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Fifty Ways to Meet Your Lover (Sefirat HaOmer) |
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Written by Rabbi Max Weiman
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Mystical writings make this time period analogous to a woman preparing for union with her lover. She purifies herself for seven days. Seven is also the number of types of impurity that must be eliminated, and in our case linked to seven weeks, the time period between Passover and the Biblical holiday of Shavuot, forty-nine days called Sefirat HaOmer, “Counting the Omer”. God reveals all wisdom that there is to know on the fiftieth day, Shavuot, symbolized by the consummation of a marriage. In other words, to learn wisdom is to become one with the Infinite |
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WHERE IS YOUR CONNECTION TO THE INFINITE? |
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Written by Rabbi Max Weiman
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This past week I officiated a funeral for an uncle of a friend of a friend. I had never met the man who passed away at all, and he left only a few relatives, no children or grandchildren. While there was sadness as there is usually at a funeral, I actually enjoyed meeting and speaking to his niece and nephews and the extended family. The man who passed away had worked at the Catskills when he was younger, in its heyday. At one time upstate New York was the place to go for a summer get away with top comedians, and other entertainment, for people who were Jewish. Nicknamed the “Borsht Belt” or the “Jewish Alps”, there were large hotels and small hotels, and bungalow colonies you could stay at. And this man worked there in the service industry. After the sixties, the area became less popular and “Sonny” moved to Las Vegas, where a lot of the entertainment from the Catskills migrated. Eventually he moved back to St. Louis for his remaining years to pass away close to his last bit of family and to be buried next to the place of his beloved wife who he had lost at a young age. He developed Alzheimer’s and would frequently lost, but he loved going to the casino and for some strange reason never ever got lost to or from the casino. |
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A Woman’s Right to Spirituality |
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Written by Rabbi Max Weiman
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 As more advances are made in struggles against discrimination and gender-based harassment, many turn their gaze towards traditions of spirituality and assume, since the ancient traditions look backwards in time, instead of forwards, that men have an unfair advantage in a system of enlightenment from antiquity.
When it comes to Kabbalah, although its study has certainly been dominated by men, women are not precluded. A glance at the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings indicates clearly that women have the ability to climb to the top of the ladder of spirituality in this system. |
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