Celebrating Rosh Hashana

Friday, October 3, 2008

Celebrating Rosh Hashana by Dr. Harold Bob
This week Rosh Hashana was celebrated - (understanding that in the Bible prior to Abraham a "year" is not exactly a "year" as we know it) - roughly speaking for Jewish people this was the 5769 th birthday of the world. Every year for me this is a time of reflection, on many subjects.Many of our dilemmas are fundamentally based on linguistic dualities. Right and wrong, good and evil, dark and light - we make much of this, and - more importantly - we use many of these dualities to teach and to learn. So - the fact that Newtonian physics has been shown to "not work" is a sub atomic world (we need "Quantum mechanics") - does not invalidate Newtonian physic for day to day things. Likewise, the points here - are at special times - and - those wisdoms that are important for day to day life still are important. Birth and death though are, from an energy perspective - special times. We focus a lot on morality, integrity and rules - if only we get the rule right we are "good," but - at times - the rules cease to matter. When a child is born - the circumstances surrounding the conception of the child no longer matter - it is correct to view each child that is born as a soul sent into the world by God, and, each child should be viewed for their positive energy and potential. Likewise, as a person approaches death, the "sins" of their life become meaningless. This sounds stunning from the perspective of traditional religion - but - from a Reiki perspective - it is important and quite "normal." As energy of the soul or consciousness transitions from the body to merge with the Spiritual source, we need to assist as we can, but largely - get out of the way and not foment attachments that hold the spirit to the material world.Their is actually, a lot of support for this concept - within traditional religion. A central prayer of Jewish faith quotes from Isaiah, the Angels or Seraphim singing back and forth in Heaven, "Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts. The whole Earth is filled with his Glory." From the Hebrew here, Glory can truly be understood as the "substance" of God - matter and energy and soul (or consciousness) - those qualities that make up the universe and the people in it - are all part of the substance of God. In a major Rosh Hashana prayer, we recite a list of our sins, and pray for forgiveness. From a Jewish perspective, this prayer is part of the heart of our faith, and no doubt, from a Christian perspective, one can only imagine Jesus of Nazareth reciting this prayer - but - on reciting all the sins (to such a point that we realize that all human beings are sinners - and - we are taught - in Heaven one sin does not have higher standing than another, thus, all mortal beings are sinners) Avinu Malkeinu - or "our father our King" ends "our Father our King, act for your sake if not for our sake. Act for your sake and save us. Act for the sake of Your abundant compassion. Act for the sake of your great, mighty, and awesome Name that is proclaimed upon us. Be gracious with us and answer us, though we, have no worthy deeds; treat us with charity and kindness and save us."There is a Talmud story of Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, who is rumored to be the most sinful man who ever lived. He turned the whole Jewish people to Idolatry. This action was felt worse than his murder of the prophet Isaiah, or his forbidden sexual acts done in the Holy of Holies. When he died, he repented, but the angels closed the gates of heaven to him. God, acted, and opened a new Gate to Heaven - Why? It was to teach the Angels a) not to judge - only God retains the right ot Judge for God contains Mercy that exceeds his attribute of Justice and that b) God forgives all who repent regardless the Sin.Now there - stunningly - are countless Bible stories oft ignored by religious teachers - on this exact topic - and, for day to day life, it is understandable that we teach the lessons of Justice, Integrity and right behavior. However, as a human being approaches death, all these factors become meaningless - no one really "deserves" to suffer, and, God's intent is for human being to improve and evolve their Spirit or Consciousness - And so for the Health Care worker, and especially for the Reiki practitioner, the time near "Transition" or death, is one that requires special training and skill, since, we need especially to be well grounded, check our own egos at the door, assist the soul in transition - and understand that it is not about "us" or about "judgement" (which belongs only to God), but about like birth, a natural phenomenon that we cannot fully understand, that we can only assist, and for which we can ask no thanks. When we cannot "Cure" we can - at the least use Reiki to assist as the Spiritual Energy of a person returns to its source. Spiritual Energy permeates the Earth, "the whole Earth is full of its Glory"