Art By Tali Landsman

Myself on the left holding a balloon,  Garndmother Saltanat, the daughter of Sarah and Shemaaya  and my sister Dary on the right When Jules first heard that my mother came from Iran, his eyes glazed over with unbound fantasies. His mind churned over all the wise stories and deep myths that originated in that culturally rich and ancient region that stretched from Turkey all the way to India and Persia, which was once called Aryana and nowadays is known as Iran. "Are you sure that your family does not own a mulberry farm in the remote mountains, or a pomegranate orchard somewhere in Iran, that perhaps we could visit one day?...." Jules asked me with much hope in his voice. I assured him that to my knowledge, there were neither mulberries nor pomegranate orchards and that because they were Jewish, they barely escaped with their lives, holding on to their tiny and hungry children, and whatever jewelry they could hide in their garments. Many years later, I have pieced together a r...

There is an old joke about the question, "Where will the money come from?"  Once in Jerusalem, lived a wealthy and well educated couple.  One day their daughter announced that she intended to get married. The parents were surprised, and asked why she hadn't brought the boy home before, and why she hadn't even mentioned that she was dating anyone... The daughter curled her hair nervously, looked at her feet, and finally admitted that the reason she'd never brought the boy home before, was because he was a Hassid. In Jerusalem, many of the Hassidic people do not believe that they should work or handle money. Hassidic men spend most of their days in a Yeshiva (hall of study and prayers), where they pray and study the Bible. They are guided by the Biblical scriptures that say we must "Pray to God ceaselessly."  This call to prayer was intended to reflect an INNER state, in which you must keep the Spirit and the principles of God at the forefront of your mind...

I want to tell you two stories. The first is taken from the childhood of the yogi Paramahansa Yogananda, who came to the USA and formed the Self Realization Fellowship in California, which has helped many spiritual seekers, including the Beatles, myself and many others. Yogananda was trained in the Kriya Yoga lineage of Indian enlightened masters like Mahavatar Babaji, Shri Yukteswar Giri and Lahiri Mahasaya. In this story from his childhood, Yogananda recalled that his family had moved to Lahore in the Punjab.  He acquired a picture of the Divine Mother, in the form of the Goddess Kali, and often reflected about how much the Divine Mother loved us all unconditionally, and wished to give us EVERYTHING. Standing one day on the balcony of their house with Uma, his sister, Yogananda saw two kites flying over the roofs of the buildings on the opposite side of the very narrow lane.  "Why are you so quiet?" Uma asked playfully. "I am just thinking about how wonderful it is tha...