Nechama Sara Gila Nadborny Burgeman

 

Lag b'Omer Beyond the Firmaments: The Story

Lag b’Omer – the thirty-third day of the counting of the Omer between Pesach and Shavuot – is celebrated as the “hilulla” – the ascent to Heaven – of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, author of the Zohar.

On that day this year I was hospitalized with pneumonia.  I was not aware of any danger to my life, so it was not a “near-death” experience (I had a near-death experience long ago).  I was granted, instead, an “aliyat neshama” – an elevation of the soul.  “I” became nullified and absorbed into the consciousness of a higher reality.

Bliss is the best word to describe this new dimension. Visually I was engulfed in blackness…a color black not as we know it, a black that is not darkness, that is not frightening. Rather I was embraced in this enveloping blackness of Divine unconditional love. 

I remember looking “below” and seeing an abyss of goldness and at that instant I knew that this was the Divine treasure of Unconditional love. This treasure is hinted by the gold swirling colors in the middle of the painting. A feeling of exhilaration, of being loved beyond imagination, engulfed me.

To the left is a cluster of gold lines which I recognized as Divine souls, chips off the Divine Treasure of unconditional love.  They are renditions of souls in actual reality as my dear friends, Esther and Avraham Sutton, organized and led a Lag B Omer gathering of teaching and songs.  I was later told that Rav Sutton requested that their gathering be dedicated to my healing. These souls along with my loving husband and soul friendswere creating a loving foundation for me to resume life on the physical plane.

I grounded the painting with nature — a Lag B”omer bonfire and the ocean that emanates the intimate dance between heaven and earth.

I feel confident in saying that the “location” of this experience was  beyond the 7 firmaments.  The curtain on the side of the painting hints to the first firmament which is called the “curtain.”

At the summit of the painting is a crown honoring the Holy One, blessed be He, who is with us in every breath and every journey.  I am forever grateful for this intimate experience behind the curtain.