The sages teach us that beauty is found within the balance of mercy and judgement; when gevurah is balanced with chesed, there is tiferet. Beauty exists in their harmony. This is a Kabbalistic understanding of how three of the ten sefirot---or emanations of the Divine essence, of the Infinite [Ein Sof]---are manifested within the world. To define what this beauty, what tiferet, is would take me much longer than this blog post will allow. (Good thing I wrote a fantasy novel to explore it ...
Jewish
Dayenu: A Pesach Miracle
Remember how a few weeks ago, I shared about how an issue at work had turned sour, so sour it might have even been antisemitic? Well, last week, on Rosh Chodesh Nisan, a miracle occurred. It wasn't a huge miracle; nothing like the splitting of the Red Sea, but it was my miracle. My little miracle, or Hashem's way of telling me everything is going to be okay. I can't reveal everything now, all the wonderful details and how they interconnect, what I can say is, I finally at long last ...
But is it Antisemitism?
The unfortunate hot topic that I feel is incessantly talked about---at least in the circles I'm a part of---is antisemitism. I hope and wish and pray for the day when it isn't talked about at all because it is simply inexistent. However, that isn't the case; not until Moshiach returns. More unfortunate, it is very real and too prevalent and rising, so much so that this past week I endured an experience I have blessedly never encountered, but dreaded would one day come along. How ...
Stillness of Time
It’s been a rough—weird—week. I don’t know about you, but I’ve felt like I haven’t been able to just be still; to sit and let myself expel the pent up pressures, to release the tears that need to flow, to enjoy the quiet of the morning, to allow myself to just be. You would think I’d remember to do it on Shabbat, but even that has become a day of “work” due to specific obligations, sacrifices, required of me for now. So much of my life right now is dictated by Time, I am trapped between ...
New Year Reflections
We spend so much time reflecting in preparation for the High Holy Days, I often found myself reflecting throughout the celebrations. Rosh Hashanah came and went without a major glitch, which isn't difficult to do. Often the problem is making sure I get all the food cooked in time whilst making sure I’m still maintaining some sense of the looming New Year approaching in a few hours, that I might greet it with the reverence it deserves. It was on Yom Kippur, though, I noticed the greatest ...