The month of Elul is described as a month when the Divine energy is more accessible than ever. The Talmud says that during this period, God is ‘like a king in the field’. Usually the king is holed up, hidden, and inaccessible in the palace but during Elul he is available for all wherever they are to be found. For almost all human history this was in the field either as hunter/gatherers or as farmers.
For us today though, ‘the field’ represents nature as apart from our daily lives. Most of us do our jobs and live our lives within concrete jungles. ‘The king is in the field’ sounds very much like he has gone camping, which I love very much. I believe and feel strongly that we are at our most spiritual when we are deeply connected to nature.
Only a couple of weeks ago I was most privileged to spend eight blissful days of hiking and camping in the most pristine natural landscape in Arnhemland just near the edge of Kakadu National Park. We bush-bashed our way through thick woodlands with only compass and map as guide and we walked through very ancient rainforests.
We climbed, descended, squeezed through, and glided down massive boulders which in the wet season is the scene of a lively flowing river. And we swam with pygmy freshwater crocodiles in water holes so pure that we drank the sweet water whilst swimming. For the first time in my life, I identified as a fish and realised that their narrowed mouth open shut technique has merit.
For eight days, life was slowed down to our natural rhythm. The only considerations were food and shelter. No phone, no meetings, no traffic. Nobody was rushing anywhere, except the pesky green ants desperate to get a taste of our humanity in this most remote Garden of Eden. And of course there was the actual legendary Freezing Gorge, our ‘destination’ which just appeared out of nowhere. Its waters were so deep and its environment tranquility itself. Singing Shalom Aleichem and Avinu Malkeinu at this sublime waterhole was a moment of profound spirituality for me.
There is a relevant and beautiful teaching in Kabbalah which I only appreciated after leaving the fold. It asks a simple question. How is it that Judaism, the first monotheism with its overwhelming emphasis on the one God idea, uses Elohim as its primary name for God?! Anyone who knows the first thing about Hebrew, knows that a word with the suffix -im, is the plural form of the word. Wouldn’t it be much more appropriate to refer to God as Eloha, the singular form? It would also sound more Hawaiian and exotic and perhaps Western yoga spaces would thereby be more compassionate to the people of Israel.
The answer is given that there are in fact two primary names for God in the Torah. One is indeed Elohim but the other is YHWH commonly pronounced Adonay. Elohim is plural but YHWH is singular because, as the Jewish one God idea suggests, it refers to the absolute unity of everything. There is a force in the universe from which everything comes from and within which everything participates. This is God of abstraction of which we can say nothing more than that this force exists.
Elohim on the other hand is plural because God as it manifests is in infinite variety. There is literally God in everything. Whether it is art, music, gardening, philosophy, healing, yoga, meditation, or even in axe throwing, the divine energy can be accessed in each of these activities. But where is God most accessible, in nature!
And to bring home the point the Kabbalah uses Gematria, a medieval technique of numerical values. The word for nature in Hebrew is ‘Hateva’ which has the same numerical value as Elohim. This reveals the hidden meaning that God is most readily felt in nature.
Just for the record, I think Gematria is literally nonsense. You can make up Gematria for anything. I had a teacher who every day came up with a new Gematria to ‘prove’ that the late Lubavitch Rebbe was the Mashiach after he died.
But what is very interesting is what the Kabbalah uses the Gematria for. In this case it is to in effect say that God = Nature. This is indeed astonishing since one of the most well-known Jewish heretics and a beautiful soul, Baruch Spinoza, preached exactly that. It is also what I deeply connect to, and I know many of you do too.
It is my aim and integral to my mission at Neshama to offer all sorts of meaningful experiences in nature. Beginning with Bnei Mitzvah program, to nature camps for youths, and of course nature retreats for adults. I look forward to connecting with you and the rest of our community in an environment where over millions of years our physical, psychological, and spiritual selves were forged. When we disconnect from our natural habitat we do so at our great peril.