Portrait of Jewish America
Alarm bells sounded earlier this month with the release of the findings from a major Pew Foundation survey of American Jews. A Portrait of Jewish Americans is the first national study in 13 years assessing a host of demographic data on religious identity, beliefs, practices and attitudes, rates of intermarriage and affiliation of Jews […]
After all is said and done
After all is said and done (the final shofar blast) ending Yom Kippur there is still the evening prayers to be recited. It is not a long service but after fasting for 25 hours it is a testament to one’s staying power to not bolt and head for food and drink. Could it be that […]
Donkey Library
A question this week from someone who came to an introductory Kabbalah class four years ago: David, I have a “very simple” question for you that came up in a discussion with one of my friends. Is the expansion of consciousness (by that I mean coming to a higher level of awareness of […]
Face Uplift
This final week of the count of the Omer (the sefirah of Malchut) asks of us: “Now that you have faced the truth (about yourself) what are you doing about it?” Kierkegaard put it this way: “Face the facts of being what you are, for that is what changes what you are.” In our […]
Are We There Yet?
People were thrilled this week on Monday and Tuesday. It did not snow. May 1st today, Wednesday, it is snowing. Imagine the trees questioning, “Are we there yet?” Whether it is a long car ride, or awaiting spring, “Are we there yet?” implies that we were ready to “be there” a long time ago. […]
Surrender Your Dogma
The sefirah of Hod (the sefirah of this week’s Omer count) feels misunderstood. Yet she is too humble to make a big deal about it. There are those who translate her as a false face, others as the ecstasy of a ride in a Ferrari and still others as the delight in the variety of […]
Unbreakable Spirit
We had a beautiful evening celebrating Kabbalah Experience this past Thursday night at the Loup JCC. Many people asked me over the weekend whether I was still floating in the clouds. The decorations were balloons in the shape of clouds, simulating a dreamlike atmosphere for hearing about Dreamwork from our speaker, Rodger Kamenetz. Karen’s […]
The Container Within
This week of the counting of the Omer focuses on the energy of Gevurah—setting limits and establishing firm boundaries. There are a myriad of concepts contained in Gevurah—including that it itself is a container. Today, the 9th day of the count is Gevurah in Gevurah. So what is a container within a container? The image […]
Passover Proaction
This week of Passover is distinguished by what we eat and what we don’t eat. We remove Chametz (all leavened products) and eat the flat bread—Matzah. Kabbalah provides a number of explanations as to the inner meaning of matzah and chametz. The most common explanation, also alluded to in traditional Jewish teaching, is that […]
Every Seven is a Reflection
For the past few years we have “counted the Omer” together—a 50 day count from Passover to the holiday of Shavuot. As Passover is “early” this year I thought it best to get started on thinking about the framework for this years’ counting. Following the tradition in Kabbalah—the weekly and even daily counts relate to […]