Maskil: enlightenment; derives from the Hebrew root word meaning to have insight, to ponder, and wisely understand.
On Shabbat (9/22) I read Psalm 142 and wondered about this obscure word, maskil, which appears in the heading of 11 psalms (32, 42, 44, 45, 52, 55, 74, 78, 88, 89, 142).
"I have no friend" is the essence of the psalm and the essence of my present predicament.
Where do I go from here? I am at another juncture in my spiritual life.
Non-coincidentally, today happens to be "Tandi Memorial Day"......the day I remember losing my "best friend," an Appaloosa gelding named Tandi, who devastatingly departed from me in 1964 (see my original post on this blog, "I Remember Tandi").
There was a song popular at the time called "A Summer Song" that reminded me of Tandi. It's words come back to me today:
They say that all good things must end someday, Autumn leaves must fall; but don't you know, that it hurts me so, to say goodbye to you; Wish you didn't have to go.....
Multiple levels of meaning to many moments of my life.....
So back to isolation for the most part....maybe a good thing. Maybe I can write, study, learn without distraction. Yet, without the impetus of "iron sharpening iron" through discussion and discourse, it is difficult to stay motivated.
I have missed the last three Erev Shabbat services at Culver. I battle fatigue, depression, and feeling "sick" these days. Not sure how much grief has to do with it, but it probably plays a part. I hope to attend this coming Friday evening. I bought my own copy of the Gates of Prayer Siddur so I could learn the liturgy and understand it. I especially love the L'cha Dodi song, welcoming Shabbat. There are so many different versions of it as I searched online, but I enjoy the version we sing. I was able to download the tune, by Zalman Goldstein, although the words are slightly different. Our version is abbreviated. I found nothing objectionable in the lyrics we sing. English translation:
Beloved, come to meet the bride; beloved, come to greet Shabbat. Keep and Remember: a single command the Only God caused us to hear; the Eternal is One, God's name is One, for honor and glory and praise. Beloved....Come with me to meet Shabbat, forever a fountain of blessing. Still it flows, as from the start: the last of days, for which the first was made. Beloved....Awake, awake, your light has come! Arise, shine, awake and sing; the Eternal's glory dawns upon you. Beloved....Enter in peace, O crown of your husband; enter in gladness, enter in joy. Come to the people that keeps its faith. Enter, O bride! Enter, O bride! Beloved.....
I participated in the Hamotzi and Kiddush ritual on August 31......and for the first time in many, many years, tasted wine....the small amount everyone received, students included. It was Manischewitz. I had prayed about this and discussed it with Pat beforehand. The holy use of ritual wine in non-toxicating amounts was a line I could cross safely.
The egalitarian Conservative synagogue the cantor is from permits women to wear kippahs. I'm thinking of donning one. I like the symbolic meaning attached and agree that it is not gender specific, only culturally/traditionally so in Orthodox thinking.
I am reading through the Koren Jerusalem Bible this year, and utilizing the Stone Tanach for Torah readings. I like being on the same schedule as "Greater Israel".
Today I joined with Jews worldwide in simultaneous prayer for the coming of the Mashiach. May Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel, be known to my brethren as their hearts cry out for redemption!
Concerning the study of the Sacred Scriptures, let us heed the words of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch:
The Tanach should be studied as the foundation of a new science. Let us look at nature as King David did. Let us listen to the march of history with the intent ear of the prophet Isaiah. And with eyes thus opened and ears thus attuned, let us draw from Tanach our lessons about God, the world, mankind....The books of Tanach should become the source of instruction for life, and [people] should learn to hear their message throughout their lives. Their eyes should be opened to see the world surrounding them as God's world, and themselves as God's servants in His world; their ears should be opened to perceive history as a process of educating all mankind toward the service of God.
"Let us read with our eyes and listen with our souls. And let our lives be transformed to what God intended them to be." -- Rabbi Nosson Scherman
This is the essence of Maskil.
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