How to Soften Stubborn Hearts?
Ps. 95:8
What helps you transition from the daily grind into a more lofty presence, in space and time? Think of taking shoes off when you enter a home or a sanctuary, or any other ritual or gesture that creates a buffer between doing and being, work and life, less occupied with worry and anxiety and more open to spirit, joy and hope?
It’s a question that many of us ponder daily as we practice different spiritual tools - and it’s a big question that has been explored by sages and healers, mystics and poets over the centuries.
The 16th century Jewish Kabbalists who invented the Friday evening ritual known as ‘Kabbalat Shabbat - Entering the Sabbath’ were interested in this transition and picked the first verse of today’s chapter to help switch from secular to sacred - with the power of song:
“We are here
Singing to you
Erupting into shouting
At the place of the rock of our salvation.“
Norman Fischer’s translation of the opening lines of Psalm 95 is more ecstatic and exciting than the average English translation, yet they convey the same idea - an invitation to move from the mundane into the mystical, from the week day into the sabbath sacred:
לְ֭כוּ נְרַנְּנָ֣ה לַיהֹוָ֑ה נָ֝רִ֗יעָה לְצ֣וּר יִשְׁעֵֽנוּ׃
Come, let us sing joyously to GOD,
raise a shout for our rock and deliverer;
Ps. 95:1
The band of Kabbalists chose Psalm 95 to be the first of six psalms that mark the threshold of the Sabbath. Building on earlier traditions that already inserted Psalm 92 and 93 into the Friday evening liturgy, these creative start-up mystics, mostly centered in the city of Safed, sensed that the transition from the weekday into the Sabbath was too abrupt. So they created the additional ‘buffer’ service ‘Kabbalat Shabbat’ - that became a staple in every synagogue worldwide. It’s quite an impressive example of innovation entering the mainframe of religious life.
The six psalms, 95–99, represent the six days of the week, the six days of creation, and six of the ten mystical sefirot. All six psalms refer to God as the creator of the the world.
Psalm 95 begins with a call to action - Lechu -- Let’s Go! -- and it winks at what would become the central hymn of this ritual -” Lecha Dodi - Let’s go Lover” -- go meet the Sabbath Bride. By using the same verb - the poetry of the psalms meets the contemporary prayers that these Kabbalists created, presenting a seamless fusion of ancient and new concepts that help ease our weekly transition into the mode of Sabbath.
How else does one move each week from worries and weekday affairs into the more serene sabbath mode? One more verse in today’s psalm speaks directly to this intention: Don’t enter the sabbath with a heavy, hard heart - soften into self-care and compassion. The psalmist goes back to the days of the Israelites in the desert, losing faith and hope in the face of obstacles. Don’t be like that, the psalm suggests:
אַל־תַּקְשׁ֣וּ לְ֭בַבְכֶם כִּמְרִיבָ֑ה כְּי֥וֹם מַ֝סָּ֗ה בַּמִּדְבָּֽר׃
“Do not be stubborn as at Meribah, do not harden your hearts
as on the day of Massah, in the wilderness”
Ps. 95:8
Or as Norman Fischer beautifully adapts:
“Don’t lose heart as you did in the wilderness
When entanglements confused you
In the days when our ancestors lost faith
Demanding outwords signs although what is
Utter Presence
Was clear.”
We are called to soften our hearts, finding a bit of song and sabbath within our confusing and overwhelming lives.
Let’s enter Utter Presence, soften our heavy hearts, as often as possible, at least once a week, and even every day if possible.
It’s good for our hard hearts to soften.
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