Pesach (Passover) and It's Significance

    Today's Shabbat reading of Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan's book, "The Aryeh Kaplan Reader: The Rectification of Adam's Sin," discussed the significance of Pesach, Passover.  Pesach is about telling the story of the Exodus when G_d passed over the Jews with the Angel of Death.  He actually freed them from the power of the Angel of Death, at least until they tragically transgressed with the Golden Calf.
    Per Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, "The Talmud states that with the giving of the Torah all the negative effects of Adam's sin were annulled with respect to the Jewish nation.  In particular, the Jews were freed from the power of the Angel of Death.
    "It was only later, some forty days following the Sinai experience when the Jews tragically transgressed by worshiping the Golden Calf, that we as a people reverted back to the unrectified state that was introduced to mankind by the initial sin of Adam."
    Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan further explains that Rabbi Yitzchak Luria taught that Pesach provides the Jews with a method of rectifying Adam's sin.  "Why were the Jews in Egypt in the first place?  The answer is that they were there as the result of a question that their forefather, Abraham, had asked of G_d after He had promised to give Abraham and his descendants the Land of Israel as an eternal inheritance (Genesis 15:8)....Abraham had asked of G_d, 'How will I know?'"
    Bad idea.  This showed G_d that he, Abraham, who had made significant progress in rectifying knowledge, had a lapse of faith.  Per Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, "In answer to Abraham's question, G_d appeared to the patriarch in a vision and said, 'Abram, know for a surety that your seed shall be strangers in a land that is not theirs and they shall serve them...' (Genesis 15:13)."  So because of Abraham's small lack of faith, the Jews ended up in Egypt, where cursed Ham, son of Noah's, descendants lived, to start rectifying Adam's sin of eating from the Etz Hadaas (the Tree of Knowledge) of good and bad.
    Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan then explains a bit more about exactly how Adam sinned.  "The Talmud comments that Adam had only been prohibited from eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge for just a few hours.  Man had been created on the sixth day of Creation which was a Friday, and G_d merely wanted Adam to refrain from eating from the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, which according  to one opinion was a grapevine, until the start of the Sabbath on Friday night...to sanctify the Sabbath.  Had he only waited until the proper time, Adam could have eaten from the Tree of Knowledge and then succeeded in truly elevating the quality of knowledge."
     So during the Exodus the Jewish people learned to wait, making up for Adam's impatience, and rely on G_d each day for their manna.  They learned to wait for their double portion of manna on Shabbat, the Sabbath.  They actually were first given the commandment to observe Shabbat during the Exodus, interestingly enough.  Everything was perfect as far as the rectification of Adam's sin.  The Jews learned to wait, reflect, and nurture the areas where G_d wanted them to grow from their thought patterns of slaves.  Per Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, "After forty-nine days, the Jews had completely recovered from the descent to the forty-ninth level of Egyptian moral impurity.  The very next day as pure and healthy individuals, they were capable of receiving the Torah."  Unfortunately, after receiving the Torah, the Golden Calf was the game changer that set back the Jewish Nation to this day.
    Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan states that Pesach is a way back to rectification of the original sin.  "On Passover, the Jew is commanded to drink four cups of wine.  What is the significance of the wine?  According to the opinion which holds that the Tree of Knowledge was a grapevine, it would be understandable that our drinking of the four cups during the Passover seder is intricately connected to our task in rectifying the blemish brought on mankind by Adam's sin of eating (i.e. drinking) the forbidden fruit (i.e. wine).
    "Chassidus teaches that four klipos (impure shells) cover the Jew's Godly soul and prevent it from reaching its full potential.  By drinking each of the four cups of wine on the seder night, the individual succeeds in breaking apart all four of the impure shells and in this sense liberates the Godly soul from its own personal bondage to the forces of impurity."
     I happen to be learning Hisbonenus and am trying to master Dimension 3, "Transcendence, Soul in the body."  It's hard to draw in the G_dly life force into your inner wisdom and vision to see beyond the sensate reality.  When it dawned on me what Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan was saying, I went and got a glass of wine, since it was Shabbat.  I blessed the wine, drank it, said the after blessing, and then tried to master Dimension 3.  It worked!  The wine helped me deeply feel the connection of the outer G_dly life force and bring it within myself and better understand G_d's inner workings.
     The wine is the key to rectifying knowledge per my experience, but we don't want to misuse the wine like Noah did.  Per Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, "The first act of Noah was the planting of a vineyard.  He then produced and drank wine.  His desire was to rectify Adam's initial sin which came about through the drinking of wine. However, Noah was careless and instead got drunk [and Ham dishonored his father, Noah]....Just as when Adam first ate (drank wine) the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, Noah's drinking of wine also set the stage for the increase of immorality among mankind with the strengthening of the Yetzer Hara [evil inclination] into the body of man."
     My revelation for this Shabbat is that drinking wine at the correct time, in the correct amounts, for the reason to achieve the knowledge of the G_d's inspiration is the beginning to rectifying Adam's original sin.

P.S.  To my blog readers:  If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at:  https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960         Thank You!
 

Trying Out My New Eddyline Sky 10 Kayak!

     It was hard to get a new kayak, but my dear brother, Rabbi Aryeh, insisted that CAyakgirl could not be without a safe kayak.  My Cobra Play got a hull fracture in the sitting area after 10 years of constant use.  I have the crack duct taped sealed after drilling the ends of the crack to prevent further cracking.  So this is my maiden voyage on my Eddyline Sky 10 at Lake Natoma near the western end.  It's quite different from my Cobra Play.

This is the lower lagoon.

Next adventure was at Negro Bar on Lake Natoma near the eastern end.  I had to see how this kayak handles in the current.

The currents in the canyon were a little treacherous for my first time on an intermediate kayak.  The skeg also doesn't allow me to turn on a dime like the Cobra Play.  I'll have to get used to that.

This is the upper lagoon.

I ended up in a nest of Red Slider Turtles here!

P.S.  To my blog readers:  If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at:  https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960         Thank You!

Purim and the Mashiach

     During my Shabbat readings of Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan's, "The Aryeh Kaplan Reader:  The Gift He Left Behind,"  I found a great insight in the section in his essay "Uniting with G_d Via the Torah:  Understanding Supersedes the Sefirah of Wisdom" on p. 110-111.
     "In the aftermath of Purim [a few decades after the destruction of the First Temple which closed the era of prophecy and sealed the written Torah], a tremendous new interest in the study of the Oral Torah developed among the Jewish people.  Since one does not usually exhibit much enthusiasm or enjoyment for an activity in which one participates under duress, it is easy to understand why, prior to their acceptance of the Oral Torah on Purim, the Jews failed to distinguish themselves in this area of learning.
     "A major transformation in the service of the Jew developed during the time between the First and Second Temples,  The main focus during the period of the First Temple was mystical, while that of the Second Temple was of a more intellectual nature.  The first Temple was dominated by the sefirah of chochmah (wisdom) which is a mystical quality.  The Second Temple was influenced by the binah (understanding) which is basically and intellectual characteristic.
     "It makes sense that the Second Temple was dominated by binah, an intellectual aspect, as it was during this time that the study of the Oral Torah blossomed.  The Written Torah flourished during the First Temple when the quality of mysticism reigned supreme.
     "A question may be asked concerning the arrival of the Mashiach (the Messiah) and the construction of the Third (the final and eternal) Temple in Jerusalem.  What will be the important aspect governing Jewish awareness during the Messianic era?  Will Jews be influenced by the sefirah of daas (knowledge)?  We do find the verse in the prophetic Book of Isaiah (11:9) which predicts that in the future, 'The world will be filled with daas (knowledge) of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.'"
     Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan continues in his next section:  "The Cause of Man's Downfall and Its Rectification."
     "There is an additional lesson regarding Purim that we can learn from Purim.  It concerns details that the Talmud mentions in connection with the coming of Mashiach.  To better understand this, let us ask the question, 'What was the cause of the original downfall of man?'  It came through daas (knowledge) or more specifically through the act of Adam's eating from the Etz Hadaas (the Tree of Knowledge) concerning good and bad.  The Talmud teaches that when Mashiach arrives, the world order will be rectified.  This means that daas (knowledge) which was corrupted on the sixth day by Adam will also be corrected and elevated to its original position during the creation of the world.
      "Purim has a very direct connection with daas.  There are three stated opinions regarding the identity of the forbidden fruit.  One opinion, and this is the view we will pursue, is that the Etz Hadaas was a grapevine....One way to rectify Adam's sin is to abstain from drinking wine...Another way to rectify Adam's sin is with the celebration of the holiday of Purim.  The Talmud teaches that one must drink wine until he is devoid of knowledge and is unable to distinguish between blessing Mordechai [a good man] and cursing Haman [a bad man]...."
     
     Why was I so inspired by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan by this section?  When I was young, I used to ask G_d that in my world to come I would like to know everything, and I'd dream of sailing through the stars and discovering so many wonderful new horizons.  As I became older, I realized that I didn't want to know everything anymore.  There was a lot of evil out there that I'd rather not know about.  Now I'm in a new growth stage, however, thanks to my beloved Jewish brother who also is named Rabbi Aryeh, and I'm realizing that I can return to my former dream.
     My new learning deals with seeing all that G_d creates as inherently good.  Though bad things happen to me, I am learning to see why G_d has arranged it that way, so that I may benefit in good ways.   An example of this is my sibling rival, my sister, who hated me from my birth.
     This sister tried to drown me when I was around 9 years old and at the same time taught me not only how to outsmart her and swim downward so she couldn't grip my head anymore, but how to not suck in water when my body convulsed under the water for oxygen.  This was very important to know when I almost drowned at 12 years old  and my body convulsed for oxygen when G_d gave me my personal Bat Mitzvah in the American River, a Mikvah.
     This rival sister saved me in another way, as well.  When I was 15 years old, kidnappers called my home and this same sister answered the phone.  The kidnappers explained to her that they had me and that they were going to kill me!  She responded with her innate hatred of me, "Good, I never liked her anyway!" and hung up.  The kidnappers realized that I was of no value and never tried to kidnap me again.  Her need for my death saved my life twice!  Her bad was turned into G_d's good.
     So what does this mean?  How does daas (knowledge) become uncorrupted?  It means that we don't see the bad as bad anymore.  We don't see the difference between Mordechai and Haman.  We see the "bad" man as a tool of G_d's ultimate good.  We see it all as good, as I did as a child when I dreamed of knowing everything in the world to come---when I did not understand that there was bad knowledge.  We learn to look at everything with faith that it is G_d's good and no longer see "bad."
     Everything is from G_d.  There is no other influencer.  There is no question, "Is this of G_d or evil [from Satan]?"  Of course it's from G_d.  There is only G_d and only His good knowledge.  We have to change our viewpoint and uncorrupt our view of knowledge.  We have to look at our painful life experiences and change the pain to faith that it is for our good.  Eventually we can train ourselves to rethink the painful part of our life experience---experiencing the bad and accepting that it will be for our good.  As we practice, we will rethink in smaller and smaller time periods, until one day we can go straight to the faith that it will all be for our good without having to rethink.  Then we will have uncorrupted knowledge, and as a byproduct we will have eternal peace.

P.S.  To my blog readers:  If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at:  https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960         Thank You!

Practicing "Landslide" by Stevie Nicks While Skiing

   One of my students made me promise to sing her a song on her birthday next Tuesday.  She thinks that I look like Stevie Nicks, so I decided to practice Stevie's "Landslide," since my kids told me it was the song depicting my life after the divorce.

    To help this struggling math/engineering teacher and author, this book can be purchased at https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960.  Thank you!

My Book Displayed With Such Flair!

    At our staff 7th period at a local restaurant on the last day before December break I got to know our new librarian at our high school.  She and I just talked and talked about Christianity and Judaism.  It was a delightful sharing.
    During that sharing I mentioned that I'd written a book.  It was odd of course, to have the math/engineering teacher published in a nontechnical book, but, yes, I did venture out and publish that first memoir. She really wanted to read it, so I told her that I'd donate 3 books to the library anonymously.  I didn't want the students to know that they were reading about me!
    When we returned from break, my new friend the librarian jokingly said, "I'm still waiting for those books!"
    I asked, "Do you want paperback or hardcover?  I didn't know which to bring down from the attic."
    She didn't have a preference.
    After I got a new box of paperback books out of the attic, I signed 3,

    "Dear Rio Student,
            Always remember to reach for new heights and follow your dreams!
                      Climb High,
                                Isolde Ulrich"
    The librarian was so excited when I delivered them the next working day!  I told her that she had to cover the picture of me on the back of the book though.  I didn't want the students to know that this was my memoir.
    When I went to do my after school tutoring with my Algebra 1 addicts, there were my books proudly displayed upon entering the library!  I was so touched!!!  She even put the bar code over my picture, so no one would know that I was Isolde Ulrich.

     To help this struggling math/engineering teacher and author, this book can be purchased at https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960.  Thank you!

How I Became Jewish

    A great Torah scholar of our time just asked me how did his Christian best childhood's friend's little sister come to a Kabbalah class?  So I responded.
    How I became a Jew is a long story.  It started long before I knew, but I was only to realize the journey once I became an orthodox Jew.  My first realization was at my mother's funeral.  My uncle on my dad's side mentioned that my Grandma was probably Jewish.

    I was married to a devout Christian/Catholic/Baptist who was uncomfortable with Judaism at the time, so he would tell me, "You're not Jewish.  You've never even stepped in a synagogue in your life!"  So we explored Catholicism and the Baptist religion together.  I taught Catholicism for 6 years in my children's Sunday school, since I was honoring a promise to G_d---I couldn't get pregnant and once told G_d that I would raise my kids to love Him, if He let me get pregnant!  I got pregnant immediately.

    Then the ladies of the family started getting early onset breast cancer, and we found that we had the BRCA 1 gene.  Our particular gene came from our mother and is Ashkenazi Irish.  My mother died never knowing of her Jewish ancestry.

    My marriage failed and I moved home to Sacramento to be closer to my dad and clear my teaching credential in math/physics/engineering and I met an orthodox Jewish guy while kayaking on the lake after I prayed for my Adam.  I wasn't going to convert, because I felt that I couldn't deny Jesus, though I always went directly to G_d for help.

    When my boyfriend took me to Israel to meet his parents, I asked G_d to tell me what religion that I was supposed to worship, because I'd been attending at KITC for over a year by that time.  My boyfriend was in control of the itinerary and I'd long forgotten what day it was when I was praying in the Cathedral of Gethsemane right after posing in front of the marble carving of Jesus wanting to pass the cup---he didn't want to be the Moshiach, the Messiah.

    Then an understanding came over me, "Look at the date.  Look at the date!"  

    I reluctantly stopped praying and pulled my cell phone out and saw that it was July 9th and wondered where I was July 7th.  July 7 or 7/7 is the day that our tabernacles were rebuilt---my cousin and I had our double mastectomy surgeries on the exact same day a year apart without planning to combat her breast cancer and my inevitable breast cancer from the BRCA 1 gene.  7/7 on the Roman calendar is the day that G_d changes my life in a drastic way.

    I thought hard about what I was doing on 7/7.  It was the answer to what religion that I was to worship.  We were at Yad Vashem, and I was looking for my relatives that didn't get out of Germany or Slovenia.  I was also on the Western Tunnel Tour and was the closest to the Holy of Holies that you can get exactly 7 years after G_d gave me a sign of a fish that I was going to live after I asked for one while kayaking fishing on La Jolla Cove. I needed the sign, because right before my kayak trip I was told to collect my medical records for my family, because I was going to die.  So on July 7th, 7 years after I got a second chance, the only things that I did that day were Jewish, not Christian.

    Just to make sure that I caught that message, G_d made the first Parshat, Torah reading, when I returned to California Devarim/Deuteronomy Parashat Re'eh 13:2-5, "If there should stand up in your midst a prophet or a dreamer of a dream, and he will produce to you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes about, of which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us follow gods of others that you did not know and we shall worship them!'---do not harken to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of a dream, for Hashem, your G_d, is testing you to know whether you love Hashem, your G_d, with all your heart and with all your soul."  I knew from that direct Hebrew to English translation that I'd never seen before that G_d wanted me to become a Jew and started my conversion immediately.

    As a Jew I now know that my grandma's wig that everyone complained about was a sheitel.  She also always made latkes which my dad called potato pancakes.   The Levine family of Joliet, Illinois also renamed my grandma from Angela to Ruth, so that is not done unless she converted or was Jewish.  She was very persecuted for her Austrian/Slovenian accent in America during WWI, so I can imagine how scared she must have been about being Jewish during WWII.  She never mentioned it to her dying day, and I was one of the closest grandchildren to her.

    I also know that when I almost drowned in the American River at 12 years old and saw the tunnel of light that gave me hope that I was going to live that G_d kept me around for a reason.  It was my devout Christian brother who pulled me out of the river when I couldn't move anymore.  He put me on my back on a beach, and I looked up and saw that it was a cloudy day with no sun.  The light I saw was G_d.  Now I know that I had a personal Batmitzvah from G_d at 12 in the mikvah of the American River.

    It was exactly 40 years later after reading the Christian bible about 5 times through and having a lot of unanswered questions that I became an orthodox Jew.  Though my boyfriend insisted that I became orthodox so we could get married, he left me 2 months before I completed my 1.5 year conversion.  I guess G_d wanted to make sure that the conversion was understood to be His, G_d's, idea.  In retrospect, it all makes sense, though it was painful.

    So I attend Kabbalah classes to make my spiritual tools more understood and stronger for my next journey that He takes me on.  I have found my spiritual peace as a Jew in a not so peaceful world!
    
P.S.  To my blog readers:  If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at:  https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960         Thank You!

Happy Chanukah!

   Here's the Chanukah song that I sang on my first Chanukah in 2013.  Chanukah Sameach or Chag Urim Sameach (Happy Chanukah)! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOhtDOvDtUE



P.S.  To my blog readers:  If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at:  https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960         Thank You!