There are eight ways to practice the attribute of humility and each corresponds to a place on the body. (Moshe Cordovoro, Tamar Devorah
The fifth practice is with one’s eyes, as Cordovoro writes:
“Do not close your eyes to the suffering of the poor. Think as much as possible of their predicament. Look for the good.”
There are eight ways to practice the attribute of humility and each corresponds to a place on the body. (Moshe Cordovoro, Tamar Devorah)
The fourth practice focuses on our ears, as he writes:
Turn your attention to hearing good and positive things. Shut out falseness, evil gossip, judgment.
Once I went to visit my friends at Primrose Valley Farm located amidst the rolling hills of Wisconsin. They are CSA farmers (community supported agriculture) planting high quality produce, free of chemicals, using methods that sustain the earth, and uphold ethical standards as prescribed in Judaism. We go to the farm as often as we can. It is peaceful, filled with sacred intention, good company and wonderful food.
There are eight ways to practice the attribute of humility and each corresponds to a place on the body.
The third practice is with one’s forehead, as he writes:
A person’s forehead should display no harshness. Your face should reflect willingness, acceptance, pleasantry.
When I was a child a girl’s forehead was the place where you debated with your friends and mom, bangs or a center part. Then as my own daughters became teens, they spoke a lot about eyebrows. Unruly, uni-brow, bushy, plucked, waxed, thin line, severely arched, slightly curved, or groomed like Brooke Shields. Then, as the years passed, I somehow stopped looking at eyebrows started looking at hairlines. Receded or simply disappearing hairlines seem to have less judgment than comb-overs. And then there is always the question, is the thinness from illness or age.
But now, right now, I understand that the space above my eyes tells a story to the world. In the lines of your forehead is an expression of your spirit. Worried, concerned, deep in thought, content, angry.
There are eight ways to practice the attribute of humility and each corresponds to a place on the body. (Moshe Cordovoro, Tamar Devorah)
The second practice is with one’s thoughts, as Cordovoro writes:
“Meditate and contemplate on thoughts of goodness, godliness, kindness.”
Moshe Cordovoro teaches in Tamar Devorah (The Palm Tree of Devorah) that to be in the image of God means to be humble, for through humility we learn and practice compassion. There are eight ways to practice the attribute of humility and each corresponds to a place on the body.
The first practice is with the head, as he writes:
Lower your gaze, a person who raises their head upward glorifies himself.
