Part 1
Or: Toward
Because the moon is covered, bakesse,* he said, I was sitting with Zohar next to
the tree underneath where he was buried. We were eating garinim [seeds].
Every Rosh HashanahThe Jewish New Year, also considered the Day of Judgment. The period of the High Holidays is a time of introspection and atonement. The holiday is celebrated with the sounding of the shofar, lengthy prayers in synagogue, the eating of apples and honey, and round challah for a sweet and whole year. Tashlikh, casting bread on the water to symbolize the washing away of sins, also takes place on Rosh Hashana. we draw something entirely new in to the world, he said,
but it’s hidden – bakesse – like the moon. Look up into the sky on the first of
Tishrei – what do you see?
That’s your wisdom, said Zohar, it’s present but inarticulate. That’s the business
between the 1st and the 15th of Tishrei. Your wisdom? He said like a teenager –
it plumps like the moon.
By the full moon of Tishrei, the 15th – fully articulate.
Then, he said smiling and spitting a shell, you will tell me what you know.
*Tiku va-hodesh shofarA ram's horn that is blown on the High Holidays to "wake us up" and call Jews to repentance. It is also said that its blast will herald the coming of the messiah. – bakesse – le-yom hageinu
Make a tekiah on the month with the shofar
when it’s hidden/bakesse
toward – the day of our hag [Sukkot] Ps. 81:4
Part 2
Make a tekiah* on the moon with the shofar
when it’s hidden/bakesse – Ps. 81:4
Through what then will it shine?
Through teshuvah** and the sound of the shofar.
– Zohar
Tekiah – Original unity before exiles – personal, spiritual, tribal.
Tekiah the universal – Teruah – the relative.
Teruah: Wavering, crying, a longing to return.
Shevarim: Broken. We are breaking up.
The Great Tekiah – promise of return.
Sad and beautiful world. Sad; so far away. Beautiful; so hungry we are
to return.
*Tekiah, blast of the shofar
**Teshuvah: transformation, return, a Turning. A response.
Part 3
Or: Toward
The moon is covered, said Zohar, it shines through teshuvah and the sound
of the shofar.
Return that hey, the letter of direction, he said, hey ha-m’gamah. Toward, that’s
the word, or to. Teshuv[ah].
I will turn away from here and toward There,* he said. It’s a matter of turning. Not
arrival, journey. Not goal, process. Not sin based, it’s a matter of change.
Movement.
Unstuck, said Zohar.
*Rashi on Ex. 3:3
