Yesterday we talked about prayers of healing. And why prayer and mediation helps with healing. Today we read the very beginning of the book of Genesis. Bereshit. So let’s start at the very beginning.
Except in our congregation, we don’t read the whole cycle. We are on the triennial cycle. This year we are on the third year. So while I would love to start with the sweeping languge of Bereshit Bara Elohim, that’s not exactly where we pick up the story. We start with Chapter 5.
Yet, there are echoes of the Creation story and one line we are going to explore in depth.
Enoch walked with G-d. What does it mean to walk with G-d? Is that too anthropomorphic for us today?
Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav (1772-1810) would walk outdoors in nature, in creation every day. Here is his prayer:
“Master ofthe universe, grant me the ability to be alone. May it be my custom to go outdoors each day Among the trees and grass, among all growing things. And there may I be alone, and enter into prayer, To talk with the One to whom I belong. May I express there everything in my heart, And may all the foliage of the field – All grasses, trees and plants – awake at my coming, To send the powers of their life into the words of my prayer So that my prayer and speech are made whole Through the life and the spirit of all growing things, Which are made as one by their transcendent source. May I then pour out the words of my heart Before your Presence like water, O Lord, And lift up my hands to you in worship, On my behalf, and that of my children! “
Even before then, walking with G-d is a thing. Isaiah taught us, “You shall run and not be weary you shall walk and not faint.” That seems to be every runner’s prayer. And for me, running and walking is a spiritual discipline. Recently at a WW meeting we were encouraged to take an Awe Walk. That would be me every day! For many experiencing creation and that sense of awe is their first entry point into experiencing the Divine. That’s why the first paragraph after the Barchu, the formal call to worship is about Creation.
Yet there is more about walking with G-d. We are told by the prophet Micah that there are just three things that G-d requires, “To do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with G-d.”
How can we walk with G-d? Sifre Eikev teaches us “To walk in God’s ways” (Deuteronomy 11:22). These are the ways of the Holy One: “gracious and compassionate, patient, abounding in kindness and faithfulness, assuring love for a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and granting pardon.” (Exodus 34:6). All who are called in God’s name will survive.(Joel 3:5) How is it possible for a person to be called by God’s name? Rather, God is called “merciful”—so too, you should be merciful. God is called “gracious” as it says, “God, merciful and gracious” (Psalms 145:8)—so too, you should be gracious and give gifts for nothing. God is called “just” as it says, “For God is righteous and loves righteousness” (Psalms 11:7)—so too, you should be just.” God is called “merciful”: “For I am merciful, says the Lord.” (Jeremiah 3:12) so too you be merciful. That is why it is said, “And it shall come to pass that all who are called in God’s name will survive.” This means that just as God is gracious, compassionate, and forgiving, you too must be gracious, compassionate, and forgiving. [Translation by Rabbi Jill Jacobs]”
It is not so much that we are walking in G-d’s ways, it is that we are imitating G-d. How do we imitate G-d? The Talmud in Sotah 14a asks this very question, “What is the meaning of the verse, “You shall walk after the Lord your G-d?” Is it, then, possible for a human being to walk after the Divine, which is described as a “devouring fire”? But the meaning is to follow the attributes of the Holy One. G-d clothes the naked, as it is written: “And G-d made for Adam and for his wife coats of skin, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21); so should you, too, clothe the naked. G-d visits the sick, as it is written: “And G-d appeared to him by the Oaks of Mamre”; so should you, too, visit the sick. G-d comforts mourners, as it is written: “And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that G-d blessed Isaac his son” (Genesis 25:11); so should you, too, comfort mourners. G-d buries the dead, as it is written: “And He buried him in the valley” (Deuteronomy 34:6); so should you, too, bury the dead.”
Rabbi Susan Freeman developed a meditation about walking with G-d for the Jewish Healing Center, taking us through the various stages of life. Noah walked with G-d, blameless in his generation. (Genesis 6:9). Abraham walked before G-d and was blameless. (Genesis 17:1). Malachai wonders what is the point. What have we gained by keeping God’s charge, and walking in mourning, before the Lord of Hosts?” (Malachi 3:14). But we are not to fear because we remember the purpose of our journey. As we age, however, the journey and the walking get harder. However, we are comforted by the verse from Ecclesiastes, “Ki holech adam el olamo: For [we set out], we walked to [our] eternal abode.” (Ecclesiastes 12:5). She explains that there is a calm stillness when we stop walking. God is with us, right behind us, as always. Gam ki-elech b’gey tzalmavet lo-ira ra ki-atah imadi: Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no harm, for You are with me.” (Psalm 23-4)
I have used this meditation before with various types of groups. It is particularly effective at assistant living programs. For a while I lost the words, although I am not sure there is any magic in them. However, I was delighted to find them again. (They are attached at the end.)
Other ways to walk with G-d include using a labyrinth. There are labyrinths in the Elgin area at the Unitarian Universalist church out on Highland, at St. Joe’s and St, Alexius and I think the maze out at the Moron Arboretum is also similar to walking a labyrinth. The idea, like Rebbe Nachman, is to be outside and to pour out your soul to the divine. And to listen. Really, really listen. Sometimes answers to your most pressing questions bubble up. Like Elijah I call that the still small voice.
Let’s experience walking with G-d, just like Enoch, just like Noah, just like Abraham.
Rabbi Susan Freeman’s full meditation:
To prepare for this meditation, try to re-experience feelings of physical strength and weakness in your body. In your mind liken the “journey of life” to a very long walk from infancy on. Sense the presence of God as you re-experience different stages, both of strength and weakness, in your life. Imagine yourself as an infant, not quite ready to walk. You are in a place which feels very secure. See yourself trying to stand or to move in some tentative, exploratory way. You have no sense of yourself as a separate being, apart from what surrounds you. You are walking — no boundaries between yourself and the environment around you. No boundaries, walking with God, blameless. This is your earliest memory, when you were like Noah: “blameless in his generation… Noah walked with God: Et ha Elohim hithalech Noah.” (Genesis 6:9)
Walking in wholeness, fully present, nothing separating you from anything. Walking with God. As you picture yourself in your secure environment, notice a door in the distance. You feel compelled to go towards the door. “Lech lechah: Go forth.” Walk toward the door. With each step closer to the door, you sense your life — without boundaries fading. As you touch the door handle, the feeling of fading boundaries is replaced with a growing sense of strength, sturdiness, independence. Open the door and step out. You walk forward in confidence and with a strong sense of self. You are no longer walking with God but walking before God. The memory of when you were like Abram: “Hithalech lefanai, veheyeh tamim: Walk before me and be blameless.” (Genesis 17:1) Continue walking. You are walking along a path that seems to stretch forever into the distance. Walking…walking…walking… Many years of sturdy walking before God, trusting your body to take you through life in strength. Your eyes focused on the future — the memory, the turning back and looking back on the time of blameless wholeness with God has faded, is so vague. You have been walking a long time now. Though your body continues to move forward, very gradually you are becoming weary, tired… No longer master of strength, sturdiness, optimism. Feel the weariness. “What’s the point of this long journey?” you ask yourself. At times you feel resigned, other times angry. Lately, it’s protest. Why this body… only to betray me? A body I don’t recognize. Where can I be if I am not with God, nor am I with myself as I have known myself for so many years? “U-mah betzah ki shamarnu mishmarto v’chi halachnu k’doranit: What have we gained by keeping God’s charge, and walking in mourning, before the Lord of Hosts?” (Malachi 3:14) So much darkness, the heaviness of mourning for what you have lost makes it harder to continue on. Each step slower now, and often painful as if you’re leaving behind the body you once knew and are entering a valley of darkness. But strangely, you are not frightened; you are calm. You remember the purpose of your journey. The place from which you have come is the place to which you are going, a safe place. “Ki holech adam el olamo: For [we set out], we walked to [our] eternal abode.” (Ecclesiastes 12:5) When the dust of this journey settles, you realize your lifebreath will return to God. “V’yashov he-afar al-ha’aretz keshe-hayah v’ha-ruach tashuv el-ha Elohim asher netara: And the dust returns to the ground as it was, and the lifebreath returns to God who bestowed it.” (Ecclesiastes 12:7) Notice the calm stillness as you stop walking. Look around, see that though you are no longer walking, God is there with you, right behind you, as always. God has been as constant as your most constant companion. “Gam ki-elech b’gey tzalmavet lo-ira ra ki-atah imadi: Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no harm, for You are with me.” (Psalm 23-4) You have been in God’s presence always. You do not have far to turn to return to the breath of all life. Return to God and God will return to you. “Shuvu elai v’ashuvah aleichem: Return to Me and I will return to you. Shuvu elai v’ashuvah aleichem.” (Malachi 3:7)