Pure Prayer in Torah Science
Torah Science, rooted firmly in Divinity’s description of Itself: I AM THAT I AM, comes to us from the non-duality teachings found in:
Torah is said to be eternal, but the ‘giving of the Torah’ (the Pentateuch or Five Books of Moses,) at Mount Sinai dates to approximately 1313 BCE¹
the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible approximately 450 BCE²
the Zohar, the foundation of Kabbalah or Jewish mysticism 13th century³
Midrash, ancient and contemporary rabbinic interpretation of Torah and the Tanach
teachings of the Hasidic Masters in the 18th century⁴
I AM THAT I AM
— Exodus 3:14 JPS
Be still and know that I AM is God.⁵
— translation by Ted Falcon
Enter into [the Lord's] sanctuary,
which [the Lord] hath sanctified for ever...
— II Chronicles 30:8 JPS
The very mind you have, right now,
is enlightened mind—
God is doing the dance of you.⁶
— Jay Michaelson
Enter thou into thy chambers
and shut thy doors.
— Isaiah 26:20 JPS
Worship the Lord
in the beauty of holiness.
— Psalm 96:9 JPS
Silence is Praise.⁷
— Psalm 65:2 translation by Robert Alter
The highest level of Holiness
is expressed in Silence.
It is in Silence that
the Holiness of existence
is seen in its Wholeness.
It is in Silence that one transcends
one’s own particularity,
and lives life in its universality,
in the life of all Being.
One becomes the Light of the Universe,
which is the basis of one’s Being,
and the vitalizing energy of ongoing life.⁸
— Abraham Isaac Kook
The Prayer of Silence is actually spoken
by the Divine Voice within us.⁹
— Zohar Pt. 1, fol 169a
Pure prayer begins
at the threshold of silence.
It says nothing, asks for nothing.
It is a kind of listening.
The deeper the listening,
the less we listen for,
until silence itself
becomes the voice of God.¹⁰
— Stephen Mitchell
One who is in Silence
is not withdrawn from the world
but is immersed in life...
One’s life becomes
the holy of the holy,
life at its highest.¹¹
— Abraham Isaac Kook
If your mind races, return to the place,
return to where you were before thought.
Return to the site of Oneness.¹²
— Kabbalah
“In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth,”
and the entire verse “bereshith bara, etc.”
is contained in the word
bereshith (“In the beginning”),
and the entire word bereshith
is contained in the letter “beit” בּ,
(the first letter of the first word) of “bereshith,”
and the “beit” is included
in the dot within the “beit.”
And then God
said: I am the dot of the “beit”
and therefore the entire Torah
is contained in me.
Because the tsaddik (the righteous person)
is the point of the entire Torah.¹³
— Igal Harmelin
Be still and know that I AM is God.
Be still and know that I AM is.
Be still and know that I AM.
Be still and know that.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
— Expressons of Joy inspired by Psalms 46
and Ted Falcon’s translation¹⁴
When I touch the transcendent…
I am not only experiencing my own essence;
I am also experiencing yours.
They are not two different essences
that happen to be the same,
they are the One Essence.¹⁵
— Daniel L Lieberman
For more on Torah Science, see also Pure Prayer of The Hasidic Masters and Pure Prayer: An Overview
Echo
Ramana Maharishi once said that the statement in the Old Testament I am the I am was the highest formulation of the truth in any spiritual tradition—I am, simply the knowledge I am before anything has been added to that I am.
In other words, before anything has been added to my essential self-aware being, that is what I am.
Ramana Maharishi abbreviated that phrase, and he just said I. I, by which he meant I am. Only I. I am only that which I am and that is why the name I in this tradition, this approach, is considered to be the sacred name, the Holy Name.
God's [Judeo-Christian] name is the highest Mantra and the most intimate prayer. Simply to sound the name I and allow it to take you to its referent.¹⁶
— Rupert Spira
Waves of the Ocean
[1] Mattis Kantor, Timeline of Jewish History, https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3915966/jewish/Timeline-of-Jewish-History.htm 11.02.2024
[2] REL 2300: Introduction to Contemporary World Religions https://www.anthrocervone.org/worldreligions/the-tanakh/#:~:text=Correct!-,Jewish%20tradition%20holds%20that%20a%20group%20of%20prophets%2C%20sages%2C%20and,century%20BCE%20(two%20to%20three 11.02.2024
[3] Michel Martin, Decades Later, Translation Of Jewish Text Will Open Zohar's Gates To English Speakers, https://www.npr.org/2017/02/26/517394122/decades-in-the-works-translation-of-jewish-text-will-open-zohar-s-gates-to-engli 11.03.2024
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasidic_Judaism 11.03.2024
[5] Ted Falcon, Mantras with Rabbi Ted Falcon - Salt House, Aug. 9, 2020 • https://youtu.be/dEbmZnREHYA • 08.30.2021 7886
[6] Jay Michaelson, Everything Is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism, (Trumpeter Books, 2009), p. 110
[7] Robert Alter, The Book of Psalms, (W.W. Norton Company, 2007), Psalm 65:2 • In his footnote for this verse, Alter addresses “To you, silence is praise." He says, “Despite many divergent interpretations of the Hebrew noun dumiyah, the most likely meaning, in view of other biblical occurrences of the verbal root it reflects, is ‘silence.’” • See also: https://bltnotjustasandwich.com/2011/12/12/psalm-65-for-you-silence-is-praise/ • 01.10.22
[8] http://www.hiddensplendor.com/silence.htm 01.11.2001 • [one] replaces “the individual,” [one’s] replaces “his,” [One] replaces “He,” and [one’s] replaces “his’” AX 4760
[9] Nintzel, Hans W., Meditation And The Western Tradition,
http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~panopus/parachemy/parachemyv4.htm • 08.04.2004
[10] Mitchell, Stephen, A Book of Psalms, (New York: Harper Perennial, 1993), p. 15
[11] Ted Falcon, Life at Its Highest, Reform Judaism, Summer 2003, Vol 31, No. 4, • http://reformjudaismmag.net/03summer/life.shtml 04.18.2005 • [One’s] replaces “his”
[12] Daniel C. Matt, The Essential Kabbalah, (HarperSanFrancisco, 1996), p. 108
[13] Igal Harmelin, The Launching Pad for Judaism, Islam and Christianity, https://www.expressionsofjoy.com/readexpressions/the-launching-pad-for-judaism-islam-and-christianity 11.03.2024
[14] Ted Falcon, Mantras with Rabbi Ted Falcon - Salt House, Aug. 9, 2020 • https://youtu.be/dEbmZnREHYA • 08.30.2021
[15] David L. Lieberman, Transcendental Judaism: Enlivening the Eternal
Within to Uplift Ourselves and Our World, (Resource Publications, 2023), p. 23
[16] Rupert Spira, Rupert Spira Meditation - ‘I Am That I Am’ is the Highest Truth, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YBDfFqO4JQ&t=1935s 06.24.2024 AX 7865
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