This Week I Felt Like A Rebel

In the past eighteen months, I have attended meditation and Torah study at shul almost every weekend. It is the best book club ever.  Week to week we read the stories of the Torah and apply the lessons to our every day life.  Visions of walking with any one of the Jewish leaders brings me back every week to learn more.  This is the longest I have ever stayed connected to a group.  The wisdom and simple connection that I feel when our group shares our thoughts and experience is elevating.  And of course, the lessons seem to speak to me because of an issue that I am dealing with either personally or professionally.

This week is no different.  One of the great teachers we study is Rabbi Shefa Gold. In her book, "Torah Journeys," Rabbi Gold teaches about the rebel within.  Below is the spiritual challenge she offers with this week's torah portion.

As we celebrate Shabbat this weekend, take a moment to meditate with this guidance.  Thank you Rabbi Gold for the beautiful teaching and your nurturing wisdom.

REFINING THE REBEL WITHIN (Rabbi Shefa Gold)
http://www.rabbishefagold.com/Korach.html

     This week of Korach sends me to memories of those times I was called rebellious. I remember my confusion; my only aim was to speak my truth and fight against what I perceived as hypocrisy. Now I see that I lacked patience, compassion and humility, but my intentions were good and the passion that moved me came from the sacred core of Divine Essence within me.

THE PRACTICE FOR THIS WEEK of Korach is to dig up the rebel buried within you and combine her essence with the specific qualities that you have worked long and hard to develop.

REMEMBER YOUR OWN PASSION which may have, over time, been dampened by life's disappointments.

REMEMBER THE REBEL you once were and the energy that moved through you at that time. In the portion of Korach, the earth opens her mouth and swallows the rebels. They are planted in the ground like seeds, waiting for just the right conditions to grow into their fullness.

IMAGINE THE REBEL YOU ONCE WERE as a seed planted deep in the ground. Now you can bring to that seed exactly the qualities that would help it grow.

YOU CAN WATER IT WITH PATIENCE, shine on it the light of compassion, and fertilize the soil with all the shit you've been through.

Shabbat Shalom.