Kabbalah, Kitchens and Knots

There is a heartbeat that runs through this place in which we live, it is a sure and steady beat that can be felt best in the the bustle that becomes Friday. It is baking day here in Tzfat, and whether by design or by the fact that one lives here eventually you fall into the rhythm of those around you. It is about four hours until the sun sets, and when that happens a deep rest wraps itself around the people here, and we gather over our tables to welcome the Sabbath Bride. It is a tradition that goes back as far as the recorded history of the Jews.

So for several hours this morning I baked, goodies not just for Sabbath but to last the entire week. The cookie jar is brimming with fresh sugar cookies, and peanut butter crunch cookies, a batch of brownies is cooling on the side and the Challah sit quietly on the table waiting to be wisk away under her white cover before the wine is brought out only to reappear in all her glory when my husband takes her from under the cover, slivers a little salt over her and says the blessing.

I fell to watching my husband as he cleaned the rugs in the living room while I waited for a batch of cookies to emerge from the oven. He went round and round in concentric circles with a small damp brush taking the weeks worth of dirt from the surface of the rug. I began to think about the way in which such a rug is woven, by hand with hundreds of knots being tied as the weaver blends the colors and brings out the design. The Kabbalah tells us that we are all knots in the chain that links us with all the Jews who came before us, all the way back to the mountain where Moses received the living Torah. I went back to my kitchen and my baking but the knot idea had taken root and I fell to meditating on what this knot of mine might look like if I could see it. Would it have bright colors, would there be Rabbi's or Cohains or ritual butchers, or bakers in my knot? Would it have strings of silver or flecks of gold? It would of course have some dark colors for the times that our people went through trials and tribulations, and there would be some stains I am sure where there were times that we didn't measure up as we should have when put to the test.

I came in then after the last batch of cookies to the computer and sat down to write something about knots, and Kabbalah. I took up Richard Seidman's book on The Oracle of Kabbalah which has been a favorite of mine for some years and shuffled the deck of letter cards quietly. When at last I picked one from the deck I wasn't at all surprised to see the Aleph in my hand. This is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and of course the Kabbalahists tell us a primary letter in the history of our people. It is numberless, the number that has been assigned to it over the years is infinite, it cannot be written the great teachers tell us.

The Aleph always has a special message when you see it, I recalled having seen an Aleph just last week at the beginning of a line of Torah reading and noting that it looked like a fragile piece of silver filigree against the background of the parchment, it looked like fire in ice! The Aleph is a knot א it reminds me of the wonderful Celtic knots in the book of days that the Druids wrote, it is a symbol of all that we are or might become. If you read about the letter Aleph you find that while it brings us to face ourselves, it also grants us insight. We can see the importance of simple things like baking and cleaning and at the same time catch a glimpse of the Divine in the way the Aleph balances itself.

The Kabbalah also tells us that the Aleph is a messenger who reminds us that we must not only nourish our bodies but must also nourish our souls. We stop and take time from the ordinary to experience that which is life. The knots that tie us one to one as human beings also tie us to the Creator Being, and when we see the Aleph with its arms outstretched it is a reminder that we should reach for that place inside of us where our soul resides and connect to all that is spiritual in the world around us. There are strong knots and weak knots in each of our chains and we are specifically placed in life to support, in what ever way that GOD intends, the rest of the knots in our chain.

As I worked on this piece I came to understand that the colors and the history of our knots is all there in each of us. We are intricate, delicate, wonderful beings who carry a history in our souls that ties us forever to the past just as it pushes us toward the future. Each of us, no matter where you might find yourself as you read this, has a place in the chain of knots that is life, we are part of the infinite number that is Aleph, we are the reason for the beating of the heart of planet earth. Some of us may wonder, I know I do, about the colors of the knot and what Hashem thinks when He/She looks at mine, but I came to understand today that that isn't nearly as important as how we view the way we tie the knot. We need more than ever to make each piece of the knot firm, we need to hold tight to those simple things that give us a rhythm to our lives and at the same time we must nourish and replenish our souls so that those who see our knot in the end will know that we did our best to ensure that generations from now there will be kitchens where cookies are baked, tables are set with the finest dishes and the blessings are still said over the candles.
We must as the Kabbalah teaches, make way for the Eternal in our lives even while we tend to the simple everyday tasks that make a house a home.
Leah PettePiece