Mem Kuf Lamed Tet
Mem- symbolizes the womb-mayim chayyim-life giving water
Kuf-the ruah hakodesh hovering-creating a place of safety where one can draw down deeply toward the root of infinite holiness
Lamed-reaching back up toward your heart (lev).
Tet –t’shuvah-turning and turning inward toward Adonai
Chait-sin/missing the mark
T’shuvah-return/repent
HaMakom-the Place/ also a name for God
Galut- exile
Miklat- refuge, absorption, integration
Lashon Hara-literally translated as “evil tongue”-hurtful speech
Miklato-personal refuge
Shalem-whole/complete
Shmirat haLashon-“guarding the tongue”-consciously choosing your words.
“Raise your hand if you have ever broken a bone…leave your hand up if that bone still hurts now…Raise your hand if you still feel pain from something someone said to you in the past year…keep your hand up if you feel pain from a remark someone made about you in the last 5 years…last 10…last 20…last 30...a remark made before you were five years old… (Sylvia Boorstein, It’s Easier Than You Think, pg. 48) You don’t need to raise your hand to answer this question…just acknowledge it to yourself. Who has said something hurtful to someone in the past year?
Words are powerful and are often the main ingredient responsible for committing a chait-a sin. Also known as “missing the mark”.
Most often chait happens in the form of words spoken aloud that harm someone else or words that seem to arise in our minds about someone else. The most insidious are the ones we say to our selves (aka: the inner critic). At times it almost feels as if we are being pursued by these words, these thoughts…they become habituated into repetitive loops that seem to show up at the worst moments. Do you ever feel like running from your thoughts? Like you are in exile from your own centered place of peacefulness (haMakom)? This is galut. Before you can return to haMakom you need a quiet place, safe from the hounding words…you need miklat-refuge in order to reconnect with your own essence-to sort through the clutter of repetitive thought patterns-time to just be, space to just breathe.
The month of Elul provides a block of Jewish calendar time for just this purpose. We have the whole month to prepare out hearts, to seek forgiveness of others, of God and ourselves. We do this so that we can make t’shuvah, return to God fresh and pure on Yom Kippur.
Yet t’shuvah is more than thinking about saying we are sorry, more than wanting to change our behavior and thoughts-it is even more than the outward gestures of uttering the words “I’m sorry”-ultimately the true change, true return only happens when the experience becomes integrated into the whole of your being. (We’ll come back to this in a moment)
So here’s something interesting about the passage of Torah we are reading today…it talks about creating Orei Miklat-cities of refuge for the person who has accidentally murdered someone.
Our words as we all know are very powerful (in my view this includes the words we say to ourselves in our own minds) Jewish tradition teaches that it is as though we have committed a triple murder when we are not careful with our speach. Who has been murdered?
1. The speaker
2. The listener
3. The subject of the evil speech
This degree of murder is equivalent to the accidental murder that is discussed in parasha shoftim-it requires the punishment of galut (exile). This morning’s text teaches that as a community we are responsible for providing a refuge for such a murderer.
I want to focus on creating miklato-(a personal refuge) for who among us has not in some way “missed the mark” by uttering or listening to lashon hara (evil/hurtful speech).
I want to suggest that finding a city of refuge-or in this case personal refuge is as simple as paying attention to your next breath… What better place is there to seek refuge than within the sacred structure of your flesh and bones…the personal sanctuary that cradles your unique soul. I invite you to seek refuge within your own body, be present to your feelings, physically and emotionally and allowing the words to take a back seat for a while…
The root of the word Miklat-Kuf Lamed Tet …also means integrate-by coming into your breath… into your body with acute awareness you allow integration to happen so that the process of t’shuvah becomes shalem - a complete experience…right down to the cellular level of your body…your Miklato.
Guided Meditation
Close your eyes…
Allow your ears to be the gateway into your Miklato as you listen to my voice…let your breath be the path that you walk upon as you step through the gate and into the safety of your own mind and body space…your personal refuge…give yourself time to notice the edges of the city….feel the temperature of the air upon your skin…notice if any light is present through your closed eye-lids…listen for sounds outside the city walls other than my voice…allow those sounds to fade into the distance as you follow the path of your breath further toward the center of the city of refuge…notice if you are still holding any fear within your physical body…it might appear as tension…heat…cold…even pain…just notice…go to any place of residual holding and with kindness ask of that fearful place “what’s happening now?” …words may arise, memories, images…or just a subtle emotional sensation…acknowledge “what’s happening”…if you become caught up in the drama of this…be aware that you are in a safe place and that you can observe the drama without becoming involved or attached to it…come back to your breath and continue walking toward the center of your city of refuge…if you are able to visualize a specific point that we will call “center”…allow your imagination to create a tranquil space in which you can peacefully dwell…perhaps there is a well from which you can drink and find sustenance perhaps you see something else that will soothe you…perhaps you see nothing at all…in that case, what do you sense might be at the city’s center? What does it feel like to have a safe refuge from all the thoughts, words, memories…they will continue to try to pursue you…yet you remain untouchable…safe, tranquil, protected…you are filled with breath…protected by breath…it is your direct link to God’s Presence…as we continue to sit in silence for a few moments, continue to be aware of thoughts and words…do not allow yourself to be captured by them…acknowledge their presence, then come back once again to the center…to your breath…to your Miklato…personal refuge.
You have choices in how to use the different gates of your body-what you let in and what you send out…
Asana practice:
Mem-Easy pose-hands on knees silence
Kuf-left hand to heart
right hand sweeps above the head seated half-moon
Gentle seated twist
Extend legs into stick-bring heart toward knees
Hands and knees-cat/dog
Child
Squat to standing mountain
Lamed rise into chair pose-draw shoulders down and back-lift arms
Up into Mountain
Arch back
Tet Deep forward fold
Bend knees-bring bottom to floor
Lay down-reclining twist
Sivasana
Miklat is just a breath away.
Here is a piece of wisdom to take with you after you leave this room today regarding shomer lashon-guarding your tongue, it comes from Sylvia Boorstein…a teacher of mindfulness meditation…she suggests that by only talking to and about the person or people you are with helps you steer clear of risking the chait of gossip.
Chant ashrei
Mem- symbolizes the womb-mayim chayyim-life giving water
Kuf-the ruah hakodesh hovering-creating a place of safety where one can draw down deeply toward the root of infinite holiness
Lamed-reaching back up toward your heart (lev).
Tet –t’shuvah-turning and turning inward toward Adonai
Chait-sin/missing the mark
T’shuvah-return/repent
HaMakom-the Place/ also a name for God
Galut- exile
Miklat- refuge, absorption, integration
Lashon Hara-literally translated as “evil tongue”-hurtful speech
Miklato-personal refuge
Shalem-whole/complete
Shmirat haLashon-“guarding the tongue”-consciously choosing your words.
“Raise your hand if you have ever broken a bone…leave your hand up if that bone still hurts now…Raise your hand if you still feel pain from something someone said to you in the past year…keep your hand up if you feel pain from a remark someone made about you in the last 5 years…last 10…last 20…last 30...a remark made before you were five years old… (Sylvia Boorstein, It’s Easier Than You Think, pg. 48) You don’t need to raise your hand to answer this question…just acknowledge it to yourself. Who has said something hurtful to someone in the past year?
Words are powerful and are often the main ingredient responsible for committing a chait-a sin. Also known as “missing the mark”.
Most often chait happens in the form of words spoken aloud that harm someone else or words that seem to arise in our minds about someone else. The most insidious are the ones we say to our selves (aka: the inner critic). At times it almost feels as if we are being pursued by these words, these thoughts…they become habituated into repetitive loops that seem to show up at the worst moments. Do you ever feel like running from your thoughts? Like you are in exile from your own centered place of peacefulness (haMakom)? This is galut. Before you can return to haMakom you need a quiet place, safe from the hounding words…you need miklat-refuge in order to reconnect with your own essence-to sort through the clutter of repetitive thought patterns-time to just be, space to just breathe.
The month of Elul provides a block of Jewish calendar time for just this purpose. We have the whole month to prepare out hearts, to seek forgiveness of others, of God and ourselves. We do this so that we can make t’shuvah, return to God fresh and pure on Yom Kippur.
Yet t’shuvah is more than thinking about saying we are sorry, more than wanting to change our behavior and thoughts-it is even more than the outward gestures of uttering the words “I’m sorry”-ultimately the true change, true return only happens when the experience becomes integrated into the whole of your being. (We’ll come back to this in a moment)
So here’s something interesting about the passage of Torah we are reading today…it talks about creating Orei Miklat-cities of refuge for the person who has accidentally murdered someone.
Our words as we all know are very powerful (in my view this includes the words we say to ourselves in our own minds) Jewish tradition teaches that it is as though we have committed a triple murder when we are not careful with our speach. Who has been murdered?
1. The speaker
2. The listener
3. The subject of the evil speech
This degree of murder is equivalent to the accidental murder that is discussed in parasha shoftim-it requires the punishment of galut (exile). This morning’s text teaches that as a community we are responsible for providing a refuge for such a murderer.
I want to focus on creating miklato-(a personal refuge) for who among us has not in some way “missed the mark” by uttering or listening to lashon hara (evil/hurtful speech).
I want to suggest that finding a city of refuge-or in this case personal refuge is as simple as paying attention to your next breath… What better place is there to seek refuge than within the sacred structure of your flesh and bones…the personal sanctuary that cradles your unique soul. I invite you to seek refuge within your own body, be present to your feelings, physically and emotionally and allowing the words to take a back seat for a while…
The root of the word Miklat-Kuf Lamed Tet …also means integrate-by coming into your breath… into your body with acute awareness you allow integration to happen so that the process of t’shuvah becomes shalem - a complete experience…right down to the cellular level of your body…your Miklato.
Guided Meditation
Close your eyes…
Allow your ears to be the gateway into your Miklato as you listen to my voice…let your breath be the path that you walk upon as you step through the gate and into the safety of your own mind and body space…your personal refuge…give yourself time to notice the edges of the city….feel the temperature of the air upon your skin…notice if any light is present through your closed eye-lids…listen for sounds outside the city walls other than my voice…allow those sounds to fade into the distance as you follow the path of your breath further toward the center of the city of refuge…notice if you are still holding any fear within your physical body…it might appear as tension…heat…cold…even pain…just notice…go to any place of residual holding and with kindness ask of that fearful place “what’s happening now?” …words may arise, memories, images…or just a subtle emotional sensation…acknowledge “what’s happening”…if you become caught up in the drama of this…be aware that you are in a safe place and that you can observe the drama without becoming involved or attached to it…come back to your breath and continue walking toward the center of your city of refuge…if you are able to visualize a specific point that we will call “center”…allow your imagination to create a tranquil space in which you can peacefully dwell…perhaps there is a well from which you can drink and find sustenance perhaps you see something else that will soothe you…perhaps you see nothing at all…in that case, what do you sense might be at the city’s center? What does it feel like to have a safe refuge from all the thoughts, words, memories…they will continue to try to pursue you…yet you remain untouchable…safe, tranquil, protected…you are filled with breath…protected by breath…it is your direct link to God’s Presence…as we continue to sit in silence for a few moments, continue to be aware of thoughts and words…do not allow yourself to be captured by them…acknowledge their presence, then come back once again to the center…to your breath…to your Miklato…personal refuge.
You have choices in how to use the different gates of your body-what you let in and what you send out…
Asana practice:
Mem-Easy pose-hands on knees silence
Kuf-left hand to heart
right hand sweeps above the head seated half-moon
Gentle seated twist
Extend legs into stick-bring heart toward knees
Hands and knees-cat/dog
Child
Squat to standing mountain
Lamed rise into chair pose-draw shoulders down and back-lift arms
Up into Mountain
Arch back
Tet Deep forward fold
Bend knees-bring bottom to floor
Lay down-reclining twist
Sivasana
Miklat is just a breath away.
Here is a piece of wisdom to take with you after you leave this room today regarding shomer lashon-guarding your tongue, it comes from Sylvia Boorstein…a teacher of mindfulness meditation…she suggests that by only talking to and about the person or people you are with helps you steer clear of risking the chait of gossip.
Chant ashrei
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