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Carrie Fisher used to say, “take your broken heart, make it into art.” It’s incredible how we are able to turn tragedy into triumph and our own dark moments into light and hope for others. There’s nowhere we see our interconnectedness more than in art. The stories that are the most popular in films and literature play off the primary story (rises, falls). A few examples: Rags to Riches, Riches to Rags, Cinderella (rise then fall then rise), and Oedipus (fall then rise then fall). Most stories play off of this – this is seen in the Torah, too, especially in the story of Yakov and Yosef. When we bump into a friend or a stranger, we never really know if at that moment they are feeling a fall or a rise, & so we each have to be as …

Take Your Broken Heart, Make It Into Art (genesis: vayechi) Continue Reading

It seems that each of our lives is a string of struggles to feel aligned in the most elevated ways. Finding our purpose is certainly the first step to being able to tap into the elevated space, but because of how hard it is to maintain being in that space, we fall, we question, sometimes we rebel against the truth because of it’s seemingly transient feeling. What we don’t seem to tap into enough is our interconnectedness, & the fact that we are all part of the same being, elements of a whole Soul connected on high. We read; כּל־הַנֶּ֧פֶשׁ לְבֵֽית־יַעֲקֹ֛ב הַבָּ֥אָה מִצְרַ֖יְמָה שִׁבְעִֽים “The entire soul (nefesh) of Yakov’s household who entered Egypt was seventy.” Rashi teaches that the entire household of seventy people are referred to in singular, as nefesh, one soul. And, as we know, Yakov (Yisrael) …

every line that I​’​ve drawn that points back to you (genesis: vayigash) Continue Reading

Listen/Read For Good Karma – The story of Yosef’s struggle and redemption is super inspiring – I shared some of these lessons about this week’s parashah after my mom passed away two years ago – I hope it brings you some solace and light We read of Pharaoh that “in the morning, his spirit was troubled. He sent for & summoned all the magicians of Egypt & all the wise men. Pharaoh told them his dream, but no one could interpret them to Pharaoh” Pharaoh’s wise men did interpret the dreams, but not in reference to him as a Pharaoh, instead as a king, so he was unsatisfied with their interpretations. Rashi explains their interpretations as such: Pharaoh would beget seven daughters & bury seven daughters. It was only Yosef that was able to not only interpret the dreams incorporating …

Karma Came Quickly (genesis: mikeitz) Continue Reading

For this week, I do a deep dive into the damaging effects of lashon hara (speaking negatively). Blessings don’t come easily in this world. Everything of great value comes through hardship. Even peace itself comes from being diligent in bittul (self-transcendence), choosing how to navigate our reactions. The deeper & more meaningful a relationship is the better the chances are of having difficult elements to work through. If you want to go deep in a relationship, there will be work to get through so that each person feels that they are being heard & loved in the way that they need. It’s similar in relationships between parents & children: the amount of love a parent feels for their child is indescribable, but it comes from a constant giving of one’s emotional & physical faculties. In the newborn stage, it’s waking …

The Three Sided Story (genesis: vayeishev) Continue Reading

We all have encountered Esavs in our lives, whether as a part of ourselves or manifested in various people we encounter. Yakov demonstrates the various ways to overcome Esav and the yetzer hara he represents. Last week we saw Yakov asking only for food and clothing. He’s a picture of the simple tzadik. At this stage of his life, he was fearful of Lavan and Esav and would flee and run from his troubles. But in this week, we see a more mature Yakov: he has accumulated material wealth because he knows how to spiritualize it, and he approaches Esav instead of fleeing, because he knows the way in which he and all of us must face adversity. Rashi points out the way in which Yakov faced his challenge head on; he didn’t rely on his righteousness or for Hashem …

Where Soul Meets Body (genesis: vayishlach) Continue Reading

What do Rebbe Nachman, the Wu Tang Clan, the Abarbanel & Led Zeppelin have in common? Not much, but they all made their way into this week’s dvar/article;) So much of emunah (faith) & connectedness revolve around sleep & dreams, at least for me. In moments of faithlessness & doubt, I sometimes get overwhelmed with anxiety & find it hard to sleep– thoughts are racing through my head, & I find it hard not to think of things from every angle. It’s a cycle that is sometimes tough to quiet, at least enough to slip into slumber. Dreams, too, however far out, are often connected to the state each of us are in at that time. Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic approach to oneirology is that they are partially drawn from experiences & stimuli in the waking world. He says that dreams …

What Happens To A Dream Deferred? (genesis: vayeitzei) Continue Reading

This week with Jim Morrison & Annie Hall, & of course Rebbe Nachman, Rashi, & The Rebbe. It seems that in almost every moment of our lives we are caught between two choices: the easier or more selfish choice & something a bit harder, a selfless choice. Sometimes safek blurs the lines between the two, but often, if we tap into emunah & our gut, we know which is the one for us. Every action affects every other action. The fact that it takes so long to break a habit shows that every single action has ramifications beyond it. That’s why it says in Pirkei Avot, the reward for a mitzvah is a mitzvah, because if doing good begets doing good, one can take action to stay in perpetual goodness, or God forbid, struggle steeped in the opposite. The story …

The Other Side (genesis: toldot) Continue Reading

The Future Is Female The Talmud teaches that “In the merit of righteous women, our ancestors were redeemed from Egypt”. Redemption is intrinsically related to women, malchut (sovereignty), and the Divine feminine dimension. God’s Infinite Light originates at a level that is beyond this world, physically inaccessible to us, but it is filtered down through the Sefirot until it reaches the Malchut (sovereignty), out of which it shines onto us in our finite world. Infused in our tefilot (prayers) is the concept of moshiach and the final redemption, and redemption is intrinsically related to women. Kabbalistically, the sefirah of malchut renews all of existence and reflects the feminine dimension. We are now in exile, so malchut is in a state of descent and does not receive direct influence from the other sefirot. One can look at it like a woman …

The Future is Female (genesis: chayei sarah) Continue Reading

The more I get real with new people that I meet, the more I hear about the variety of struggles that seem to hit us all at various times. It makes us realize how each of us are our own complex universes and each universe is affected by the other. It’s why spreading joy and light is such an important part of life, as each person has the ability to ignite the other person’s light and positive outlook, or God forbid, diminish it. There are two acts that we actually complete for Hashem/God. Giving to the poor – God’s love for the poor is evidenced by their Beit Hamikdash/Holy Temple sacrifices being valued just as much, no matter how small they may be. So, you might ask why the poor are not taken care of in this world if Hashem …

Greetings From The Edge Of The World (genesis: vayeira) Continue Reading

In the Torah this week, we learn that on Avraham’s journey toward Israel that he finds himself in a famine and is forced to go down to Egypt, as it’s written, “And there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt.” This seems like an odd turn of events, after he is tasked with the journey and given blessings of greatness. But we see in Avraham’s journeys, the history of B’nei Yisrael (Children of Israel) was rehearsed and actualized: just as he went down to Egypt, we did the same through the Egyptian Exile, but also just as Avraham went up out of Egypt, we too were brought to Israel, to redemption, and just as Avraham left, “weighed down with cattle, silver and gold,” we did the same, leaving Egypt, “with greater wealth.” And so the …

Go To Yourself (genesis: lech​-​lecha) Continue Reading