“And the seasons they go round and round.”  Cantor Marty Goldstein created the mood for our Tu B’Shevat Seder last week by starting us off (warming us up) with this Joni Mitchell classic.

So, are we captured “on a carousel of time?”

Brian Greene , the physicist from Columbia University is back on the book tour trail trying yet again to help us mere mortals understand modern physics.  The name of his new book, The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos could just as easily be a primer on Kabbalah as much as an attempt to conceive of a unified field theory (getting the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics to work together).

Dr. Greene has dedicated his research to string theory. Listen to the parallels to the Kabbalistic Tree of Life:

“String theory smooths out the mathematical inconsistencies that currently exist between quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity. It posits that the entire universe can be explained in terms of really, really small strings that vibrate in 10 or 11 dimensions — meaning dimensions we can’t see. If it exists, it could explain literally everything in the universe — from subatomic particles to the laws of speed and gravity.  When a physicist mentions 10 or 11 dimensions my first association is the Tree of Life and its 10 (or 11) Sefirot.

What caught my attention though was Greene’s final comment in his interview on Fresh Air.  When Terry Gross asks him, “What is the one thing you would most want to know?”  Green answers: , “I’d love to understand how our universe started and associated with that is the most puzzling question of all,  what is time, what is the nature of time? We all live within time, but what is it?” It is very rewarding to hear that even something as fundamental as time is still a mystery.

As a child I loved carousels.  I would scope out the animal or figure I wanted to ride, but it was an experience which taught me about time.  I had to wait for my time (turn) and then enjoy every second even as the music ended and the ride slowed down.  There was always that moment, going up and down, that transported me into timelessness, a sensation that I could feel through my body.

We often wonder if we have enough time to get on all the carousels that are out there. Tomorrow evening come join us for an evening of meditative chanting with visiting Rabbi, Andrew Hahn.  Next Thursday evening, for our next installment of Kabbalah Live, come join us to meet Rabbi Joe Black.  These are carousel rides that will transport you beyond time.

In the lower worlds, “necessity is the mother of invention”.  In the higher worlds, “innovation is the mother of invention.”  There was no necessity that inspired the kabbalists of Tzfat to invent the Tu B’Shvat seder.  It is cold in Tzfat in the winter.  A good time to stay home, sit by the warmth of a fire and meditate.  Unlike today, for those 16^th century kabbalists, creating a seder required a good deal of persevering to preserve nuts or fruits.  The only necessity was to be creative, to find ways to express their ideas through new rituals and intentions.

So we gather tonight to preserve an innovation and do a bit of innovating ourselves.  Can you still preserve a spot?—yes and we will fill another table for you with delicious fruits, nuts, wine and hot soup.

In the spirit of innovation, I want to also extend an invitation to a special event, a presentation of music and meditation by Rabbi Andrew Hahn, the Kirtan Rabbi.  He will come to our center next Thursday night (January 27^th). We are delighted to co-sponsor him with Bnai Chavurah,  Kohelet and Judaism Your Way.

Expect innovation.  It is our necessity.

“I love the morning after, the leftovers, just you and the leftovers.”  In describing the metaphors of his life –‘my relationship with food’-Denver Post food critic Tucker Shaw kept returning to the theme of leftovers.  At his Kabbalah Live talk last week, he revealed that leftovers were the bond between him and his beloved cook, his grandfather.  On Sunday mornings they would feast together on all the leftovers his grandfather cooked during the week.

Till today, “wherever I eat out, I bring home my leftovers.”  That accounts for a lot of leftovers, as Tucker eats out a lot.  For Tucker, getting up in the morning and heading to the fridge is a sacred pilgrimage, a time when, “God sees you as you really are.”

In exploring our theme this year of the ‘metaphors of our lives’, Tucker reflected on a smorgasbord of metaphors, but none to me more poignant than ‘leftovers’.  Nowadays he focuses as much on the food, its taste, presentation and the ambiance of the restaurant as what he will get to take home and put in the fridge.  Dining in (on leftovers) is a time to be in touch with the man that nourished him.

For each of us, we can reflect on our relationship with food and that is the opportunity of the upcoming Tu B’Shevat Seder (next Wednesday night at 6:45).  We will provide leftovers, but the main course is being there.

January is often a time we reflect on what and how much we eat (following the holidays, time off) and our ‘New Year’ resolutions( that heath clubs thrive on) to workout.

We have two events coming up about our relationship with food:

Tomorrow, January 6th as part of our Kabbalah Live Series, Denver Post food critic, Tucker Shaw will share with us his life-long metaphor of how food defines him.

On Wednesday, January 19th with Hebrew Educational Alliance and Temple Sinai we will celebrate the New Year festival of trees, named after the date on the Hebrew calendar—Tu B’Shevat (the 15th—full moon- of the month of Shevat) .

The Kabbalists of Tzfat (and Tzfat is quite cold in January) innovated a ritual seder (based on the Passover seder) in which we eat fruits, nuts and drink grape juice/wine. It s always wonderful to get together and have a party but as you can imagine, the Kabbalaists were not simply celebrating in the dead of winter—they were celebrating and signing up for a spiritual workout.

So we will gather to hear Tucker Shaw, a food critic and then we will gather in two weeks to learn how food critiques us. Hope you join us for these spiritual workouts.

David Sanders