Writing by Dr. Dannielle Blumenthal

When I was growing up, it was not cool to go around and be openly Jewish. Some people were very identified with it in my area—I went to a very religious school—but in mainstream society, everyone just wanted to fit in. And I was one of those people.
Fast-forward many years—I’ll skip a lot of stories—but around a dozen years ago, I started to see the number 613 over and over: license plates, addresses, the time of day; it was inescapable. Well, 613 is the number of commandments in the Torah, and a mystic—a Jewish mystic—relayed to me through my father that I was going to be “called back.” And I think we all know what that means.
Now, it wasn’t that I had to do every single Jewish commandment perfectly. One specific thing, out of a few of them, was that I needed to go to synagogue. At the time, I wasn’t going to synagogue; I was going to Barnes & Noble to write my blog.
The importance of community is so strong—community prayer and community worship are so powerful—that I was told: “Get your ass to shul, to synagogue, and you bring your family with you.” And that is something you must do. I share this with you because many people of different faiths report having religious experiences that are otherwise unexplainable.
Many people have seen Jesus, and that sighting has motivated them to turn their lives around. I’m here to tell you: there is a God. God expresses Himself to different people in different ways and in different faith traditions, and He cannot be ignored. If He is ignored, He does something to educate you.
Sometimes it’s nice, and sometimes it’s not so nice. But hopefully, we will all learn, we will all become aware, and we will worship Him with fear and with love. Have a great day.