Parshat Balak - Silent in the Morning

This week features a shu-shine rewind, inspired by the coming into the world of PHISHalom last year at Jones Beach in New York.  PHISHalom is a modern-day Avraham Avinu style hospitality tent, open at all four sides, and standing at the crossroads of this moment and the next, welcoming in every thirsty young soul searching for some genuine friendship and some good vibes right  from HaShem.

This year we are launching PHISHalom West, and fifteen our Chèvre will be bringing the light of good-vibes Judaism on the road for nearly two weeks.  We will be making hundreds of new-found friends as we pitch our PHISHalom Tent at various music festivals on the West Coast, criss-crossing in an RV over Washington state, Nevada, Oregon, and Los Angeles.  If you'd like to support this amazing project, please drop me a line, or simply make a donation at http://www.in-reach.com/donate .  And to meet our chèvre, just take a look at this short video, and then imagine all of us going on the road to share that joy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52SQrAn2XYU

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The world is so full of beauty.  Overwhelming, gentle, subtle, colorful, understated beauty.  It is in the sound of the wind in the trees, which varies from season to season -- from the young green leaves of spring to the dry leaves of fall.  It is in the songs of the birds at dawn, and once again at dusk.  It is in the powerful calling voice of the ocean waves, as they crash in again and again upon the shore.  It is in a friend's laughter.  It is in a loved-one's smile.  It is in our tears.  It is in the color of our eyes.

Our Torah celebrates seven shepherds - seven leaders who were veritable 'Dr. Doolittles', walking and talking with their animals on such a profound level that God was willing to trust these individuals to also hear the songs of His nation’s heart.  Because anyone who can hear the song of nature can also hear the song of another person's Soul.

Our Torah celebrates Shabbat, a day when even our animals and fields are to be given rest, because they are part of the conversation, too.  And it is a day when we are invited to quiet our lives and to open our hearts and ears, and to hear the perfect song of the world around us.

This week, I was blessed once again to meet many old friends and to make many new ones at our tent on Phish-lot  --  all of us coming together around our shared joy of being able to stop and hear the song of life.  This shu-shine is dedicated to everyone who stopped by the PHISHalom tent -- I can't wait to see y'all again -- hopefully at our home in Israel!!

Attached please find a Shu-Shine for the Torah portion of 'Balak' - "Silent in the Morning"

May we each be blessed to keep our hearts open to the song of life around us, to let it carry us, and to sing along with it in our own unique and beautiful harmony.

With Love and a Smile,

~Shu