Jewish Revolution

This Tuesday night begins the special holiday of Shavuot, when Jewish people the world over will commemorate the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai more than 3,300 years ago. An interesting question is raised in the Talmud: "Which is greater — Study or Action?” Rabbi Akiva said, and the sages agreed: “Study, if it leads to Action.” (Kiddushin 40b) But is this really the case? Religious, spiritual life - the world over - is usually connected with study, prayer, and personal development. Where does Judaism's consummate focus on action & changing the world come from?

'Now G-d appeared to [Abraham]. And [Abraham] lifted his eyes and saw, and behold, three men were standing near him...And he said, "My L-rd..please do not leave.." And Abraham hastened..to the cattle, and he took a calf, tender and good...' (Genesis 18:1-8) At first glance, this seems to be just another example of the great love that the 1st Jew, Abraham our forefather, had for every person. But if we think about it for a second, this story is crazy! Here we have the holiest, most spiritual person on the planet, and G-d has chosen to reward him by visiting him and communicating. Instead of reveling in this unbelievable experience, Abraham sees 3 travelers and sends G-d an away message, and runs after them to invite them for lunch! But that's what Abraham, and the Torah, is teaching us: All of our spiritual efforts, our learning of Torah & prayer, should sensitize & instruct us how to help others in need.

Every Jew's spiritual DNA -your soul - contains a spark of Abraham's soul. And Abraham personified the Jewish spirit of desiring to revolutionize, to change the world. It's not an accident that even though we make up 0.2% of the world's population, Jews have won 21% of Nobel prizes (32% in the 21st century); or that the creators of Google, Facebook, cell phones & voicemail, as well as Einstein, Freud, Marx and Frankl, are Jewish. The Jewish spirit mirrors Abraham, yearning to revolutionize the world and make an impact.

On Shavuot night, we try to stay up later (some of us all night!), learning various topics of Jewish wisdom, all culled from the most trans formative book in history: The Torah. Of primary importance is the hearing of the reading of the 10 commandments on Wednesday morning, the 10 calls to action. The Jewish soul may desire to affect the world, but how can one channel that spirit and energy in the proper direction? Through the wisdom, directives, and lessons of the Torah. Wishing you a very happy and healthy receiving of the Torah on this Shavuot!

7 Spiritual Energies

Between 2 of the 3 major Jewish festivals of the year - Passover & Shavuot - there are 49 days. This is not by coincidence, as the Jewish people left Egypt (on the 1st day of Passover) & traveled in the Egyptian desert for 7 weeks until they received the Torah on Mt. Sinai (on the day of Shavuot). There is a mitzvah to count each of these days, as we re-live the anticipation and character improvement our ancestors went through before receiving the divine Torah. But the number 49 is not by accident. Jewish mysticism teaches us that every soul is made up of 3 intellectual faculties & 7 emotional faculties, called "sefirot". The 7 emotional aspects of the soul are Kindness, strength, harmony, endurance, humility, bonding, and sovereignty. Furthermore, each emotion is made up of the other 6. So it's not simply that you have the ability to be kind or strong/severe, but rather that you have the ability to sometimes express true kindness to someone by being stern with them, a simple example being to scold a child who runs in the middle of the street, so as to teach them safe behavior. So that's how we get to 49: Each day during these 49 days, we count one of the emotional aspects we need to work on improving, each one made up of 7, totaling 49.

The fact that our souls are even made up of intellectual & emotional faculties in the 1st place, is because "G-d Created man in His image.." (Genesis 1:27). We have this spiritual DNA because G-d, on some level, includes these abilities within His Being. Towards the end of the earth's creation, the Torah says a verse that we recite over wine every Friday night: "Sheses yamim asah ado-nai et hashamayim v'et ha'aretz" - "6 days G-d made the heavens and the earth." Now the proper wording, seemingly, would have been to have said: "B'sheses - IN 6 days G-d Created..." That in that amount of time G-d Created the world. However, Kabbalah teaches that this wording is exact: "6 days G-d Created" means that the spiritual energy behind each day itself created the day. The 6 emotional attributes of G-d created & infused each day with its particular energy. It's not by chance that Tuesday - when the dry earth was separated from the waters - was the 3rd day of creation (represented by the 3rd attribute of Tiferet - harmony between 2 forces). Each of the 7 days, since the beginning of time, is infused with that particular, unique spiritual energy.

But what about the 7th day, the day of Shabbat where G-d Ceased creating? That day would correspond to the 7th emotional attribute known as Malchut - sovereignty. On a spiritual level, the 7th day of creation, Shabbat, seems completely untenable; impossible. As we have seen, G-d was actually emotionally invested in creation, infusing energy into each day to give it life in a particular way. But unlike a carpenter or weaver who takes materials and forms them into finished products and then can walk away from the objects intact, G-d was Creating the very material itself! The universe needs G-d's continual investment. So how can we survive on a day when (Kabbalah teaches us that) G-d Pulls Himself & His emotional faculties inward, to a higher level? The answer is a powerful one that we can meditate on every Shabbat to appreciate the day that much more. G-d doesn't remove His spiritual energy & emotional faculties from the universe, but rather elevates the universe together with Him inwardly. We, and all of the world around us, from the food we eat to the sky we see, is all uplifted to the level of G-d's intellect - above the emotions - a higher level than the weekday energies.

May we appreciate the power of these 24 hours from Friday night to Sat. night, when every song we sing and thing we touch and sense, can be appreciated on a completely higher dimension.

Shabbat Shalom!

*To learn more about the 10 Sefirot, see here

The Wedding & The Wine

With the recent beautiful weddings of my good friends Matan Darey & Megan Marcus, I am reminded of a long bus ride I had years ago, from Northern Israel to Jerusalem. I happened to be sitting next to a man with a guitar, named Shalev. Soon we were chatting away, and I was fascinated by his life story.

Growing up as a Christian in New York, Shalev always was attracted to Judaism. He really enjoyed the synagogue he visited for his friend's bar mitzvah. He even started learning Hebrew. One day, he was speaking to his priest at church. "Why don't you ever get married?" he asked. He didn't receive an answer. Intrigued, but with no encouragement, he slowly dropped his Jewish learning. As life went on, he forgot all about His Jewish phase. One day in college, he happened to meet a Rabbi. Discussion led to question after question, renewing Shalev's interest in Judaism. But one question really hit him hard. "Do you Rabbis ever get married?" he asked. "Sure, why not?" Answered the Rabbi. "Perhaps it's considered sinful?"

The Rabbi looked at him and said: 'Marriage, in Hebrew, is called Kiddushin - sanctification. Being engaged with the physical world, the Rabbi explained, is the entire purpose of creation. By elevating this material world in the proper way, by using it out for the good, its purpose for existing is realized. On nearly every holy day in Judaism, we sanctify the day over a cup of wine. In Hebrew, this is also called Kiddush. We reveal the spiritual within the physical, and we sanctify the spiritual with the physical together. The 2 unite, fused into 1.' Awed at the contrast between the 2 perspectives, Shalev slowly progressed in his Jewish learning and observance until eventually converting...

Now this isn't an attempt to disrespect other religions. Much beauty is to be found in all religions (well, since most came from ours, they must have some!) Rather, I was inspired from Shalev's highlighting of the unique beauty in the Jewish perspective. The material world isn't to be shunned - but rather elevated. Not only that, but through engaging & elevating the physical - we can achieve a higher level of spiritual goodness than even the most supernal of angels. But we must engage the world in order to elevate it, not to be lowered by it. Every day is a challenge to highlight the good, the holy, in everything we see and come in contact with. As hard as it is, that is our mission as Jews. The Ba'al Shem Tov even taught that a person's desire for the physical, is in essence his soul's desire to extricate the spiritual sparks found in that physical thing.

May this fusion of physical & spiritual lead us to the world's ultimate fusion with Godliness, with the coming of Mashiach. We are taught that during the Messianic era, nothing will really change; only that the spiritual, G-dly core of every physical thing will be revealed as the underlying reality of the world which it truly is.

Shabbat Shalom!