Ki Tavo | Will We Enter?

Part 1: Beginner's Mind and First Fruits
Part 2: God vaccinated me. Now what?

 

Part 1: Beginner's Mind and First Fruits

 

וְהָיָה֙ כִּֽי־תָב֣וֹא אֶל־הָאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁר֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ נֹתֵ֥ן לְךָ֖ נַחֲלָ֑ה וִֽירִשְׁתָּ֖הּ וְיָשַׁ֥בְתָּ בָּֽהּ׃

And it will be when you enter the land that the Animating Energy of Now is giving you as a heritage, and you possess it and settle in it,

וְלָקַחְתָּ֞ מֵרֵאשִׁ֣ית ׀ כׇּל־פְּרִ֣י הָאֲדָמָ֗ה אֲשֶׁ֨ר תָּבִ֧יא מֵֽאַרְצְךָ֛ אֲשֶׁ֨ר יְהֹוָ֧ה אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ נֹתֵ֥ן לָ֖ךְ וְשַׂמְתָּ֣ בַטֶּ֑נֶא וְהָֽלַכְתָּ֙ אֶל־הַמָּק֔וֹם אֲשֶׁ֤ר יִבְחַר֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ לְשַׁכֵּ֥ן שְׁמ֖וֹ שָֽׁם׃

you shall take some of every first fruit of the soil, which you harvest from the land that the Animating Energy of Now is giving you, put it in a basket and go to the place where the Animating Energy of Now chooses to have their name dwell

Deuteronomy 26:1-2

 

When you enter (ki tavo) bring your first fruits. God of the Torah longs for the offering that comes from our undefended hearts and minds. The Animating Energy of Now is saying:

...Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

— African American theologian Howard Thurman

Last week's moment in Torah began with, when you go out, Ki Teitze. This week, Moses continues his oration of words of Torah to the people with Ki Tavo, when you go in.

How do we go back in and abide in a place that fulfills our vision of living in harmony with our highest aspirations? After we have been triggered by scary and challenging situations into a state of forgetting everything we thought we learned and practiced to be "a better person." How do we return to the place from which our first fruits, our heart offerings, will flow with and feed the Animating Energy of the Universe?

In Torah, entering that Promise begins with the ritual offering of first fruits.

When you have touched a new openness in your heart, pour it for the benefit of all life. When you empty your heart of mental images that separate you from yourself and others, an enlightened mind arises, likely for one moment, returning it to its source, to your source. Let go of fossilized judgments, ideas and  concepts of the other person or yourself. This brings you into the present moment where you meet the Animating Energy of Now. This moment, the moment that births your first fruits, is the only moment. In this moment you can encounter yourself and another person.

In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.

― Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice

Begin Anew with Beginner's Mind

In the "God language" of the early twentieth century Hassidic Rabbi from Ger, Poland:

Nothing exists without the divine life–force, and the point in each thing that comes from the eternal never grows old, since the Eternal's words are constantly alive and flowing.

...My grandfather of blessed memory said that prayer, too, was a way of giving the first [of each day] to God, another sort of "first fruits."...

...The Midrash  [ancient rabbinic interpretations that have become Jewish spiritual canon] and Rashi [medieval Torah scholar]  both say: "each day these should be like new in your eyes."

[Why "like new"?]... It is really within human power to renew each thing. The renewal is there within everything, since God "renews each day, constantly, the work of creation." "Constantly" means in each moment."

— The Language of Truth, Svat Emet, translated and interpreted by Rabbi Art Green

"Divine life-force" is how Nonviolent Communication founder Marshall Rosenberg spoke about the needs that animate all of our choices and actions. The Svat Emet, in the Hasidic language of nineteenth century Europe, explains divine life force as "the point in each thing that comes from God never grows old, since God's words are constantly alive and flowing."

In Hasidic practice and Nonviolent Communication, we access beginner's mind by tracing thoughts, actions, desires, back to their originating life force. As in Buddhist practice, we endeavor to transform our thinking and languaging from judging, othering and separating to an encounter with what is "constantly alive and flowing"? In Torah this is the consciousness necessary to build a society that inhabits the Promised Land.

Jewish and Buddhist mindfulness practices are helpful to learn to notice when instead of fresh fruits and alive responses to the present moment, we are stuck in old habits, prejudices and stories. Nonviolent Communication is useful when we notice we are bringing old ideas (either "positive" or "negative" analyses, theories, diagnoses, judgments about ourselves or others) into this present moment. The practice is to stop, recognize and then look, with curiosity, for what is "alive and flowing" in us and in the other person in this moment.

Perhaps you find yourself judging someone as dangerous or untrustworthy because of something they did or said in the past. The needs for safety, trust, choice, are alive and flowing through you. It is likely that judgments are the habitual way of trying to meet these needs.

Instead of judging others based on something they did in the past, we can choose other strategies to meet our needs for safety and choice. We can decide to end connection, without judgment of the other as lesser. Or we can choose to connect with them by letting them know what's going on for us. You might say, "when you spoke that way to me, or acted in that specific way, I felt scared and I told myself it's not safe to be around you. Would you tell me what was going on for you then?" Or, "would you agree for us to meet in a public place with friends around?"

There is no shortage of possibilities of strategies to meet our needs once we bring our minds back alive by looking for the life energy in our reactions.

In the beginner's mind there is possibility.

In Torah, fulfillment of the possibilities, the Promise, will come when we  partner  with the whole of Creation. This week's moment in Torah begins by teaching individual rituals of offering thanksgiving through first fruits and tithing to massive community-wide rituals that awaken and expand the collective consciousness.

 

Part 2: This is Because That Is

Judaism and Buddhism share the belief that we are in partnership with all forms of life because we all come from the same source. We all contain and reflect each other. Our capacity to recognize this is the promise of being human. We can partake of this life. Yet shadow, duality and peril follow us because we are limited by biological form, history, conditioning and culture.

New rituals, perspectives and practices are needed to expand individual and collective vision.  Torah doesn't disappoint.

A New Ritual: Standing on Two Mountains

אֵ֠לֶּה יַֽעַמְד֞וּ לְבָרֵ֤ךְ אֶת־הָעָם֙ עַל־הַ֣ר גְּרִזִ֔ים בְּעׇבְרְכֶ֖ם אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּ֑ן שִׁמְעוֹן֙ וְלֵוִ֣י וִֽיהוּדָ֔ה וְיִשָּׂשכָ֖ר וְיוֹסֵ֥ף וּבִנְיָמִֽן׃

After you have crossed the Jordan, the following shall stand on Mount Gerizim when the blessing for the people is spoken: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.

וְאֵ֛לֶּה יַֽעַמְד֥וּ עַל־הַקְּלָלָ֖ה בְּהַ֣ר עֵיבָ֑ל רְאוּבֵן֙ גָּ֣ד וְאָשֵׁ֔ר וּזְבוּלֻ֖ן דָּ֥ן וְנַפְתָּלִֽי׃

And for the curse, the following shall stand on Mount Eval: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

Deuteronomy 27:12-13

From the ritual of bringing first fruits, dedicating your insights to the Animating Energy of Now, Torah adds this momentous new collective ritual. Half the tribes shall climb one mountain and half the other across the valley. Together, a new collective consciousness can arise.

Each tribe recognizes that it has only a partial view from its mountain. Each sees the other in a shadow. This humbles me to know that I'm standing only on one mountain, either the mountain of Gerazim or the mountain of Eval. As much as I may endeavor to stand in someone else's shoes, I am limited to one perspective.

I am mindful of this during Covid as I am blessed with an abundance of friendships and conversations with people who have radically different ideas and are making radically different choices about masking, vaccinating, etc. I see this as a blessing because it presents the opportunity for me to expand my consciousness to know that there is another mountain I'm not standing on. I can know that from that other mountain I am in the shadow, just as from my mountain other people and their choices are in the shadow.

In our human form, we can only stand on one mountain at a time. The living energy of now sees all the mountains and here and this masterful pasha is creating a ritual where the more we identify with the whole collective and participate with the whole collective, the more we can create a whole and integrated view of reality.

The rituals in the two sections of Ki Tavo are complementary.

This new communal ritual emerges with the rituals of first fruits (and tithing, also in this parsha). By cultivating individual beginner's mind, a mind of generosity and goodwill, we prepare ourselves to enter into the second collective covenant.

The first rituals, bringing first fruits and tithing, are meant to uplift individual consciousness to that of beginner's mind. This is a mind free of concepts of good/bad, right/wrong, in/out, superior/inferior.

When each one of us develops the non-dual consciousness that lives connected at all times to the unity of our source, then we can create a collective society that integrates the light and the shadow. Then we can mirror and reflect each other's knowing and seeing. Standing on separate mountains, as a collective we can create an integrated vision, heart and consciousness that will open a promise land to everyone.

Echoes of Buddhism and Judaism

This is, because that is. This is not, because that is not. This comes to be, because that comes to be. This ceases to be, because that ceases to be.

— The Buddha

Is it true that we are the one that creates a work of art, cooks a meal, organizes an event? It may be more accurate to say we are one condition that helps these things to manifest and that no one thing gives birth to something else. We are just one of many conditions that allow something to arise.

— This Is, Because That Is, Kaira Jewel Lingo (https://sangha.live/teachers/kaira-jewel-lingo-bio/)

In this week's Torah,  Eternally Present, through Moses,  declares a new covenant with the people. The covenant is that the people enter into the consciousness of "this is because that is."  Our human actions, the quality of our listening and awareness of the effect of our actions, are the partnership and mutuality for which Eternally Present yearns. This yearning is a theme of Hasidic writings:

“God is like a stranger in this world, having no one on whom to rest the Divine presence."

“God longs to be with us, to have our companionship, to draw out the holiness in the world.”

— Rabbi Lisa Gelber, Jewish Theological Seminary, quoting the Degel Machane Ephraim, 18th century grandson of the Bal Shem Tov, founder of the Hassidic movement.

We will be blessed to live free from violence and barren land only if we evolve past the dualism and separation of past history. Without transforming our awareness beyond duality, we cannot even see the miracles before us in each moment, the miracles that we see from cultivating mindfulness, seeing the life before us in this moment.

וּבָ֧אוּ עָלֶ֛יךָ כׇּל־הַבְּרָכ֥וֹת הָאֵ֖לֶּה וְהִשִּׂיגֻ֑ךָ כִּ֣י תִשְׁמַ֔ע בְּק֖וֹל יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶֽיךָ׃

All these blessings will take hold upon you, if you will listen to the voice of the Animating Energy of Now.

Deuteronomy 28:2

Yes, God vaccinates us with blessings. If we listen. We are limited by our human form, even as we call ourselves Sapien, wise ones, Torah advises: you have seen wonders, you have the blessing of being born onto this beautiful earth, and still, unless you fulfill your responsibility to her, to each other, to Oneness, you will not really see

הַמַּסּוֹת֙ הַגְּדֹלֹ֔ת אֲשֶׁ֥ר רָא֖וּ עֵינֶ֑יךָ הָאֹתֹ֧ת וְהַמֹּפְתִ֛ים הַגְּדֹלִ֖ים הָהֵֽם׃

the wondrous feats that you saw with your own eyes, those prodigious signs and marvels. This is because

וְלֹא־נָתַן֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה לָכֶ֥ם לֵב֙ לָדַ֔עַת וְעֵינַ֥יִם לִרְא֖וֹת וְאׇזְנַ֣יִם לִשְׁמֹ֑עַ עַ֖ד הַיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּֽה׃

The Animating Life Energy has not yet given you a mind to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.

Deuteronomy 29:2-3

Will we enter?

A Nonviolent Communication Practice
Transforming Old Judgments and Perceptions into First Fruits

ONE: Awareness of Perceptions and Judgments:

1. Write down a judgment/characterization you have of someone (e.g. “She is selfish.” “He is a racist.” “She doesn’t care about me”)
2. Write more about what you are telling yourself about them and their actions.
3. Write down one thing that person did that supports your judgment of them. What did you observe them do or hear them say? (Hint: What actions would you see or hear in a video of the event.)
4. Stop and Notice if and how it affects you and the way you feel when you go from steps 1 and 2 to step 3? Do you find value in doing this?

TWO: Making Use of the Judgment and Perception: Self Empathy /Finding the Hidden Jewel

1. How do you feel and what do you need when you are holding onto or thinking about the judgment? What is so important to you (the hidden jewel) that, when you are experiencing deficiency of it, you are thinking this way about another person?
2. Can you embrace your needs (hidden jewel, core life energies) instead of judging? What is challenging to do this? 
Do you find value in doing this?

THREE: Connecting with Curiosity/Empathy for the other person

1. As you find the jewel in your judgment, do you feel curiosity arising in you to understand what was going on in the other person when they did what they did? What is challenging to do this ? Do you find value in doing this?
2. What do you guess the other person was feeling and needing when they did that? What is challenging to do this? Do you find value in doing this?

FOUR: Expressing Honestly to the Other Person

1. Go to the other person and ask them if they are in a space to sit and listen to what's in your heart (You take 100% responsibility for how I make meaning of what they did without blame or shame — in NVC, expressing honestly to the other person doesn’t mean we tell them what we think is wrong with them.)
2. If you hear a "yes" from them that you trust is real, try saying this:
   When I heard you.../saw you…(Write your observation)I told myself … [I gave it a meaning] (SCARY HONESTY)(Write your thoughts)Because I FELT ... /Because when I think that I FEEL…(List your feelings)Because I have a history of …(Share what was activated in you)And/OrBecause I want... need....value.....(List and share about the life energies important to you in relation to this situation)
3. The Check In:And I want to check in with you now...

• • Would you tell me what you heard me say?  and
  • Would you tell me if this is the meaning you intended?  Or
  • Would you tell me how you feel hearing what I have shared?

 

---

 

A Song for Ki Tavo:

You are standing this day before God
Enter the land (of awakenings) God is giving you

God delights in making you prosperous and multiplying you
Rejoice in gratitude and offer up the fruits of your actions

Make an altar of unhewn stones (natural and unadorned)
A place to re-dedicate your life to God  (love all and serve all)
With your abundance serve God in joy and gladness


Listen to the voices of God
In the wind, in the stars, in the flames, in the wisdom of friends all about

Tithe your increase (profits, bonuses, extras). Consecrate your home
By sharing with people so they won’t be in need

Say aloud, “My father was a wandering Aramean” (the patriarch Abraham)
A treasured people are we who walk in sacred teachings

Observe faithfully the words of your covenant (with God)
That you may succeed in all you undertake


— Selections from Ki Tavo in Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8, as given in Song of the Torah, pp. 120-121 from Praha. Illustrated copy of Song of the Torah (available at Amazon)