Spirituality, Shekhinah Reflection
When I consider WomenExplore, I always recall with such a memorable sensation of a clear communal experience the day I spoke to this group in the Democracy Center.
Today I would dare to call this the presence of the “Shekhinah” within our group consciousness.
What would allow description when words tend to mute the actual experience?
I shared my Torah portion from my adult Bat Mitzvah wrapped in my tallit.
For me, chanting Hebraic verses among others gathered summons the Shekhinah.
I might further describe the Shekhinah’s presence as preventing panic and high tension in near death situation. Why was the shared glance towards one another so supportive and calming as a 7.1 earthquake struck Anchorage Alaska and we were ten stories above the street?
Neither of us uttered any words. I believe this was the Shekhinah in action.
A sense of security filled the room in those moments.
It was not an “ungodly” hour – it was our hour to find verify belief.
Can the Shekhinah be experienced not within a communal experience?
May Shekhinah intervene at other times?
I burrowed down through exactly fifty years of time passing and discovered another example.
The Shekhinah was revealed in one split second as I was uninjured in a potentially horrific accident.
The eight bicyclists who were struck and killed in New York City reminded me of the force of vehicles encountering bikes. The terrorist was in court for sentencing recently.
We watched in Manhattan on Halloween, and cancelled trick or treating with our granddaughter – this had been her birthday. We hid the news from her and her younger brother – deciding to simply enjoy cake together.
Had divine Shekhinah intervened, ever present, as a force pushing me away from certain injury and death?
Hearing Brandon Tsay recount his memory of an encounter with an armed gunman – had he felt the same push?
I wish we’d gather all the “Go Brandon” shirts – whatever hideous message is conveyed in its reach – and add “TSAY” – on the bottom of the shirt.
Shekhinah
Ival Stratford Kovner, MS, MFA
Group consciousness may be felt
Encountered one by one
Within expressive, knowing eyes
Words shift, now we are nonverbal
A rare otherness sensed
Name such moments, Shekhinah ?
Consider Women Explore gatherings
Recall a memorable sensation
A clear communal experience
A shared communal wave
Dare to call this presence
The Shekhinah?
How may words in each Focus
Convey a muted, transcended
Experience encased in memory.
Once I stood wrapped up in my tallit
Chanting the tropes of antiquity
Shekhinah summoned in such actions.
Can we find the same presence
Locked within a couple’s eyes
As an earthquake rocked earth
One long moment they glance eternity
Husband, wife sharing mutual gaze,
Securely safe, wrapped in Shekhinah.
We know other scriptures describe
Miraculous visions of burning
Tongues descending down,
Upon disciples conveying knowledge
As eyes gaze in unison upward
Holy Ghost, Spirit, Shekhinah?
Evening mists descended a decade
Ago, December fourteenth, reporters
Whispered behind nearby sound trucks,
A gurgling brook beneath foot bridge
Echoed loss here in Sandy Hook,
Witnessing this palpable wail, Shekhinah.
Small stuffed animals stood guard
As sentinels for the souls of children
Echoes of communal loss, disbelief
Hovered within darkness of night
Damp night air hung thick with sorrow,
Shrouded, Shekhinah wept.
Naming the mysterious warrants
Set limits, since sages caution
Study not mystery until decades
Of life pass, then bear witness
Search and recognize the mystery
Is this presence, Shekhinah?
Half century earlier in Central Square
A fast moving car careened towards
Me, straddling a half crossed street
On my bike. A miraculous nudge felt,
I fell distant, avoiding being crushed
Beneath the mangled bike, Shekhinah?
Can instant transcendence be noted
As Brandon Tsay saw his last moments
On earth, then he sensed a tug and
Enabled, he tackled the gunman
Had Shekhinah intervened?
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Let me share far more eloquent words written by
Rabbi Jill Hammer
The feminine image in Kabbalah
where Jewish mystics explored and extolled
Feminine Aspects of the Divine:
Stepping through moments of creation
Shekhinah deepens her relationship earth.
Spiraling through time, born within earth
She encounters change with each of us
We are shown the work of return
Repairing the world, through our actions.
Shekhinah also shelters within
Sacred places on the earth
Find protection within her wings.
Birthing the light, she kindles
The fires of faith in the Divine
Offers strength in mortals.
She is the constancy of seasons
And the world combined
She teaches her creatures not to fear
And shows them paths to move
Forward as she attends each moment
As laughter emerges in harmony. a
Suffering is given redemption
Powerless are freed from resignation.
Belief is instilled that all deserve a place.
The timeless is connected with world of time
Eternal, sacred conversation endless.
It remains the lasting covenant.
She descends the mountain as a bride
Frailty and tragedy within her partner
For her spouse is the world, yet still
She shines in the shadows
And offers blessings for humans’ dark
And uncertain journey.
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JANET COOPER NELSON
Mark Twain Library, Redding, CT.
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