by Ariel Ben Avraham. Shalom, dear friends and HAPPY NEW YEAR 5772! In the last year and a half of this blog we have been sharing about Love as the material manifestation of God’s Love, and as our Essence.Starting with parshat Bereshit next month, we are going to approach this Essence from a new dimension to face the times that we are about to experience in the coming year. The messages in the book “God as Love”, as well as our commentaries in blog will be the foundation to approach this new dimension.

They are and will be references for
regular and new readers interested in knowing and living Love as our true identity. Needless to say, your impressions, opinions, doubts and questions are always welcome. I take the opportunity to share with you a heartfelt tribute to women in Judaism In the heavenly fields of the Lord there are two classrooms, one for women souls and one for men souls, and He is the Teacher in both. The course that He teaches lasts one year, and the final exam takes place in the Earth and throughout a lifetime. It is not a final exam that may take only an hour, but the entire life.

   

The year-long study in the heavenly classrooms is about the Torah and the Commandments, and the way we implement them in the material world during our lifetime as Jews.In the women’s classroom, all the students without exception got an A+ in all the weekly quizzes given by the Teacher throughout the school year. The Teacher was very happy and pleased with them, and at the end of the course He gathered them around Him, and told them: ‘You are my best students. I have seen that you are not only smart but totally committed to My Torah and My Commandments, and I am not the only One who confirms this but My Torah, the writings of My beloved Kings, Prophets and Sages, as well as the history of My People throughout the centuries.

I am so pleased with you all, that you deserve to be exempt from the final exam.’ After hearing these words, the women were so happy that they started to celebrate and danced around their Teacher, singing praises and exultations in His honor.The next day, the Teacher went to the men’s classroom and in a circumspect mood addressed them in this way: ‘Among all of you, I see that the best students are the Kohanim and the Levites. All of them got A+ in all the weekly quizzes and became the “honor students”. The Tribes of Joseph, Judah and Benjamin followed with an A, and the rest of the Tribes shared B, C, D, and F; and most of the underachievers among the Tribe of Shimon. My expectations from all of you were to get A+, but I can see that it did not happen. Then He addressed the Levites, and asked them how they achieved such excellence with their grades. They said, ‘Because we are smarter than the rest’; and the Kohanim added, ‘And more committed, too’. The rest of the students yelled at them saying, ‘How dare you to call us less smart than you? What make you think that you are better than us? In the eyes of the Teacher we all are the same! Besides, we all study as much and understand everything the Teacher says!’ Then, the Kohanim replied, ‘Well, you may be smart as well but it is clear that you are not committed enough!’

The Teacher asked the whole classroom to be quiet, and He said: ‘I am aware that you all will not get me the A+ that I want in the final exam, but I will be pleased if, at least, you pass the test even with a D-. What matters to me is that you all pass the test, and it should matter to you, too. I am also aware that you need help from those who got the best grades’, and He turned His eyes to the Levites and Kohanim who said, ‘Teacher, we can appeal to their intelligence and wit, but not to their commitment to Your Teachings because it is an issue related to their free will. We can’t force them to make a choice that is entitled to them. For that they will need more help. Our teaching and guidance may not be enough, as You will understand.’

The Teacher closed His eyes and the classroom was in a deep silence. After a few long seconds, He opened the eyes and said: ‘I shall give you the helpers that you will need to study My Torah and fulfill My Commandments while you live on Earth. Tomorrow we will have a general meeting in the open field, and I will make My announcement.

The next morning there were two groups gathered in the field, the women on the left, the men on the right, and the Teacher in the middle. Both men and women were looking at each other, like trying to find their soul mates among them. It was happening one after the other, knowing that they will be united in marriage when the time would come. The Teacher looked at them with His infinite Love and kindness, and told them:

‘I will share with you some very good news. First of all, with all My heart I congratulate the women for their individual and collective excellence throughout the year in their studies of My Torah and My Commandments. All of them got A+, and because of that they deserved to be exempt from the final exam.’ Some crying sighs were heard among the women, and the Teacher looked at them and asked, ‘Why are you sad and crying? You must be rejoiced, because you have demonstrated that you are, and will be always with Me, and this is true to Me as it is for you. You are and will be always by My side, then be happy and rejoice!’ There was one woman who asked the Teacher, ‘If we are exempt, does that mean that we are not going to Earth as part of the final exam?’ The Teacher replied, ‘Indeed, you do not need to go to Earth to prove your loyalty and committed to My Torah and My Commandments. However, I must tell you that the men in the other classroom did not get your grades in the quizzes throughout the year, and actually some failed many of them. This means that I am not completely sure about sending them to take the final test, because I don’t want them to fail. I want all of them to pass, even with the minimum passing grade. They don’t have the faithfulness and devotion of the Levites and Kohanim, neither the women’s. Therefore, I want to ask all the women here if they want to help the men here to pass the final exam.

The women looked at each other, and then looked at the men on the other side of the field. They looked at each other, and the men asked, ‘Do you want to help us going through a lifetime of Torah study and fulfillment of all the Commandments that our Teacher taught us? Would you be our helpers in the adversity of the material illusions in the world? Would you help us living in the Truth of the Teacher moment to moment, day by day, year by year, until we complete His exam assigned to us? Would you?’ All the women in the heavenly field responded with a unanimous ‘Yes!’

The Teacher smiled and blinked His eye to the women, and He told them quietly in their ears, ‘Always keep in your heart that you are beside Me, that I listen to you first, that I hear your prayers and praises first, and that I fulfill your requests first than from anybody else. Remember this, because you are exempt, and as I said to you before, that means that you already are by My side.

Only the women in the heavenly field heard these words of the Teacher in an invisible dialogue that the men in the field could not hear. The women said to Him, ‘If we are exempt to study the Torah as commanded to men, then we need Commandments in order to live on Earth and to help them fulfill their part.’ The Teacher said, ‘As I said earlier, I will listen to you first and this means that, through your prayers, I will give you the assistance that you may need in your Commandments to help your men. Also, light the Shabbat candles to illuminate your homes, bake the challah to renew My Covenant with you, your men and your children, and most of all give birth to children who will honor My Name. When the men forget My Covenant, you will remind them and your children of this alliance that will keep us united forever.’

About Me

Ariel Ben Avraham

Haifa, Southern Galilee, Israel

Ariel Ben Avraham (f. Zapata) was born in Cartagena, Colombia in 1958. After studying Cultural Anthropology in Bogotá moved to Chicago in 1984 where he worked as a television writer, reporter and producer for 18 years. In the 1990’s he produced video documentaries related to art, music, history and culture such as “Latin American Trails: Guatemala” distributed by Facets.org. Most of his life he studied ancient spiritual traditions and mysticism of major religions, understanding the mystic experience as the individual means to connect with Divinity. Since 2004 he studies and writes about Jewish mysticism and spirituality mainly derived from the Chassidic tradition, and the practical philosophy of the teachings of Jewish mystic Sages. The book “God as Love” is the compilation of his last years studying and learning Jewish mysticism, and the messages of the book are part of the content, exercises and processes of a series of seminars, lectures and retreats that he facilitates in Israel.