you will be gravity

I spent much of this week on the shores of Lake Michigan in Gary, Indiana, home to The Music Man, the minor league baseball Southshore Railcats (they lost, but we got to sit right behind home plate!)  and the U.S. Steel mill that was actively desegregated by Jewish communists in the late 1940’s. 

Josh and I went on retreat with a dozen clergy and staff from Synagogues Rising. As a network and a community of practice, it has been invaluable to share resources and learn from each other’s experiences. (In fact it was this same retreat in 2024 that inspired the creation of our conversion cohort Hineini.) 

In addition to talking shop, twice a day we gathered to share our spiritual practices, which included immersing in Lake Michigan and being sung to while we took afternoon naps. There is one practice in particular that I found really meaningful and want to share with all of you. It came to me by way of Rabbi Joey Glick (Shir Tikvah in Minneapolis), who learned it from our teacher Rabbi Shayna Rhodes at Hebrew College. 

The practice is called “Talmud Torah Tefilah” or “Sing * Study * Silence,” which is quite descriptive, because the practice has three parts: sing, study and sit in silence. Rather than share an insight about this week’s Torah portion, I am going to invite you into the practice to see what insight emerges for you. 

The way it works is that you sing or listen to a nigun for long enough that you can settle into it. Then you read two texts that were picked by different people and see what connections arise. And then you sit for a few moments or minutes to close. Let’s begin!

*Sing*
To begin, I invite you to minimize other distractions and listen to this melody (a few times if you can), attributed to the Ba’al Shem Tov and sung by Rabbi Ariel Root Wolpe. When you are ready…

*Study*
This afternoon I am bringing you a few verses from our Torah portion Sh’lach selected by Rabbi Lizzie and a poem I chose from Joy Harjo’s memoir, Poet Warrior. 

Text #1: Numbers 13:19-21

וּמָ֣ה הָאָ֗רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־הוּא֙ יֹשֵׁ֣ב בָּ֔הּ הֲטוֹבָ֥ה הִ֖וא אִם־רָעָ֑ה וּמָ֣ה הֶֽעָרִ֗ים אֲשֶׁר־הוּא֙ יוֹשֵׁ֣ב בָּהֵ֔נָּה הַבְּמַֽחֲנִ֖ים אִ֥ם בְּמִבְצָרִֽים׃
Is the country in which they dwell good or bad? Are the towns they live in open or fortified?

וּמָ֣ה הָ֠אָ֠רֶץ הַשְּׁמֵנָ֨ה הִ֜וא אִם־רָזָ֗ה הֲיֵֽשׁ־בָּ֥הּ עֵץ֙ אִם־אַ֔יִן וְהִ֨תְחַזַּקְתֶּ֔ם וּלְקַחְתֶּ֖ם מִפְּרִ֣י הָאָ֑רֶץ וְהַ֨יָּמִ֔ים יְמֵ֖י בִּכּוּרֵ֥י עֲנָבִֽים׃
Is the soil rich or poor? Is it wooded or not? And take pains to bring back some of the fruit of the land.”—Now it happened to be the season of the first ripe grapes.

וַֽיַּעֲל֖וּ וַיָּתֻ֣רוּ אֶת־הָאָ֑רֶץ מִמִּדְבַּר־צִ֥ן עַד־רְחֹ֖ב לְבֹ֥א חֲמָֽת׃
They went up and scouted the land, from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, at Lebo-hamath.


Text #2: Joy Harjo, Poet Warrior, page 15

“The Old Ones opened the ears of Girl-Warrior
Tempering the frequency before she left
On her mission.
We are sending you, they said, 
To learn how to listen.
There is good in this world.
There is evil.
There is no story without one and the other.
You will be gravity.
You will be feather.
Send each story to the heart,
Each word before you act or speak.”

***

What arises for you? What do you notice? Connections, questions, observations?
You are welcome to write in a journal, to write back to me or to share aloud with the people you are with. When you are ready … 

*Silence*
Take a final moment to sit quietly.

I look forward to future opportunities to practice Talmud Torah Tefilah together, and invite you to make it your own. I am very grateful for the time to refresh and return, to listen, to notice where I am gravity and where I am feather and to remember that “there is no story without one and the other.” ​