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 […]
Weaving Trust
It may be exactly 10 years. I don’t recall the exact date but it was a Thursday in October 2003 that five men gathered at 7:30 a.m. to start learning Kabbalah together. What could be more traditional than five men, each of us well over 40 years old, gathering early in the morning trying to […]
Rushing down your future
Rushing down your future Washing away your past Washing away your memories You’re rushing down too fast You’re washing away your hopes and dreams You’re washing away everything You’re rushing down river faster than it flows You’re rushing down the ocean You’re rushing down, you’re rushing down, you’re rushing down Too Fast This poem, […]
Pardon My French
Pardon my French, but one etymological root of the word “forgive” comes from the old French, meaning, to pass over an offense without retribution or punishment. I have been suggesting the last few weeks that there is a parallel process in asking for and granting forgiveness. Both processes require us to be vulnerable and, paradoxically, […]
Compromise without Concession
In English, compromise is defined as two parties that come to agreement by making concessions. The key word is concession. The Hebrew word for compromise is Pesher (Peh-Shin-Reish). When we compare this Hebrew root word with other similar roots the connotation is to create a connection. A bridge in Hebrew is Gesher (Gimmel-Shin-Reish) and a […]
Bowing to Memory
There is a story about a young boy in Denver who, this past year, fell from his skateboard and banged his head so severely that he became amnestic for a period of months. He did not recognize any of his family members. One day during prayers in synagogue he bowed down at the customary […]
Out of Touch
One area of learning has been around our capacity for empathy. Thirty years ago when I worked with children diagnosed as autistic the understanding was that in addition to extreme sensitivity to sensory stimulation, autistic children were “out of touch.” They could not connect to others, would not want physical connection and could not […]
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 […]
Holding Opposites
This past year I was privileged to develop and teach a new year-long class with Lili Zohar—designed for third year students-we call it Holding Opposites. It has received mixed reviews—for some it is the “best Kabbalah learning so far” and for some it is “not so easy to follow.” Even the feedback for this class […]
Island Time
Island time is sacred. City time is profane. Call it Courage was the first novel I read; a 1941 story by Armstrong Sperry of a boy who survives by himself on a deserted island. I have returned to the theme of living in isolation many times through our studies of Kabbalah, especially in coming […]