The Jewish Review - November, 2001 By Paul Haist
The Oracle of Kabbalah,” is, in the words of its author, “grounded in Judaism’s teachings, but also informed by Zen Buddhism and Native American teachings, by poetry and myth.” Richard Seidman hastens to add, however, for those inclined to hasty judgment, that, while his book is influenced by these other disciplines or realms of thought, it is no “new-age mish mash.”
“It is grounded in Jewish tradition. It really is a Jewish book,” he says with an earnestness verging on prayer.
“The Oracle of Kabbalah” is a book and card set. Each of the cards depicts a letter of the Hebrew alphabet plus one for the missing letter. Readers select cards and use the book to help them “ignite an inner lamp,” as one commentator puts it, “that can illuminate the most shadowed corners of the soul.” The cards and book introduce the reader to the mysteries of the Hebrew alphabet while simultaneously helping them to explore the mysteries of their life.
Seidman is an ex-Portlander who lives today in Ashland. He is best known here as the founder of Friends of Trees. He is a recipient of the Urban Forestry Medal awarded by the National Urban Forest Council. He was named a Community Hero by the City of Portland for his work on behalf of the environment. That honor won him the opportunity to carry the Olympic torch here. He is a quiet man, cloaked in a serenity that comes from deep inside and seems the consequence of a spiritual journey that has opened for him vistas uncommon in most contemporary Western experience. It is a journey that continues today and along which “The Oracle of Kabbalah,” is a significant milestone.
Seidman grew up in a Jewish family, but his childhood exposure to Judaism–he called it “stultifying”–left him eager only to leave it behind as soon as he finished his first call to the Torah at his bar mitzvah. “As a young person, I wasn¹t aware of aspects of Jewish practice that were really satisfying spiritually,” he said. Yearning for spiritual fulfillment, he looked many places. He studied Zen for years, Christian Science, then back to Buddhism. He joined in Native American ritual practice. He immersed himself in the mytho-poetic writings of moderns such as mythology scholar Joseph Campbell and the poets Michael Meade and Robert Bly.
And then, one Pesach–after 20 years of searching, he sat down to a seder table prepared by his friend Abby Layton of Portland. In the preface to his book, Seidman writes of that experience. “…at my friend Abby’s house, I first caught a glimpse of a Judasim that was fresh, vibrant and spiritually satisfying,” he writes. “The seder at Abby’s house was an eye-opener. Could Judaism actually be joyful, ecstatic, profound, practical, earth-based and nonsexist?”
He found the answer to his question and it was yes. His discovery was underscored by further reading, such as Rodger Kamenetz’s “The Jew in the Lotus.” Layton introduced him to Rabbi Aryeh Hirshfield who leads P’nai Or, the Jewish Renewal group in Portland. “Aryeh was living proof that an enlightened, humane, humorous and deeply spiritual Judaism is possible,” writes Seidman. This was contrary to his former view of Judaism as “sexist and anthrocentric.”
He said, “I realized through Aryeh’s teachings that this was limited thinking: to pigeonhole Judaism in this way.”
That wasn’t long ago. Then, in 1997, Seidman discovered and became intrigued by mystical teachings about the Hebrew alphabet. If this was not the seed of “The Oracle of Kabbalah,” it was a cutting that he grafted to his own tree of life, his spiritual inquiry. When Seidman talks about the Hebrew alphabet, he chooses words that conjure images of magical wonder.
“This is a facet of Kabbalism,” he said, “that teaches about the Hebrew letters and their elemental power as the energetic and vibrational building blocks of creation.” He adds, “Each letter of the aleph-beit is assumed by the kabbalist to have its own personality, its own profound magic, its own way of organizing the whole of existence around itself.” He turns to Torah to help shed light on what he means.
“At the start of Torah, G-d speaks the world into existence. “The letters (of the Aleph Beit) are G-d’s speech made manifest.” It may take some a leap of faith to get close to where Seidman lives with the Hebrew letters. He’s been at it a while and it is outside normal experience, arcane: “The power of the spoken word is represented in the written character,” said Seidman. “So, the written character becomes the distillation of the power of the speech.”
This is a challenging statement: printed letters as the essence of the power of speaking a world into existence. Seidman knows that the topic is hard to penetrate. He learned as much in his study. “Most writings about the Hebrew alphabet are arcane and dry,” he said. “My goal was to present traditional teachings about the letters in a way that is enjoyable and clear, practical and accessible.”
He succeeds by creating a participatory experience for the reader that “engages them in an immediate and personal way.” I tried it. I sat down with Seidman’s book and a friend. I contemplated an aspect of my life that has been important recently. I selected a card and, with my friend, explored its meanings and its application to my experience, using the scholarship of Seidman’s text.
This was an enlightening experience that left me better informed about myself and newly curious about a world of knowledge I never previously knew existed, let alone explored. It helped to open a door to useful insights about my own way of living in the world. Seidman’s book is a manual of practice that one can turn to again and again. Each time, the insights will be different, even when one selects letters previously chosen. This is because the process is informed by the evolving consciousness and experience of the participant.