We will celebrate Tu B’Shevat with our community partners this coming Tuesday evening February 7 as we sit down to a Seder established by the Kabbalists in Tzfat. The more well known Passover Seder was the model for the Kabbalaists and so we drink four cups of wine (or grape juice) on Tu B’Shevat evening as well. That is where the similarity ends. Instead of matzo and bitter herbs we eat tree products—fruits and nuts—symbols of the coming renewal of nature. Passover is a reflection on the past while Tu B’shevat looks to the future.

In Kabbalah we always look from the external symbol inwards—to our own ‘nature’ and those elements in us that are hibernating. Trees are dormant during the winter—animals hibernate for the same reason—to conserve energy.  So what is the parallel for us as humans? The most apt word for this might be retreat. For those who can afford the luxury of retreating to warmer climes they ‘winter retreat’ to the desert or other warmer destinations. How does one retreat internally, go dormant and be as silent as a tree in the winter?

That is one of the symbolic lessons of Tu B’Shevat and so we will be adding to our ritual this year at the Seder a meditation. If you retreat deep enough, into the silence of your own heart, you may even hear the trees whispering.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

There is a Jewish law, which on first observation seems to be a good example of finding, or better put, creating a loophole. On the Sabbath there is an injunction against carrying (anything) in the public domain. Yet, a community can agree to construct an Eruv (a string) around the boundary of the neighborhood and thereby allow the residents to carry—the string makes the public into a private domain.  If you live within the Eruv you can therefore carry (which creates a wonderful convenience for people bringing food to each other’s homes and for children to be carried or strolled).

For those not familiar with Eruv (you can read a summary on Wikipedia) there are three in Denver—and the use of string to connect poles (telephone, electric or poles made for the purpose of creating a perimeter) along a neighborhood creates a symbolic enclosure. I mentioned that it seems like a loophole—for the ‘boundary’ the Eruv creates appears flimsy at best.

The word Eruv has many meanings in Hebrew including ‘collateral’ as in what one may put up as security for a loan. From this comes a well known phrase—“we are eruvs for each other”—we are each other’s collateral.  If we understand fully the intent of this notion, the Eruv placed around a neighborhood is indeed a symbolic enclosure—but one powerful enough to string a community together—to make them collateral for each other.  If the string holds around the neighborhood (and the Eruv is checked to see that the string is intact) then symbolically the relationships in the community are intact and we are then permitted to carry (each other’s load).

Starting this week we would like to extend to all of you an invitation to send us announcements of life events that you would like to share with your KE community.  We have some other ideas about creating community connection and are interested in hearing from you what strings you would like to see us implement to create connection.  We are each other’s collateral.  Noel taught this. May we be blessed to carry on his work and his message—string together.

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email liz@kabbalahexperience.com with questions.