As the Spirit Moves Me

I graduated from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication. I still remember one of the first lessons I learned there: Communication-real communication-requires a broadcaster or transmitter and a receiver. In other words, someone has to speak and someone has to listen. Today, on the eight Day of Awe, with Yom Kippur just a [...]

September 26th, 2009 | Tags: body language, broadcaster, communication, Days of Awe, forgiveness, High Holidays, High Holy Days, how actions communicate, how faces communiate, how words communate, Kabbalah, Kabbalist, listening, receiver, repentance, sins, talking, transmitter, Yom Kippur | Category: Days of Awe, Jewish holidays, Jewish mysticism, Kabbalah, repentance, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur | Comments (2)

I’m determined to put spiritual practice back into my life. I’ve been struggling for a year at least to find the time for a sustainable practice. I know…I teach and write about practical spirituality, by which I mean short, easy, sustainable practices that fit into our busy lives. However, I have failed to practice what [...]

August 12th, 2009 | Tags: chanting, chants, connecting with God, how to fit spirituality into life, Kabbalah, kirtan, meditation, mezzuzah, practical spirituality, Prayer, Rabbi David Cooper, Rabbi Shefa Gold, spiritual practice, too busy for spirituality, Yofiyah | Category: balance, consciousness, Prayer, religious practice, ritual, spiritual practice | Comments (1)

When I was at the Aleph Kallah last month, I took a class with Arthur Kurzweil in which he taught us 20 Kabbalistic principles he would teach his children — and has. (I’ve met his son.) One keeps returning to my mind over and over again: If you think you’ve arrived, you’re lost. To me, [...]

July 31st, 2009 | Tags: achieve goals, arrive, destination, determination, feeling lost, human potential, human potential tools, humility, Kabbalah, lost, perseverence, personal growth, personal growth tools, teach children | Category: achieving success, human potential, Jewish mysticism, Kabbalah, personal growth | Leave a comment

The kabbalists, or Jewish mystics, teach that every action has the same “dimension.” In other words, one action isn’t greater than another or bigger than another or better than another. An action we consider as quite meaningful or important, might actually be meaningless and unimportant in the greater scheme of things — in God’s perspective. [...]

July 21st, 2009 | Tags: actions, conscious action, good deeds, importance of action, is one action more important than another, Kabbalah, mitzvah | Category: action, consciousness, Jewish mysticism, Kabbalah | Leave a comment

The Hebrew word kabbalah comes from the Hebrew verb “lekabbel,” whose root kbl means “to receive” or “to welcome.” Thus, Kabbalah means “receiving” or “reception.” Most people define Kabbalah as a wisdom tradition or mystical tradition received from teacher to student, handed down from generation to generation. Thus, we receive it from someone. We become [...]

June 8th, 2009 | Tags: how to receive, Kabbalah, kabbalah means received, kabbalah means reception, Kabbalistic, light, Mitch Chefitz, Rebbe Nachman, Receiving, Still Small Voice How to hear God, what is Kabbalah | Category: container for receving, Jewish mysticism, Kabbalah, Rebbe Nachman, Receiving | Leave a comment