613.

Why did I start going to synagogue again? Basically I started seeing 613 all over the place. (This is the number of commandments in the Torah.)

We are talking: license plates, the time on the clock, the number of emails, the properties of the folder on the computer, the number on three dice rolled out on the table, addresses.

It was…a lot. (My family and a friend who also sees the 613s can verify this goes back to 2014).

I was not into religion at that time, in fact I was very turned off and disillusioned. I felt the desire to walk away, not from God, but from Jewish observance.

Sadly for a Jew, I was getting my faith inspiration from Pastor Joel Osteen, and just turning off the show right before the Jesus prayer at the end.

Anyway, the 613 sightings could not be ignored. My husband started seeing it too. Finally one of our kids said — you need to ask a rabbi.

So I asked my father to visit “the rebbe” and he did. The rebbe sent him to a Kabbalist (Jewish scholar of mysticism) who had come in from Israel.

My dad drove to Williamsburg NY to see him, at night, in the driving rain.

Then he drove 4.5 hours to see me.

He had spent more than 2 hours with this Kabbalist.

The Kabbalist — who did not know anything about me — told my father that I was a “blogger” and that I was going to the bookstore on Shabbat instead of going to synagogue with my family.

He was 100% right. I was going to Barnes and Noble, every Saturday morning, instead.

The Kabbalist told my father that my ancestors had made it clear that they were watching me, and were going to “bring me home” unless I turned my spiritual life around very quickly.

That meant going to synagogue with my family. Every. Single. Shabbat.

My ancestors also wanted me to do a better job keeping Shabbat generally and to improve my observance of the Jewish dietary laws.

It was only years later that I started tracing down my genealogy. I think everyone should take the time to do that. It gave me a sense of grounding in the world.

From that day forward, I started going to synagogue every.single.week. And wouldn’t you know it, there always seemed to be some test or interference.

That is God keeping me on my toes.

I still see the 613s.

By Dr. Dannielle Blumenthal (Dossy). All opinions are the author’s own.