COUNT the OMER: April 2010

COUNT THE SEPHIRAT HaOMER
Joyously Prepare for 49 Days

with
Joy Krauthammer

My personal art-filled Omer Counting:
http://sephirathaomer.blogspot.com

"Each day of the Omer period is associated with a different aspect of the Sephirot. And on that day, everything which every-one in the whole world is talking about is purely an expression of that special aspect with which that day is associated. A person with understanding can hear and recognize this if s/he pays attention to what people are saying." - Reb Nachman of Breslov (1773-1810)

"You shall count for yourselves -- from the morrow of the rest day, from the day when you bring the omer of the waving -- seven weeks, they shall be complete. Until the morrow of the seventh week you shall count fifty days; and you shall offer a new meal-offering to God." - Leviticus 23:15-16

Omer Counting begins 16 Nisan

COUNT THE SEPHIRAT HaOMER
~ Joyously Prepare for 49 Days

Kabbalistic Spiritual workshop
In preparation for Passover
with Joy Krauthammer & Rabbi Miriam Hamrell

Ahavat Torah Congregation
Shabbos, March 30, April 13, April 20
9 am-9:45 a.m. Please be on Joy Time / early.
and stay for 10 a.m. Shabbat services (held every week)
Bring your favorite Omer Calendar.

343 Church Lane, L.A. 90049
(also home of the Village Lutheran Church)
http://www.ahavattorahla.org
No free. Bring a friend. 310-362-1111 Free parking in lot.
(Chapel located 5 blocks south of Sunset Blvd., adjacent to West side of 405 Freeway.)

~
March 18

offered by Joy Krauthammer

Count the Omer AJU WINTER 2012 course # 12WD7J81

In preparation for Passover and Counting the Omer, JOY KRAUTHAMMER offers the Kabbalistic spiritual workshop, Count the Sephirat HaOmer ~ Joyously Prepare for 49 Days.

The verbal Counting of the Sefirat HaOmer 49 days ritual provides a personal preparation time from Pesach (Exodus) to ready for Shavuot (giving of the Torah). With awareness, introspection, contemplation, expansion, transcendence, and transformation, we travel on a spiritual journey to refine and elevate our soul from enslavement to liberation, and to revelation, and to gain a deeper understanding of G*d’s realm and our connection.

We examine our own psyche, character, and holiness B’Tzelem Elokim, in the image of Hashem’s attributes, using Kabbalah’s Tree of Life Sephirot (Divine Emanations). According to Torah (Lev. 23:15) we have the mitzvah to count the days from Passover to Shavuot, and say blesSings. We explore the seven weeks of Sephirot, counted in pairs. We utilize the 49 steps to personal refinement according to Jewish tradition.

We can better “Serve G*d With Joy” following the Sephirat HaOmer Counting season. In Light and greater awakening of G*dly attributes of the Sephirot, by receiving energies from the entire Kabbalistic Tree of Life, Eitz Chayim – we understand more deeply our soul. An American Jewish University (AJU), MBA, Joy offers teachings for our sacred selves on the secret strategy of SWOT, and “Serving G*d With Joy.”

Please bring your favorite Omer counting book and current year's Omer calendar, and any Omer counter. Recommended is Rabbi Simon Jacobson’s book, The Spiritual Guide to The Counting of the Omer.

Count “1 Omer” begins on the second night of Pesach, 16 Nisan. We utilize the 49 steps to personal refinement according to Jewish tradition. We can better “Serve G*d With Joy” following the Sephirat HaOmer Counting season. (Celebrate yourself in the joyous month of Adar to prepare for Iyar and Sivan.)

Joy Krauthammer MBA

Joy Krauthammer, “Serves G*d With Joy” as a passionate performing percussionist, poet, photographer, publisher of “Joyous Chai Lights”, publicist, sound healer, spiritual guide, gardener, visual artist, Gemini, and formerly as a NY medical social worker. In LA’s Jewish Renewal to neo-Chassidic, and Feminist worlds, Joy studies Torah, teaches, and kabbalistically leads women’s life-cycle and healing rituals. She directed the synagogue education consortium Jewish Women’s World, and AJU’s Timbrels of Miriam. In addition, as a musician she leads AJU’s Open to Wonder Band, Kindred Spirits, and presents annually at Wagner Women’s Shabbaton, Remo’s Women’s Drum Day, UCLArtsandHealing conferences, and Aleph’s Kallah.

http://sephirathaomer.blogspot.com

"To be in Joy’s presence is a joy, and to hear her teachings is to uplift your heart and spirit."

- Rabbi Judith HaLevy, Senior Rabbi, Malibu Jewish Center & Synagogue, President, Board of Rabbis of Southern California.
"Joy Krauthammer is a deep teacher -- multidimensional. It is a joyous experience to learn with Joy and receive awakening on many levels of awareness."

 - Rabbi Toba August, Lev Eisha; Makom Ohr Shalom, Professor - Academy of Jewish Religion, LA  

"Joy Krauthammer is a talented person who was privileged to play with Debbie Friedman, z’l, and Reb Shlomo Carlebach z’l, and be a part of their messages of love through music to the entire world. Joy is a Jewish woman who cares deeply about her people and all of humanity, and tries to provide the means for uplifting the spirit through her ecstatic drumming and timbrels. Her heart is as wide as the ocean, and when she plays she plays for the Glory of G*d, as it says in the Psalms."

- Reb Hesha Abrams, Dallas, Texas

"Joy is Double Joy and Light." 

- Reb Shlomo Carlebach, zt'l, of blessed memory

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Omer Art

by Joy Krauthammer

~ ~ ~

Joy of Counting the Omer

For a workshop with Joy, http://www.count-the-omer.blogspot.com/ , please see FaceBook or leave a COMMENT below, or write joyofwisdom1 @ gmail.com . (Delete the spaces surrounding the @.)

It makes sense to me that I, Joy, wanting to succeed, am creating and publishing this Count the Omer site on the Kabbalistic Sephirat HaOmer Malchut sh b'Netzach, Omer day 28.

The day of Malchut holds all the energies in the Kingdom that came before through the six prior Sephirot vessels; thus today I can manifest within all this mamash / truly holy energy. This fourth week of (sh b') Netzach is going forward in joyful endurance. With all the contained Omer energy, I can create from the foundation, for a new workshop in a place of fullness and presence where Shechina reigns, and offer it 'officially' to the universe. Yesterday in Yesod / foundation, I was preparing to birth "Count the Omer" and today I feel and know it is time to give it awakening in the universe.

May you be blessed with miracles in holy vessels to receive and hold with Emunah / faith the downward Sefirotic flow from the Infinite. May you be able through your conscious Omer Counting and purifications of blemishes, to transform darkness, struggle, bitterness, tears and mitzrayim / narrow places, into balanced freedom and joy and welcome all the Sephirot into your being, to cleanse you / as a mikveh, and in joy, to welcome sustaining waters of life, Torah, especially at Shavuot.

My goal with the workshop is to help others who want to understand an introduction to the Sephirot, and be able to mamash, meaningfully, Kabbalistically Count the Omer for 49 days within seven weeks, from 2nd day Pesach to Shavuot. With the counting, I hope that participants can integrate the understanding and subtle actions of Sephirot into their life. The knowledge is useful every day, as we become more consciously aware of our attributes, relationships and inter-connectedness on the Tree of Life. I love sharing intuitive guidance with people to become more spiritually attuned on their paths, just as I learn from my beloved teachers. G*d calls to me, and I try to listen, as I "Serve G*d With Joy." - Psalm 100:2

In workshop we explore the Sephirot and examine their integration for our Four Worlds: Spirit, Mind, Heart and Body. Participants at home Count at night and do the daily purification work of Counting.

For over two decades (since at least 1990) I have been blessed to seriously study Kabbalah and Sephirot with my many Jewish teachers here in the US and in Israel, and through good Jewish books, and wisdom-filled internet sites, and I continue to do so, especially at this time of the Counting of the Omer. One of the first best books I studied was Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan's "InnerSpace" because my teacher at the time recommended it. In 1990, a teacher who finally allowed females in his class, Sephardic Syrian rabbi, Fred Dweck, z'l, advised me not to read on my own, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz' "13 Petalled Rose - Discourse on the Essence of Jewish Existence and Belief." I didn't listen, read it while in Bali, and that book truly was a catalyst for my transcendence and part of my transformation. (Later I was thrilled when I was hired to be a part-time Public Relations consultant for author, Rabbi Steinsaltz, and also meditated (in Hebrew and French) in Jerusalem with the translator of the book, Yehuda Hanegbi. All these relationships have me feel more connected.)

My first teacher from over two decades ago, with whom I still learn, Baruch Hashem, is Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (author, and founder of Aleph). I love dancing the Sephirot, guided by Reb Zalman. I now paint, photograph, digitalize, and write my connection to the Sephirot. I had studied for a decade in Sarah's Tent with Rabbi Judith Halevy as we lived our Sephirot and 'Four Worlds' through many expressive mediums, telling our creative story through all the ARTS. I've studied with Breslovers, Lubavitchers, Neo-Hasids, Orthodox, and deeply with Jewish Renewal teachers through spiritual retreats. Favorite teachers in person included Reb Dovid Zeller, z"l, and Shlomo Carlebach, z"l, both of blessed memory, as well as Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum and Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh. I began study with all these rabbis over two decades ago. I once tried to make myself invisible in a corner of a room when women were not allowed in to study with Rabbi Gingsburg. Later, years ago, Rabbi Ginsburgh told me when I questioned him about my gender status, that "Since Moshiach is coming, women, too, now need to be prepared."

Through Chabad's Rabbi Eli Rivkin, I began to understand the relationship between Splendor, Thanksgiving and Humility. (I met the Lubavitch Rebbe, zt'l, in 1970 and have visited his grave.) Another current internet teacher who guides me to deep places in understanding the Tree of Life, is Rav Rahmiel Hayyim Drizin. Since 1996, I use and always recommend Rabbi Simon Jacobson's Omer book, "The Spiritual Guide to Counting the Omer". Other books over the years I also refer to, and display during workshops. I am grateful for all my resources, my large library, computer, and teachers.

I remember studying Sephirot with Rabbi Marcia Prager during a Memorial day Shabbaton, 1994, and having a hard time with "Hod" because I didn't clearly understand Hod. I'm a whole lot better now with Hod and have made good friends with Hod. A new friend sitting next to me at that retreat moment created a song of Hod, and I shook my organic shaker accompanying her song as she sang. Much of my writing takes place during Hod, and in the mode of Hod. I love Hod. I love G*d, too. That 1994 Shabbaton was transforming for me.

That spring I graduated with my Non-Profit MBA from the University of Judaism/UJ (now AJU), and included a Religion * chapter with the Sephirot in my thesis on Strategic Planning. My thesis professor stated clearly that I couldn't include "spirituality" in my MBA thesis. "Spirituality", I was informed, didn't belong in the work place. They X'ed out the chapter. I kept it in. (All three Thesis hard-bound book copies disappeared quickly from the University.) Since that time, Spirituality is the most popular topic at the UJ/AJU, including "Spirituality in the Work Place", which was what I was proposing.

The Shabbaton inspired me to begin the application process for rabbinical school with Aleph. I spent the summer with divine teachers for four weeks at Elat Chayyim, and another week each at National Havurah Institute and Omega Institute. By the time Aleph Fall classes were to begin, my husband, z'l, once again was battling metastatic brain cancer. Shortly after, Academy of Jewish Religion expressed desire to have me in their new rabbinic school. My dream died as I served G*d as Caregiver Angel Warrior. I am blessed to continue to learn with wonderful teachers, and teach Judaism, and serve as spiritual guide.

For a couple of decades, I integrate the Tree of Life into all the workshops that I offer, and share my knowledge with whom ever asks, and continue to mentor others, as I am a Simchat Chochmah ~ Joy of Wisdom wise woman. I love it that friends call me their "Shamash," as I am invited to 'light their fire'. (The light and fire of Torah is what Lag B'Omer - day 33, is about.)

Years ago I taught the president of an Orthodox synagogue to Sephirotically Count the Omer. The members had only been religiously counting with the number count of days and weeks. I explained the deeper significance of spiritually elevating their Omer counting for the sake of cleansing. The shul continues to use what I shared with them, and I feel good that they create their own Omer calendar each year, and include the blesSings for each day's combination of Sephirot.

A decade before my own study began (when I felt I was 'old' enough), I had hired Kabbalah teachers (including Lubavitchers) for Jewish Women's World, an educational consortium of synagogues, that I was directing for several years. Now I'm old enough to further my studies, and my teaching.

Enjoy my ART of Sephirat HaOmer. Kabbalistic Sephirat HaOmer Psalms of my soul--poetry, prose, art and photos, are visible on:

www.sephirathaomer.blogspot.com .

~ ~ ~

An excerpt from a note to my Reb Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen:

Dear Reb Yosef,

I think that by following the Sephirotic Counting of the Omer beginning on the second night (including the understanding Kabbalistically of the Seder plate symbols), we are more capable of accomplishing Service with justice, compassion and holiness. I don't mean just saying the counting words, and reciting the blessing, but delving deeply into what it means to me, so that I am a better person, carrying forth my mission.

BlesSings,

Joy

“So said Hashem: My firstborn child is Israel…Send out My child that he may serve Me” (Exodus 4:22,23).

You can see where my heart and soul lie in understanding the Omer counting. Hours each day, I do study Torah. *

* Pirkei Avot (which we study during the Counting of the Omer), Chapter 2, Mishnah 9-

Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai learned Torah from Hillel and Shammai. He taught: Even if you have studied a lot of Torah, do not be boastful, for that is what you were created to do.

You may contact me, Joy Krauthammer, by preferably leaving a COMMENT in the confidential COMMENT space below, or writing to me at :

joyofwisdom1 @ gmail.com . Delete the spaces surrounding the @.

I look forward to sharing sacred time together with you as we explore and climb the TREE OF LIFE.

BlesSings for spiritual elevation,

Joy Krauthammer

TREE OF LIFE ~ Sephirah Ch/Art

by Joy Krauthammer

TREE OF LIFE

Kabbalistic Sephirot

template analogy

to connect G*D's infinite world to woman and man's finite world.

* PLATT GALLERY.
Strategic Plan, To Preserve and Energize the ARTS In Los Angeles Into the 21st Century
Thesis excerpt by Joy Krauthammer, MBA 1994, page 48 (of 314)

RELIGION

It is Jewish Kabbalistic belief (inner and mystical aspect of Judaism teaching the Attributes of the Divine, the nature of the universe, and the destiny of man) that thought and action can hold you back from being the best you can be, or vice versa. The dawn of this Messianic Age is thought to be dependent on people's action.

Platt Gallery (organizations) can access spirituality and use the seven lower metaphysical Sephirot as a model for strategic planning. The Sephirot can be understood as the attributes of G*d which are used in creating a blueprint for all of existence, a conceptual model of creation. The Sephirot can be defined in terms of human experience because we, too, are cast with Divine sparks in the image of G*d. (B'Tzelem Elokim) - Genesis1:27. As Jews believing in G*d and G*d's creations, we can use the Sephirot as comunication between human beings for good management of our Jewish institutions and our world. The Sephirot are combined in pairs for a balance and harmony of energies.

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