Lech Lecha: Reflections on Judaism and Israel

Last month (Tishrei), we celebrated the joyful conception (and subsequent pregnancy) of the cosmoverse, the super-soulful day of At-One-Ment and finally the love-athon of divine protection and affection that is Sukkot.

Tishrei has more festivals than any other month, and those of us who spend time around any Jewish community whatsoever cannot help but notice that all these lovely festivals make it a tad difficult to settle down into any kind of routine.

Tishrei is a month of dramatic emotional peaks, from which we glimpse our highest possible self and to experience precious tastes of our best possible selves.

And now?

This Sunday night, we begin the (very different) month of Cheshvan.

Whereas Tishrei was choka-woka with festivals, Cheshvan has NONE – which is far from common in our rather colourful calendar.

Here begins a pattern, a process that will carry us through the year, whether we realise it or not:

In Kabbalah, we learn that the first divine attribute (sephira) to manifest in this world is Chesed, sometimes translated as loving-kindness.

Chesed is associated with the masculine impulse of giving, of planting a seed, and of exploding in orgasmic joy in doing so.

In other words, Chesed is pleasurable – it is giving in a way that we love to give.

But Chesed alone could not have created and sustained the word – it just the first of 7 attributes which our existence journeys through.

After the Chesed of Tishrei comes our current month, Cheshvan, which begins with a strong manifestation of the 2nd attribute/sephira, known as Gevurah.

Gevurah is often translated as strength, but more precisely, in Kabbalah it refers to setting limitations or boundaries, to discipline, and to acting according to what is appropriate. Gevurah is hard work!

If Chesed is the generous expansion of the heart, and the Big Bang, that initially created everything, then Gevurah is the contraction (tzimtzum) and the setting of limitations that followed, and that makes continued existence possible.

If the Chesed of Tishrei permitted us ecstatic glimpses of what we might achieve in the year ahead of us, then now is our chance to do the hard work of manifesting our goals in our lives and in the world around us.

This month there are no festivals, no distractions, just the beauty of our weekly cycle – 6 days of hard work, culminating in Shabbat, a day of relaxation, communing, celebration, reflection and integration.

Cheshvan is hard work, in the best possible sense – to achieve our goals this month, we must be prepared to set limits, to be disciplined, and to learn how to act appropriately.

We must still strive to be generous, but with discrimination and respect for ourselves, and others – to give without boundaries is not really giving at all.

Ultimately, Chesed and Gevurah must be healthily integrated – which will lead us to the next attribute/sephira, Tiferet, and so, onwards on our journey through the beautiful gift of existence…

With love

Daniel