Healing the Hardened Heart

As we enter the month of Nisan, which begins this Shabbat, we turn toward the work of Tikkun Halev—healing of the hardened heart.  
 
The Pesach story lifts up what our souls know:
Oppression and violence rise from fear and arrogance and the unwillingness to open our hearts to the experience of others.  It is fear and arrogance that brings about the enslavement of the Israelites and it is the hardening of the heart that keeps them and the Pharaoh in bondage.
 
With everything that is happening in our world it is easy for all of us to fall into the habit of hardening our hearts. As we do, it becomes more difficult for us to respond to each other with patience, understanding and compassion. With hardened hearts we can’t fully appreciate life’s blessings or respond well to life’s challenges.  
 
And so we practice.
 
Every moment we are able to resist the urge to harden our hearts to our own pain and to the pain of others, we resist oppression.  
Every time we are able to act with compassion rather than anger, we step out of the flow of violence.  
Any time we find the strength and courage not to be ruled by fear, we loosen the bonds of slavery.
Each moment we pause to embrace each other and the world with love, our hearts open a way into the expanse.
 
May we engage in Tikkun Halev for the sake of each other and all life.
May it be for blessing and peace.
 
Chodesh Tov
Love,
Rabbi Yael

This Week's Audio Teachings
We sit together readying ourselves to enter into the month of Nisan.
Listen to the recording of today's Meditation Sit with Rabbi Yael Levy on Soundcloud or on the A Way In website.
Go to Torah Study this week on Parshat Tazria on Soundcloud or the A Way In website.