Morning Minyan: You Will Eat And Be Satisfied — Parashat Eikev

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

Transcript

Transcript

Hello and welcome to this half hour dose of weekly Jewish spirituality. Jews have a tradition of praying three times a day, and at Mishkan, we have a daily virtual minion at 8am Central to get your day started, folks join us from across the country and across the world as we begin each day with words and songs of gratitude, inspiration, healing and Torah. Without further ado, I invite you to breathe a little deeper, connect a little more with yourself, with God, with Torah, with this community and with the world around you, wherever you are, whatever your time zone.

Good morning. Good morning. Glenn and Meredith and Jesper and Miriam and Chloe and Jessica and Corey. Good morning Miriam, Miriam Berman and Miriam green. Good

morning, Susanna and Trish and O'Brien and Martin and y'all will have to say hello to Whoever joins that. I did not just give a personal Welcome to I'm gonna drape my Talit around myself. Before I do I'm gonna say the blessing anyone who wants to join me, whether you've got a Tallis or if you don't just take a moment to sit up a little bit straighter, breathe a little more deeply. This also counts if you're already wearing your talus, but we can just do a little, a little body meditation before putting it on. Just breathe to your belly.

Feel your feet on the earth or on whatever surface they're on your bottom, on the chair, whatever surface it's on, feeling grounded unstable, and

feel the vertebrae in your back, leading to your neck, to your head, all kind of aligning in whatever position you're in, lying or sitting.

And I like to imagine my Keith Schnabel, my crown on the top of my head, almost like a portal, allowing my head to open and receive all the divine rays of sunshine and connection beyond me out to the source of divinity, to all of us, that sort of central energy source that's powering all of us. Just breathe it in and being conscious of all of that connectedness from earth to heaven, and

how it moves through us with every single breath.

And now I wrap myself in my talus and

marujin, Vanu, lehita, TAFE, but

seat, I mean,

Oh, da and Ah,

da Rabbi Deena,

chef.

I I

moda, Anita, Awake and Aware. Am I in

your presence? Capital Y, U, wherever you are, wherever I am, melachi am Ruach hai, vikayam, you eternal presence. You fluttering spirit all around and within me. You sovereign, powerful, the power before which I have awe and in whose presence I have faith. Sheikhasar tabini schmati, you returned to me my soul this morning, which is why I'm sitting here right now singing and breathing and being in community with all these beautiful people. Oh god, you returned their souls to them as well. You must have so much faith in all of us, every single one of us, we begin the day not with our faith in God, but with God's faith in us. Because otherwise we wouldn't be here. We're here for a reason. I'm gonna do some of these blessings of the morning.

Baha Rocha, Adonai, Elohim in ahaina moving my LA I'm grateful to make distinctions between day and night. Baruch, I don't know. I am grateful that I was created in your image. Baruch, Hanoi, Melaka, Olam, shahni, buthoreen. I am grateful that You created me to be free. I am grateful that I am a Jew, a god wrestler, Baruch, a Taron Ayala, he knew Melaka Olam, okay. Dream. I'm grateful that my eyes open each day with new vision, and all of our eyes open each day with new vision, inner vision, outer vision, insight, new and creative ways to do the same thing, such that it becomes a different thing, such that we can actually change ourselves In the world. But meme, I am grateful for the gift of clothes over my naked body. Ram. I am grateful for the ability to release what is all tied up. Take a moment to roll your neck and stretch out your neck and stretch out your shoulders, sending love and rifles Lema to Ruth Mayer, who just got shoulder surgery like a full and complete new shoulder. And anyone who is recovering from anything right now, whose body is feeling MATIER or rather Asur, tight and constricted and like you wonder if you'll move it again or move it in the same way, I want to bless you with the ease of this blessing. Matt surim, may things just come easily and in their time. Baru Kata donai, no matter how dumb. So Keith kafufim, I'm grateful for my ability to straighten what is bent. All these blessings take on a different resonance as we move into the month of Elul and into the month of beginning to think about how we heal, what is broken, how we straighten, what is bent, and what are the things we actually want to leave bent, because, you know what, we've sort of grown attached to them bent, or we actually don't mind it so much, or, you know, whatever it would cost to fix the bent is actually not worth it. And you know now you're gonna make peace with and fall in love with the precise thing that you thought you needed to fix. But actually, you know, bent is beautiful too, but it's all hamayim. I'm grateful for the stability of earth over the water. I'm grateful that you prepare my steps.

Take a moment to just lean back and forth on your right and left foot, if you're able, even if you're seated, just to shift weight and to notice how shifting weight shifts like everything onto one side of your body, completely able to hold and support each one of us. We don't ask it to do that generally. We We balance, but it's nice to know that we're capable of things we're not used to doing, just to know that we can, like holding ourselves on one foot, and knowing we actually can be supported by a lot less than we usually rely on.

What Blessed is the one

who gives strength to me and my people. Take a deep

breath into your belly, exhale be tifara, that crown blessing, opening up to all the connectedness, the source of divinity, all around connecting all of us. I bless you, the one who gives me strength when I am tired.

I mean, I

I'll just take a moment before we go into this to ask what is something that requires today both strength and also gentleness, strength and also grace, strength and also patience. Feel free if you want to put anything in the chat as we think about the day ahead. Love

you, sweetheart.

You wanted to do a mini thing? Okay, that's

fine. Hello, bye, bye, goodbye. Do you want to sing? Oz, okay, all right. That's the sound of a kid who's leaving Bye, sweetheart.

Love you. Have a great day.

Oh. Z,

the Z, Marat ya,

bye, Li

Shua,

O Z, the

zebra.

Yay, the

zebra.

Ee,

just noticing what people are saying here for the benefit of anybody who's listening later, practicing self compassion. You're right. I'm not actually done with this song, but I need both hands to do this, helping a friend with a complicated, intricate project showing up for someone who has never shown up for me, and suspending the bitterness that I feel about that while showing up, oh Susan, sending you so much strength and also gentleness and patience with yourself And

with the situation,

releasing the anger from other people's innocent mistakes. Other people's innocent mistakes are keeping from being at a family bond. It's for this weekend. Oh girl, yes, yes, yes, yes, patience and strength for making mistake after mistake and still being there for yourself. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Oh my goodness, so much of life actually is exerting both strength and then also gentleness and patience and forgiveness with yourself and with others. It's kind of the whole name of The game, isn't it?

Oh z the Lizzi

Yeshua.

Ah, patience with yourself in rabbinical school applications, Yes, get it. We're so excited for you. I'm

so excited for you. All know, I ran into Chloe in Jerusalem at the Hartman Institute. They were there for like, something or other, a learning with community members, and I was there for learning with rabbis. And she came up to me and was like, I'm I've been on minion for the past four years. Hi, it's me. I was like, Oh my God. Like, it's just, you know, amazing, putting a face with a name after so much time of spending time together and showed me she was beginning to apply to rabbinical school, and that this community played a role in that, and that was so deeply honoring. So join the Club. Join the club. In 13 years that Mishkan has existed, there are at least 13 people who are now rabbis, who I know of at least who have come through Mishkan, either they worked at or attended the community. Kind of amazing. Maybe any one of you sitting here right now may now realize that there's a spark of a seed planted for a second or third or fourth career. It's never too late, all right. I am turning to ahava Rabbi here, mostly just so that we can go into the blessing. Putting down my guitar. I'm picking up that my four corners of my Tsitsi. I wanted to do a little bit of learning. So go into the Shema, do a healing prayer, and then do some learning here. Baruch atah, Adonai Habakkuk, ahava, blessed. Are you? The one who chooses us to love, chooses us in love and for love, and with that love, we go into the Shema, close our eyes, holding our tsitsied over Our eyes, as we say the Shema. Shima, yeah. Minutes,

I'm gonna sing a via hafta. That's a little bit Maybe you recognize it from services, but it's a little different from our usual chanting.

Can have this with you as a kind of mantra all day, as you're going throughout your day and doing all the things that require patience and self forgiveness and forgiving others and strength. This is the ahav ta et Adonai lo ha odecha. That's the whole song. That's the whole thing. It's just focusing on one piece, trying to just, if we could just do that,

over on the All right, so who this Morning are we sending love to? Are we sending a healing prayer to?

Who are we sending love with all our heart, soul and might maybe that person needs a little bit of strength and inner fortitude,

as always? Yes, hi. Zelda van Miriam, Shane, Kate, Daniel

K and Sarah Aiden Gilbert, my friend, Laura herzhorn, Tom,

all the minion mamas, as usual. Marion Rich beckhold, Charlie Larkey, you.

Everybody on Martin's list here, everyone on irene's list, even though Irene isn't here this morning, everyone in this room,

Jacob, Misha and Charlie

for the wounds of the world. I

for children everywhere,

anyone struggling with addiction, with

mental health,

anyone who's lonely, anyone who wonders whether they'll be okay, send a prayer that you know that you will be okay, and that you feel that you'll be okay, and that if we can be the agents of helping anyone in this world feel more okay, we do our best try we get the nourishment we need, from

here, from each other,

from the sunshine, From the air from the people who love us. If you haven't been reminded recently that you are loved, let this be your reminder that You are loved, you are supported, you are cared For.

Na, Ay, Ay,

Ah, if send complete healing of body and spirit to everyone who needs a prayer this morning, to every captive who is alive and waiting to be rescued, for every child, an adult who is waiting to know that they might be Okay, that they might be safe, they might not be in harm's way. May everyone feel a sense of peace and safety. May we help the agents of that peace and safety? Amen. All right, so I wanted to look this morning,

we're in parashat ekev, and I wanted to look at a really important verse in the Torah that comes in the same context as what we read last week. Last week as. I remember we read the Schnabel in via hafta, and saw the context that it was coming in this long sort of exhortation that Moses gives about entering the land, and you know then how to be when you get there, and what the consequences are if you don't be that way, if you don't be in alignment and harmony with God's will and, first and foremost, leading with love and a sense of the unity and interconnectedness of all things. Okay? So that was last week. This week, we're in parshad Eight Kev, and it same basic concept Moses talking to the people, letting them know they're going into the land and and he says it's basic. It's going to be easy for you. He says, like, in a way that you don't deserve. You know, look at this. I'll start. I'll start here with verse seven. We're going to talk about food. We're going to talk about food and gratitude here. Kiaron ilo, hecka, maybe Aha. El eritz, Tova Eretz, nakalemaim i A note the Toho moat, yotsim, but babika uvahar, for God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams and springs and fountains issuing from plain and Hill. Eretz, HETA, Sora of geffena, Ramon, Eret, zit Schnabel udavash, this is a land of wheat and barley and figs and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land where you may eat food without stint, where you will lack nothing, a land whose rocks are iron and from hills you can mine copper. So this isn't just food in this land. There's also mineral resources in this land. And God then importantly, says verta, the savata U V Rata et Adonai lo haka al haaretta, Tova, a share Natan LA, when you have eaten your fill, give thanks to your God for the good land God has given you. Take care lest you forget God and fail to keep the divine commandments, rules and laws which I enjoin upon you today, I want to stop there, because that's actually quite a lot. First of all, just any observations, particularly about verse 10, when you have eaten your fill, give thanks to your God for the good land God has given you. Seeing something in the chat here. Susanna, thank you. After eating, one's fill well, because what would the alternative be before, right? So think about all of the right or before or not at all, right? So the assumption is okay, a conscious, you know, religious person, has to give thanks for eating, because we, of course, aren't responsible fully for everything we know that, you know, we depend on forces greater than ourselves to provide our food. Meredith says, it doesn't say eat once, fill and hoard more for yourself, right? It says offer thanks. Most religious communities I've ever been in Jewish or not. Most you know, especially in not Jewish communities, they pray before eating. You say, you know, you sit down at the table, join hands, offer some kind of a prayer for the food, for the people who made it, for God, for the situation here, the savato, varachta, etc, after you have eaten, then, well, after you've not just eaten the savata. Anybody familiar with that word,

it's in the verse that we derive the grace before Grace after meals from

uh huh, exactly, yes, it's to be satisfied, you know, so it's not, there's something important here. There's it's not just eating, is what I'm saying. It's not just you will have food, and then you will be grateful, and then you will bless there is an important step in here of recognizing that you are actually satisfied. A couple years ago, at this point, I don't know, maybe a year or two ago, our healthcare plan, Blue Cross, Blue Shield, offered us a free membership to something called wonder, W, O, N, D, R, and it's basically like a weight loss plan that does not rely on calorie restriction or telling you what to eat. It relies on self awareness, consciousness about fullness and hunger. And that's basically the entire thing, is having a sense of how sovereign one is, and if you are hungry to or if you are hungry to eat, and if. You are full, to stop eating, right? And actually, it's incredibly challenging to have a real awareness of the savata. This that I'm pointing to here, Valta, you will eat, okay? This is like an action verb the savata. This is an internal awareness verb, right? This is, this is not about something anyone else can see on the outside. This is about an internal state, like I'm actually satisfied I'm okay, and now and now I can bless Um, oh, love this. I'm going to just repeat what Susan wrote here, theme of the DNC last night. Everyone will have enough if we all have enough beautiful, yeah, any and any comments, just as I don't want to, I don't want to, you know, be the only one talking here, Julia, take a moment to pause and reflect before continuing with your day. Why do you think it's necessary for the Torah to even say this? Usually, the Torah doesn't say things that are intuitive that you would do anyway.

It seems like it keeps connected to the fairly recent past. Because, like, how many generations are we? Are we supposedly out of mitriam at this point? Like, not very many. So find, like, how we could be back at that point, if you're not grateful for for the gifts that we currently are able to experience.

I mean,

just to repeat back what I think I hear you saying, so for the parents generation who left Egypt, like, if they were going into this land, they would be like, wowed by all of the all of the abundance that they were they did not personally get when they were slaves in Egypt. However, their children, who have been reared on manna in the desert, who don't actually know what hunger or privation is, they're going to go into this land, and they need to remember that they came from nothing. They need to remember that they came from from not having enough so that they actually appreciate the enoughness that they're about to be given, so that they don't take it for granted. Is that? Is that right? Julia,

yeah, that's about where I'm going with just like feeling connected to our past, that's such a an ongoing theme, never forget. It's always, always a thing. But specifically with just food being such a basic need to be able to think properly, whether you're overindulging or or under, and how big of an impact that can have on mood and just general, you know, like okayness with wherever you're at in life at that particular moment.

Yeah, somebody else gonna speak.

I mean, in this verse, it's really tying the whole concept together with the gift of the land.

Well, so yes, so this is what I was going to say. There are so for anybody who doesn't know, the Halacha, the Jewish law about blessing food, comes from here. Comes from this verse, and the first commandment, the actual, the actual commandment about blessing food for Jews is to bless after you eat, and only because of Torah, because we bless Torah before and after Barratt Adonai and Baraka then bless the Torah afterwards as well. They say, Well, you know, if Torah needs to be blessed beforehand, then we should probably also bless food beforehand. But it's like derivative, as opposed to this, which is straight out of the Torah. You will eat, you will be satisfied, and then you will bless and so the rabbi's created Birkat HaMazon, the blessing on sustenance, which does exactly what you just said. There are four blessings in Birkat HaMazon, and the first blessing is for the food, and the second blessing is the land from which the food grew. And so I think what you just said is so important, just noticing this is, you know, not just about food, but it's also the land from which it grew. The third blessing we it's it starts to do the thing that Jewish prayers do, which is like begin to move in concentric circles, from my experience out to the experience of, you know, a wider people, and then the world. So the food, the land, it came from a prayer for Jerusalem, for the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and then finally, you know, ending with like, Oh say Shalom. Bimro Mav, you know, a prayer for world peace and a prayer for the redemption of of all that's where we throw in all of our like Hara Hama, and may the holy one bless the children of Israel and the children of Ishmael that they should make peace. Hara Haman, may you bless the host in this house, may they be healthy, and may they, you know, may their kids grow up and have great lives. There's a whole section where we where we throw in the blessings and the prayers that we want for our for our world, for people we know, and for our world, for the the Messiah comes, you know. And then finally, a prayer for world peace, as usual. So I just. Wanted to begin our day there for all of the patients that we might need to do, whatever it is that we're going to do today that requires both strength and also a sense of grace and permission and forgiveness, but that the food we eat is also always a combination of both strength and grace, you know, and for the most part, we didn't, you know, unless we unless we literally grew it all, we're really relying on so much structure to hold our sustenance. And so this is an invitation to all of us today to bring real deep gratitude and awareness to every bite of food we take, every sip of coffee or water we take the savata verachta at Adonai al haaretzatova, a share netanlach. All right, any little observations before we say mourners Kaddish? And it

just occurs to me that, like in this context, you know, it's very clear this is talking about, you know, again, it's tying the food back into the gift of the land. I mean, you could even argue that this is one of those commandments that's only applicable in Eretz, Israel, but clearly they went the other way. And if I'm recalling correctly, I mean, even though, in context, it's clear that it's talking about the land, the second blessing of Burco Thomason doesn't actually have that level of specificity. You can just be thankful for whatever land your food happened to grow on.

That's, you know what this is, right? Meredith said, food doesn't appear magically. Land pollinators, workers, prepares, all interconnected. How true. How true. And last week, we had Lexi here with us, and Lexi spends a ton of time on Zomato acres farm, which is a local Jewish farm here, outside of Chicago. And anybody who's worked on a farm. Really does know the interconnectedness of all of these systems that feed us? Birkat, hamazon translation, let's see this. But you can say, I mean, beer cut Amazon, by the way, not a short blessing. You know, if you're really going to do it, first of all, the tradition is only to say the full beer cut Amazon, after eating bread, after eating something that you know, before, which you would have said hamotzi for no Delica, I don't know elohinuana, so I don't know Eric having given

us, yeah, I'd forgotten spacious

Land, right? I mean, but, but it is. I mean, it does toggle. It toggles between an awareness of the you know, the place of Eretz, Yisrael, for sure, but then also and the kindness for which you have graciously bestowed upon us, the food which we eat, which you constantly nourish and sustain us with all day at all times and every hours. We thank you and we bless you, May your name be blessed by the mouth of every living being, constantly, forever. Hey, as it is written, the haultava savata Uber after Adonai Baruch Hata Adonai al Haaretz, the Al hamazon, right? And then it goes on, and then it goes on to Jerusalem, and you can see that for anybody, right? For anybody who's for anybody who's looking at this right now, you can see there's so much in here, fascinating, intense bonding to that particular acreage. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, right? On Shabbat, there are special there are special prayers you say on Rosh Chodesh festivals and the intermediate days in between the beginning and end of festivals, there are special blessings you say, we build Jerusalem speedily, and in our days, Ameen, amen. And then it goes on, bunch of different metaphors for God, right, Shepherd, King, Redeemer, Creator, our strength, our father, like forever, bestow upon us grace, kindness, mercy, relief, salvation, success, blessing, deliverance, consolation, livelihood, sustenance, compassion, life, peace and goodness, and may He never cause us to lack for any good. Ameen, Ameen, that's for all of you, for everyone we were praying for earlier, right? And then we kind of get into this section of May the Merciful One. Hara command, alright, well, we're going to, we're going to close here today and then just say Kaddish. But Hara Haman, may the holy one any prayers anybody wants to just say as like, direct, you don't have to like, formulate it in some kind of special holy, you know, religious sounding way, but may the holy one fill in the fill in the sentence today. May the holy one take you all where you need to go safely and get you home safely. May the holy one inspire leaders all around the world, but especially in Israel and Palestine, to arrive. To cease fire for the love of God, may the holy one help us all to be part of the building of our world. Who today are we remembering? Mark Herring, Mm, hmm,

my mother, Teresa Owen. Teresa Owen,

Luke Nathan Pollack, is there anyone who would like to lead us in Kadisha town this morning?

Okay, it's good Dave. It's good dash me. Rabbi. Schnabel, it's Barbie drama,

Vietnamese, halal Schnabel, dekujan covid, have a sherata tomata Tamir, hey, Schnabel. Rabbi Lizzi, room. Seymour, who ya say Shalom. Alenova, Israel, el Coyo. Schnabel, the moon. May the one who makes order and peace. Cosmos, make order and peace among us. Say a main, I think I want to close out with a tune for for beer card, Amazon. This is for anyone who wants to add this to your daily routine? You know your eating routine, you don't have to start with the like the whole four paragraph blessing, although I would definitely be curious if you if you were writing your own blessing for eating and it wasn't just like, rub it up. Dub, thanks for the grub. Yay God, which I think is a really good blessing. But if you were, if you were the rabbi's constructing, you know, like a meaty blessing, you know, maybe with four parts in it, what would your four parts be? I'm very curious. So this is one way to remember this line, verteb savatara, et Adonai, there's there's one tradition that says that even just remembering this verse, saying this verse out loud, kind of constitutes like you fulfilled your obligation to be grateful. You Remember this

one, the savata.

Schnabel gold's words, you

are the source of life for all that is and your blessing flows through me, you are the source of life For all that is and Your blessing flows through me.

Ri Raha mana, maka, de, Alma Mala re de Hai, Pita, riha, mana, Mau ka de, Amma Mala reta. Peter,

you've been listening to contact Hai, a production of Mishkan Chicago. If you were inspired or informed by this episode, please leave us a five star rating on Apple podcasts so that others can encounter our work. And if you appreciate what Mishkan is doing, I invite you to join as a builder or make a donation on our website@mishkanchicago.org Shabbat shalom. You.