Parashat Shemot

reflection by Rebecca Schisler

"Parshat Shemot brings us to one of the most iconic moments in our Torah, when the prophet Moses encounters God in the burning bush. Moses saw that this bush was burning, yet not being consumed. He paused to investigate the strange phenomena further, initiating the process of liberation, rebirth and actualization for himself and the people of Israel.

 What is the meaning of this metaphor, that the bush was burned, yet not consumed? Perhaps it means that Moses was completely present in that moment, and as if on a roll of film, time slowed to present just one frame on the reel. His awareness was completely filled with that single precious instant of the bush mid-burn. 

 'Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground,' instructs the voice of the divine. But the first part of that phrase can also be translated as, “Remove the locks for your habits.' Free yourself from your habituated patterns of awareness; shift into a renewed perception. Then you will become available, as a prophet, to the voice of the divine, and to the secret of ‘ehyeh asher ehyeh’ - that what is, was, and will be, is in some way always and already unfolding here, in the eternal now. In that awareness, we can touch the possibility of inner freedom; and we can sense the path forward to bring more freedom into the world.

 During this wintery, dark time of long nights and cold days, may we be blessed to shift out of our habituated and stale modes of perception, so that we may become aware of the ever-present light of divine guidance that is here to support us as we continue on the path of healing, awakening, and liberation."

 Shabbat Shalom from Or HaLev