Her Roar is Building
The Elul moon is now full, bringing us midway through this month of reflection, recalibration, and repair. The words of Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav echo:
?היכן אני בעולם
Where in the world am I?
And what in the world can I do to bring some healing amidst all this chaos?
This year, perhaps more than ever, our world is ailing—and especially our most vulnerable. Everywhere we turn, unspeakable pain—the unmarked cars sweeping innocent people off the streets in America, the tiny orphans and decimated families of Gaza, the dying fish on the shores of our lakes and rivers.
But blaming others will get us nowhere. Instead, we must simply face the reality of this great unraveling we are living through, and do the best we can to tend to the most vulnerable around us—and within us. These are the ones Torah admonishes us to care for, calling them the widow, the orphan, and the undefended (הגר) who live in our midst.
Because every affront to the most vulnerable is an affront to Her (the Great Mother, the Divine Feminine, Shakti, Shechinah, call her what you may.) She sees it all and, I believe, lets nothing pass. All those who believe they are rulers of the world will hear from Her in time, I have no doubt. Her roar is building! In the meantime, our heartbreak is Her heartbreak. And our work, as Andrew Harvey says, is to feel it, to follow it, to let it guide us to our truest work.
The Hebrew prophets tell us to let our shock, horror, and repulsion break us open so wide that our tears and our voices cry out for justice like the primal sound of the shofar. Why? To dissipate the fog that would lull us to sleep in a blanket of inertia, depression, and feelings of impotence.
One way to dissipate the fog is to engage in some self-reflection, as the Hebrew calendar invites us to do in this month of Elul. Here’s a short video teaching & meditation from Kabbalah that can help you review your year and see the life tapestry you are weaving. Where were the snags in your year? How have the stitches of your actions created more connection? And where have stitches been dropped through distraction or self-absorption? Where are the holes, and wherein lies the holiness in your life’s tapestry?
May our voices join together and rise to heaven in the Days of Awe to come! May we be written in the Book of Life together!