Day 29: Chesed B'Hod

Those of you who have followed the Ma'yan Tikvah blog over the years have read Judith Felsen's exquisite and delicate poetry and have experienced her deep spirituality. 

Judith has many talents and trainings, including having a Ph.D. and being a N.Y.S. licensed Clinical Psychologist. She is an avid student of Torah and Jewish mysticism, a board member of the Bethlehem (N.H.) Hebrew Congregation, Mount Washington Valley Chavurah, and Neskaya Center for Movement Arts, a hiker, dancer, runner, poet, author, Appalachian Mountain Club information volunteer, trail adopter, and kitchen crew staff. She holds certificates in hypnosis, neurolinguistic  programming, hypnocoaching, sacred plant medicine, and is enrolled as a student in the Rabbinic Seminary International. Judith is married, and lives on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest with her husband and two large dogs.

This week, Judith shares her responses to the Divine Attribute of Hod, meaning splendor, majestic beauty, and gratitude, and she intertwines the weekly sephira of Hod with each daily attribute, and also with images and thoughts about the heavens - the sky, the stars, the Sun, and the Moon.

As we travel with Judith through this week of Hod, may we find our awareness of the amazing splendor and majestic beauty of the universe increasing, and may we feel gratitude growing within our hearts day by day.

Rabbi Katy Allen

Chesed of Hod

by Judith E. Felsen

Your great expanse of endless heavens , twinkling with transmissions

is a reminder of Your message, Your constant presence here on earth

and the imprint of Your love ever flowing within my heart.

Your canopy of Love, this ceiling of Your worldly abode recalls to us

that You forever sprinkle sparks of kindness through this world

which we retrieve to light our lives on earth as paths for sharing care.

By day, the clouds and sun and perhaps the shimmer of the moon

remind me that Your loving guidance

and Your paths of peace are never distant.

By night, Your twinkling bodies offer mirrors

of Your blessing and connection with our source.

Your everlasting care, compassion and connection

are encoded in the blanket of Your heaven’s comfort

as each body made divine, the Sun, the Moon, the stars with clouds and sky

all emanate reminders of Your presence and that we are home with You

while dwelling in this world which You have made for us in Love.

Reflection

Is it not so that in our own way, each of us find the heavens uplifting, comforting and stabilizing? In this way, might we allow ourselves each day to be reminded that we are not alone, but part of a divine universe and a spark of perpetual love? The beauty, inspiration and guidance reflected in the celestial sheltering we perceive above is a mirror of G-d’s love within, of which we are a part and a channel. Abundance and gratitude for a joy beyond this world reflected here in daily deeds is a reminder of G-d’s imprint on our soul and out identity with G-d.

Considerations for the Day

Am I able to see the sparks of love which flow through me as connected with the celestial sparks of G-d’s luminaries?

Am I willing to recognize and acknowledge that Divine compassion is ever present and a choice I make moment to moment?

Am I willing to release the frustrations and barriers which block the flow of love as I reflect on the presence of the stars and sun behind the clouds and the moon’s ongoing journey through expansion and diminishment.