Building on Mindfulness and Mitzvot
In the past decade, mindfulness meditation has become increasingly “mainstream”, as various advances in scientific understanding of the human mind and body confirm the various benefits of a mindfulness practice. One of the most important early translators of Buddhist meditation practice for American secular culture is Jon Kabat-Zinn, who formulated the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) technique. In a world that increasingly feels urgent and hyperconnected, MBSR is a way of tapping into a slow, attentive wisdom for its health benefits, without overtly religious or philosophical claims.
“To allow ourselves to be truly in touch with where we already are, no matter where that is, we have got to pause in our experience long enough to let the present moment sink in; long enough to actually feel the present moment, to see it in its fullness, to hold it in awareness and thereby come to know and understand it better.”
This quote comes from Jon Kabat-Zinn’s 1994 book titled, Wherever You Go There You Are. The idea that we can’t actually escape being ourselves, no matter how desperate we might sometimes be to change the scenery and thereby change ourselves, has been an important one in my spiritual journey. Once we stop trying to be somewhere else, someone else, some idealized version of ourselves, or some nostalgic return to who we once were, we are finally free to inhabit ourselves in the present - the only moment where we can learn and grow.
I was struck while reading Torah commentaries for this drash by a teaching that instantly made me think of Kabat-Zinn’s book title. A midrash on Deuteronomy reads: “Rabbi Pinchas bar Chama said: Wherever you go, the mitzvot (commandments) accompany you. When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof (Deuteronomy 22:8). If you make a door for yourself, the commandments accompany you, as it is said (Deuteronomy 6:9), 'You shall write them on the doorposts of your house.' If you wear new garments, the commandments accompany you, as it is said (Deuteronomy 22:11), 'You shall not wear a garment of diverse kinds.'...”
Wherever you go, there you are. In whatever situation you find yourself, not only are you there but there are opportunities (or obligations, depending on your framework) for meaningful action, whether ritual, spiritual, practical, or ethical. Not sure what to do? Follow Jon’s guidance and pause to really notice what is in the present moment and the present experience. Then follow Rabbi Pinchas’s guidance and begin to notice which mitzvot, meaningful or moral acts, have accompanied you. In other words, this is a mitzvah-based stress reduction technique for moving through life attuned to sacred possibility, healing, and justice.
Let’s examine one of the mitzvot a little closer. “When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, so that you do not bring bloodguilt on your house if anyone should fall from it” (Deuteronomy 22:8). On its surface, this seems pretty clear - you have to make reasonable safety features part of your home, otherwise you are liable for injuries caused by your negligence.
The medieval commentary Chizkuni asks if this is only the case for new houses, but concludes that if a house comes into your possession by sale or gift (or any other way you come to be in possession of it, presumably even by stealing it!) you are still responsible for installing balcony guardrails and other basic safety features.
We get a sense here of being mindful as not only about calm awareness, but of diligence and caution, in the vein of the phrase “mind the gap”.
Yet, there’s an even deeper awakening into awareness that our verse hints at. The Degel Machaneh Ephraim, an 18th century Chassidic master, teaches that this verse “hints at the Day of Justice, yom ha-mishpat, which is Rosh HaShanah. For it is known that this is the day when God began the works of creation, and on every Rosh HaShanah the world is renewed, all of the things return to as they were of old, and the essence of the day awakens this [process] every Rosh HaShanah… ‘When you build a new house’ - this is on Rosh HaShanah, when the time comes to awaken [the awareness] that the world will be built into a new building!”
The Degel continues with gematria play, connecting the numerical equivalent of the words “and you will build a parapet” with the Kabbalistic quality of gevurah (judgment) and “your roof” with the Kabbalistic quality of God’s name havayah, which stands in for compassion and kindness. So “build a parapet on your roof” means, kabbalistically, to join together judgment with compassion.
If you’ve stuck with me this far, let me try to extract a useful message from this dense teaching! It seems to me that the Degel Machaneh Ephraim reads our verse as a metaphor for the spiritual work of Rosh HaShanah. On this sacred moment, we hope to be awakened (by the shofar, the prayers and music, each other’s company, the still small voice of the divine, meditation, however it might happen). When we are awakened, we notice that this is a potent moment for rebuilding, both ourselves and our social structures. Adding a parapet to the roof joins discipline with vision, judgment and its solid lines with compassion and its larger perspective, safety scaffolding to our spiritual ascent. This is deep work of Rosh HaShanah, one that the Degel insists will end up being “sweetened” if we balance those qualities wisely.
Wherever you go, may you feel the blessing of being yourself, may you become aware of the mitzvot of the moment, and may you play your part in constructing new and better worlds in the coming year.
Shabbat Shalom, and Shanah Tovah!
Rabbi Jay LeVine
