Shemini
Can we go beyond time?
Reflection by Ariel Dominique Hendelman, the Or HaLev Team:
"This week’s Torah portion, Shemini, meaning `eighth,` gets its name from the eighth day, which is when Moshe calls forth Aharon and his sons, and the elders of Israel, instructing them again about the details of the various korbanot, or sacrificial offerings to YHVH. The categories are: chatat -the offering for when we have missed the mark, olah -the burnt offering, minchah -the meal or grain offering, and shlamim -the offering of wellbeing. These korbanot, or ways of coming close to the Eternal, are often bloody and visceral.
But that’s the way it is with intimacy, whether with ourselves, another person, or the One Who Made Us. It’s messy.
Sometimes, like Nadav and Avihu – Aharon’s sons who offer up a `strange fire` to YHVH – we might get overzealous or carried away. When that happens, the fire that is meant to purify our hearts so that we can come even closer burns too hot and consumes us instead.
So how do we know if our way of coming close is sanctified, and how does this relate to our meditation practice?
The key may be found in the title of this portion, Shemini. We live in a world where there are six days of the week, and the seventh day is Shabbat. Eight is meant to represent going beyond these cycles of time, into another realm, olam habah, or the world that is coming. In our meditation practice, we are able to tap into this realm whenever we are truly present. It is only in the present moment, the now, that we can go beyond time and experience the expanded consciousness that characterizes olam habah. Through our meditation practice, we can even help create it. From this state of awareness, we will naturally intuit how to have intimacy with Source, with ourselves,
and with others. Because we will be offering the fire of our hearts from the very center of our being, and that is a fire of truth, wholeness and love."