Happy welcoming in of the second Jewish month of Adar. I’d like to explain a bit (okay, a long bit) about the holiday of Purim that is happening on the 14th day of this month :)Esther is the heroine of the holiday of Purim. Her name means hidden and is very metaphorical of the tremendous concealment of spiritual light in the terrible, yet victorious story of Purim. Esther was a Jewish orphan who grew up to be an extremely pious and modest woman in Persia in 4th century BCE. When King Achashverosh had all the girls of Persia and surrounding lands brought to him so he could choose a wife, she hid in her home, hoping to escape marrying this barbaric brute. The king’s officers found her and brought her to the palace. The divine plan was that it was her whom the king chose from thousands of girls. Little did Esther know that a spiritual tikkun (fixing) was taking place through her. She was the reincarnation of Chava (Eve) and also needed to rectify a grave mistake made by her ancestor, King Saul. (‘The Gilded Cage’, by Sorele Brownstein).To make a very long story short, it was through Queen Esther that the entire Jewish nation was saved from the evil death plans of Haman (reincarnation of the serpent), second in command to King Achashevorsh. Esther and the holy Jewish sage, Mordechai, recorded this historical story – fittingly named the story of Esther (Megilos Esther) – to be read aloud from scrolls. Up until the decree that all the Jews in Persia and the surrounding lands were to be slaughtered, no one was aware of how fate could be turned around. And yet it was. Following the theme of concealment, G-d’s name is not found anywhere in this holy writing of the story. How could that be? G-d is all over Jewish writings and yet these two holy people did not include the divine in their book. The reason is that they chose to hide G-d in the scroll just as G-d’s hand was hidden during this time in history. It is passed down in tradition that in many places of the megillah when the word King is mentioned it refers to Hashem (G-d). It is amazing the Jewish mysticism of the orchestrations of the divine. And this is happening in today’s times. Most often it is difficult, if not impossible, to see G-d in this world. It is a time of double darkness with all the crazy happenings. And yet if we are willing to look behind the scenes, we just may be able to see G-d’s hand everywhere.May we merit to awaken within ourselves true divine consciousness and reveal the supernal G-dly light that already exists. Amen!

30th day of the Jewish month of Adar I – the month of Strength

Strength is …starting something new. I may not know how to do something, but I’m going to start because it’s moving me in the direction I want to move. When we start something new, we have a choice – we can think ‘oh, that’s so scary’ or we can think ‘oh, this is new and vulnerable.’ That sensation of vulnerability in the body can feel like ‘fear,’ but the true emotion of fear puts us in a state of intense awareness – like ‘pay attention.’ When we think that something is scary, we go into fight and flight. If we can’t fight or flee, then we freeze which is like lockdown mode and shuts off our intuition. So when we want to start something new, that physical sensation in the stomach/solar plexus is best identified as vulnerability, rather than fear. Fear is for emergencies when you need a quick reaction to something physically dangerous; vulnerability is for starting something new that changes our old ego perception of self. For this we need intuitive flow, strength and courage.25th day of the Jewish month of Adar I – the month of Strength