A Foreword to Jewish Meditation
From the Introduction to Eye to The Infinite
Jewish Meditation
Jewish meditation is an essential component of the path that leads to G-d. Taught for aeons by saintly masters of Jewish thought and mysticism, it underlies major teachings and their esoteric lucubrations, providing both skeleton and fabric to ancient traditions.
The spiritual path of Judaism combines the mind and heart, purposeful thought with passionate yearning. Coaxed and guided by the still, inner voice of the Divine soul, the ego seeks the sublime depths of the Infinite, attaching, merging and dissolving, to realise the transcendent immanence of the G-d of Israel. This seductive, all-too transient, state is called 'deveikus'.
Constant 'deveikus', says the holy Ba’al Shem Tov, is the quintessence of the Mitsvos, the essence of the living Torah[1], expressed succinctly by the verse (Psalms 16:8), "שויתי ד' לנגדי תמיד" – “I place G-d before me always”. Two types of positive Mitsvos are described in the Torah[2]: those involving thought and emotion, ‘obligations of the heart’, and physical actions[3], enriched by the knowledge of before Whom we stand, the love of G-d, the heart and spirit of the external deed and the natural state of the Divine soul. Performance of these physical actions spiritually uplift and transform the physical plane, and create within a visceral awareness of G-d’s Presence.
This tentative awareness however will be nebulous and fugacious, if not maintained and developed. The inchoate, experiential consciousness is the embryonic expression of the Divine Will, and needs to be cultivated and strengthened. By meditating on G-d and His Presence, His Words or His Divinity within us, grounding the rediscovered reality with purposeful action, we begin to resonate consciously with the soul and its G-dly perception, its self-knowledge and innate understanding, allowing our physical consciousness to palpably comprehend spiritual actuality, more real than corporal existence but masked by our ego-induced scotomas.
Medical papers and journals extol the virtues of meditation, its scope for improving physical performance, physiological and mental proficiency, now scientifically proven. Besides these obvious and profound benefits, Jewish meditation operates on a higher dimension, acknowledging and strengthening the influence of the Divine soul, enabling a more conscious life, a life of true inner joy and spiritual awareness.
The book 'Eye to The Infinite' discusses the soul’s source, its potential and nature, the awesome power of meditation, then introduces the theory and ‘mechanics’ of Jewish meditation, and finally presents practical examples, complete with excerpts direct from the Sages and Masters, their advice on how to meditate, and thirteen life-changing meditation exercises adapted from the canon of kabbalistic writings and Jewish thought[4].
In our day and age, it behoves us to remember that the door to the Infinite lies within each one of us, as Moses, our teacher says, כי קרוב אליך הדבר מאד בפיך ובלבבך לעשותו – “For it[5] is extremely close to you – in your mouth and in your heart to do it[6]”.
[1] Intro. Toldos Ya’akov Yosef, Noam Elimelech, Liqutei Shoshanim (437a), Qedushas Levi (Vol. II p. 471)
[2] See Ibn Ezra and Klei Yokor, Deut. 30:11-14. Also Ibn Ezra, Exodus20:2.
[3] Action includes speech.
[4] For those interested in a comprehensive treatment of the subject, we recommend ‘Jewish Meditation’ (Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan: Shocken Books, NY).
[5] Referring to the aforementioned ‘HaMitsvoh’ (30:11), to cleave to G-d (see Heichal HaBrochoh ad loc).
[6] Deut. 30:14
The spiritual path of Judaism combines the mind and heart, purposeful thought with passionate yearning. Coaxed and guided by the still, inner voice of the Divine soul, the ego seeks the sublime depths of the Infinite, attaching, merging and dissolving, to realise the transcendent immanence of the G-d of Israel. This seductive, all-too transient, state is called 'deveikus'.
Constant 'deveikus', says the holy Ba’al Shem Tov, is the quintessence of the Mitsvos, the essence of the living Torah[1], expressed succinctly by the verse (Psalms 16:8), "שויתי ד' לנגדי תמיד" – “I place G-d before me always”. Two types of positive Mitsvos are described in the Torah[2]: those involving thought and emotion, ‘obligations of the heart’, and physical actions[3], enriched by the knowledge of before Whom we stand, the love of G-d, the heart and spirit of the external deed and the natural state of the Divine soul. Performance of these physical actions spiritually uplift and transform the physical plane, and create within a visceral awareness of G-d’s Presence.
This tentative awareness however will be nebulous and fugacious, if not maintained and developed. The inchoate, experiential consciousness is the embryonic expression of the Divine Will, and needs to be cultivated and strengthened. By meditating on G-d and His Presence, His Words or His Divinity within us, grounding the rediscovered reality with purposeful action, we begin to resonate consciously with the soul and its G-dly perception, its self-knowledge and innate understanding, allowing our physical consciousness to palpably comprehend spiritual actuality, more real than corporal existence but masked by our ego-induced scotomas.
Medical papers and journals extol the virtues of meditation, its scope for improving physical performance, physiological and mental proficiency, now scientifically proven. Besides these obvious and profound benefits, Jewish meditation operates on a higher dimension, acknowledging and strengthening the influence of the Divine soul, enabling a more conscious life, a life of true inner joy and spiritual awareness.
The book 'Eye to The Infinite' discusses the soul’s source, its potential and nature, the awesome power of meditation, then introduces the theory and ‘mechanics’ of Jewish meditation, and finally presents practical examples, complete with excerpts direct from the Sages and Masters, their advice on how to meditate, and thirteen life-changing meditation exercises adapted from the canon of kabbalistic writings and Jewish thought[4].
In our day and age, it behoves us to remember that the door to the Infinite lies within each one of us, as Moses, our teacher says, כי קרוב אליך הדבר מאד בפיך ובלבבך לעשותו – “For it[5] is extremely close to you – in your mouth and in your heart to do it[6]”.
[1] Intro. Toldos Ya’akov Yosef, Noam Elimelech, Liqutei Shoshanim (437a), Qedushas Levi (Vol. II p. 471)
[2] See Ibn Ezra and Klei Yokor, Deut. 30:11-14. Also Ibn Ezra, Exodus20:2.
[3] Action includes speech.
[4] For those interested in a comprehensive treatment of the subject, we recommend ‘Jewish Meditation’ (Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan: Shocken Books, NY).
[5] Referring to the aforementioned ‘HaMitsvoh’ (30:11), to cleave to G-d (see Heichal HaBrochoh ad loc).
[6] Deut. 30:14