We have resumed our chaburah- BH.

Avoda number 1/13

Thank you Reitza Sarah for the gorgeous reminder card.

Our chaburah is learning the second half of  'Getting to Know Your Soul'-the 13 forces of the soul.  13 is the gematria of word of echad, ahava, and found in the 13 midos harachamim.

In other words, it's all Hashem and it's all from a space of love that we can't really comprehend.

First step to trying to feel it is to tap into our sense of self: "I exist".  This is a foundational step and the first of the 13 forces in the soul. 

Please email or text me with any thoughts or questions, 

It was so fun to learn together again!

 

A new year

On Rosh Hashana wo/man is created.  With that comes our ability to choose Hashem- a capacity only humans have/ ratzon/ will, and to coronate Him as our king.

When thinking about what self work I want to do for the upcoming year, many possibilities come to mind.  However, when I pare it down to this question: What's stopping me from crowning Him and feeling Hashem in each moment of my day?, clarity is more readily available.

What's holding me back from awareness? Where are my thoughts when I am doing an action that could connect me to Him? 

We've learned over the past 9 years together who we are and why we are here, now the question is, how to live fully as our true beautiful essence/neshama.  We have begun taking steps, now we just have to tweak, hone in, and expand on the final part of feeling, sensing, growing closer every moment.  

For me it begins with breath, connecting to Hashem as He blows life into me in that moment, thanking Him for it, and being humbled by the gift.  The shofar is the ultimate blowing act of renewing us with a new capacity of life- Hashem is breathing life into us for another year- He breathes potential for life that we thought wouldn't be possible. In that moment we can ask Hashem to bring us back to the reality of our true essence and to be able to love from that space only.

This is the geulah from within.  It's within reach for each of us.  This year let's do it.  

Wishing you all a kesiva vechasima tova and may we meet at the third bayis, speedily, in our days.

Another step in the geulah from within;

 

All in One By Tzvi Freeman Naturally, we think of the Jewish people as a conglomerate of many Jews. But the Baal Shem Tov saw the Jewish people as a single, indivisible whole.  Think of a geometrical point. A point is indivisible, but not because it is too hard, too big, or too small to cut up. A point simply has no area to be divided. That’s what makes it a point.  And yet, from a point you can extend infinite lines radiating in infinite dimensions. In a somewhat similar way, but far beyond, all Jews are one Jew. Which means that in any one Jew, you will find all of us—just from a different angle.  So that whatever happens to any one of us instantaneously happens to the entire Jewish people. Not by some ripple effect or resonance. But because any one sample of the whole is the whole and the whole is one.  And so, the Baal Shem Tov taught, when the light of any one Jewish soul breaks free, the entire nation is redeemed along with it. And accordingly, the Rebbe wrote, the ultimate exodus of our entire people is also a personal, intimate liberation for every Jew.  Toldot Yaakov Yosef, beg. Devarim. Michtav Klali, 11 Nisan, 5742 (Haggadah Im Biurim, vol. 2, pg. 729).

I have been silent...

not because my emuna is shaken

But because it's taken me a while to sort through the darkness 

and sift through the shards of broken hearts

There's a tornado -that began with covid and has been gathering momentum- 

objects are falling

people are falling

being crushed

Each person, we learn in mishna, is a whole world

I think about an individual's power

You are an entire world 

How are our thoughts, feelings, or actions crushing us-

 individually and, as a result, collectively?

I begin with my thoughts.

Throughout the day I notice negative self talk

I am crushing myself without even knowing it.

My own world is self destructing

Can I turn it around?

To rebuild- it will take going beyond 

fighting back

lifting the bricks with my bare hands

and placing them in their proper places

so that the next time I fall - it will be-

*"in love with Hashem" and each of His creations-

An indiviual's war

* Devorah Yaffa Singer stated in her Lights of Emuna workshop that instead of all this falling- we should redirect our fall to "fall in love with Hashem"- what a concept!

Pondering the next step

What happens when you begin to taste the geulah from within and then...

You are a witness to small mindedness-
and the people displaying it are in leadership positions.

Few people will fight the stream of unconsciousness-
if any...
and even if a small minority fights-
will it change anything? 

Is it enough to say that I will keep my side of the street clean-remain in my inner world of bliss or is that the easy way out? 

Moving forward from the cocoon of Pesach

 

Emunah (eh-moo-na): A knowing, deep in the soul, that there is only one G-d, that He is good, and that He loves you unconditionally. Simchah (sim-kha): A mighty current of life-energy felt when contemplating emunah. Bitachon (bi-ta-khon): A surge of invincible confidence that emerges when emunah is challenged by circumstance. By Tzvi Freeman

Realizing your own inner geulah- is the splitting of your own individualized sea.

 

Prepare yourself.

He's taking you out.

Often, it's hard to see in the moment.

As part of geulah from within,  you are starting to hear Him and see Him in everything.

So too, in that moment, when it all becomes clear, your sea has split and you realize you have been standing under His umbrella the whole time.