Marc Gafni – SUN AUG 17

Marc Gafni
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When I would lead prayers at our retreat center overlooking the Sea of Galilee in Israel, we often do a face-to-face prayer. In this prayer, people sit in twos and read Psalms to one another. They each are singing praises to the God point in the other. Before we start the chanting, I ask each pair to look deeply into each other’s face. ”Begin by being wordlessly present for each other. Experience the full presence of another waiting for you.
At this point I would often tell a particular mystical tale which I love very much.

The Chassidim, adherents of a powerful kabbalistic myth movement which reached its apex in mid-nineteenth century, tell of a girl — Sarah – who had run away from home to a convent. Now convents are beautiful — for nuns, but not for Sarah. Everyone knew where she was, yet no one could persuade her to leave the convent and return home. Finally the distraught parents turned to the Baal Shem Tov, the Master of the Good Name.
It is reported that the Baal Shem went and sat behind a tree not far from the convent. He brought with him no books , no ritual prayer objects, and only the bare amount of food necessary to sustain him. One day goes by, Sarah does not come. A second day — no sign of her. A third — no girl… But wait, the sun is setting — Sarah runs out, looks around and eventually finds her way to the master, sitting quietly behind his tree. They look at each other, wordlessly, and she goes back home, ultimately growing up to be one of the great holy women of her day.
Late in life she was asked what the Baal Shem did to make her leave the convent. She responded. ‘On the first day I felt him there, waiting, and I was angry with him. What right did he have?! On the second day I was no longer angry, just curious — who was he, and why is he waiting for me? But I was determined not to let him trap me with my own curiosity. On the third day I felt him waiting and I was engulfed by an overwhelming sense of love. I tried to resist it but my desire grew and grew until I could resist it no longer. And I ran outside to see his face.”

What a magnificent moment of eros!