Taking Time to Meditate, No Travel Required

In these difficult days, it's important to have a focus for meditation. The Jewish mystical tradition gives us an amazing and complex artistic genre called SHIVITI, created from biblical verses shaped into a menorah, surrounded by other verses. Above is an example of a Shiviti from India, used in our family.

SHIVITI is the first word of the verse that is front and center, SHIVITI ADONAI L'NEGDI TAMID: "I place God before me always" (Psalms 16:8).  God's name is in bold at the top.  Holiness is always in front of us, if we take the time to center ourselves and look for it. Sometimes it takes a conscious effort to find goodness and holiness in ourselves, in others, and in our surroundings. God's holiness does fill the world, but we are not always open to that realization.

These days we can find goodness and holiness in so many human beings, from doctors to delivery workers who are fighting on the front lines of the coronavirus. Their bravery leaves me in awe. Unfortunately, evil (the Shiviti names it Satan) is also around us. We can't stop all the evil in the world but we can focus on trying to curb our own negative thoughts and personal practices.

Many beautiful shivitis decorated the eastern walls of synagogues, or in India, western walls facing Jerusalem. You will still find them in synagogues in India today. In American sanctuaries today, we are more likely to find inscriptions like Da Lifnei Mi Atah Omed. Know Before Whom You Stand.

How do we contemplate standing before God? How do we become aware that God's holiness fills the earth? The Mussar Institute offers this guidance for a meditative practice.