Shemini Atzeret
Can we welcome all the guests?
Reflection by Or HaLev teacher, Rabbah Dr. Mira Neshama:
"While we already marked the anniversary of October 7, on the Hebrew calendar, the anniversary is Shemini Atzeret, the holiday we’re now entering.
When thinking of this day coming again in the calendar, my first instinct is to run away and pretend it is not happening. And then I remember that spiritual practice is not just about facing what is; It is also about transforming my way of relating to it.
Spiritual practice is soul alchemy, the process that consists in transforming a material into gold.
This is what the Talmud seems to teach us about Shemini Atzeret, in a story about the Leviathan that points to a process of alchemy in Jonah’s journey that we read on Yom Kippur.
Some say that the Huge Fish who swallowed Jonah before he woke up and decided to face his destiny was the Leviathan, the famous mythical sea monster God created with the world. Others say that the Huge Fish was swallowed by the Leviathan.
Either way, meeting the Leviathan is the lowest part of Jonah’s journey. By being cast into the sea and meeting the fish, Jonah met his worst fears and then began rising up by expressing gratitude for what he was given and taking responsibility for his destiny.
Today, Leviathan is still the same. It has become the embodiment of our worst fears, a monster from an underworld that is there to devour us.
Yet, a Talmudic teaching suggests that in the end, that very monster will become protection and nourishment for us.
In the future, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will `make a feast for the righteous from the flesh of the Leviathan` (Baba Batra 75a 4)
עָתִיד הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לַעֲשׂוֹת סְעוּדָה לַצַּדִּיקִים מִבְּשָׂרוֹ שֶׁל לִוְיָתָן
and not only that: `in the future, the divine source of Life, will prepare a Sukkah for the righteous from the skin of the Leviathan` (Baba Batra 75a 6)
עָתִיד הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לַעֲשׂוֹת סוּכָּה לַצַּדִּיקִים מֵעוֹרוֹ שֶׁל לִוְיָתָן
On Shemini Atzeret, the spiritual alchemy we started with Jonah on Yom Kippur seems to be completed.
Mindfulness is about spiritual alchemy. When we meet what hurts and hold space lovingly for it, we can transform monsters into manure, the fertile soil from which we can grow.
Through practice we are strengthened by the very wisdom learned from our pains.
For some of us, the past year has forced us to change, to leave some people and to meet others, to start a spiritual practice or reconnect to our roots, to volunteer and pray, to start therapy or journaling. We each have our unique ways of turning monsters into manure. It may be that the most beautiful growth hasn’t happened yet. It may be we have yet to start. It will take time.
Imagine what it might be like this Shemini Atzeret to decide to believe in spiritual alchemy, and to let it operate in our hearts. May it be so."