[Jewish] [Mindful Torah] Psalm for Monday: Psalm 48, verse 3

[Rabbi Steven Nathan]

(please note that most Christian Bibles list this as verse 2)

Beautiful in elevation is the joy of all the earth; Mount Zion, on the
sides of the north, is the city of the great Sovereign.
In my comments on verse 3 last week I viewed the point of reference of
this psalm as the "Jerusalem above," the mythic heavenly Jerusalem
where there are no politics and no boundaries. As I wrote
week: "wherever one is at any given moment, if we are truly present and
seeking connection with the Divine, then we connect ourselves on
spiritual level with the Jerusalem above."
Verse 3 simply states that it is the elevation of the higher Jerusalem
that is the source of its beauty. If in my reading the psalm is
referring to the Jerusalem above, then the elevation of which the
psalmist wrote is its spiritual elevation. That the heavenly Jerusalem
knows of no distinctions between racial, religious, ethnic, sexual
orientation, gender or other identities is, in part, what makes it
beautiful and what makes it holy. In our physical world these
distinctions are what cause separations between human beings, as well
as between human beings and the Divine. I am not saying that we should
ignore these distinctions in our world. On the contrary, we must
acknowledge and celebrate our various differences. But we must be
careful not to allow them to serve as reasons to separate from others
and from the Divine. Too often, that is the what happens in the earthly
Jerusalem, not to mention everywhere else in the world.
In thinking about Jerusalem, I remembered that in Biblical times the
city was referred to as ir shalem עיר שלם, the city of completeness, or
ir shalom עיר שלום, the city of peace . The Jerusalem above is the joy
of all the worlds (not just this world) because it's essence is
completeness. It is this completeness, the unity and not the separation
of all, that is the source of its peace and the source of its holiness.
Mount Zion, is viewed in ancient Jewish tradition as the center point
of the earth; it is the point where creation mytholigically began. That
is why it is at the heart of the earthly Jerusalem. But this is also
the point where the earthly and heavenly Jerusalem connect. It is as if
there is a spiritual umbilical cord attached to Mt. Zion that links the
two worlds to each other. Indeed, there are places where Mt. Zion is
referred to as the "navel of the world," a phrase and concept that
appears in many ancient cultures.
In psalm 48 Mount Zion is also described as being "in the north," which
is its physical location in the land. However, Hebrew word for north
tzafon/צפון is from the same root as the word for hidden tzafun/צפון.
Actually, as you can see, without vowels (which is how the Torah is
written) the two words look identical. This connection between the two
words should remind us that the place that connects us with our
heavenly source, with the oneness and unity of the Divine, is indeed
often hidden. Yet it does exist within each of us. It is within the
soul, the piece of God within us. When we pay attention and listen to
the voice of our soul, we will find that place of connection hidden
within. In each moment when this occurs we are then able to enter
the 'city of the Divine' in a spiritual sense.
Our goal in each moment is to be mindful and pay attention to our own
spiritual self so that we can find the hidden place within. That hidden
place will enable us to enter that realm where there are no separations
or divisions, where there is only unity. Then the challenge is to bring
that sense of oneness and unity back to the world in which we all live
and to make it a reality here as well.




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Posted By Rabbi Steven Nathan to Mindful Torah at 5/10/2010 12:15:00 AM
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