A Primer for Jewish Meditation or Shiviti and the Gestures Part 3

Gestures Transmitted by Observation and Imitation

But lately, I have come to revise my understanding that Jewish Meditation is about directing the mind without technique, and I have come to realize that techniques are plentiful too. This does not alter the nature of Jewish spiritual practice as an encounter. No amount of technique can force God’s hand. But I must concede that at the beginning of the journey the techniques are extremely helpful for getting focused. I did them for years without actually noticing them. Calling them “techniques” is perhaps too grandiose, they are really more “gestures.” Still they can have a powerful effect. They are not described much. They are seen and imitated. Often they are so obvious that no-one would consider labeling them as techniques for anything. Where does one go to learn them?  Any synagogue might present some. I learned them in Hassidic communities, where they are presented, I think, with greater emphasis and ecstasy.

There is a long standing tradition in Hasssidic communities that a Rebbe or Tzaddik’s actions are supposed to be witnessed. The Tzaddik prays, studies, eats, sings, dances and meditates at the center of a community which watches his every movement. For many viewers of the Tzaddik’s Divine service, the point of watching is to partake vicariously in the Tzaddik’s experience, which presumably is far above the comprehension of the average person. Undoubtedly, witnessing encourages imitation as well, so that a Tzaddik’s movements and gestures become part of the collective mannerisms and behavior of that community. Indeed there is a humorous old Yiddish song “When the Rebbe Sings, all the Hassidim sing. When the Rebbe groans, all the Hassidim groan. When the Rebbe cries all the Hassidim cry. When the Rebbe dances al the Hassidim dance.” One can see the whole range of the Tzaddik’s actions and gestures, as least as they are presented in public. There is no Halacha that mandates them, or defines how they should be done, nevertheless these actions and gestures form the basic movements of the Tzaddik’s method. They are imitated, learned and remembered in a living tradition. When the individual is ready to embark on the spiritual quest, these actions and gestures form the bodily Alef Bet for working the mind.

At this point, it gets rather funny too. The two most basic gestures (let’s face it) are shaking back and forth and saying “Oy!” or as one would say in Yiddish “shokeling” and “krechtzing” (or perhaps "Kvetching".) These gestures are identifiably Jewish, (even though Sufis also do a kind of shokeling) and they have been subject of a great many jokes and comments. To some, sitting silently in the Lotus Position may seem more dignified and spiritual-looking. But in the end, a Jew is a Jew, and if you were to find me in a deep meditation, you may rest assured that like my ancestors before me, I will be doing at least some shockleling and krechtzing. There is nothing quite the same. Of course, I can almost hear the snide comments coming at me from my old Yeshiva buddies about me trying to repackage shockeling and krechtzing as a form of Jewish Yoga.

In particular I have a problem with Krechtzing. If Jews posses anything analogous to a sacred syllable it would have to be OY. OY is the basic syllable that carries wordless Hassidic melodies. Many OYs can be lined up so they form OYOYOYOY. Old fashioned Yiddish melodies often utilized extravagant strings of nonsense syllables, a practice that made its way to Broadways via Fiddler on the Roof’s “If I was a Rich Man.” Still nothing else approached OY in expressing the deepest religious emotions of a Hassidic community and its Tzaddik. Here I must confess. I hate OY. My mother’s family was a well established American family from Chicago. They were reformed Jews and they never said OY. My fathers family, however, were all from Transylvania and they kvetched all the time about everything. If things were bad they said OY. If things were good they said OY too, in a tone just as whiny and depressing. Nu, in Europe Jews had a great deal to Krechts about. But at some point, I think, OY became a habitual response to everything, even wonderful things. I can still hear my aunt describe a neighbor’s good fortune “Moishe Green! OY! Nebech a Yid! He’s done very well in the hat business! OYOY!” (“Nebech a Yid” translates roughly as “How sad! A Jew!”) At any rate, once I made myself a promise that I wasn’t going to Krechts! My life, Thank God, has been very good. Sometimes there are frustrations, but I refuse to Krechts about them. Instead I give thanks for the freedom and bounty of this time, and I hope and pray that it become worldwide and for all time.

Later on I discovered that the real intent of the krechts is to express deep longing for the divine, not just as felt by the individual person, but as embedded in the whole universe, in the fabric of being, space and time.  It is not about moaning and groaning over the misery of one’s fate, although one can certainly do so out of a sense of identification with all that is painful in life the world. The krechts lifts the heart towards the Divine as the fulfillment of all yearning. I suspect that the reason why the Western Wall of the temple mount became known as the Wailing Wall is because Jews were always heard to say OY while standing there. It was assumed that they were moaning in misery. Well, a few times a year, like on fast days (and those commemorating the destruction of the Temple in particular) krechtzing is in misery. But on the whole, OY isn’t sad. It is deep. It is a yearning for perfection. It is the yearning of the Jewish People and of the universe for the Divine presence.

I have attempted to exchange OY for some other syllable which sounds better to me, like AHH or YA (which are also done.) Another alternative to OY is to intone words. And there are so many great words to choose from. So I will say much more about this when I discuss the “Gesture of the Voice”

So let me say for now, that in the following chapter I will give you a list of the Meditative Gestures which are traditionally used to “get into” meditation, to focus and still the mind, and build an awareness of the divine presence. These are gestures that we all know. They are so obvious that we don’t really see them. How many times does the question come up “Why do Jews shake when they pray?” Shaking is just one of many gestures. Each has a meaning and a function. The meanings are often found in the texts, but the instructions for the gestures come from observation and imitation.