Opposites Melt Into 'Oneness'

Rabbi JudiAhavah DelBourgo
Feb 3, 2024
3 min read

When we stood at the base of Mount Sinai to receive Torah, it was an overwhelming sense of synesthesia- flashes of lightning were “heard,” and the sounds of thunder were “seen”. (That's right we “heard” the lights and “saw” the sounds- The opposite of what we usually experience!) Can you imagine? A powerful experience- Our senses were intertwined in a way we don't normally encounter.

After getting our attention, God spoke…

Anochi Adonai Elohecha.

I am YHVH1 your God.

אָֽנֹכִ֖י֙ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑֔יךָ 2

The first letter of the first word God speaks to us is aleph א. Aleph is comprised of 3 other letters: two yuds, one on the upper right and the other to the lower left, joined by a vav sitting diagonally. Lurianic Kabbalah teaches aleph represents the higher and lower waters of Creation and the firmament between them.3 Aleph shows the unity of creation - both the hidden Holiness and the revealed Holiness.

We humans strive to unite both upper and lower realms with our prayers, our actions, our thoughts and our words. When we act, speak, think or pray with reverent intentions, we can unite the Upper and Lower Realms and can experience Oneness.

This Oneness is also shown in the first blessing of Shema we say in the morning:

Baruch Atah Adonai Elohenu Melech HaOlam Yotzer Ohr Uvoray Choshech…..

Blessed Are You Source of Life, Our God Sovereign of the Universe,

who Fashions Light and Creates Darkness…

We bless God for light and dark - as if they're two separate entities. Yet, the Rabbis who formulated our prayers seemed to understand light and dark are each part of a whole functioning in the world rather than a duality.

As the rest of the blessing suggests, God also makes wholeness and creates all.

A troublesome idea yet a helpful teaching: when we are going through metaphorical darkness, that too is part of God's creation. When faced with challenges, if we look, hopefully we can eventually find assistance, support and solution. We hope we are able to wrestle with all obstacles that come our way for success and make those experience part of our whole- so that we are whole.

The entire blessing-

Blessed are you YHVH, Our God Sovereign of the Universe,

who Fashions Light and Creates Darkness,

Maker of Wholeness and Creator of All.

Baruch Atah Adonai Elohenu Meleh HaOlam Yotzer Ohr Uvoray Chosech,

Oseh Shalom UVoray et HaCol

ברוך אתה יהוה, אלוהינו מלך העולם, יוצר אור ובורא חושך, עושה שלום ובורא הכל

God's Own Opposite Attributes Melt Into Oneness

Today we read about the shaking, the quaking, the thunder and the lightning - a very powerful show of strength from the Blessing One, preparing us to receive Torah. Later in the parsha we also read that the Blessing One carried us On Eagle's Wings.4

Carrying us on majestic wings seems to be associated with strength, yet I want to bring to light how eagles nest their eggs to show another attribute. The nesting behaviors of a resident eagle pair up in Big Bear can be seen courtesy of the Eagle Cam.5 You can see these (hopefully) soon-to be eagle parents nurturing their eggs. I recently watched a feed of the changing of the guard: When the mother went out to get food, the father came in from his hunt to sit on the eggs. As the father stepped into the nest, you can see him very gingerly move his sharp talons around so as not to step on or harm the eggs. He carefully moved around the eggs and hovered his warm body above them and finally settled down to nestle and warm them.

A strong fierce eagle can carry us on its wings, yet it can also gently and gingerly hover over us and nurture us into being.6

The Source of Blessing who can show great strength in our lives and the world can also show great love and gentleness. Strong and gentleness are both part of The Blessing One (and any good parenting.) The Source of Blessing is all One.

Strength and gentleness are part of The Blessing One.

Light and dark are both One.

The higher Realm and Lower Realm are part of One.

We are also One!

Thank You Blessing One for helping us see the Oneness!

Reflection

How does the idea that all people are One change my thoughts, my words and my actions?

Shavua tov!

JudiAhavah

Notes

1 https ://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-tetragrammaton/

2 Exodus 20:2 https://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.20.15?vhe=Tanach_with_Ta%27amei_Hamikra&lang=bi&with=Sheets