Shavuot
A Forty Nine Day Journey to Receiving Emptiness
Shavuot is a pilgrimage in time and space. In ancient times, it was one of three yearly festival days of holy hajj, a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. The festival began as an agricultural festival to celebrate the first fruits of the harvest. Over time it has become a celebration of the receiving of Torah at Mount Sinai, the most precious spiritual fruit, the revelation of one’s purpose and original nature.
It is said that any person who stands fully present, as if at Sinai, can receive the Torah of their life. This is revelation.
What is the inner condition that leads to awakening to one’s true purpose and nature? The Jewish mystics teach, it is yearning for wholeness:
“The one who makes oneself like a desert wilderness … first becoming ownerless (hefker) like the desert wilderness…was the preparation of the Jewish people before they received the Torah: that they arrived at this attribute of “desert-ness”; that it became clear to them that they needed to yearn for wholeness and to clarify this need for others.”
(Sefat Emet, Bamidbar 1874)
In Torah, as in so many spiritual traditions, the wilderness is our teacher. Torah was given in the wilderness because the wilderness is ready to receive all people and belongs to no one, not even to the Jewish people. The agricultural laws that developed out of Sinai, such as the shemitah year, remind us that the land of Israel/Canaan/Palestine belongs to no one – that we are just “sojourners and temporary settlers” (gerim v’toshavim) on the land. This insight is called beginner’s mind in Buddhism, the release of concepts that fill our minds so we aren’t in the present moment.
The Hebrew word for belonging to no one is hefker – wilderness. The Hebrew word is midbar, a makom hefker, an un-owned, unbounded place.
Zen Roshi Bernie Glassman taught me about the experience of hefker as a door to discovering myself. When I am caught in the identity of a role, such as host, or guest or organizer or student or teacher, I constrict my capacity to be present and free with life unfolding moment to moment. When I am wedded to roles such as owner, victim, deserving or undeserving, I bury my capacity to yearn for wholeness. I become like a dry desert, not the fertile wilderness of Sinai that provided everything that was needed.
In this Shavuot, may we embrace our yearning for wholeness. May we empty our minds of all concepts, standing fully present to participate in the majesty of the world.
Exquisite! Beautifully said. You have inspired me and shaped my meditation this morning. I intend to carry your thoughts into my life. Thank you!
So beautifully rendered Roberta, spare and bright, like the desert beckoning,
David S.
I am in the wilderness of my mind yearning to understand where home is and what it means to be home. I say this as Marc, my husband of almost 50 years has been wandering in the bardo for 6 weeks now. Is he seeking rebirth, home, or is he just wandering in the netherworld like I am wandering on earth. Thanks for the insights.