SPIRITUAL AWAKENINGS: Illuminations on Shabbat and the Holidays

Life is about waking up. It’s about engaging in real life with all its disappointments and successes. It’s about allowing ourselves to feel both the pain and the ecstasy of life.... I found that Shabbat and the Jewish holidays were a guide to the spiritual awakenings that I needed in order to wake up and stay awake. Through celebrating these special days I discovered what life is about: Tasting the sweetness of this world. Feeling the love your spouse has for you. Tickling your children. Learning to take advantage of Shabbat’s gift of rest. Learning to forgive and give second chances on Yom Kippur. Experiencing the Tu B’Shvat process of turning dreams into realities, as a seed turns itself into a fruit-bearing tree. Being a Purim Jew when you let down your barriers and fall in love with every human being. Learning to transform your pain into empathy as you leave your own personal Egypt at your Passover seder. And it’s about staying up all night on Shavuot, to become as spiritually awak....

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