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#)

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.