{"id":91,"date":"2009-03-07T22:36:59","date_gmt":"2009-03-08T03:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.josephzitt.com\/home\/?page_id=91"},"modified":"2011-10-12T21:46:48","modified_gmt":"2011-10-13T02:46:48","slug":"shekhinah-shema-listen","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.josephzitt.com\/home\/books\/shekhinah-the-presence\/shekhinah-shema-listen\/","title":{"rendered":"Shekhinah: Shema (Listen)"},"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 5 of “Shekhinah: The Presence” by Joseph Zitt
\nThis is an unedited scan of the text, courtesy of Josh Ronsen
\n– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

Six words.\r\n\r\nWe say them clearly\r\n  distinctly\r\nour hands closing our eyes\r\nas we enunciate\r\n  each letter\r\n  each unwritten vowel\r\n  each silence between words\r\n\r\nOne letter wrong\r\n  and the meaning is blasphemy\r\nOne wrong vowel\r\n  and the meaning is in doubt\r\nOne misplaced silence\r\n  and the meaning is at best obscured.\r\n\r\nSix words.\r\n\r\nWe focus on the One Creator,\r\nthe Unity,\r\nforgetting for the moment\r\nall manifestations\r\nall simple evidence\r\neven the solidity of\r\n  his Presence.\r\n\r\nShe, alone,\r\nfloats above us,\r\n  weightless,\r\n  glowing,\r\n  rejoicing,\r\njoining in our proclamation.\r\n\r\nHer love and power pour down on us\r\nlike the gentle rain\r\n  that does not disrupt\r\n  the white-globed dandelions\r\nand she turns\r\nfacing in all directions\r\nyet at all times facing east.\r\n\r\nShe, too, chants clearly,\r\nshowing no envy\r\ntowards the One of whom she is\r\n  a partner and a part\r\n  a mate and an emanation\r\nshowing her closeness\r\n  to us and to the One\r\n  at a careful distance\r\nso that we may concentrate fully\r\non the One without distraction.\r\n\r\nShe floats,\r\nher love and focus\r\njoining with ours\r\nas we chant\r\n\r\nSix words\r\n\r\nin the ancient sacred language\r\n(though like so many words\r\nthey expand and lose some focus\r\nwhen moved away into other tongues):\r\n\r\nHear\r\n  We chant aloud\r\n  as our words sail forth\r\n  beyond the solid chambers of\r\n  this sacred hall.\r\n\r\n  We chant aloud\r\n  these ancient words\r\n  going back\r\n        to the ages of the Holy Books\r\n        to the days of Moses\r\n        to the nights of Solomon \r\n\r\n  back to these words\r\n       which rose from the lips of believers\r\n       from the lips of martyrs \r\n\r\n       always making sure\r\n       that they were heard\r\n      by other believers\r\n         and potential believers\r\n  by our tormentors\r\n    as a sign\r\n    that their iron combs\r\n    could not flay our spirits\r\n  by the One\r\n    as a proclamation,\r\n    and, for some,\r\n    as a prayer that the One\r\n    might believe equally in us.\r\n\r\nIsrael\r\n  and most importantly,\r\n  that we heard ourselves and each other\r\n  proclaiming unity\r\n    of the One\r\n    in the One\r\n    for the One\r\n  proclaiming ourselves\r\n    to be of the ones\r\n    who chose,\r\n      or were chosen by,\r\n      or chose to be chosen by,\r\n    the One we follow.\r\n\r\n\"We will do them;\r\nwe will hear them\"\r\nour ancestors said of the\r\n  forthcoming laws\r\nconveying trust\r\n(or perhaps extreme self-confidence)\r\nthat whatever the One would command us\r\nwe would promise to fulfill.\r\n\r\n\"We will do them;\r\nwe will hear them\"\r\nin that order.\r\nThe stars arranged themselves\r\n  above Mount Sinai\r\n  as a dotted line\r\nand, with an invisible quill\r\n  made of feathers\r\n  of all the doves\r\n  who would give their souls\r\n    in sacrifice\r\nwith weightless ink\r\n  comet\u0092s-tail white\r\n  made of blood\r\n    of sacrifice and martyrdom\r\n  blended with the tears\r\n    of Sarah,\r\n      believing Isaac was no more,\r\n    of Hannah,\r\n      who prayed that, like Sarah,\r\n      she might someday see a son\r\n    of all mothers\r\n      who died, and saw others die,\r\n      in pogroms,\r\n        wars, and\r\n        holocausts,\r\nwith a giant hand\r\n  formed of the will of generations\r\n  its lifeline stretching\r\n    from the past to the unknown\r\n  its fingers spread\r\n    in the secret sacred salute\r\n    to which, when our priests\r\n    repeated it in blessing,\r\n    the Presence would come,\r\n    for a moment, to rest\r\n  its pulsing veins\r\n    arrayed in the emulation\r\n    of the brief holy name\r\n    that the leather strands\r\n    around our merely human hands\r\n    now follow\r\n\r\nwe signed the eternal covenant\r\nand met the strong hand\r\n  and outstretched arm\r\n  of the One\r\nand shook on it\r\nreaffirming the contract\r\n  made with Noah\r\n    and bonded by the rainbow\r\n  made with Abraham\r\n    in the field of visions\r\n    where the flaming torch\r\n      and smoking oven\r\n    moved among\r\n    the half-animals they sacrificed\r\n  made with Jacob\r\n    at Bethel\r\n    before his favorite son\r\n      was born\r\n    before his wife and his father\r\n      died\r\n    before\r\n      (emboldened by the knowledge\r\n      that he would share\r\n      in his father\u0092s inheritance)\r\n      he joined for one last\r\n        peaceful moment\r\n      with his spurned angry brother\r\n      to bury their father,\r\n      embracing Esau at Hebron\r\n      before their sons resumed\r\n      their interminable wars.\r\n\r\n\"We will do them;\r\nwe will hear them\"\r\nand with these words\r\nour ancestors changed\r\nfrom a random band of refugees\r\n  into a people\r\nstill to have to wait to find a land\r\nstill to have to pass through cycles\r\n  of conquest\r\n    exile\r\n    wandering, and\r\n    return\r\nstill (their name showing that\r\n  their ancestor had wrestled\r\n  with messengers of the One)\r\n    wrestling with their own beliefs\r\n    trying to find adaptations\r\n      interpretations\r\n      re-creations\r\n    to make the ancient words fit\r\n    the changing worlds\r\n    in which we must survive.\r\n\r\nThe Lord\r\n  Despite the insistence\r\n    on clarity\r\n      accuracy\r\n      consistency\r\n\r\nwe do not\r\nspell this word as spoken,\r\nspeak this word outside of prayer\r\n  (with even the substitutions\r\n  we speak now)\r\nwrite this word in such a way\r\n  that we might deduce\r\n  from simple letters and from vowels\r\n  how we would pronounce it\r\n  if we were to dare\r\n    disobey the warnings\r\n    of teachers and mystics\r\n    that from these four letters\r\n    miracles are made.\r\n\r\nEven the way we pronounce it\r\nwithin prayer\r\nwithin readings of the holy books\r\nis a mystery.\r\nThe Name of the One\r\nseems to be plural,\r\nnot, as we translate the Name,\r\n\"Lord\"\r\nbut rather,\r\n\"Lords\"\r\nas if showing that within\r\n  One is All,\r\nas if saying that\r\n  the One that commands\r\n  the One that blesses\r\n  the One that gives\r\n    and takes away\r\n  all are the One\r\n\r\nand, as we pronounce it,\r\nthe Name is personal,\r\nnot a simple distant object\r\n\"The Lord\" [NOTE FROM JOSH: remove the comma, as\r\nabove?]\r\nbut rather\r\n\"My Lords\"\r\nas if showing the connection\r\n  in a single word\r\nas if saying that\r\n  the One that creates\r\n  the One that watches\r\n  the One that rewards\r\n    and disciplines\r\n  all speak to us\r\n\r\nis our God\r\n  and now, another name\r\n  this one softer,\r\n  pronounced as spelled\r\n\r\n  whereas, they say,\r\n  the first name denotes judgment,\r\n  this name denotes mercy\r\n\r\n  and the holy books\r\n  use first one name,\r\n  then another,\r\n  showing, some say,\r\n    aspects of the One\r\n    visible in that part of the story\r\n  showing, according to others,\r\n    who wrote that part of the story\r\n    and when\r\n    and, perhaps, why\r\n\r\n  and this name, too,\r\n  is strangely plural,\r\n  as is the hidden verb\r\n    nestled between the names\r\n\r\n  \"My Lords are our Gods\"?\r\n\r\nthe struggle\r\n  between meaning and vocabulary\r\n  between statement, sense, and syntax\r\n  between the words on our lips\r\n    and the feelings in our hearts\r\n\r\n  compels up to drive onward\r\n\r\nThe Lord\r\n  again,\r\n  again stating the first name,\r\n  the ineffable name,\r\n  spoken from the depths of sacred mystery\r\n  with the sounds of an unrelated word\r\n  spelled, through our teachers\u0092\r\n    well-intentioned indirection\r\n  with the vowels of the spoken word,\r\n  leading those who dared to speak them\r\n    devoid of special powers,\r\n    the ashes of the burnt husk\r\n      of what seemed to be the name\r\n    dry and bitter\r\n    on their erring tongues\r\n\r\n  and even these mistake\r\n  were judged unsafe by our teachers\r\n  who told us not to speak the holy name\r\n  nor even to utter the second name,\r\n    the mask that hid the Tetragrammaton,\r\n    except in carefully controlled\r\n      environments\r\n    except when at the height of prayer\r\n  instead we only say \"The Name\"\r\n    as if, by saying the name of The Name,\r\n    we name that\r\n      to which we mean to refer,\r\n    the One who rests\r\n    under layers of onion skin\r\n    inscribed by those\r\n      schooled in the sacred,\r\n    removed from being one with the Earth\r\n      by layers of metaphor\r\n        in which he is clothed\r\n      by the emanations and manifestations\r\n        which mediate and interfere\r\n  making sure that only the purest souls,\r\n    the most stubborn,\r\n  pierce through the symbols\r\n  and come to rest\r\n  in the highest of heavens\r\n  next to the throne of the One\r\n  while we down here are comforted\r\n    by his partner self,\r\n    his Presence,\r\n  sheltering us as we speak the words\r\n  (the strangely plural,\r\n    the misleadingly pronounced,\r\n    the ineffable)\r\n  that proclaim the Unity,\r\n    the identity,\r\n    of the name we dare not speak\r\n\r\nis One\r\n    of the One\r\n\r\n  At last it rests on this:\r\n  that in all the confusion\r\n    of names and numberings,\r\n    of inscription and pronunciation\r\n    of the repetitive\r\n      the hidden and\r\n      the oddly plural\r\n  the One,\r\n    who is named by every sound\r\n    whose image resonates with\r\n      the paths of planets and stars\r\n    whose scent is carried\r\n      by every breeze that\r\n      drifts through memories,\r\n      masking, for the moment,\r\n      the mundane truth\r\n      transmitted by the air,\r\n  is One.\r\n\r\n  And our teachers have told us\r\n  to say this twice each day\r\n  with the intent to make it seem\r\n  that this simplest of statements\r\n  the core of all we speak in prayer\r\n  is a new revelation\r\n    never before heard\r\n    never before exposed\r\n    now brought again to light\r\n  for us to contemplate.\r\n\r\nand we pause,\r\n\r\nthen whisper the prayer that Moses\r\n  was said to have learned\r\n  from the angels:\r\n\r\n\"Blessed is the name\r\n  of the glory of his kingdom\r\n  forever.\"\r\n\r\n(again we say that the Blessed is blessed\r\nagain we speak of the name, not the One,\r\nand of his kingdom which is everywhere\r\n  the Creator is;\r\nthat is--\r\neverywhere)\r\n\r\nthen speak of the places and times\r\nwhere we have been commanded\r\n  to remember six holy words\r\nand the source of the shawl\r\n  and the boxes and the straps\r\n  with which we wrap and bind ourselves.\r\n\r\nAnd the Presence spins and lowers,\r\nweaving a bright sheer web of holiness\r\nabove our leader\r\n\r\nthen, gently,\r\nshe brings us together\r\n\r\nafter our grand statements\r\n  our bold proclamations\r\nthere will soon be silence\r\n\r\nwith her tiny, powerful hands\r\nwith her seemingly fragile fingertips\r\nthat carved the words of the One\r\n  with letters of fire\r\n  into slabs of stone\r\n\r\nshe transfers a kiss of silence\r\n  to our minds\r\n    our lips\r\n    our hearts\r\n    our hands\r\n\r\nand we all stand together\r\nwe each stand alone\r\nall as one in her eyes\r\nall made equal by her touch\r\neach locked\r\n  in a silent secret focus\r\n  by the power of her kiss\r\n\r\nas we stand and face the east\r\nand her beauty blends with the rays\r\nof the now risen sun\r\n\r\nas we prepare ourselves for these meditations\r\n\r\ntogether\r\nalone\r\n\r\nin silence.<\/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 5 of “Shekhinah: The Presence” by Joseph Zitt This is an unedited scan of the text, courtesy of Josh Ronsen – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – … Continue reading “Shekhinah: Shema (Listen)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":35,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-91","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.josephzitt.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/91","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=91"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.josephzitt.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/91\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":441,"href":"http:\/\/www.josephzitt.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/91\/revisions\/441"}],"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=91"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}