When singing this Prayer we acknowledge our Source, our Presence, and our Gratitude for these. Traditionally, it is sung while entering the Sanctuary. It is a welcoming and invocation to Prayer and Presence with God*. Quite interestingly for our Journey of inclusiveness, this is the only Prayer in the Hebrew Prayer book, the Siddur, that is attributed to a non-Jewish person, the Prophet Balaan.
In Hebrew, the word "Mishkenotekha" is derived from the word "Mishkan" which means "Holy Place" or "Source of Divine Spirit".
The word "Israel" is actually a combination of two words: "El" which means "God", and "Isra" which means "Wrestler of..." "Wrestling", in this context, means being engaged with in order to inspire growth, wisdom, spiritual enlightenment; engaging with teachers, texts of all sorts and sources ... ; it is about being not a passive recipient of teachings or Spiritual direction, but instead being an active participant, challenging and learning more deeply and thereby expanding our collective wisdom and Heart.
One of the very first inspiring discoveries on our Journey was learning that the title "Israelites" meant the "People who followed God's ways (Love & Truth)"; It was not meant as a divisive statement about one peoples and not another - the Israelites, or, People Israel include any and ALL people who follow the ways of Love & Truth.
The first Chakra, Muladhara, found in the perineal region at the base of the spine, is where the main energy centre for our entire Life potential rests within us, waiting to be awakened. This chakra is considered the root centre of our physical experience. Activation of this energy centre begins our inspirational Journey through all the Chakras.
It is here that we discover our Source, our Home (our body), Who we are, Where we come from, and simply, that We are. Beautiful.
* God = Please note that God, on this Journey, refers to everyone's personal Spiritual Highest Self, Love & Truth, and not to any specific or non-specific religious order. Solely for the purpose of simplicity, we will use the term/word "God" throughout this booklet interchangeably with the terms/words "Love", "Spirit", "Divine", "Truth", "Nature", "Lovingkindness", "Universe", “All that Is”, as these are the words that hold us all together in Truth & Love.
lyrics
Ma Tovu ohalekha Ya'akov mishkenotekha Y'Israel
How Lovely your dwellings children of Jacob, and your Sanctuaries people of Israel
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