So, perhaps it's not surprising that soon after setting out to research and write "You Don't Know Me But You Don't Like Me: Phish, Insane Clown Posse and My Misadventures With Two of Music's Most Maligned Tribes," Rabin tumbled in a downward spiral to the pits of emotional hell.

What is surprising -- to the author and his dear readers alike -- is that the knee-jerk, stereotype-based derision he initially felt toward Phish and Insane Clown Posse soon blossomed into full-blown love and obsession.

As a Jewish fan of Phish whose devotion to the music regularly veers toward heresy, snagging an advance copy of "You Don't Know Me" was for me like finding the keys to the Holy of Holies while the High Priest is out on paid leave from his Temple duties. The book was a revelatory, face-to-face dialogue with divinity.

Opening the book for the first time and discovering that Rabin's introduction to the whimsical world of Phish was in Miami in 2009, and that his quest for jamband understanding had a lot do with falling in love with a girl, a hunch I once had about the deeply spiritual, serendipitous underpinnings of Phish's music and the surrounding scene began to seem all the more real.

Three years and some months ago, I made the pilgrimage to Miami for four consecutive nights of Phish. I was in high school in 2004 when the band broke up, presumably forever. The colorful caravan of intoxicating music, myth and camaraderie had seemingly passed me by, and the two innocent shows I'd managed to convince my parents to pay for and let me attend taunted and teased my memory. So Miami '09 was an emotional homecoming. The venue was mere hours from my college, friends from every facet of my life would be there and, after following Phish's reunion shows with spine-tingling jealousy earlier in the year from my apartment in Jerusalem, I had tickets to all four nights of rapturous, musical bliss.

Those shows planted a seed in my soul: I would write a book about the connection between Phish's nightly feats of improvisational wizardry and the laughably ubiquitous presence of other members of my tribe -- the Jews -- within Phish's universe, framed as a review of the four shows in Miami '09.

One of the first stories I wrote as an intern at HuffPost was "Going to Synagogue at Madison Square Garden," about the very Jewish experience of dancing ecstatically on New Year's Eve 2010 at a Phish concert.

"When you have these kind of transcendent concert experiences, it has as much to do if not more to do with the audience than the band itself," Rabin told me on the eve of the book's publication. "There are so many stories at every show, at every festival, at every concert, and they just don't get told. And this was an attempt to tell one of those stories, or a couple of those stories, and preserve for posterity what is almost by definition kind of an ephemeral, transitory thing: being at a show and feeling these emotions, connecting not just with the music, but to this world, to this history, to this whole kind of tradition."

In his deftly told tale, ICP fans evolve from an illiterate horde of trailer trash-talkers to an all-embracing family of misfits in clown makeup, while the denizens of Phishland shed the collective patchouli-stained drug rug of privileged iniquity and emerge as care-free spiritual seekers of the highest degree.

From darkness to light, Rabin himself transforms on tour. Instead of compulsively obsessing over the past in order to manufacture some perfect, impossible future, cavorting at ICP and Phish's respective carnivals of darkness and light opened his eyes to the "sacred present." Asked if he'll be spotted on tour again this summer, his response was telling.

"God willing," he said, before laughing maniacally.

The footnote explained:

"...to be read from above to below, beginning at the top right. This verse corresponds to Tif'eret, who embraces Hesed and Gevurah. Although appearing in columns, the letters proceed in normal sequence. ... In English the verse reads: And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and YHVH drove the sea with a might east wind all night, and He turned the sea into dry ground, and the waters were split."

I thought this was intriguing enough to share on any random day in the week of Tiferet in the Omer, so I headed to work aiming to do just that.

But then I took another look at the book and saw that the verse here is the 21st of Exodus 14:

וַיֵּט מֹשֶׁה אֶת-יָדוֹ עַל-הַיָּם, וַיּוֹלֶךְ יְהוָה אֶת-הַיָּם בְּרוּחַ קָדִים עַזָּה כָּל-הַלַּיְלָה, וַיָּשֶׂם אֶת-הַיָּם לֶחָרָבָה; וַיִּבָּקְעוּ הַמָּיִם

Given that yesterday was 20 days in the Omer, I figured I should wait until today (Day 21) to share. Then I thought a little more about it and realized that there could be a some connection between Tiferet (when understood as harmony) and what comes right after this verse in the Torah: the Song of the Sea.

So I emailed Danny Matt, the translator and footnote-writer of this particular edition of the Zohar, and asked: Is there any discussion of such a connection elsewhere in the text?

He soon responded:

The Zohar doesn't make that particular connection, but it's certainly interesting. The entire Name of 72 provided to power to split the sea.

What's rather amazing is that this unique divine name is discussed at length only twice in the whole Zohar, and I happen to be working on the second discussion right now, in Zohar on the book of Numbers.

Amazing! This "coincidence," even couched as it was in the fact that the kabbalistic text doesn't actually or explicitly explore the connection between this verse (Exodus 14:21) and the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:1-18), was remarkable enough.

But mystery of mysteries, there had to be more to unearth. Says the Tanya: "The divine radiance manifests its power and potential in the element of the physical earth in an immense manifestation, in more enormous strength than elements transcending it, even the hosts of heaven."

Moses, in conjunction with God, "turns the sea into dry ground," allowing the newly freed Israelites to cross to safety. A midrashic account of the splitting of the sea, retold by Maggid Yitzhak Buxbaum, describes the event in vivid detail:

Serach bat Asher said: The waters of the Red Sea split open, and the heavens opened, and I saw visions of God. I saw the Holy One above and the Shechinah below and myriads upon myriads of angels gathering to watch as we walked through the sea on dry land and the Egyptians drowned.

Search continues: "I saw it, and I tell you, the Shechinah was shining through the water, like from many windows."

The Shechinah, God's in-dwelling presence, is often synonymous with Malkhut in mystical teachings. And herein lies the connection -- or, at least, a connection -- between this day of the Omer (Malkhut within Tiferet) and the Song of the Sea, the manifestation of melody, if you will:

The words in a Torah scroll are written in long columns of bunched-together words with little-to-no space between letters, let alone sentences (and a total lack of punctuation). One major exception to this general rule of layout is the Song of the Sea, which is written with "many windows."

I was born to dream of peace.

Exactly seven years before I was born, on Dec. 8, 1980, John Lennon -- who taught us to imagine peace throughout the world, who asked everyone, with Yoko, to give peace a chance -- was murdered in New York City.

Seven years later, on Dec. 8, 1987, two things happened: I was born, and the First Intifada began.

Of course, I don't remember either of these events. My earliest awareness of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which entered a new chapter yesterday with Operation Pillar of Defense, came while attending Jewish elementary school in Florida. I vaguely remember a feeling of hope; something about some Oslo Thing. My next memory is of gathering together as a class, when they told us that Israel's prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, had been assassinated -- by a religious Jew. The hope then vanished.

A couple years later, at the same Jewish day school, my class waited outside of the chapel for our turn to pray together. We sat along a wall in a hallway lined with alternating, artfully designed memorial plaques, each one for a different month of the Hebrew calendar. Behind one of these memorials, my friend found a metal cylinder wrapped in tape. We began rolling it back and forth. Before long, our teacher admonished us to stop whatever it was we were doing and wait quietly to enter the chapel. So we placed the cylinder back behind the memorial and forgot about it.

Days later, during a large communal celebration at the synagogue, another group of kids found and played with the cylinder until an astute adult confiscated it and called the police. The cylinder was a pipe bomb planted by a local Orthodox Jew who hoped its discovery would disrupt a talk at the synagogue by Shimon Peres, another former prime minister of Israel. Turns out, he did not agree with Peres' politics.

These are my earliest memories of a conflict that proceeds with abandon to this day. Since then, I have visited Israel several times. The most recent time I went -- to live and study in Jerusalem for half a year in 2009 -- I landed in Israel just a couple days before the end of Operation Cast Lead, the country's last campaign into Gaza.

Then, I dreamed of peace.

Now, on the first day of the Jewish month of Kislev, the second day of an Israeli incursion into Gaza that began with the killing of Hamas' military leader, I still dream of peace.

Kislev is known as the month of dreams. On the yearly cycle of reading the Torah, all but one of the 10 dreams from the Five Books of Moses are recounted during this month.

I was born in the month of Kislev, during the week that Jews traditionally read about Joseph and his first dreams -- the ones that lead his brothers to sell him into slavery. The day before I was born, my mother had a dream. She was stressed. Very stressed. She didn't know what to name me. In the dream, a messenger or a voice or a vision told her to name me Joshua. I was born the next day. She named me Joshua.

In the Bible, Joshua takes over for Moses, leading the Israelites into the Land of Milk and Honey. Of course, the Israelites don't just waltz into Jerusalem with a ticker tape parade. They conquer the place. It's bloody. It's war. This is Joshua's legacy.

Now, I watch another chapter in this tear-filled history play out online. Friends in America and Israel follow the violence in fear, posting links and prayers in support of one side or the other. Some in my Facebook feed are appalled by Israel's incursion into Gaza. They pray for the safety of innocent Palestinians caught in the crossfire. Others in my social network stand staunchly with the communities in Israel who rarely have respite from rockets fired indiscriminately into their neighborhoods. They pray for the safety of the Jews now cowering in bomb shelters.

I pray for everyone. Yesterday, I posted a short message on Facebook:

"Praying for an end to all kinds of rocket fire, all over the world. Praying for safety. Praying for understanding. Praying for Israel. Praying for Palestine. Praying for peace. Who's with me?"

It's the most popular thing I've ever posted. Most came out in favor. Others were disgusted that I would pray for the enemy. I should be praying for their destruction, they implied.

Thankfully, one friend posted a story from the Talmud that holds a (nonviolent) answer:

There were certain hooligans who resided in the neighborhood of Rabbi Meir, and they caused him much misery and anguish. Once, Rabbi Meir prayed for mercy regarding them, so that they would die. His wife Beruriah said to him, "What makes you think that such a prayer is permitted? Is it because the verse states 'Let sinners [chataim] cease from the earth'? But is it written 'chotim' -- sinners? Rather it is written 'chataim' -- that which causes one to sin, namely the evil inclination. Furthermore, the end of the verse continues, 'and let the wicked be no more.' Since the sins will cease, there will be no more wicked men!

"Rather," she concluded, "pray for them that they should repent, and there will be no more wicked people."

He did pray for them, and they repented.

When we pray, we try to connect with God -- we try to embody God's unity.

When we talk about peace -- even a flimsy glimmer of it -- we are trying to connect with a vision of Divine Unity that has become reality.

Prayer and peace have nothing to do with critical thinking or moral equivalents, historical narratives or violent legacies. Not the prayer or the peace that I'm talking about.

In dreams, we can transcend our earthly limitations. In prayers, we do this, too.

So who is dreaming -- and praying -- with me?

The honest and simple agenda for BGM is getting our beard on and encouraging one another as Christians. We love all beards and all men and all are welcome to visit, comment, and enjoy BGM, but our niche is beards for Jesus (and fun).

"That's why the tips of each species, the pitom of the etrog, the unsplit central frond of the lulav, the end leaves of the myrtle and willow, cannot be dried out: it would be like praying for good health while eating junk food."

Questions: Why does Moses have to repeat the same warnings so much? If he's trying to encourage the people to follow God, why remind them that God is giving them the land because the of the other nations' wicked ways? Why is memory so important?

• When Do We Have Enough Stuff? -- "The danger here is forgetting -- forgetting where we've come from (our own experience of poverty and oppression) and forgetting that no one person, or one community, creates wealth by themselves." (ON Scripture - The Torah)



• Haftorah Ekev -- In the supplemental haftorah, found in Isaiah 49:14-51:3, God and Israel are likened to a married couple, even as the prophet and the people languish in exile. (My Jewish Learning)



• Rashi on Parshat Ekev -- The classic commentator in all his interpretive glory. (Chabad)



• The Animated Parshat Ekev -- "Why on earth would Moses tell the people, to circumcise their hearts? (Like, ouch!) And how do you do that anyway?" (G-dcast)



• The Seven Fruits of Israel -- "The Torah's mention of the seven species is not incidental. Rather, these foods are central to a Jewish spiritual path that endeavors to elevate the physical through intentional living." (Canfei Nesharim)



• Soul Connections -- "We assume that it is the bread that is nurturing us, when, in fact, it's the Divine energy within the bread that we connect to that sustains us." (IYYUN)



• Additional sources and related texts compiled on Wikipedia.

Questions: Why does Moses say that the 12 spies came back with a good report when really 10 of them had negative things to say? Why does Moses rebuke the Children of Israel for the sins of their mothers and fathers? Why did God harden the spirit of Sihon if the Jewish people were then commanded to attack and destroy them? Why is it necessary for Moses to repeat everything that's happened in the past 40 years?

• Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22: The Geography of Identity -- "There is a price to pay when we remake the world over in our image, when everywhere is familiar despite the miles we have travelled. To force the world into a social monoculture both destroys the world's vibrant diversity and alienates us from particularity of place." (ON Scripture - The Torah)



• Haftorah Devarim -- In the supplemental haftorah, found in Isaiah 1:1-27, the prophet condemns Judah and Jerusalem for their wayward devotion. (My Jewish Learning)



• Rashi on Parshat Devarim -- The classic commentator in all his interpretive glory. (Chabad)



• The Animated Parshat Devarim -- "Moving from Numbers (Bemidbar) to Words (Devarim) means switching gears in the Torah, and Shawn Landres gives us a gentle landing. Tune in to review history and learn how not to repeat historical mistakes in the days to come!" (G-dcast)



• Belonging to the Land -- "In Devarim, we learn how we must relate as a nation to our land." (Canfei Nesharim)



• D'var Tzedek -- "...in the transition from Moses to Joshua and from wandering in the wilderness to entering the Land, there is a sudden shift in tone. No longer catered to, the people must begin to fend for themselves." (AJWS)



• Additional sources and related texts compiled on Wikipedia.

Questions: Why does Moses tell the tribal leaders about the laws of vows, rather than all the people? Why do the examples of vows mention only women making them? Why does Moses repeat himself, saying twice, "a thousand from each tribe"? Why is Pinchas considered the priest of the army if he was given the mantle of peace in the previous parsha? Why are the people taxed more heavily than the soldiers? Why does the fact that all the soldiers were accounted for provoke their officers to offer all that gold?

Questions: Why did the tribes of Gad and Reuben wish to give up their inheritance in the Holy Land? Why, in doing so, did they give up their obligation to the Children of Israel? Why does Moses give land outside of Israel to half of the tribe of Menasseh?

Questions: How can the lands be allocated both by lottery and by size? In a city of refuge, how are intentional murderers separated from the unintentional killers?

• Penn State Football By The Book Of Numbers -- "One of the many disturbing things about the Penn State abuse scandal is that sports, like religious ritual, is supposed to offer an effective means to sublimate violence. In this case, violence and power were allowed to grow wildly without proper ethical oversight." (ON Scripture - The Torah)



• Haftorah Massei -- In the supplemental haftorah, found in Jeremiah 2:4-28 and 4:1-2 (or Jeremiah 2:4-28 and 3:4, depending on the community) the prophet laments that the Jewish people have abandoned God and rebukes them for it. (My Jewish Learning)



• Rashi on Parshat Matot-Massei -- The classic commentator in all his interpretive glory. (Chabad)



• The Animated Parshat Massei -- A city planner talks about taking care of the Levites, who don't get their own land in The Land. (G-dcast)



• Living in Balance -- "With the Jewish people poised on the east bank of the Jordan River in what is now modern-day Jordan, the tribes of Reuven and Gad make a strange request of Moses. They ask his allowance to settle where they are rather than receiving their portion in the Land of Israel..." (Canfei Nesharim)



• Constructive Communication -- "Whether there are words that you have spoken that need to be amended, or words that should have been said and were kept silenced, this is the week to express and reverse through speech, creating our ideal reality through using our words correctly." (IYYUN)



• D'var Tzedek -- "While Moses is right to suspect Reuven and Gad of harboring an ulterior motive, I believe he has misidentified what that motive actually is. After all, their willingness to take the lead in the war shows that they are not lazy or afraid to die." (AJWS)



• Additional sources and related texts compiled on Wikipedia.

• The descendants of Reuben number 43,730
• Simeon's descendants amount to 22,200
• 40,500 from the tribe of Gad
• From Judah, 67,500 people
• From Issachar, 64,300
• There are 60,500 Zebulunites
• Joseph's descendants, through Ephraim and Menasseh, total 85,200
• From Benjamin we have 45,600
• From Dan, 64,400
• Asher's ilk equal 53,400
• And from Naphtali come 54,400

Questions: Why is Pinchas rewarded with a covenant of peace after violently killing others on his own accord? How are there approximately the same number of Israelites now as there were soon after leaving Egypt, 40 years earlier?

• When a man dies without sons, his daughters shall inherit.
• When a man dies without daughters, his brothers shall inherit.
• When a man dies without brothers, his father's brothers shall inherit.
• When a man dies and his father has no brothers, the closest patrilineal relative shall inherit.

Questions: Why is Moses allowed to look upon the land? Why doesn't he argue with God about not being let in to Israel? Why can't Moses give all of his prophetic powers over to Joshua? Why must Joshua learn the law through the priest who must clarify it through the Urim? What are the Urim anyway?

Questions: If no manual work may be done on the festivals, why are the regular sacrifices still made, not to mention the special offerings? Why do the bull offerings for the Festival of the Tabernacles decrease every day?

• Passing the Mantle: Moses and the Challenges of Succession -- "We all know how complicated it can be for a community to deal with such transitions and the power the outgoing and incoming leaders have in shaping this experience. Here, Moses rises to the challenge." (ON Scripture - The Torah)



• Haftorah Pinchas -- In the supplemental haftorah, found in Kings I 18:46-19:21, the last prophet, Elijah, wanders into the wilderness, fearing for his life. (My Jewish Learning)



• Rashi on Parshat Pinchas -- The classic commentator in all his interpretive glory. (Chabad)



• The Animated Parshat Pinchas -- "...the badder than bad, cooler than cool, great sisterly legal minds of the Book of Numbers: the Daughters of Tselophechad." (G-dcast)



• Sustenance From the Source -- "We need to strengthen our access to sustenance, both physical and spiritual, by feeling our connection to the land, even though we might live in modern cities. We can do this by making human health and wellbeing a goal in the architecture and scale of our cities, and planetary health and wellbeing a guiding force in planning our source of nutrition." (Canfei Nesharim)



• Healing Through Alignment -- "Throughout the week, take note of those people in your life whose very presence is healing. Understand that this is an effect of their internal alignment." (IYYUN)



• A Cautionary Tale For Activists -- "In our pursuit of justice, of shaping a world that embraces our sense of morality, how do we ensure that our actions are not rash and clouded, but rather mindful and clear? How do we ensure that these moments of radical activism bring healing and not destruction?" (AJWS)



• Additional sources and related texts compiled on Wikipedia.

Questions: Why does God need to ask Balaam who the people with him are? Why does God tell Balaam to not bless the Israelite nation? Why does Balaam tell the first group of elders that they are not important enough for God, when God didn't say that? Why does God tell Balaam he may go if the trip will be profitable?

Questions: Why is God angry with Balaam for going with Balak's men? What's the significance of the seven altars? What's the significance of the dignitaries? Why does Balak take Balaam to curse the Israelites from "the eye of God"? Why does Balaam give Balak advice about harming the Israelites and then immediately after explain how they will ultimately prevail?

Questions: Why does is the violent zeal of one man rewarded with the end of the plague, considering that he took matters into his own hands and didn't wait for the court to rule?

• Money, Religion, Leadership -- "Religious leadership isn't easy. Just ask any of the rabbis who attempt to address controversial issues within their institutions, take on the challenge of moral leadership and manage relationships with members. Or ask the prophet Balaam, the unexpected hero of this week's Torah portion." (ON Scripture - The Torah)



• Haftorah Balak -- In the supplemental haftorah, found in Micah 5:6-6:8, the prophet encourages the "remnants of Jacob" who languish in exile. (My Jewish Learning)



• Rashi on Parshat Balak -- The classic commentator in all his interpretive glory. (Chabad)



• The Animated Parshat Balak -- "What's a cartoon series without talking animals? Thank God the Bible includes a loquacious donkey." (G-dcast)



• The Nature of Bilaam's Prophecy -- "In the first prophecy, only hills and rocks are mentioned, in the second, an ox and a lion, but in the third, both plants and animals are used to great effect." (Canfei Nesharim)



• Transforming Doubt Into Wonder -- "This is the fearsome power of Balak and Bilaam, the ability to cause doubt and confusion. Yet, doubt is not always unhealthy. There is also holy, productive doubt, and that is the wonder that opens a person to new possibilities." (IYYUN)



• Additional sources and related texts compiled on Wikipedia.

Questions: What's the point of the ritual of the red heifer? Why does preparing the ashes, which when added to water is intended to purify a person, make the preparer impure? Why is this ritual no longer performed?

Questions: Why is Moses punished for hitting the rock, really? The pople who mocked him are really at fault, right? Why is so little text devoted to the deaths of Miriam and Aaron, who were central characters of the Exodus and wandering?

Questions: Why does "Israel" make a vow to God? Shouldn't it say "we" rather than "I" if truly all the people are speaking? The chronology seems messed up here. At what point did Israel pass through the Cannanite land if right after it says they left the double mountain? Why does God continually punish and forgive the Israelites, and always deliver them from certain doom at the hands of their enemies?

• The Case For Humility -- "People of true wisdom embrace the importance of uncertainty. Is there anything in this life of which we can be absolutely certain?" (ON Scripture - The Torah)



• Haftorah Chukat -- The supplemental haftorah, found in Judges 11:1-33, recounts the fall and rise of Jephthah, the son of a mighty warrior and a prostitute. (My Jewish Learning)



• Rashi on Parshat Chukat -- The classic commentator in all his interpretive glory. (Chabad)



• The Animated Parshat Chukat -- On the legacy of snakes in the Bible and what we can do about them. (G-dcast)



• Water Consciousness -- "The Jews' experiences with water in the desert can be understood as a spiritual training to cultivate appreciation for G-d's goodness." (Canfei Nesharim)



• D'Var Tzedek -- "Sometimes, the never-ending struggle without reward overwhelms us. We may express anger, lash out or attempt to give up. Yet the Torah provides us with an inspiring role model..." (AJWS)



• Additional sources and related texts compiled on Wikipedia.