Steven Bram was a secular Jew who enjoyed Grateful Dead concerts, sky diving and Rangers games, when a midlife crisis descended on him full throttle.
With his 50th birthday looming, he began to feel his own mortality. He had watched his nest egg disappear during the financial crisis of 2009, and lost a brother-in-law in the 9/11 attacks.
“I was asking myself, ‘Why am I here? Where am I going? What have I accomplished?” A deeper connection to his faith, he thought wistfully, would have given him some answers.
Bram revealed his existential crisis to a friend, who gave him the name of a rabbi. After learning with the rabbi for a year, he became intrigued with Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism. He was determined to learn more about this ancient work that promised to reveal “the spiritual secrets of the universe.” Though his goal was knowledge and not self-transformation, his life was profoundly altered by the experience.
As a producer of sports films, Bram couldn’t quell the urge to film and share his path to enlightenment. It was a concept he picked up from Kabbalah.
“It’s this idea that you can’t just sit around: you have to act upon what you know and do something for the world,” he said. And so he created “Kabbalah Me,” which has so far been shown in LA and New York. Bram expects to bring it to Israel in the coming months.
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Though he has stopped eating his beloved lobster, Miriam continues to eat it in front of him. His children express disappointment that he will no longer have bacon for breakfast and don’t understand why he won’t have it anymore. Clearly, his greatest obstacle will be convincing his family and friends that he hasn’t gone nuts.
Even some rabbis aren’t happy about his passion: They warn him that studying Kabbalah for someone without a foundation in Jewish text is like eating dessert before the main dish, meaning that Bram ought to spend his time on learning the basics first. In truth, many Jews believe that Kabbalah is intended to be kept esoteric and reserved only for scholars over the age of 40.
Secular Jewish filmmaker challenges rabbis to 'Kabbalah Me' | The Times of Israel
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