Kavvanah

Spirituality is of the utmost importance in my life and I strive to know it perpetually. This has become easier over the years, which is to say I have to work at it less to feel it more. In my youth Nature took precedence when looking for that "thing", in fact I have felt, and still feel HaMakom in Nature on an acute level. From Nature I progressed to meditation focused on the Universe. Useful, though I always felt there was something more. For me, I experience HaMakom on the deepest level while living aware of the ordinary. For instance, watching in awe as my shy, 8 year-old son Quinn jumped up on the table in front of 19 people during Pesach to tell in his words both literally and metaphorically the story of Exodus (יציאת מצרים). My daughter Sofia, as she put on her Tallit for the first time, standing tall, shoulders back, eyes fixed, understanding she was proud to be a Jew. My wife Janna as she laughs. Standing as a family within a family at Or Ami while singing the Shema. Yes, I find living in the moment, catching the little things and appreciating them as they happen are my most profound moments. I also find that my deepening sense of what it means to be a Jew has brought me to this place.