Morning Minyan — Ki Teitzei

Every weekday at 8:00 am, Mishkan Chicago holds a virtual Morning Minyan. You can join in yourself, or listen to all the prayer, music, and inspiration right here on Contact Chai.

https://mishkan.shulcloud.com/form/reg-morning-minyan-evergreen

This episode features Achat Sha'alti (A Setting of Psalm 27) by Chava Mirel.

youtube.com/watch?v=olqBdmrwkhQ

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Produced by Mishkan Chicago.

Transcript

Transcript

00;00;00;02 - 00;00;22;19
Unknown
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 minyan at 8 a.m. 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.

00;00;22;22 - 00;00;45;09
Unknown
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. Great to see so many folks from all over the country. As usual. Meg, nice to see you. It's been a minute. Put on my tallis here.

00;00;45;10 - 00;01;09;22
Unknown
I'm standing up. This is a. This is me. In a moment of using the tallest blessing and the opportunity to just slow down. Yeah, it's like only eight in the morning, but already there's been a lot of frenetic action happening in this house. I don't know about. I don't know about you. I don't know how your morning is going, but I invite you to join me in coming to a kind of stable equilibrium.

00;01;09;25 - 00;01;35;01
Unknown
Pause. If you've just been sitting there already for a couple of minutes waiting for me to get here, but to come to an inner calm and quiet as well, I'm putting my tallis over my head if you haven't got one. Imagine that you're doing the same thing, the same motion, wrapping yourself in light in a sense of being embraced.

00;01;35;03 - 00;01;39;02
Unknown
Take a few breaths here.

00;01;39;05 - 00;02;13;16
Unknown
Adonai Elohim, I share new seat. I mean, Gail, you wore a tallis for the first time. It services last. Chavez, I'm so happy for you. How did it feel? Feel free to come off mute. It was a little amazing and very difficult to negotiate to it. Eric was, you know, a seat away from me. He was kind of helpful.

00;02;13;16 - 00;02;39;20
Unknown
And on the other side, I had changed. And Michael. So I was surrounded by people who were kind of helping to make sure that I wasn't tripping on myself and things. Oh, I love it. It was amazing. And I was able to pick one that matched my outfit. So that was that was great. Oh, fun. That's amazing. I did help with re folding it and Eric helped me with that.

00;02;39;21 - 00;03;04;12
Unknown
So you know what? That's what community is for. Yeah. Well all right so I pulled out I pulled out a madani. But I realized, you know, the whole point of the shofar is to say to us, wake up. So, you know, we're supposed to hear this sound every day throughout the month of El. Not like the full set of calls that on one hears.

00;03;04;13 - 00;03;26;11
Unknown
Although if you're in most traditional synagogues, you won't hear it this year because Shauna falls on Shabbat, which is something we can talk about another time, how we're going to handle that this year. But for all of you, we're going to hear it every day, as is the custom, to wake up our souls and spirits and begin to ask ourselves all of the questions that are the right questions for the month.

00;03;26;14 - 00;03;39;22
Unknown
Am I living the life I want to live? Am I the person who I want to be? Am I with the people I want to spend my life with? You know, friends, family, acquaintances? Am I doing the hobbies I want to do? Have I wanted to pick up some hobby that I haven't done, and I keep saying I'll do it, but I haven't.

00;03;39;22 - 00;03;56;06
Unknown
And now I'm whatever age I am, and I say, oh, maybe I'm too old. And the answer is no, this is the year, okay? But like, we don't know. We don't know what shofar is going to wake up in each one of us. We just know we're supposed to hear the sound. So. All right, Shoshana, thank you for being our blower today.

00;03;56;07 - 00;04;17;15
Unknown
So she is standing. Anybody who wants to is welcome to rise as well to really kind of like put yourself in mountain position. Open your ears, open your heart. If you'd prefer to sit, that's okay too. And so do you need anything from. Do you need anything for me or Shauna? You're just going to take it away? I'll do a one line of blast.

00;04;17;18 - 00;04;43;26
Unknown
For those of you who were here on Friday, I mentioned this shofar is a new shofar to me. So give me a little bit of compassion. If it's a little bit less than my usual blow. My. My father was gifted a couple of these glorious, beautiful big shofar wrote while he was living. And he did not ever blow shofar in his whole life, but he wouldn't pass them on while he was alive.

00;04;43;27 - 00;05;13;12
Unknown
So my brother and I, who are both shofar blowers, have each inherited one of these shofar. Shofar wrote. And so I am learning to blow this one. It's a little less simple than my small one, so. But I'm excited to get to work. Can I say, can I just for, you know, for people who have seen Shoshana in the minyan over the last many months, she's been saying Kaddish for her father, who was known as one of the great American rabbis and fighters for justice.

00;05;13;12 - 00;05;36;08
Unknown
He put together, like, the first Freedom Seder. All right. Like you could say. Oh, but the Seder, like the whole theme of the Seder is Freedom Seder. But like, he was the first one who really, like, wrote the liturgy connecting it to the civil rights movement, connecting it to different American movements for justice. It's been updated every couple of years since then, but until the day he died, he was that was part of who he was.

00;05;36;08 - 00;06;03;07
Unknown
He was writing books about it. He was writing articles about it. He was running an organization about it. And the the shofar, in addition to being a spiritual wakeup call, is a call to justice, you know, is is like a true ticket. Like those sounds are calls to writing the wrongs of the world. And so if he was gifted chauffeurs, even if he didn't play them, I'm imagining it was the symbolism of but, you know, because this is who this guy was.

00;06;03;08 - 00;06;20;03
Unknown
And these, these symbols mean something, you know, is the kind of person he was. Yeah. Great. Let's open our ears. Open our hearts. Here we go.

00;06;20;05 - 00;06;42;13
Unknown
Wow. My dog, who was just on the couch, was called to attention. Amazing. Thank you. So, Shauna. And thank you everybody. Who in the minyan has been blowing each morning. That worked. That worked indeed. All right. So I thought I'd pull out this sea door this morning upon waking up.

00;06;42;15 - 00;06;46;01
Unknown
Lord, I.

00;06;46;03 - 00;06;53;02
Unknown
Need left I now.

00;06;53;04 - 00;06;56;24
Unknown
I.

00;06;56;26 - 00;07;01;15
Unknown
Back I am.

00;07;01;18 - 00;07;10;17
Unknown
Madame. We left finance.

00;07;10;20 - 00;07;15;00
Unknown
Oh I can't.

00;07;15;03 - 00;07;19;18
Unknown
That kind.

00;07;19;21 - 00;07;28;22
Unknown
Chef. As I be me. My.

00;07;28;24 - 00;07;32;29
Unknown
Beth and I I.

00;07;33;01 - 00;07;37;09
Unknown
And when I die.

00;07;37;12 - 00;07;46;01
Unknown
Chef hazard. Be me my.

00;07;46;03 - 00;07;54;08
Unknown
Beth and Laura I and more natural.

00;07;54;10 - 00;08;21;20
Unknown
Any night I eat and I I Hinayana.

00;08;21;22 - 00;08;29;03
Unknown
You know there's this line if you can see the cedar right underneath knee.

00;08;29;05 - 00;09;01;29
Unknown
I believe this comes out of Psalms, although they don't cite it here. Rashid Homa Adonai might be Proverbs. The beginning of wisdom is the or of the mystery of the universe the or of God. And and it goes on and it goes on. But this line receipt, comma, does anybody else recognize this word? Receipts. Like where else you might recognize it from?

00;09;02;02 - 00;09;28;26
Unknown
Bearish. Thank you Ricky. And thank you Susannah. Right Barry Sheets Beresheet Elohim attached to in the beginning. But Rashi and others point out that Beresheet is not in the beginning. It actually doesn't mean in the beginning. It sort of means it's a smooth Beresheet like in the beginning of creating the heavens and the earth. And so clearly there was something before.

00;09;28;26 - 00;09;54;01
Unknown
And so then the whole question is like, but what if it doesn't mean in the beginning if there was something before the heavens and the earth, then what was there? And so they look at this line and they say, oh, like one of the Kabbalistic spheroids of wisdom, like before, before there was anything an atom, you know, a molecule, an amoeba, a crab, a tree and anything.

00;09;54;02 - 00;10;29;23
Unknown
There was the possibility. There was there was wisdom that, you know, just and and I think about that all the time when we feel like we can't, we don't know what the way is or like way one and way two or both bad ways. And, and then like every so often and actually quite often if you, if you wait into it a third way appears doesn't mean that it's like, you know, flowers and sunshine, but often is wisdom just in action, you know, is not sort of being forced into a translation, so to speak.

00;10;29;24 - 00;10;54;01
Unknown
You know, a path that is not actually correct, but wisdom is kind of reading deeper into it and maybe pulling back a little and waiting like some what God does in creating the heavens and the earth, pulling back a little, maybe assert myself a little bit less and open up and see what wisdom can pour in. So I always wonder, you know, like this little line here.

00;10;54;01 - 00;11;20;29
Unknown
I think this is a traditional place for this line to appear in the liturgy. Why it comes like as the first thing in the morning. Richie Toma, you're at the beginning of wisdom is taking a step back and having a sense of, wow, waiting. Waiting on God, you know, which which actually connects really beautifully to Psalm 27, which is the psalm for the season, where I also wanted to spend a little bit of time this morning studying this with Daniel.

00;11;20;29 - 00;11;51;03
Unknown
Matt. Now, zoom user, what's your name? I want to know who you are. Zoom user I'm studying this with Daniel. Matt I love that. Okay, so I wanted to. Oh, Heather. Heather got it. I wanted to play a setting of Psalm 27 for us doing minion, you know, kind of in a different order this morning. It's okay. But the words for Psalm 27, actually, I'll just we've looked at these before, but it is worth just revisiting Psalms.

00;11;51;04 - 00;12;13;26
Unknown
Bam 27 Psalm for the season of El. We're not going to look at most of this right now. I'm just going to look at the very last line here. It says Loulé Monte, and you can see all these funny little trope markers around the word loulé, which kind of means like, if we were it not for you probably never seen trope that looks like that.

00;12;13;26 - 00;12;42;23
Unknown
Or like I said, there's a whole what does that mean? It's also el spelled backwards. So is this the reason why this is the Psalm of the season? Maybe there are also some really good like good, hearty themes in here. Loulé and Monte came, had I not a sense of faith the money to really to really look and see the goodness of God and the land of the living, what does that all mean?

00;12;42;27 - 00;13;14;02
Unknown
Talk about that another time to cover a lot of a cave. L Adonai, wait on God, look to God, have hope in God. This word cave. This is the same word as Hatikvah. Hope. Have hope, have a sense of expectation and and waiting on God, and have courage and a strong heart. Let that like fortify and strengthen your heart, the cave, and open yourself to God's wisdom.

00;13;14;02 - 00;13;31;27
Unknown
So now I'm going to play you this setting to it, partially because it's beautiful, partially because, like we sing this at the High Holidays, if you come in on Yom Kippur, you will hear this. All right, let's get rid of all this.

00;13;31;29 - 00;13;34;11
Unknown
I.

00;13;34;13 - 00;13;50;26
Unknown
T man, I don't know a child t o time I came.

00;13;50;29 - 00;14;33;05
Unknown
Offered shall all be made. I don't know, I had all t o dive a cave chieftain she t bear they title like sheep teeth. She t call you met. I am shifty she.

00;14;33;08 - 00;15;15;08
Unknown
Bethlehem. I don't know she did sheep t call you may ask. That has all been. No, I don't know and all I don't know again. But hey Halloween have followed my has all been. No, I don't know.

00;15;15;11 - 00;15;43;09
Unknown
To gaze upon the beauty of I don't know.

00;15;43;11 - 00;16;02;23
Unknown
One thing. One thing I ask you, I don't know, to be with you all of my life.

00;16;02;26 - 00;16;22;16
Unknown
One thing you I ask you, I don't know. To you, with you, all of my love.

00;16;22;18 - 00;16;45;10
Unknown
Our hearts are all you. May. I don't know I, I love you. Oh, time I gave.

00;16;45;13 - 00;17;22;13
Unknown
Do you appreciate these doses of Jewish inspiration and wisdom? Then we encourage you to become a builder. Creating down to earth inspired Judaism is a group effort. Mishkan relies on builders, people who have chosen to invest in the long term sustainability of our community. Learn more. Join or renew at the links in the show notes. Thank you. Disparate places, your mind and heart, maybe wandering throughout the day or even throughout the last.

00;17;22;17 - 00;17;42;01
Unknown
You know, how long have we been together? 22 minutes. Gathering them all together in one intentional moment. All right. Where's that fourth one? I just had you come here. Speaking of community, this is where, like, Rabbi Steven from next to me will often, like, hand me the one that's, like, trailing, you know, by my tailbone that I can't see holding them all in one hand, taking that hand.

00;17;42;03 - 00;17;58;24
Unknown
Using like the shape of God's name. Shaddai, one of God's names. Nurturer. Shaddai dallied and put it over my closed eyes. You're welcome to do the same, Shimon.

00;17;58;26 - 00;18;04;23
Unknown
Israel.

00;18;04;25 - 00;18;09;16
Unknown
Adonai.

00;18;09;19 - 00;18;14;15
Unknown
Elohim.

00;18;14;17 - 00;18;24;03
Unknown
I don't know.

00;18;24;06 - 00;18;35;10
Unknown
Real number. And you know I'm going to play. I'm going to play the version of Yatta! That's just the one line.

00;18;35;12 - 00;19;00;20
Unknown
Just the the chant. And I would love if this could be our healing prayer. And you will love and you will love and you will love. So go ahead and drop the names of the folks that you're thinking about for healing prayer in the chat. Or feel free, even as I'm playing to say their names.

00;19;00;23 - 00;19;04;07
Unknown
But.

00;19;04;10 - 00;19;17;00
Unknown
Today I have time at Adonai.

00;19;17;02 - 00;19;30;09
Unknown
Their whole lives of right overall of Romeo.

00;19;30;11 - 00;19;38;05
Unknown
They are tied at Adonai and.

00;19;38;07 - 00;19;48;05
Unknown
You will love and your power with all your courage. Call if I have.

00;19;48;07 - 00;20;08;04
Unknown
Overcome your all, your passion and your strength. Let these teachings which I join you and guide you today into your heart, see that your children understand them.

00;20;08;06 - 00;20;31;29
Unknown
Speak about them when you are in your home, at work, in the world, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. Tie them as a witness to the work of your hands. See through them as they form a front lip before your eyes.

00;20;32;01 - 00;20;45;02
Unknown
Pass through them. As they frame the places of your passage, your home and your gaze. And you will love yourself, or you're a spark of the divine.

00;20;45;04 - 00;20;52;26
Unknown
They are time had died or night.

00;20;52;28 - 00;21;10;10
Unknown
You will love your neighbor as yourself. You shall love the stranger, for you are one strangers in the land of me trying. Let love fill your heart for all beings.

00;21;10;13 - 00;21;34;05
Unknown
I call on heaven and earth to witness before you today. Life and death I have set before you. Blessing and curse. Choose life. Choose life that you and your children shall live. Love the source of being and the power of all your powers. By heeding the voice, joining the one.

00;21;34;07 - 00;21;54;11
Unknown
Where the eternal is your very life. The infinite is the fullness of your days. Let it make you aware, and you carry on the divine direction you receive from the one, and your lives will be bound in holiness to the power within you.

00;21;54;14 - 00;22;23;23
Unknown
Nearer. I sure hope they arrest me trying to. You're the hand, Elohim. I am the infinite that drove you to leave the land of bondage. Become your power I am. You are the infinite, your power in truth. And you will love, and you will love, and you will love, and you will love one. Lastly, I have to be.

00;22;23;26 - 00;22;32;19
Unknown
It. I don't know how.

00;22;32;21 - 00;22;54;19
Unknown
Live. Live around. Of home. May.

00;22;54;21 - 00;23;28;20
Unknown
To everyone in this room. Everyone on your lists in your lives, everyone whose name you mentioned or wrote here. And I hope you know my hands are on the guitar, so I'm not scrolling through every name that that somebody reads. But you know, then after put the guitar down, then I, then I do and I see all, all of the people, the families, the full, the whole families that are dealing with different kinds of suffering, different kinds of strains, the individuals, the family systems, the communities.

00;23;28;20 - 00;23;48;19
Unknown
And I just really deeply believe that the prayer that we do together here every single day, it does make a difference. It does. It has to. And so thank you for bringing your sincere love to every single one of those people and families for whom this might be the thing that you can do for them in that suffering and that struggle.

00;23;48;24 - 00;24;12;00
Unknown
All right. We're going to go into Kadisha, Tom, because there might be folks here who are here for our here for our high holiday wrap session. So I want to get there. And for everybody who's here remembering a loved one, we're just going to share who is it we're remembering this morning. You can put their names in the chat, or you can unmute and say their names.

00;24;12;02 - 00;24;44;18
Unknown
Mr. Slutsky, my mom, my dad, Dick Jacobs, my mom, Carla, Kevin, my dad, Norm singer, I'm in love. And Tom John, on the first anniversary of his death. Oh, my precious husband, Miles wertheimer, and my beloved grandmother, Rose Newman. My wife, Robin Eisenberg being my dad, her boy I'm seeing. Yeah. Miles, Cindy, Joan and Janis million. Mark Josephson.

00;24;44;19 - 00;25;04;11
Unknown
All right. Is there somebody who this morning would find meaning and leading us in Kaddish? I can do it. Gadol. Rabbi. I mean, main route to the home of the whole Israel.

00;25;04;14 - 00;25;09;12
Unknown
Room, I mean. Yeah.

00;25;09;14 - 00;25;12;11
Unknown
My my.

00;25;12;13 - 00;25;29;26
Unknown
Arbiter. Mommy, I say it's a allow me to allow me to.

00;25;29;28 - 00;25;39;19
Unknown
Became Israel Amin. Amen. Sasha, we are on.

00;25;39;22 - 00;25;45;21
Unknown
Table meeting room. I mean a man. Yeah, he.

00;25;45;23 - 00;26;15;28
Unknown
May their memories ever be blessings. I may not have been listening to contact guy 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 at Mishkan Shabbat Shalom to make Shula golden and she may change.

00;26;15;28 - 00;26;27;06
Unknown
You cannot be can by name as so don't dear.