ETERNAL MOMENTS
Thursday, October 23
Tishrei 24, Isru Chag
A story is told about the 19th century Chassidic Master, the Rebbe Rashab, who was visited by a friend he had not seen for 37 years.
The re-union was strange—the two once-close friends had seemingly nothing to say to each other after all that time—and then the Rebbe began to sing. It was a song from another time, and he closed his eyes as he sang, transported to another place. In a trance-like state, he sang for a long while, and when he finished, he turned to his friend and asked, "Do you remember?" And the friend answered, "Yes, I remember." That's all they said to each other, and a week later the friend died.
Later the Rebbe explained to his students who had witnessed that moment: "Thirty-seven years ago, when we parted ways, this was the song that we sang. The song was, in a way, a time capsule that held for us all the years that passed. When my friend said that he remembered, I knew that we didn't need to reunite because we had never parted ways—that song lifted us to an eternal time and place as if these years had never passed."
Eternal moments have the power to transcend time and space because they capture inside them the fleeting connection between the finite and the infinite. Such moments are gifts from G-d and are extremely rare. We'd all love to experience such eternal moments, because immortality is what we all yearn for. But unfortunately, life is, for most of us, an accumulation not of eternal moments but of finite, "dying" moments.
As we process the experiences of this High Holiday season, we want to capture the eternal moments that we experienced, be able to recall them, and use them to return to the closeness we felt with our own soul and with G-d.
Ask yourself: What eternal moments did you experience in this High Holiday season? What will it take to recall them later at will and be transported above time and space once again?
Exercise for the day:
Describe in detail as many eternal moments as you can recall.
Tishrei 24, Isru Chag
A story is told about the 19th century Chassidic Master, the Rebbe Rashab, who was visited by a friend he had not seen for 37 years.
The re-union was strange—the two once-close friends had seemingly nothing to say to each other after all that time—and then the Rebbe began to sing. It was a song from another time, and he closed his eyes as he sang, transported to another place. In a trance-like state, he sang for a long while, and when he finished, he turned to his friend and asked, "Do you remember?" And the friend answered, "Yes, I remember." That's all they said to each other, and a week later the friend died.
Later the Rebbe explained to his students who had witnessed that moment: "Thirty-seven years ago, when we parted ways, this was the song that we sang. The song was, in a way, a time capsule that held for us all the years that passed. When my friend said that he remembered, I knew that we didn't need to reunite because we had never parted ways—that song lifted us to an eternal time and place as if these years had never passed."
Eternal moments have the power to transcend time and space because they capture inside them the fleeting connection between the finite and the infinite. Such moments are gifts from G-d and are extremely rare. We'd all love to experience such eternal moments, because immortality is what we all yearn for. But unfortunately, life is, for most of us, an accumulation not of eternal moments but of finite, "dying" moments.
As we process the experiences of this High Holiday season, we want to capture the eternal moments that we experienced, be able to recall them, and use them to return to the closeness we felt with our own soul and with G-d.
Ask yourself: What eternal moments did you experience in this High Holiday season? What will it take to recall them later at will and be transported above time and space once again?
Exercise for the day:
Describe in detail as many eternal moments as you can recall.
posted by kurtiskabbalah at 3:21:00 PM
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