Mercy Seat

Mercy Seat 2007

 

‘Mercy seat’

Life is no easy challenge.
It is not what we hope it is.
It is not what we expect it is.
It is not what we need.
It is what it is.
The other is not the person we hope he is.
He is not what we expect he is.
The other seems not to be the one we need.
We are not the persons we hope to be, the persons we expect to be or the persons we think we should be.
Atonement is a process in which we let go of the demands on what is, in order that that which is, is.
The veil of longings, thoughts, convictions and contractions is pushed aside.
The symbol of being is “the place” between “the wings” on the mercy seat of the aron hakodesj,
the ark with the Stone Tablets. There being, the Eternal is reflected upon, sensed and encountered.
There life, the other, self find unity in measureless space/time in which all can exists – both the contraries and their atonement.

Tamarah Benima
Rabbi, journalist
2008