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All of Passover (Pesach) is an opportunity for bitul hayesh, to negate and nullify all traces of ego and self-centeredness, to transcend the illusion of self. I just wrote this Pesach & Omer companion called, ‘The Transformative Power of Pesach and Sefirat Ha’Omer’ that you might find interesting. We can draw connections between the weekly portion from Leviticus and the larger Jewish story of moving from spiritual constriction into spiritual freedom. From safek (doubt) into salvation, the mindset of Redemption. Chametz literally means leavening: that which causes bread to rise. Chazal (Our Sages) teach us that this chametz represents arrogance and the evil inclination, the yetzer hara. In Talmud Berachot, the yetzer hara is depicted as the “yeast in the dough”, puffing up a person’s pride. We are obligated to search our homes in preparation for Pesach, collecting any leftover …

The Transformative Power of Passover & Sefirat HaOmer Continue Reading

When I can’t sleep, I often free-verse about whatever’s on my mind. It’s always interesting reading it the next morning. From the other night: The world is full of enough dissonance produce melody perform alchemy sift the good notes from the bad the serene from the siren song step in rhythm grow in concert we are all notes in this divine orchestra of existence It seems we all want to be one with our natural state — content, fulfilled, thriving, but the truth is we want more than that— we want to transcend this natural state, to not be bound by the constrictions of this world, where the good is always intertwined with a bit of “bad”. Only in the next world is good 100% and bad is not even a concept. As a kid, and even today, when I …

Step in Rhythm, Grow in Concert (leviticus: shemini) Continue Reading

Tzav, this parashah between Purim and Pesach continues discussing the intricacies of the Temple sacrifices and touches on chametz (leavened bread). Learning it we can draw connections between the weekly portion and the larger Jewish story of moving from spiritual constriction into spiritual freedom. Realizing that the Seder is not just a historical retelling of the Jews’ exodus from Egypt, but an actual manifestation, an opportunity for each of us to leave our own Egypts. Through this ritual, we’re meant to free ourselves, to ‘burn’ the chametz that holds us back from seeing and living in full truth, from being fully connected to the Infinite Light. “G-d does not dwell in… a fragmented place” – The Zohar. We must remember through the story of our enslavement that we too were once slaves, as Dr. King reminds us no one is …

When the Screens of Separation Fall (leviticus: tzav) Continue Reading

𝕊𝕡𝕚𝕣𝕚𝕥𝕦𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕫𝕖 ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪 – This week we read: “When one among you offers a sacrifice to G-d…”. Immediately, we ask, what sort of sacrifice? Why? and how? King David writes in Psalms, “For You [G-d] do not desire sacrifices; else I would give it: You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” Animal sacrifices were a way for ancient Jews to elevate themselves spiritually, but the sacrifices would have been meaningless if they weren’t done with true intention and a full heart to heal oneself and the harms one has done. King David writes that God will not despise a “broken spirit”, because true remorse makes a person feel broken, & true repentance comes from the desire to be connected to Hashem again, in order …

Spiritualize Reality (leviticus: vayikra) Continue Reading

This week, we read about the mikvah and its purifying, status-altering power. The mikvah process in this sense is like a rebirth, as it’s written in regards to the convert’s status change and renewal: the mivkah is like reentering the womb, “a convert who embraces Judaism is like a newborn child.” Just as the womb is a space devoid of Tomeh (uncleanliness/impurity), in which the baby cannot become impure in any way, the mikvah for men and women can also be looked at as a status change from Tomeh (unclean, or impure) to Tahor (clean, or pure). The Talmud teaches that all the water that flows through the world ultimately has its root in the river that flowed in the Garden of Eden, so our immersion in the flowing waters of a mikvah is a re-establishment of our connection with …

The Grounding Elements (exodus: pekudei) Continue Reading

So many of us feel disconnected so much of the time. Exile is a state of disconnect; redemption is the rectification of that state. We spin stories in our heads, filling in the blanks of desolation that often feels like desperation, because it’s chiyut (life and connection) that we all crave and that sustains us. Anxiety is the feeling we experience when faith becomes distant. For interpersonal relationships, there are solutions to lessen the anxiety: communication can deconstruct the stories we build in our heads which are a mix of emotion, judgment, projection and worry. But in some circumstances, when we can’t speak to the other person or perhaps doing so wouldn’t offer much solace, we need to tap into ourselves & even more so the Source, Hashem, and the trust that all is in the hands of Hashem & …

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose (exodus: vayak’hel) Continue Reading

This week we are commanded to keep the Shabbat – there is no more elevated bridge between this world and the next; it’s the finite time and space where our soul feels tapped into the infinite. Its splendor is ineffable. Hashem created the world in six days, and on the seventh He rested. We spend our days emulating Hashem in creating, in trying to conquer nature, to mold it into our desires, but on the seventh, on Shabbat, we are told to stop, to take a break, to meditate on being created and abstain from creating. We take a pause from trying to rise above what is natural and meditate on nature itself, on receiving in full faith that Hashem provides and is fully in charge & that no matter how hard we work, in the end, it is all …

When to Abstain from Creating and Meditate on Being Created (exodus: ki tisa) Continue Reading

This week has been a bit more challenging navigating the ups and downs that come with living in this life of exile… as Mark Ronson says, Nothing Breaks Like A Heart. I woke up today and it hit me that we’re all just scattered pieces of a broken soul trying to come together and make it whole. The Parashah opens with: “And you will command the Children of Israel that they shall take for you clear olive oil, crushed, for illumination, to light a lamp continually.” What strikes me is that the action we are commanded to take is a physical action in a moment— it’s plucking an olive, squeezing, grinding and crushing it for its oil, in order to elevate it. and what’s to follow is illumination and a continual light. It is the same in life— only after …

The living revelation of the concealed (exodus: tetzaveh) Continue Reading

This week we read, “Speak to the Children of Israel and let them take for Me a portion, from every person whose **heart so moves them ** …” As Miles Davis said, “Don’t worry about playing a lot of notes. Just find one pretty one.” Sometimes we get stuck in overthinking or feeling we have to do so much that we don’t do it at all, when really we need to focus on doing even just one thing, but doing it with love, with a full heart, with a smile of sincerity. Giving is not enough if, when you give, it feels as if it’s being taken from you by the person who is receiving. There is a Chassidic story in which a wealthy individual who was known for his miserliness had decided to give R’ Shlomo of Radomsk a …

The love you take is equal to the love you make (exodus: terumah) Continue Reading

Loving is giving– it’s literally the root of the Hebrew word – אהבה/Ahava – hav’means ‘to give’. The basis of Jewish faith is action/giving of oneself, and it’s through the mitzvot that clarity, unification & love manifest themselves.This is the love we look for in partners and often feel lacking without one. But we often forget that all of reality is an opportunity for a nurturing relationship with Hashem, the source of everything. Ahava has the same gematria (13) as the word Echad (One) and so to reach oneness/love, we have to be in tune with the Source & when we connect love to its source, 13 + 13 = 26 (Hashem’s four-letter name.) As I read the verse na’aseh v’nishma/we will do and we will hear, I realized it’s contained in Exodus 24:7 and we can live this mindset of Exodus and Redemption …

Hear & Grow (exodus: mishpatim) Continue Reading