Life is a journey that takes us from not knowing to knowing, from doubt to clarity, and from feeling fear to feeling the freedom of creative thought and love.

It takes great effort and commitment to gradually lift ourselves up into clearer and clearer consciousness, because the physical world seems to want us to stay where we are. Every important step forward can feel like a great challenge, because we’re breaking through to more enlightenment—we’re disrupting the status quo.

My late rabbi, Shlomo Carlebach, of very blessed memory, used to point this out to us when he was giving a talk in Shul and the children would suddenly make more noise. He would tell us that what he was about to say must be very important, because the noise was making it harder for him to be heard. He was clear that whenever we’re trying to improve some part of life, obstacles will arise to interrupt and slow down the process.

So when I see Judaism, and especially Israel, especially now, trying to improve life, to discover new healing medications, to develop new technology, to enlighten the souls of people everywhere with the mystical teachings, the resistance of the materialistic view of the world fights back, struggling against our efforts to enhance life on this planet.

However, our teachings can give us the strength to keep moving forward. Please join us for a discussion on what our sages say about overcoming obstacles. We’ll follow this with a short, silent meditation on the Shema.

Date: Saturday, July 12th
Time: 6.45 pm. (Before Mincha)
Location: contact info@myraestelle.com