[Jewish] [Mindful Torah] Psalm for Monday: Psalm 48, Verse 5

[Rabbi Steven Nathan]

כי הנה המלכים נועדו עברו יחדו
For here the kings/rulers assembled; they passed together.


It is a beautiful Memorial Day here in Amherst, so I'm going to keep
today's commentary brief.

In my commentary on the previous verse (May 17) I wrote of the
importance of remembering the Divine within us, which connects us to
everyone and everything. When we remember this we can avoid the snares
and traps of the ego and connect with the "heavenly Jerusalem," that
higher plane which I have presented as the central focus of this psalm.

When we remember to connect to the Oneness of the universe, we become
as 'rulers' (I am trying to gender neutralize a gendered text) for we
find power and majesty within. But we are not rulers of others, but
rulers of ourselves. It is as if we are all masters of our own destiny.
However, this is not totally true, for this only occurs if we realize
that the ultimate source of our power is indeed a Higher Power and not
the self or the ego. Beyond this, we must also remember that we are
inextricably linked to everyone and everything else through that Power.
Hence the final phrase "they passed together."


When we 'pass together' through the world, with recognition of our
interonnectedness, then we are truly fulfilling the concept of being
created in the image of the Divine. Hence, just as God is described as
a ruler or sovereign throughout the Torah and elsewhere in Jewish
tradition, so do we find a ruler's sense of power and majesty within us
all.


דבר אחר/Another possible interpretation...using a common rabbinic
hermeneutical technique, if we add one letter to the word for
kings/rulers we then have the word for messengers/angels. The letter we
add is simply the aleph. This first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is
silent. But the vowels (which traditionally are not written) associated
with this change the word from m'lachim מלכים to malachim מלאכים. The
aleph, or alpha, as I have written before, can also be viewed as the
beginning no-sound sound of our ongoing conversation with the Divine.
When we remember that finding the power within is about making
ourselves part of this ongoing conversation, then we are not only
rulers, but we become angels, messengers of the Divine to the world.

--
Posted By Rabbi Steven Nathan to Mindful Torah at 5/31/2010 10:45:00 AM
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