A new year has come and gone, and with it I hope the sorrows of the past. This time of year always brings with it a flood of emotions, but none are more potent than my joy mingled with grief. Last year was probably one of the most painful of my life. Even now, as I write, I’m still grieving; hoping, praying it will be fully released by the end of Yom Kippur next Monday evening, so that I may enter this new year fully revived and content. And yet, though there has been great pain, there has ...
Judaism
Embracing the Pain
Three weeks ago, my father was rushed to the hospital due to severe swelling, weeping of the skin, traumatic ulcers, and pain in his left leg. A few days later, he underwent an arterial bypass where they inserted a stent. Essentially, as I confirmed with a RN friend, he had a "heart attack" of the leg. During this time, my main concern other than supporting him by being present as often as I could in the hospital with him was caring for my mentally disabled mother. You know, the one who ...
Coexisting in Harmony
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 ...
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 ...
