JEWISH VISION FASTS PART 2 CURRICULUM

We have to invent whatever curriculum we choose because we don’t have a well defined tradition of vision fasts—it’s not like a bar/bat mitzvah where we teach the kids certain prayers, how to chant the Torah and maybe the Haftorah and do a drash. There’s also the tension that in most indigenous societies vision fasts were the culmination of a multiple month process.  That won’t necessarily be the case in doing Jewish vision fasts, though I would urge that we aim in this direction.

Here are some things that I would consider including in a curriculum beyond the practical skills needed to spend a period of time alone in the wilderness.  This isn’t to minimize these skills—they can literally make the difference between life and death and must be taught. Any program of Jewish vision fasts is likely to have people in it who have never made a fire or put up a tent.

I’d begin with an intention letter and a kind of cheshbon hanefesh, soul accounting.  Why are you doing this now? What do you hope to gain from it?  What would success look like?  What would failure look like?  What strengths and weaknesses do you bring? To be sure, our fasters actual experience will materially differ from what they write, and there is no such thing as failing—the questions are designed to get them to engage with their fast before they come to the retreat.

Expand on and share the history of Jewish fasts and vision fasts so that everyone is clear that they are engaging in an indigenous Jewish practice. I would add the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel and Joseph in the pit at some point.

Write a death letter or an ethical will.  Provide samples from Jewish sources.  This exercise is designed to have our fasters think about what kind of legacy they want to leave the world, what kind of difference they want to make.

Teach a Jewish medicine wheel. Medicine wheels aren’t a focus of Jewish tradition, but the outlines are there, and Rabbi Mike Comins has a very usable one, adopted and modified from Rabbi Gershon Winkler in his wonderful book A Wild Faith.

Teach the idea of brokenness and repairing the divine, the world and the self, using the Lurianic myth of the shattering of the vessels.

Teach the idea of spontaneous prayer using the story of Hannah praying for a child and the story of Moses praying to the divine to heal his sister Miriam.

Read some psalms and teach the idea of writing one’s own psalms

Teach the core rhythm of Hebrew prayer—gratitude, praise, petition.  We believe in asking for what you want—but after you offer gratitude and praise.

Note that all of these possible teachings are to increase our fasters toolboxes of what they can draw on to have a fast that connects them with our ancestral heritage.