand we overflow,\r\n  run,\r\n  dance,\r\nto the sweet melodies of the creation\r\n  to which our souls sing harmony\r\n  in as many keys\r\n  as there are people,\r\n    souls,\r\n    and angels\r\n\r\nand we try to merge our souls\r\n  as we might gather together the fringes\r\n    from the four corners of\r\n      our prayer shawls\r\n  as we might be gathered to the Presence\r\n    from the four corners of\r\n      the Earth\r\n  as we might be gathered into\r\n  the World to Come\r\n    from all the corners\r\n    the nooks and lost alleyways\r\n    of present, imagines, and parallel\r\n      lines of time\r\n\r\nand we close our eyes\r\nand our leader stops her motion,\r\nand, in a sudden moment of infinite silence,\r\nlocks her eyes with the eyes of the Presence\r\nand we, focusing with light-fused wills\r\n  the intensity of our intention,\r\n  prepare to proclaim\r\n  the core of our existence in a\r\n  unified joyful cry.<\/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 4 of “Shekhinah: The Presence” by Joseph Zitt This is an unedited scan of the text, courtesy of Josh Ronsen – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – … Continue reading “Shekhinah: Borchu (Bless the Lord)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":35,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-85","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.josephzitt.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/85","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=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.josephzitt.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/85\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":440,"href":"http:\/\/www.josephzitt.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/85\/revisions\/440"}],"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=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}