KISLEV - an art of living the miracles

In Kislev, this Hebrew month we just started at last new moon, we are entering a space-time of miracles, which are much needed right now.

It is a time of miracles as we have the well-known story of the Hannukah holiday, where a small quantity of oil used to light the Temple's menorah somehow miraculously burned for eight days.

But if we think about it everything can be seen as a miracle. Each breath we take, each morning we wake up. To be grateful and to have the faith that each second will bring us more life is an art of living.

But during those days of darkness this is more challenging than ever.

So here is a little story I heard from a rabbi at Rosh Yehudi: Imagine you are the first man on this planet and you experience winter for the first time seeing the daylight getting shorter and shorter as the days pass by. You'd tell yourself - hey what's next only darkness no more daylight?! And then suddenly at the pic of winter (at Hannukah!) slowly days are getting longer again, the light is spreading back, growing into the darkness.

Everything is impermanent, and everything is balanced - we can talk scientifically or spiritually, this is simply how this world works: everything in constant movement, and as above so below. This idea actually gives me hope, empowers my faith.

This ability to see the beauty, the light, the hope, into the darkness, is an art of living.

And what is Art - if not the expression of our potential?

We have a name for it in Hebrew: Segula סגולה. The capacity of expressing our true light, our potential.

The Rav Kook* teaches that our generation has broken into 2 the קדושה Kedusha (purity) of Am Israel: the בחירה Bhira, the choice, and the Segula סגולה, which is actually hard to translate so I'll simply say the Segula. The segula is simply the capacity of expressing our potential to this world. The choice is proactive and is what it takes to actually express this potential, our light, our segula, to this world. For instance by choosing to have faith and to love, by praying (tefilah), by doing good actions (mitsvot). Because it is a choice, a responsibility even, to explore our potential, to chose what we consume (food, words, music, movies, information) which will give us energy (or not) to share our love and light, to see the light and the beauty in this world, to chose the life again and again no matter what, to chose to fill our heart with love no matter what, not surrendering to the hate and despair that makes us lose all of our precious energy that we precisely need in those times.

*סוגיות במשנת הרב קוק אגרות הראיה חלק ב אגרת תקנה

That is why during this period of time I invite you to explore and express your potential, especially during those times where it seems almost impossible, maybe futile or even useless. But always remember that in front of an ocean of darkness just a little light can be enough to take it down! And each one of us has different potential, different light to share, different talents, and we need to be united. Just like with the cells of our body, each one has its legitimacy, each one has its role, and only when working all together in harmony the information go through rightfully and the body as a whole works healthily.

So I invite you to do something you never did but wished to do for some time. That's the call of your soul, your neshama, that is willing to express itself! Now is the time! You can for instance:

Write - don't overthink it, just take a pen, write your name date and place to anchor yourself, start your sentence for instance with "today I feel..." or "my intention for this new month of Kislev is..." and observe yourself writing; do some brainstorming about who you are and what you'd wish to create; organise yourself in some creative and fun to do lists,

Sing, pray - if you are not into a self-made karaoke, join a singing circle (in Tel Aviv you have every sunday with the T'FeelHarmonic circles) or sing some conscious music and Tehilim at an after shabbat Melave Malka מלווה מלקה gathering (for instance in Tel Aviv with the community of Rosh Yehydi),

Dance - shaking the body to realease the tensions, with some good musical vibes ! You can also join ecstatic dance events (for instance with Ecstatic Dance Israel),

Draw - enjoying buying some painting tools or simply joining a class (for instance with Ksenia for some art therapy and watercolor),

Meditate - I recommend the learnings of Aryeh Kaplan about Jewish meditation as well as Headspace app),

Learn about a topic you like... Connect back to your identity, for instance by learning about Jewish history and judaism... and disconnect for some time from social networks... at least for a day, why not during shabbat!

To sum it up - explore anything that is a way of expressing the life ביטוי לחיים.

Don't be afraid to make mistake or to do something wrong, don't be limited by your beliefs that this is not your thing or that you are bad at it, just try it and observe yourself, discover yourself, because at the end of the day who are you really? When you think you want something, who want this thing? As we discover ourselves through those kind of creative experiences, we understand than we are much more, we are the life itself as we create space within us for the life to happen through us, we are linking ourselves to the source, as we are this source. So don't be afraid to be you and take off all the masks.

Yes don't be afraid, as this month, in Kabbalistic astrology, we have a special letter that protects us, the letter Samech ס, which looks like a circle, symbol of unity and oneness. It also represents this divine manifestation of סומך נופלים (somech noflim) "Supports The Fallen". In the Sefer Yetsirah (book of formation), we learn that the world was created with 22 vibrations, the 22 letters of the aleph-bet, and each month one letter resonates and supports us in our work.

In Hebrew you don't really have a word to say "god" if not "Hachem" which literally means "the name". Each letter has a power of creation (as each letter has ha specific vibration and vibrations shape the matter), and Hebrew is created in the base of 3 or 4 letters roots which create words which create the reality. "God" has different names, and we can actually talk about divine manifestations. In the 72 names of God, we have one specific one for this month, which starts with the letter samech, and which is used to invoke miracles. It is unpronounceable and should be used as a visualization meditation.

The 3 letters are Samech - Yod - Tet: https://publish.dayone.app/post/2l3uzEq

"Free yourself from all selfishness, envy, anger, and self-pity. By rejecting these negative temptations, you are also free to invoke this Name—and thereby ignite the power of miracles."

Am segula means the people who are capable (coming from the root מסוגל) - capable of miracles ! If we talked about the art of living, let's talk about the art of transmutation. Am Israel is the People capable to transmute anything into light - the hate, the darkness, the oblivion. We are able to create the space within us for it to happen. Just like a women creates the space within her to create the life, the miracle of life.

Viktor Frankl said in his book a man's search for meaning - we must be worthy of our suffering, it is not about what I expect from life but what life expects from me. Our freedom remains in our spirituality, in our choice of how we will react to our suffering.

How we will keep our faith Emunah.

How we will keep on going...

Because at the end of the day, nothing really exists, not the time, not the space, this world that we experience through our senses, electrical signals interpreted by our brain... The only thing that is real is our consciousness of what we are living, which is creating all kinds of thoughts and emotions within our body. And through this consciousness, the only thing that is really real, that is meaningful, is the (true) Love that we transmute from all of our experiences. Because Love is the only thing that transcend time and space.

In the guematria (numerical value of letters and words in Jewish mysticism), Love (ahava) אהבה and One (echad) אחד have the same numerical value, and it is not by chance as when you feel this pure love, you feel that all is one. And that is what we are trying to connect to, this oneness, as we sing the Shema Israel (listen Israel), Hachem is echad, one (and I will add here, as I am a vibrational and sound healer, that shema is about feeling the vibrations of the oneness, as it is not "takshiv" which would listen, but shema which can be more understood as something like "feel" in terms of vibrations).

On the scale of our lives, if something happens to us it is because we have the capacity (מסוגל) to overcome it. We have all experienced difficult challenges in our lives, we overcame them and ultimately, we transmuted our pain and suffering into strength and love. In the same way that we transmute food into energy when we eat through our digestive system. So today, on our individual but also collective scale, we must transmute this suffering and hatred into strength and love. Because if we are here, in this incarnation, it is because it is our life mission, it is our responsibility, and it is because we have the capacity to overcome all of this. In Hebrew the root word hero (gibor) גיבור creates the word overcome (lehitgaber) להתגבר - so let’s be Heroes!

Wishing us all to feel our unity, our strength, to keep our faith strong, this is the base for us to build the world of tomorrow, because it is upon us, our duty, our responsibility, each one at his own level and scale, with its own love, each step at a time, each heart at a time. As we share a lot of content and information, let's share more light and hope. Let's motivate one another. Let's feel how strong we are when we are together, and how life when we are open to it brings us exactly where we are supposed to be to serve it at our best.

Love אהבה Ahava

Faith אמונה Emunah

Joy of Life שמחת חיים Simhat Haim

always win תמיד מנצחים Tamid Menatshim

Am Israel is (really) alive עם ישראל (באמת) חי Am Israel B'emet Hai

~ That is what I write on the boxes for the soldiers, but we are all soldiers of the light, so I'm writing it to you as well here 🙏🏻🤍✨

And here is a playlist I created, with conscious lyrics and music that empowers me during those times:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5PvoZ4pxccWEHcTRZRcvJW?si=e1a40c85042340bc&nd=1&dlsi=33734b492c084864