Love Letter

Some of the greatest love songs ever written were the songs of David. One hundred and fifty love letters that David wrote to HaShem throughout his life. As we pray them and study them beloved we get the same sense of love and longing that David felt for the one who spoke us into motion. I was praying Psalm 119 today, "Blessed are those who seek You with all of their heart, who walk in Your ways, who keep Your precepts and statues, when I look into Your commandments, I will praise You with all of my heart, when I learn Your righteous judgments, I will keep Your statutes, please do not forsake me utterly".

These words reminded me of this weeks portion, mishpatim, one of G*D's love letters to us. In Hebrew we speak of the Nefesh, Ruach and the Neshama. According to Rabbi Areyah Kaplan z"l, "G*d's exhaling a soul can be compared to a glassblower forming a vessel. The breath (neshama) first leaves his lips, travels as a wind (ruach) and finally comes to rest (nefesh) in the vessel. Of these three levels of the soul, neshama is therefore the highest and closest to G^d, while nefesh is that aspect of the soul residing in the body. Ruach stands between the two, binding man to his spiritual Source. It is for this reason that Divine Inspiration is called Ruach HaKodesh in Hebrew."

In Hebrew when we pronounce the word neshama the accent is on the second syllable, but if we put the accent on the third syllable I could not help but think about the shema and all it means, and how it also inspires a deep longing in our being for connection to the One who is our life and our love. We love HaShem, but when we stop and think of all He has done for us and how much He truly loves us it is enough to take your breathe away. Beloved I will leave you with the lyrics of an amazing song by David Chrowder Band.
Ahavah, Elizabeth

He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these
afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us oh
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

And we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way....

That He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us, all

He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, I am unaware
of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us oh,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

That He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.