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Sefirat ha'mishpatim, week seven: malchut/Shechina
And here we are.
For week six, I wrote, "At the end of this week, you have taken six concrete actions for social change. You've worked on letting go of the urge to change the past and taken responsibility for repairing past wrongs. You've actively created some good things in the present. And you've taken time to look back over the past six weeks of thinking and planning and acting and appreciate what you've done." Oof, that last one is the hardest. But I did make donations that I wouldn't have otherwise, and they went to people doing their best to do some good, and that's not nothing.
Week Seven: Malchut and Shechina - Immanence, Manifestation, Divine Presence, Inspiration, Awe
I've spent the last few days trying to think of how to write about this accessibly for people who don't partake of faith or of this faith. It's hard! The previous six weeks were themed around aspects of divinity that could be addressed in a sort of allegorical way, but there's no allegory for malchut or Shechina. The Shechina is God, the feminine and humble counterpart to the masculine and exalted aspect addressed as Adonai. Malchut is the manifestation of the divine realm on this earthly plane. What they have in common is that they bridge the tangible and the intangible. They dwell in the same place as the things we experience often but don't really understand: art, weather, love, terror, awe. I think most of us will occasionally encounter something that makes us stop and say wow, something that feels bigger than we can comprehend. That feeling is what I want this week to evoke.
In the political context, I invite you to think about concepts such as justice, peace, safety, and health: big things, complicated things, things that a whole lot of very smart and wise and well-educated people collectively struggle to define and redefine, things we know that we want to bring into the world even as we also know that our understanding of them must always continue to evolve. That, to me, is malchut, a world so vastly improved from the one we have that I can't even really comprehend what it would be like to live in it.
And I also invite you to think about concepts such as artistic inspiration, the feeling of meeting someone you click with, whatever it is about your favorite color that calls to you, the moment when you know just what to say, the care that turns a house into a home, the spark we call "life" that transforms a collection of cells into something that grows and thinks and sees itself. That, to me, is Shechina, the indefinable thing within us that makes our imaginings and creations and connections possible.
This is a grim time, a hardscrabble time, and that can make it hard to contemplate things that are numinous and ineffable. We're all exhausted! Do we really have the energy to try to wrap our minds around the infinite? But malchut and Shechina are experiential. They don't need to be understood. Build a house for the Shechina and she will move right in. Sometimes going dully through the motions, hammering one nail at a time, is enough to make space for the divine.
As with last week, I'm going to encourage us to take an action every day this week except Shabbat. If that's more than you can do, or if it clashes with other plans you've already made, it's always fine to skip the suggested action and ponder the day's themes in some other way.
10/27: 43. Chesed sh'b malchut, compassion within manifestation: There are people it's hard to open our hearts to. Today's challenge is to mentally invite those people into your concept of a perfect and blissful future; you don't have to like them, but see if you can find some compassion for them, or for who they might have been had others not taught them in twisted and damaging ways. Take an action to support a person or organization that aims to do something good for an entire community or the whole world—such as through a stabilized climate, a cleaner ecosystem, universal health care, or universal basic income—and do it even knowing that terrible people are included among those who will benefit.
10/28: 44. Gevurah sh'b Shechina, boundaries within inspiration: Any artist will tell you that limitation can produce incredible inspiration. Give yourself a limited budget of time, money, or other resources, and challenge yourself to find some way to take creative and meaningful action within that budget. Don't worry about making the "best" or most efficient use of what you have; see what priorities arise and what feels right to you. There are no wrong answers.
10/29: 45. Tiferet sh'b malchut, focus within manifestation: Every time we feel pulled in a hundred different directions and drawn to a hundred different good causes, tiferet reminds us of the intensity we can bring to bear when we focus, as powerful as a laser. Train that focus on the election, and take an action to support a campaign that you believe in. Suggested reading: "Panic Decision Matrix" on Idle Words, which analyzes campaigns and lists the ones that can make the most use of your support.
10/30: 46. Netzach sh'b malchut, persistence within immanence: When we help the divine to manifest in the world, it's not an inherently permanent state, and the work is never done. On the one hand, that can be dispiriting. On the other hand, it means that every day we have the opportunity to further our pursuit of those awe-level societal qualities. We can always be more just, more inclusive, more joyous! If you've taken an action these past few weeks that you feel has maybe faded a little or done what it set out to do, renew it or build on it today.
10/31 (Shabbat): 47. Hod sh'b Shechina, presence within divine presence: Every Jewish blessing begins We bless You; in all our imperfect humanness, we still sanctify the divine just as much as the divine sanctifies us. Take today to see and appreciate yourself as a manifestation and conduit of goodness in the world. If there's some way in which you feel that your inspiration for social change comes from outside of you, think about how you uniquely channel it into action and results. If you feel it welling up from deep within you, think about how you encourage that spring to flow and clear away whatever blocks it. If you feel that this work brings you a little closer to a state of holiness, remember that your dirt-creased hands are what make the work holy. You are amazing.
11/1: 48. Yesod sh'b Shechina, creation within inspiration: It's easy to see how inspiration leads to creation, but the other half of the feedback loop gets less attention. Is there something you've created in the past seven weeks, or a creative process you've gone through, that's sparked a new idea for a way to take action or give support? Follow that spark now.
11/2: 49. Shechina sh'b malchut, awe within awe: Here we are, on the cusp of something that can't be predicted or fully understood, before or after the fact. To that list of things too big and complex to comprehend, I'll add democracy. Before you take action today—and before anxiety distracts or paralyzes you—take some time to sit with the sheer scale of an American national election. Every single vote is a person. I can't wrap my mind around there being so many people all coming together to do this one thing! Try to encompass the fierceness and knowledge with which so many people are fighting to protect and expand the right to vote and make sure every vote is counted, for everyone—another universal benefit that we fight for even on behalf of those we vehemently disagree with, because that's how rights work. Let that abundance of participation and activism fill you to overflowing. Then go do whatever you can to add to it: vote, plan to vote, help someone else vote, track your ballot, phonebank, textbank, bring store-bought cookies to your local polling place, donate, whatever is within reach for you.
At the end of seven weeks, you have done whatever you could do in seven weeks. It both was and was not enough.
The 50th day is the festival. Jewish holidays tend to be a mix of the somber and the uplifting, and Election Day will undoubtedly be both those things. Vote, if you can and you haven't already; help others vote; and as the polls close and the results trickle in, take care of yourself and your loved ones. Remember that on any day, whenever you need to, you can start counting again, building your own pattern and your own habit and your own way of getting from where you are to where you will be.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey. It's been genuinely therapeutic and invigorating for me, and I hope for you as well. <3
For week six, I wrote, "At the end of this week, you have taken six concrete actions for social change. You've worked on letting go of the urge to change the past and taken responsibility for repairing past wrongs. You've actively created some good things in the present. And you've taken time to look back over the past six weeks of thinking and planning and acting and appreciate what you've done." Oof, that last one is the hardest. But I did make donations that I wouldn't have otherwise, and they went to people doing their best to do some good, and that's not nothing.
Week Seven: Malchut and Shechina - Immanence, Manifestation, Divine Presence, Inspiration, Awe
I've spent the last few days trying to think of how to write about this accessibly for people who don't partake of faith or of this faith. It's hard! The previous six weeks were themed around aspects of divinity that could be addressed in a sort of allegorical way, but there's no allegory for malchut or Shechina. The Shechina is God, the feminine and humble counterpart to the masculine and exalted aspect addressed as Adonai. Malchut is the manifestation of the divine realm on this earthly plane. What they have in common is that they bridge the tangible and the intangible. They dwell in the same place as the things we experience often but don't really understand: art, weather, love, terror, awe. I think most of us will occasionally encounter something that makes us stop and say wow, something that feels bigger than we can comprehend. That feeling is what I want this week to evoke.
In the political context, I invite you to think about concepts such as justice, peace, safety, and health: big things, complicated things, things that a whole lot of very smart and wise and well-educated people collectively struggle to define and redefine, things we know that we want to bring into the world even as we also know that our understanding of them must always continue to evolve. That, to me, is malchut, a world so vastly improved from the one we have that I can't even really comprehend what it would be like to live in it.
And I also invite you to think about concepts such as artistic inspiration, the feeling of meeting someone you click with, whatever it is about your favorite color that calls to you, the moment when you know just what to say, the care that turns a house into a home, the spark we call "life" that transforms a collection of cells into something that grows and thinks and sees itself. That, to me, is Shechina, the indefinable thing within us that makes our imaginings and creations and connections possible.
This is a grim time, a hardscrabble time, and that can make it hard to contemplate things that are numinous and ineffable. We're all exhausted! Do we really have the energy to try to wrap our minds around the infinite? But malchut and Shechina are experiential. They don't need to be understood. Build a house for the Shechina and she will move right in. Sometimes going dully through the motions, hammering one nail at a time, is enough to make space for the divine.
As with last week, I'm going to encourage us to take an action every day this week except Shabbat. If that's more than you can do, or if it clashes with other plans you've already made, it's always fine to skip the suggested action and ponder the day's themes in some other way.
10/27: 43. Chesed sh'b malchut, compassion within manifestation: There are people it's hard to open our hearts to. Today's challenge is to mentally invite those people into your concept of a perfect and blissful future; you don't have to like them, but see if you can find some compassion for them, or for who they might have been had others not taught them in twisted and damaging ways. Take an action to support a person or organization that aims to do something good for an entire community or the whole world—such as through a stabilized climate, a cleaner ecosystem, universal health care, or universal basic income—and do it even knowing that terrible people are included among those who will benefit.
10/28: 44. Gevurah sh'b Shechina, boundaries within inspiration: Any artist will tell you that limitation can produce incredible inspiration. Give yourself a limited budget of time, money, or other resources, and challenge yourself to find some way to take creative and meaningful action within that budget. Don't worry about making the "best" or most efficient use of what you have; see what priorities arise and what feels right to you. There are no wrong answers.
10/29: 45. Tiferet sh'b malchut, focus within manifestation: Every time we feel pulled in a hundred different directions and drawn to a hundred different good causes, tiferet reminds us of the intensity we can bring to bear when we focus, as powerful as a laser. Train that focus on the election, and take an action to support a campaign that you believe in. Suggested reading: "Panic Decision Matrix" on Idle Words, which analyzes campaigns and lists the ones that can make the most use of your support.
10/30: 46. Netzach sh'b malchut, persistence within immanence: When we help the divine to manifest in the world, it's not an inherently permanent state, and the work is never done. On the one hand, that can be dispiriting. On the other hand, it means that every day we have the opportunity to further our pursuit of those awe-level societal qualities. We can always be more just, more inclusive, more joyous! If you've taken an action these past few weeks that you feel has maybe faded a little or done what it set out to do, renew it or build on it today.
10/31 (Shabbat): 47. Hod sh'b Shechina, presence within divine presence: Every Jewish blessing begins We bless You; in all our imperfect humanness, we still sanctify the divine just as much as the divine sanctifies us. Take today to see and appreciate yourself as a manifestation and conduit of goodness in the world. If there's some way in which you feel that your inspiration for social change comes from outside of you, think about how you uniquely channel it into action and results. If you feel it welling up from deep within you, think about how you encourage that spring to flow and clear away whatever blocks it. If you feel that this work brings you a little closer to a state of holiness, remember that your dirt-creased hands are what make the work holy. You are amazing.
11/1: 48. Yesod sh'b Shechina, creation within inspiration: It's easy to see how inspiration leads to creation, but the other half of the feedback loop gets less attention. Is there something you've created in the past seven weeks, or a creative process you've gone through, that's sparked a new idea for a way to take action or give support? Follow that spark now.
11/2: 49. Shechina sh'b malchut, awe within awe: Here we are, on the cusp of something that can't be predicted or fully understood, before or after the fact. To that list of things too big and complex to comprehend, I'll add democracy. Before you take action today—and before anxiety distracts or paralyzes you—take some time to sit with the sheer scale of an American national election. Every single vote is a person. I can't wrap my mind around there being so many people all coming together to do this one thing! Try to encompass the fierceness and knowledge with which so many people are fighting to protect and expand the right to vote and make sure every vote is counted, for everyone—another universal benefit that we fight for even on behalf of those we vehemently disagree with, because that's how rights work. Let that abundance of participation and activism fill you to overflowing. Then go do whatever you can to add to it: vote, plan to vote, help someone else vote, track your ballot, phonebank, textbank, bring store-bought cookies to your local polling place, donate, whatever is within reach for you.
At the end of seven weeks, you have done whatever you could do in seven weeks. It both was and was not enough.
The 50th day is the festival. Jewish holidays tend to be a mix of the somber and the uplifting, and Election Day will undoubtedly be both those things. Vote, if you can and you haven't already; help others vote; and as the polls close and the results trickle in, take care of yourself and your loved ones. Remember that on any day, whenever you need to, you can start counting again, building your own pattern and your own habit and your own way of getting from where you are to where you will be.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey. It's been genuinely therapeutic and invigorating for me, and I hope for you as well. <3
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