Dr. Jeremy Weiss

I am often asked about my background and “qualifications”. My answer is a complex one, but will definitely clear up some things… MY FAMILY My father’s family were fairly non-religious, mostly secular Jews. My mom, however, was an immigrant and survivor of the Holocaust. While the Jewish religious beliefs were not very important to her, Jewish culture and ensuring my connection to my heritage was imperative. Therefore, I was enrolled in a hardcore Jewish, yeshiva-style, private school from second to eighth grade (cheder). Although I felt connected ethnically, I did not feel connected religiously. I loved the school. I loved most of the students and the teachers, but I couldn’t stand religious studies. MY BOYHOOD DREAMS As a little boy I wanted to be a flying, invisible-superhero-doctor-wizard but all my questions about how to perform such miracles always seemed to be answered with, “Well, that is in the Zohar (The Book of Radiance) and you can’t read that until you are forty years of age and married. But some answers are in the Talmud and you could read those answers. Oh, but it’s in Hebrew.” “But I can’t read Hebrew yet,” I protested as they smiled and used it as an opportunity to pontificate about how I should then really consider taking a little more interest in my Hebrew classes. “…and why do we pray in Hebrew, anyway? Why don’t we pray in English? Doesn’t an omnipotent G-d understand English?” To this day, I remember the rabbi explaining to me the concept of the magic (ineffable) sounds and he ended his reasoning with something about Abraham Abulafia . Whatever he said probably had its intended effect, which (in retrospect) was probably just to keep me singing the prayers like all the other “good” children. ABANDONMENT OF ORGANIZED RELIGION Eventually, I got frustrated with what I at first perceived to be diversionary tactics used to avoid answering my questions, but then came to suspect their obfuscation and hiding of powerful secrets was purposeful and intentional. I was forced to face that either they wouldn’t let me into the club, or that they didn’t actually have any meaningful, secret knowledge. Frustrated, I left Judaism to go my own way. I renounced religion, became a scientist and a successful physician. I my residency at Columbia, was chief resident and then did my fellowship in Vascular and Interventional Radiology at Harvard. Eventually, I went into private practice, where I achieved professional success. But I always maintained my interest in wizardry. When I finally retired from practicing medicine, I decided to revisit the questions I had as a child. What I found out shocked me. PRODIGAL SON RETURNS It turns out that I am a strong link in a web of an elaborate and extensive, mystical, rabbinical dynasty. In fact, I am the 92nd direct great-grandson of King David. Eleven generations ago, the founder of Hasidic Judaism, the Baal Shem Tov would be my fifth cousin. Hillel the Elder is my 66th grandfather. Fifteen generations ago, my third cousin Joseph Karo, authored the last great codification of Jewish law—the Shulchan Aruch. He was also the first Jewish exorcist to address ghostly spiritual possession (as opposed to demonic possession). But my first cousin at that time was the MaHaRaL of Prague, the man who knew the secret to creating life from clay—the rabbi who first documented golem to protect the Jews from attack. Rabbi Moses Isserles, the RaMa and commentator on the Shulchan Aruch, is my 14th great grandfather. Rabbi Nachman of Breslev, quoted in the seminal hoodoo work, “The Mystery of the Long Lost 8th, 9th and 10th Books of Moses”, is my 7th cousin. He was the great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov and integrated kabbalah with Hasidism. Eleazer Von Worms, whose extensive knowledge of the divine names, gematria (Jewish numerology), as well as many groundbreaking grimoires, is my first cousin. The great mystic Abulafia is a second cousin. The Gaon of Vilna, who was known for his eidetic memory and his fight against the Hasidic movement, is my 8th cousin. Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, transformative leader of the Lubavitch movement, is my 9th cousin. ACCEPTANCE OF PARADOX Apparently, I can’t help but be attracted to the mystical aspects of Judaism because it is in my genes. Maybe it was because I was born with a caul or has something to do with the cadaver bone surgically implanted in my body. For whatever reason the magic of Judaism remains irresistible to me. But the scientist in me rejects magic. Conflicted, I immersed myself in ancient Jewish magic. At some point, I returned to the tome of knowledge recommended to me as a schoolboy—The Talmud. I found that it is not simply a collection of historical wisdom, legal arguments, parables, and spiritual beliefs meant to convey to the reader what values to hold and what to think. Rather, it is an entire curriculum of how one learns to learn and how one learns to think for oneself. It is intentionally constructed in such a way that the act of learning becomes its own spiritual practice designed to strengthen the reader’s moral character, empathy, and ability to tolerate stress, contradiction, uncertainty, and paradox, in an effort to develop “svara” (personal moral intuition that can allow you to overrule the laws of the Torah). Maybe that is why it is forbidden to study Kabbalah until the age of forty? It took me until the ripe old age of fifty to develop my svara, my ability to peacefully accept paradox and to tolerate the contradiction that dwells within me. MY MISSION TO EMPOWER THE LAITY I am a scientist who believes in magic and an atheist who believes in G-d. Just like many of my prominent and highly opinionated ancestors, I am also a religious revolutionary: I do not personally subscribe to a sacerdotal kohanic or rabbinical system of Judaism. I believe that the laity has direct access to the divine deity without the need for clergy or intermediaries. We are all spiritual equals. Thus, a rabbi is not required to be a complete Jew and every spiritual task a rabbi can do, you are empowered to do and do alone. Sincerely, Rebbe Dr. Jeremy Weiss