Notes on the Meta-Siddur

Notes on the Meta-Siddur - to V. 4.2 The following consists of notes, clues, sources, and descriptions of Meta-Siddur pages sent along with the Meta-Subscription packets over the last three years. The Meta-Siddur teachings include a combination of (1) direct interpretations of Hassidic sources, (2) my translations of these interpretations, and (3) hunches often based on nothing more than my intuition. Meta-Siddur pages occasionally seem like shorthand or overview notes that could benefit from more information in order to become more useful and practical. With due apologies to the more practical, pragmatism, ease of delivery or usability are not my driving point when preparing these pages. Deepening consciousness around the Siddur and davvenen process is my focus. I trust that changes in davvenen, in youth education, and in synagogue rituals will result from a deepening awareness of the potential of our devotional and liturgical inheritance. Having clarified this, I can yet offer to try to help those interested in advocating for the simpliciuty and usability of these teachings. Sometimes I may be able to help mediate between the ideas represented here and a more practical mode of teaching. Often, though, these ideas represent the leading edge of my thinking and I may not be able to provide more than what is here shown. If you wish more information on any item, you can always ask, and I can either supply it, research and/or cocreate it, or let you know that I don't yet know any more. Page 10.1 After this was printed, I thought again about one of the associated meanings which I had left out - To Cause to Hear. Because this seemed a little unwieldy as a phrase, and it implied the causative form of Sh' ma, namely mash' mia, I decided to forego listing it. Now, I believe this to be a distressful omission because it forms a wonderful link between a few of the meanings of Sh'ma. "Causing to listen" helps me to understand the relationship between "Hear" and "Make Music" (making music can "cause" others to listen) as well as obey (causing oneself to accept) and proving, and so on. Which of these phrases rings central in your ears? Which meaning of the Sh'ma are you "caused to hear?" Page 10.2 I always felt a little uneasy about page 11 because it wasn't obvious why this page was placed so early on, and what it had to do with Davvenen and so on. Page 10.2 was written to explain and introduce Page 11. Page 14.1 These four "ways" were suggested by Reb Zalman in a slightly different context. Reb Zalman was talking about adding the study of Nusach to the more conventional ways of studying the Tzaddikim. I borrowed the grid and filled it out with Davvenen as a central focus. Page 14.2 This page is offered as an introduction top. 15 and a bit of personal sharing as to how these phrases may be used as an introduction to Davvenen. Page 14.3 is a One Word Prayer Call. It almost has the force of "OY!" I guess that the womb is considered merciful because it protects and nourishes the developing child to be. On the other hand, the womb is a muscle that contracts and pushes the child out. Is this also mercy? Page 14.4 is a fanciful development of a hunch based on a tradition of ascribing the different parts of Davvenen to the four worlds of the Kabbalah which was established long ago (although I don't know exactly when- can anyone out there help out with dating this association of the worlds to the parts of Davvenen?) That these 4 worlds/parts of Davvenen could be experiential is attributable to the Hassidic era- (see Tanya in the chapters 30's and 40's, especially the end of chapter 44). Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi has popularized and made this system more accessible and my addition is to name the parts of the prayers and to convey it this way, experientially, and prefaced by a critical edge. The second equation here, relating Halleluyahs to Brakhot is the one I had the most hesitation about, inasmuch as it relegates Brakhot to an inferior place on the ladder and I don't feel quite right about that. Yet, in terms of felt experience, it does ring true to me. I think the discussion of Kedushah in the manner related here is unique. The Sh 'madissolving theme is common in Hassidut- (See Chapter Shoresh Mitzvot Hatfila in Derekh Mitzvotekha by the Tzemakh Tzedek Chapters 18 and on). The Amidah-transparent theme is based on interpretations of the preamble to the AmidahOpen up my lips. Page 15 These passages are almost identical with the Twelve Torah Passages that Lubavitch put out for children to memorize. The differences are #3 which was inexplixably substituted (by myself), and, of course, the translations. Source references for the quotes have now been added. Page 15.1 This bell curve charts out the prayers which are duplicated in the morning prayers, repeated on either side of the Amidah. A reason for the repetition is suggested by the metaphor of the ladder which is used for both ascent and descent and so each rung is stepped on twice. The meditating davvener is led up and down the ladder of the four worlds of prayer which are the encapsulation of the four (million) principle ways of being with God. Page 22.4 was, as you can see, an attempt to deliver a visual message about Khanukah by placing the word NO on the unlit candles. This derives from a discussion in Habad literature about the difference between Hillel and Shammai ( Hillel says: On the first night of Khannukah, light one candle and increase; Shammai says, eight candles and diminish) being that Hillel looked at the current actual as growing over time and Shammai looked at the potential as diminishing. My take on the Hellenists and Here and Now is a personal one, let me say, a hunch. Soto Zen doesn't believe in sudden jumps into enlightenment as does Rinzai. As many Meta-Siddur pages, this is an attempt to think creatively and it is permissible, in my mind, to substitute Koan thinking, that is, irrationally intuitive thinking for the didactic explanation which may oversimplify and one-dimensionalize. See the Hellenists again. As always, your feedback is invited. Page 22.5 expands on the theme begun on the bottom Pages 22.6 After Shlomo's passing, Shammai's message of the lights going out over time seemed very real. Nan Fink· helped me see other, more positive understandings of Shammai's, position, such as, "The light gets more focused and concentrated as time goes on. The essential becomes clearer," All these are valued and true. I was amazed as I realized that Hillel and Shammai correspond roughly to Halleluyah and Sh 'ma. This connection validates placing the Hanukah teachings here in the pre-davvenen section of the Meta-Siddur rather than in the Sefirot section with all the other Shabbat and Holyday teachings. Page 25 As part of Hanukah consciousness, I saw that Tefilah and Petilah shared letters and filled the white space of this page with a teaching. This page replaces pages 25-26. Page. 26.01 The sparks theme is ubiquitous in Kabbalah, yet so intangible and non-visual that I was very excited upon finding a visual image that had heart and soul (and body) to it. This image of the Nitzutzot as being an embryo was so striking that I had to include it here. It has helped spark my kavvana- how about yours? Page 26.02 This page is an amplification of the sentence which most impressed me from the previous page. The little fella in the light bulb is supposed to represent an embryo. I'll keep trying, though. Page 26.03 After soaking in the Nitzutz-Embryo idea for awhile, I looked through the Siddur to see where this Kabbalistic idea might be represented in our davvenen. With this in mind, the L 'kha Dodi jumped out at me in a new light. I never cpuld quite grasp to whom it is speaking. It seems to be addressed to the hidden, asking it, over and over, to emerge, in friendly, warm, encouragements. Perfect for an inner Nitzutz dialogue// I always knew that the L 'kha Dodi was a depth Kabbalistic prayer but, as subscribers who have been with me for a while know, I have been struggling to raise its I decided to place the L 'kha Dodi here, in the Hassidut Study section, because the present theme is Nitzutz-related. The graphics add a light touch to the healing comfort of the words. My question to each of you after seeing this is: upon recognizing that you are talking to the Nitzutzembryo as well as the Shekhina (She who dwells within all things?), will your L'kha Dodi recitations ever feel the same? The next step is to relate the Hamotzi blessing, -which also speaks of emerging something from within- to the fire-birth-sexuality metaphors of Nitzutzembryo-L'kha Dodi. Page 32.1 Kabbel and Kavven, Receive Inward and Direct Outward. seems to me a very essential breathing-like pulse. Inasmuch as these two words are the imperatives of Kabba/ah and Kavvanah, the two central terms in Meta-Davvenen, I thought that an enlargement of these terms would make an interesting page. On one hand, Kavvanah is used to indicate an increase in subjectivity, and so represents a turning more inwards; ·on the other hand Kavvanah directs one's attention in an outward way, turning away from one's receptive self. Page 34.1 is the result of a conversation with a MetaSubscriber who felt cramped by the extremely ubiquitous references to a personal-national God in Jewish Texts. This theistic insistence, I tried to explain, was not pervasive in Judaism, and particularly in Hassidic teachings, we find the theistic and non-theistic as at least separate and parallel tracks- actually, as I write, I feel I must state that the theistic track is, in Hassidic and Kabbalistic thought, a subset of the non-theistic. The wording of the title derives from page 35, no. 11, which is a rewrite from several articles on Hassidic thought, this part from Art Green. The same influence of Art's writing expressed itself in the title of the next page, Page 44.1 In a continuing effort to make Kabbalistic and Hassidic themes more friendly, this page is offered to bring the Or Ayn Sofback into common parlance as the real God of whom religion speaks. Some of the ideas are borrowed from Fractals-the Patterns of Chaos by John Briggs. To me, fractals and the Or Ayn Sofhave a lot in common. The graphic is a computer drawing of an equation. If you have a better image to suggest the Or Ayn Sof, let me know. ''The boundary of the set is infinitely complex because it is possible to bring out finer and finer detail by zooming in and magnifying any point on the boundary line." (p. 77, ibid.) I have found that the studying fractals opens me to a more imaginative appreciation of the Or Ayn Sof. Page 48.001 As the previous page suggests, the spiritual journey is not a straight line from one point to another but rather a series of patterns, of dances between polarities. This page seems important to me in terms of beginning to craft a theory of practice. I keep coming back to it to help me define my own current metaphor, my image of transformation and so I wanted to highlight it and expand it. Page 48.002 continues a style of comparison across genres similar to page 41. Page 48.1 It was quite a trick to classify and assign titular descriptions to the 13 qualities of mercy, an awesome and ubiquitous prayer on the High Holydays which I never felt I quite understood. I began to include a Sefirah association to each quality but didn't include it when realized how variable it was, that there was no convincing, conclusive feeling- that many Sefirot could be read into any quality, so I left it out, pending further discussion with Reb Zalman. Page 48.5- see note above on page 34.1 for some context for this quote. Is it clear why I placed it opposite page 48.4? Page 60.3 This page is a fanciful gloss on the "poolb 'raykha" idea which is a pun on the word brakha. It is a development of the previous two pages which cast the idea of b'rakha as a dynamic tracing of a rivulet from, well, the Ayn Sof; or the loving heart of the uni verse; or . . . and so on. The graphic idea of many pools was inspired by the sight of a posh section of Los Angeles from the air. Note the lightning like, broadcast like, graphic of the Yod Hay Vav Hay. Pages 60.4-60.6 There is a stop sign at the bottom of the hill near my house which requires a very intentional stepping on of the brakes. Someone posted a bumper sticker saying, "Enjoy Being" under the stop sign which really sets off my imagination every time I stop there. Since Atzilut is sometimes described as the world of Being inasmuch as its mood is beyond a sense of separateness and alienation, it was a small hop from this triggered experience to the next three pages. Although the phrase "Body-ing" is extremely awkward, I chose it over 'acting' or 'doing' since I understand Assiyah to be a world of sensing and self-shaping which go beyond conscious acting. Embodying is close but suggests a distance between the embodier and the embodied. Somatizing is too distant from experience. By process of elimination, we are left with . . . a neologism, a new word that lacks the problems of other words and highlights for me just how subtle the world of Assiyah really is. Page 60.8 Representing the journey of the soul as a bell curve was fun. Although I am aware that not every soul finds its home in B'riah, still, as The Alter Rebbe says in the second chapter of "Tanya", who knows how great any soul is? We cannot judge the level of another person's (or our own soul's) level by how refined or primitive the person may seem. A person's affect may represent only the effects of his or her parents' residual energy masking a truly high soul. So I set B'riah as the possible root level home for everyone. Although some souls find their home in Atzilut, these are beings somewhere between archetypal energies and souls. Souls as individual souls as we know them are born out of Malkhut of Atzilut into the world of B'riah. At first I called the barrier between Yetzirah and Assiyah Gehenom - Hell. I knew that is what it is called in the classical literature on the journey out of the body, but what it is called on the way in, isn't so clear. I translated it Valley of Distance- that is my own neologism. Gay means valley- Hinom is a name, and also is the plural of hinay - behold, thus Gehennom - Valley of behold them- as it beholds "them"- plurality, I called it distance, distanced from the one. Reb Zalman tipped me off that naming the transition between this world and the next "Gehennom" (hell) is just a remnant of the old pedagogy's trying to frighten people about death and its aftermath, to keep everyone toeing the straight line. He suggested that the transition between worlds is the feeling of being flooding with experience called Nahar Dinur, the river of light (or fire), called a tunnel of light by those who have been there. Page 60.9 I continue to be astounded at the placement of the Kaddishes in the prayers- and the repetitions of certain prayers on either side of the Amidah. (see also page 15.1 for an earlier version of this map.) Page 66.1 I particularly enjoyed the ''Three Postures of Davvenen" page. I got the idea out of the Jewish Book News, from an interview with the quite conservative redactor of "The Encyclopedia of Jewish Prayer." I was amazed to see full frontal prostration suggested as an equal part of the davvenen. I think it is a ripe area for somatic davvenen experiments. Page 66.11 Sitting and standing has become such a cliche and power trip in ordinary Shul services. If only we could hear something deeper like the fanciful instructions on this page .... Page 86.1 The fun I had doing the acronym of renewal (88.1) led me to ask what the Hebrew is for renewal. I did a computer search of all instances of the word renewal in English and found it represented by 5 or so different Hebrew terms, which I found very interesting. Again, there was a lot of value in assigning the subtitle classifications as a simplification of the thoughts. The subtitles (Renewal of breath, etc., ) made this pop into relief for me. I could almost davven the subtitles directly- and the Hebrew verses do something quasi-Miltonian for me. Page 86.3 This page updates a handout I received at Elat Chayyim two years ago. Page 86.4 Each of the morning blessings contains a tension, its opposite within itself. Perhaps this will stimulate me and you to find new ways to make these blessings stand out. Page 86.5 is a recipe based on a family practice that Elaine, Uriel, and I are doing most mornings. the candle itself seems to provide the drive and focus of whatever comes next, which we like to feel out and improvise accordingly. For a daily evening Havdallah menu, see page 173. Page 88.2 comes out of my frustration with people singing this song as a familiar ditty, unaware of the realities and powerful energies that they are mentioning and invoking. Imagine a Shaman coming to a typical Shabbat service and you will appreciate my point. My attempt to make some of these phrases more real is the center of gravity of the Meta-Siddur in its entirety. Page 88.3 and 88.4 is to Section 6 what pages 106 and 106.01 are to Section 7, namely, a short phrase characterizing the stations of this Davvenen section bounded by the Kaddish on each side. Unlike the pages in Section 7, I was unable to boil down the themes to one-word descriptions at this time, and so the underlying configuration of the sequence of the prayers in this section remain somewhat of a mystery. Often in Jewish Renewal circles we omit the Vai-y'varekh Daveed and the Az Yashir Mosheh prayer which form a subsection that feeds into the Yishtabakh. Perhaps by understanding their purpose in Yetzirah prayers we can bring them back into our circle by finding substitutions that reflect the essence of their structural intent . Page 90.1 I know that there is a depth within the words Ma Tovu and I am fumbling to bring it out. In the meantime, I thought, study of its context may be useful even if the context does not quite plumb the mystical. Let me know if you were able to squeeze the words to fit the Ma Tovu song. You can use it on Parashat Balak, by which time this packet should have reached you. Page 90.2 Finding a deeper meaning for the Ma Tovu prayer has been close to my front burners for quite a long time. Recently, In one of R. Yitzchak Ginzburg's books (Sod Hashem Lirayav) I noticed that Tov describes the reception by Bina of the light of Khokhma. You can, from that, understand the evolution of this page. Now reflect back on the use of the word Tov in the beginning of Genesis. Why do you think it was omitted on the second day and repeated twice on the third day? And what is Tov M'od? Page 98.1 I know that this interpretation doesn't hold up in every instance of the appearance of this phrase. It was originally stated on the Kiddush within the Haggadah, appreciating the past liberation from Mitzrayim and hoping for the future liberation of the Moshiakh. Page 98.2 I am happy with the way that this page came out. I have been wanting to do it for some time now. I hope it will illuminate some wedding rituals. Page 98.3 I wonder if this page is intelligible. I loved the quote (the words in big letters) and sort of ... well, slapped it up against the first line of Barukh Does it seem relevant? Did the Sheh-amar. creation proceed directly from the word that was spoken or was the word spoken into an environment in which such incredible feedback was created that that feedback produced (and continues to jounce) the universe? Page 98.4 This page is an amplification of the sentence which most impressed me from the previous page. In fractal language this "zooming in" is called 'using an iterative prism,' that is, repeated magnifications which reveal new complexity. Page 98.5 Khay Ha-olamim, life of the worlds, is such an organic, with-it, immanent name for the Rebonno Shel Olam (Master of the Universe). Can the bottom of this page be true ... that our ancient God of the Jews is identical with the Deity of whom the Earth-planet dreams??? Page 106.01 merely expands page 106 for anyone who may have been nonplused by its simplicity. Page 106.02 is a wild, associative fantasy of mine which almost came together. It explains, I think, the following page's placement early in the B'ria section, close to the location of the Barekhu. I see the Barekhu as a gathering and focused sending of energies, which is always followed by light images. This crazy prayer-poem brings a few of these ideas together. Page 108.01 This is another page highlighting a previous page (p. 108) to which I return over and over. I feel pregnant with something here, but am not, as yet, able to elucidate it to my satisfaction. It, again, concernd a nascent theory of practice, for want of abetter term. I realize that my use of the terms on this page differs somewhat from many Hassidic uses of these terms. Yet, I think, in quality, there is a rough correspondence. Page 108.02 I attempt to raise to awareness the paradoxes within ordinary prayers. They are not poetic blandishments but dynamics of energy flow. They are the science and art of our inner structure. Now I'm getting poetic. Poetic is OK. Page 108.1 contrasts the view of Ekhad in 1994, 1694 and 1094. It introduces the Holographic Universe into the Meta-Siddur, which I suspect was always a central hunch for the developers of the Siddur, and, I will guess that these ideas will become significant to our religious psyche in the near future. Page 108.2 I've been combining the Yah name for God (Hallelu-Yah) with the more stodgy but familiar (though yet startling-sounding) Adonai. Yahdonai also seems to be a traditional Kabbalistic formulation of the Name as evidenced by the next page in which the letters of the Yod Hay Vav Hay are interleaved with the Alef Dalet Nun Yod of Adonai. I think it has power. The graphic is from the fractal book mentioned above and suggests both a spiral and also a hexagonal crystal. It is a "strange attractor" plotted through the cross section of a chaotic torus. While I don't quite know what this all means, I do know that a torus is a bagel shape, which may or not say something about the transcendent aspects of bagels. Suggest it at your next Sunday morning gathering. Page 110.1 is a poem/song I wrote to celebrate the differences between emet and emuna. Page 118.2 and 118.3 are variant elaborations based on the view of Hassidic commentaries on these phrases. Often the Siddur seems to repeat itself endlessly in obsequious phrases. The Hassidic view treats each phrase as a separate level. This mystical view conveys a contrary view to the seemingly redundant and verbose parts of the liturgy- it suggests that every phrase has its place in an underlying sequence that is understandable if not rational and spiritually pregnant for the seeker. Thanks to Jeff Shapiro for page 118.2 Page 118.4 This page is my adaptation of a page generated by the Havurat Shalom Siddur Project It might be an interesting exercise to read through a prayer such as the Sh'ma, the Amida, the morning blessings, or any prayer that has a continuous thread of repeated mentionings of Adonai and have different members of the group substitute their choice of alternate names from this page. Judith Plaskow writes in "Standing Again at Sinai" (Harper Collins, softcover, p. 154) ... the feminist reimaging of God entails reclaiming and shaping sufficient metaphors fro God that the diversity of Jewish community is reflected in its naming of divinity and the commitment to communal diversity is grounded in an inclusive monotheism. If identifying God with a particular set of metaphors both limits God and supports a community in which some people have more value than others, using a broad range and changing variety of metaphors brings home on the nonrational level on which images function that God has many guises, no one of which is final." We are not searching for a single best replacement alternative for "King" or "Lord," but our very experimentation itself suggests our theology. Page 122.1 Because I seem to return, time and again, to the ideas on page 122, I was searching for a way to highlight them, and this page resulted. Page 132.1 needs no explanation but I'd love to hear your feedback on the association of the various metaphors- and the punch or obscurity of the graphic on the lower right. Pages 132.2-132.4 I was considering placing these pages after page 14 but decided that it was more of a tool than a study. Many of these figures from our history have not only helped develop the prayer modalities of davvenen but have become crystallized as qualities through which we davven, as a great soul mirrors and represents a quality of the Cosmos, a Sefirah. These pages are the MetaSiddur' s equivalent of placing the Pirkay Avot in the Siddur after Minkha of Shabbat. See Siddur, Pirkay Avot, Perek 1, Mishna 1. Page 134.1 Links a few themes together in an unusual way. Can you answer the question on the top of this page; or perhaps I should list my associations? Let me know if this topic intrigues you. Pages 134.2 I wasn't sure where to put his one. It could have gone right after 66.12, but wasn't as funny. The Vort here is based on the following 3 ideas. 1) that we say the Kaddish to help the soul along its journey;l 2) That we say the Kaddish in davvenen both going up and down the ladder of the worlds (see p. 60.9); and 3) the words Shmay Rabbah are used in close proximity but in different operations. Page 138.1 introduces fractals and Chaos Theory into the Meta-Siddur commentary. On the airplane to Montreal on the way to my father's funeral a whole explanation of the Kaddish following this theme appeared to me. Let me know what you think of this page if you like, and watch for more in future packets. Page 138.2 I've been accused of providing a heady density of words so I did two versions of lighter thought - one pull-quote from the Kaddish of Yitromam and so on and I thought to do a pullquote page of one of the 13 qualities, but none grabbed me so far, although Erekh Apayim is calling from a distance. Page 148.01 The "Associations to Khesed" is the beginning of a broader exploration of the Sefirot. After noticing that page 121 and 161 both focus on the 49 cycles of the Seven Sefirot with the Seven Sefirot, I devised a workshop on the Meta-Siddur held at Elat Chayyim which was well received. Another outcome from this Elat Chayyim class was the "High Holydays Prayer List Crib Sheet" you have in this packet. It is a "Recipe Gathering" page, a forerunner of a number of pages I hope will be included to make the Meta-Siddur more user friendly. Page 148.02 Reb David Cooper did a series of these re-translations of the Mitzva Blessings on the WELL, in the dialogue about Counting the Omer which I adapted to fit the Shabbat candle blessings with a few changes here and there. And clever pictures. Page 148.2 is simply the Meta-Translation of L'kha Dodi which follows, collected on one page. Page 148.21 and 148.22 may have been what I was getting at in the earlier L'kha Dodi as awareness levels (pp. 148.3-7). See also my earlier note on Page 148.9 The Holydays do somehow fit with the Sefirot, although, Tisha B'Av might also be in Yesod as the ninth Sefirah. Any observations, corrections or/and questions you Meta-Subscribers may have would be welcome. Page 149-150. Sefira Dances-Hakafot. We actually used this this Simkhat Torah in the Minyan. On the reverse are the verses we read before the Hakafot, newly retranslated. After each line you can see the astrological signs and Cohen Levi Yisrael mixed in. We stood in a circle according to our birthdays and each group called out their verse as we went around the year. Page 150.1 comes out of a sense of stale-ness about the terms with which we describe the Sefirot. The definitions of the Sefirot are difficult as they have to describe both a Divine and human quality at the same time. (I think that page 44 does this well, by the way.) While I realize this ain't easy, I am impatient with terms such as glory, victory, even understanding in that such terms don't project a quality that is interesting or provocative to me. These terms mentioned here, do. Page 150.2 is Hanukah stuff smuggled into the MetaSiddur and placed in the Sefirot section which is becoming a catch-all for Shabbat and the Holydays. Page 150.3 I hope the new prayers and suggestions for a Tisha B'av service flow are helpful to you. Page 158.1 was a first attempt to make the pivotal (quasi-Buddhist) concept of "Letting Go" into a song, into a Kaddish. Does it come through? Page 150.92 This Sukkot my Sukkah was blessed with the presence of a groom preparing for his wedding. He asked about the meaning of the Huppah. Well, like a Sukkah, only different. This fanciful description of the transition barriers between early energy states parallels the transitions between worlds noted on pages 60.8 and 60.9. Can you imagine these gateways as Huppahs and Sukkahs? Page 158.3 This page helped me through a heavy business meeting. I think that these ideas belong in a Siddur as much as Pirkay A vot does. Perhaps such Zen sayings are the Meta-Pirkay Avot. Page 174.2 I'm not satisfied with the layout on this page. I think that the phrases in the middle should be screaming much louder than they now do. It is, as you may have guessed, an interpretative association of the Alaynu prayer.