Good Morning Everyone,

 

In Judaism there is a long-standing need and obligation to praise God. We bless Him from the time we get up in the morning until we got to sleep at night. This is a spiritual practice, a practice of mindfulness.   This requirement placed on us by the Torah teaches us that every little thing in our daily lives should act as a reminder of our relationship to the Infinite. The One Hundred Blessings mentioned above were drawn up in a time of relatively primitive life. Such times had human beings living very close to nature.  We killed our own chickens, gutted them, plucked them, and so on.  We might not have had plumbing, so bodily functions were not easily sanitized.  All food was processed and made by our own hands. We touched the earth. Any and all events such as rainbows were thought of as gifts from God.  Kabbalists even taught us that bad things were gifts which could deepen our compassion.

 

Our modern world removes us from nature and, in a sense, divorces us from God. So, if we are removed from natural wonder, living in "conditioned air" eating instant foods, oblivious to the sacrifices of animals to become our food, how are we to connect with the Infinite? The rabbis were very wise to set up requirements that we train ourselves to notice. Mindfulness must be a practice as it does not come easily and the practice requires us to set ourselves aside.

 

So, the formula for the practice is to first recognize the thing or event and then thank the Infinite for it. Mindfulness comes first as a gateway to thanking the absolute for the thing or event recognized. 

 

It should not be a rote blessing. It should be a reflection of our understanding of the deep interconnection of everything.  Bread comes from the earth, but is brought forth by the Absolute.  Today we just pull a couple of slices from a cellophane wrapper and eat it with equally cellophane wrapped cheese product. Yet many hands and many lives went into producing this bread and cheese, the processes that brought it to us, and so on.  All within a universe at one with Itself.

 

If we are fortunate, as I am, to have a partner who bakes a Shabbat loaf there is no plastic, no wrapper, no preservatives, just bread from the earth put together with her own hands. Such a loaf is a true reminder of our connection to nature and to God.

 

As is opening our eyes after sleep, going to the bathroom, seeing a rainbow or even a cloudy sky.  We each touch infinity every moment of every day. 

 

We must only practice to notice it and then be thankful that both we and it was there for us to experience.

 

 

Shalom.