Wounds Become Blessings

There sure is a whole lot of sibling rivalry going on in the Torah.

Cain and Hevel, Yitzach and Yishmael, Yaakov and Easav, Yoseph and his brothers.

What’s up with that?

If our opportunity in life is to experience the Love and Presence of our Creator, then, the love and presence we experience from our parents, as creators, is certainly a template for our relationship with God.

If whatever I did growing up was never good enough, then “my god” is probably disappointed with what I’m doing or not doing.

If no one ever noticed me at home, then “my god” is probably not paying much attention, certainly not to someone as unworthy as me.

If there was unexpected upheaval at home, then god only knows what fearful chaos is in store for us.

If my parents looked at me as if I was the greatest gift they could imagine, then “my god” is probably a pretty loving one.

In other words, our parents are conduits on earth of our first experience of a Creator. It’s not rocket science.

Our relationship with our parents, as well as with God, is not simply one of love and presence. We need to individuate from them. We need to be supported. We need to be taught values. We need room to express our unique selves. Etc. That’s why we refer to God by different names; the relationship is not always the same. There is a name for God as One, another as Creator, another name for protector, for compassionate presence…

God is One, embracing all in unconditional Compassionate Presence.

God is also a Judge, establishing relative values, distinguishing between good and evil; this reading material contains more wisdom than that, this food is better for you than that, Nazis are bad and need to be defeated.

There are also areas of distinction where one is not better than the other; this is an apple, that is an orange, this kid is good at academics, this one loves sports, this man has a full head of hair, this one not (This quality, more than any other, is clearly not an issue of relative value, but everyone knows that, right?)

Where everything is the same and differences don’t matters, lethargy and cynicism breed. It’s a world of flatlands.

On the other hand, the imbalance of over focusing on relative values can generate pain, competition and jealousy. In my family of upbringing sibling favoritism and who was the best was way out of balance.

The victory of Chanukah against the Greeks was a physical victory. It was also a victory of one way of looking at reality over another. Our understanding of reality sees individual self expression as God’s glory (Hod) shining uniquely through each one of us, one’s success only an inspiration to another. Greece misunderstood glory. Their view was exemplified by their Olympic competitions; one’s success casts a jealous shadow over the other. Glory is won by bettering someone else.

The Zohar tells us that Glory, Hod, is Yaakov’s thigh that was wounded by the angel.

Often our wounds become our greatest blessing. We know better than anyone how much they hurt, and how important they are to rectify. Perhaps that’s the meaning of the blessing that Yaakov received from the angel in the morning after their battle during the night.

My kids are all very different from each other.

As a parent, I pray that I will always celebrate their differences, encourage their unique growth while embracing them all in unconditional love.

I think that children whose unique light is fully seen and appreciated are more inclined to be the next generation of siblings who support each other to light up the world.

(Inspired by my daughter Menucha)

Have great Shabbos,

Simcha

Sleeping on the Job

Going towards the light and intimacy, as well as moving away as a free self, are two halves of the full cycle of any whole note.

There is a teaching from Rabbi Nachman, of being an expert in running and an expert in returning; meaning an expert in going up, towards the light, and an expert in falling and dealing with darkness. Appreciating what I have and not getting too full of myself when things are right, and maintaining faith in an ultimate loving Presence when the bridge in life feels kind of narrow.

Clearly, for whatever reason, some individuals find themselves pretty deep underground and somehow strive to reach the light from that place.

Others seem to travel more “golden” paths, where for sure clouds come by and block the sun on occasion, but in general the sky seems pretty clear.

There are different paths for different types of individuals, and there are different cycles that individuals themselves go through. Everything that vibrates with life has a frequency that goes back and forth. We are tuned in and we forget. Our center of gravity is resonant with peace and simplicity and we find ourselves in storms when it’s chaos and confusion. Certainly that is my experience.

It is our nature to strive for light, closeness, peace and intimacy. And, we had to be individuated and “lost” and free from our Beloved, in order to be the “other” who is able to ultimately reconnect with and experience intimacy.

If God is One, then any and all other frequencies in relation to One, cycles towards, as well as, away. That’s life; the freedom of masculine energy and the intimacy of feminine energy, the light of day and the darkness of night.

Yaakov is truth. The truth of One and created "other". Yaakov is harmony, the balance of the individual note within the greater symphony. Yaakov is beauty, the awe of seeing all existence in the face of a single child. Yaakov is Israel, a spiritual path that honors the individual within the earth’s community.

Yaakov encountered a place. The sun set and he fell asleep. He had a dream. In the dream were angels, a ladder at once resting on the earth and piercing the heavens, and a message from God telling him his children’s future.

He is told in the dream that his children will be like dust, they will spread out in all directions, through him and his offspring, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

The Sforno learns that being like dust is experiencing the lowness that life sometimes offers us. And spreading out in every direction and blessing is radiating light to others.

Sometimes my life is, relatively, together and I seem to be moving towards the light in the “right” direction. And then there are other times when my life seems to be moving away in the “wrong” direction.

Light/dark, pattern/chaos, certainty/mystery.

Yaakov awoke from his dream and said; “Surely God is in this place and I did not know.” He was scared and then said; “How awesome is this place.” Many commentators seem to say that when he awoke, he was disappointed in himself that he had not recognized that God was in this place and how awesome it was.

I want to suggest a different view;

Yaakov woke up; angels were ascending and descending, the ladder reached heaven and rested on the ground, and surely God is in this place and I did not know.

Sometimes we surely know, and, sometimes the mystery of life is so much bigger than anything we could possibly know.

How awesome is it to wake up to that place?

Have great Shabbos,

Simcha

To Eat or Meditate, That is the Question

I’ve got this crazy thing going on with me. My life is really full; family, work, money, learning, relationships, projects… Some of it is going well and feels nurturing and some of it is definitely challenging. But it happens to be my reality. Thank God.

So this crazy thing that’s going on with me is a jealousy that I’m having a hard time shaking and which is totally being generated by my mind. It has nothing to do with reality. It’s a present circumstance that is clearly triggering an old negative pattern of thinking. Like I said, I have a million real life issues that my mind should be occupied with, the good stuff is really good and warrants a lot of gratitude and the challenging things need serious consideration, now. But what keeps taking up significant real estate in the caverns of my mind is this brilliant obsession with “nothing”.

When my mind is filled with this “fantasy issue” I feel angry and scared and I’m generally not a happy camper. For sure, like right now, I am able to transcend this thinking and see it from a place of consciousness, but boy, have I been slipping back.

What seems to be the case for me is not just being conscious of my thoughts, but also fully engaging in the life I have been given. Consciousness is good. It’s not good, however, when it just stands on the side and watches. It needs to come along on the ride of a full, balanced life.

Two seeming contrary lessons came up for me in this week’s Torah reading;

One, when Yitzchak summoned Esav to give him his blessing. At that time Yitzchak told Esav that he was old and didn’t know the time of his death. The Sforna learns that a blessing is more effective when the one giving it is close to death because the soul is more separated from the physical bond at that time.

The second lesson comes shortly after, in the same story, when Rivka instructs Yaakov to fetch choice goats that she will cook, “so your father will eat and bless you before he dies. On this passage the Hiskuni says; (the food should be brought) in order that (Yitzchak’s) blessing should be with a good heart, as the Gemorah in Shabbos says; the Shcheena (God’s Presence) rests only with a good heart and in the midst of joy.

The first idea, from the Sforna, seems to say that spirituality is a function of transcending ties to the physical, as in close to death.

The second, of the Gemorah and the Hiskuni seems to say that pleasure, in this case brought on by physical satisfaction, is a prerequisite for dwelling in God’s Presence.

In my own life, I am beginning to experience the greater truth; that both these paths need to be honored and embraced.

To distinguish and transcend the gravity of old thought patterns or physical pulls allows us to resonate with finer frequencies. It is a process that literally facilitates the evolution of greater consciousness.

And, not but, and,

To live in joy, appreciation and a balance of challenge and support is the gift of life.

Yes we need to be conscious, as in non-attachment

And

We need to joyful engage in life, because, I think our Creator would approve.

Again, in my experience, being conscious while living an imbalanced life doesn’t work, and living a balanced life half asleep also misses the mark. To practice consciousness while bravely meeting our challenges and joyfully appreciating our support, sounds about right.

Anyway, got to go, I’m in the mood for a good steak, before I get too old and spiritual.

Have great Shabbos,

Simcha

Free Choice or Divination

I’m in the process of making a fairly substantial decision. There are many variables and different issues weighing in on the decision. I’ve written down the pros and cons and I’ve discussed the situation with my wife and several friends, all of whom are familiar with the circumstance.

Today I was learning the section in the Torah regarding Avraham sending Eliezar to find a wife for Yitzhak. Avraham gave Eliezar certain parameters. Eliezar made an oath and went on his way.

Eliezar went to the place that Avraham had designated and there he seemingly ask God to arrange things for him so his choice will be clear; I’ll say this and she will say that and then she will do this, and if all of that takes place, I will know she’s the one.

That sounds pretty good. He puts his trust in God and God will show him the way.

As if I have a choice to make; God, give me a sign, if this guy on the line at Starbucks orders a small latte, then I will know I should invest in this particular stock.

The Gemorrah in Chullin has a difficult time with this approach. It refers to it as divination. (The word the Gemorrah uses for divination is actually “nachesh” which is the same basic word for the “snake” in the Garden of Eden.) “If thus and thus happens, then I shall do this,” such a person is guilty of divination.

The Sforna has a different take on what Eliezar was doing. The Sforno says that Eliezar was praying that the circumstance might fall out so, as to make his choice clear. He was not giving up his ability to choose based on a sign from above.

I was wrestling with this story and wanted to understand it in order to apply it to my own decision.

The Gemorrah’s view resonates with my own very much. I don’t relate to circumstance as a clear message from God. Yes God runs the show, and does give us the opportunity of free choice. In fact, as a good friend of mine once said; “What am I other than the choices I make?” The depths of my relationships are contingent on the choices I make, not on the way circumstance works out.

In the story, Eliezar puts out the value that was important to Avraham and therefore to him; the girl needed to embody kindness. Eliezar was clear on that. And then he seemed to pray for a situation to arise that would allow him to be clear on her relationship with that value.

Applying this model to my situation;

What’s my value?

Is it my family, money, health, saving the world?

Be clear.

Then ask God to make the distinctions that my choice is based on as clear as possible.

In that paradigm I distinguish my highest value to the degree that I am able to articulate it.

I ask the Ruler of the world for clarity.

And then I make the ultimate choice.

Feels right all the way around.

It’s not just me.

And it’s not, not me.

By the way, the guy on line at Starbucks ordered a hot chocolate.

Now what do I do?

Have great Shabbos,

Simcha

Good Men

I’ve participated in an exercise in which one is asked to imagine his or her own funeral. In this exercise you are to imagine how you would want to be remembered, what imprint you made in the world; your life, your strength, your compassion, your values, your unique expression, your presence, the quality of your relationships.

Yesterday I attended the funeral of a man I never met. He was the father of three kids all of whom went to or are still going to a school in which my kids have attended. He was 46 years old and died suddenly.

This was a really good man. The air in the room where his friends and family came to say goodbye was vibrating with a frequency that made that clear. The note he played in the world was still resonating and not difficult to hear.

Some of my kids know some of his kids and I got a sense, from them as to what kind of husband and father he was. People spoke about who he was in the community, who he was professionally, ethically, creatively… And maybe because my connection to him is through our children, what I heard the loudest was this guy’s love for his children.

There was a lot of sadness and probably the greatest sadness that this situation generated came from knowing what the kids have lost. What they had and what will not be there for them in the same way, any more.

Rather than look at it as a loss, however, what if we could think of it as a cost, as in an exchange. Certainly his wife and kids paid the most. But, what if we all walked away with, what they paid so dearly for; knowing the value of loving your children and letting them know it.

Imagine if we all went home from the funeral and loved our children as if there is no more important value in our lives. And kept loving them long after the funeral, because there is no more important value in our lives.

Think how honoring that would be to this man’s life.

How it could change our community.

How it could affect the entire world.

For generations.

Sound travels.

The simpler the note, the more things resonate to it and the further it travels.

Love is simple.

It’s the common denominator we all resonate with.

In Hebrew “love” and “one” have the same numerical value.

After all the commentary, we are simply told to listen, that God is One.

This Call is dedicated to Scott Lesser who I did not know and to my friend Chaim Weiss who I did know. Two men who made the world a better place, may our memory of them remind us to love our children.

Have great Shabbos,

Simcha

Not Again

God appears to Avraham and tells him, “Go for yourself, from where you were born, from your father’s house. Go away from the conditions that influenced you as a youth. You will be made into a great nation, be blessed and your name will be great.”

Avraham goes to Israel and there he is told he will have children who will inherit the land. So far, so good… All of a sudden he and his family have to leave and go down to Egypt. But I thought You said to… Everything was looking so good and… What the…!!??

I have this friend who has spent years living through this “story” of his; “If I am not really successful then I don’t matter, I’m a failure”. This is a pattern of thinking that was imprinted on his psyche at a very early age, mostly by parents who clearly showed him their disappointment when things were not just so. No longer are his parents laying those judgments on him in real time, but he still generates his life from that same scared, “I’m never good enough” place. What began as an external voice is now a self generating internal pattern of thinking.

Through doing a lot of work on himself, my friend has become aware of this pattern and is now able to make it an object of his awareness. In other words he becomes conscious of his thinking. He becomes aware that he is looking at reality through the lenses of old imprinted judgments. When he is able to do this, on some level, he transcends his old story and he is free to make conscious choices. And freedom feels good.

But old habits are old habits, especially if they are re-enforced by all sorts of life conditions that we had set up when we were fully enslaved to our old “stories”. After tasting the freedom of consciousness, to find ourselves back under the rule of negative judgments can be a very discouraging experience.

But I thought You said to… Everything was looking so good and… What the…!!??

We were going towards our true selves, going away from old constricted patterns of being and then we find ourselves back in Egypt, the land of slavery itself.

And because of this we often begin to despair. “I can’t do this. What’s wrong with me? I’m a failure.” And if you listen to these judgments carefully, they start sounding a whole lot like the initial ones I was trying to leave in the first place. The old ways of being I was leaving home to get away from.

Everyone falls. Everyone finds themselves back in constricted patterns of thought. Everyone wakes up and goes back to sleep. Everyone loses their mind and forgets who we really are and whose loving Presence we are embraced by.

When I fall, I really appreciate knowing that others who have fallen back to Egypt (exiled from our essential self) because of some famine have made it back “home” to Israel.

Maybe Avraham imprinted in our genes; to experience home, go back down and fight our way back home again.

Gevalt! Not only should we never despair and give up, but like our father, it’s a lesson of life to teach our children.

Have great Shabbos,

Simcha

Oh Brother

In last week’s parsha, Hevel’s offering was accepted and Cain’s was not. Cain got angry and he got depressed. The Sforno tells us that his anger was directed towards his brother out of jealousy, and his depression was a result of thinking he should be ashamed in front of God for not providing an acceptable offering. God asks Cain why he was angry, and why he was depressed.

I happen to be one of those people who can relate to Cain’s feelings.

And I can even give a bit of an answer as to why I have felt those same feelings in similar situations. I am all too familiar with feeling jealousy towards another person who’s offering, who’s affection, or attention, etc. is being received before mine.

The stories in my head that generate those feelings in me could be, “what about me? I matter also. See me. Someone else is being seen, someone else matters, especially a brother and I want what he’s getting. And if I can do away with him or put him down then maybe that acceptance will be mine.” And shame at not doing good enough. I know that one as well.

Somehow what is simply a mistake to learn from turns into a reflection on the essence of who I am. It’s not, “what I did was not good enough”, it becomes “I am not good enough” and I recoil in shame. And if that is what Cain was experiencing, then those feelings must be pretty primal.

God asks “why?” because logically it really doesn’t make sense. God in a sense was saying, “You’re angry at him? His offering was correct and yours wasn’t. You’re ashamed? You made a mistake. Get over it and fix it.”

It even goes further back:

God confronts Adam about his mistake… “She made me do it.”

God confronts Chava… “The snake made me do it.”

Normally I would look at these tendencies to get angry from jealousy, blame others from fear of being wrong, or being ashamed at not being good enough, as obvious defects.

But maybe they are not negative defects, but simply primitive instincts. And like all childish or primitive instincts we can transcend them and evolve to more conscious levels. We can transcend previous behaviors, just as mature adults transcend their former immature behaviors.

When we act irresponsibly we are simply on a less mature level or we have regressed back to a previous less mature level, and we act from there. When we view our actions as coming from an innate inadequacy, we deny, we defend, blame others or hide in shame.

When we perceive our actions as having come from a lower level of consciousness we learn and move on.

An obvious question regarding the Garden of Eden is, what was the Tree of Life for?

Quite possibly, if Adam had admitted his original mistake he could have eaten from it, rather than suffer the banishment they experienced. Instead, they were sent into exile. And maybe the whole point of all the years of exile is for us to learn to take responsibility for our mistakes.

We all make mistakes. When mistakes are judged as personal defects those judgments are like snakes that seduce us away from our Tree of Life.

When we consciously transcend and embrace our mistakes as opportunities to grow from, they simply become steps in an evolutionary ladder.

It could be that Cain’s offering, which was rejected, actually held the greater opportunity for growth after all.

It still might.

Have great Shabbos,

Simcha

Listening is Just Another Word for Consciousness

I think most people would acknowledge the importance of choosing who we or our family associates with. When we hang out with cynical or lazy people we can be influenced in one way, as opposed to, if we spend our time with people who are focused on higher values and are appreciative, we would certainly be influenced in other ways. We know this to be especially true with children who are particularly impressionable to the influences around them. As adults, we are not victims to our surroundings, but it’s foolish to ignore the affects other people’s habits have on us.

The reason I am reminding us of how we are affected by others, is to actually emphasis the influence we can have on others.

I’m reading a book on consciousness and the author was making the point that the majority of people living just several hundred years ago were not able to take a conscious perspective regarding their own thinking. He cites different writings from before as recently as the 1600’s to show the lack of introspection and the propensity to assume magical or mystical causes for certain internal impulses. I have been taking the faculty of conscious awareness for granted and would never have guessed that in the scheme of time it is such a recently developed capacity for the majority of people.

Consciousness is obviously a good thing. It gives us perspective of our own internal process and therefore the ability to make choices. It gives us freedom. After all, we are the thinkers of our thoughts. It can be argued that the world’s problems are a function of a lack of consciousness. Conscious people have a greater perspective on the developmental levels of themselves and others. They are able to distinguish and access; compassion and therefore are more inclined to feed the hungry, responsibility causing them blame others less and initiate fewer wars, and values that respect the ecology we all share for our survival.

Consciousness is a practice. Practicing meditation, mindfulness, prayer or learning, are all ways to develop muscles of awareness.

If consciousness is a positive value, how can we influence others in that direction?

I was in a group last night and we were talking about the facility of being conscious of our own patterns of thinking. We were also distinguishing and practicing different forms of listening. When we simply and deeply listen to another we are offering our attention to their internal reality. Literally, thousands of times I’ve witnessed the phenomena that by truly listening to another, they begin to offer their own attention to their own internal reality. They become more conscious. If we listen with patience, presence and compassion they begin to hear themselves from that same perspective.

Listening promotes consciousness, because I think listening is just another word for consciousness.

If the evolution of consciousness is the faculty that will set us free, then perhaps listening is the vehicle that transports that faculty from one to another.

Our most central prayer is not;

Be powerful Israel, be kind Israel, be good…

We are told to listen.

Have a great Shabbos,

Simcha

Raising the Fallen Sukkah

The second day of Sukkot was my father’s sixth Yartzeit. Something happened to me that night that was not very remarkable, but did however give me an opportunity to grow a bit.

We had a bunch of people over for dinner in our Sukkah, Motzei Shabbos. We had a really good time. I drank a bit too much alcohol, which I very rarely do, and towards the end of the evening I began talking about some ideas regarding Sukkot. They were thoughts that I was still in the process of organizing in my own mind. They were not old ideas that I could just spew out. They were ideas that were still in the test drive mode, and my alcohol level was a bit over the driving limit. Anyway, the bottom line is that I didn’t get my thoughts across very well.

OK, not a big deal.

What happened, however, was that later that night and for a good portion of the next day, I got into a whole pattern of insecure thinking; “What did I do? I made a fool of myself. Who do I think I am? I’m never going to speak in public again. I’m out of here…” basically, an old pattern of wanting to run away and hide after not being “successful”.

One of the realizations I had, while I was struggling with my internal judgments was; almost every time I try to formulated ideas that are new for me, I generally don’t get them across very well the first time I try. And after, almost every time I blunder my first time through I go through similar internal battles of “What was I doing? Who do I think I am? Blah, blah, blah.”

There is a distinction in developmental psychology between states of consciousness and stages of consciousness. A state is a temporary experience, something like a taste of a particular level of being. A stage, on the other hand, is a more permanent level. It’s a way of being, like a plateau that I exist on. We generally experience new states of consciousness until we begin to regularly function from that stage.

A child learning to walk will experience states of balance and be able to take a few steps until she “owns” that stage. That’s how we grow; we experience states until we then embody stages.

I remember hanging out with a friend of mine, watching his daughter first learn to walk. She took a few steps, fell, got up and gave it a few more shots. All the while we were proud witnesses to her cuteness and effort. My friend turned to me and rhetorically asked; when do we start getting the message that trying and falling is something to be ashamed of?

On Sukkot we sit in the Sukkah and are covered by hovering schach. It’s not on us but over us. It is sometimes referred to as makifim, surrounded by, embracing by. We are told that on Sukkot we have the opportunity to draw down levels of consciousness that are up until now only makifim, up until now temporary states that we have not fully integrated.

If our relationship to the natural process of growth, of getting up and falling down, is one of embarrassment, hopelessness and impatience, then we live our lives in small, enclosed, secure boxes.

If however we can pass through the natural frequency of falling down and getting up while in states on our way to stages, then our lives are open like the roof of a Sukkah, to an endless sky of possibilities.

Sukkot are days of joy, of resonating to our innate wellbeing. From the place of joy and wellbeing, falling down and getting up are as natural as a child learning to walk. Sukkot is the time of having the faith that the processes we go through within the Sukkah, are ultimately within an even greater surrounding Presence who is proudly waiting for us to get up and give it another shot.

That would be the essence of my father whose Yartzeit was the second night of Sukkot.

Have great Shabbos and a most joyous Chag,

Simcha

A Journey Back to Now

Recently I began teaching a class which explores Judaism as a path towards individual wellbeing and the ability to engage in healthy relationships. We explore qualities of being which help us achieve these goals; to be compassionately present, uniquely expressive, spontaneously alive, powerfully value directed, having the courage to be vulnerable, as well as gratitude for life’s opportunities.

As a class, we have a destination, a goal, to learn, to grow and develop ourselves. And, the goal of the class is to consciously experience the joy of intimacy, and true intimacy always happens in the now, not in the “more, improved, better, when I finally get there” future.

What we’re doing, or should I also say, who we’re being, is;

Not just on a journey to a “more evolved” future

And

Not just resting in a “no need to evolve” present.

But we’re on a journey back to now.

And not just this class, but all of us.

When I’m instructing my child in how to behave, how to read, how to take responsibility; is my love for her any less before she gets the lesson than after she gets it?

When I’m making mistakes in business or still figuring out how to be a better husband and father; am I impatient with myself as I am now and can’t wait to get better?

I’m trying to get out of dept, I’m learning to learn, I’m building a business, I’m working on my health, I’m practicing to stay conscious, getting better at being patient, I’m improving on expressing my gratitude.

I’m a work in progress. I’m on my way to Israel.

And, is that, in any way, a contradiction to being in God’s loving presence, right now, even before I (any day now) perfect myself?

Yaakov journeyed to Sukkot, he built Sukkot and he named the place Sukkot. (Breishis 33:17)

Yaakov personified the quality called Tiferet. Some of the meanings of Tiferet are harmony, beauty and truth, as in;

The harmony of a single note within the context of a melody,

The beauty of seeing the whole world in the face of a child,

The larger truth, that we are all individuals, who are also parts of greater wholes.

In the desert we were surrounded by God’s presence, the Sukkot, on our way home to Israel.

On Sukkot we dwell in individual dwellings whose roofs are open to see the greater space we all inhabit together.

On Sukkot we hold the estrog, the resulting fruit that, we are told, has the same taste as the tree that causes it.

Yaakov, and us, his children, are not only about getting better, and we’re not only about loving what is. We’re about transcending and embracing both these qualities with the beauty and harmony and truth that is Israel.

We’re about striving, we’re about fighting for values that matter, for making difficult choices, for stepping into our fears, and for upholding spiritual disciplines,

And,

We’re about being a compassionate presence for ourselves in the process.

On Rosh Hashannah we are individuated and we experience our desire to return.

On Yom Kippur we open to the embrace of the Compassionate One.

On Sukkot, we experience the joy when these 2 realities touch.

We grow and we develop to become more conscious. And from a more conscious perspective, we embrace the stages we have grown through, the stages we still embody and the stages our children and others may still be on.

Have great Shabbos and a Chag Sameach,

Simcha