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A Blessing in Four Worlds

2/23/2021

6 Comments

 
Last month I had the honor of being invited to help confer smikhah (rabbinic ordination) on my dear friend and colleague, the amazing Rabbi Irwin Keller. Irwin had spent several years studying in the ALEPH rabbinic program and many, many years before that serving as the spiritual leader of Congregation Ner Shalom in Cotati, California. He also happens to be a lawyer, an amazing singer/musician, and a beautiful writer--see his blog!--and for years he toured the world as a member of the comedic and politically trenchant drag quartet, The Kinsey Sicks. I wanted to offer Irwin a blessing on the day of his ordination that would honor the work he has done in the world, uplifting, cheering, educating and comforting so many souls, and to offer him strength and courage for the continuing work of holding both his local and his extended communities. What emerged was a blessing that invokes the qualities of each of the Four Worlds of Kabbalah: Assiyah, the world of Doing and physicality; Yetzirah, the world of Formation and emotional flow; Bri'ah, the world of Thought and imagination; and Atzilut, the world of Spiritual Presence. In our current covid-driven reality, ordination happened on zoom, with all ordinees and witnesses in our own homes, connecting electronically across the globe. Prior to the ceremony, I was invited into a zoom breakout room, where I offered Irwin this blessing. He has encouraged me to share it more broadly, so here it is. May it support us all in the various ways that we serve and heal in this complex world.

A Blessing in Four Worlds
for Rabbi Irwin Keller, on the occasion of his smikhah
10 January 2021 ~ 26 Tevet 5781 
 
               Assiyah
May the strong sunlight of love 
always energize your body, 
shining into fingers and wrists, 
spine and shoulder blades, urging you
to dig toes into wet sand, fingers into
moist earth, to cherish each muscular
twinge that reminds you, I’m alive!
May you bring the kinetic vigor of this love
to each word you write and speak and sing,
each hand you clasp, each soul you comfort.
 
               Yetzirah
May you remember, when the day
falls upon you like a rock,
the ocean of love out of which your
dear cells swam, that fluid matrix
ever birthing form, caressing you
from within, like the rivers
gushing forth from Eden,
rishrush of Mother-love, melting granite,
carrying you, spilling into sacred moments shared with 
every seeker, sufferer, playmate, and beloved. 
 
                  Bri’ah
May you delight in the vast expanse
of mind, God’s playground spread out
like a shimmering curtain, breathing
you into and out of being, inspiring
thought before word, dream beyond thought,
blessing effort with great gusts of
spaciousness, the white fire—you don't even
need a match! May cosmic winds
ignite your own creative spark,
your love, a brilliant flame amidst the dark.
 
                  Atzilut
My dear, please know that I am near.
You are a channel, empty, clear.
This awesomeness dissolves all fear.
You vibrate in the now, the here. 
Impediments must disappear.
No need to strive, to press, to try,
where all is All, not land or sky,
not dark or light, not low or high.
So know that when each day is done,
you are enfolded in the One.
6 Comments
Becky Lyman
2/23/2021 09:55:29 am

What a beautiful blessing! You really know how to shower with grace.

Reply
Irwin Keller link
2/23/2021 02:12:24 pm

I continued to be awed and humbled by this blessing. It invigorates and renews me every time I read it. I hope others will feel and use this blessing, or elements of it, for their loved ones and communities. There is too much kedushah in here to be contained in a single blessing for a single person.

Reply
Toni Whitmont
2/23/2021 08:35:26 pm

It would be an honour to be able share this magnificent blessing. Might I do that Irwin? Reb Diane are you OK with that? Rav brachot to you both.

Reply
Dorothy Richman
2/23/2021 02:38:05 pm

SO gorgeous. A true blessing....may it spread.

Reply
Dani Antman link
2/24/2021 07:05:45 am

What a beautiful blessing, Rabbi Diane, sure to become a classic! How sweet that you gave this to Reb Irwin on his ordination. Yasher Koach!

Reply
Debra Zaslow
2/24/2021 06:42:27 pm

Deep, sweet and wise, like you.

Reply



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    Rabbi Diane Elliot  resides in the hills of El Sobrante, California, an East Bay suburb of San Francisco whose name means "leftovers," but might also be translated "more than enough" or "abundance." She enjoys the peace of its softly contoured hills, the sunlight filtered through the small grove of redwoods on the hillside next to her  home, and the dazzling, ever-changing beauty of the sky. 

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