Finding Light in Darkness
by Melanie Gruenwald There’s an adage a historian once called a law of history, true of every society across the ages. The adage is, only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. I know many people feel like we are entering a dark time, but for the benefit of us all, I […]
H2O: Holding Opposites
by David Sanders Dedicated to Robin Glickstein Ten years ago we introduced into our curriculum a course on Holding Opposites. Within a year, the course was developed into a year-long curriculum. Many students have told me that what is taught in Holding Opposites indelibly informs their thinking and their worldview. This core teaching of […]
Malchut: Manifestation
by Melanie Gruenwald Malchut: manifestation Making Time Count Over the past seven weeks, many people in the Kabbalah Experience community and the greater Jewish community have been mindfully engaged with the counting of time. We count up 49 days, marking the Israelites journey from slavery in Egypt, to accepting the Torah at Mount Sinai. This […]
Five Sacred Minutes
by Melanie Gruenwald I recently re-started a practice of journaling every day for five sacred minutes. I sit with my journal, some pens that bring me joy, set the timer on my phone and write uninterrupted for five minutes. I started this practice when I was reading The Artists Way by Julia Cameron. The […]
Celebrating our differences: Jewish Disabilities Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month (JDAIM)
In February, we celebrate Jewish Disabilities Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month. (JDAIM). As the Executive Director of a forward-thinking organization, and having had a son with disabilities, I often feel like I know of what I speak. However, a well-meaning student highlighted ‘ableist’ language in a curriculum I shared, and it gave me pause. First, […]
A Leg Up
by Dr. David Sanders It is not a question you will hear often: “Would you like to have my husband’s leg?” For the widow or widower, clearing out their dead spouse’s closets is part of the grieving process. The memories held in a favorite shirt or blouse, a suit for a special occasion, and the […]
Come and See
by Melanie Gruenwald Come and see: Nefesh- lower arousal, cleaving to the body like the light of a candle. The lower light, which is black, cleaves to the wick, never parting from it, arrayed by it alone. Once arrayed by the wick, it becomes a throne for the white light settling upon the black light. […]
Who is on First, that’s right
by Dr. David Sanders Who is on first, that’s right. When: Who is he or Who is she or Who is they. When then: Who was he Now is she. or Who was she Now is he. Or Who was he or she Now is they. There was a time when: Who was on first. […]
Waking the Dead
by Dr. David Sanders A mother who never met her newborn son. She died in childbirth. That woman would have been my grandmother. I once met her husband. He would have been my grandfather. But he gave my father up for adoption. To the brother of the mother who never met her newborn son. That […]
Today is Day 37 in the Counting of the Omer: Gevurah of Yesod
Yesod reflects our foundations- In the Kabbalah Experience journal we refer to it as Integrity. Like the bottom of a brick tower, the foundation needs to be strong and balanced, for the tower to be resilient to the winds. When we practice the ‘tree pose’ in yoga, our foot is solidly grounded- When we […]