Spiraling with Time

Exploring the years of the shmita cycle through mussar practice.

Photo by Stainless Images on Unsplash

Spiraling with Time

“The Eternal said, 'Let there be light, and there was light." Know that love is at the root of all things and illuminates all.

(From Kesher Pittsburgh 5783 Rosh Hashanah Machzor)

Kesharim K’doshim Mussar embraces and works directly with the spirals of time. Each year we engage with the same set of soul traits to find new wisdom and to explore the sacred connections between time, space, and soul.

In 5783 we added a new layer to our spiralinear experience: the seven years of a shmita (sabbatical) cycle. Each year of the cycle we add an additional soul trait that one can choose to work with to further Tikkun haNefesh (repair of the soul) so we can help effect Tikkun Olam (repair of the world).

This new addition to my shmita consciousness this time around, was via a teaching from Rabbi David Seidenberg and an episode of Judaism Unbound with Nigel Savage.

“The goal and purpose of the Torah covenant, for society as a whole, is that the Israelites will observe the Shmitah year, and that in doing so, they will repair the relationship with the Earth that was destroyed in the generations leading up to the flood. Essentially, the covenant with Abraham is meant to take one people and one land, and put them in a right relationship with each other, in order to create a model for how humanity should live. That model is found in the observance of Shmitah and the Jubilee”. (Rabbi David Seidenberg)

This blew my mind and made so much sense. So I want to head into the next shmita cycle aware not only of when the the next shmita year will be, but in awareness of how we connect and collaborate as a community to continue making shmita a reality.

From there I began creating a Hakhel ritual to mark the transition between cycles, where I and the other participants would commit to working towards fulfilling the embrace our roles, individually and collectively, as reweavers of creation in partnership with the Divine, helping to weave a world that can truly be free and at peace through the fulfillment of shmita.

And then when I was at Kesher Pittsburgh for Rosh Hashanah services, I came across a page in their machzor and saw the soul traits of the 7 years in front of me. That was not their intent — but it is what I clearly received. From this I have now added the following soul traits as annual ones for the Kesharim K’doshim cycle.

1. Year 1: Chesed — Loving Kindness

2. Year 2: Gevurah — Strength, Boundaries, Discipline

3. Year 3: Tiferet — Beauty, Compassion

4. Year 4: Netzach — Persistence, Endurance, Eternity

5. Year 5: Hod — Grace, Gratitude/Receiving

6. Year 6: Yesod — Connection, Foundation, Bonding

7. Year 7 (Shmita) : Malchut — Shekhinah, Grounding, Majesty, Soverignty

Each month we look at the soul trait with in the soul trait, based on the practice of counting through the kabbalistic sephirot, which you will find as part the practice guide for each Soul Trait Studio session.

For example in the month of Tishrei we explore the meaning and difference between responsibility within loving kindness vs loving kindness within responsibility.

I hope this enhances both your mussar practice and your experience with shmita consciousness!