The Grateful Dead

This is a tag I made (tweeked on) to match a GD lunchbox I found at Big Lots for my cousin John, the Deadhead from Hollywood. I filled it w/mini Jack Daniel's bottles and a gift certificate from Tower Records. I still gotta run out and buy a gift for his cat Bianca.

One of my weekly Kabbalah emails I recieved is also titled, "The Grateful Dead": We all have moments when we don’t know if we can go on. Whether it’s a personal crisis or simply worrying in bed during the wee hours of the morning, we feel as if we’ve reached the end of the line.

It is during these moments we need to call out to the souls of those who have passed before us. Specifically, to the souls of the righteous.

I am sitting in a hotel in Warsaw, Poland, as I write this tune-up. My parents and I are living out one of our lifelong dreams of speaking to Kabbalah students throughout Europe. Europe is like Disneyland for a kabbalist, as many of our ancestors studied and revealed their greatest secrets in this land.

In the short time here, we’ve visited the burial sites of the Baal Shem Tov, Rav Elimelech of Lizhensk and a dozen other tzadiks (righteous people) I’ve referenced in my books and previous tune-ups.

Now, you might be wondering why we’re visiting graveyards.

What happens when a person dies? The Zohar explains that metaphorically they reach the other side of a glass door where they realize that death is not the big deal we make it out to be. During its lifetime, the soul feels trapped within the confines of the body, and it longs to travel freely again. Death is its liberation.

When we speak of the soul of a righteous person, we are talking about a person who mastered their negativity and completely devoted themselves to helping others. When they die, they realize that there is no better place to help people, as they are no longer limited to helping people only in their immediate surroundings. They can be everywhere at once.

My family and I need the assistance of these souls now more than ever. Though we have a lot to be thankful for, we also have a long list of things yet to accomplish. I know I have so much left to do in this world, and I can use all the help I can get. I think we all can. We can get this help from the kabbalists who have come before us.

But change doesn’t take place in this world without desire. So we satisfy the desire by traveling a great distance to visit burial sites, which The Zohar explains is the closest we can get to a soul. And we contact the righteous by using the Hebrew letters, or lighting a candle, or quietly saying their name and asking for their support.

In this week’s Zohar portion, Abraham’s wife Sarah dies, and he purchases burial land. This location ultimately goes on to be known as the Cave of the Machpalah. The Zohar tells us that this cave is the portal between this world and the next, through which souls travel after leaving their bodies.

This is an indication to us that during this week we are able to establish a stronger connection to those other souls who have already passed on. So, if you are having trouble beating an addiction, or you are looking everywhere for your soul mate - or whatever it is that is weighing down on you - know that the righteous want to help you. Just as it gives a parent pleasure to nurture their children, it pleases the righteous to nurture us.

You can contact departed souls by scanning TheZohar or looking at the 72 Name below and talking directly (in your mind or out loud) to Rebbe Shimon or any kabbalist. And you should know that you are not limited only to the righteous. You can reach out to anybody on the other side that is close to you.

Practice this dialogue every day for the next seven days, and you will open the channels for the rest of the year. But don’t expect to hear and see lightning. Just quiet your doubt, open your heart and allow the souls to come back to life.

Remember, your eyes don’t perceive everything around you. Departed souls are standing right there in front of you, now, waiting for you. Go to them…


I am very well aware of this! I don't pray as often to some family members (fathers side) anymore cuz they think its funny to turn on my TV and radio at 2am in the morning! Grandparents are by far the best to pray to. They are always there even giving advice in dreams. I'm grateful to my grandmother for having come back to say good-bye to me/and my entire family the week after she passed because I know now that there is an afterlife. One person I haven't seemed to be able to contact is a childhood family friend, David, from Washington~Mercer Island who commited suicide 2 years ago. I think I'm going to visit his grave and pray for him. It's a Jewish cemetery so I wonder if I'd be able to decorate there. In the early 90's I also was haunted by recurring dreams of a grade school friend of mine being ran over and killed by a car. I later ran into a mutual friend of ours at a mall and she was telling me how they both went to Mexico to celebrate their 21st birthdays and Hilda was hit and killed by a car. Uh! Those horrible midnite calls made to their parents from Mexico must have been horrible! Hilda told me in a dream to send her mom an angel. I think I might do this anonomously, send her mom a package through the mail. I know I'm a freak! I have friends in high places! :)