Minyan Replay with Rabbi Lizzi — Parashat Shelach Lecha

Every weekday at 8:00 am, Mishkan Chicago holds a virtual Morning Minyan. Our Thursday sessions are hosted by Mishkan's Founding Rabbi, Lizzi Heydemann. You can join in yourself, or listen to all the prayer, music, and inspiration right here on Contact Chai.

In our June 15th, 2023 session, Rabbi Lizzi taught us about Parashat Shelach Lecha which contains the stories of the twelves spies who are overcome by self-doubt. Well, ten of them are overcome by fear of giants! How does our own self perception limit what we can achieve?

****

For upcoming Shabbat services and programs, check our event calendar, and see our Accessibility & Inclusion page for information about our venues. Follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook for more updates.

Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss.

Transcript

Transcript

Rabbi Lizzi

So this week's Torah portion, Shelach Lecha is about many things, but one thing it is about is self doubt. And how self doubt gets translated into communal doubt about what group of people or a society is capable of. And then sadly,

what happens when we lead with our self doubt and our communal doubt instead of our sense of possibility and

you know, a sense of the unknown, but an optimistic sense of the unknown instead of a terrified fearful sense of the unknown that leads you back into hiding. So I'm gonna read a little bit of that later today, but it strikes me that much of the morning service is geared toward helping us transcend our sense of self doubt. Like

not everything but almost everything you know, these first lines even mo Danila faneca Okay, I I am aware I am awake in your presence. That's beautiful mela Rua Hi vkM King spirit of the universe enduring presence. You who was is will be you returned my soul to me. You returned my breath to me in in kindness. And then this last little two lines Rabbah and Munna Taha great is your faith? Great is your faith. And I have to imagine that, you know, in the wee hours of the morning as you're like rubbing the crest out of your eyes. You know, many people might imagine God Of what use am I going to be to anybody today? I'm a total waste of space. Oh, you know, but we say these words okay, but I'm getting up because you have faith in me God, like even if I don't you do and that is enough of a reason for me to get out of bed today. And then we go on in the morning, the morning Psalms sort of go one by one by one. And then before we go into barcoo and I'm skipping a lot obviously through the Yakata Shahar blessings of the morning.

Unknown Speaker  
But as we move toward via who before going into the you know call to prayer, the communal call to prayer Okay, everybody's here everybody's awake. We've got a minion. There is this Psalm 30

In which appear the lines a left i don't i Accra I call out to you. But Allah don't I attended I plead with you God Shamar I don't I have a ha Nene. I don't I have always early. I don't know how Yeah, it was early. Listen to me God and have compassion on me. God be my help. This is the psalm from which the lion comes. You turned my sackcloth into

Whoo festival clothes you turned my mourning into dancing and the idea is that this is the song that we that we say right before standing up and then going into the bar whoa

Unknown Speaker  
so I just I wanted to place a little bit of focus there and on some of these words this morning that are explicitly about helping us see and notice self doubt and then remind ourselves that God put us in the world here for a reason. And that gamma is a God of War. This too shall pass


Unknown Speaker  
you know it's going back a little going back a psalm or two I want to go back to Psalm 150. Because it's such a classic because it's so upbeat. And because we need cars to say hallelujah this morning, especially if you might be feeling like

Unknown Speaker  
you're not at your you know, 100% this morning, Hadley. Hadley. Liu has a name

Unknown Speaker  
as Emilio has

Unknown Speaker  
Lou Hallelu Hallelu

Unknown Speaker  
Hallelu

Unknown Speaker  
coach

Unknown Speaker  
Jackie key

Unknown Speaker  
Hallelujah

Unknown Speaker  
Hallelujah

Unknown Speaker  
Hallelujah has have

Unknown Speaker  
Hallelu Hallelu

Unknown Speaker  
Hallelu

Unknown Speaker  
Hallelu

Unknown Speaker  
call Hi Nisha ma

Unknown Speaker  
Dara, do you want to lead Barco with me

Unknown Speaker  
remembering back to the day is when you guys thought this was all so cute. And it was so fun to watch me parent feel like the older she gets. I can't wait to hear how you continue to

Unknown Speaker  
support my parenting during minion cuz it is trying but

Unknown Speaker  
it gives me it gives me extra added empathy for god you guys extra added empathy for God who listens to us do that all day. So you know.

Unknown Speaker  
And we say God can take it, you know, like, we shouldn't be embarrassed or afraid to whine or to cry in front of God. So so that's what I need to communicate so many children.

Unknown Speaker  
But man, but man it is trying. Okay. I am facing east.

Unknown Speaker  
Maybe you are too.

Unknown Speaker  
I am taking a few deep breaths to

Unknown Speaker  
regain a sense of composure and connection to the moment virus who act i don't know i have it for

Unknown Speaker  
you

Unknown Speaker  
a

Unknown Speaker  
direct attack i don't i Eloheinu Melech Ha olam Utair over a whole shadow say Shalom over re at tackle

Unknown Speaker  
may rather aerator that every mother had Rahami to vomit her dad shut before Yom Thamesmead my savory she or her dad shots you into any scare who Lando Mahira Lai Oro baru, Hatha

Unknown Speaker  
Yoga ser her middle row.

Unknown Speaker  
All right, this is one we haven't done in a long time, if maybe ever, I'll do this instead of the whole language of I have our Abba, but these are just these are four words. Therefore really good Hebrew words, I have ah the Raha meme feted the shallow love and compassion and loving kindness and peace, you know, and all of these words of course, embedded into them I have is I left which is one plus hay which is five plus bet which is two plus hay which is five this is 13.

Unknown Speaker  
And so, I have plus I have ah is 26 which of course is the you know the total for you at haev of hay the name of God you know, love and love out love meeting love.

Unknown Speaker  
So, inside of I have that inside of love as a lot of depth and obviously, a lot of God then Raha meme, which is translated into mercy, usually, that I mentioned this before, a reference is a womb. So, Mercy is like to in womb, someone or to you know, to, to treat someone as if, as if you are caring for them in the holistic way that a womb cares for, you know, who is inside of it said loving kindness.

Unknown Speaker  
And then finally, shalom, which means peace, which means wholeness, which means hello and goodbye.

Unknown Speaker  
which means which means a sense of completeness. So we put this chance and this is just a chance and we're gonna sing it a number of times we put it right here before I have a robot I have time to because the themes are very, very similar.

Unknown Speaker  
But this idea that as we go into the Shema,

Unknown Speaker  
these are the experiences that can connect us most profoundly to that which gives us a sense of wholeness and peace and then lets us operate in the world not from our brokenness and fear but from our wholeness and from our strength

Unknown Speaker  
and you could repeat from where you're sitting you don't have to you know you just leave yourself muted but go ahead and repeat

Unknown Speaker  
me

Unknown Speaker  
fast yes

Unknown Speaker  
this shy Hello

Unknown Speaker  
ah have

Unknown Speaker  
me

Unknown Speaker  
fish

Unknown Speaker  
they're me

Unknown Speaker  
the shine

Unknown Speaker  
on

Unknown Speaker  
if you want to put the names in the chat of anybody who needs some of these prayers for healing and wholeness This is a healing prayer in this moment. There. Me

Unknown Speaker  
shine

Unknown Speaker  
Ah hello all

Unknown Speaker  
Kristen Patton Cassandra serious Susan Baran, Linda mother in law her name caregiver Rosie

Unknown Speaker  
Ricky the shadow

Unknown Speaker  
Joanne Midori and Sherry love a B and all the minion moms

Unknown Speaker  
my Karen husband Sharon Darrow Aaron Muriel James sharing that sharing see Rebecca Don Morris was the and her dad last. Laurie and Harry

Unknown Speaker  
Philly Reina Max Bob Sherry

Unknown Speaker  
there

Unknown Speaker  
me

Unknown Speaker  
this shine

Unknown Speaker  
on

Unknown Speaker  
sending you all referral Ashley MA and refer to everyone you're thinking about healing of body and mind and spirit sending them love and raw meme loving kindness to feel like they are nourished and enveloped in loving care and holistic peace by ohata I don't I have declared Emily's throw ale that I have

Unknown Speaker  
covered and close our eyes and devote an entire breath to every word of the Shimma

Unknown Speaker  
Shimma

Unknown Speaker  
nice Ray

Unknown Speaker  
don't

Unknown Speaker  
die

Unknown Speaker  
Hello Hey No

Unknown Speaker  
don't know

Unknown Speaker  
the Haftar is I don't know.

Unknown Speaker  
The whole about ha ha now shut out of home Yoda. Hi. There how you had a very Impaler share. I know he messed up.

Unknown Speaker  
Hi yo Muladhara she Nantahala Vanessa depart

Unknown Speaker  
the shifter have a Tahoe overlaps the Cloudera shakos out of comesa short term they owe to aljada how you live tota fote been in Lucca TAFTA

Unknown Speaker  
Zote beta ha V Shara.

Unknown Speaker  
And you will love with all your heart with all your soul with all your might. And these words which I am speaking to you today shall be on your heart. repeat them to your children so that their inner monologue is one of love and affirmation. Speak of them when you sit in your home when you walk along the way when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall connect them as a sign upon your hand. They shall be symbols between your eyes, you will write them on the doorposts of your house and know when you're gay.

Unknown Speaker  
So I just finished watching a movie that I bet many of you have seen. But also maybe some of you haven't. And if you have not, I want to commend it to you immediately. Go and rent The Frisco Kid. Raise your hand if you've seen The Frisco Kid

Unknown Speaker  
Reiki

Unknown Speaker  
ah, oh my God, I feel like this is Sinai. This is revelation. You guys, all of you. Okay, so the reason why I mentioned this, Laura, you've seen it. Okay. So this is a movie with Gene Wilder. Maybe some of you know him is Willy Wonka. Or, you know, having having had many other roles in addition to a rabbi from a small town in Poland, who comes to America in the 1850s to serve a community in San Francisco, but he gets waylaid on the East Coast and gets all his money stolen. And so he basically has to walk from Philadelphia to San Francisco and it's kind of about the antics and the shenanigans and the things that happen along the way. And yeah, of course, you were showing this in a temple youth group sleepover. It's like one of the only movies I've ever seen that portrays Jews and Judaism in like, a realistic and positive light. It like you don't walk away being like, oh my god, another movie with a Jew playing a self hating Jew or something like that. Like exactly

Unknown Speaker  
do the opposite. You walk away being like, oh my god, what a beautiful tradition. What a beautiful commitment to a practice. And I mentioned this now this morning, because there whoever, whoever wrote the movie knew Judaism very well, they were not operating from like sort of a passing familiarity with the tradition.

Unknown Speaker  
They knew the tradition very well. And one of the ways that they sort of dropped easter eggs into the movie, to let anybody else who might know Judaism very well know that they know is, is on different days, he wakes up to pray before they leave on their horses. He's doing the psalm of the day. And he doesn't ride his horse on Shabbat. So, you know, during, throughout, if you're tracking if you're clocking what he's saying in his morning, davening. You know, he's getting closer and closer to Shabbat. And on a certain day, he's not going to ride his horse on Shabbat.

Unknown Speaker  
And I just realized, like, oh, here is a tool that the tradition has put in front of us that in the three years of doing morning minion, we have not put in front of you, which is the song of the day, the psalm of the day. And it's this idea of like tracking the week, day by day by day, every day in a cycle with a psalm, a particular song Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. So I wanted to show I wanted to show this to you. I'm going to copy and paste the songs of the day into the minion into the CDR so that we have them and you know, we don't have to do them every day but they are there for us. Let me but Baba, let me find this right here. I have it ready. Okay.

Unknown Speaker  
And zoom and share screen.

Unknown Speaker  
So, as you can see, I went into my you know, so faria went into liturgy went into cedar Ashkenaz then I went into week de SHA curry. And then in the list of options, because there is beer, what a shock are, cicada Zimra shock read, like all of the sections of prayer that we've gone through, I went to concluding prayers, and then to Song of the day. So here we are. Here's Sunday. I'm not going to like we're not going to go through the whole thing. We don't have enough time. It's already 30. Monday,

Unknown Speaker  
Tuesday, and you see actually one of the things is kind of cool, is you see all of these reflected in Kabul at Shabbat. You know, it's almost like a little bit of a review of where you've been throughout the week. So here we are Thursday. How Yom Yom hommy Shiva Shabbat Chabot, how you Halevi emo marimba, Beit HaMikdash. This is the fifth day of the week on which the Levites used to recite the following in the Holy Temple. And then we've got this Psalm. And I'm not going to do the whole thing in Hebrew here.

Unknown Speaker  
But let's just see what it's about. Let's see what it's about. To he who grants victory. I think we're talking about God upon the GTX A Psalm of Assaf, sing joyously to God, our strength shout for joy to the God of Jacob take up the hem sound, the drum, the pleasant harp and the lute or your guitar, play the shofar on route on the Rosh Hodesh, the appointed time for the festival day. Oh, this is a famous line, you guys. It is a statute for Israel a judgment for the God of Jacob. Where is this?

Unknown Speaker  
Damn.

Unknown Speaker  
Key haughley Sir l Hu. mishpat Lello. Hey, Yakov. You'll hear that on the High Holidays.

Unknown Speaker  
And other times to a testimony for your hosts if he ordained it when he went out of the land of Egypt, where an unfamiliar language I heard from the burden I removed his shoulder his hands were removed from the cauldron in distress. I called out to you and I released you. I answered you, though you called in secret? And I answered you thunderously. And this is God speaking. I tested you at the waters of Meribah Salah here, my people, I will testify about you Israel. If you would just listen to me. Got it. I can so relate to God as a parent right now. Let no strange god be within you, nor bow toward a foreign god I am I don't know your God who brought you up from the land of Egypt, open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. But my people did not hear my voice. Israel did not want me. So I sent them to follow their heart's desires, let them follow their own devices. sigh If only my people would heed me if Israel would walk in my ways I would immediately subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their tormentors. Those who cause hate of God, deceive and pretend obedience to Him, but their time of punishment will be forever. But he would feed him Israel

Unknown Speaker  
from cream of the wheat and from the rock I would say you with honey.

Unknown Speaker  
Yeah, this line that he lay whom he fell every time Lita will meet swords of ash SBF.

Unknown Speaker  
Yeah, kind of wanted to share that with you today.

Unknown Speaker  
Early Jewish girl

Unknown Speaker  
It's exactly something like that. Yeah, it's fun. I mean, we could we could spend a lot of time processing this it starts in this really joyful place. And then it sort of descends into kind of, you know, yeah, like got God as unappreciated, unheated parent. And then finally Yeah, like God God is holding out the invitation for us to just walk in her ways you know and experience the abundance if we would just align ourselves with the Creator of the universe if only if only

Unknown Speaker  
our All right.

Unknown Speaker  
I want to make sure we get into Padishah toe mourners Kaddish

Unknown Speaker  
I'm aware this morning that

Unknown Speaker  
it is the anniversary of Harry's dad's passing, right Gottlieb.

Unknown Speaker  
Do you want to say anything about him? Harry, I know this. Day is a kind of sad day for you.

Unknown Speaker  
It's, it is sad, but it's also key. He lived almost 90 years next month will be his 90th birthday. And he

Unknown Speaker  
he lived the life he wanted to leave and he had

Unknown Speaker  
his

Unknown Speaker  
triumphant times and his really, really his Mitzrayim that he had to get through. But he ended his life surrounded by people who loved him

Unknown Speaker  
as well.

Unknown Speaker  
But I miss him.

Unknown Speaker  
Yeah

Unknown Speaker  
he's the horn ellebra

Unknown Speaker  
If you're saying Kaddish I invite you to stand with me.

Unknown Speaker  
Yet to get dowel V to Kadesh may Raba. And then diva through TV I'm live marco de the higher horn of Yomi Han of Hiei. The whole Beatty Surah Al like a lot of his man Kareem in rule. A mean your hair smooth robbing them of Heraclea alum la mayor Maya is Barak finished a basket for our veteran mom Vietnamese say Viet her dar Viet olevia her louche major cuccia riilu le a lamb in kobir Ha tava Shara atta Jewish piccata Vanessa Mata Tammy Randy ranvet amavi and rule I mean, your Haish llama Rabbah mean Shemaiah the hygroma lleno Vallco Israel the rule? I mean, all say Shalom be roadmap who yeah say Shalom la nouvelle Coleus or alle Vallco Yoshi table the Emeril I mean,

Unknown Speaker  
man

Unknown Speaker  
All right, let's close out with a closing song Morrow. is nice to see you. Nice to see your face. Welcome back.

Unknown Speaker  
Resurrection. Yay. It's great to see you.

Unknown Speaker  
Have a surgery go.

Unknown Speaker  
I went fine.

Unknown Speaker  
Rabbi Lizzi I

Unknown Speaker  
my hip hurt.

Unknown Speaker  
I'm taking a course in the songs. I was glad because I figured it would help my hip.

Unknown Speaker  
Actually, the doctor suggested I stick with the medicine but actually the minister didn't help either so I'm sticking with the song

Unknown Speaker  
I say what I'm doing probably as well as could be expected.

Unknown Speaker  
Good, good. Okay. All right. All right. I'm gonna close out with no say Shalom. Oh say Shalom being Rama

Unknown Speaker  
who say shallow Molina

Unknown Speaker  
Oh say Shalom beam Rama.

Unknown Speaker  
Who say shallow money.

Unknown Speaker  
Oh say Shalom beam Rama.

Unknown Speaker  
Boo yah say Shalom Molina yeah say Shalom. Yeah, say Shalom. Shanna Molina. Balko you say?

Unknown Speaker  
Yeah, say Shalom. Yeah say shallow shallow money. Now call your sphere to

Unknown Speaker  
say Shalom him Rama.

Unknown Speaker  
Who say shallow

Unknown Speaker  
Oh say shadow him Rama.

Unknown Speaker  
Gosh, I love

Unknown Speaker  
Oh say Shalom beam Rama.

Unknown Speaker  
Whoo. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  
essay on money

Unknown Speaker  
yes a shallow yes a shallow shallow Milady backhoe USRowing yes a shallow yes a shallow shallow

Unknown Speaker  
boy you're straight j

Unknown Speaker  
You've been listening to Kontakt five miscounts podcast. If you enjoy the podcast please leave us a rating on Apple podcasts and help us rise in Jewish charts and if you appreciate what we do, I invite you to join as a builder or make a donation on our website Mishcon Chicago Dacquoise Shabbat shalom.