13/21: (Tuesday) Today marks 13 days along the journey of the three weeks where the crack in everything beckons a polishing the luminal darkness of this time. Yearning for divine presence amidst apparent absence the more you meditate on this time and place of your life. Such contemplation of this absent presence is expressed here Benjamin Shevili’s recent collection, Poems … Read More

12/21: (Monday) Today marks 12 days along the journey of the three weeks where the crack in everything beckons a polishing the luminal darkness of this time. Yearning for renewal grows stronger the deeper you travel through your personal desert–that place of being open and egoless. This journey deeper in search of your true self is expressed here Benjamin Shevili’s … Read More

11/21: (Sunday) Today marks 11 days along the journey of the three weeks where the crack in everything beckons a polishing the luminal darkness of this time. Yearning for redemption grows stronger the deeper you traverse into shadow’s kingdom. The deepest point of darkness that culminates these 21 days on the 9th of Av also marks the day that births … Read More

9 & 10/21: (Friday & Saturday) Today marks 9 & 10 days along the journey of the three weeks where the crack in everything beckons a polishing the luminal darkness of this time. Contemplate these two poetic fragments of Benjamin Shevili in correlation to the painting pilgrimage of Zvi Tolkovsky. Amidst the fiery protests on Kaplan Street and the chants … Read More

8/21: (Thursday) Today marks 8 days along the journey of the three weeks where the crack in everything beckons a polishing the luminal darkness of this time. It feels like there is a non-dual awareness of waiting reveals the lack of its separation from knowing what comes in this next poem from Shevili’s recent collection, Poems to Yova (2022): Sitting … Read More

7/21: (Wednesday) Today marks 7 days along the journey of the three weeks where the crack in everything beckons a polishing the luminal darkness of this time. How does the crack in every thing, every moment and every experience in your life point to a looming destruction known as hurban? It feels like there is a non-dual awareness of destruction’s … Read More

6/21: (Tuesday) Today marks 6 days along the journey of the three weeks where the crack in everything beckons a polishing the luminal darkness of melancholia of this time. How does a “deeply ecumenical” mysticism relate to all sentient beings? Here is another example of how Shevili’s poetic language is a mystical texture that is not “magical” but “abstract” landing … Read More

5/21: (Monday) Today marks 5 days along the journey of the three weeks where the crack in everything beckons a polishing the luminal darkness of melancholia of this time. As I had the privilege of finally sitting down for coffee with Benjamin Shevili, the Jerusalemite poet overflowed with his passion for what I would call a “deeply ecumenical” mysticism. His … Read More

4/21: (Sunday) Today marks 4 days along the journey of the three weeks where the crack in everything beckons self-refinement. Recall as mystics are so subtle to suggest: “…that the soul in the body is like the names of God on the parchment.” (Ramban on Moed Katan 25a). What happens when the revelation of inner light emanating from those “names … Read More

2-3/21: (Friday/Saturday) Today marks 2-3 days along the journey of the three weeks where the crack in everything beckons self-refinement. We continue to reconsider how the cracks in everything ultimately lead to the cultivation and revelation of more inner light. I have explore elsewhere Shevili’s unique mystical voice that re-imagines harata & (Hit)Devekut in Mystical Vertigo with chapter 4: Contrition … Read More