Welcome to Emotional Wellness Daily, a project of SIMHA, the Sephardic Initiative for Mental Health Awareness.
When talk about mindfulness and being in the moment, we think that this is something that originated from a type of Near-Eastern culture; we think of India and Hindus, or people sitting on mountains in Tibet with their legs crossed. But look Rambam says in his sefer Moreh Nevuchim (vol 3, chap 51),
“You should that know that in all of the services we do to Hashem, like reading Torah, praying and doing Mitzvot, the main purpose is to train ourselves; to condition ourselves to be involved with the Mitzvot of God and to clear our minds of all other worldly matters as if you're dealing with God directly and you've annulled everything else around you.”
So the purpose of Mitzvot is to train us in focus, such that when I'm kissing the Mezuzah, I'm totally focused on what I'm doing. When I say Birkat Hamazon, I'm focused on what I'm doing, when I pray, and when I learn etc.
“But if you pray with the movement of your lips, and your face against the wall, while thinking about your business dealings, or if you are learning Torah but your heart is thinking about building your house, without really paying attention to what you're reading…and likewise with the other Mitzvot that you do with your limbs, as if you are digging a hole in the ground or chopping wood, without any actual involvement, without putting any heart into what you're doing, not thinking about Who commanded you and what's the purpose of this… don't think you've reached the purpose of the Mitzvot. You're really close to the man that it says about him (which is not a good thing), “You're close with your hearts and far away from your insides.” And therefore, the Rambam says, “I'm going to start training you to condition yourself to get to this end goal.”
On Rosh Hashanah, we are going to read 30 Pesukim that we have to focus on. The 10th pasuk about God being King is Shema Yisrael.
Rav Wolbe, in his advice for what you’re supposed to do to get ready for Rosh Hashanah, says, for the month of Elul, say Keriat Shema properly, and he quotes this Rambam.
The Rambam says, if we want to train ourselves in Jewish mindfulness, the first step is to empty out your mind from everything when you read Keriat Shema. He says, work on that first pasuk, work on that first beracha. That's what you should start with. You have to have Kavanah for the first beracha of the Amida and we all know how hard that is
He says that when you get used to this (and you spend years on this), then start working on other things. Rav Wolbe says, you see from here that it's a job of years to get used to just doing even a little thing in a fully focused way, staying in the moment. And then you'll be able to start working on all other areas, such as berachot and so on.
He says, there is plenty of time for you to think about the other things that you need to think about. But when you're doing any religious service, do not take your mind away from what you're doing. He adds that whenever a person is alone, like when you get up in the morning, immediately put your focus on the service of that moment, to come close to God, and think about what you're doing.
These are little training grounds to greatness. We say Modeh Ani every morning, but we might be saying it like a nursing rhyme. Do I really think, “Modeh Ani Lefanecha, I, little me, am praising You, God, that gave me back my soul? It's a act of kindness…”
That's a whole different way of saying Modeh Ani.
This is what I like to call Jewish mindfulness. Again, everything that's out there that's good has its sources in our Torah.
B’Ezrat Hashem, we will get there.
Have a wonderful day.