Passage Practices: Casting Away of Remnants, Blessing of the Dwelling Place & Prayer of the Road

How awareness practices during times of passage bring insight into impermanence, empathy to those experiencing displacement & homelessness, and face ancestral trauma that has been trapped in physical spaces & bodies for generations.

Afghan Refugees at Port of Piraeus, Greece, 2016. Read more in Passover in Piraeus

Many spiritual traditions speak of literal or internal ‘home-leaving’, from Avraham to Shakyamuni Buddha, Rabbi Benjamin of Tudelo reported from his travels across the Muslim caliphate in the middle ages. The Baal Shem Tov, a Jewish shaman, has traveled the Carpathian mountains. Christians & Buddhist practitioners specifically embarked on travel to expand and test their appreciation of Not Knowing, and to reveal places in their own interiority in which they yearn.

I find great inspiration and affirmation in these stories. I see passage as a form of spiritual practice, a deployment into a porous reality: the impermanence of place, the tug of yearning, practicing trust in generosity of others, letting uncertainty unfold, orienting to Not Knowing, and awe. My teacher Bernie used to 'plunge’ onto urban streets around the world. With no money or agenda, he will bear witness and rely solely on Not Knowing.

Privilege & The Humanitarian Predicament

I use the word passage rather than travel. the latter reminds me of privilege. To me passage acknowledges the movement and the recognition of the doorway of every single place along an itinerary. Long term, short term, long distance, short distance. Passages. Passageways.

Passage is not only chosen. Millions of people today have been thrust into homelessness and displacement due to economic challenges, mental illness, geopolitical conflicts and climate change. For many it is not a ‘spiritual practice!’ that may even sound tone-deaf or insulting. Passage Practices remind me of my own privilege, read, good fortune as well as the humanitarian predicament happening right now. I get connected, invoke empathy, for the precarious state so many experience. In fact all of us experience, to various degrees of realization of the acute impermanence of reality. Nothing to hang on to.

The Practices

I have been moving rapidly between locations, between state, countries and continents. Whether deployed for particular purpose, visiting loved ones, or leaning deep into not knowing. I found ways to acknowledge how the places I visited, the ways I made and the roads ahead, affect my body and mind. Here are a few of these practice, and some specific occasion that I employed them. I share them here for others to use and create new ones.

Casting Away of Remnants

I collect my hair that I cut, fingernails that I clip off in a small metal mint box. I find these items miraculous - the fact that these thin items were food or water or supplements before they became a part of ‘me.’ Before that they were some thing else, and before — cosmic matter catapulted into space 3.5 billion years ago. These remnants, relics of body and of mind - mind states, dreams, loves and yearnings. All is present in these remnants. Now they are located at my extremities, at the tip of my digits and toes, and at the top of my head, like arc of plasma sun flare radiating out from the sun, or a cloud’s silver lining. 

Israel, Galilee, Akko, Krakow, Przemysl, The Carpathian Mountains, Quabin reservoir, Downtown manhattan and Tel Aviv. Before I leave a location, I will go visit a natural space nearby, such as a woods, a stream, the ocean - if none exist near by, a traffic island with growth will do. 

I chant a prayer. Most often it is Mah-tovu, a common opening prayer that describes the goodness of the tents and dwelling places of the ancestors. Acknowledging the lineage as well as the temporal state of their passage. I would repeat the verse for a long time, and with each return I will pinch a batch of hairs and fingernails, and release it to the wild. 

Back at the residence, I light a stick of incense and walk throughout the house, apartment, room I stayed in, repeating the same incantation, invoking a sense of gratitude as well as cleansing it for whomever would come next after me.

Tashlikh, Hebrew for ‘cast away’ is a ceremony conducted following Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, in which each person is invited to charge a branch or another object with that which is no longer necessary and wish to enter without into the new year, and cast it away into a body of water. It is based on a single line from Eicha scroll, composed during the Babylonian exile - a time of great uncertainty and dislocation.

מִי-אֵל כָּמוֹךָ נֹשֵׂא עָו‍ֹן וְעֹבֵר עַל-פֶּשַׁע לִשְׁאֵרִית נַחֲלָתוֹ לֹא-הֶחֱזִיק לָעַד אַפּוֹ כִּי-חָפֵץ חֶסֶד הוּא. / יָשׁוּב יְרַחֲמֵנוּ יִכְבֹּשׁ עֲו‍ֹנֹתֵינוּ וְתַשְׁלִיךְ בִּמְצֻלוֹת יָם כָּל-חַטֹּאותָם. / תִּתֵּן אֱמֶת לְיַעֲקֹב חֶסֶד לְאַבְרָהָם אֲשֶׁר-נִשְׁבַּעְתָּ לַאֲבֹתֵינוּ מִימֵי קֶדֶם.

Translation

Who is a God like You,

Forgiving iniquity

And remitting transgression;

Who has not maintained His wrath forever

Against the remnant of His own people,

Because He loves graciousness!

He will take us back in love;

He will cover up our iniquities,

You will hurl all ouriHeb. “their.” sins

Into the depths of the sea.

You will keep faith with Jacob, Loyalty to Abraham, As You promised on oath to our fathers In days gone by.

In the travelog essay “Passover in Przemysl” I traveled to my paternal grandfather hometown of Przemysl, to both bear witness to the environment of his childhood and our ancestors, as well as support Ukrainian refugees enter from the nearby border. On the Seventh Night, I employed the following prayers as part of a ceremony to release ancestral tendrils I experienced there as I was about to leave the house and head away. (See the blog link to read the story of that seventh night

Tefilat Haderekh - Prayer for the Way

Before a major travel, I invoke Tefilat Haderekh, a beautiful incantation that acknowledge the yearning for safety and wellbeing while entering a time of uncertainty, transition, centerlessness. Tefilat haderekh can be a wonderful way to begin every single day.

יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְפָנֶיךָ יְ-יָ אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ וֵא-לֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ. שֶׁתּוֹלִיכֵנוּ לְשָׁלוֹם. וְתַצְעִידֵנוּ לְשָׁלוֹם. וְתַדְרִיכֵנוּ לְשָׁלוֹם. וְתִסְמְכֵנוּ לְשָׁלוֹם. וְתַגִּיעֵנוּ לִמְחוֹז חֶפְצֵנוּ לְחַיִּים וּלְשִׂמְחָה וּלְשָׁלוֹם. (ואם דעתו לחזור מיד אומר: וְתַחֲזִירֵנוּ לְשָׁלוֹם). וְתַצִילֵנוּ מִכַּף כָּל-אוֹיֵב וְאוֹרֵב וְלִסְטִים וְחַיּוֹת רָעוֹת בַּדֶּרֶך. וּמִכָּל פֻּרְעָנִיּוֹת הַמִּתְרַגְּשׁוֹת וּבָאוֹת לָעוֹלָם. וְתִשְׁלַח בְּרָכָה בְּכָל מַעֲשֵׂה יָדֵינוּ. וְתִתְּנֵנִיּ (בל' יחיד) לְחֵן וּלְחֶסֶד וּלְרַחֲמִים בְּעֵינֶיךָ וּבְעֵינֵי כָל רוֹאֵינוּ. וְתִגְמְלֵנוּ חֲסָדִים טוֹבִים. וְתִשְׁמַע קוֹל תְּפִלָּתֵינוּ. כִּי אַתָּה שׁוֹמֵעַ תְּפִלַת כָּל פֶּה: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְ-יָ שׁוֹמֵעַ תְּפִלָה:

Translation

May it be Your will, Great Mystery, 

the source of all that is and my own ancestors 

that You should lead us in peace 

and direct our steps in peace, 

and guide us in peace, 

and support us in peace, 

and cause us to reach our destination in life, joy, 

and peace (If one intends to return immediately, 

one adds: and return us in peace). 

Guard us from every enemy and ambush, 

from robbers and wild beasts on the trip, 

and from all kinds of punishments that rage and come to the world. 

May You confer blessing upon the work of our hands and grant me grace, kindness, and mercy in Your eyes and in the eyes of all who see us, and bestow upon us abundant kindness and hearken to the voice of our prayer, for You hear the prayers of all. 

Blessed are You great mystery, 

who hearkens to prayer.

Transliteration

Yehi ratzon milefanecha Ado-nai Eloh-einu veilohei avoseinu shetolicheinu leshalom vesatzideinu leshalom vesadricheinu leshalom vesismecheinu leshalom vesagi’einu limechoz cheftzeinu lechaim ulesimchah uleshalom (If he intends to return immediately, he adds: vesachazireinu leshalom) vesatzileinu mikaf kol oyeiv ve’oreiv velistim vechayos ra’os baderech umikol puraniyos hamisragshos uva’os le’olam vesishlach berachah bechol ma’aseh yadeinu vesitneini lechein ulechesed ulerachamim be’einecha uveinei chol ro’einu vesigmeleinu chasadim tovim vesishma kol tefilaseinu ki Atah shomei’ah tefilas kol peh. Baruch Atah Ado-nai shomei’ah tefilah.

Brakhat Habait - Blessings of the Dwelling Place

I’d use this prayer when exiting a dwelling place, especially if I had been hosted as a guest. This prayer has several variations, according to geographic location, lineage and time on the historic timeline. 

Hebrew

יהי רצון מלפניך אבינו מלכנו, א-ל עליון שתעשה נא עימנו צדקה וחסד חינם וברך את כל בני בית זה בחיים טובים וארוכים, בחיים של שלום, חיים של ברכה, חיים אשר יהיו מלאים בתורה ומצוות ומעשים טובים, חיים אשר תמלא נא את כל משאלות ליבם לטובה ולברכה, וְתַשְׁגִּיחַ נא אבינו מלכנו על כל בני בית זה

Transliteration

Yehi Ratzon Milfane’kha avinu malkenu, e-l elyon, sh’ta’a’seh na imanu tzdaka v’khesed khinam, u’barekh et kol bnei bayt zeh b’haim tovim v’arukim, b’khaim shel shalom, haim shel brakha, khaim asher yihiyu meleyim b’torah u’mitzvot u’ma’asim tovim, khaim asher timlah nah at kol mishalot libam letovah u’livrakha, v’tashgiakh na avinu malkenu al kol bnei bayt ze.

Translation

May it be your will, Great Mystery, that you do with us with goodness and good deeds, and bless the dwellers of this house with good and long life, life of peace, life of blessings, life that is filled with insight and practice and good deeds, life that will fulfill all their yearnings and needs for good and for blessing. Please care for all dwellers of this home.