Friday, February 11, 2011

Elevation and Suach/ Does God believe in The Edge?

I love hearing rabbis comment on U2, especially when they don't know they are doing so.

Of course, I am  thankful  that we have a "resident rabbi," Adam J. Bernay.  I'll never forget what Rabbi Adam quipped, watching  a live version of "With or Without You." (seeRabbi Chazat Bono is hungry, so he pulls a nigun").


I haven't yet gotten his take on  the song "Elevation," which is (at least partly) about a



Jewish prayer form of spiritual "elevation" of "base thoughts. "(See "of course prayer is erotic...until elevated").  

I HAVE asked Adam about sabbath ELEVATORS, 
                                                          but not ELEVATION prayer yet.

 

 I can guess what two-letter response he will initially give. (:




Doing a bit more research into elevation prayer, it seems that not just the praying person is elevated, but in some versions, anything can be elevated..or "made holy.":


"to perceive the essential nature of a thing..makes each thing stand on its own essence..
when a persen perceives the true spiritual nature of thing, he also elevates that thing spiritually.
Standing refers to such elevation.  The expression, 'making things stand', therefore says that when "one probes from them" he elevates the


thing that he probes"
"Sefer Yetzirah" b
y Aryeh Kaplan




Rabbi David Cooper writes:

"Aryeh Kaplan, the most prolific modern writer to discuss the Jewish contemplative approach, lists several types of Jewish meditation in his books JEWISH MEDITATION and MEDITATION AND THE BIBLE. One is called suach, a state of prayerful elevation in which the mediator communes with the divine source of life."
          -link 




.Often, when singing "Elevation" in concert,  Bono lifts his face heavenward
  (to make it obvious who he's talking to)
and sings/prays:
 "I believe in You.
             Do You believe in me?"
(a line/chiasm he has used/preached elsewhere...see 6th
 paragraph from bottom at that link, and see 2:22ff of the video at top 

of this post).. But here below  he even points a finger upward at God and
asks if God believes in..
well watch it and see...3:31ff below:



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