There are plots and subplots. Which is which is often impossible to discern. Former Denver Mayor Bill Vidal is our next speaker on Aha Moments. The plot is laid out in the title of his talk: An Immigrant’s Journey and in the copy we have prepared: “Born in Cuba to a wealthy family, Bill Vidal and his brothers were sent to Florida in 1961 and then transported to an orphanage in Pueblo. Overcoming the personal struggles of his uprooted childhood, he became one of Colorado’s most influential civil servants. Author of Boxing for Cuba, he will share his journey overcoming obstacles—both personally and professionally.”

As always though there are so many subplots—those intersecting lines that are beneath the main storyline. Of course, subplots can require unearthing. So I began to dig and immediately the following story surfaced.

As is true for many people who have faced early separations and loss—change is not a welcome opportunity—it is often a frightening prospect. In 2004 Bill Vidal was finishing his fifth year as head of the Denver Regional Council of Governments when John Hickenlooper offered him to join the Mayor’s Office to head Public Works for the city. Bill turned the Mayor down three times but told the Mayor, who would not take no for an answer, he would think about it.

That night, Bill and his wife Gabriela were watching the film, “The Man from Elysian Fields.” At one point in the film, a man Vidal describes as “skinny and lanky” comes out of a restaurant and helps actor Andy Garcia’s character into his coat. “My wife says, ‘That’s Hickenlooper’ and I say, ‘It’s not.’”

Indeed, Gabriela’s instinct was correct—the Mayor of Denver had been given a small cameo by his director cousin, George Hickenlooper.

Bill’s response upon seeing the credits and the director’s name: “It’s a sign! It’s a sign from God!” and he sought out the Mayor the next day to accept the job.

I never heard of this film, “The Man from Elysian Fields” so I watched the trailer. It did not include the scene where John Hickenlooper is holding a coat. The film though addresses change as both frightening and risky as well as an opportunity to dig deeper into who we are, or can be, than if we follow the same plot.

I don’t know what other Aha Moments Mr. Vidal will share with us—but this is one subplot I look forward to discussing with him.

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It was the kind of accident that makes you avert your eyes…how could there be any survivors?

It happened last Thursday afternoon on a curved stretch of California Highway 101, north of Santa Barbara. A small car, a BMW sedan, was mangled beyond recognition. The other vehicle, a big-rig truck, landed in ravine 100-feet below. Its driver, Charles Allison, was killed. Police say the truck had rear-ended the car.

“The BMW was then forced into the center concrete wall where the three parties in the BMW became trapped in the vehicle,” said Danny Maher, California Highway Patrol.

The family was trapped and alive, but the shredded vehicle hung precariously as the afternoon wore on over the ravine 100 feet below. First grade teacher, Kelly Lynn Groves, said her daughters were with her; ten-year old Sage and 10-month-old Milo. Seatbelts, airbags and the baby’s car seat had all done their jobs. And dozens of first responders such as fire, rescue, police and hazmat teams, did theirs while facing multiple dangers to themselves, and the car’s occupants.

“Each time we tried to pry her out, the car kept slipping a little bit more,” said Woody Enos, Santa Barbara Fire Department.

On Tuesday, Karen Frankel shared in class this story that she said is a beautiful example of a “Kabbalah Experience.”  So, I googled car crash 101 and the first link I opened was about a car crash on the 101 on February 28, 1999. In that crash, the car went over the edge of the cliff and both parents died. There was a miracle on that day as well, baby Tania, 16 months old, was pulled from the wreck—she had hung upside down in her fastened car seat for 5 hours.

We talked in class about the intersecting of billions of ‘events’ at any moment that lead to life and to death—the miraculous nature of synchronicity, an awareness we develop from seeing the interconnectedness of  what happens in and from our life. The Kabbalah perspective is to enlarge our awareness to not only choices (such as securing babies in car seats) we make, it extends as well to the choices others make; all are providentially guided.  Parallel lines that intersect—one line plummeting to death and the other line lifting to life.

Here is the rest of the story of the rescue of Kelly Lynn, Sage and Milo Groves (the news video is worth watching – click here)

Then there was an amazing stroke of luck. A team of Navy Seabees just happened to come across the scene. In their convoy was a heavy-duty forklift with a telescoping arm. Exactly what was needed!

The rescue workers secured the car underneath with the forklift and were able to stand on the car and extract the Groves from their car.

“Extremely lucky. We were really lucky that they came by,” said Enos.

Luck is known by another name. We call it a Kabbalah Experience.

Today marks a very important moment. It is a day to thank Diana Kaplan for her wonderful service to our organization for the past three years. It is the day she is leaving us for other rewarding endeavors. No matter what, Diana welcomes with a smile. Her warmth and generous spirit will be missed. Thank you Di for all you have done for us.

There is a term called an “epipha-sight.”  You won’t find it in the dictionary. If it found its way there, it would be right between the words epiphany and insight. It is defined by its originator, Ari Hoffman, as more than an insight but not quite an epiphany.  Over the semester break I had one of them. The epipha-sight is about living in the present moment.

In Questions to a Zen Master, Taisen Deshimaru explains that, “If you are not happy here and now, you never will be.” That always seemed to me to be an extreme statement and it seemed to leave little room for a sad or depressed or angry moment, hour or few days.  So I was mediating on the meaning of the Zen Master’s words and just let go of the word happy and I heard it say: “If you are not here and now, you never will be.”

Raising children is a very here and now experience and yet there is always a tendency to project into the future. So as I was looking into Eva and Isabel’s faces it became clear, “I am here and now with you—this is not preparation for anything or anticipation of milestones to be reached—I am caring and loving you and that is happiness.” It was and is a moment of liberation of my thought, an epipha-sight that the next moment and the next moment are lived fully by being in the here and now.

As the Broncos’ Thomas galloped into the end zone I heard, in the midst jubilation, a steady stream of: “And now we are going to get crushed by the Patriots.”  It is our tendency to not be here and now. And when we aren’t, we lose the opportunity to be happy—what a pass and what a gallop. Next week is another game, another present moment.  There will be plenty of diaper changes between now and then.

Happily,

Here. Now.

Blame

to hold responsible; find fault with; censure, to place the responsibility for (a fault, error, etc.) (usually followed by on ): I blame the accident on her.

Accountable

subject to the obligation to report, explain, or justify something; responsible; answerable.

______________

I had an interaction with someone yesterday who said: “Why are you trying to find someone to blame?”  My mental note during the conversation was, “Am I finding blame or fault with someone for an outcome I was not pleased with or did I want accountability for actions that would lead to a better outcome next time?”

In a culture so averse to blame we prefer the word accountable. If we try to shame another person through blame, clearly then, we need to be accountable for our blaming, rather than holding the other person in the esteem they deserve while working toward a better outcome.

Yesterday, Anne Goldberg and I had the pleasure of introducing Kabbalah study to a table full of people responding to our free introduction. A question that has now recurred during many introductions is: “How does the study of Kabbalah affect your life?” One of the attendees had her own answer based on what Anne and I had been talking about—she wondered aloud if Kabbalah study led to an awareness of the mystery in one’s life. She was focusing on the mystery of one’s latent potentials that could be awakened through a deeper understanding of self.

As I sit today reflecting on lessons learned yesterday, I would also suggest (as I did during the introductory class) that Kabbalah study, if truly effective, leads to greater accountability for one’s actions. The person who challenged me about “finding blame” argued that it is not productive to blame. I agree.  Accountability for self and holding others accountable is productive. It may be the most productive thing we can do to awaken the latent potentials hidden in the mysteries of our life.

No matter how sophisticated we get, no matter where our science and technology boldly goes, there is a principle of physical reality that will never change. The lyrics of the song are:  You can’t start a fire without a spark. You also can’t start a fire without something to burn.  Whether you use wax candles or place wicks in oil on Chanukah, you need the raw material these substances provide in order to sustain the flame. A spark needs it kindling as much as the kindling needs it spark.

The spark that ignited the flame of Kabbalah Experience was a simple request by a friend eight years ago—I would like to learn with you, what would you like to teach? That question has led to the development of a two year core curriculum, advanced kabbalah study and our ever growing faculty, now numbering seven.

Is there a miraculous aspect to the oil that has now sustained the spark of Kabbalah Experience for eight years? We rely on oil in the form of tuition income from classes and programs but that would not be enough to keep the doors open and certainly not enough to offer scholarships. What has also sustained us and allowed us to grow are donations and grants. The generosity of our Board of Directors, students and people from our community is remarkable. I would like to specifically thank Rose Community Foundation for our latest significant grant from them. Our Jewish community is particularly blessed with the Allied Jewish Federation and Rose Foundation’s commitment to their Jewish Life program area. Without their vision and support, Kabbalah Experience (and many other organizations and institutions) could not share their light with so many others.

While donations remain an important fuel for us, there is nothing more valuable to us than being able to share the spark of spiritual learning. Share the light and refer someone to begin their kabbalah studies. Spiritual transformation is a good New Year’s resolution. Classes begin January 9^th.

Chanukah means dedication—the Macabees who were priests (re)dedicated the Temple and its vessels including the Menorah (the candelabrum).  As legend goes the Macabees found one small cruise of oil. Once lit, the Menorah is to be continuously lit. Lighting it, though they assumed the oil would run out, is the basis of the miracle of Chanukah. We teach in class that the confluence of a miracle is the human reaching out to the Divine; take the initial first step and matters fall into place.

Putting things in motion is symbolized this holiday by the Sivivon-dreidel which we spin to see what letter it will fall on. No matter how finely crafted the dreidel it will eventually stop spinning and fall down. So it is with all physical reality. The principle of gravity though contains an interesting paradox—gravity is the force that has things fall and remain in motion (remain ‘standing’).

I would like to address a “problem” that is often brought up especially at Chanukah time in the United States. It is the problem identified as assimilation. Many Jewish leaders and organizations at this time of year issue the call to fight assimilation—underlying this concern is the ultimate fear that the Jewish people will spin itself out of existence. If we look back on the history of the Macabees it was indeed assimilation that they were fighting against. At that time Jews were influenced by the Greek culture. It is hard to discern which was more distressing to the Macabee priests—the anti-Jewish decrees of the Greeks or the internal assimilation of the Jews. The Macabees took matters in their own hand and repelled the Greek forces.

The strategy though for combating the imposed religious tyranny of the Greeks could not then or throughout subsequent generations be the same for ‘combating’ assimilation. Indeed the wise have always seen that regarding free choice one cannot beat away darkness, rather one must enlighten.

A curious law prescribes that the Chanukah candles should not be lit; they should ignite on their own. How is this done? The lighter brings the flame close enough to the wick that the transfer of heat ignites the wick. This was the custom of the High Priest in the Temple when lighting the Menorah and is a tradition of the Kabbalah to light the Chanukah candles in this manner.

The wiser than the wise begin to see assimilation not as a threat but as the way gravity operates on the Jewish people. We fall and we stay in motion.  If we close ourselves off to assimilation then we simply spin in our own orbit. Can one imagine the Jewish people still being around if it has isolated itself among the nations? Of course there are challenges when one does not isolate and insulate. The wiser say: enlighten and the flame will continue to burn brightly.

The letters on the dreidel (Nun-Gimmel-Heh-Shin) have the numerical value of Mashiach—the Messiah. When the dreidel stops it falls down on only one aspect of reality. The Messiah will assimilate all aspects of reality and we will spin into one.

Come join us for some dreidel spinning, a meditative lighting of the Menorah and other games on the last night of Chanukah, Tuesday December 27 6-8pm at the Goldberger Center.

Can we start anew each day, each moment?  Memory is like an anchor in the flow of time.  We remember our ports of call, the people, places, tastes, smells, feelings etc.  Can we really ever start anew?  Can starting anew carry any memory from the past?

Starting next week on the second night-day of Passover we begin a 50 day count (referred to as the counting of the Omer). Each day is counted, a day unto itself.  We actually count 49 days, the 50^th day is ‘counted’ by itself—and is the holiday of Shavuot, the day of the revelation of Torah (historically, the day the Jewish people became the Jewish people at Sinai through their encounter with God).

For more than three millennia we use this count to exit a state of constriction (symbolized by enslavement in Egypt) to a state of freedom.  As we explain in our Kabbalah studies, one central constriction a slave deals with is that time is not their own.  We too struggle with being in time that is not constricted—time that is free, time that is neither day nor night (a part of a song sung at the Passover Seder: “a time is coming that is neither day nor night) is the present moment—NOW.  There are teachings  in the Kabbalah and from the East that say that the past (and future) is illusion.  But memory serves us to be aware of what we want to bring into the present. Such as a memory of where we were last year at this time and where we are this year. The question for our meditation as we count is not where we are in our thoughts (recollecting a past) but when are we? Are we in the present with our thoughts.

This 50 day count is a daily practice in living in the present moment.  Each day counts unto itself. We are not stitching something together; we are not adding one brick to another. We simply take each day as it is –in its newness and uniqueness and live that day.  To highlight the uniqueness of each day a Kabbalistic tradition is to assign a special intention for each of the days—a uniqueness for each day.  These intentions are linked to the system of the Sefirot on the Tree of Life (if you have not studied this yet the intentions will be understood without that knowledge) from Chesed to Malchut.  The seven (lower) Sefirot are assigned, one to each of the seven weeks of the count as follows:

I will be blogging an intention for each day of the count starting next Tuesday night-Wednesday day for 49 days. These blogs will appear on our website in order with the latest one on top.

We are adding our own way of approaching this 50 day count.   Be mindful that this is a practice of living in the present moment; being aware of just today and the possibilities it presents—without being stuck in the past —  living with regret of the past , or being stuck in the future—waiting for “then” and not living now.

Wonderful teachers have gone before to create a scheme of using the (seven lower) Sefirot and intentions for each day of the week representing one of the seven Sefirot.  Each week is an inter-inclusive teaching with the particular Sefirah defining the week. The Sefirah then is the energy of the week—and the specific combination of the overall Sefirah and its connecting Sefirah a particular energy for that day. Please find below a chart with a synopsis of Rabbi Jacobson’s The Spiritual Guide to the Counting of the Omer (1995) and Rabbi Min Kantrowitz’s Counting the Omer: Kabbalistic Meditation Guide (2010). Read the rest of this entry

Click on image to download a .pdf version

Overall intention: To view love and those who love you as your teachers; expanding who you are emotionally and growing your capacity to love.  Love comes in many varieties—and we embody the many varieties of love.  We receive many gifts in our life from those we love and from those we might even hate.

Imagine for a moment the scene of leaving Egypt at midnight. The moment arrives. God’s love permeates the moment.  Finally, freedom. Gather your gifts—first life itself—you have survived, you will walk out of this Egyptian concentration camp.  It feels euphoric, chaotic, overwhelming (Chesed).  Then focus sets in. First steps and then next steps. Gather what you need. There is not even time to let the bread fully bake.  There are limits to what you can take with you, to what you can take in (Gevurah). Your oppressors offer gifts. Accepting the gifts is a harmonizing act, integrating the pain and loss and feeling empathy (Tiferet).  Can love win out, will expansiveness be the measure of the day—a day that has no limits. All obstacles have been removed or now can be seen as overcome (Netzach) and there will be a need to let go, to acknowledge that within this euphoria there are those that will not be leaving, nor has an ultimate awareness come to the Egyptians themselves (Hod).  And what is Moses doing at this moment? He is finding the bones of Joseph to keep a promise that was made two centuries before, “take my bones out with you from Egypt”.  The leader ensures that the moment of leaving is with integrity (Yesod). Then the exodus begins. With trumpet and tambourine and a step over the border. Free at last—with love and for love. Love busts us out—it is that power worth waiting for until the last day, the very last moment.

Day one: Chesed in Chesed

Receiving love is not always easy—it makes us uneasy at times. Underlying this dis-ease is a lack of feeling worthy of the largess of unconditional love.  Similarly, are we able to love with no feeling of reciprocity—to love for its own sake.  On this first full day of freeing from slavery (of the past) how can you love others and yourself unconditionally? Is this a contradiction? Can I love you the way you want and not give up loving myself?

Set aside a time to meditate without any time limit—just sit and allow the emotion of love to permeate your body and mind.  Feel yourself expanding with the meditation. If you want to add words you can say: Love my neighbor—love myself.

Day two: Gevurah in Chesed

The balance of overflowing love is to be focused and even limiting in our love. This not only impacts the ‘quantity of love’ it also defines the ‘quality of love.’  One often recognizes this aspect of love (Gevurah) with the loss of love.  After loss the question is can I ever love again? Yet we find that love is generative—it can be born again even from the narrow confines of loss.

Read the rest of this entry

We are interpreting Gevurah as “limiting” love (from others).  In the early Kabbalah it is usually translated as fear or awe. As it is on the left side of the Tree of Life, opposite Chesed,  most interpret it as discipline; saying no as a form of love—teaching that love is also learned through its limits. In the first week we have Gevurah in Chesed (this week we start with Chesed in Gevurah) and interpreted it as a sense of losing love.  Gevurah then as we will elaborate this week is the limits or boundaries on love. We need to always look at each of these dimensions both ways—from outside in and inside out.  How we receive and how we give. If we look at Gevurah in Gevurah we see that at times we need to look inside and realize—it is up to me—and when we look at others to have an awareness that ultimately the other person (be they adult or child) are on their own.

Day 8 – Chesed in Gevurah

The festival of Passover has passed over. We are on the other side of the split sea. Can we still hold onto the power of what has been revealed to us? Now as we count (putting one foot in front of the other) we are just in the count—another (wondrous) day. The residue of Passover—the love that we have received and given is now receding in the rear view mirror of memory. Moving forward. Independence. Self-reliance. It can feel like bitterness, a separation from love.  You are experiencing being on your own (yet infused with love). Perhaps that is why we shake hands upon meeting—connecting and then separating—we are ready to walk on our own.

Meditation: The moment you let go and took your first steps. Two hands separated—the one that held yours and the one you held.  Remember a time and how that felt to you when you separated—you needed to let go—to move forward.

Day 9 – Gevurah in Gevurah

The next few steps are realized as “I am really on my own.”  Fear can set in.  Can you summon the courage to keep going? Independence is scary. You do not know that you can make it through on your own but all you need is to take the next step.

Meditation: You are on your own. Sit with yourself. Sit alone.  Feel your aloneness. There may be an aspect of yourself that you would not dare share with others—you alone need to face it with courage.  That is the aspect of Gevurah.

Day 10 - Tiferet in Gevurah

Feeling empathy for what it is to be on your own or in setting boundaries for others to realize themselves fully by limiting what they experience as love.  Ultimately we are interconnected to all and yet we can feel alone and for that we reflect on and empathize with our sense of aloneness.  It can take many forms from feeling alone physically, or feeling alone with one’s feelings or thoughts.

Meditation: When we see the person at the intersection with a cardboard sign do we feel for their aloneness?  As we empathize for others’ aloneness we connect with our deepest aloneness.

Day 11 - Netzach in Gevurah

Overcoming obstacles to separating—there are internal and external obstacles.  Fear and dependence can be internal states but often are sourced from the outside. In Netzach we not only summon our courage we enlist it to subdue those inner and outer fears about and blockages to our independence (and our granting others their independence).  As we have taught in class the Sefirah of Netzach is aligned with parenting and in this regard the parent has the courage to let their child face the obstacles of their life on their own.

Meditation: What do I depend on? I can rely on others and be disappointed—but that is different than depending on them (or on God). I can commit to others and then they can rely in me. Free myself of dependence. I will not be enslaved that way.

Day 12 - Hod in Gevurah

While we may strive for setting limits—for gaining our independence (self-love) there are times when we will need to surrender to times of needing others (more than we might want ideally) or giving in a way that exceeded our commitment to the growth of the other toward independence.  We give in or accept these times as necessary and acknowledge our limitations in setting limitations!

Meditation: Before going to sleep acknowledge this day for what it brought—lessons for me to learn about what I need to accept as my growing in independence.

Day 13 - Yesod in Gevurah

Independence is actualizing self-love. For each week’s Sefirah you can ask yourself on this day of Yesod, have I done the inner work needed…to put into action my limiting and focusing love to foster independence?  Am I telling the truth when I withhold from myself or others Chesed? Have I stepped into fear with courage; avoiding nothing that holds me back from my self-love and independence.

Meditation: The truth be told am I still holding onto some form of dependence? When we talk about independence it does not mean we are not connected. I am connected to God for life. I am connected to every ancestor. I am connected to every atom. I am independent and able to discover my connection, my reliance, my commitment to all.

Day 14 - Malchut in Gevurah

Put into action your limit setting. This is a day to transform bitterness into sweetness and transform a feeling of aloneness into a triumph of independence. We are traversing the desert. One step at a time to independence. I may stumble and rely on someone to lift me up or lift someone who is stumbling. But my back is straight and my feet are ahead of me.

We are interpreting Tiferet as integration. My Kabbalah teacher emphasizes the inner meaning of the Sefirah of Tiferet as empathy (and Rabbi Jacobson interprets it similarly as compassion). The word Tiferet itself means beauty (or that which harmonizes/balances) and therefore by extension; the energy of integration. Tiferet is usually explained as the integration of Chesed and Gevurah but as you can see Tiferet draws integration from all the Sefirot (those above and below). So what do we mean by integration? I will attempt briefly to integrate for you the work of Daniel Siegel in his book Mindsight. “Integration,” he says, “might be the principle underlying health at all levels of our experience from the microcosm of our inner world to our interpersonal relationships and life in our communities.” Siegel makes the point that rigidity or chaos affects the unfolding of integration. When there is not enough differentiation then there is not enough complexity and the ability to harmonize—to “integrate” (rigidity) and with too much differentiation there is no linkage and again harmony and complexity give way to chaos.

Turning to the wisdom of the Kabbalah and the Sefirah of Tiferet we now have two interesting notions to integrate; the unfolding and creating of differentiated yet open and linked ‘systems’. I hope you can see that human beings are just that when they are ‘beautiful’—they are differentiated (Gevurah energy of self-defining, independence) and yet very connected (Chesed energy of love); we call this an empathic person!

In our classes we emphasize that Tiferet is the stage of the blueprint in the creation of all that comes into being. The integration of this concept is to see that a blueprint (for a human being, a building, a tree or a company) integrates openness-connectivity and differentiation-boundaries to be a flexible enough map for full (and healthy) manifestation.

Now we are ready for the week of Tiferet—when the Jews continue on their journey away for slavery to integrating as free people—and what will be their blueprint for freedom?  Fortunately they were beginning to integrate what it would mean to be a moral people, concerned for the welfare of each other and God introducing them to the observance of the Sabbath. The Shabbat for the Jewish people is their blueprint for living a free life. This week they are in the oasis of Eilimah—where there were date palms and fresh springs, in abundance. Your week may not feel so oasis-like but it is a week for reflecting on the creation of your blueprint to freedom. As Tiferet of Tiferet occurs on day 3 of this week’s count, the formulation of your blueprint is quick.

Continue on to Day 15…

As we begin to formulate who we are (our free selves)—we want to first and foremost remain open. Tiferet is associated with the gut in the body (our body’s intuition) and for the gut to work smoothly it needs motility. The energy then of this first day is to be open to more input into the formulation of the blueprint of your humaneness. This input can be direct or circumstantial. While empathy is at the essence of our general human blueprint, each of us needs to create the unique blueprint that reveals our essence.

Meditation: What are people (or circumstances) informing me today in how I should open up and expand my way of seeing myself? A closed vessel cannot take any new information in—visualize yourself as open. Today is openness.  Tomorrow is focus and defining.  Today is today—be open.

Narrow the focus and choose a blueprint. Formulate it and say it aloud. Draw it, write it down. This is who I am (even if in the next moment your actions don’t resemble the blueprint in the least).

Meditation: Set a picture of your blueprint in your mind. Carry it with you through the day.

How is your essence revealed through your work, through your relationships, through your avocations? There may be many details to your blueprint, we are no less complex than a house or building.  A house can serve as the metaphoric blueprint in meditating on who you are. What is the design of you as the garage, the kitchen, the bedroom and what exposures are you open to and is there enough space and room (moments) for privacy?

Overcome obstacles to implementing your blueprint. There are internal and external obstacles.  Will others accept my changes?  Will I have the tenacity and persuasion to construct a new life based on the vision of the blueprint?

Meditation: Can I see resistance to change as part of the blueprint for my change? Visualize yourself holding the blueprint in your hand and raising it above any threatening force, holding it firmly so no wind can whisk it away. This is your Declaration of Independence—signed in your own hand.

While we may strive for overcoming any and all obstacles that stand in the way of manifesting our new self we also acknowledge our limitations. The ideals of the blueprint remain—accepting that we may not follow all its nuances or even its main design. It may not even be about us in the end—the blueprint for ourselves may be about others—it is not to build my own home but rather to construct the home for someone else—to pave the road for them. My sense of Tikkun may be simply a mirror for someone else.

Meditation: Take a closer look at the blueprint and imagine what is on its other side. Blueprint paper is usually paper-thin—almost transparent—affording us a better look at all sides of the blueprint.

For each week’s Sefirah you can ask yourself on this day of Yesod, have I done the inner work needed…to design myself anew?  In truth, the process of recreating myself anew (a new blueprint) is an everyday (moment) occurrence—but that is also the task for this week as I contemplate leaving the enslavement of Egypt. Yesod also means foundation—so as this week we use the analogy building a home keep in mind that this is the day for digging out the foundation.

Meditation:  Is part of my blueprint to remember each day that I am leaving Egypt today—which Egypt? The Egypt of millennia ago and today’s Egypt as well.

Put into action your blueprint. This is a day to see how the building will be constructed using the depth of the foundation to make it a secure, stable and well integrated self.

Your blueprint is set down on paper and you have “signed off.”  The blueprint though is just a map, an outline for growth, your plan for leaving an aspect of personal constriction.  It is not yet taking action and the process toward freedom remains fluid.  In the desert the Jews have now moved from the oasis, back into the desert, with all its challenges.  Choices abound and there are many potential course corrections.  Why is change for us similar to traversing a desert?  In our determination to move toward freedom the landscape is often bare and can feel very lonely and fear can set in.  Questions that often arise when looking at change are: Am I really ready?  Am I capable of sticking to the change or will I revert back to old patterns? Might I even say—“I want to return to Egypt—to my old ways; the comfort of enslavement.”  Or is Egypt itself beckoning?  What will others think about my ‘leaving’, about my growing in freedom; implementing my blueprint for change?

We are interpreting Netzach to mean the determination to overcome obstacles.  Netzach is usually translated as victory.  Whether the definition is endurance or perseverance (per Rabbi Jacobson and Rabbi Kantrowitz) Netzach is energy of active trust—trust in one’s own capacities and in working with other to overcome any and every obstacle.  This is your task for each day of this week of Netzach—reflecting on the obstacles (both internal and external) and the determination needed to overcome them.

Day 22 – Chesed in Netzach

How do we remain open today to the challenges of change without losing our determination?  Chesed is an energy that connects us.  As an obstacle to change is loyalty—to old patterns, to people or a community (outside and inside you) who are not ready to ‘release’ you.  Loyalty is a very powerful emotion, an obstacle to overcome if it holds us back from moving forward.

Meditation: What are my loyalties? I have my plan for growth and how may loyalty not allow me to implement it?  Hold loyalty in the palm of your right hand and feel whether it weighs you down or lifts you up.  A  balance will be found in the left palm (Gevurah).

Gevurah is self-determination, setting aside loyalty to others and looking at a dimension of ‘loyalty to self.’  The obstacle to overcome today is both the sense of isolation-loneliness and the sense of selfishness.  Our self-expression may feel disloyal, a threat to our sense of connectedness to others.  We also need to reflect on whether we are being too rigid in our determination for growth. Can we consider how our change will impact others and be considerate without being disloyal to our self?

Meditation: What does loyalty to the self feel like?  Sit alone with your willingness to be alone.

Today we take out the blueprint to look at it in light of the obstacles of loyalty we have reflected on for the past two days.  Can we feel empathic to others and ourselves as we re-formulate our blueprint for change?  Add to your blueprint the determination to overcome all obstacles.

Mediation: Hold both sides of the loyalty in each hand and feel the pull of each as if magnets were influencing the direction and determination of your forward progress.

Overcoming the obstacle to overcoming obstacles!  This paradox is simply resolved in seeing that obstacles are really there to help you in your determination for growth.  A steep set of stairs or ingrained internal resistances (defenses, excuses, rationalizations) are in the end not obstacles to change.  The greater the obstacle, the greater the reward.

Meditation: See obstacles as allies in your pursuit of freedom.  Take them on with boldness.

What are your limits in overcoming obstacles?  Surrender is not giving up or even giving in—it is giving way.  The best approach at times is not to meet the force head on, just move to the side. This requires not only humility but also determination to seek a way around obstacles.

Meditation: Acknowledge your limitations and do not persist with the battle if the battle is not to be overcome.  Give way as long as you are not giving away your self and your freedom.

For each week’s Sefirah you can ask yourself on this day of Yesod, have I done the inner work needed…to overcome obstacles to implementing my (evolving) blueprint for change?  Yesod as foundation is be in integrity with the conflicting feelings of loyalty and know that you have considered all options in your determination for your freedom

This week is a week of active trust—it is still not action but contemplating those obstacles that need to be released or removed.  It is now a day to rest in the determination of your own capacity to move forward, to overcome obstacles.  The vision of freedom has been strengthened by the need to confront impediments to growth, recognize the stumbling blocks and move past them.

Where are we as we enter the week of Hod?  Our blueprint to freeing ourselves is designed (though it may have been altered during the week of Netzach as we looked at obstacles that need to be overcome). Netzach is energy of active trust—trust in one’s own capacities and in working with others to overcome any and every obstacle.  We have taught in the past that Hod means surrender. This is the ‘opposite’ of overcoming obstacles and is taught by my teacher to mean ‘passive trust.’ (Rabbi Jacobson refers to Hod as humility and Rabbi Kantrowitz to splendor which she describes as “the complex organization of creation”).

So what is meant by surrender? As we mentioned before, it is not giving up or giving in—it is giving way.  Each of us has a plan for our path to growth/change. Yet, the path is never without some accommodation and often we indeed laugh (or cry) at the incongruity of the plan and the outcome. Hod is surrendering to and accepting whatever outcome is there in spite of our best laid plans. When a person marries they have a blueprint for the connection of souls—and yet those plans may unravel to take another form—moving on to another blueprint for soul connection.

By looking at the Israelites journey in the desert we see that this week of Hod finds them in the straights of hunger—they have overcome much privation already but now they can no longer rely on their own resourcefulness. They are looking out at the ‘endless’ desert of Sin (in Hebrew it is spelled Samech-Yud-Nun).  They must accept the reality: there is no food to sustain them. What are the options? Return to Egypt or ask for sustenance from God.  This was clearly not what they planned.  They were finally free and wanted to create their own destiny. But their lesson to learn (as part of freedom to plan) is to acknowledge that not everything is in your control and not just because of physical limitations. Perhaps you could ‘do it’ but your plan may not be for your ultimate good. Obstacles when not overcome, need to be accepted—surrendered to. When you accept reality as it is and know that (at least for the moment) you are not overcoming an obstacle–you surrender.

For six days we work and then on the seventh we Sabbath.  The work week is akin to Netzach—striving and overcoming. This is what work is. Then there is the Sabbath. Hod. Acknowledging that no matter what our efforts are there is time to pursue nothing—to surrender into peace. The peace of Shabbat is not merely a passive retreat—we actively surrender into trust. It is no longer about our activity of work (overcoming obstacles).  Similarly, after six years of farming we surrender into the trust of letting go and letting the ground be fallow—the Sabbath year of agriculture.

The week of Hod signals the start of the manna falling and the introduction of Shabbat for the Israelites.  The manna which fell each morning is symbolic of our surrender to an existence of Shabbat—to be in peace regarding our work efforts. This was a lesson for that generation specifically, and for us now to see that there are times when we need to surrender—our efforts are done—we have tried all we might and now to let go is to accept what is beyond us. A business or relationship may not ‘succeed’ or turn out the way we planned—but that outcome comes and can go in a different direction. With its going we may need to mourn while acknowledging that we are not in control. This spiritual realization is the essence of Hod—to realize our human limits and give way to our soul and God.

Day 29 – Chesed in Hod

Chesed is an energy that connects us, it is expansive.  You have set a blueprint for change, looked carefully at the obstacles and with integrity and determination know how to overcome them.  This week the shift is to consider what cannot be overcome.  In a sense this week is about coming to terms with overcoming the notion that we can overcome (everything).  Chesed in Hod is accepting my limitations as a full awareness—I will not resist it.  I acknowledge completely that there are aspects of change or growth, though I might like to address, I will not for now.  Based on this and the next day, the blueprint will adjust.

Gevurah is self-determination, self-definition.  Today it is time to limit your acceptance, to say—I am limited but I can still….Knowing who you are defines yourself and your limitations and it also creates an awareness that there are new capabilities, new possibilities yet to emerge. You are not shying away from the determination to express yourself—to overcome obstacles. It is rather with full awareness that you can say—“this is what I am capable of now.”  If I am accepting some limits I do so with the awareness that I have no given up yet. I can feel today, who knows what the next day will bring?  Therefore, I am provisional in my surrender.

Take out the blueprint and look at it in light of accepting the limitations you have reflected on for the past two days. Can you acknowledge that it is a challenge to let go of some aspects of the blueprint? The meditation for today is coming to peace with altering the plan, the blueprint needs tweaking and I need to be cognizant of what I can and cannot change—for now.

Can I overcome the need for overcoming?  Just surrender.  Netzach is subordinate to Hod. Sometimes our plans and the vision of our blueprint depend on knowing that we can act, that we can and will overcome. When we now realize that our blueprint has changed we need to overcome our desire to not surrender—and embrace the surrender.  This is our new path. In the desert, the manna fell and the Jews were instructed to not hold onto it past that day. Some did anyway and it spoiled. God was instilling in the people the need for complete surrender—they were still not surrendering totally.

Today is called Lag B’Omer—the 33rd day of the Omer. It is the day that according to tradition Rabbi Shimeon bar Yochai, the great mystic of the first century died. His students wanted him to hold on—to not surrender to death. On his deathbed he revealed secrets he had not expressed to them yet. Some he would be able to reveal and some not and the plan for the Messianic redemption would await another time. His ascension (as it is referred to) though was a complete surrender and that is why we celebrate the day of his death as a freedom. My breath is not my breath. I know not the moment of my death. When death is accepted fully it is true freedom. That is the great secret Rabbi Shimeon shared.

For each week’s Sefirah you can ask yourself on this day of Yesod, have I done the inner work needed…to acknowledge my limits and to implement my (evolving) blueprint for change? Yesod as foundation is be in integrity with the challenges of wanting greater or faster change and admitting limits and accepting the change that is possible now. Insist of yourself that you have considered all in your determination for your freedom and have also accepted that outcome (a particular outcome) is not the determining factor to your freedom.

This week is a week of surrender. On this day the Israelites went out and found a double portion of manna in the desert. God was instructing them further that the day after would be observed as Shabbat. Following our theme what is being emphasized is that our plans are not our own and that when we surrender we may find a doubling of what we expected.

It is now the beginning of the 6^th week as we count up to Shavuot and this week is Yesod. Over the past two weeks we have moved from looking at obstacles that need to be overcome (Netzach) to surrendering or at least suspending our notions of what the outcome of our plans need to be (Hod).  Some of you have mentioned that it seems at times this past 2 weeks that it is a ‘holding of opposites’—overcoming and surrendering go hand in hand.

The definition of Yesod is foundation.  The question is how to define, in the context of the Sefirot, what foundation means?  Rabbi Jacobson looks at foundation as ‘bonding’ which he defines as union-connecting.  Rabbi Kantrowitz explains foundation as a platform from which to gather (and launch) our spiritual strengths.

Our way of looking at the Sefirot flow has been the creation of a plan for change (this could be seen as a material or spiritual change—but the move is to freedom).  Yesod then is the litmus test of our determination to actually make the change—are we indeed being truthful, are we acting with integrity regarding the change. The challenge we often face when we are almost ‘there’ is that doubt, particularly self-doubt, creeps in.  It can have an insidious affect on our determination to fulfill on change. As we head toward the final week of the counting of the Omer (when we implement change) we must first work on our determination and deal with our self-doubts.

In following our own journeys of freeing ourselves from ‘enslavement’ we also reflect on where the Israelites are on their journey toward Sinai.  The trek from one desert to the next finds them in Refidim—a place where their determination was weak (Rafah in Hebrew means weak) and they enter into a spiritual crisis of self-doubt. They are attacked by a people called Amalek—the arch enemy of Israel whose name in Kabbalah symbolizes doubt (Amalek = 240, Safek (doubt) = 240).  In the battle against Amalek—Moses ascends to the mountain and hold his arms up to heaven.  The Torah states that when Moses’ arms remained up, the Jews overcame the enemy Amalek, but when his arms tired and gave into gravity, Amalek held the upper hand.

Without a doubt. This is the litmus test. This is Yesod.

Chesed is an energy that is expansive.  The opening day of this week brings us face to face with self-doubt. Am I capable of this change—can I truly change?  After all—this is a pretty large (expansive) task for one person (or for a person who does not yet see themselves as up to the task).  So today we experience the full force of doubt alongside our determination and confidence in ourselves. Doubt has a way of expanding. I may be determined but only one hand is voting.

Gevurah is self-determination, self-definition.  Today it is time to limit doubt—understanding that you are limited but you can still affect the change.  Knowing who you are defines yourself and your limitations and it also creates an awareness that there are new capabilities, new possibilities yet to emerge.  There can be doubt but that is the nature of things—to doubt.  Strength is not eliminating doubt; rather it is living with it and still moving forward. We are now ready to face the doubt and even use the feelings generated by the doubt to re-enforce our determination.

Take out the blueprint and look at it in light of the doubt you have experienced over the last two days. Now is not the time to evaluate the plan as much as it is to evaluate your determination and doubt.  The meditation for today is coming to peace with moving forward on your plan and incorporating the senses of self-determination and self-doubt. Both hands are raised and are ready to move forward.

The determination of Yesod is bolstered by the energy of Netzach to overcome any and all obstacles. Self-doubt is removed through the awareness that all can be accomplished even though the obstacles may now seem even more infinite as seen through the filter of doubt. There are many ways to overcome doubt—piling more doubt on top of the doubt  can sometimes have a paradoxical effect—reaching the depth of doubt—sure you cannot overcome—then you can.

Hod tempers the determination so doubt can yet again have a foothold (a heel hold) as one faces obstacles or outcomes that seem intractable to change.  The war rages on with Amalek (doubt) and yet we can suspend our need to have the outcome look just one way.  Perhaps Amalek is supposed to dominate so that we always remember that surrendering is part of the process of finding our truth.

For each week’s Sefirah you can ask yourself on this day of Yesod, have I done the inner work needed…to look at my doubts and my determination?  At this level of Yesod in Yesod we also have to look at our relationship with others—are we in consonance with them or struggling with them? As Moses held his arms up during the battle with Amalek they finally tired and two compatriots came to his support—literally—each one supporting an arm.  The image of two men supporting Moses’ arms is there to enforce that in the battle for determination over doubt we need the support of others and today is a day to reach out and ask for that support and encouragement.

It is now time to manifest the hard fought truth or to let go completely (perhaps the plan is now seen in a different light). The plan for freedom is about to be actualized. Are you ready to manifest the change?  Today is declaring I am ready. I leave any vestige of doubt—traveling from Refidim into the Sinai desert for the encounter with the mountain and revelation.

It is now the beginning of the 7^th week as we count up to Shavuot and this week is Malchut.

The definition of Malchut is sovereignty.  The opposite of a slave is the Pharoh—the master.  Of course, our journey on this path of spiritual growth is not about transforming the slave into the master—it is rather mastery over the slave mentality.  Rabbi Jacobson looks at Malchut as nobility –sovereignty and defines it as “a sense of belonging, of knowing you matter and make a difference.” Rabbi Kantrowitz explains Malchut as receiving—“recognizing our progress as we move to our spiritual harvest.” She compares Malchut to the Sabbath (7^th day = 7^th week) as a time for contemplation.  Both Jacobson and Kantrowitz point to Malchut as a state of being.

We will take a different approach—seeing Malchut as manifestation—a time of doing! We are still counting, actively living each day and now ready to reveal our mastery over the change that brings us to freedom. The resting or being is on the day that “counts itself’—Shavuot—the night followed by day that is not the culmination but rather the beginning of being in our new state of awareness.

Our way of looking at the Sefirot flow has been the creation of a plan for change (this could be seen as a material or spiritual change—but the move is to freedom).  Malchut then is actualizing our determination to change.  The past week of Yesod was a shedding of doubt—we have overcome Amalek (doubt) and can see the ‘destination’, we will be encamping—surrounding and surrounded by the mountain—the place of revelation.   In following our own journeys of freeing ourselves from ‘enslavement’ we also reflect on where the Israelites are on their journey toward Sinai.  They arrive in the Sinai desert at the outset of the week. On day 47 they camp as one.

In addition to meaning manifestation or expression, Malchut also implies responsibility.  The slave has no ‘responsibility’ as an inner sense—it is purely the command of the master. In the most trying depths of slavery there can be no sense of loyalty to others, no sense of responsibility for the other. The free person though knows that work on the self is also for the good of the whole—the good of the community.  This idea is beautifully expressed by the notion that the Jews encamped around Sinai “as one person with one heart.” It is one for all and all for one.

Recall: That first day of the count is akin to the momentous exodus from Egypt.  The excitement can feel overwhelming—that first day (Chesed in Chesed) and this day of Chesed in Malchut.  You are ready for change—doubt is cleared and you are charged to fulfill on your commitment to change.  Feel the energy and envision what you are Chesed energy—expansive.  The change you are seeking and implementing will become laser focused tomorrow—but today consider and meditate on how this change affects all aspects of your life—for one change leads and is connected to yours and other’s change.

What do I want to get done today? A strategy of Gevurah is to start with something—a smaller accomplishment of the larger goal keeps the focus on the big picture of change but gets one moving. So start with an aspect of the change you are implementing—not something tangential or even preparatory to change, something that is a piece of the change. If you are painting a room, get some paint on a wall, if you are clearing out old papers throw some away. Get started.

We do not only want to be “free at last” but to have a lasting freedom.  We now stand in our change—this is revelation, accepting the Divine calling. Engraving it upon the heart and being whole. Dayenu. It is enough. The count continues. Moses ascends the mountain and the people remain below. Can we continue to ascend or will we be caught in projections—a lack of confidence in the self (where is our leader Moses?).  Keep counting. It is your count. Make it count.

Harmony in Malchut takes into recognition how others are responding to your changing.  As Rabbi Yehudah states in Ethics of the Fathers: “What is the path to be chosen? A path that is harmonious for the person choosing it and harmonizes with those around.  Does this mean that we should not change unless our change creates harmony for all?  No. Empathy for others does not mean we do not change unless others agree. We change and feel for others whether they can accept it or not. The blueprint is now activated. Engraving it into reality.

How will the change be everlasting? By removing all obstacles to change and the final obstacle—stopping. Change is an everlasting-ever evolving process. The only certainty then is change. No statues or monuments.  God reminds us: You saw no image at Sinai. Don’t pause or pose—neither accept the status quo for yourself nor start posing for it now (Aunt Em to the farmhand who is the tinman later in the story).

Change though is challenging.  Even though doubt has been removed, we can tire, our determination can flag. And so we reflect—we pause at the foot of the mountain to gather strength so that we can push on.  Taking a breather means to breathe in the change, to surrender to a higher calling and ready ourselves for the full actualization of our freedom.

For each week’s Sefirah you can ask yourself on this day of Yesod, have I done the inner work needed…to do the outer work? Have I laid the proper foundation—dug deep enough into myself to construct a new reality—a new me?

Are we finished counting?  A student asked me this morning:  What am I going to do with my son who has been counting along with me and excited to remind me each night—let’s count the Omer? What do we do now that the count is over?  In following the method of following the count of the weeks as a program for change, we realize that ending the count at Shavuot is not an ending alone, it is also a beginning. Although there is no tradition to continue the count it would make sense that we can start again, and follow the flow of another fifty days starting this Sunday. This could apply to going deeper or changing focus and looking at another area of life that we can move through a process of change.  Rest one day.  Reformulate. No recounts. Just forward movement.

We finished the 50 day count and celebrated Shavuot last week. Someone is still counting! They are not lagging behind or making up for not having counted—they started again. I receive a little note each day of his new count. Whether you are choosing to continue your count or not—the importance of ‘extending’ the count is key—to extend and expand on the growth you committed to or commit to another process of change. In this way we begin to realize that a program for change is not a ‘step program’ alone, the program itself is the change. We change as we prepare to change—and that helps us to see what change is possible and needed for future growth.

There are many opportunities to look deep into one’s own essence. Challenging situations such as a life threatening illness can cause us to heightening our awareness (Jill Bolte Taylor’s Stroke of Insight is one among many).  Joy is also a wonderful opportunity for heightened awareness.  As I watched the birth of my daughters I almost lost consciousness. Not from the sight of blood, though I am certainly squeamish, but it was from the ecstasy of seeing a life emerge into this world.

What reflects us? What reflects ourselves back to ourselves? The more blank the screen into which one stares or contemplates allows the self to emerge clearer.  Looking into a baby’s eyes, this fragile unknown entity, makes me reflect on how her life will unfold, emerge and of course be influenced by a myriad of experiences (including the experience of me).  If my daughters are so new and impressionable, what about me? What about you?

I started writing a diary last night about the first week of Eva and Isabel’s life.  I kept a monthly diary for my three older children until they were Bat and Bar Mitzvah’ed noting milestones, experiences and people in their lives.  The best memories I have from keeping the diary for them are the words and ideas they came up with. Even though Eva and Isabel are not talking, it is wonderful to notice how they respond to Rita and my voice.  I have been singing to them a few verses from the Song of Songs while they were in- utero and yes, they now open eyes, look at me and ‘follow’ the sound of the song.

This summer we are offering a unique class on the 7-Up Series, seven documentaries on the life of 14 children from London and how they mature over the years. The filmmaker, Michael Apted creates a visual diary of his own as he checks in and discusses life with them every seven years. The eighth film comes out next year—as the cohort of children turns 56 years old.  What we will look at in class is how these children’s develop spirituality between age 7 and age 49, tying our observations in with important works on moral and spiritual development, including the contributions of Kabbalah to spirituality and consciousness.

This summer we are offering another film class entitled the Tikkun Puzzle; films to be reviewed and discussed have a theme of main characters rectifying each other—puzzle pieces that fit together for better (mostly).  Other special classes include Holding Opposites—a new and I predict powerful class on non-dual thought and practice, Mystics and Madmen explores the world’s most intriguing mystics, Reincarnation—a perennial favorite and a free class on mediation, The Practice of Presence.

Happy 4^th of July and I hope to see you in class or sometime over the summer. For me it will be a summer filled with exciting learning and babes. Pass the suntan lotion, I mean desitin.

Relationships have been said to begin with a metaphor — the desire to invent a narrative that weaves your lives together in a way that you can read as destiny.

I came across this quote in an article on twiblings but it struck me as applicable in another way—the relationship we weave between body and soul.

I did something quite unusual for me this week—twice! I took care of myself. I don’t mean that I didn’t let someone else take care of me. In both instances I decided that my body needed some care and I would make my body a priority over the needs of others (and my own need to be there for others).

Although this is a small personal triumph, I write about it because I just finished reading (yet) another book on the secret of Kabbalah—the secret is “giving”.  The arguments for giving are undeniably very spiritual sounding—giving is the antidote to egoic selfishness.

A new narrative that I am suggesting we explore—and then weave together is our relationship with our body.  Our body’s signals call us to pay attention to how much we are giving and how much we are receiving.  A body out of balance reflects the weariness of what it is carrying, in my case the weariness of body shows up in my neck and hip.

So let us be wary of being weary—by wearing out our welcome of a relationship gone awry with our body—a narrative that speaks too much of altruism and giving to others without enough story of how we care for ourselves. Here is then a secret of Kabbalah (and life)—find the right balance.

I got angry this week more than usual—that is both a result of lack of sleep and allowing frustration to build without dealing with it straight on. Being “tired of” and “tired from” led me to say things I regret and acting as less than a calm and positive person. Where I found my high ground from the flood of impatience was in silence. Margaret Johnson started her Practice of Presence class—which she is so generously offering as a gift to Kabbalah Experience—at lunchtime this past Tuesday. I joined as a participant among my fellow learners to deepen my capacity to come back to breath, calmness of mind, to find my higher ground.

This past week the weather pattern has included an almost daily downpour in the afternoon or evening. The first of these occurred last Thursday at rush hour. I too was finishing my work day and saw a group of people readying, yet hesitating to exit our office building. The rain was coming down in torrents and there was no indication when it would let up. Fortunately, I only have a short distance to travel between my therapy office and home. So, I, in concert with many others made the soaking dash to our cars and cautiously headed out. Read the rest of this entry

Rabbis from the Rocky Mountain Rabbinical Council participated in the first Kabbalah Intensive for Rabbi’s course offered by Kabbalah Experience. Over the 4 weeks, 12 Rabbis learned with Dr. David Sanders, Executive Director of Kabbalah Experience.  The Kabbalah Intensive allowed the Rabbis to see the connections between the spiritual teachings of Kabbalah and traditional Jewish thought.

Rabbi Elliott Baskin said, “One of the nice things about your approach is that not only is it academic, it is also very personal. Integrating Kabbalah and psychological insights adds a whole different dimension.” Rabbis stated that it was a good introduction to a topic of Jewish learning that they were not previously exposed to and expressed an interest in continuing to study Kabbalah this coming year.

Kabbalah Experience is located at the Goldberger Center on the Hebrew Educational Alliance Campus. It is an open and inclusive learning community committed to encouraging individual spiritual growth through the study and application of Kabbalah’s insights into the parallels between physical and spiritual reality.

For more information or to learn more please contact Kabbalah Experience at 303.758.8996 or visit them online at www.kabbalahexperience.com.

Yesterday was the start of a Jewish period of mourning that lasts for 3 weeks—it starts with a fast (the Fast of Tammuz 17) and ends with a fast (the Fast of Av 9).  I went to the funeral of Michael Nowak, husband of our student Nancy to be with her and to honor Michael. I left with great inspiration. There is a famous quote from the book of Kohelet-Ecclesiastes: “Better is it for one to attend the house of mourning than to attend a festivity—for this is our common end.”  Is this the musings of a melancholic preacher or sound advice for the soul?

I don’t believe King Solomon (the author of Kohelet) was moribund in his approach to life—though Kohelet is filled with fatalistic philosophy. Funerals, as was Michel Nowak’s, are often the one time in a person’s life that they hear from those who knew them best how much they meant to them—how celebrated a life they lead in the eyes of others. Read the rest of this entry

The three week period of mourning continues as we commemorate the suffering of the Jewish people. Whether it was crusades, expulsions, pogroms, exterminations, or acts of terror, the root cause of these atrocities was and is hatred and prejudice based on a difference of opinion.  Of course human beings have a tendency to not see ideas and beliefs as opinion, they see them as dogma worth killing for.  As tragic as war is, it is often perpetrated with a particular goal in mind—a strategic purpose such as power and possession. The Jewish people have known so much suffering when the only reason for persecution was a difference of opinion, a difference in who we are and not what we possess or can offer.

This is why I feel such an affinity and deep sorrow for those murdered in Norway this past week;  a tragic and vivid example of suffering due to a difference of opinion. This is a suffering we know so well and which we commemorate this week—and now join with it the loss of life in Norway to our own history of suffering. The stories and photos that came to us about the harrowing experience of (mostly) young adults at a camp retreat looking eye to eye or hearing the breathing of the murderer who showed no compassion.

There may be ideas or beliefs worth dying for but there are none that I can imagine worth murdering for.  That is why I feel I must mention a matter in the Torah that has long bothered me.  We read in synagogues across the globe this past week the story of Moses and the Israelites taking vengeance upon the Midianites—it is a story of the genocide of a people.  Much ink has been spilled by Torah scholars, among them Kabbalists, to explain the rationale for this particular command and its execution. My response is to ask for forgiveness from the people of Midian.  It is a reckoning that is long overdue.

Thirteen is the gematriyah (numerical value) of the Hebrew word Echad which means one. That is how many new students started class this summer.  Curiosity led to a question: How many students have taken Kabbalah classes since we started? The answer: With the 13 new students this summer we went over 500 students. So who is the 500^th student? Well it is one among the thirteen, or if we grant the power of numerology—the 13 comprise the one. As I look at the 13 new students there is a typical mix of our current student demographic—

• 9 women 4 men
• 10 Jews 3 other backgrounds
• 4 HEA, 2 Temple Sinai,  1 Bnai Chavurah, 1 Temple Emanuel, 5 unaffiliated

The mix of students speaks to our diversity across the Jewish community and beyond. We remain committed to building bridges within the Jewish community. We also try to serve as a bridge for those who want to explore and express their Jewishness in an open, safe and inclusive learning environment. Read the rest of this entry

“I, the victim of Auschwitz, figured out that I had the power to forgive,” Mrs. Kor said. “No one could give it to me and no one could take it away.  I, the little guinea pig, had the power to forgive the God of Auschwitz. I immediately felt the pain lift from my shoulders. Finally I was no longer a prisoner of Auschwitz.”

The day following Tisha B’Av (the 9^th of Av) commemorating the tragedies of the Jewish people, thirty people participated in our annual Kabbalah Experience Reincarnation workshop. There are a number of books specifically addressing the reincarnation of souls of those who were murdered by the Nazis. “A generation comes and generation goes” is interpreted by Rabbi Akiva as a generation that already has come. In this regard his words pertain to the re-generation of our people from the Holocaust until now.

As I was recounting a number of stories of reincarnation from the Holocaust, my mind and body became very still—perhaps unnoticed by those listening –as a sensation, inchoate at first but then pulsating, entered my consciousness.

For the past few months I have often heard; “so it must be you?”—a second set of twins. Until yesterday I placed no meaning on this. I discounted people’s comments knowing that there is no scientific basis for the genetics of a father having fraternal and identical twins.  The blessing of twins I saw as coming from the Divine, if cause was important to discern, it was more spiritual than genetic.  It had not gone further than that until yesterday. Read the rest of this entry

The  current Hebrew month of Av has as its spiritual sense the sense of hearing (all months are endowed with a special spiritual sense according to Sefer Yetzirah).  Generally, Av is seen as a month of mourning because many tragedies befell the Jewish people. The origin of the ‘curse’ of this month is faulty hearing.  Moses sent out spies to survey the land of Israel and they returned with a report that shook the faith of the people in their ability to enter the land. Their hearing of the report occurred on the 9^th of Av and as the Midrash states: “You cried for no real reason—this will be a day of crying for (sadly) real calamities.”  As with all negative perceptions there is always a silver lining—some ray of light within the darkness. So another teaching goes (Midrash) states that the Messiah is to be born on the 9^th of Av.

Our task this month is to rectify our hearing—as in the hearing of the Shema prayer—to hear that God is one. My Kabbalah teacher explains that the ears (the sense of hearing) are associated with Binah. The “understanding” of Binah also implies the ability to examine the degree of truth or falsehood inherent in a particular idea. This is expressed in Job as: “the ear examines words.” The initial letters of the phrase “the ear examines words” spell the Hebrew word–emet, “truth.”

In working on my hearing,  Rita and I were given a wonderful tape on the universal language of babies. A mother in New Zealand spent hours listening and trying to discern what different infant cries mean and she has come up with 5 basic sounds (she claims these are cross cultural). A beautiful video about her and her discovery is on You Tube under Dunstan Baby Language http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ehv5m9gnu0.  Just one example—the cry “Neh” means “I’m hungry.” At times it is not so easy to differentiate between Neh and Eh which mean very different things. For any parents and grandparents I suggest you listen in to Priscilla Dunstan and her discovery and see if it applies to your baby.

As rich as the DunstanBaby Language system is I can’t help but wonder also about the ray of light that follows the cries of the month of Av. So, I will start my own little research project to highlight  another Baby Language; the language of happiness.  Eva laughed out loud the other day.  It startled me. I didn’t get the joke but I am very pleased she did.

For those wanting to work on their hearing I highly recommend a KE special presentation of music and meditation by Rabbi Avraham Trugman, next Wednesday evening @ 7:30 here at the Goldberger Center.

By the time you read this blog I will have a new hip. It is made of ceramic. When it comes to hip replacements you could say the hip (ceramic) bone is connected to the earth.  From earth we are created and unto the earth we will return. The body can only go so far until it returns to its source. So too, in our Jewish tradition, the soul goes forth but never leaves its source.

We celebrated another year at Kabbalah Experience with our annual party, this past Sunday at the home of Sally and Tom Stich. It was a perfect setting for celebrating how our KE community continues to grow. Rita and I are so fortunate to be a part of your overflowing warmth and caring and now Eva and Isabel join the KE community.  We bestowed Hebrew names for each in the presence of all.  Isabel’s name in Hebrew is Zahava Pa’amon which translates as Golden Bell and Eva’s Hebrew name is Chava Rimon which translates as Eva Pomegranate. The derivation of these names comes from a description of the High Priest’s vestment worn in his service in the Temple. His outer garment was adorned on its fringe by bells inside pomegranates so that the High Priest could be heard moving to and fro inside the Temple.

Nachmanides (a Kabbalist from the 13^th century) comments that the bells were inside of a hollowed out ivory pomegranate. It is a bit difficult to depict in the mind’s eye what either the pomegranate shapes or the bells looked like, at least until a month ago. After 2,000 years a tiny golden bell was discovered in a drainage ditch in Jerusalem.

The lead archeologist on the team could not be definitive but offered that the most likely history of this tiny golden bell was that it was one of the 72 bells on the hem of the High Priest’s robe. How did it get to the drainage ditch? Was the High Priest outside the temple when it fell off or did it fall inside the temple and find its way flushed out into the streets of Jerusalem? Read the rest of this entry

I don’t usually watch scary movies. I was an English major, I know about the willful suspension of disbelief. Even knowing Audrey Hepburn still stands at the end of Wait Until Dark won’t get me to watch the film again. Even knowing it isn’t real and she isn’t in danger — and even for the second time — it’s hard to prepare for the terrifying change at the end of the film.

Suspecting that change is coming, how do you prepare for it? Tighten your muscles, squeeze your eyes shut, hold your breath? Welcome it with a pulse of excitement? Laugh with pleasure at the unexpected twist of a punchline?

We are in the month of Elul, the last month of the Jewish year. I know that the daily weekday morning prayers end every day with the call of the shofar, the ram’s horn, more commonly recognized from its cameo appearance in services on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year’s Day. And yet each morning the sound of the shofar is a jarring reminder of the passage of time, that another year is about to end, and a new one, with all its possibilities, about to begin.

It is an uncomfortable, and sometimes scary and even terrifying, sound. Read the rest of this entry

Brewery Creek, a few miles west of Villa Grove, Colorado, is as beautiful as any place on Earth.  A few miles from the continental divide, within sight of eight fourteeners, rushing downstream through meadows of wildflowers and wild animals galore.  So dark at night you understand how the Torah can compare the number of stars to the number of grains of sand on the beach.  It’s hard when you’re there to not see God.  We need not even wax poetic; King David left us a full vocabulary in Psalms to translate what we are seeing and feeling (the heavens tell the glory of God, the earth proclaims his handiwork; the sun comes forth like a bridegroom from his chamber; the mountains skip like rams; I will lift up my eyes to the hills, from whence does my help come?)  Certainly we recognize the way nature recharges our batteries.

Many Jews may visit, but few practicing Jews live in places like that.  We have a few stories of our people living isolated lives in the country.  Moses lived in the desert to escape and get inspiration — but only for forty days.  Shimon bar Yochai – one of our greatest Rabbis and Kabbalists – lived an isolated life in a cave for twelve years — but nearly went crazy. Read the rest of this entry

Do you recognize this man? I was just turning five years old when Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom debuted on television. Marlin Perkins was the host and he quickly became one of my grandfathers.  A question I had, but was embarrassed to ask my parents was: What is Mutual of Omaha? I understood why the show was called Wild Kingdom—those were words I could figure out. But what was a “Mutual of Omaha?”

As a child I was intensely interested in language—where did words come from, how did people come to call this with that name? At age 5, I distinctly remember holding a door open for a woman and as she passed by me and looking in my eyes, said, in a slow and deliberate manner, “Thank you.” It dawned on me. Thank you was not ‘thankyou’—a nonsense sounding phrase that people said—it meant she was thanking me.

This was an early Aha moment for me. I have them daily. How does one develop the capacity for Aha moments? Should one even attempt to analyze Aha moments? Is it like training to be spontaneous?

Read the rest of this entry

The Hebrew word Shanah, as in Rosh Hashanah, is translated as Year (Rosh is Hebrew for Head—hence—the Head of the Year, New Year).  The meaning of Shanah though, as a Hebrew root, is “change”—and the Hebrew letter Shin with which the word begins connotes transformation. Shin in Kabbalstic teachings also reflects our capacity for creativity—a creative solution flows from looking at things differently, a change of perspective engenders new possibilities.

There is a very poignant prayer that has crept back into the High Holiday prayer book—to say before the beginning of Rosh Hashanah. The prayer which comes from the Sephardic tradition is entitled in Hebrew, “Tichleh Shanah ve’ Kelilotehah” –let the year end (pass by) with its curses! With a title like that you might not wonder as much why it lost its popularity and was omitted from the liturgy. Read the rest of this entry

The sound of a door being closed consciously

I have been waiting for the ‘right time” to recommend to you an important practice in consciousness that we can all equally and easily participate in:

When entering and exiting Kabbalah Experience be mindful of opening and closing the door gently. The feedback loop to your consciousness is simple: it will be quiet if closed gently–otherwise, as is usual practice, it slams shut with a loud noise.

If you want to add another level of consciousness you can always say when entering or exiting our meditation: Dlayt Atar Panui Minei–there is no place empty of You or any other meditation that you use.

The placing of a Mezuzah on the doorpost is a reminder we are entering and exiting from public to private space (and vice a versa). Let us strive to do so gently and be aware of our presence and how it is felt.

The letter Alef, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet has the numerical value of one.  With different vowel points, the word Alef is pronounced Elef which means one thousand.  In the system of gematriyah (numerology) proposed by Kabbalah the letter Alef can be assigned either the value of one or a thousand.

In Deuteronomy (Chapter 32 verse 30) we find a phrase that the Kabbalah masters take out of context and reinterpret.  The phrase is: “How does one chase a thousand?”  Its literal meaning in the context of the poem authored by Moses is: If you see one soldier chasing a thousand would you not ask—is God not involved?  The Kabbalistic take on the phrase is: How does one see unity in diversity? How does one see how the multiplicity of events, things, relationships are all interconnected?

Yesterday , the Shalit family ,the people of Israel, Jews around the world, humanity as a whole, the trees and birds, the stones in the Western wall and the stars in heaven rejoiced at the release of Gilad Shalit.  Taken captive at age 19, he was released yesterday after 1940 days. Read the rest of this entry

Have you registered for Kabbalah Live! next Thursday, November 3rd?

Tickets are going fast, so get yours now before we are sold out!

Click Here to Learn More

Click Here to Register

Kabbalah Experience is pleased to announce the first speaker in the 3^rd annual Kabbalah Live! Lecture Series: Rebecca Rosen, Spiritual Medium.  This event will take place next Thursday, November 3^rd at 7:15 pm at the Eisenhower Chapel. Rebecca Rosen is a nationally acclaimed spiritual medium who uses her gift to bridge the gap between the living and the dead. Author of the best seller, Spirited, contributor to Oprah.com and featured guest on such shows as Nightline, she will share the moments that helped her recognize the life she was meant to live.

Everyone has them: aha moments, moments of clarity, of wisdom that they can use to change their lives. Kabbalistically these moments most likely occur when they are least expected, but needed the most. They can be eye opening, uplifting, intriguing and courageous.

Thursday, November 3, 2011 @ 7:15 pm: Rebecca Rosen, Spiritual Medium: “Listening to my Grandmother’s Message” At The Eisenhower Chapel, 293 Roslyn St. Individual lecture tickets are $36 for KE, JCC, Temple Sinai and HEA members, $44 for others.

Email Liz@kabbalahexperience.com with any questions!

Classes are canceled due to inclement weather today
Wednesday, October 26, 2011.

Thanks,
Kabbalah Experience

“Come and hear: The father of Samuel had some money belonging to orphans deposited with him. When he died, Samuel was not there and did not ask his him where the money was kept. People derogatorily called him, ‘The son who consumes the money of orphans’.

So he went after his father to the cemetery (to converse with him). Samuel observed that his father’s soul was both weeping and laughing. He said to him: Why are you weeping? He replied: Because you are coming here soon. And why are you laughing? Because you are highly esteemed in this world.

He then asked him: Where is the money of the orphans? He replied: Go and you will find it in the case of the millstones. The money at the top and the bottom is mine, the money in the middle is the orphans’ He said to him: Why did you do like that? He replied: So that if thieves came, they should take mine, and if the earth destroyed any, it should destroy mine.”

This story (one of many) is found in the Talmud Berachot 18b and is brought by the Talmud as proof that we can communicate with the souls of the departed.

So what may be controversial about addressing the dead from a Jewish law perspective?

I would suggest that it is our human discomfort with death itself.

It has long been decided in Jewish law that talking with the dead (by oneself or through a medium) is only prohibited if you think that the dead body is in itself the conduit to the discussion. If one is communicating with the soul of the deceased it is permissible.

Many Jews think as well that organ transplants are against Jewish law. Nothing could be further from the truth. Again though, where does this attitude come from? I would suggest that it is our human discomfort with death.

The Kabbalah’s perception of death contrasts with the perception of death in traditional Judaism. My revered Talmud teacher, Rabbi Soloveitchik clearly demarcates the traditional Jewish view:

“Judaism proclaims that coming into contact with the dead precipitates defilement. Judaism abhors death, organic decay and dissolution. It bids one to choose life and sanctify it. Jewish law is devoid of any positive orientation to death and burial. Death is a symbol of the most intense defilement; therefore he who is holy unto his Lord must keep far away from such defilement.  Thus the Scriptures declare with regard to the high priest: ‘He shall not defile himself for his father or his mother, etc.’”

In contrast, Rabbi Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of Israel, provides a telling rejoinder to Rabbi Soloveitchik’s point of view (based in Kabbalistic philosophy):

“Death is a false phenomenon. What makes death unclean is that it spreads an aura of falsehood. Actually, what people call death is the opposite: an ascent into an even greater and more real life.
We are plunged into the depths of small mindedness. What has placed us here? Our physical and emotional drives. These drives, gazing upon this ascent into life, interpret it as a dreadful, black phenomenon that they label: death.

In their purity, the Kohanim (priests) must shield themselves from this falsehood. The only way to escape while this false consciousness lays spread across the earth is to avert one’s eyes from any sights that cause one’s soul to err. That is why the Kohanim are commanded to avoid the vicinity of any dead person for in their human apprehension of death, this falsehood, they are defiled.”

Moving beyond the body and beyond our fears of death is a principle of Kabbalah study and practice.

We therefore welcome Rebecca Rosen’s help in dissolving our fears as she shares with us next week her experiences and with her we can enter big mindedness.

All classes have been canceled today, Wednesday November 2, 2011 due to inclement weather.

Stay Warm,

Kabbalah Experience

“For the listener, who listens in the snow, / And, nothing himself, beholds /
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.” Wallace Stevens

Tomorrow night we start our third season of Kabbalah Live! This year the theme is Aha Moments. As I sit looking out at the second snowfall of the season (so far Wednesdays are the designated snow day) I am reflecting on my Aha of why we have grown in size and expanded our programming.

One of our students responded to a teaching yesterday with the following: “Silences in music are as important as the music itself.” The impetus for this comment was a text by Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev on the empty spaces of the Torah—the “silences” in the Torah scroll—the in-between spaces of the letters. In Kabbalah these empty spaces are referred to as “white fire” on black fire.

Rabbi Mordechai (Moti) Twersky’s departure from Denver created an empty space in our community. The opportunity to learn with Rabbi Twersky was a main motivating factor for me to move to Denver in the late 80’s. The empty space, the silence that was felt by many when he left was where do we go now for our spiritual sustenance?  Rabbi Twersky also led the way in this community to build bridges across denominations. This would become another silence.

It is often hard enough to answer the question “how we have grown?” but I am interested in the question “why we have grown?” and to that I offer that the why is the empty space that needed to be filled when Rabbi Twersky left.

The curious thing is that the process of filling and creating space is constant—the Torah or any piece of music cannot exist without the empty spaces. Our growth cannot exist without the possibilities presented by empty space.

So I want to invite you all to fill in the blank __________.  Please respond to the following:

I would like to see Kabbalah Experience ___________________. Thank you.

The very first question I was asked about gematriyah (the numerology of Kabbalah) was the significance of the number 11?

In class we teach about your “awake number”—a number that signifies and signals to you that your are following your destiny—connecting with the fragments of your puzzle.

We find the number 11 in the spices used for the incense (Ketoret) burned in the Temple—according to tradition ten of the spices were sweet smelling—the 11^th (Galbunum) was foul smelling. The Rabbis explain that when mixed—the foul smelling spice created a stronger sweet smell—in a sense the incense needs a bit of its opposite to achieve its full potential.  The Talmud offers a novel interpretation of this mixture of the incense—drawing a parallel to the importance of including sinners (the 11^th element) into the holy congregation. The phrase in the Talmud is: A communal fast that does not include the sinners is not a fast. At the outset of Yom Kippur service, prior to chanting the Kol Nidrei service the prayers include recognition of praying with the sinners. Are we not all sinners? What is the meaning of the Talmudic statement or our tradition on Yom Kippur eve?

Sinners in this context may mean instead those who dissent—they are not accepting the norm of the community—they may be in synagogue (and even fasting) for their own motivations and not in line with the community’s way of understanding.

The number 11 then helps us to focus on the opposite of any idea that we may hold true and dear and be totally convinced of.  If we are to end up with anything that will be pleasing to the Divine, a fragrance that reflects the deepest essence, it must include the dissenting opinion—whether in others or in ourselves.

As Rita and I celebrate our 4^th anniversary of marriage on 11/11/11 we will burn some incense—assuredly there has been 10 measures of sweetness and a measure of Galbunum. The challenging moments are there to help us grow—the dissenting opinion to help us clarify our own thinking—the anger or sadness that leads to greater awareness.  Love too requires the 11^th spice—it matures and deepens through the bitterness of disappointments as long as the basis of the mixture is sweetness.

First a request: Someone mentioned to me a while back that they either knew the author Jonathan Safran Foer, they were related to him or knew his relatives in Denver?  Please let me know if you are the one who mentioned the connection.

In last week’s Torah portion Abraham and Sarah are informed that they will have a child—at their advanced ages of 100 and 90 respectively.  Upon hearing the news Sarah laughs so hard that the Torah makes note, “She laughed in her innards.”  I had always thought that the non-literal translation of the Hebrew could be, “She had a good belly laugh.”  Her laughter lasted all the way to the naming of their child, Isaac—in Hebrew Yitzchak—which means “He will laugh.”

This week I had two episodes of uncontrollable laughter. Both were instigated by my wife pointing out (again) some characteristic behavior of mine. She did it in a playful way that allowed me to see my behavior.  In our second year class Who are You? we continue to explore who we are at our essence through identifying masks and we asked: Who is it that is laughing uncontrollably?  I emphasize the word uncontrollable—as it is clear that the laughter is beyond my (our) control.  In the instances this past week of uncontrollable laughter, I became aware of my masks and laughed. Perhaps Sarah also laughed uncontrollably at the masks she was wearing—a 90 year old woman giving birth?  Her laughter inspires us to see the masks we wear and in that moment of uncontrollable laughter, laughter wears us.

Laughter then is not only good medicine (in rare instances persistent uncontrollable laughter can be a sign of a neurologic condition), it is an emotion that helps us see our self beyond ourselves. Perhaps that is why so many comedians are Jewish—it is part of our spiritual inheritance—for through laughter (Yitzchak) you will survive and thrive.

I asked one of our second year students, Gretchen Koplin, if she would be so kind and share a story with all of you—it is a story of synchronicity about thanks, giving and the harvesting of stem cells.

Best wishes for a special time of thanks for family, friends and the fellowship of our community.

David

Gretchen’s story:

A little over two years ago, I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), and my recommended treatment regimen included a bone marrow/stem cell transplant.  I was lucky enough to have four viable donors, including two who were a 10 out of 10 match for me.  Going into the transplant process, the only thing that I knew about my donor was that he was a 42-year-old male who lived outside of the U.S.  Given that the cells must be infused into the recipient within 72 hours of being harvested from the donor, this meant that my transplant process needed to be a feat of coordination involving on-time international flights and a courier with my new cells in an Igloo cooler. Read the rest of this entry

“And write these on the doorposts of your house and your gates.” The basis of placing a Mezuzah on exit and entryways is to affix the central teaching of Judaism (the Shema prayer) wherever and whenever we come and go. Our movements can be conscious or unconscious—purposeful or unintended.   When we come from the public domain into the private domain, or exit from the private domain to the public we pause at the Mezuzah (the tradition is to “kiss” the Mezuzah—connecting the prayer to ourselves) a pause that informs us to reflect on where we are coming from and where we are going. Each night we say the Shema prayer as we exit the public domain and enter the private domain of our dream states. We also say the Shema prayer in the morning as we prepare to exit our private domain and enter into the public domain.

I suggested a while ago that to become more conscious of our exiting and entering that we take note of how we close the front door as we enter and exit our building.  Without a conscious pause we enter and exit routinely—and the door closes on its own with a loud noise. There is now a sign on both sides of the door—a reminder to enter and exit consciously.  I would further suggest a practice of saying these words aloud as a meditation—“enter consciously” and “exit consciously” when you come into and leave our building.

As we have taught in class, the Mezuzah is placed diagonally on the doorpost (from left to right) which parallels the diagonal of the Hebrew letter Alef.  By picturing the Alef as we pass through doors and gates we are reminded of our intention to connect and make whole our lives (Alef = One, uniting what is above and below, inside and outside and private and public).

Each day we open and close so many actual doors.  Then there are the many gates and doors we choose to avoid—in the worlds of our emotions and spirit. Tina Collen is speaking for us tomorrow night—our second speaker in this year’s Kabbalah Live series.  Her story and  aha moments she will share with us help reveal the doors and gates that cause us pause as we summon the courage to enter and exit.

We rescheduled Kabbalah Live! Tina Collen to Thursday,  December 15th.

Click Here to Learn More.

email liz@kabbalahexperience.com with questions.

We are all connected. In the world of Noel Cunningham the connections were strung together to create a tapestry of love.  Food is one of the universal languages of love—and in his capacity as owner of Strings restaurant he would welcome the rich and the poor and feed them with love. I got to know Noel through his connection to Dr. Rick (Hodes) who saves and improves the lives of the indigent and homeless people of Ethiopia. Last year Noel spearheaded a dinner of unconditional love to support Dr. Rick’s work in Ethiopia. Rita and I were graciously invited by Robyn and Bob Loup and that evening I saw many of our KE community in attendance—supporting the work of Dr. Rick.  Noel helped raise that evening over $500,000 for Dr. Rick’s hospital.

A string of life was severed this week. Noel Cunningham is dead. His funeral will be this Friday.  I don’t know why he called his restaurant “Strings” but I would like to develop (in his honor) a notion of strings for our KE community.  This is not a colored string some Kabbalah communities encourage individuals to wear, it is a string that we can develop—an invisible string– stronger even than any rope with knots. Read the rest of this entry

Last week as I watched the clock wind down on the Denver Broncos, I, as I am sure many others thought, the phenomenon ends here.  And then Tebow did it again. Whether he and the Broncos win or lose from here on, I want to share what I experienced in the ending moment of last week’s game.  It contained so many basic teachings from the Kabbalah. I highlight a few.

1.     Our task: turn darkness into light

In our anticipation of Chanukah, it is the season to be thinking about the miraculous and transforming darkness into light.  The darker it seems the more light can penetrate. Tebow and the Broncos have a unique way of pulling out victory from the most dark, improbable circumstances.  While football is a game, it is also part of life—and the ability to remain positive in the face of darkness is a part of tikkun (repairing the world). The light shines even brighter when we face the darkness.

2.     Predictable miracles

It takes a billion things for any one thing to occur. So many things have to go “right” and go “wrong”. It is not always clear what is right and wrong—but we can point to what happens and does not happen. So many things occurred in the last two minutes of the game (and then in the overtime period) that created the outcome. In football, they call it the two-minute warning. For Tebow and the Broncos it might better be called the two-minute opportunity. The miraculous is about how it all coordinates; the timing, the happenings and the darkness with the light. Then we take a further step in awareness and see the miraculous in it all.

3.     Present moment awareness

The past is not material, the future is not material. What matters is the next play. Take care of that and the next play. And the next.  Football strategy may include sequencing of plays but each play is its own present moment. Tebow has an instinct for getting as far up the field as possible in the present (waning) moments of the game. When that is exhausted then his next play is to leave it for others to lend their hand (or foot) to the cause of advancing the ball or scoring.

Enjoy the winter break and the holidays. It is the darkest time of the year to enjoy the light, the miracles and the present moment.

Mark your calendars for upcoming events: KE Live with Tina Collen this Thursday night at 7:30, Intro to Kabbalah for new students Monday December 19^th 6-7 pm and the KE Chanukah party Tuesday December 27^th 6-8 pm all at the Goldberger Center.

Visit the Kabbalah Experience Website to learn more about our classes and events.