Giving Birth to Myself

Shalom, my name is Ganendl daughter of Devorah daughter of Joyce daughter of Ganendl and daughter of Shirly daughter of Kitty. That’s how we introduce ourselves when sitting at the table, bringing our entire selves, including the unbroken chain of mothers, the thread that ties us to our roots, from deep in the earth as we thrust upwards, growing into the unknown future. Linear time is not relevant, ancestral roots and the coming redemption are part of the same phenomenon, its cyclical, you die to be reborn. Ancient ritual and new-age universal consciousness are partners in same evolutionary experience.

Women’s gatherings have become a pillar of year in Israel, especially the New Moon gatherings. Fortunate for me, at every station on this journey extraordinary women have been placed in my life, nourishing me with woman-love. Starting from birth with my mother, whose all-encompassing embrace has been my lifeline, secure and durable, a mother’s love has a quality of eternalness. I continued receiving heavy doses of woman-love from sisters, friends, cousins, aunts, and teachers throughout life. I can try an explain what woman-love feels like, although language is so limiting, I urge you each to reach into your own experiences as I try to elaborate: it’s warm, encompassing, accepting, forgiving, the closest we can get to being in a womb again. Until you’ve been blessed by a room full of women, had healing energy directed to your bleeding wounds, been danced circles around, been embraced by, been loved by, kissed by, remembered by, caressed by, joined voices with, held hands with, and let your soul come out and join in with other women until you are absolved into a puddle of fertile light prepared to birth the next era... that is my pathetic attempt to explain woman-love.

Women are extraordinarily powerful beings and it’s a pity that common culture has written us off as sex objects or even worse, as equal to man. Liars, Shekar. Women are magicians, shamans, witches imbued with the secret powers of creation, we make miracles, harness the greatest potential and grow it into actuality, heal, listen, build, expand, nurture, create worlds. Every sage whose ever written about the messiah, acknowledges that it’s the feminine aspect that will cater in the next era, with song, laughter, kindness and love, this is the uncompromising nature of women. Most ancient and indigenous traditions have also tapped into this awareness. Returning to a state of Mother Nature, reversing the cataclysmic events in the Garden of Eden, breaking the terrible misnomer that in order to be great, women need to act more like men. We need to act like women. I want to send love and encouragement and gratitude out to all the women who have generously shared their love. Please continue supporting each other as we tread down this life path.

OK, that was an introduction to the new women’s movement; you should join too, sign up now and give a generous contribution….love.

I apologize a hundred times (will you mochel me?) for not writing in the past four months. Be assured, I was doing some important work in the interim. I returned to Mayanot Institute of Torah Studies after the extraordinarily high days, Rosh Hashonah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot. Experiencing these holidays with full consciousness enabled me to really tap into the energy pockets G-d has masterfully tucked into the folds of time, like sailor, I was able to adeptly turn my sails, catch onto the currents of wind (spirit), and be propelled up and up. It was glorious.

When I returned to Mayanot after an amazing summer, my Rabbi sensed that I had entered into a new space and responded by building a special curriculum to further my studies. I stepped into a hermetic existence (some may call it the Pardes ;). I learned Torah from early morning until late in the night, breaking only to pray, put food in, let food out, and take solitary walks around Jerusalem to inhale the sacred air and allow the words to saturate my soul. This time was magical, G-d began opening my mind, revealing the secret formula used for creating the world, the elixir of life and happiness, letting me sip from the fountain of youth, shining the wisdom of the infinite into my eyes…mmmmm it’s sweeter than honey from a rock.

It was so good, but this living can only last for so long. Wisdom is slightly useless when a person is not living. Life is the arena in which is all takes place, and since I was not being tested by life, I was not applying anything. Stagnation, like the foaming water that gathers next to a waterfall, fully capable but stuck, longing to be part of the current. And so I pulled my head out of the book and finally did it…booked a ticket back to the United States.

I am ready to be reborn, ready to leave the womb of t’shuva, Israel, Jerusalem. I am grossly overdue, but oh how my spirit has enjoyed sucking from the breast of the source, where spirituality, holiness, and kosher food are without end. It’s time to be weened, time to come back to the US…I am expecting on January 10th.

I feel incredibly grateful to the Creator for letting me selfishly take this time and space, for protecting my friends and family in the States so that I could comfortably be here without worry. Coincidentally (although nothing is coincidence), right after I booked my ticket, I was suddenly called back to the states. My sister sustained a serious knee injury and it getting surgery the day I arrive (please pray for Miriam bas Devorah for a complete and fast healing).

Additionally, there is a lot of joy happening in the states that I need to be part of. My cousins both had babies (welcome to the family Oliver Shalom and Maya Pearl…you are very lucky to join our tribe), friends are getting engaged and married….mazel tov, the biggest congratulations to Julie Gutman, Miri Cohen Birk, Devora Rosenheim, Yehudis Rumbak, Esther Nemy, Leah Casper, Romy Greenblatt, Emiliano Acevedo ….G-d should bless you to build homes filled with light and that you’re doors are always open to share it. So many incredible things are happening in this world, bodies have a limited capacity for experiencing such joy, so thankfully the soul is infinite and is expanding for the occasions. I think it has to do with the shift since Chanukah and the solstice, the world has realigned, the days are getting longer and there is more revealed light.

Friends and Family in the States, I am so extraordinarily excited to see each of you and I want to badly to make time and space to reconnect. Please contact me. I will have my old cell phone back, I think? As for my plans…I am trying something new. It’s called not making any plans. Crumbled in the recycling bin are my to-do lists, my future expectations, and my monthly planner. I am currently suspended in air and being catapulted into…….the unknown. I am testing out my trust in G-d that what is destined to happen is much grander and more extraordinary than what I can conceivably plan. If anyone wants to join, let’s go. I’ll sprinkle some special fairy dust on you and we can fly to NeverNever Land. We’ll try to get a peak at the world from G-d’s ariel, omnipotent viewpoint.

To summarize (I know this is getting long) my last few weeks in Israel have been amplified. Every moment is intense, every color more vivid, every step is clearly taking me to the destined place. Chanukah was brilliant, I reveled in all the candles, all the lights of the amazing people who have blessed me this year. People and their influences are like the oil used for the candles, it leaves a stain, a bit of residue on our hearts forever. I will miss everyone here so much, but leave in complete faith that I will see everyone again.

Chanukah at the Wall, the 7th night

Wedding Recipe

ingredients for a wedding:
friends, fabric, fruit, drums, beautiful view, and a bride

9:00am create a place to dance

10:00 am cut, dice, and pray so that the food is imbued with holy vibes10:30 Roast lamb

11:00am sample the cake icing

6:00pm serenade the bride

6:30pm Enter Groom from stage left to lower the veil

7:30pm Fortify and Bless the Union

9:00 - until the am : dance and celebrate
Mazel tov Shirly and Daniel

Sukkot Circus ++

Welcome to the fam Maya Pearl and Oliver Shalom

Etrog field in Kfar Chabad

Samuel the Prophet (Shmuel HaNavi) is buried here

someone told us that the Moshiach had just arrived

Havdalah (the ceremony that escorts Shabbos away) in Bat Ayin

Harry the Chassid, my cousin, Tzvi Yoel, at the Western Wall (The Kotel)

My Rebbetzin's son had his Bar Mitzvah during sukkot

Holy women breaking it down at Moshav Modiin's sukkot festival. Freestyling while fully strapped (with an infant)

Hundreds of people gather at the Western Wall during Sukkot for the Blessing of the Kohain (Priests) once a year. Look hard, there are people on every porch and rooftop.

Shaking the lulav and estrog in the sukkot. Yael glows whenever she does a mitzvah!

Natural Healing

Our Sages, z’l, teach that the world is a large human body (and likewise, the human body is a small world), from this we see that we are all part of one incredibly intricate pulsing, breathing organism. Individually we all perform our own functions, the fingers touch and interact with the outside world, while the liver purifies, the nerves communicate. But together, we all serve one end, to maintain the life and health of the overall body.

The realization is: We each have a vital and irreplaceable role in the perfection of this world. And even more so, we should realize that every person we encounter does too. It is taught that we should treat every one has if they are potentially the Massiah. On an even higher level of understanding: when we all do our parts accordingly, we collectively bring about this realized state of full body health, or ‘messianic times’.

Really internalizing the interconnectedness of everyone allows us to understand what it means to ask for forgiveness. In Hebrew, the word for forgiveness is ‘michila’ which translates into ‘circle’. Since we are all one being, one interconnected world, everything should ideally be existing in a state of harmony. When we hurt somebody, either intentionally or accidentally or somebody hurts us, booboos and riffs are made in the circle. In order to repair the fractures, we must repair the relationships with each other so the blood can flow and we can return to the perfect circle.

Medically, in a real human body, a broken bone heals and is stronger than it was in the first place. Likewise with repairing relationships. When we ask for forgiveness, forgive others, and forgive ourselves, we strengthen the circle, reaffirming that we were once conncected and that we came apart temporarily. It's only when we are part of the bigger picture, that we can clearly recognize and perform our vital role in the body.

We should have a quick and complete healing in body and soul, Refuah Shelamah!!

And on that note, I would like to ask everyone for forgiveness, to mochel me, and that I completely forgive you. And may G-d bless you that this year you have life, blessings, peace, happiness, health, tranquility, completion, prosperity, deliverance, consolation, and favorable decrees from the Heavens, that you are remembered and inscribed in the Book of Life, and that you find your space in the circle and that together we bring the divine energy into this physical world in a revealed way so we can point our finger at it and say “there it is”

A letter to the ultimate editor

Dear G-d, as you pick up your quill to begin the next best seller
Expectations are high because from experience, you’re a heck of a storyteller
Last years was a masterpiece, a page-turner with an unexpected hook
You are a literary genius, hence you’ve been commissioned to write the Life Book
May I make some suggestions...if that isn’t too bold
Although, you surely don’t need any, the Bible is still the #1 book sold
Add some eloquent dialogue, maybe a poem here to there
Borrow from Shakespeare, iambic pentameter to add a flare
Historical fiction is fun, but a touch of biography will make it all come true
Enter in Massiah to thicken the plot and add it to the sci-fi genre too
Flowery adjectives, magic realism, with a hitchcockian twist
Insert a love story featuring a romantic sunset where someone gets kissed
A strategic absence of words, Hemmingway’s silences say it best
Comedic Irony and humor work well, truth resonates when said ingest
Polemic rhetoric, mystical teaching, and philosophical complexes replete
Throw in a villain too, as long as you script in the defeat
May the writers block be locked away and the words just flow
If you need better lighting, some tea, or a proofreader, let me know
Would you like to use my labtop? It has Microsoft word and html
Use my mac for its audio applications, or are you more comfortable with a Dell?
Change the font, add italics, and increase the margins as you please
Remember to hit the save document button, the most important of the keys
Although I like mad libs, I pray you write with the utmost intention
Fill up every page and end it happily ever after...the ultimate redemption.

Plug-ins

My journey was made possible by the multitudes of amazing people that have blessed me with hospitality, wisdom, love, and safety. Its incredible to travel to a land far away and find that everyone is your family. Plus, advertising/marketing in Israel is about 10 years behind, so I am glad to give a shout out.

Anything you want/need Israel related...
tourguides, story tellers, Shabbos plans, places to stay, restaurant recommendations, coffeeshops, places to go, people to meet, classes to attend, wines to sip, bi-partisan news links, private tutors, pottery makers, space for hosting events, how to get money to come to Israel, wedding planning, gammacks, graphic design, music, yoga instructors, reiki, dance, or advice ....do not hesitate to ask me. I have been so blessed to have met such amazing and gifted people and would love to share it.

If you need to buy gifts and want to support Israeli products, also feel free to contact me for suggestions. Below is a preliminary list, but for specifics...holler

Learning Institutions - If you are looking for a place to give tzadakah (charity), are interested in supporting Woman's Torah Learning, check out these organizations. They are changing the world...at least they changed mine.

• Mayanot Institute of Torah Studies
  
• Midreshet B'erot Bat Ayin
• Simchat Shlomo
  

(each program is unique and different, if you are interested in learning in Israel and have questions, I would love to be available)

Nutrition, Healers, Alternative Medical Practitioners

• Shalva Clinic For Natural Health - Acupuncture, reflexology, and message clinic right next to the Old City Jerusalem. They are also a funky tea shop specializing in custom-made tea concoctions to suit health and needs. The services and prices are great!
• Zadok Chiropractic
  
• Tai Chai and Hebrew Letter Movement, Tzfat, by Yehudit Goldfarb
• Esther Alfasi from Bat Ayin, raw foods chef and yoga instructor for Women
• Sigalet, professional acupuncture who does home visits in and around Jerusalem
  
• Sarah Zadok, pregnancy coach and midwife
• Chaya Bracha, yoga in Jerusalem
  
• Many yoga and reiki instructors in multiple cities
  

Artists (click to see their works or visit their galleries in person)

• Baruch Nachshon Hebron
• Eva Ariela Lindberg Jerusalem
• Meryam Zislovich Tzfat
• Yael Avi-Yonah Jerusalem
• Sheva Chaya canvas and glassblower, Tzfat
  

Music (with links to myspace for easy listening)

• Ha'Orot: The Lights of Rav Kook - new age jazz with Rav Kook's lyrics
  
• Majuda - reggae, afro-beat meets hallelujah
  
• Aharit Hayamim - jammy rootsy goodness
  
• Moshav Band - Phish + Torah
  
• Soul Farm - what happens when Rabbis, blues, and RocknRoll get together
  
• A Shur Thing - support my family!! Moshe Shur and sons
• David Zeller - (of Blessed Memory) for meditation, relaxation, healing
• Prodezra - niggunim dirty south style
  
• Delia Spiers - angelic harmonies with major soul (for women listening only)
• Moran Sabbah - G-d loving spunky rockstar (for women listening only)
  

Authors

• Chana Bracha
• Lisa Aiken
• Kol Chevra - perpetuating the legacy of Shlomo Carlebauch
• Reuven Goldfarb - poet, essayist, fiction writer, storyteller, journalish, teacher
  
• Eva Ariala Lindberg - authored Tulip Love, a healing model for individuals & communities

Products

• Tiferet Aromatherapy - organic essential oils available for personal and medicinal use
  
• House of Harrari Harps - great for gifts, they were commissioned by the Temple Institute to build the harps that will be used for the 3rd Temple (B''H)
• Dates and Organic grape fruit juice from Kibbutz SDE Eliyahu

More to come............

OrGani

Play on words

The Hebrew word for Organic is Organi…which is made up of two words
or = light
gani = my garden
Therefore when we practice consciousness in our gardens and don’t use any unnatural products and chemicals, we are doing enlightened gardening

My stay at Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu was so beautiful, for my eyes, my body, and my mind. It’s located in the scenic Jordan Valley, home of ancient Roman civilizations (so replete with ruins that people have columns in their front yard as garden décor). Additionally, Sde Eliyahu is on the forefront of organic agriculture. I can die happy now having had this experience… or at least cross that off my checklist of To-Do’s.

I want to share with you more about Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu because they set an exemplary standard for living a meaningful and harmonious life. A properly functioning kibbutz is great model for a healthy, productive society with happy, free, and protected citizens (an ideal balance rarely struck in actuality). Additionally, the Kibbutz is a prototype for sustainable living, using innovation and technology in order to live a simple life rooted in tradition, family, and community.

Work hours are reasonable, livelihood is guaranteed, (mommy’s get ready for this one) they wash your laundry, day care, health care, retirement, education, cooking is all part of the package. When we aren’t slaves to these incredibly important provisions, there is time to stop and chat with neighbors and friends. The look of ease in the eyes of the residents is the byproduct of living in a community where everyone cares about the well-being of the governing unit and the governing unit cares about everybody else.

Sde Eliyahu has many income generators, but their goal is not to amass wealth, rather to live comfortably and to create products that benefit the world. Everyday I walked around in amazement by the breadth of the work that takes place here (and they don’t outsource the brain power to India or the manual labor to illegal immigrant workers).

Sunrise over the vineyard, the beginning of the workday

Organic Farming
I worked in the vineyard during most of my stay at the kibbutz, where we harvest grapes, tend to the luscious pomegranate fields quickly bulking up in time for Rosh HaShana, and reap plump, sugary dates. They also farm seasonal crops for domestic consumption. Many aspiring-farmers are drawn to the kibbutz to work as an apprentice under the well-known Mario Levy, the first visionary of organic agriculture in Israel.

the goodies, bundles of delicious grapes hide under the brush

Natural Pesticides
Just in case you are wondering how everything is pesticide-free while still being pest-free, Sde Eliyahu uses and markets an incredible solution; breeding, packaging, and shipping mass quantities of predatory bugs that will quickly eat your harmful insect infestations.

Additionally, they have a product called Bio-Fly (AKA insect birth control), a natural, chemical free solution for the Mediterranean fruit fry. Sde raises sterile male flies and then releases them into the field where they marry the female flies and no babies are made. It’s kind of sad, but equally so, it’s effective and brilliant.

the pomegranate orchard...otherwise known as pom pom grenades

And it don't stop.....

• Natural Pollination (Bio-Bee) -Don't let the front page headline in the New York Times alarm you, there is no threat of bees coming extinct. Sde Eliyahu has been in the business of mass rearing bumble bees for natural pollination for years.
• Employing the Locals for Pest control - The kibbutz and the local birds work together too. By building houses and protecting the falcons, owls, and bats, the kibbutz is ensured that there are no moths, rodents or pests.
• Donkey bong - There are no weed whackers at the kibbutz. Donkeys hang out in the date fields happily munching away all the weeds.
  

donkeys in the date palm orchard eat all the weeds

• SDA Spice Factory - Organically grown spices, herbs, and oils are dried and packaged at the kibbutz
• Fish farm and hatchery - Sde Eliyahu is on the forefront of fish production and the largest producer of tilapia in Israel. (Its good, I can testify)
• Cow Dairy - There are 300 cows that are milked 3 times a day, meeting all dairy the needs on the kibbutz.
• Chickens Coops - Chickens are raised on for kosher slaughter. These chickens eat healthier than most humans from the organic compost.

I am flabbergasted by what's being yielded in Israel. Mark Twain visited in 1867 and wrote the land off as….

“….. A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds… a silent mournful expanse…. a desolation…. we never saw a human being on the whole route…. hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.”

Today Israel supplies most of its own agricultural needs and even has a profitable exportation industry. They are a leader in water preservation, irrigation methods, and desert agriculture and are the only country in the world who has an increasing tree population. These are miraculous feats for a land deemed barren and desolate less than 100 years ago. These achievements are possible (besides G-d's hand in the matter) because love of the land is an integral part of Jewish observance. In fact, most mitzvoth (commandments) are agricultural in nature and only obligated to be kept in the land of Israel. This respect and appreciation of the land is a trait shared with many other indigenous peoples, such as the Native Americans, and is crucial to inculcate in all peoples and nations.
My sojourn at the kibbutz is over for now, although I milked every moment spent here (I also milked a goat and made some cheese). Sde Eliyahu has taught me the hidden meaning of the expression “to be partners with G-d in creation”. Human-kind has been given all the tools we need to live in concert with the land; to guard and protect it. It is our responsibility to utilize the gifts and bounty of the earth properly and consciously. We must live IN the land, WITH the land, not just on top of it.

If anyone is interested in visiting Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu, they are always looking for hard-working volunteers. The kibbutz also offers a Hebrew Language Immersion (Ulpan) and gives guided bio-tours. Contact Beni at gavrieli@sde.org.il, tell him Gani sent you. Also, if you are serving in the Israeli army as an American or new immigrant, they have a lone soldier program.

Harvesting Gani

I am red…is it a sun burn? Or have I become a communist? Both, I am a kibbutznik.
I arrived, clean and naïve and within minutes they stripped me of my pretty dress handed me a patched up denim outfit and a pair of used work boots. Twenty minutes later I was sitting in the dining room getting the orientation.
“That’s where the new immigrants sit”
“That’s the goat cheese that was made in our own dairy”
“That’s where the retired old ladies sit…don’t let them see if you don’t finish your plate”
“That’s the mean French man, only sit by him if you are feeling confident”
“That’s the Rabbi of the community”
“Those are the Yeshiva boys, they don’t talk to women, so don’t even try”
“If you mix the chocolate powder with the coffee, it’s really yummy”
…………and so it went, I got all the survival advice I needed, a pat on the back, and a good luck bidding.

For those of you who do not know, a kibbutz is a type of collective community, original to Israel. The movement was born in the late 19th Century when Jews began returning to the land. Setting up small, self-sustained, agricultural communities was the only practical way to survive in the land when there was no central government or a grid to be on. Life of a kibbutz is very interesting and counter-intuitive for the self-interested capitalistic system us westerners are accustomed to since all resources are pooled and evenly distributed… the farmer and the lawyer make the same money (sorry). Everyone eats together in the community dining hall, works together, and governs together. The social experiment proved successful and was the breeding ground for the hard, tough pioneers that came back to resettle the land. Today the kibbutz movement has lost much of its fuel since there is an official Jewish State and many can’t find ways to generate enough income to support the tribe. Nevertheless, these utopian communities still exist and many people prefer this setup as opposed to cities and suburbs. Most kibbutzim resorted to tourism or operating industrial plants to generate income, however this kibbutz is on the cutting edge of large-scale organic farming and agriculture…back to my personal narrative…

Then I got my job assignment: harvesting grapes in the vineyard. Which sounds really romantic, right? Picture me, prancing about with a wicker basket, the hills are alive with music, the Gilboa Mountains to my left, the Jordanian Mountains to my right, me, in the middle of the Beit She’an Valley with grape vines in my hair, leopard print, the music to fantasia playing in the background, a Jewish Dionysus, goddess of wine, festivities, merrymaking, and ritual madness (insert maniacally laugh here)…well not exactly.

The work day starts at 5:30am. After a quick lesson in Torah and some black coffee, we dive into work. The sun has yet to make to make its appearance, although he’s the star of the show. We man our positions in the vineyard, armed with silly hats, scissors, and gloves, unified against our common enemies…the merciless sun and the territorial hornets (getting stung is a right of passage). The sun peeks over the horizon, casting a red glow on the grape vines, breathtaking at first, but then it keeps rising and the faucet of sweat turns on, perpetually leaking down your back…drip drip drip. Time passes but not so quickly and there is only one place to go…deep inside yourself.

When you are spending hours inside your head, it’s important that you enjoy your own company. I refer to it as: The Gani and Jenna Show. Talk about a mild case of schizophrenia, truly a jekell and hyde of sorts; the more refined self-aware version of me (Gani) versus the hedonist pleasure-seeker (Jenna). Man do they go at it. It’s quite humorous to step back and listen in. Both make valid and convincing points, they even switch sides sometimes.

After a while, everything starts to blur, life stories, all valid, equally vivid: standing on Northern Blvd. wondering why there is smoke coming from the Twin Towers, standing at Mount Sinai wondering why there is smoke coming from the clouds, memorizing Boyz to Men songs, memorizing the Shema, killing me softly with his words, building tree houses, salamander hunting, rebuilding New Orleans, ascending the steps at the Beit Hamikdash, standing at the foot of ancient pyramids in Mexico, standing on one foot in lotus pose, crying, laughing, dying, sighing, skiing, being, loving, dancing, telling secrets, getting high, getting low, getting back to the garden, WoodStock or Gan Eden? Lech Lecha, driving my pink Cadillac (plush velvet seats), billiards, Redemption Song, Memorial Day Parade with Grandpa Milton, parading around Jericho, recklessly jumping from cliffs into icy water, recklessly wrecking my car, Criss Cross will make you jump jump, Modah Ani Lefanecha, want to play the game? Is this life or was this the game all along? Am I loosing my mind or have I suddenly found it? Eureka!

And just when I am on the brink of insanity, the sound of the tracker interrupts my thoughts, drowning out the chirping birds and the melodic crickets in the foreground. I drop my scissors, drop my hat, drop my gloves and swagger towards the monstrously large hay covered machine which I ride to breakfast, gloriously, covered in dirt, stinking, barely recognizable.

Do not get me wrong, this work has been extraordinarily rewarding. I am so glad that I am here. So glad to be working in the land if Israel. So glad to be harvesting fruit after the most intensive year of my life. I am glad to have this time to sort out myself. Truly contemplate, meditate, germinate.

Plus the grapes are incredibly delicious and perhaps the most sensual fruit I have ever experienced. The bunches, they hide under the brush (interesting that in nature, the most precious things are tucked away and hidden from sight). I sweep the leaves to the side, exposing the large, supple, juicy clusters, dangling, sun-kissed and dripping with dew…and snip, they fall into my hand.
I have eaten so many a grape.
I am sick to my stomach and drunk, but tomorrow I will do it again.
They are so good.
And the variety of grapes is unbelievable.
Juice grapes, wine grapes, high end organic grapes, purple grapes, seeded grapes, raisen grapes… I could continue but I think you get the point.

I find it quite symbolic that I am harvesting grapes in Israel. I came here a year ago, my garden wild and chaotic, with the conviction to tame it a little bit. I came to Israel to grow, and growth is no easy process. I had to raze myself to the ground, up haul everything, weed it out, plow, relandscape, replant, water, tend, sow, and now…I am harvesting fat organic grapes. Now we shall make some wine and have a toast, will you please raise your glasses...L’Chayim.

I am a Jew

The three weeks...it's a heavy time, a time allotted to feeling the pain. During the hot, oppressive, humid, unforgiving heat of the summer, the destruction of both Temples took place. So tap in, reach deep inside, acknowledge and mourn all the afflictions and deficiencies faced by living in a broken world. People are starving, broken-hearted, hurting, angry, hateful, bitter, jaded, missing...but we should take refuge in the fact that in acknowledging these emotions, we are in fact yearning for a better day. Darkness can only be understood when being juxtaposed to the opposite...light.

I find it difficult to be in mourning right now especially since I am in Israel and have the opportunity to see first-hand the damned nation of Israel build itself up..higher and higher. Watch people coming home after 2,000 years from every corner of the world, watch the children laugh and run in the parks, completely unaware of the years of hostility. Personally I feel like celebrating, because in my eyes the temple is being rebuild already. It's a organic rebuilding, the way the sunrises in the morning, gradual, natural, and progressive.

It's not my style to post other writers, but this gave me goosebumps and I think its important to share the sentiment in Israel in light of all the negative media, human rights accusations, internal strive, etc. It is very rare that I read something that perfectly captures an image, emotion, feeling. Words are so limiting...may we all merit the day that we don't need letters to communicate with each other, just a smile will do. We are obviously on the brink of the universal redepmtion, consciousnesses are expanding. We pray every day, especially now, that the temple will be rebuild, A house of love and prayer for all people in the world...Amen Amen Amen

I am a Jew, by Dan Sporn

Our condition, in Israel, has never been better than it is now! Only The television and the media make people think that the end of the

World is near.. Only 65 years ago, Jews were brought to death like Sheep to slaughter. NO country, NO army. Only 60 years ago,

Seven Arab countries declared war on little Israel, the Jewish State, Just a few hours after it was established.

We were 650,000 Jews against the rest of the Arab world. No IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) or Air Force. We were only a

Small group of stubborn people with nowhere to go.

Remember: Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Libya and Saudi Arabia - they all attacked at once. The state that the

United Nation s "gave" us was 65% desert. We started it from Zero.

Only 41 years ago, we fought three of the strongest countries. In the Middle East, and we crushed them in the Six Day War.

Over the years we fought different coalitions of Arab countries With modern armies and with huge amounts of Russian-Soviet

Ammunition, and we still won.

Today we have a beautiful country, a powerful Army, a strong Air Force, an adequate Navy and a thriving high tech industry.

Intel, Microsoft, and IBM have all developed their businesses. Here. Our doctors have won important prizes in the medical

Development field. We turned the desert into a prosperous land. We sell oranges, flowers, and vegetables around the world.

We launched our own satellite! Three satellites at once! We Are in good company; together with the USA (280 million

Residents), Russia (220 million residents), China (1.3 Billion residents) and Europe ( France , England and Germany

35 million residents), we are one of the only countries in the World that have launched something into space!

Israel today is among the few powerful countries that have Nuclear technology & capabilities. ( We will never admit it ,

But everyone knows.)

To think that only 65 years ago we were disgraced and Hopeless.

We crawled out from the burning crematoriums of Europe . We won in all our wars. With a little bit of nothing we built

An empire. Who are Khaled Mashal (leader of Hamas) or Hassan Nasrallah (leader of Hezbollah) trying to frighten us?

They are amusing us.

As we celebrate Independence Day, let's not forget what this Holy day is all about; we overcame everything.

We overcame the Greeks,

We overcame the Romans,

We overcame the Spanish Inquisition,

We overcame the Russians pogrom,

We overcame Hitler , we overcame Germany and overcame the Holocaust,

We overcame the armies of seven countries.

Relax chevray (friends), we will overcome our current enemies.

Never mind where you look in human history. Think about it, The Jewish nation, our condition has never been better than now.

So let's lift our heads up and remember:

Never mind which country or culture tries to harm us or erase us From the world. We will still exist and persevere. Egypt ? Anyone

Know where the Egyptian empire disappeared to? The Greeks?

Alexander Macedon? The Romans? Is anyone speaking Latin

Today? The Third Reich? Did anyone hear news from them lately?

And look at us, the Bible nation – from slavery in Egypt , we are Still here, still speaking the same language.

Exactly here, exactly now.

Maybe The Arabs don't know it yet, but we are an eternal nation. All the time that we will keep our identity, we will stay eternal.

So, sorry that we are not worrying, complaining, crying, or fearing…

Business here is beseder (fine). It can definitely be much better, But it is still fine. Don't pay attention to the nonsense in the media,

They will not tell you about our festivals here in Israel or about the People that continue living, going out, meeting friends.

Yes, sometimes morale is down, so what? This is only because we Are mourning the dead while they are celebrating spilled blood.

And

This is the reason we will win after all.

Feeling crabby?

According to Jewish tradition, each month is infused with meaning and energy that can be tapped into for healing, growth, and self-evaluation. According to Sefer Yezterah (The Book of Creation… which expounds on the first chapter of the Bible), every month corresponds to a different sense, a controlling limb of the body, a zodiac sign, one of the twelve tribes, and a letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

Ok, now pretend that I write horoscopes and that you are checking yours. This is fun, its like make-believe…except real because I am not making this up.

The month of Tumuz is the fourth month,
Sense: sight
Limb: right hand
Zodiac: crab
Tribe: Reuben
Letter: chet

The theme of this month is our sense of ‘sight’, which makes sense since it’s the summer time, a holiday for the eyes with everything blooming and basking in the summer-time sun. Janis Joplin says it herself in the song appropriately titled ‘Summertime’: she’s a looking good now. Also, the name of the tribe ‘Reuben’ comes from the Hebrew root word ‘to see’. And if you still don’t SEE the correlation, Reuben's tribal stone is the ruby, a deep, luscious red, the most vibrant and visually sensual of the stones.

Accordingly, the month of Tumuz we have the opportunity to focus on and rectify our sense of sight. To fix the sight does not mean changing the scenery or getting a better prescription (although if you need one visit http://www.1010optics.com/). Rather, to fix your ‘sight’ means changing your perception of things, taking another angle. Whether you step 90 degrees to the right, step back, take an aerial shot, or zoom in… we should try to take a situation in our life, perhaps a reoccurring annoyance or a tragedy that we can’t seem to get over, and attempt to see and understand it a little differently.

Sometimes it is hard to SEE the big picture, but that because we are but silly humans limited by the spectrum of colors our eyes can detect and the fact that we don’t have more than two eyes, like flies, or complete peripheral vision.

Interestingly, the crab (the zodiac sign for the month) is symbolic of our tendency to focus on the bad surface of a situation, because the crab has an outer shell. Our challenge is to see past the shell, or remove it, in order to reveal this inner truth, soul, or reality. The shell is only a guise, a mask, a trick.

Thank goodness we have the healing power within ourselves to overcome the shadow of the ‘shell’. Since ‘He prepared the remedy before he brought the disease’ (Megilah 13b), we can use the controlling limb of the month, the right hand (or your left if it’s more dominate) to wage the battle against poor sight. The right hand, notably the pointer finger, directs the eye sight. The right hand is also known as being the hand of kindness, of compassion, the hand of love. So we should try to see everything in a positive light, with understanding.

According to Rabbi Kook, the expression “always place G-d before you” really means TO SEE the godliness in everyone and everything that happens in front of your face, before your eyes. Rabbi Kook furthermore says, if you truly love the creator, you will love all that the creator created… which includes all people and trials that we experience. Also, according to eastern medicine, the emotion of anger affects your eyesight and your liver. Therefore when you are mad, you literally ‘see red’.

Yes it is hard to think positively all the time, but I challenge you to SEE it a little differently, change the way you look at your world, at the events in your life. There is a major difference between LOOKING and SEEING. You look at something and acknowledge it as being there, but ‘seeing’ something is how you internalize it.

A practical guideline for how to properly ‘see’: Since it is good practice to ‘walk in the ways of G-d’ (aka emulate Him), we can look into the Torah and find out how it is that G-d see’s things. The very first time the word “see’ is used in the Bible is in the fourth sentence when G-d is creating the world and it says G-d sees that it is good.

Next time you get annoyed, angry, flustered, depressed, etc, try to soften your eyes a little bit. Have compassion. Be a visionary, see the good, and then declare it…. IT’S ALL GOOD

What's the exchange rate?

1 bucket of cooked grains and food scraps = 1 bucket of goat manure

1 bucket of compost soil = 3 bushels of basil

1 bucket of fruit peels and compost material for chicken feed = 2 fresh laid eggs

2 hours of editing = 1 private yoga class

3 hours of babysitting = acupuncture treatment

In Bat Ayin there is a different currency. Cash-money is pretty meaningless in a town where there are 2 places that accept it…a grocery store and a used clothing shop (gammach). Objects that you never thought had value…like your food scraps or animal droppings… are worth investing in and the expression ‘day trader’ doesn’t have anything to do with markets and projections, rather it means to barter while the sun is out (which is silly because everyone is cranky in the heat of the day, you get better deals in the morning!!!)

I pick grape leaves and stuff them, I sit under fig trees and eat from them, pick apples and sauce them, dry sage and bundle them, clip mint and seep them. It’s so raw. It’s so real. It’s also so hot. Thank goodness I inadvertently conditioned myself for the extreme heat, not knowing the day would come that I’d be spending the summer in the Mediterranean dressed in full garb (knees and elbows covered). I knew there was a reason I practiced Bikram’s yoga, a style done in extreme heat, for the past three years. Everyone keeps asking me how I never break a sweat… thanks David.

More about Bat Ayin…it is a small settlement in a somewhat disputed area known by some as the West Bank and known by others as the Judean Hills. I live very close to our brothers, who remind us about it five times a day. It’s quite romantic to watch the sun set with the melodic call-to-prayer in the foreground (it’s a good thing my parents don’t know much about the geography of Israel). Biblically, this is where the tribe of Yehuda settled when the Jews finally came into the land after wandering in the desert for 40 years. I always wondered why their tribe was known as the ‘stone cutters’, now I know. Most of the stone, especially the pearly white stone used to build Jerusalem is mined here. It is also located right on the oldest most ancient trade route in the civilized world, the crossroads of the fareast, Africa, Europe and India.

The Torah learning is so unique and integrative. The gardening portion of the program just ended, although I wake up at 6:00am every morning to work in the field, the learning is now more focused on healing.

My favorite class learning about Rambam’s writing on health. Rambam (also known as Maimonides) reigned from Spain, Morocco, and Egypt in the 12^th century and is the most influential thinker of the middle ages. Besides being a Torah scholar (he was the first to write a systematic code of all Jewish law), Rambam excelled in the fields of logic, science, medicine, exegesis, and philosophy. He served as physician to the sultan of Egypt, wrote numerous books on medicine, and in his free time served as leader of Cairo’s Jewish Community. He was pretty revolutionary, at a time people were bleeding each other to get rid of headaches, Rambam takes an entirely different approach, insisting that healthcare was holistic and varies from person to person, depending on their body build, personality type, ect. His insights are brilliant, I seriously think Rambam could become the next Atkins diet.

The herbal workshop class is also nice. We go out into the garden and learn about different herbs, the medicinal properties, their sources in the jewish tradition, and how to create balms, sprays, teas, ect out of them.

Oh yes, I apologize for never getting to the promised point of the other blog post about when I am coming home. It’s a bit complicated since:

(a) I truly love Israel

(b) G-d keeps opening more and more doors for me here

(c) it’s against the Torah to leave Israel (gotta love that one) and

(d) I only bought a one-way ticket….

But do not despair quite yet, I am planning to sit at my mother’s Thanksgiving table and to cuddle my two new family members that will be making their début into the world around that time and so I will be back (bli nadir) around November in order to do these things... a see all of you of course.

Peace of Pie

SPIRITUAL HYDRATION (an aquatic exhibition)

Sunlight through the reeds along the coast of the Snir River

Bathing in the Jordan River

hexagon-shaped water hole in the lower golan formed by cooling volcanic lava

mikvah in the valley between Mt Meron and Tzfat

sunset accompanied by jazz at the Caesarea Jazz Festival at the ruins of the ancient port city on the Mediterranean Sea

sunrise over the Sea of Galilee

view of the Dead Sea from the top of Masada, the ancient mountaintop fortress

Hula Valley, a favorite vacation spot for birds migrating along the Syrian-African Rift

BAT AYIN...DEFINATELY NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE

picking daises

building fires for Lag BaOmer

at Bat Ayin, we play with fire

and we play in the orchard

pretty flowers

Sun set in Bat Ayin. The white caravan to the right is where I live.

Figs!!! They are out of control...but if you eat too many, so will you be

Getting a blessing from Oriana Devorah at her beautiful wedding

Dialated Pupils

Shalom, Shavua Tov, Blessing, Howdy. Long time, no post. I hope no one was holding their breath…I hope instead you’ve been involved in deep meditative breathing, basking in the sun, eating melons, and sitting in grassy mounds…or whatever it is you like to do in the summer.

So since we left off…Passover..I believe it was, much has happened. Although I am so tempted to recap, to tell you about my crazy Passover Sedars that involved dancing in the streets of Tzfat for Eliyahu the Prophet and whipping eachother with garlic (apparently it’s a Sephardic custom that is reminiscent of what it is to be enslaved) plus I wanted to tell you all about the bonfires of Lag Ba’Omer, being in the Old City for Jerusalem Day. I wanted to tell you about my dad and Uncle Dave coming to visit me and the miraculous events that took place as we traversed the country, I wanted to tell you so much, but once again, if you’ll oblige me, I am going to fast forward to the present moment, where I find myself on a mountain in the middle of no where while simultaneously being in the middle of everything…Bat Ayin (roughly translated to the pupil of the eye). Stay tuned because I am getting ready to answer that million dollar question…when is Jenna Domber coming back to the United States?

About three weeks ago, I started to come down with something at Mayanot. Although I love the intense learning, the holy women, the central location, the comfortable little role I played at the institution, I started to get an itch..it started in my lower back; the place that no matter how hard you stretch or contort, you simply can’t reach it. Then the itch moved to my shoulder blade, then my arm, and eventually my feet. I was breaking out with something and was self-diagnosed with the summer-time traveling bug and needed a strong dose of random, divinely inspired adventure. So I packed up my backpack, gave a dramatic soliloquy to the women, baked them cookies, and bade Jerusalem goodbye.

…And what a long strange trip it’s been! I covered my body in the best mud from the dead sea, walked on the Galilean waters, dipped in ancient mikvahs along the mountain wadi’s of Meron, bathed in waterfalls along the Jordan River, camped in the reeds of the Sneir, and body surfed the waves of the Mediterranean Sea. It was a bit of a water tour. A celebration of the hydrating, replenishing, life-giving, world-founding, bubbly, sweet, delicious mayim, water, aqua, H2O, whatever you want to call it. So purifying, liquifing, edifying, secret-belying, keep you from dying, and I’m still drying water.....trickling, splashing, gushing

Although I have always wanted to be a mermaid, the time soon came to focus on the other elements…such as the dirt. To ground myself, and to start answering questions, versus holding my breath and seeing how long I could stay under water (which btw is 53 seconds…beat that). And so here I am, quite literally being grounded…I am toiling and working the land in a crazy little communal settlement in the Judean Hills on the edge of the West Bank with a bunch of hippy Breslover Jews doing a three week Torah and Gardening Program.

The learning curriculum is very much my style. Classes include Composting 101, Herbology, Yoga and body movement, Exploring the Biblical Commandment “thou shall not waste”, and Seeing G-d in Nature. We eat organic food, make bonfires, drum in circles, live in caravans, shower infrequently, and wear clothes that don’t match. It’s great. It feels very much like home. My room mate is Nepalese and thinks my name is Gandhi… I don’t think I’ll correct her.

Plus Bat Ayin is a trip unto itself. It’s pretty much a modern day tribal society focused on organic and spiritual living. Everyone has chickens in their backyard, donkeys roam the streets, communal clay ovens bake the Shabbos bread, everyone works together, smacks each others kids, people live simply and in trailers (the Israeli government won’t let them build) but everyone is happy. The kids sit in the middle of the dirt road and play instruments, it’s a very sweet, uncorrupted environment, anthropologists and social scientists should come take notes. And best of all, every single night is the most mind-blowing color spilling genius sunset you could ever witness.

I will be here, Please G-d, for 3 weeks and then I head to the next stop on my summer tour, a religious kibbutz that does organic farming, with a goat dairy and bee cultivation …I’ll let you know how that one goes.

I’ll start writing more now that I am semi-settling in. Thanks for your support and sticking out my journey with me. It’s so fun. Life is glorious, G-d loves us so much and just wants to shower us with blessings…are your hands open to receive it?

I'll try to post pictures soon too.

49 Days to Sinai

Alright, that was the easy part...we left Egypt. Now for the trek through the desert to Mount Sinai where the Torah was given. This is where the going gets a little tough, you've thrown out all your chumatz, cleansed yourself thoroughly and now you are an empty vessel, just waiting to be filled with light and holiness.

The 49-day journey to Mount Sinai is reenacted every year in a ritual called Counting the Weeks...Siferot HaOmer. Every night starting the tomorrow (April 9) you take the 7 emotional attributes found on the Kabbalistic tree of life and evaluate them according to yourself...starting with the attribute of kindness. This link is awesome, it walks you through each day with a brief meditation and some thinks to contemplate..it takes fives minutes..
http://www.meaningfullife.com/torah/holidays/8b/Your_Guide_to_Personal_Freedom_-_Week_1.php

Last year I did this for the first time and it was a tremendously powerful experience. Check it out.
Wish I could type more, but I gotta run, G-d said Go Forth to the Holy Land, see you there.
Muah

Nisan VIII: Largest Birthday Under the Sun!

Tomorrow morning I will kiss Jerusalem goodbye, making a pit stop at the market to buy a tambourine. I want to be prepared to usher in the Messianic Era with music and dance, just as the women did when they crossed the Red Sea. You may think I’ve lost it, gone of the deep end a little…but I assure you, it’s perfectly normal here. I’m just showing symptoms of the easily-contracted disease called “Jerusalem Syndrome”. Jerusalem Syndrome is living in constant anticipation that the Moshiach is coming any second…in the more advanced stages of the sickness, one actually begins to think they are the Moshiach. Don’t worry, I am taking Echinacea.

Anyways, I am off to Sefat, the mystical, airy city known for being the center of Kabbala, for the next couple of weeks. I met a magical woman 3 months ago at a Shabbos table who was coordinating a week-long festival to commemorate the Birthday of the Sun, Passover, and the ensuing Chol HaMoed. We hit it off and I became her little sidekick. Now I am going to work the festival and chill quite hard in my favorite place in Israel. It’ll be a really good scene. the festival is promoting renewal, solar energy, music, dance, lectures, musical Temple services, etc.

The Sun Blessing (BirKat HaChama) and how you can do it from home...
Once every 28 years, the Sun completes its cycle and returns to the position it occupied when it was placed in its firmament on the fourth day of creation. This is a rare event, but even more tripped out is this year the Birthday is the morning before Passover (14th Nisan). It's recorded that during the Exodus from Egypt and during the Story of Purim, the Sun’s Birthday was on the 14th of Nisan too…hence all the buzz that something crazy is about to go down.

Nevertheless, it's an auspicious time to plant seeds for a better future, to thank our Creator, who provided us with this vital and crucial source.

"Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, who re-enacts the works of creation.”

Here’s a little clip made for the event…check out my shout out to the sun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=risjAsoMft4

If you plan to make your own ceremony, please let me know and we'll link it onto our world-wide network. For more information about the festival and how to make your own event check out the website http://www.sunblessing.org/ or join our facebook group http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=105281455174

Nisan VII: Will you leave already!!!

The good old Haggada, a timeless tale, a storybook like no other. It comes with pictures, commentaries, subtitles, translated into every language both spoken and extinct. The Haggada recounts the Leaving of Egypt, but more than that, the Haggada opens the floor to a myriad of strange yet deeply symbolic rituals which have become deeply engrained into the family psyche passed down from one generation to another. Passover is a full-body stimulating event, replete with sounds, visuals, synchronized dances, and tastes.

Inevitably questions ensue......
“Dad, on all other nights you tell me I am under-age, but tonight you keep refilling my glass”
“Mom, on all other nights you tell me to eat my food over the table, why tonight are you insisting that I eat on the couch, on my pillow”
“Guys, on all other nights we double bolt the doors shut and put on the alarm, why tonight are you leaving it wide open?”
..and it keeps going…why the matza, why the hard boiled egg, why marror, the apple-cement-like substance, why are we reading this story, why are you talking about sons when you have 3 daughters? Why are you insisting that I play with my food? why why……………

Not only are the rituals bizarre and questionable, but a closer inspection of the Haggada itself raises a ton of questions.

The first sentence in the Haggada tells us how to commence the Passover meal:
The head of the table raises the matza and says: “This is the bread of affliction that our fathers ate in the land of Egypt. Whoever is hungry, let him come in and eat; whoever is in need, let him come and conduct the Seder of Passover. This year we are slaves; but next year we will be a free people”

Immediate questions that come to mind:.
Didn’t they eat the matza on the way out of Egpy, not in it?
Why are we inviting people to the meal when we are already in our homes sitting at the table? Isn’t it too late, why the empty gesture, who are we even talking to?
Why are we calling ourselves slaves still? I thought we left Egypt and were free? Why are we saying that next year we will be a free people? (all very good questions and demonstrate why it isn’t uncommon for a sedar to last until the sun comes up).

The Lebuvitcher Rebbe explains the first paragraph of the Haggada in a most beautiful way while simultaneously answering all the questions put forth. He says that the first paragraph of the Haggada is meant to be a disclaimer. “Don’t come and sit at the table with a misunderstanding about what’s going on here, with a skewed perception of reality”. Even though we ate the matza while physically leaving Egypt, we still carry a slaveship mentality. We are still subjugated to our personal boundaries and corrupt governments, the universal consciousness is still restricted. Look, there are still starving people in the world, in need, even though the story tells us that ‘we went out with wealth’. We have yet to bring the final redemption; therefore we are all still slaves.

This is a mighty fine point the Rebbe makes. It would be outright audacious to say that we are freemen today! Therefore when we sit down at the table, the first thing we do is proclaim that we are still slaves. Reading the Hagadda is not about recounting historical events, it is about actively being in the process of breaking free because look around my friends, we aren’t there quite yet.

I met this guy the other day and after introducing ourselves he looked me dead in the eyes and asked me a good question, "what are you doing right now to bring Moshiach?"...and I'd like to turn the question to you? What are YOU doing to bring the final redemption, eh?

Nisan VI: The Holy Tongue

In order to fulfill the mitzvah of ‘Passover’ we have to tell the story of leaving Egypt. Retelling the story is not intended to be a quick recap, a get-to-the-point, down the 4 glasses of wine so we can get to the feast story…oh no no NO…we are meant to analyze, debate, elaborate, discuss, recount, question and understand leaving Egypt in order that you internalize the timeless message of fighting for freedom and then becoming a free man.

Kabbala often refers to the Exile in Egypt as the ‘Exile of Speech’, Gulas HaDebor. I never realized what an extreme emphasize Jewish thought placed on the power of speech; speech the most outward expression of our most internal selves. In the very beginning when G-d decided to create the world, he used speech, ten utterances … with this in mind we should be aware of what we create when we speak, that everything we say should be meaningful and productive because with speech we build forts, we package, describe, share, and connect with others through speech, we build relationships with speech. We make ourselves and beliefs tangible through speech.

Each letter is extraordinarily powerful too. Someone told me once: With 2 stones (letters) you can build 2 houses (words) and with 3 stones you can build 6 houses, and eventually you can build cities. Our words should be holy, that way we can build holy cities.

To connect this back to the idea of Passover and our enslavement by the Pharaoh in Egypt: the word pharaoh can be divided into two Hebrew words: ‘peh rah’ meaning bad mouth or nonsense speech. And what did our enslavement in Egypt entail? It revolved around building pointless structures, storehouses that nothing would ever be stored in, out of man-made mortar bricks, achieving nothing at all. What a tragic thing…speaking empty words!! Babbling on and on and not achieving anything, just talking to talk. What type of talk fits into this category? Talking about bad, dirty, sad, gossipy things, talking about others, complaining, talking negativity, making promises you don’t intend to keep, lying, being sharp, being mean…these build jagged ugly prison. On the flip side, on the other extreme, being a slave also implies that your mouth is gagged and taped shut. That one is deprived and censored from their self expression.

So what is the remedy for such an Exile? Homeopathic medicine would recommend that you should treat like with like. Speech is the answer! That is why telling of the story of the exile is the essential mitzvot in the celebration of the Passover. Speak freedom into existence.

While speaking about positive speech, let us be more mindful about what we put into the world from our mouths (the soul’s outlet). Let’s not build meaningless storage rooms. Speak with intention! And speak into existence all your desires and dreams. Speak positive beautiful things, speak fragrant flowers, give blessings and well wishes to everyone you encounter, praise them, speak of love, peace, abundance, success, and revealed goodness.

Nisan V: The Little Seed That Could

...of seeds and personal growth (I believe it's told in the name of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach).

A seed’s soliloquy

hey wait a minute, what are you doing to me?

Why are you putting me in this hole and covering me with dirt?

It's dark down here, I can't see anything.

I am surrounded by all sides by this brown gritty stuff

Oh my gosh, what's happening, I am falling apart.

My shell is disintegrating, I am unspiraling

Help me, please, somebody, get me out of here

…and then just when its get's unbearable and you think it's the end of the road.....

The seed sprouts and bursts above ground...and from my observations, the growth is always upwards.

I will exalt you Hashem, for you have drawn me up (Psalm 30)

Don't be scared when the times get hard, it's just the growing pains. Sometimes it's a dark, scary, lonely place. Embrace it as a time of personal growth and coming into your beautiful selves. Leaving Egypt was not easy. Don’t be disillusioned into thinking it was. Slavery is nice and comfortable, but if we stay in the safe zone all the time, we deprive ourselves the opportunity to grow into a tree.

This parable was told be Leah Golomb in her Nisan Rosh Chodesh lecture. This woman absolutely rocks my world. I try to attend her classes whenever possible. Not only is she brilliant and a Torah scholar like-whoah, but she is real and connected above and below. This is her link if you are interested in listening to any of her classes http://www.leahgolomb.com/index.php#)