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

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.

“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

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