an end to strife regarding gender and sexual orientation in our society.

I just attended an extraordinary event. Rocky Mountain Hai had a booth at Pride Fest in Denver. The event was quite exciting and illuminating. I have always thought of myself as an informed and open minded person. But I must tell you that Pride Fest was an eye-opening experience for me. As I watched the thousands of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender individuals pass by our booth and stop to chat at our booth, I noticed that they were just like everyone else. There were tall ones and short ones thin ones and thick ones, black ones and white ones. I am confused by all the fuss in this country about gay folk. Of course some were people dressed in strange and wondrous costumes (but then people have commented on my style of dress as well) but most of the participants in Pride Fest were dressed just like everyone else.

It made me stop and think. If these people dress like everyone else and speak like everyone else and hold jobs like everyone else and act like everyone else, what is all the fuss about. Why are they not part of ‘everyone else?’ Granted, their choice of loving partners is different than mine, but is that any reason for us to make such a fuss. Because you have chosen a different loving partner than I, you can’t join the military (or must keep your feelings a secret). Because you have chosen a different loving partner, you cannot be married (in most states). Because you have chosen a different loving partner, you do not have the rights and benefits that are guaranteed to other loving partners. Maybe I am slow, but I do not understand.

Democrats seem to be in favor of changing laws moving towards equality for this group of people. But though they have a winning majority in the House and in the Senate as well as a Democrat in the White House, nothing has changed. Men and women are still being thrown out of the military because of their choice of loving partners. Men and women are still being turned away from receiving licenses to marry because they are different. Why hasn’t the democratically elected Democrats ended this terrible inequality?

Republicans speak of the lofty value of individual rights, such as the right to own a hand gun, the right for government not to interfere in their businesses, the right for the wealthy to pay fewer taxes. Yet these same Republicans wish to create and enforce their personal definition of love as a matter of national law. They seek even to amend our constitution in order to interfere with the choice that a person has regarding whom s/he is allowed to love. Why do the Republican guardians of the republic wish to add another interference from our government?

Leaders of many religious groups have made decisions for their members regarding who they are allowed to love. Ok, I guess I understand that. If one joins a private organization that organization can make whatever rules it wants. One has the right to obey those rules, change the rules or leave the organization. Orthodox Jews separate men and women when praying, Catholics do not allow women to become Priests, and most Muslims require a belief in Allah and respect for the prophet Muhamed and his teachings. I get it. If I wish to be a member of any of those groups, I can either accept the rules or try to change them through peaceful means. But I shouldn’t flaunt my disagreement in their faces, in their establishments. It is just tacky. On the other hand, if I am not a member of that group, do they have a right to embarrass me, forbid me or harm me for living by my values and not theirs?

It is true that a society has to have rules by which to live. But those rules have to do with the health and safety of the people in that society. It does not have the right to dictate the personal moral beliefs of anyone or any group. It is against the law to murder, steal, lie in court or do anything to others without their consent. And, of course we must protect those who do not have, what society feels is, the ability to consent, such as minors. But that does not mean that society has the right to decide who I am allowed to love.

So, since there seems to be so much confusion, I would like to offer a solution. I have a compromise. Compromise is the art of either making everyone happy or at least comforting them with the fact that everyone else is as miserable with the solution as they are.

Here it is, my solution (trumpets please)!

The government of the United States of America and of Texas (if they have seceded by the time this is published) will cease and desist from performing or sanctioning marriage. Marriage will become the sole province of private organizations such as religions and such groups formed that are Atheist (though I do not, myself believe in Atheists since there is no empirical evidence of their existence. All evidence of their existence is anecdotal. But I digress).

The government of the United State will be authorized to issue commitment contracts. Any number of consenting adults of the same species may apply and will receive such a contract. That contract will give them all of the secular, legal rights that are afforded now to people holding a license to marry. The contract can be cancelled by agreement of the parties as provided within the contract according to contract law.

It is simple really, we turn the secular marriage into what it is, a contract between individuals. The details of such a contract can be worked out by the parties, mediators and lawyers. We can even have a waiting period as we do with licenses to own guns (oh, wait we don’t have that, sorry, never mind).

But what, I hear you ask, about the sanctity of marriage. The answer is quite obvious. We take that out of the hands of government, because our government is not in the sanctity business. We put the sanctity of marriage in the hands of the religious groups. Muslims may sanctify marriage for Muslims, Christians for Christians, Jews for Jews; well you get what I mean. Atheists will be able create a marriage with some anti-sanctity ceremony. I will leave them to work that out. Interfaith marriages can be worked out by the faiths involved. Some Buddhist and Hindu clergy will perform ceremonies between Buddhists and Hindus and some won’t. People will just have to look for the right clergy person or persons for their personal needs..

The government will do what it does best; make secular laws protecting the welfare of the people without infringing on their personal manifestations. Religion will speak to the spiritual aspirations and religious beliefs of their particular groups. Problem solved. Gay people, straight people, people of more color, people of less color, left handed and right handed, people who talk funny, people who talk like me, all will be equal under the law, at least when it comes to marriage.

Problem solved. Next, the Middle East…

Tamuzing in the Kabbalah

The Month of Tamuz














An interpretation influenced by the Kabbalistic teachings of Sefer Yetzirah

Tamuz is the fourth of the twelve months of the Jewish calendar.

Tamuz begins the summer season. The three months of this season, Tamuz, Av and Elul, correspond to the three tribes Reuben, Simeon and Gad who were situated on the south side of the Ohel Mo’ed (the Tent of Sacred Meeting).

According to tradition, Tamuz is the month of the misstep of the golden calf, which resulted in Moshe breaking the Tablets that some call the ‘10 commandments’. The 17th of Tamuz, which is given as the date of that infidelity, marks the beginning of the three week period of mourning (ending on the 9th of Av) destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

This is also the month in which the spies sent by Moses traveled through the land of Israel to see it and report to the people. They returned, we are taught, on the eve of the 9th of Av.

Letter: Het.

The form of the letter Het in Torah script is made up of the two previous letters of the Alef Bet, the Vahv and the Zayin connected from above by a thin angled line (^) a bridge joining the two letters into one. The sense associated with Tammuz is sight. In relationship to this, the form of the Het represents the dynamic of incoming light to the eye, which is how we see and the emanation of spiritual light from the eye. We have all observed people who have ‘an intense gaze’. We have met people with some ineffable quality that we see in their eyes. This is the Vahv the spirit light emanating. And our eyes, in the process of observing is represented by the Zayin.

The word Tamuz can be separated into the first two letters which spell "tam" meaning ‘completed (or connected)’ and the last two letters, vahv and zayin which together form the letter Het. Tamuz then is the joining of incoming light and outgoing light. The seeing which is a physical function and the spreading of light, whose source is the spirit. Het is also the first letter of Haet which means sin, or more accurately, missing the mark. Tammuz marks the beginning of a time of many mistakes, missteps, missed marks and missed opportunities, including the Golden Calf and the fearful, faithless report of the spies. Indeed, the Rabbis of old have taught that the destruction of the Temple was due to another Haet, the unjust way that Jews treated Jews. And tradition has dumped all of these moments into the month of Tamuz.

Mazal: Sartan (Cancer, the crab).

One of the meanings of the root of Sartan is seret; a ribbon or "strip," and in Modern Hebrew, a movie or film strip.

One spiritual understanding of the sense of sight which Tamuz represents is the ability to "see through" the mundane everyday aspects of reality and to behold a deeper spiritual reality. In accordance with this thought, the word sartan can be seen as being composed of two words; ‘sar’ and ‘tan’ which can be read as: "remove the mud". We clean away the mud, clear the surface and discover a deeper reality, a divine reality. Hidden in our deepest sadness, our worst failures are the seeds of our spiritual growth, if only we can see through the tears and behold and grab hold of the spiritual opportunity within.

Tribe: Reuben.

The name Reuben can be separated into Reu and ben or “see what is worthy," and that is the deeper meaning of the month of Tamuz. This month of tragedy, of tragic mistakes of judgment, jars our reality and challenges us to see what is truly worthy.

Sense: sight.

Moshe points to that deeper seeing that is available to us. When he quotes G as saying: (Deuteronomy 11:26): "See, I give before you today blessing and curse; and again (Deuteronomy 30:15-19): "See, I have put before you today life and good, and death and evil... chose life." Moshe is offering us a discerning vision of our own seeing. In order to see truly, we have to look deeper than the surface dimension of reality and focus upon reality's profound essence. As written above Tamuz offers a deeper vision, a more meaningful sight than that which lies upon the surface.


Controller: right hand

The right hand, in general, and the index finger, in particular, serves as a pointer, a director of one's eyesight. When reading the Torah scroll, it is a custom to point at every word with a pointer, called a yad (literally ‘hand’).

In traditional Jewish weddings the ring is on the index finger of the bride's right hand. This is an act of focus, a pointer for truly seeing, for seeing truly. It elevates the moment and the couple to the level of looking deeply within. It is the intense expression of love shared by the deep seeing, the never ceasing gaze of the eyes from one to the other; "your eyes are as doves," (Song of Songs 5:12).

But lest we forget, the hand pointing should not be the focus of our attention. The pointer points. The pointer points to the deeper realities of life and the heights of existence. But if we focus on the pointer we will miss all of that heavenly glory.

Sivan, the magic seven, finding the path.

The Month of Sivan

Sivan is the third of the twelve months of the Jewish calendar. The month of the giving of the Torah to Israel.

Letter: zayin.

Sivan is the third month of the year. 3 is a powerful number. It is a number representing balance, for to make something stand we need 3 points on the ground (a tripod). G gave the tripod of Torah, Neviem, and Ketuvim to a tripod of tribes, Kohanim, Leviim and Yisraelim in the third month, Sivan by three leaders Moshe, Aharon, and Miriam." And yet the number most associated with Sivan, because it is the most found in Torah is the number 7 or Zayin.

The Torah was given on Shabbat, the seventh day of the week. According to Rabbi Yosi, the Torah was given on the seventh day of Sivan. Zivebulun, the tribe of Sivan, begins with the letter zayin.

There are many traditional identifications with zayin. The sages identify the zayin with the word zeh (‘this’), signifying "the transparent plane", that unique level of prophesy given to Moshe, as it says, Moshe saw G “face to face!” (Deut. 34:10) My translation would be that “Moshe got a hit of G’s essence.” Oh and by the way, according to tradition, Moshe was born and passed away on the seventh of Adar which is the 12th month of the year. Zayin + Hey (the word ‘Zeh’, ‘this’) = 12.

The Torah-portions of the month of Sivan are from the beginning of the Book of BaMidbar (Numbers) which means “In the wilderness.” In the third Parsha or portion of BaMidbar, B’Ha'alotcha, there is a very strange occurrence. There are 2 verses which is separated from the Torah text that precedes it and that follows it by two "upside-down nuns" (Bamidbar 10:35, 36). Our sages taught that the purpose of the Nuns (the letter not the women in black habits) was to divide the Torah into seven books, instead of five. The proof text used is from Proverbs, regarding wisdom: "She carved her pillars seven." (Proverbs 9:1). If we take the 7 of this drash and 5 for the normally counted books of Torah we find zayin (7) and hei (5) which spell zeh, that unique level of prophesy that Moshe attained.

Even the shape has power for us. The shape of the letter zayin is a vav with a crown on top. This could play out as 6 days of creation for the vav and the crown being Shabbat. Or, to play the Gematria game, the number of letters in the Asert HaDibrot (called The Ten Commandments) is 620 which = keter, "crown."

Mazal: teomim (Gemini--twins).

The twins refer to the “Two table of the covenant" as we sing in Seders, referring again to the Asert HaDibrot (Ten commandments).

That moment at Sinai when we accepted the covenant is a symbolic wedding between the Jewish people and G. The giving of the Torah to Israel like the Ketubah, the wedding contract. In the Song of Songs (5:2), the highest level of marriage is referred to as bride and groom being identical twins (tamati, which our sages read teomati).

The archetypal twins of the Torah are, Jacob and Esau. These twins opposites, the Yin and Yang of brothers. Jacob represents the Yetzer HaTov the creative positive while Esau represents the Yetzer HaRah the creative negative. We are commanded to love G-d "with all of your heart" and the word heart is written with 2 vets instead of one. The Rabbis interpreted that to mean with both creative aspects of our heart. In the two tables of the covenant, one side addresses the relationship between the human and G and the other relates to societal laws, again the Yin and Yang of life.

Tribe: Zevulun.

Zevulun is commonly pictured as the "worldly one," who supports the Torah study of his scholarly brother, Isaachar. In Kabbalah cause is said to have a higher power than effect. The Arizal explains therefore, that the origin of the soul of Zevulun is in Keter (the highest emanation or above the emanations), and the soul of Isaachar, is in Hochmah below it.

Sense: walking (progress, dynamic).

Here, "walking" means the sense of continuous, ongoing progress. The word Halacha is usually translated as law but in reality it comes from the word for walking and means “the path,” or “the way to go.” Our sages interpret the verse: "the walkings of the world are to Him" (Habakuk 6:4), that he who studies halacha daily will surely merit the world to come. We might put it differently, the person who carefully examines his path will find that it leads to the heights in the world to come.


Controller: left foot.

With regard to any pair of "right" and "left," according to Jewish tradition, the "right" is relatively "spiritual" while the "left" is relatively "physical." In the words of the Lubavither Rebbe in a work called Bati L’Gani (the title comes from a quote from Song of Songs: (I entered my garden”) "He stretched out His right hand and created the heavens and stretched out His left hand and created the earth." So the left foot refers to the physical act of feet which is walking.