From Above the Clouds--The Authentic Spirit

“Any love that depends on a specific cause, once the cause is gone, the love is gone, but any love that does not depend on specific cause, that love will last forever.” (Ethics 5:16)

This Jewish principle extracted from Perkie Avot (Ethics of our Foreparents), guides us to seek purpose in our actions so that we constantly live in a state of questioning. “For what do I do, and for Whom do I do? Do I live a life of truth and honesty? Where do my intentions lye? Do I do for a specific rhyme or reason, or because it is the most real me? This maxim also suggests that the opposite of such may lead to the consequence of fleeting, unyielding fruit of inauthentic relationships—to the other, self or environ.

When questioning, we may be confronted with the reality that alterior motives do in fact guide many of my actions and many breaths are cast with Tohu VaVohu, the clear and unclear, the real and the fake, the genuine and the ingenuine. So when that moment comes, it is our responsibility to seek out our inner compass and ask, where does my most authentic self lye and how do I awaken him (her)?

From Above the Clouds-June 19^th, 2014:

Today, right now, I stand restless at the back of a 747 airliner after nearly travelling for an entire day. With 19 hours in the air and 2 hours in London, standing seems like the only viable option. As I stare at the screen, and the plane icon slowly passes my more frequented destination of Israel, I am reminded that this journey is not about my roots as a Jew, but as a person. Because as a person I know how to sing, laugh, and cry; as a person I fear and I long for connection. With the many struggles I will bare witness to, from heart to heart, I only hope I can be human: pulsing, emotive and authentic.

As I begin my journey, and as I bring you, the reader, on this journey with me, I only hope I can be authentic, that I can bring a love that is natural and does not depend on any specific cause. A love that can be nurtured for the children I serve, or the Jews I will join with; a love more precious then fools gold—all because I know, it does not depend on a specific cause other than authenticity.