Have you ever noticed how we create huge tangles of our lives? Maybe we just take one strand – a relationship or a job or a particular way of thinking or a small lie or a debt that gets larger over time – and we knot it up until its a total mess. Or maybe we take several strands and we tie them together into something resembling a huge clump of matted hair.
I recently watched my son tangle up his whole life over school work. By not actually doing his homework or studying for tests, he managed to involve every other aspect of his life – his Ipod, his telephone and texting, his ability to socialize, and his extracurricular activities. To untie the tangles, he simply needs to do his homework and study for his tests. As his grades improve, all the knots will loosen and the mess will smooth itself out. The other strands of his life will suddenly be straight and unrestricted by that one particular strand.
I could say the same about my family’s finances. As we have gotten into debt, it has knotted up just about every area of our lives including our relationships. Once we pay off our debt, those tangles and knots will begin to loosen and, hopefully disappear.
I began thinking about this the other day after reading something sent to me by my friend and Rabbi Eli Cohen. A friend of his had sent him a story from the San Francisco Chronicle published on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2005. (I’m not sure if what was sent was reproduced verbatim from the newspaper, but the story is worth reading anyway.) Here it is:
The Whale
A female humpback whale had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth.
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A fisherman spotted her just east of the Faralon Islands (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her — a very dangerous proposition. One slap of the tail could kill a rescuer. They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her.
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The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eye was following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.
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When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles.She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, nudged them, and pushed gently, thanking them.
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Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives.
And if you are not, Judaism has a beautiful and very mystical prayer called the Ana B’Choach that can help you also untie the tangles you may have created in your life. In fact, the translation for the first line means, “Please, God, with the strength of your right hand, untie our tangles.” We are told that if we recite this prayer, God will, indeed, help do just that.
The following isย how Rabbi Sheba Gold explains the prayer and a practice for using it. Since Reb Shefa is known for her chants, she doesn’t use the whole prayer but rather just the first line. You can listen to the chant here.
“Clearing The Way“
ย ย Ana b’choach gedulat y’mincha Tatir Tz’rurah
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Please, with the strength of your right hand, untie our tangles.ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย (Siddur)ยย
This is the first line of a magical prayer ascribed to Rabbi Nechuriah ben Hakanah. The whole prayer contains 42 words, the initials of which comprise the secret unpronounceable 42 letter name of God.
With this practice we call on that aspect of God that moves through obstacles, dissolves resistance and opens the way forward for us.
Begin by asking, “What is the obstacle (inner or outer) that is getting in my way?” Lay that obstacle lovingly on the altar of the chant. As you chant, allow the power of God’s right hand to move through you forcefully opening the way ahead and delicately untying the tangles within you.
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Interestingly, I was on Facebook the other day and noticed that one of my “friends” had noted her status as “praying the ana b’choach with a group of friends.” What a great idea I thought – not only to pray the ana b’choach, but to do it in a group. It seems the world itself has tied itself in many a knot and is in need of a grand untangling. It’s a good time for us all to say the ana b’choach together and individually, for ourselves, for each other and for the world.
If you would like to say the whole payer in English or in Hebew, here it is:
ย (For a little clearer version of this, go to http://neohasid.org/resources/ana_bekhoach_liturgy/, which is where I found it.)
May the energy of miracles that fills the holiday of Chanukah also help you untie any tangles you may have made of you life since this time last year.
