Entering in to the Larger Goodness: Mah Tovu

Mah tovu ohalecha Ya’akov, mish’k’notecha Yisra’eyl.
Va’ani b’rov chas’d’cha, avo betecha.
Mah Tovu Hebrew
How good are your tents, Jacob;
your Divine dwelling places, Israel. (Numbers 24:5)
By your grace, I will enter your house. (Psalm 5:8)

There is a larger Goodness that holds all of the good and the bad, a Unity that holds within it all of the duality. When we enter into that larger Goodness, we can get enough perspective to be able to bless the process of transformation that is in play at this very moment. We are in the process of transforming our Jacob (the heel who is always trying to make a deal with Reality) into Israel (the one who encounters Reality directly). And we are in the process of transforming our plain old tent (body and material existence) into a Mishkan (a place where the Divine Spirit is invited to dwell). Trusting in this process of transformation, we can enter fully into God-consciousness, which can only be attained through Grace.

Rabbi Rami Shapiro teaches that “Grace is God’s unlimited, unconditional, unconditioned, and all-inclusive love for all Creation.” And yes, that’s exactly what opens the door to The Larger Goodness.

To hear the various parts of the chant, use the audio players. To download a part, right-click a note and save (or download) the linked MP3 file.

To download the PDF file for this chant, click Entering in to the Larger Goodness PDF.