Every Bone Sings Blessings

Ps. 35:10

Amichai Lau-Lavie (he/him)

May 27, 2024

The barebones of our existence is in the body and yet so many religious traditions treat the bodily urges and the appetites of the flesh with suspicion and disdain. From the neck up.

I grew up in an Ashkenazi Orthodox Jewish tradition, quite religious, that enjoys a hearty appetite when it comes to the table but prefers that we block off what’s below the belt when it comes to prayer. I was taught as a child that only the soul and the mind must matter when it comes to communion with the divine.

But as I grew older and got to know what my body craves - as well as other traditions - I came to know the options of dancing, swaying, singing with gusto and sweating my way to the sacred.

Only when the full human experience is celebrated, body and soul, can we truly be alive with the essence of all.

It’s not exactly clear how the disembodied approach took over some segments of Jewish life over generations (hint, some severe European attitudes) but back in the beginning, even the poets of the psalms preferred embodied prayer and had a more body-positive attitude.

Not only were these hymns used in ritual context with musical instruments and choral arrangements - at several places dancing and movement is explicitly mentioned.

Such is this famous verse from today’s chapter, which became the backbone of the Jewish traditions that do insist on embodying the prayers in as flexible and safe way as one can:

כׇּ֥ל־עַצְמוֹתַ֨י ׀ תֹּאמַרְנָה֮ יְהֹוָ֗ה מִ֥י כָ֫מ֥וֹךָ מַצִּ֣יל עָ֭נִי מֵחָזָ֣ק מִמֶּ֑נּוּ וְעָנִ֥י וְ֝אֶבְי֗וֹן מִגֹּֽזְלֽוֹ׃

All my bones shall say,

“ETERNAL One, who is like You?

You save a pauper from someone stronger,

a needy pauper from robbers.”

Ps. 35:10

This embodied phrase comes in the context of a plea for help, possibly mid-war, requesting the divine to be one’s shield and physical protection.

Every bone and every organ join in the somatic sense of urgency.

When it came to creating the liturgy of the morning prayers, this verse was included as the prooftext for full body scan of supplication and praise.

The Jerusalem Talmud goes further to explain why there are eighteen blessings in the Amidah prayer during which we rise and bow deeply and then stand still - or sway - while in deep meditation.

The Talmud claims that there are eighteen vertebrae in our spinal cord - so when we pray with our bodies and recite 18 blessings - we literally fulfill this psalm - every bone a blessing.

(We most typically have 33 vertebrae in our spine but perhaps they were being symbolic.)

The Jewish mystics went further with this invitation to feel the faith in our bones.

An incredible analogy was written by the Hasidic master R. Dov Ber, Maggid of Mezritch, the Baal Shem Tov’s successor. The Maggid, in a collection of his teachings titled Likkutim Yekarim, compares a worshiper’s swaying prayer to sexual intercourse, vigorous at first and then reaching a climactic stillness.

It’s a heterosexual man’s take on how lovemaking happens - but the point is well taken beyond this paradigm:

“Prayer is intercourse with the Shekhinah - the Divine Feminine. As at the beginning of intercourse there is great movement of the body, so one must move the body at the beginning of prayer. Afterward one can remain still without any movement, bound to the Shekhinah with great intimacy. Thanks to the power with which one moves oneself, one attains great arousal and passion.”

That’s the ideal anyway.. Maybe not every prayer encounter is or should be that erotic and ecstatic — but bringing the body to balance with our inner sense of the sacred is a beautiful way to live and love.

They did not teach us this at Yeshiva.

On this day, as we honor the memories of those who gave up their lives and fought for their safety of their loved ones, let every bone and body breath with gratitude and appreciation for every moment of precious life, with deep sighs for all the horrors and high hopes for better days, for every body.

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Below the Bible Belt

Every Bone Sings Blessings

Ps. 35:10

The barebones of our existence is in the body and yet so many religious traditions treat the bodily urges and the appetites of the flesh with suspicion and disdain. From the neck up.

But as I grew older and got to know what my body craves - as well as other traditions - I came to know the options of dancing, swaying, singing with gusto and sweating my way to the sacred.

Only when the full human experience is celebrated, body and soul, can we truly be alive with the essence of all.

It’s not exactly clear how the disembodied approach took over some segments of Jewish life over generations (hint, some severe European attitudes) but back in the beginning, even the poets of the psalms preferred embodied prayer and had a more body-positive attitude.

Not only were these hymns used in ritual context with musical instruments and choral arrangements - at several places dancing and movement is explicitly mentioned.

Such is this famous verse from today’s chapter, which became the backbone of the Jewish traditions that do insist on embodying the prayers in as flexible and safe way as one can:

כׇּ֥ל־עַצְמוֹתַ֨י ׀ תֹּאמַרְנָה֮ יְהֹוָ֗ה מִ֥י כָ֫מ֥וֹךָ מַצִּ֣יל עָ֭נִי מֵחָזָ֣ק מִמֶּ֑נּוּ וְעָנִ֥י וְ֝אֶבְי֗וֹן מִגֹּֽזְלֽוֹ׃

All my bones shall say,

“ETERNAL One, who is like You?

You save a pauper from someone stronger,

a needy pauper from robbers.”

Ps. 35:10

This embodied phrase comes in the context of a plea for help, possibly mid-war, requesting the divine to be one’s shield and physical protection.

Every bone and every organ join in the somatic sense of urgency.

When it came to creating the liturgy of the morning prayers, this verse was included as the prooftext for full body scan of supplication and praise.

The Jerusalem Talmud goes further to explain why there are eighteen blessings in the Amidah prayer during which we rise and bow deeply and then stand still - or sway - while in deep meditation.

The Talmud claims that there are eighteen vertebrae in our spinal cord - so when we pray with our bodies and recite 18 blessings - we literally fulfill this psalm - every bone a blessing.

(We most typically have 33 vertebrae in our spine but perhaps they were being symbolic.)

The Jewish mystics went further with this invitation to feel the faith in our bones.

It’s a heterosexual man’s take on how lovemaking happens - but the point is well taken beyond this paradigm:

That’s the ideal anyway.. Maybe not every prayer encounter is or should be that erotic and ecstatic — but bringing the body to balance with our inner sense of the sacred is a beautiful way to live and love.

They did not teach us this at Yeshiva.

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