"Kavannah for Living"
- Unit 8
Reading
(If you miss a study unit along the way,
you can access the materials in the Kavannah for Living Archive: archive.)
B’rucheem haba’im, chevrah. Welcome to the
conversation!
Prelude:
Kurt Vonnegut has
termed the saturation of television and video games into the lives of children as a
sacrilege. “What religion does it offend?” he asks – “The church of
wisdom whose holy sacrament is reading”. It is not only Vonnegut who has championed
the spiritual side of reading. In Faye Moskowitz’s brilliant re-telling of her
childhood fascination with books we also encounter the ritual of a child curled up with a
book described as a mystical union. Reading words written on paper is meditation in a way
that no television program or film (or even web-site) can be.
In Jewish
tradition, when a child turns three years old there is a custom of placing drops of honey
on the letters of the Hebrew Alphabet. As the child reads each letter, permission is given
to take a lick of the sweet honey.
THE RITUAL:
Before
opening the book before you, pause to reflect on the following blessing:
Baruch
atah…choneyn ha’daat
Blessed
are you who instills wisdom
Commentary by Reb Zalman:
“There is a
wonderful story about books from the chassidic tradition. The
Rebbe would have a number of books that he shared only with his disciples. Reb Shneur
Zalman also had some books that were considered off-limits to his disciples. He marked
these volumes with the words “Under Rabbeinu Gershom’s ban in this world and the next” Once a great
fire engulfed his library. The rabbi went to his son and asked “Please, tell me what
you remember from the books that were off limits.” His son replied that he had been wary to read them because
of the ban. Shneur Zalman rebuked him, saying “For hasidut one should even risk life
in the world to come!”
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