Magical World: Stories, Reflections, Poems

By Rabbi Sara Brandes

Magical World is a collection of essays and poems, interwoven with the personal story of a mystic. Rabbi Sara Brandes draws from the ancient wisdom of Jewish tradition to craft a life of meaning in this magical world of ours.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Neshama Press
• Release date: Jul 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9780996460910

Book preview

A Note of Introduction

Hello Friend,

It is with great humility that I offer you my personal reflections, seeking and finding in this magical world of ours. Though the insights contained here are the result of years of study, this book is not intended to be a scholarly work. Rather, it is an account of my searching, and if my searching can accompany you along your way, then I walk with you in joy. With gratitude to my Creator and my teachers, I share my voice with you.

I am a mystic and a rabbi. Though I am certain that all paths lead to the One, my path is Judaism, and therefore this book draws on Jewish imagery, concepts, and texts. I have worked hard to make these concepts accessible to any reader because students of Torah and Judaism are not necessarily the intended audience for this work. Hebrew and Jewish terms are explained in footnotes on each page and defined in a glossary and the end of the book. If your heart, too, yearns for union with all of creation and the Creator who shaped us, then you are my sister and my friend. I hope that drinking from the wellspring of Jewish tradition can nourish you as it nourishes me.

The penultimate section of this work is a suggested spiritual practice based on the kabbalistic imaging of the Divine, brought to life in the Jewish calendar by the springtime ritual known as sefirat ha’omer. This section can be read as theology or enjoyed alone as a roadmap for contemplative spiritual practice.

In addition to poems and meditations, I share with you here the journey of my becoming, a work still in progress. I do so inspired by the most fundamental Jewish insight that guides our works of law and lore: all things have their story. Only by knowing the story of the thing can we hope to understand it. Law does not stand alone. Prayer does not stand alone. Truth does not stand alone. These things are embedded in story, and so I share mine with you. I hope one day, I can hear yours.

Blessings of Peace,

Rabbi Sara Brandes

Magical World     

Stories, Reflections, Poems

"Bring your whole heart and your whole soul to Me.

For, these instructions that I am commanding you today, they are not too wondrous for you and they are not far away from you.

They are not in the heavens, that you might say ‘Who will go up there to the heavens and bring them down to us, so that we might know them and do them?’

They are not across the sea from you, that you might say, ‘Who can cross the sea for us and bring them to us, that we might know them and do them?’

No.

The matter is very close to you.

It is in your mouths and in your hearts."

—Deuteronomy 30:11-14

Womb 

My earliest memory takes place in the sprawling backyard of my childhood home. There, I would explore, wild and free amidst the towering pine trees. There, I would flip and twirl, practicing my gymnastics, and there, I would play for hours with my imaginary friend. Her name was Juki. She lived in a world of imaginary friends, a world I was aware of, in touch with, and gained pleasure from encountering. We would have long, drawn-out conversations, sometimes in English and sometimes in her language, which I now do not recall. When I think back to that time in my life, I can feel myself sitting with Juki, though I can no longer see her, even in my memory.

A beautiful story is told in the Babylonian Talmud¹ about the experience of the infant in the womb. The Talmud recalls:

Rabbi Simlai taught: What does an embryo resemble when it is in the uterus of its mother? ... A light burns above its head and it looks and sees from one end of the world to the other, as it is said, then [God’s] lamp shined above my head, and by [God’s] light I walked through darkness. And do not be surprised, for a person sleeping here might see a dream in Spain. And there is no time in which one enjoys greater happiness than in those days…[The embryo] is also taught all the Torah from beginning to end... As soon as it sees the light (of the birth canal), an angel approaches, taps it on its mouth and causes it to forget all the Torah completely.

                     —Babylonian Talmud, Niddah 30b

We walk through this world with a veil of illusion draped over our eyes, depriving us of knowledge and perspective that once was ours. As a child, it seems I was able to lift that veil and to interact with the world beyond it. In kindergarten, I must have forgotten how.

The Real World

I want to live in the real world.

In a world where everything is real.

Real Spoon.

Real Chair.

Real Light.

Real Air.

We’ve gone too far, this race of ours. 

  Toward faster and better and more.

We’ve raced past the real

  to the other than…

Where we touch,

  but not one another.

Where we look,

  but not at each other.

Where we are but virtually there.

I want to live in the world that is real.

Real spoon. Real chair.

Real friend, real care.

Real day, real night.

Real light. Real air.

God Wrestlers

The holiness of the Jewish people is that we are Yisra-El, the people who wrestle with God. Our historical memory extends back more than 5,000 years. Our memories recall our struggles—our cosmic dance with God.

We