Rembrandt— Abraham and Isaac on the Way to the Place of Sacrifice

Rembrandt— Abraham Sacrificing Isaac

Rosh Hashanah 5768
-- My name is Avraham, Father of the Abrahamic Traditions and
-- Yitzhhaq, the original seed of Judaism
-- Thank you for inviting me and sharing this space of palpable love and energy
-- There is a feeling that is stronger than community -- more like family
-- Take a moment to look deeply into the eyes of neighbor & feel the connection
-- Can anyone here see the aura, the field, of energy that surrounds us?
-- Please if you will sit comfortably, close your eyes, breathe and relax
-- It is from this absolutely gentle, supportive, loving space that I

Welcome You to my Home -- the Universe
(Pause and take time so people can visualize)
-- With your eyes closed, imagine we are outside on a beautiful, clear night
-- Lie down and feel yourself cradled in the field we call gravity
-- Bask in the crystal clear moonlit, starlit, azure night sky - breathe it in
-- And know that every body is connected with every other thru an unseen field
-- Now, with your loved ones you cherish, let go of the gravity that
* holds you in loving relationship with the Earth, and
* be in loving relationship with all the other bodies of the Universe.

This Experience Reveals our relationship to the Universe
(our cosmology)
-- Like Einstein you can ride the gentle waves of the field that connects us
-- See waves around you bend as they are attracted by surrounding bodies
-- Close you eyes tightly and imagine the blackest place in the night sky
-- Know that the completely dark, nothingness is filled with energy and possibilities
-- This is the quantum vacuum from which things materialize from pure energy
-- In your mind, you can live the passage of a billion years
.. discern a tiny spot of light as a star is being formed
.. watch it grow and grow for millions of years
.. until it explodes as a Nova, and creates
.. the stardust that has every chemical element necessary for life on Earth
-- Gently float back toward Earth with the stardust
-- Feel the security of the Earth’s gravitational field as you settle back into your seat
-- My sense from this journey is always the same -- a paradox of sorts
.. that I have visited infinite place of gentle caring and purpose,
.. everything is alive, dissipates and reemerges - nothing is wasted
.. and there is absolute order
-- There is a word that is very present for me -- ‘Baruch’
-- It is our word for ‘Blessing’ , but it is also an articulation of Blessing -
- let me explain:


The Language of Adonoi
-- Baruch -Bayt-Raysh- Kaf -
.. What you have been taught as three Hebrew letters
.. We perceived as three powerful symbols -- all facets of structure & order
.. Raysh (200) is the Cosmological Order from which all other blessings flow
.. Kaf (20) - the Order in our Newtonian, concrete everyday lives
.. Bayt (2) - An abstract Order like Synthesizing and Organizing our thoughts
-- This is what we were gifted in Gen. I, the blessing of absolute order from chaos
-- I grew up in a mystic community, speaking a ‘symbolic Hebrew -
- a ‘language of life’
-- A sacred geometry of shapes and sounds - that preceded the Hebrew Alphabet
-- The 22 letters + 5 ‘Finals’ are the 27 Symbols
-- Three sets of 9 symbols each, and each representing 1 of our 3 Worlds
.. One set be the 1st World of reality -- numbered 10-90 - Yod thru Tsadde
.. A 2nd set being the World of Abstraction -- numbered 1-9 - Aleph - Tayt
.. The third set are Cosmological (100-900) come from Adonoi, and give us
.. Insight into the 4th World, Ein Sof, inexpressible in symbols or letters
-- These 9 symbols are all that is necessary to create and sustain life
(And are articulated by Carlos Suares in, “The Cipher of Genesis”)
-- Reflect on this for a moment - Symbols, not a house or chair but life components
-- Let us spend just a moment looking at the Cosmological Symbols (100-900)
.. Qof (100) - the Life-Death Life Continuum
.. Raysh (200) - Order & Structure
.. Sheen (300) - Organic Life
.. Tav (400) - Birth
.. final Khaf (500) - Universal Life
.. final Mem (600) - Fertilization
.. final Noun (700) - Possibility
.. final Phay (800) - Energy
.. final Tsadde (900) - Sensuality
-- For Kabbalists the Hebrew letters are the creative substance of the Universe
-- When you understand the Language, you are in Communion with Adonoi
-- You live in a state of ongoing Revelation
-- Thru our symbolic language we are energetically connected with the source of life,
-- Constantly Informed regarding what creates and sustains life
-- As I share “The Binding of Yitzhhaq”, I will select a few key ‘words’ like baruch
-- And we will look at the letters of the word as collection of symbols
-- And we will focus on the Cosmological Symbols (Qof thru Final Tsadde)
-- Because these symbols contain God’s mystery and cosmic force

The Binding of Yitzhhaq
-- This story is chapter XXII of Genesis
-- As you all know when Genesis opens there World is without form, and
-- We receive the blessing, Baruch, of Cosmological Order
-- Our Torah continues with the 2nd Creation Story of HumanKind - Adam & Eve
-- After God lets Sarah and I know that we will Have a son - the seed of the Jews
-- I feel compelled to go on another quest that isn’t translated well -- Genesis XX
“Abraham journeyed ...... and dwelt between Qadish and Shur”
-- Where Qadish (100.4.300) (birthing) is related to Shur (300.6.200) (Fertilizing)
-- This was not at journey to a place at all but a necessary quest for revelation
-- An internalization of Aleph, the beautiful symbol of the Life-Death-Life Continuum
-- This internalization was essential if the Abrahamic religions were to be

And God said, ‘Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest .... and get they into the land (Eretz) (that is normally translated Earth, but to us was filled with the Cosmic Powers of Raysh and Final Tsadde) of Moriah. And go to this ‘place’ -- Hamaqom with its cosmic Life-Death-Life Continuum (Qof) isn’t a place but a journey seeking to understand the cosmic Enlightened specie (Final Mem),

Yitzhhaq and I knew that we were on a quest for Revelation...

So with two others, Yitzhhaq and I set out across the wilderness and to a destination called Adonoi Jireh -- once again a place of Cosmic forces that literally means, ‘the mount where the Lord is seen’.

As we walked through barren wilderness, Yitzhhaq got in touch with life. He found sustenance and much, much more. Eretz was abundant with food, water, small flora and fauna, and a sensual beauty that seemed to in concert with his own appreciation of life.

On the third day we could feel the forces of Adonoi Jireh.

Yitzhhaq and I went on alone. That night we camped near the top of the mount. As we gazed into a sky filled with millions of stars, we embarked on a cosmic journey. We let ourselves be embraced by the loving field of gravity, and then we released ourselves so that we might discover some of the secrets of the Universe. When we returned, we did so ever so slowly, so we could be particularly appreciative of Eretz.

Before we slept that night, Yitzhhaq said some of the most incredible things. He said, ‘I believe that I fully understand who each of us is and our relationship to the birth of a new peoples. You, ‘Avraham’ come from the Cosmic Order of life and the Cosmic Enlightened Human, integral to Universal Life, and living life with a complete acceptance of death, the Aleph in Avraham. And I, Yitzhhaq, understand my own mission to be the seed for the generations of fully living people, Yod, that manifest their connection to mystery and sensual beauty, Tsadde, make ethical choices, Hhayt, emanating from the Cosmic Life-Death-Life force, Qof. My Yod emanates from your Aleph, and the seed that I produce must not be a Yod that just exists, but one that lives life to the fullest by embracing that life and being in concert with life is a blessing.

Yitzhhaq continued to speak of the paradox of our planet, so powerful and balanced, yet so fragile. He spoke of a narrow bandwidth in which species including ourselves can live, and how we rely on Eretz to cleanse and heal. And that the sphere that supports us is finite. He could see possibilities of the future in which we might lose touch with the essence of life; that we might not understand that if Eretz was to take care of us then we must take care of her. And that there is a spark of divinity in all of life that must be fully appreciated or we will do great harm to both our social order and our environment.

It occurred to me as Yitzhhaq spoke that we must never lose our symbolic language of life, or our oral tradition, because it is thru the language that we are able to deeply understand the revelation.

Yitzhhaq finished with the following statement, the very essence of life has been revealed to me along with the understanding that life is not deterministic so that we have choice, and with choice we have responsibilities. It is through the understanding of life that a clear ethic emerges and becomes integral to the seed.

I slept a wonderful sleep that night having had one of those moments of deep appreciation for my son who had transformed from being a young adult to being a peer in terms of wisdom and compassion and leadership of a new people. Yitzhhaq had become an enlightened Yod, and would pass that appreciation of life through the generations.

We rose early the next morning and completed our journey. We were both clear that there was no ram, but unclear if there was to be more revelation, or if we had passed these most arduous and crucial tests. If we had not passed, then there could be no new people. The seed would be terminated, essentially aborted as it is in Nature if a fetus isn’t prepared for birth. We were prepared for that judgment. The cosmic forces got stronger and stronger as I bound Yitzhhaq, and as I raised the knife to slay Yitzhhaq, I felt a dissonance the likes of which I’d never felt. I could hardly breathe and I felt as if I detached from my body. This was the final revelation, being deeply in touch with what it is to take life -- to break the Life-Death-Life continuum in an unnatural way. I became aware of two new, very powerful forces -- resonant rather than dissonant forces. They were both the loving forces of Qof, Raysh, final Noun -- one emanating from Eretz, the thicket, that is generally, regrettably translated as ‘horns’; the other from the heavens that is translated as a ‘calling’ of the angels.

This was God’s acceptance of Yitzhhaq as the seed for perpetuating Judaism ..

Yitzhhaq and I shared a simple prayer before we departed Adonoi Jireh. It is a prayer you might not have fully understood when I began but I hope will have great meaning now. We said - ‘Amen’, a vibrant set of symbols
-- ‘Amen’ - Aleph, Mem, final Noun that for us meant
.. of all the infinite possibilities, Final Noun
.. that create this beautiful Life-Death-Life Continuum, Aleph
.. we give thanks for what has been birthed - Mem

Epilogue

It is with a sense of chuva that I say thank you and goodbye. We have partially lost our symbolic language -- the symbols exist as letters but their meaning is lost, and our oral tradition is largely replaced with the written word. Without the language and the conversations, we’ve lost the capacity for deep understanding. What you may have previously understood as a story about a father being commanded to kill his son is more a story about revelation and the test of adversity to assure a successful birth and perpetuation. Today some of the essence of the understandings gained by Yitzhhaq have been retained and some lost. What has been retained manifests in your ethical behavior, and your beautiful connections with life that give this sanctuary the feeling of deep love and caring from which we built our cosmic journey together. But there are strong cultural forces that impel us into acting in ways that will deeply harm if not kill our children. From this perspective, the ‘Binding of Yitzhhaq’ is a most relevant story of our times. Yitzhhaq knew we must not lose touch with the understanding of sufficiency and sharing that can only be present when we discern the essence in all life. I believe that each of us must find our way to revelation, to be tested so that we develop our tensile strength and sense of courage. My suggested starting point is the resurrecting of our most precious Symbolic Hebrew, our ‘language of life’ , with people of all ages in order to provide the deep understanding that defines the path to revelation, and the emanation of the ethic that guides us.

I thank you for letting me share this with you. Amen