So what does this have to do with Kabbalah? What does anything have to do with Kabbalah? In fact, what is Kabbalah?
Well, as we know, if one walks into a bookstore today, they will be confronted with a whole row of ‘Kabbalah’ books. Many of them purport to be the authentic source of the ancient wisdom. There’s ‘Madonna’s Kabbalah’, the ‘Kabbalah of Sex’, ‘Kabbalah and Pastrami’, you name it, and someone wrote it. Websites abound. Whole city blocks are dedicated to Kabbalah. It’s beautiful and amazing. But with all this, how does one truly find their ‘way’ to authentic, “kosher”, Kabbalah?
I certainly do not have personal access to the ‘source’, or can I show anyone the correct “way”. Kabbalah, for me, remains ‘an endless mystery’. Therefore, in our ‘interactive’ journey, we’ll stick with the great masters and source books written throughout time, (which I will always quote and list). And now, in the tradition of my ancestors, I’ve somehow managed to pose two not so simple questions.
1. What is Kabbalah? Kabbalah is from the Hebrew word “Mikabel” which means, ‘to receive’. “It is the secret knowledge of the unwritten Torah, (aka the Bible, Five Books of Moses, ‘Old Testament’, or the Greek, ‘Septuagint’), that was communicated by G-d and received by Moshe (Moses) and Adam and was “transmitted” to the wisest and saintliest sages of each generation.” The Torah and Kabbalah are inseparable. Kabbalah is the soul, the inner meaning of all creation, the knowledge that everything here on this planet has layers and layers of spiritual equivalents and meaning. Simple, right?
2. How do we find our way to authentic Kabbalah? From a TV show/webisodic series? Not necessarily the usual place to derive such information. However, I propose that our show “Small Miracles” can serve as a platform to launch our Kabbalistic exploration. Do we want you to watch the show? Yes! Does it work as just wonderful entertainment? Yes again! But I can promise the following: Our company, 26Entertainment focuses only on “Media that Inspires.” Our very name is a dedication to G-d using the Kabbalah’s deep Spiritual Hebrew number/letter system called Gematria.
Each story, from the wonderful books to our show is told straight from the heart (a very important ‘organ’ in Kabbalah, “Lev” in Hebrew). Each episode is a true account about miracles that happen in everyday life, or what Mr. Webster and I define as “divine intervention”. Not only will we discuss the meanings, source, and ramifications of these miracles, but “Small Miracles”, from the first frame and note of the opening, credits, through each episode, used the tools of creative mass media, to bring down a show shot in a beautiful invocative style, layered with audio and visual meanings (both intentional and ‘unintentional’). An anecdote on that:
Years ago in another life, when I was Paul Mones, I ‘starred’ in an ABC TV series with Patrick Swayze (G-d bless him). However, on one episode, we had the pleasure of being directed by an older British gentleman named Don Chaffey. Mr. Chaffey had directed one of my favorite, cutting edge special effects films (with FX legend Ray Harryhausen), “Jason and the Argonauts”, and the still cult favorite TV series ‘The Prisoner’.
Chaffey and I hit it off and used to talk late into the night about film. The one moment I recall best was when we were speaking of the enigmatic, still scrutinized show, “The Prisoner.” When I asked Mr. Chaffey about the abounding symbolism of the show, he responded: “Symbolism? We had no money and no time to shoot the show. If a cat wandered into the scene I had to just keep shooting. They spend hours and hours in Harvard film classes today discussing the symbolism of that cat. It symbolized we were desperate to finish the show!”
Mr. Chaffey well knew, and I learned, that even regarding that stray cat, everything happens for a Reason. From the seemingly random leaf blowing in the wind - to paraphrase the Baal Shem Tov very very loosely, to world events. So along with the carefully planned shots, sets, music, acting etc., ‘Small Miracles’ is filled with spontaneous moments worth noting, that just ‘happened’. (a definition of “coincidence” is its G-d’s way of staying anonymous.)
On another note, “Small Miracles” hopes to be a spiritual antidote for much of the mass media today, which seems aligned with the ‘sitra achra’ (the ‘dark side’). Wisdom says this pollutes consciousness and this world with images of darkness and fear. Whereas we attempted to create something new (a ‘chiddush’), a show to be spiritually re-invigorating, to help us all open our eyes to the miracles that abound all around us at every moment.
It is with this intention that I am proposing we launch an almost pragmatic (if there is such a thing) Kabbalistic journey, using the semi-controllable micro/macrocosm of “Small Miracles”, all the while acquiring the tools and language of Kabbalah to the best of our abilities. In simple words, let’s watch “Small Miracles” together and talk about all the nuances and meaning (if you see any), on our Website Blog and G-d willing I publish a corresponding flow of articles informed by your input and offering our deeper and deeper understanding of Kabbalah. We have the opportunity to inspect and interpret something from the ‘language of the heart’, the organ in Kabbalah which is the ‘King to the Soul’. (As discussed in the seminal Sefer Yetzirah, The ‘Book of Creation’ which is said to have been brought thousands of years ago by Abraham. The very popular modern New Age Self Help author, Gary Zukav, has made a very big business out of his series, “Seat of the Soul”).
