Threaded Wisdom is an opportunity to foster our interfaith relationships through a sharing of prayers, meditations, and practices from diverse faith traditions—a threading together of wisdom that allows for a greater depth of appreciation and understanding of others’ faith traditions.
Each month, we welcome community members to share words and practices that are related to a particular theme. Submissions can be a prayer, an excerpt from a text, a meditation, or an embodied practice.
Submissions don't necessarily have to be from a particular religious figure or tradition. We welcome shares from texts or individuals outside of a spiritual context who have offered inspiration and insight, which could be a philosopher or even a neuroscientist.
Thank you for joining us as we honor each other and ourselves through this threading together of wisdom.
With gratitude,
Wyoming Interfaith Network
APRIL'S THEME: LIFE
Katrina, a member of the Bahá’í faith and WIN Board, offered the following:
"What is the object of life to a Bahá’í?" As the Guardian repeated his answer to me (I had not been present with the visitor), indeed, before he did, I wondered in my own mind what it had been. Had he told the man that to us the object of life is to know God, or perfect our own character? I never really dreamed of the answer he had given, which was this: the object of life to a Bahá’í is to promote the oneness of mankind. The whole object of our lives is bound up with the lives of all human beings: not a personal salvation we are seeking, but a universal one.
Ruhiyyih Khanum, A letter to the Bahá’í Youth, 1948
Threaded Wisdom about “Life” by Jason Bloomberg M.D. – a Lay Leader at Mt. Sinai Congregation of Cheyenne, Wyoming’s oldest and largest Jewish Synagogue:
Some Jewish thoughts about “life”. The word is made up of two letters of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet (not Alphabet) Chet (ח) and Yod (י), forming the word (read right to left) חַי "chai", meaning "alive", or "living". Since each Hebrew letter has a numerical value, חַי = 18 which is why many Jews make donations or gifts in multiples of 18 to convey may this be a blessing for life-fulness. The Yod and the Chet transposed from “Chai” form the first two letters of the Tetragrammaton, forming the word יָֽהּ “Yah” which is part of the word הַלְּלוּיָהּ “HalleluYah” which translated means “Praise The LORD!” The Tetragrammaton is the unpronounceable name of G-D. It represents G-D with all of the Divine attributes which are hinted at by the other 71 names for G-D in Hebrew. The Tetragrammaton is ineffable in part because of the tradition which forbids it out of respect, except by the High Priest on Yom Kippur before the Holy of Holies when the Temple still stood, but also because functionally, if attempted to be pronounced according to Jewish mystic Rabbi Lawrence Kushner it would sound “like the sound in between inhaling and exhaling.” To me, it means the most sacred form of the divine name exists with every breath or every living thing. This take us to the question of when does life begin? From Jewish religious perspectives that occurs with the first breath after birth. It is then the רוּחַ “ruach” which means “breath”, “wind”, “spirit” from G-D enters the body transitioning from a “potential life” to become a living being. This understanding is supported by the biblical text Exodus 21: 22-25:
וְכִֽי־יִנָּצ֣וּ אֲנָשִׁ֗ים וְנָ֨גְפ֜וּ אִשָּׁ֤ה הָרָה֙ וְיָצְא֣וּ יְלָדֶ֔יהָ וְלֹ֥א יִהְיֶ֖ה אָס֑וֹן עָנ֣וֹשׁ יֵעָנֵ֗שׁ כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֨ר יָשִׁ֤ית עָלָיו֙ בַּ֣עַל הָֽאִשָּׁ֔ה וְנָתַ֖ן בִּפְלִלִֽים׃
When [two or more] parties fight, and one of them pushes a pregnant woman and a miscarriage results, but no other damage ensues, [the one responsible] shall be fined according as the woman’s husband may exact, the payment to be based on reckoning.
וְאִם־אָס֖וֹן יִהְיֶ֑ה וְנָתַתָּ֥ה נֶ֖פֶשׁ תַּ֥חַת נָֽפֶשׁ׃
But if other damage ensues, the penalty shall be life for life,
עַ֚יִן תַּ֣חַת עַ֔יִן שֵׁ֖ן תַּ֣חַת שֵׁ֑ן יָ֚ד תַּ֣חַת יָ֔ד רֶ֖גֶל תַּ֥חַת רָֽגֶל׃
eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
כְּוִיָּה֙ תַּ֣חַת כְּוִיָּ֔ה פֶּ֖צַע תַּ֣חַת פָּ֑צַע חַבּוּרָ֕ה תַּ֖חַת חַבּוּרָֽה׃ {ס}
burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
This is the basis of the understanding in Jewish Law and religious tradition that an “unborn child” is not yet a life. The penalty for ending the pregnancy in such a conflict is not death as in “life for life” but monetary damages for the loss of a potential life. Recently, in Wyoming, a court case went to the Wyoming Supreme Court which overturned a ban on abortion. One of the plaintiffs was a Jewish woman in Wyoming who cited her religious rights as a Jew were being infringed upon by the Wyoming Law. Jewish Law goes farther and requires a woman to abort a pregnancy if it risks her life, future fertility, or imperils that family she already may have. In the case of imperiling the woman’s life, Talmud clarifies “it is as a pursuer threatening to kill the woman so she has an obligation to defend her own life.” That said, Jewish Law does not endorse abortion as birth control, so it lands at neither extreme of the arguments about the issue of abortion. Ultimately, from a Jewish Law position, the decision as to whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term or abort it rests with the woman who is pregnant. Jewish Law holds that until born, the fetus is part of the pregnant woman’s body. As such, she had dominion over its continued existence or not.
Excerpted from Talmud Tractate Sanhedrin 4:5 one can find the verse made popular outside of Jewish circles, which I’ve put in bold print:
Capital cases are not like financial cases. In financial cases, a person can atone by making restitution but when it comes to capital cases, the defendant’s life and the life of his potential descendants are all on the line. We derive this from Cain, who killed his brother. Genesis 4:10 says, “the bloods of your brother cry out” - not “blood,” but “bloods,” meaning both his blood and that of his descendants. Another understanding of “bloods” is that Abel’s blood was splattered on the trees and rocks. Only one man, Adam, was originally created in order to teach us that if one destroys a single life, it’s as if he destroyed an entire world, while if one saves a single life, it’s as if he saved an entire world. Also, only one person was initially created for the sake of peace, so that no one should be able to claim lineage superior to another person, also so that heretics could not use multiple creations to support the idea of multiple deities. This also demonstrates God’s greatness because a human can stamp out many coins using the same die and they’re all identical but God “stamped out” every person from the “seal” of Adam but no two are alike. Therefore, every person should say, “The world was created for my sake.” Hearing all this, the witnesses might wonder why they should even bother testifying. Therefore, Leviticus 5:1 says, “If he’s a witness, whether he has seen or known, if he does not tell of it (then he shall bear his sin),” (i.e., the Torah obligates us to testify).
No less important are the words which precede and follow that often quoted saying.
Interestingly, this is echoed in the Qu’ran Surah Al-Ma’idah 5:32 with a different context:
مِنْ أَجْلِ ذَٰلِكَ كَتَبْنَا عَلَىٰ بَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ أَنَّهُۥ مَن قَتَلَ نَفْسًۢا بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ أَوْ فَسَادٍۢ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ فَكَأَنَّمَا قَتَلَ ٱلنَّاسَ جَمِيعًۭا وَمَنْ أَحْيَاهَا فَكَأَنَّمَآ أَحْيَا ٱلنَّاسَ جَمِيعًۭا ۚ وَلَقَدْ جَآءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُنَا بِٱلْبَيِّنَـٰتِ ثُمَّ إِنَّ كَثِيرًۭا مِّنْهُم بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ لَمُسْرِفُونَ ٣٢
That is why We ordained for the Children of Israel that whoever takes a life—unless as a punishment for murder or mischief in the land—it will be as if they killed all of humanity; and whoever saves a life, it will be as if they saved all of humanity. ˹Although˺ Our messengers already came to them with clear proofs, many of them still transgressed afterwards through the land.
Jews hold that we must protect life as Psalm 115: 16-17 states:
לֹ֣א הַ֭מֵּתִים יְהַֽלְלוּ־יָ֑הּ וְ֝לֹ֗א כׇּל־יֹרְדֵ֥י דוּמָֽה׃
The dead cannot praise Yah, nor any who go down into silence.
וַאֲנַ֤חְנוּ ׀ נְבָ֘רֵ֤ךְ יָ֗הּ מֵעַתָּ֥ה וְעַד־עוֹלָ֗ם הַֽלְלוּ־יָֽהּ׃ {פ}
But we will bless Yah now and forever. Hallelujah.
What are we to do with all of this? Every Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement, or as Rabbi Zalman Schlachter Shalomi would call it “Day of At One-ment), in most Jewish liturgy the following from Deuteronomy 30:19 is read:
הַעִדֹ֨תִי בָכֶ֣ם הַיּוֹם֮ אֶת־הַשָּׁמַ֣יִם וְאֶת־הָאָ֒רֶץ֒ הַחַיִּ֤ים וְהַמָּ֙וֶת֙ נָתַ֣תִּי לְפָנֶ֔יךָ הַבְּרָכָ֖ה וְהַקְּלָלָ֑ה וּבָֽחַרְתָּ֙ בַּחַיִּ֔ים לְמַ֥עַן תִּֽחְיֶ֖ה אַתָּ֥ה וְזַרְעֶֽךָ׃
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day: I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life—if you and your offspring would live.
Seems like good advice. L’Chayim! לחיים To Life!
Liz, who is a Druid, sent the following:
Druidry tends to look at life as a cycle. Cycles within cycles within cycles. There is the cycle of the day, the cycle of the moon, the cycle of the year, and so on. So to with the life of humans and other incarnated beings. We are born, we grow into maturity, we age, we die, and we are reborn. When it comes to the nature of death, there are a variety opinions. Some believe in reincarnation; some don’t. But even from a strict materialistic perspective, after death, our bodies compost into molecules which are incorporated into new incarnated beings. There are a variety of ways to celebrate the cycle of life, the most common of which is the Wheel of the Year, the collection of festivals that mark the changing of the seasons. Cycle maps onto cycle, with winter corresponding to death, spring corresponding to birth, summer corresponding to adulthood, and fall corresponding to elderhood. In addition, in my own daily practice, I celebrate death in my dusk prayer, birth in my sunrise prayer, adulthood in my midday prayer, and elderhood in my sunset prayer.
Kim shared the following quote by Siddhārtha Gautama (the Buddha):
Be where you are; otherwise you will miss your life.
Next month's theme — Change
We want to hear from you! Please feel free to share your words or practices.
Submissions are due by the 15th of each month.
Please use this Google document form to send us your contributions, or email them directly to Kim for inclusion.
