Our Story Manifests

Reflections from the
Executive Director

What does it take for the infinite to create space for the finite?

What does it take to manifest change in an organization?

Last year, I had the opportunity to deepen my learning at Kabbalah Experience, and better understand the functioning of the organization. David and I had conversations about growth, development, and vision- and at one point he asked me if I would consider being Kabbalah Experience’s next Executive Director.

David, as the organization’s founder, felt he was in a place in his career and family life, and the organization was in a place, as well-- that he could create space for new leadership, and for the organization to expand to its next level. Oftentimes, it is hard for a founder to contract, in order to make space for creation to occur.

David has remained fully committed to Kabbalah Experience as its Spiritual Director, while mentoring me in teaching kabbalah and in leading the organization. Working with David, it is clear he models tsimtsum/contraction, in such a way that Kabbalah Experience is able to grow. He contracts for new growth to occur.

To highlight what has happened this year at KE:

• We received an $80,000 grant from Rose Community Foundation, which was matched with $160,000 in individual multiple-year donations in order to sustain the executive leadership transition
• We had a successful 6^th Annual Fundraiser with singer songwriter Ellis Delaney headlining
• We experimented with new class models and adjunct faculty options and increased student registration and class offerings for 2019
• We launched two ‘self-study’ videos- Soul and Space: Tree of Life and completed filming Masks for release in early 2020
• We successfully transitioned organizationally and fiscally into a leadership model with two senior professionals, Melanie Gruenwald as the Executive Director and Dr. David Sanders as the Spiritual Director
• We participated in CO Gives Day for the first time and raised over $13,000.

None of this would be possible without vision and commitment from our donors, students, and volunteers. I am grateful to be on this journey with Kabbalah Experience, and have David, and you, as my partners.

We believe Kabbalah Experience can serve as a model for spiritual education- reaching students across the world, through ZOOM video conference, and also by training Kabbalah Experience Fellows to launch KE groups in their home communities.

In the new year- we are seeking to expand our course offerings, online presence, and core of teachers. Kabbalah Experience is professionalizing its board and systems—investing in marketing, CRM software, leadership development, and thought leadership

While we grow, our core mission is the same, to serve as a center for adult spiritual education, using Kabbalah as a tool for living with greater awareness, connection, and personal transformation.

As we teach meditation from the Zohar, we reflect on this mantra: Dlayt atar panui meenay- There is no space devoid of you.

David, in the myriad of ways you have created space for creation to occur …. There is no space devoid of you.

Thank you for your leadership, mentorship, commitment and vision.

Thanks for offering a true model of tsimtsum—a contraction, in order for expansion to occur.

With gratitude,

Melanie

Reflections from the
Spiritual Director

Remember the heart is a tender thing
Restless and hopeful it cries and sings
Sometimes you need shelter and a space to be
A little tough, not tough enough, a little lost at sea.

And when everyone’s racing and you join in
If you can, try running with a smile
Because there is a danger in going too fast
Getting too far ahead can set you back

Right on time, You are right on time,

You’re right on time.

Ellis Delaney sang those words to me as I celebrated my 60^th birthday on January 18, 2018. I had with the help of my friends and family come to a realization. The way forward for Kabbalah Experience required risk, a willingness to let it end or let it begin anew. I knew the time was right for a change.

That evening was filled with emotion. KE students took to the stage to sing, my eldest son Ben sang Walking in Memphis and then Ellis mesmerized with her soulful songs. I missed my Dad who died many years before and missed my surrogate Dad, Bob Loup, who had died the year before. The evening ended in dance, with Rita by my side, we danced as a family, the seven of us in a circle. I did not have on blue suede shoes but my feet were 10 feet off of Beale.

I was aware, a nagging aware amidst the celebration, of who was missing. Her husband had come first to study at KE and so I was expecting them both to join us that evening. But that evening was the last evening their precious son Koby would grace this world with his presence.

From that young man’s heroic broken halleluyah came his Mom, Melanie, to find solace and support for her own deep sorrow in continuing her study at KE. The vessel had been shattered, but fragmented light was glinting off the jagged shards.

We are indeed, as the poet Lawrence Kushner penned, “each other’s puzzle pieces.” The timing seemed all wrong and yet Melanie showed up right on time. When Ellis Delaney returned the next spring to headline for our fundraiser I was ready. Melanie was ready.  We had not moved too fast, we had moved very deliberately through a plan that would allow for a smooth transition in leadership. With incredible generosity, KE students and our Board of Directors insured that we had the financial resources to move forward. They more than matched a grant from Rose Community Foundation and we announced last spring that Melanie would be the new Executive Director of KE.

I joked that evening that in becoming KE’s Spiritual Director I was not going to be at KE in spirit only. So it has been. I handed over to Melanie the running of KE on July 1, 2019 and since then we have walked hand in hand, worked hand in hand to keep KE thriving and to continue evolving our teaching and practice of spiritual awareness.

My deepest gratitude to you Koby for bringing your Mom to study with you at KE and to all of you for allowing KE to continue on, “for the heart is a tender thing and sometimes you need a shelter and a space to be.”

With love,

David

Financials 
Profit and Loss-FY 2018