With All Your Heart

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thank you for joining me. I'm Rabbi David Lyon from
Congregation Beth Israel in Houston. It's that time of year
when synagogues all over the world are preparing for the
Sabbath and the week when we read from the Book
of Leviticus, beginning with the very first word vahikra and
God called to Moses. The Book of Leviticus is in

(00:21):
generally a favorite book among Bible readers. If it's any indication,
Hollywood hasn't recreated any of its scenes like it did
from Genesis and Exodus. Who can forget movies about Noah's
ark and Moses in Egypt? Seeing them are like rites
of passage. But Leviticus, for all its talk about sacrifices

(00:42):
and bodily emissions, doesn't leave much for the big screen
or the little screen. Even so, its timeless and timely
verses are perfect for those of us who are searching
for sources of holiness and civility today, whether we are
Jewish or not. Leviticus describes how Israelites in ancient times

(01:05):
used animals and other sacrificers to communicate their needs with God.
Every offering specifically prescribed community communicated offerings of thanksgiving, forgiveness,
and atonement, to name just a few. But all this
interest in animal sacrifice ended when the Temple in Jerusalem
was ultimately destroyed by the Roman legions in seventy of

(01:28):
the Common Era. Ultimately, prayer replaced sacrifice, and the Rabbinical
age took hold. What the Bible couldn't tell us about
sacrifices is expounded on in Talmud and other texts. Prayer
save the relationship between Jews and God by transforming the

(01:49):
obsolete institution of the priests and levites into one of
personal prayer organized in the synagogue, a Greek word for
gathering place. It would be where Jews would pray and
learn and find community. But I'm afraid there is something
more than just animal sacrifices that remains lost forever. In

(02:11):
each person's choice of animals for sacrifice was an intimate
concern born by the individual to bring something pleasing, even savory,
to God. The physicality of it made it real without
room for imagination. Today, each person utters prayers aloud or silently,

(02:33):
the goal is actually the same, namely that a worshiper
uttering prayers would pray with a similar concern to bring
a pleasing prayer to God. It is an effect their offering.
The difference is that today's prayer offerings lack physicality. We've
traded the burden of our hands that held the animal

(02:55):
for the duty of the heart that conveys prayer up
and out word. I'm not suggesting that carying an animal
to the high priest or sacrifice was more meaningful than
bringing one's prayer directly to God. I wouldn't have it
any other way, and neither would you. But it concerns
me that the duty to pray is not felt as

(03:17):
heavily in our hearts and souls as it once did
in our hands. Today, we would do well to invite
Leviticus to speak to us anew from its ancient origins.
After all, there can be heaviness in our hearts and
souls too. What if we were to begin with the
truth that sometimes it isn't easy to find meaning in prayer?

(03:39):
Do you think it was always meaningful for ancient Israelites?
But they didn't wait to bring an offering until they
felt ready. They brought their offering because God commanded it.
It was a mitzvah, the Hebrew word that means commandment
a good deed, and they did it, especially on festival holidays.

(04:01):
Meaning was deepened through participation with others in the community.
They moved in common rhythm together, and we can too.
It requires a different kind of effort to pray mindfully.
For those who do pray regularly or often, they would
likely explain that the rhythm of their prayer grows easier,

(04:22):
it increases with soulful intention. Prayers of thanksgiving and prayers
for prosperity and priests peace are meaningful, not simply because
we hope that they might work like some magical formula,
but because they move us with hopefulness towards our objectives.
The Sabbath in the Jewish community is our most familiar

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time for communal worship, though daily prayers are also customary
and observe. In jew who maintains a prayer practice and
rhythm prays three times a day, sometimes with a group
of people, but sometimes must be managed on one's We
do it with offerings of prayer in our house of worship.

(05:04):
We do it through Sabbath rituals at home with candles,
wine and hollaw bread. We express gratitude to family for
the blessings they are to us, and in these days,
whatever you bring and wherever you bring it, on the
Sabbath or another day, it's important for us to strive
to make it our very best offering, just as it

(05:26):
was in ancient times. We can make our prayers a
reflection of the duty of our hearts and what we
feel there. Perhaps it's light joy, but may be also
it's heavy sorrow. In English or Hebrew or whatever language
you speak comfortably, in song, poetry or prose, there's nothing

(05:47):
better than what is in your heart and wish to
share it with God alone. I actually join you in
the effort. I pray personally too. I also enjoy our
weekly Sabbath services. We're so poetry, prose, and community make
for us and for me Friday night and Saturday morning
more than just another day of the week. They are

(06:09):
our appointed times to bring our best offering to God.
I know that in some faith traditions, extemporaneous or personal
prayer is not welcome. It has to come from a
book that's been prepared for you. Well, if it meets
your needs, then it's fine. But if you forgot the

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book or didn't have it with you, I would hope
that you would even find it meaningful to memorize or
bring some prayers along with you in your heart and soul,
or be prepared to be extemporaneous and spontaneous. I've often
said and written too, that even for those who are
not perfectly faithful or regular prayers, when we stand in

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awe of nature, on a mountain, a seashore at sunset,
we find ourselves feeling small in the face of the
divine of that which is larger than ourselves. Rabbi Himen
Judas Chachtel taught that even though we might be small,
we are still significantly related to the divine around us.

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And sometimes we even find ourselves saying Wow, thank God,
or oh my God. You know, in truth, that's a
prayer too. At a minimum, it's acknowledgment that I didn't
create the nature. We didn't create the sunset or the
beauty of the mountains. Something larger than ourselves did. And

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even if we abscribe it to some scientific big bang,
it is beyond us. It's awesome. And when we use
the word God, we may be speaking of God specifically
or simply that which is unknowable and unnameable, that which
keeps us looking up and looking out the sense of

(08:00):
hopefulness for our present and our future. I think that's
what the ancient Israelites and Leviticus were all about. They
too were on their way to building sacred communities. But
how would they affect sanctity and holiness well? If they
did it right and perform their rituals as they were
written and command they believed that everything would good would

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come to them, and if they failed to do it
right or do it well, then they would suffer the consequences.
We are less primitive today, although many of us still
feel that if we recite our prayers correctly, then whatever
comes is God's good will. Look. I fly a lot
for meetings and conferences and to be therefore families where

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they have destination weddings, and before the plane takes off,
I close my eyes for a moment I pray my prayers,
God willing we should all arrive where we need to
be and to accomplish what we must, and of course
return home safely too. There are petitionary prayers that we
do on behalf of others for their health and well being,

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because not all is in the hands of science and medicine.
But thank God for a science and medicine, and for
the hands of those who help in healing. And when
we acknowledge that gift from God in science and medicine
and those who commit their life to it, then we
combine the very best of a world we see and

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observe in a scientific manner, but also a world we
observe with a faithful heart that there are so many
things still to be discovered. And if we do and
we use them for good, just as our Torah and
other Zacred texts guide us to do, then they will
serve humanity for well being, for good health and enduring peace.

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I know people who sit in my own synagogue who
don't even open the prayer book. It doesn't concern me.
I find that sometimes people come to hear the music
or to be in the presence of the community, but
to find in their own words and their own ways
what needs to be said. I know that it's become
my custom when I close a wedding ceremony not only

(10:17):
to ask the couple but everybody around us to take
a moment to pray in silence, to ask God's blessing
on their home and on their marriage. But I also
introduce it by inviting people to pray silently in their
own words and their own ways, to seek God's blessing
on that home and on that marriage. Because in the
audience is not only a group of Jewish people, or

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Christian people or Muslim people. It is a mixed group
in our diverse and pluralistic community. And so I invite
them because the blessing on the home and marriage of
a young couple is important to everybody there. They are
family and dear friends. Why not invite them in that space,
even though I the Rabbi, am of ficialating to find

(11:01):
in their own words and their own ways to offer
God's blessing on this couple. That's a meaningful way to
say that the ancient prayers of old continue to guide
us to put structure, sanctity, and holiness in front of
us and around us in our life. And if we
feel unsettled today because of the shape of the world

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as it is, then it is not just about going
back to ancient times. It's about bringing forward from ancient
times the models the constructs of what our ancient ancestors
were aiming to complete and construct for themselves so they
could benefit from God's blessings. I don't think anything like

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that has ever changed in human history, and certainly not
even for us. We too want to work hard and
apply ourselves every day of what we've learned and what
we know is right and good, and with the little
bit of luck, some prayer, and hope that we might
also benefit from the blessings that we don't even know

(12:07):
are out there, but might be available to us when
we draw them down, so to speak, by participating and
engaging in the act our prayer and worship. I don't
think Hollywood is going to make a movie anytime soon
about sacrificial offerings or bodily emissions, as we read in
Leviticus thirteen and fourteen. But they have already made thousands

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of movies about Leviticus's other themes about sacred times and spaces,
movies about love and partnership, hope amid misery, and silver
linings in dark times. They suggest to me that there
are many people reading the Book of Leviticus in Hollywood.
The script for prayer is in our prayer books, but
the best prayers between God and us begin in our hearts.

(12:51):
I'm Rabbi David Lyon from Congregation Beth Israel in Houston.
To listen again or to share this message, please find
in my podcast called Heart to Heart with Rabbi David Lyon.
You can find it at Sunny ninety nine dot com,
are in the iHeart media app. I hope that is
the week unfolds as the news continues to challenge many

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of us, that you'll find in your own way, in
your own words, through prayers, in your own faith tradition,
a way to find comfort, security and hope that what
you can control in your own space, your own home
and workplace is all that we expect of you. Then
if we can link those efforts together, we can transform

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what is into what ought to be with greater hope
and love in enduring peace. That's always the hope that
we have for each other, and it's what our traditions,
our faith traditions offer us, not only in the past,
but in the present. And if you struggle with faith,
it might be time to google, to search, to have
a conversation with others in your faith tradition or in

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other faith traditions to find how prayer and worship and
text and study can inform the present that you're experiencing,
and how perhaps even to prepare your future, which might
look very different than it does today, even as our
country is going through some challenging times where tomorrow isn't

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always very certain. What we can know is who we are,
what are we and how are we commanded to participate
in the act of creating, producing, and generating more holiness
around us. It's not as difficult as it seems to be.
If our ancient ancestors could do it as they did
and leave us a legacy of hope and holiness, Let's

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be sure to appreciate it and also to bequeath it
to our future generations, so that holiness is a part
of their life, their future, and their peace as well.
Thank you for joining me. I look forward to being
with you again next time.