Soul Trait Studio: Elul 5783
Practice guide for the Soul Trait Studio mussar practice for Elul 5783 (08/27/23) focusing on the soul trait of hineni | presence.
Each month I host an open session called Soul Trait Studio, a mussar practice session focused on the soul trait of the month. The Monthly Session guides are stored here on devotaj.substack.com. The current month is available to all and previous months are available to subscribers at the monthly, yearly, or beloved levels.
Come when you can. All registrants for the month will receive the video the following day. The Soul Trait Studio for Elul 5783 is August 27, 2023 from 3-4:30pm ET on Zoom, registration required - no charge but your time.
I consider your time to be the exchange for this offering, which is why I don’t charge money to register. While it is always an option to attend on your own time, via the recording I send out the next day, these sessions remain free of monetary charge because of those who do commit to attending in real time. But you can support this work by becoming a paying subscriber of the Devotaj Sacred Arts Substack.
Learn More
Devotaj Sacred Arts: Mussar Practice eBook with guides to each soul trait of the year
Register for this and upcoming sessions: devotaj.com/soultraitstudio
Monthly Practice
Note: we rarely get through all of this during the 90 minute session, so consider the entirety of it to be an invitation for your personal practice this month. This guide will remain available to all until the end of the month. Previous monthly guides are available to subscribers at the monthly, yearly, or beloved levels.
Opening
Lay it down, let it go Feel the earth moving slow Lay it down, let go Feel your heart beat you know
Soul Trait of the Month
The Journey:
Last month: Av | Moon of Endings & Beginnings | Ometz Lev (אמץ לב) Courage | Chachamah (חכמה) Wise Woman
Now: Elul | Moon of Making Space | Hineni (הנני) Presence | Tzovah (צבאה) Shrinekeeper
Next Month: Tishrei | Moon of Gathering | Achrayut (אחריות) Responsibility
Hineni Resources:
Below are some recommended additional resources for exploring the soul trait of hineni (presence), which is not found in any of Alan Morinis’ books..
Mussar Practice eBook with guides to each soul trait of the year (Devotaj.com)
Hineni: ‘Here I am’ and ‘I am here’ are different (Jewish Chronicle)
Hineni' in Our 21st Century Lives (Huffington Post)
Hineni: Here I Am (archived from Temple Beth El)
Hineni (archived from Weekly Standard, 2007)
Cheshbon HaNefesh:
What does hineni (הנני) presence mean to you right now?
What does it mean to act with hineni she’be chesed?
What does it meant to behave with chesed she’be hineni?
Text Study
Partnered text study. One per breakout room.
Explore what the text teaches you about ometz lev. What is true courage? What does it require of us?
Text 1:
When you first encounter the beauty of a tree there are no words. There is silent wonder. Spacious mind is present in wonder, not words. Your soul, your true nature as spacious mind, is lost when the wonder slips into words. To speak of the tree is to no longer commune with it. Its presence is past, and you glorify only memory. Do not rush to articulate wonder. Simply stand in its presence.
Source: R’Rami Shapiro commentary on Pirkei Avot 3:9
Text 2:
Hineni is the kavannah (intention) and hi’nih’ni, a Hebrew word with the same root and letters but different vowels, is more like the keva (form/structure). Kavannah calls us to presence, and keva gives us the structure to take action from that place of presence.
This is different from mindfulness, which is for its own sake. Hineni is being present for the sake of the Divine. It is being fully in the moment so you can receive so you take action in an aligned way. Aligned with who/what? With the Divine, however you understand that. Cultivating Hineni allows us to make each moment one that is important, one that is doing the work of Tikkun (repair) — of the heart, of the soul, or of the world.
Source: Mussar Practice, by Ketzirah haMa’agelet
Text 3:
Hineni is the answer to the call. It literally means, “I am here.” It calls ourselves back to ourselves and also perhaps calls upon the divine within us, aligning us to show up with fullness and aliveness to the task at hand. It is both bowing in humility and rising up in willingness.
Source: Kohenet Dori Midnight, in an introduction to Nishmat Shoom’s version of the High Holiday prayer Hineni
Text 4
וַיֹּ֗אמֶר צֵ֣א וְעָמַדְתָּ֣ בָהָר֮ לִפְנֵ֣י יְהֹוָה֒ וְהִנֵּ֧ה יְהֹוָ֣ה עֹבֵ֗ר וְר֣וּחַ גְּדוֹלָ֡ה וְחָזָ֞ק מְפָרֵק֩ הָרִ֨ים וּמְשַׁבֵּ֤ר סְלָעִים֙ לִפְנֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֔ה לֹ֥א בָר֖וּחַ יְהֹוָ֑ה וְאַחַ֤ר הָר֙וּחַ֙ רַ֔עַשׁ לֹ֥א בָרַ֖עַשׁ יְהֹוָֽה׃
“Go out and stand on the mountain, in the presence of YHWH.
And here, Havayah was crossing by: now a great and strong wind was crushing mountains and smashing boulders in the presence of Havayah.Havayah was not in the wind; and after the wind, an earthquake—Havayah was not in the earthquake;
וְאַחַ֤ר הָרַ֙עַשׁ֙ אֵ֔שׁ לֹ֥א בָאֵ֖שׁ יְהֹוָ֑ה וְאַחַ֣ר הָאֵ֔שׁ ק֖וֹל דְּמָמָ֥ה דַקָּֽה׃
and after the earthquake, fire—Havayah was not in the fire;
but after the fire, a still, small voice.Source: 1 Kings 19:11-12 (Everett Fox Translation) via Sefaria
Incantations*:
By the power of wind, earth, and fire - I stand open to Holy One’s desire.
I am here. You are there. In between may the world be repaired.
I am flesh. I am bone. I am sound. I am known. Breathing out I make space. Breathing in, I await.
*The term from inherited forms of mussar is “affirmations”. Feel free to think of them this way, if it’s more aligned and/or nourishing for you.
Embodied Practice
Treat the sound of your name like the ringing of a bell that calls you to full, receptive, and open presence.
Close your eyes and breathe out.
Say your name three times, slowly – taking a complete inhale-pause-exhale-pause to leave space between each recitation.
Take another breath and visualizing a shining light illuminating the way forward.
Breathe out and open your eyes.
Listen to the sound of the shofar, which many blow daily in Elul. STS kehilah members Andrine and Xiiam Yaakov broadcast it daily on the page of their synagogue, Havurah Shalom in Portland (Oregon). You can experience it on Havurah Shalom’s YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/@havurahshalom7822
Mitzvah
I translate mitzvah as “sacred connective action.” In other forms of mussar this part of the practice is often called kabbalot, committed practices to help you take the practice in the world around you.
And Rabbi Yitzḥak said: A person’s sentence is torn up on account of four types of actions. These are: Giving charity, crying out in prayer, a change of one’s name, and a change of one’s deeds for the better. … as it is written: “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be”
(Rosh Hashanah 16b via Sefaria)
Shed the “names” that no longer serve you.
Claim the “name” that you will be worthy of in the year to come.
Honor the names of those around you. Witness new names they may be growing into and allow them to shed those that no longer serve them.
Journaling Prompts:
WHAT does hineni (הנני) presence mean to you?
What does it mean to act with hineni she’be chesed?
What does it meant to behave with chesed she’be hineni?
HOW do you call yourself back to presence when your heart/mind “runs and returns?”
Ve’im ratz libcha l’harheir shuv lamakom - if the heart runs return to the place (Sefer Yetzirah)
WHEN are you, or are you not able to be fully present?
WHY are you present?
Closing Chant
Lay it down, let it go Feel the earth moving slow Lay it down, let go Feel your heart beat you know