In the week before our new groups'first meeting (Wednesday June 5th 2024) these notes may help to describe what we are planning to do here in Tzfat—and why.
TARIQA ELIYAHU
Tariqa Eliyahu is a global Jewish-Sufi group for religious Jews who wish to study and develop the contemplative practices of the Mediaeval Egyptian Pietist Movement that flourished in the 13th to the 15th centuries.
The Egyptian Pietists believed that the ascetic and contemplative practices of the
Biblical B’nei Nevi’im (Schools
of the Prophets) had been lost to
Judaism but preserved in Islamic Sufism—and they sought to restore, renew, and
develop those practices in Judaism.
Their aim was to prepare the Movement’s
members to attain a personal and
intimate state of contemplative
“nearness to G-d” and thereby hasten the
return of prophecy.
Those perspectives and aims are also those of our Safed Jewish-Sufi Group. We are not neo-hippies or new-age "sufi-jews". We are Jewish-Sufis of the School of Abraham ben HaRambam.
THE SAFED JEWISH SUFI GROUP
But the Safed Jewish Sufi Group has its own distinct adab (form and character) because membership is open to anyone who wishes to attend its meetings.
Though its core members are
religious Jews, and though the texts it uses paraliturgically are Jewish— the group also welcomes
participants (from all religions and none) who respect that core
ethos even if they do not follow it.
REGULAR MEETINGS
The main element of our meetings is the practice
of SILENT ZHIKR (silent congregational contemplation).
As such,
they can bypass “guided meditations”, “method-lectures”, and “therapeutic
self-improvement sessions”. Such
practices are attractive but they can also distract from our simple attentiveness to
the Divine Voice.
We wish
to make our Group’s meditational process to be something experienced privately in the hearts of the members—an
educational process whose direction and form is left entirely up to G-d
who is our true Teacher and Master. So the envisaged format is simply: sit
together in silent contemplation for
between thirty minutes to an
hour....arriving and leaving in silence.
In
classic Sufic tradition, and in reference to the musical practice of the Bnei
Nevi’im—meetings would begin and end with
a very short vocal Zhikr (mantra recitation of a Hebrew
word or phrase). At the start of
the meeting this might also assist the members to transition from
their busy world and interior noise to the calm and receptive mode of the silent zhikr that follows.
OCCASIONAL EVENTS
Occasionally,
special meetings may be planned once
the regular gatherings for silent
contemplation have become well established—but their nature and format
will require much group discussion and agreement AFTER the group has been meeting regularly for some time.
For
the first few months we would like
to avoid being distracted by discussing or planning such events, but
they might well include:
SOHBET (discussions, group study, and informative lectures) arranged as stand alone events from time
to time at the request of members.
EXTENDED VOCAL ZHIKR Occasional ad hoc
sessions involving more lengthy Sufic choral chanting of Jewish-text
mantras—with or without movement.
SEMA (Concerts of spiritually appropriate music in Jewish and Sufi modes)..... Private events for the group only. Like everything we do, there would be zero fees or charges from performers or members.
But these are matters for the long term future. We just want to try to get something started and see how things go.
In
the meantime members have the Tariqa
Eliyahu online study and paraliturgy
resources to help them understand the details of our Jewish-Sufic history and
practice. As that Tariqa’s Administrator I would also be happy to try to answer
membership queries privately.
Why are we doing this?
*Opportunities for Torah study and meditational courses and events are legion and readily available in Tzfat already. Our function supplements rather than replicates them.
*For some people who are not intellectually or academically inclined, or who are uncomfortable with long verbal synagogue services, it may actually provide a non-liturgical but much needed way to meet G-d in a community setting. Being a paraliturgical event with no formal services, it also enables the full egalitarian participation of both men and women in one shared practice.
*Individual Khalwa (retreat) in solitary hitbodedut at one’s home or at a secluded location is always going to be the ideal Jewish-Sufi practice, as is stressed especially in the Kifaya of R.Abraham ben HaRambam and the Murshid of R.David ben Joshua— but reclusive or calm environments are not available to many who live in crowded areas; whose shuls are busy sociable places; or whose domestic and business situation does not provide much space or time in which to develop this form of solitary prayer. Our meeting environment and practice might provide them with this.
*Others who are maybe beginning the practice of contemplative prayer might find extended retreat or lengthy contemplative silence difficult to manage—and for them our practice might offer a gentle introduction to receptive meditative prayer with the added support and discipline of a contemplative community.
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Our weekly regular meetings are held each Wednesday in the late afternoon— though some special events will be held on Sundays. If you are visiting Tzfat and would like to attend, please contact us using the contact-form on the sidebar.
For the summer months we have agreed to set the following simple format for our weekly Wednesday meetings:
SOHBET—15
mins
[business,
discussion, or brief lesson]
VOCAL
ZHIKR—15mins
[using
hebrew biblical and liturgical texts]
SILENT
ZHIKR 30—45 mins
[free private prayer/meditation: attentive/receptive contemplation.]
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We hope to bring together local contemplatives
(and would-be contemplatives) from all streams
of Judaism and of Israeli
society: streams whose members can so often be shockingly
antagonistic,dismissive,or intolerant
of one another.
In these
times of denominational,sectarian, racial, and political turmoil in Israel
(and globally) it is hoped that by keeping shared contemplative
silence, all religious, sectarian, or
racial differences may be shelved (however briefly) by the commonly shared desire
to be personally attentive to the
‘Voice of G-d’ within all of us.
Let Light dawn in the
world,in our days,
for we wait and work
for Your Salvation
May HaShem grant success to the
work of our hands.
Nachman Davies
29th May 2024