The Power of Using our G-d Given Talents (and Helping Our Children Recognize Theirs.)
There are twelve months in the Jewish calendar. The talent of TOUCH is the seventh, corresponding to the month of Tishrei (September - October.)
People who have this talent are great connectors. Whether it is through sensory perception, physical touch, or spiritual connection, they have an intuitive sense of how to reach out in the way that will be most effective. They can reach out and touch in a myriad of ways. They love to bond and create meaningful friendships and relationships. This talent draws people to them. Their touch can often be transformative or healing. Their desire to be close and to create deep connections with others needs to be channeled so that it is expressed appropriately.
When we have children with this talent, we can help them to experience expansiveness by giving them opportunities to experiment with tactile games. When they feel sand running through their fingers, or the joys of finger painting or molding clay, they feel touch as a gateway to a deeper connection to themselves and then to others.
A touch on the arm or on the cheek lets this child know that there is a loving parent nearby. We can be role models to our children by showing an example of appropriate touch. When we don’t touch what is not ours, they learn that this sense (as with all the senses) has boundaries.
Tools For Developing Your Sense of Touch:
1. Recognize that how and whom we touch can bring harmony or the opposite.
2. Develop boundaries to be “in touch” with appropriateness in relationship.
3. Develop the desire for closeness with family and good friends by keeping in touch.
4. Being in close touch with a friend helps us to give as well as to receive. This creates intimacy in friendship.
5. Sometimes it’s necessary to wait for the right time to touch or to be in touch.
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The Kabalah of Touch:
The talent of Touch is based on the desire for closeness. It is really a desire for spiritual union. The hands can reach above the head (the mind) to reach for connection with what is Above, for G-d.
The month of Tishrei is full of holidays which connect us to G-d and to our people. The first two days of Tishrei are Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. This is a time to pray for a blessed year and to recognize G-d as our King and the ruler of the Universe. The tenth of Tishrei is Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year. It is a day of fasting and deep essential union with G-d. Soon after is the week of Sukkot in which we dwell in a sukka (see chabad.org for more information about Tishrei its many holidays), shake lulov and esrog and celebrate with great joy. Simchat Torah is the holiday when we complete the yearly cycle of Torah reading of the Five Books of Moses (the BIble) and then begin again. On this holiday we dance with the Torah scrolls and rejoice in our legacy of the Torah that guides us.
The tribe connected with this month and talent is Ephraim, whose name is related to fruitfulness.
Chana Rachel Schusterman is a Jewish spiritual counselor and coach. If you would like to contact her, please email me at Jewishmontessori18@gmail.com.
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