What is the Shekina?
Authors Frost and Hirsch, in The Shaping of Things to Come, discuss Hebrew tradition which understands the shekina glory of God as holy sparks present in all things. When the carpenter strikes the nail, the sparks are released, and when the musician strums her guitar, the sparks redeem those who can hear.
I recently found this interesting excerpt from Martin Buber. I love his idea that men and women can influence the eternal.
From nextreformation.com:
“Martin Buber, one of the most influential interpreters of Judaism for the twentieth century, quotes a Hasidic anecdote and points out the interrelation between direction and redemption.
‘Enoch was a cobbler, and with every stitch of his awl that drew together the top and bottom of the leather, he joined God and the Shekinah… Man exerts influence on the eternal, and this is not done by any special works, but by the intention with which he does all his works. This is the teaching of the hallowing of the everyday. This issue is not to attain to a new type of acting which, owing to its object, would be sacred or mystical; the issue is to do the one appointed task, the common, obvious tasks of daily life, according to their truth and according to their meaning.’ (Buber, Mamre, 1946)
“Buber goes further, ‘He who does a good deed with complete kavanah, that is, completes an act in such a way that his whole existence is gathered in it and directed in it towards God, he works on the redemption of the world, on its conquest for God.’ Buber says elsewhere that,
‘What matters is not what is being done, but the fact that every act is filled with sanctity – that is, with God-oriented intent – is a road to the heart of the world. There is nothing that is evil in itself; every passion can become a virtue, every inclination a “vehicle of God.” It is not the matter of the act that is decisive, but its sanctification. Every act is hallowed if it is directed towards salvation. The soul of the doer alone determines the character of the deed. With this, the deed does in truth become the life center of religiosity.’