Torah Journeys: The Inner Path to the Promised Land - Softcover

Rabbi Shefa Gold

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0976986264 ISBN 13: 9780976986263

Publisher: Ben Yehuda Press, 2006

Synopsis

Torah as a guide to personal growth

Following the framework of the ancient tradition of weekly Torah reading, Shefa Gold shows us how to find blessing, challenge and the opportunity for spiritual transformation in each portion of Torah. An inspiring guide to exploring the landscape of Scripture... and recognizing that landscape as the story of your life.

Torah Journeys: The Inner Path to the Promised Land promises to turn the year-long cycle of Torah reading into a journey of personal spiritual growth. The first book by Rabbi Shefa Gold, the popular teacher of chant and meditation, Torah Journeys is designed to be meaningful for those at any spiritual level.

Shefa Gold is renowned in Jewish Renewal circles and beyond for her teachings, particularly in the realms of chanting, meditation, and connecting to the sacred. She received rabbinical ordinations from both the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Salomi.

In Torah Journeys, Rabbi Gold reveals a blessing and a challenge hidden in each weekly Torah portion, based on her principle that the Torah is happening now, and that its stories - from the Creation in Genesis through the death of Moses at the end of Deuteronomy - are about each individual's life journey.

Drawing from her spiritual search as an adept in an array of practices, Rabbi Gold offers transformative practices for each week, ranging from meditation to visualization to chant.

Torah Journeys is the fruit of the religious journey of an engaging teacher with an impressive grasp of the texts and liturgy. Having experienced other traditions inspired Rabbi Gold to search out similar tools in Judaism to expand consciousness, become fully human and know God Rabbi Gold shares with us her insightful approach to Bible study and personal growth. The result is poetry for the soul.

Torah Journeys is a book that is not merely about Jewish Renewal, but in fact, gives the reader tools to do it.

A classic of Jewish spiritual renewal.

About this title

About the Author

Rabbi Shefa Gold is a leader in ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. She received her ordination both from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. Shefa composes and performs spiritual music, has produced nine albums, and her liturgies have been published in several new prayerbooks. She teaches workshops and retreats on the theory and art of chanting, spiritual community building and meditation. Shefa combines her grounding in Judaism with a background in Buddhist, Christian, Islamic, and Native American spiritual traditions to make her uniquely qualified as a spiritual bridge celebrating the shared path of devotion. She lives in Jemez Springs, New Mexico.

From the Back Cover

The Torah is the map. You are the territory.

Following the framework of the ancient tradition of weekly Torah reading, Shefa Gold shows us how to find opportunities for spiritual transformation in each portion of the Torah. Each weekly Torah reading contains a blessing, a challenge and a practice. An inspiring guide to exploring the landscape of Scripture... and recognizing that landscape as the story of your life.

Destined to be a classic of Jewish spiritual renewal.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Judaism existed as the background to my spiritual search as I delved into the philosophies and practices of Sufism, Buddhism, Mystical Christianity, Native American Religion, Astrology, Tarot, the I Ching, Taoism, Yoga and various schools of Shamanism. I wasn't merely a dabbler. I surrendered to the transformative force that moved through each practice. I sought out teachers, studied the ancient texts, engaged in the process of retreat, and listened to the voice of Truth as it was filtered through different languages and cultures.

When my explorations of these practices and teachings gave me wondrous glimpses of the whole and holy, when they allowed me an experience of Unity that satisfied my deepest yearning, I was oddly disturbed.

"What does this mean about being Jewish?" I wondered.

If Vipassana Meditation opened up a great spaciousness inside me, must I become a Buddhist?

This crisis of identity made me take long look at Judaism, my inheritance. I wasn't ignorant of Torah, but its doors hadn't opened for me. From my experience with other traditions, I made an assumption that the same riches that I found elsewhere were hidden behind the locked doors of Torah. Every Tradition, I reasoned, must contain the tools to expand consciousness, to become fully human, to know God. This assumption guided me, kept me looking. Because, thank God, I had tasted that expanded consciousness in the context of other traditions, I knew what to look for. Those doors have opened slowly over many years, by equal measures of effort and Grace. Still, the transformation of Torah from burden to blessing seems nothing but miraculous. I am drawn towards simplicity and emptiness in my practice, and I struggled against what seemed like endless Jewish ramblings, thousands of years of accumulated clutter. I am an ardent feminist, and I struggled against the patriarchal and sexist attitudes behind the text. Having experienced the treasures of other spiritual paths I have become quite universalistic in my approach, and I struggled against the triumphalism and intolerance that I found in Torah.

Yet, here I am feeling completely blessed by my ancestors, feeling their permission to make the Torah my own. They accept my criticism with humility and ask for my compassion. And they invite me to dig deeper.

"Whatever you find here in Torah is also inside you. This is the map. You are the landscape."

My ancestors call me back to Torah again and again, saying, "Do you want to know what it means to be human? Then look here."

Edition details

• Publisher: Ben Yehuda Press
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0976986264
• ISBN 13: 9780976986263
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 244