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#)

Passover IV: Bless for Renewal

The month of Nisan marks the beginning of the season for fruit, and not only are we going to be chowing down on some fresh, succulent, yummy tree candy, Please G-d, soon. But starting today we can recite a special prayer said once a year to commemorate the ongoing renewal of creation called Birkas ha-Ilanos.

The blessing falls under the category of ‘seeing wondrous things’ which is appropriate because what is more astounding than witnessing the renewal of nature? Trees, the ultimate example of recreation, appear to die every year and then, come spring, they burst forth with life. So if you want to make this special blessing, find a fruit-bearing tree that is starting to bud and say:

"Blessed are You Hashem, our G-d, King of the universe, who did not allow anything to lack in His world and [who] created within it good creatures and good trees to give pleasure to mankind through them."

Fruit meditation:

Hold a fruit in your hand, think about the tree it grew on, the roots in the ground, how many years it took to start fruiting, every drop of rain that fell on and was absorbed by the leaves and drunk up by the soil, think about the person who plucked it, the process it went through to end up in your super market, how you picked that one orange from the barrel. Look at the fruits shape, symmetrical, consistent, its texture perfectly conducive for its juices, its flavor holy and unique, its nutrients essential and pure, it goes into your system and nourishes you, enables you to live and grow. How marvelous is this world where G-d placed everything. Nothing is without significance. Everything has a use and purpose. Amen vAmen

Mazel Tov to Oriana Devorah and her lucky fiance. May their fruits be so sweet.

Passover III: The path out of Egypt

I just had an amazing class with my favorite teacher, Rabbi Braun and he shared some beautiful insights on how one can understand and leave their Egypt:

*Note, this discussion of leaving Egypt is not about leaving a geographical place nor does it require any physical movement. An exodus takes place within you. Also, as discussed in the first Nisan Blog Entry, the land of Egypt alludes to the word ‘confinement’ or something that is ‘narrow’ like a strait jacket. Celebrating Passover is about identifying and breaking through whatever it is that constricts us.

There is a big ‘machloket” (question) about what time we actual left Egypt, was it in the middle of the night or was it the next day? The Torah is very ambiguous on the matter, and in different places it says that we left Egypt by night and in other places it says that we left Egypt by day. Is that a mistake? For sure not, it just needs some light shed.

Maimonides, one the greatest Torah scholars of all times, clarifies the contradiction by explaining that the process of leaving Egypt began in the middle of the night when the Pharaoh woke up to find his firstborn child dead and declared that the Jews are free to go. However the completion of the redemption wasn’t until the next day at which point we actually left the land.

From this explanation, we can learn that there are 2 essential stages one must go through to have an Exodus.

How to Leave your Egypt In Style Step 1: Build a Bridge

Look in the mirror and note what the most narrow part of your body is. It’s your neck. And what does your neck separate? Your brain and from your heart. Interestingly, Rashi explains that the word ‘pharaoh’ translates to ‘nape of neck’ in Hebrew, so the King of Egypt is sometimes referred to as the ruler of the neck. I don’t know if this applies to you, but some of us (myself included) are very much caught up by experiences in this world, enslaved by our physical wants and needs, the day to day challenges of work, relationships, the changing in the weather…whatever it is for you, the ups and downs effect us emotionally. They drain us, confine us, and render us powerless at times. While emotions dwell in the territory of our hearts, above the neck we have our brains. Since, it's the highest part of our body, truth has an easier time shining into our brain. It is in our minds that we meditate and have revelations and come to moments of understanding, clarity, and truth.

But, man-o-man, is it difficult to connect the two. It's so easy to intellectually understand the truth of a situation, but it doesn’t necessarily translate into action. For example, I know I shouldn’t eat that pint of Ben and Jerry's at 4:00am just because I don’t want it to take up room in the freezer, but that doesn’t necessarily stop me from doing it. Reason doesn’t always penetrate through the neck. And for myself, I have an exceptionally thick neck.

The first step of leaving Egypt is the recognition that we are free. The pharaoh said so himself. We can now connect the head and all its G-dly understanding to the rest of our being with a bridge. We are not prisoners to our emotional entrapments. The construction of the bridge is the beginning, the Leaving Egpyt by Night part.

BUT BUT, actually leaving, is the hard part. Rabbi Nachman brings down that the greatest distance a person can measure is between their head and heart....and so

How to Leave your Egypt In Style Step 2: Cross the Bridge

It was not until the day that the exodus was complete, when they actually walked out of the land. And so after we build a bridge, we can funnel in the tranquility of truth and understanding that enables us to break the yoke of our physical restrictions. Ultimately, we can reach a state-of-mind and being where life is no longer a challenge. Liberation from yourself. For example, some millionaires are enslaved by their money while a person in a concentration camp can be mentally free. This is because the truest leaving of Egpyt takes place internally.

Both parts, the night and the day are essential to the process. And so we understand that the Torah didn’t make a mistake, rather it was simply expounding upon the art of self-growth.

There is a commandment in Torah to “remember leaving Egypt” and the oral law elaborates, explaining that it really means “In every generation a man must regard himself as if he himself had gone out of Egypt. Therefore every year, every day, every moment we are commanded to be in the process of leaving Egypt. To be engaged in the constant struggle to be free from our constraints. And on Passover we get strength for the whole year to stay on the front line of this battle. We already are free, we just need to cross the bridge.

Passover Part II: Get Down

On Passover we eat matza…that dry, tasteless bread-wanna-be-but-couldn’t-ever-be food. It has all the same ingredients as bread but the yeast is left out and whalla…you get matza, a profoundly moving (while preventing other types of moving) and spiritual food…but what does that really mean and how does it help us get out of our personal boundaries (our “Egypts”)? The answer is that matza represents humility.

Bread is a seriously deep food and an integral part of every festive meal. Think about it…the process of taking a stalk of wheat and making it into bread is sheer ingenuity on the part of mankind. It’s incredible; it demonstrates the proficiency of the human mind, the adeptness of our hands, and the drive of our will. Bread is so important, we even wash our hands and make a blessing on our hands before eating it… perhaps it is because part of the celebration of bread is the celebration of what man is capable of creating with his mind and hands.

But on the flip side, there is a danger of being too aware man’s incredible gifts and capabilities. Sometimes we fall into the trap of putting all our faith into ourselves and other people, versus the main driver of it all. Sometimes, our own plans, dreams, ambitions become too big that we start to miss the point….the fact that G-d is the one who provided us with all those ingredients for the bread in the first place. When our breads get too inflated, when our egos and sense of self grows so large that it starts to bog us down, it becomes impossible to move from where we are.

And so on Passover, we throw away all our yeast (chumatz) and replace it with the flat matza of humility. It’s alarming how serious people get about removing their chumatz. Currently everyone around me has gone off the deep end searching for chumatz, cleaning the pockets to all their clothes, shaking out every book on the shelf, every crumb, every grain, every speck of chumatz must be disposed of, buried, sold, completely out of your possession by the 14th of Nisan.

From this we learn what we are supposed to do with our own chumatz, with our yeast, our enlarged self awareness, or excessiveness…we need to search for it in the deepest recesses of our hearts and burn it! Make a raging bonfire and wildly dance around it!

Once you remove the yeast, you have room to add that special ingredient, the awareness that Jah is really in control of it all and... then bread turns into matza. When G-d is in the equation, you can’t help but have humility. Because it is something so much greater than us.

I’ve heard many explanations about why the matza didn’t rise when the Jews left Egypt…some say it was because we left so fast the bread didn’t have time to rise, some say it’s because we left the men in charge of making the bread while the women packed, but think about it…what can possible rise in the presence of G-d? If the Revelation of G-d was shining in your face, you’d be flat like a piece of matza too.

With that said, eliminate that unnecessary space you are occupying and create some new space for new possibilities. Break out of our self-imposed boundaries and limitations and make room for the divine light, let it guide you by the hand and guide you out of slavery and into a land of freedom.

One more note about eating Matza….people don’t eat it with salt. Because our faith should not be contingent on logic, rhyme, or reason (the word reason in Hebrew is the same as the word flavor). We should have faith without the incentive of it tasting good.

Exodus....movement of the the people

Bob Marley's powerful message reverberated through my soul last night, infiltrating my thoughts, speech, and sidestep. Unconsciously, the door opens and the feeling creeps in…be quiet a second, close your eyes, let yourself experience it. Feel it in your bones, like an arthritic women when it rains, let it leak into your cartilage, allow your muscles to tingle with it, the gush of liberation through your blood stream, let it breath you…..it’s here, the time of Exodus. It’s time for Passover.

Tomorrow is the first day of the month of Nisan, an appropriate time to take all the powerful, yet chaotic, energies from the month of Adar and funnel it into something productive. In order to get in the proper head space, in order to tap into the vibes drafting around (take a big hit and hold it in as long as you can), I plan to write a little something something every day until Passover (Nisan 15/April 8). The goal is that we leave our own personal exiles (whatever it may be). So pack your bags, tie a lamb to your bed post, and get ready, we’re leaving Egypt..and guess what…the sea is going to split for us too.

What is the month of Nisan all about and what is the idea of Exodus?

Special energies are vested into the pockets and crevices of time and space, in fact, Kabbala says that time is not linear...it is more of a spiral...that when G-d created the world, He loaded up each month with certain powers…and accordingly, the month of Nisan is the time of rebirth and liberation. The fact the springtime is now is a testimony of Nisan’s loaded potential.

What a cool opportunity, we have this space and are given an extra boost from above to create anew. As my Rabbi Says: Just take your dose of that vitamin Emuna (faith). It's best, in my opinion, to be purposeful and focus on what exactly our imprisonments are...in order that we break the yoke, throw in a frying pan, and make it all sunny side up. Put it all out on the table…which is what we do on the night of Passover when everyone gathers together for a seder to relive the story of Leaving Egypt. BUT let’s actually relive it this time. So be real and answer this: what is your personal Egypt? The word ‘Egypt’ in Hebrew is “Mitzrayim” which also hints to the word ‘boundaries’. What are your boundaries? What limitations and walls are looming before you? Let's tear them down...first our own walls, then we'll join hands and help our neighbors tear down their walls, then we'll take on the larger walls together...and then we'll all find ourselves in a place of freedom...in a different land not of restrictions, but of unbounded possibilities.

I really need to give it up to Rabbi Bob Marley, who challenges us all by asking: Are you satisfied with life your living? What ever it is that needs tweaking, seize the moment. The next few blog entries will be some nice Passover/Nisan inspired anecdotes learned from the incredibly inspiring people surrounding me. (I highly encourage others to add comments, words of wisdom, and offer up some ball-n-chain breaking tactics)

Happy Rosh Chodesh Nisan (Head of the Month). May you have the strength to initiate your freedom and the faith that if you take the leap, G-d will carry you the rest of the way.

Tal Azeka

This is the valley where David defeated Goliath

Purim Madness

It’s been a week and I am still in the recovery room, still coming down from the crazy trip appropriately named PURIM, coming back from a place beyond the beyond; a place where crazy, unimaginable, miraculous things happen. A place you can only come to when you travel out and above of this world, out of all the heavens, all the intellectually understandable, beyond the gradients of human emotion, beyond what’s right, wrong, left, up, down, straight, moral, sinful, delicious, monstrous, hateful, lovable, desirable, meaningful, spiritual, accessible, peaceful, and finite. It is only once we look past what is within our realm of human consciousness …only when we grab hands with all of the above and spin round and round in circles until it becomes a giant incomprehensable blur, all the colors smear together and everything becomes ONE…and suddenly the buzzing stops, all the rules of nature no longer apply, and a thin still breeze known to some as revelation and to others as nirvana …. this is the Purim state-of-mind and ANYTHING can happen.

Its quite bizarre to walk into a synagogue and everyone is in costume, screaming, drumming, yodeling, howling and dancing until they collapse.

First before I tell you about Purim in Israel…which is perhaps the most intense experience ever experienced. I want to tell you, briefly, the story of Purim Version 2009. Purim is a timeless tale for every generation. Its backdrop is strikingly familiar…living in times of darkness, exile, over-consumption, meaninglessness and pursuit of pure physicality. Purim is a story of bravery and defeating oppressors against all odds, replete with great action scenes, corrupt bureaucracy, power hungry government officials, political agitation, heart breaks, assassinations, and grassroots revolution. The critics would say Five Stars *****, the political philosophers would call it a case study, and of course, the Jews use it as a time of year to rejoice because the biggest joy a person can have is the simple yet profound knowledge that at the end of the day, it’s all in G-d’s hands


Spark Notes verision of Megilla Ester:
The cast:
Achoshverosh: chauvinistic, free-loading king who married into the kingship
Mordechi: the valiant hero who saves the day
Queen Ester: demonstrates that all miracles are initiated by women ;)
Hamen: the egomaniac villain who doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut

SCENE 1: There was a King named Achoshverosh in Persia and he ruled the all the lands, from Cush to Median. He had a party that lasted for over 130 days (talk about endurance) and in a moment of drunken audaciousness, demanded that his Queen, Vashti, appear nude for his friends so he could show her off. She refused; he beheaded her, and then held a beauty pageant in order to find a new queen. Like the Urban Outfitter shirts says, “Everyone Loves a Jewish Girl” King Achoshverosh fell in the love with the poor orphan Jew, Ester. She moved into the Palace and didn’t reveal her identity as her uncle Mordechi instructed her.

SCENE TWO: Evil advisor to the king, Hamen, slowly makes his way up the ranks and gets irked when everyone bows to him except Mordechi the Jew. Hamen, to show Mordechi who the real Cheney is, makes a decree to kill all jews and picks the date for the public execution by means of a lottery. The date picked was the month of Adar. Mordechi tells Ester she is responsible for saving the Jews, she must reveal her identity to the King and kindly request that he declare the decree ‘unconstitutional’ since it goes against First Amendment right which guarantees freedom of religion. Ester says, “Fast and pray for me for 3 days because the king has a set a precedent of opposing feminism and isn’t pro-life. Meanwhile….dum dum dum… the King awakens from his sleep one night, perhaps he was having stomach problems, so he called his scribes to read him a bedtime story from the kingdom chronicles. They read him the story about how a man named Mordechi saved his life by overhearing a plot to assassinate the king in a foreign language (Mordechi spoke 70 languages), and the king wanted to honor Mordechi,

Anyhows…I am getting into too many details for the abbreviated version, the kitzer is…a bunch of seemingly unrelated events all end up being connected, Hamen is hung on the gallows he built for the Jews, and as most holidays go: they tried to kill us, we won, now make a party and eat.

But what is so striking about this holiday is that from a distance everything occurs in the normal course of events. Even more, the story doesn’t mention G-d’s name once. A person could easily read Megilla Ester and not see anything extraordinary happening. But that is the point, my friends. That is what Purim is all about…G-d is there all the time. He doesn’t have to make huge miracles for us, like splitting seas and bringing plagues onto the people who are mean to us. Since G-d created this world and the laws of nature that govern it, doesn’t it make the most sense that he operate through this system? Taking that into consideration, one would realize that everything is a miracle from G-d. This is a big underlying philosophical concept in Judaism…that G-d is in everything, but this revelation is concealed. It is up to us to tune in, to open our eyes and recognize this.

Although in the end, everything turned out for the best, it is worth talking about Hamen (the bad guy) and the fact the holiday is called Purim (the Persian word for lottery). Shall we take a moment and do some psychoanalysis on Hamen, perhaps the most diabolical, brilliant schemer of all times! Hamen was no heretic, he acknowledged there was such a thing as G-d, and therefore when Hamen decided to murder all the Jews in Persia, he knew he would only be successful if he employed G-d as his partner. And so Hamen cast the infamous lottery, he flipped a coin, he left it up to fate. Hamen decisively went straight to the source, to the publisher of the Book of Life itself, by creating a situation where G-d’s hand would be the driver in the decree. What is a lottery? It’s making a situation where all is equal. Hamen wished to access this realm, a place beyond this world, beyond intellectual logic and reasoning.

But when Hamen reached into the hat and pulled out ADAR as the month for the annihilation of the Jewish nation he didn't realize that he choose the luckiest month of all. Adar, the month of revealed goodness, increased happiness, represented by Pisces the fish, the very symbol of good fortune. Adar, a time set aside when we are untouchable and inevitably his evil plan did not exactly work out. It is said that during Purim, the Gates of Heaven and Hell are wide open…so speak all your desires (you still have another week left of Adar).

And that leaves us with the modern day celebration of Purim, whose main mitzvot of the day is to “drink until you don’t know the difference between Blessed be Mordechi and Cursed be Hamen”(…And you thought Arduous Huxely was the first to normalize and publicize substance-intake in order reach new states of consciousness..didn’t you?).

Therefore, on Purim, we drink until we are completely inebriated and don’t know the difference between good and bad, the hero and the villain, right and wrong, sin and mitzvot, because at the end of the day G-d weaved the entire story, He was behind Hamen and propelling Mordechi. And as long as we are stuck in the names and the limitations of what is comprehensible to the human mind, we can’t achieve the level of revelation required on Purim. The solution, according to the Gemera, is to drink drink drink and dance dance dance. Until the joy and happiness is so intense that our brain shatters and we reach a pure state of ecstatic G-dliness and essence oozing all over the place, it is once we reach this spiritual peak that everything suddenly makes sense.

Purim!!! What a spectacular, fantastical concept. All the forces are aligned for there to be magic in the air, the moon is full and red, the weather warm,the wild flowers are blooming, the month of Adar is in full affect. Celebrating in Israel also has an added dimension because Purim is celebrated a day later in walled cities (such as Jerusalem) and so if one is strategic, you can get two complete Purims. The streets are blocked off, thousands of people pulsating to the beat of house music and drum circles, dancing, singing, fires, jugglers, techno music, raving madness...Looking around it’s hard to imagine that it’s a holiday rooted in Holiness, in fact it appears almost demonic...but once we let go of everything it doesn't really matter anymore, its all the same thing. Just let go of yourself, of your ego, of your identity and just be Purim.

waiting at at bus stop with all the right Purim ingredients, wine and mashalach manos

Purim sunset, you can tell that something is about to go down.

Sally and me at Mod'im Moshav. Lions and genies and forest raves OH MY!

They say that your costume on Purim has a lot of power, that it draws down energy for the year and reveals your true essence........rrooooooarrrrrrrr

These pictures are my attempt to capture the essence of Purim, but really the only way to know is to go to that place yourself. Adar Samaech!