Warning: the following post is from Ezekiel so heads up. That way most can just do the mental eye roll thing and scroll on past already. (You're welcome.)
Knowing your mind and brain are separate puts you in the control seat because you can learn to manage your thoughts and actions. Ultimately, it means you can choose what you build into your brain and how you choose to change what's already built in.
When you learn how to manage your mind, you can make feelings of depression, stress, anger, and anxiety work for you instead of against you. You can bring balance back into your brain and life.
During the high Holy Days (currently) the focus is on repentance. Teshuvah -- rooted in turning and returning:
Commonly translated as "repentance," teshuvah literally means "return." Teshuvah is the soul's capacity to return to its original state, to its pristine core. As we pass through life, we are invariably coarsened and sullied by our errors and misjudgments, or simply by the travails of physical life; but our innermost self, the "veritable part of G-d" that is the essence of our soul -- remains untouched. Teshuvah is the G-d-given ability to access and reconnect to that untouched self, reestablish our lives upon its foundation, and even redefine a negative past in its purifying light.
I ran an English-Hebrew Google Translate search for "mind" -- just that lone word, without any context phrasing that would narrow down a sense or part of speech.
Thus the "return" search was filled with many Hebrew words with their definitions and hence connotations. For those familiar even with a few of them (e.g. from Biblical studies/locations of use, Jewish tradition, Kabbalah..), it's immediately apparent that there's an awful lot packed in there.
I observe the world from the outside looking in, to see what there is to see. (There's always something to study, learn and understand.)
Rosh Hashanah is the traditional date for the dove's third mission, the one where she didn't return. This year on that date, Ingenuity only hovered over the surface of Jezero ("lake") crater for Flight 59, yet marked a new altitude record (66 ft.)
"When the dove did not return, Noah knew that the Flood's waters had completely drained from the earth."
Why do we read the Book of Jonah on Yom Kippur?
You are Jonah. The real you, for "Jonah"-- in Kabbalistic parlance -- is another name for the soul. Hence, the story of Jonah is the story of a soul's journey here on earth. Thus, on Yom Kippur, as we examine our lives and consider our purpose in this world, we remember the historical Jonah whose real-life narrative symbolizes our spiritual odyssey.
Your story begins at birth. A soul from on high is plunged into an earthly body...
(At least for me, a message box pops up on Chabad for their "stay connected" email sign-up option. It depicts a dove carrying a letter, an open envelope.)
Now this is where I invariably lose people if I haven't already. It's as if they look at me like I have four heads, but hey that *is* the story of my life, so with this highly coordinated timing, I'll carry on anyway:
The Talmud compares the spirit of God hovering over the waters to a dove that hovers over her young.[12][13][14]
In post-biblical Judaism, souls are envisioned as bird-like (Bahir 119), a concept that may be derived from the Biblical notion that dead spirits "chirp" (Isa. 29:4). The Guf, or Treasury of Souls, is sometimes described as a columbarium, a dove cote. This connects it to a related legend: the "Palace of the Bird's Nest", the dwelling place of the Messiah's soul until his advent (Zohar II: 8a-9a). The Vilna Gaon explicitly declares that a dove is a symbol of the human soul (Commentary to Jonah, 1). The dove is also a symbol of the people Israel (Song of Songs Rabbah 2:14), an image frequently repeated in Midrash.
The name Jonah means "dove", the same as "Columbia", the female national personification of America.
Jonah is a small book with 4 chapters -- 688 words (as far as the count goes in the particular program I am using) and 2700 letters. For comparison:
Essay length guidelines
Type of essay Average word count rangeHigh school essay 300-1000 words
College admission essay 200-650 words
Undergraduate college essay 1500-5000 words
Graduate school admission essay 500-1000 words
essay: a short piece of writing on a particular subject.
You are Jonah. The real you, for "Jonah"-- in Kabbalistic parlance -- is another name for the soul. Hence, the story of Jonah is the story of a soul's journey here on earth.
Thus the little book of Jonah is -- in the simplest of descriptions -- the "you" essay.
Rashi* compares the spirit of God hovering over the waters to a dove (Gen 1:2)
As I've posted on previous occasions, the sum of 1776 first appears in the Torah on the very first Day. It's doubled and overlapping, following right after the hovering dove in verse 2:
Genesis 1
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good " = 1776
"And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness" = 1776
If the Torah were set up like a spreadsheet 1776 columns wide, one letter per cell, the top right corner (the beginning in the beginning) would look like this:
| ש | א | ר | ב |
| ש | ד | ק | י |
| א | ה | ר | מ |
| ד | ל | ת | ו |
Locations of the text (line beginnings, R to L):
Line 1 (Gen 1:1)
Line 2 (Gen 2:3)
Line 3 (Gen 3:13)
Narrowed down to the square of 9 in red, the letters spell a variety of interesting messages, such as
דבר אמריקה: D'var America
המקרא דיבר: HaMikra diber ("the Bible spoke")
The Mikra is another name for the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible (which begins where this little letter square begins). The word is based on the root q-r-a (to call out, name), which first appears when the light is named (called) "Day" (Gen 1:5)
"Mikra" is literally that which is read aloud.
"Why do we read the Book of Jonah on Yom Kippur?"
It's the... You Essay! You Essay! You Essay! (repeat for all the souls on their journeys, gathered together in one place. Yom Kippur -- the one day when everyone goes to shul.)
Compare:
1. Dvar Torah (meaning "A Word of Torah" in Hebrew) is an essay based on the weekly portion of the Hebrew Bible.
2. A mikra is also a legend, key (of a map)
The mind uses the brain, and the brain responds to the mind. The mind also changes the brain.
That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
Teshuvah is the soul's capacity to return to its original state, to its pristine core.
Back to the beginning, making music with my friends:
The tenth song, known as Shir haGeula, the song of the redemption, or Shir haMoshiach, the song of the Messiah, has yet to be sung.
King David rejoices as the Ark is returned to the Temple. (Photo: Shutterstock.com)
https://www.israel365news.com/309148/biblical-song-well-sing-messiah-arrives/
YMMV, but an interesting detail regarding the Hebrew acronym/abbreviation for the United States is that the same construction pattern would make the same abbreviation for the Ark of the Covenant. Of course who would do that... because then people would see the acronym for 'Ark of the Covenant' and automatically think it was the United States... stashed 'deep cover' in a US government warehouse.
The name right on the crate.
United States: Artzot HaBrit [ארצות הברית], ארה"ב
Ark of the Covenant: Aron HaBrit [ארון הברית], ארה"ב
If you had not have fallen, I would not have found you..
Willie singing his "signature song", insisting that the world keep turning our way, and our way, is on the road again:
The Highwaymen - On the Road Again (American Outlaws: Live at Nassau Coliseum, 1990)
When you learn how to manage your mind...
Willie Nelson - Always On My Mind (Official Video)
Willie Nelson? Seriously? Who would pay any serious mind to anything he's had to say.
"Pay heed, and disbelieve":
Willie Nelson - I Never Cared For You (Live)
*Rashi [רש"י], "Acclaimed for his ability to present the basic meaning of the text in a concise and lucid fashion" ("peshuta shel mikra", sourced from his commentary on Gen 3:8)...
"but I have come only [to teach] the simple meaning of the Scripture and such Aggadah that clarifies **the words of the verses**, each word in its proper way."as if there aren't enough word plays in this wheel already, his name-acronym permutes a shir, song (masc.)" וַאֲנִי לֹא בָאתִי אֶלָּא לִפְשׁוּטוֹ שֶׁל מִקְרָא וּלְאַגָּדָה הַמְיַשֶּׁבֶת **דִּבְרֵי הַמִּקְרָא** דָבָר דָּבוּר עַל אֳפַנָּיו:"
The first nine Biblical songs are referred to as shirah, which is the grammatically feminine Hebrew word for song. According to classical Jewish Bible scholars, this is because, just as women give birth to future generations, the first nine Biblical songs were followed by significant events.The Song of the Messiah, which will be sung after the final salvation, represents the end of every ordeal of Jewish history. Therefore, it is referred to as a shir, which is the grammatically masculine Hebrew word for song.
So, how does this affect US?
I'll take 'simple meanings' for 1000, Alex.
It's the Daily Double! 🙄