This beatiful painting by Monica Erosa (http://monicaerosa.com.au/), specially designed for The Lamed-Vav Project represents how the world is kept in existence through the power of the Lamed-Vav. Notice that while 18 images surround and illuminate the world, only 17 images are IN the world. Who is the missing Lamed-Vav? Is it you?
Award-winning producer Phyllis Haynes (http://studio1network.com/) interviews author Lable Braun on the meaning of the Lamed-Vav legend.
What is The Lamed -Vav Project?
"And in this life-creative adventure the criterion of achievement will be, as in every one of the tales here reviewed, the courage to let go the past, with its truths, its goals, its dogmas of 'meaning', and its gifts: to die to the world and to come to birth from within." - Joseph Campbell
The renowned mythologist, Joseph Campbell, felt that myths and legends throughout human history hold great wisdom and insight into the human adventure. He also felt that each story is a product of its time and place and that its meaning must be refreshed, remolded, and brought into a new light for each generation. That is why he consulted with George Lucas on the creation of the "Star Wars" saga.
There is an ancient legend of the Lamed-Vav, ordinary individuals who serve as the repository for God's compassion in the world. Through this deep, often unconscious, connection to the divine energy these everyday people work miraculous changes to the world through simple acts of kindness.
Created as a challenge to modern cynicism and the myth of narrow self-interest, Lable Braun has initiated The Lamed-Vav Project to re-shape ancient legends to modern purposes through simple stories and public discourse.
"And if you are not yourself a great exception, well then be a small one at least! and so you will foster on earth that holy fire from which genius may arise." - Friedrich Nietzsche
What if the entire universe depended on you for its existence? What if you had the power to be a major force for positive change in the lives of those around you? Have you ever felt that there was a different "you" inside your skin, one that had a greater role to play in the world than you do within the confines of your everyday life?
The reason that the Lamed-Vav legend has survived for two millenia is the notion that these are not the stars of their generation. Each member of the Lamed-Vav is an ordinary person performing simple acts of compassion. The Way of Goodness is not lit as clearly by a star far away in the sky as it is by millions of shining candles along the path. Anyone you know could be a Lamed-Vav. It could be you. Light your candle!
"And in this life-creative adventure the criterion of achievement will be, as in every one of the tales here reviewed, the courage to let go the past, with its truths, its goals, its dogmas of 'meaning', and its gifts: to die to the world and to come to birth from within." - Joseph Campbell
The renowned mythologist, Joseph Campbell, felt that myths and legends throughout human history hold great wisdom and insight into the human adventure. He also felt that each story is a product of its time and place and that its meaning must be refreshed, remolded, and brought into a new light for each generation. That is why he consulted with George Lucas on the creation of the "Star Wars" saga.
There is an ancient legend of the Lamed-Vav, ordinary individuals who serve as the repository for God's compassion in the world. Through this deep, often unconscious, connection to the divine energy these everyday people work miraculous changes to the world through simple acts of kindness.
Created as a challenge to modern cynicism and the myth of narrow self-interest, Lable Braun has initiated The Lamed-Vav Project to re-shape ancient legends to modern purposes through simple stories and public discourse.
"And if you are not yourself a great exception, well then be a small one at least! and so you will foster on earth that holy fire from which genius may arise." - Friedrich Nietzsche
What if the entire universe depended on you for its existence? What if you had the power to be a major force for positive change in the lives of those around you? Have you ever felt that there was a different "you" inside your skin, one that had a greater role to play in the world than you do within the confines of your everyday life?
The reason that the Lamed-Vav legend has survived for two millenia is the notion that these are not the stars of their generation. Each member of the Lamed-Vav is an ordinary person performing simple acts of compassion. The Way of Goodness is not lit as clearly by a star far away in the sky as it is by millions of shining candles along the path. Anyone you know could be a Lamed-Vav. It could be you. Light your candle!
The Lamed-Vav Project
Read the Legends of the Lamed-Vav Stories by Lable Braun
(See the form at the bottom of this page to get your FREE copy of "Simple Chaim".)
The Legends of the Lamed-Vav by Lable Braun are stories that emobody the Lamed-Vav philosophy into entertaining fables that, through their surprising twists and turns, show how simple acts of kindness (and also simple acts of selfishness) can have the most unexpected, almost miraculous, effects.
Click Here to Purchase at Amazon
(Kindle Format)
Click Here to Purchase at Barnes and Noble
(Nook Format)
Click Here to Purchase at Smashwords
(Multiple e-Formats, including PDF, Text, and Online)
Volume 1, Number 1: Simple Chaim
A young girl's world is falling apart. Her mother is deathly ill. Her over-bearing father lives in fear and has narrowed her world to the little farm they work in the Pale of Russia. Now rumors have come that the Czar has commanded the Cossacks to attack her village. Only her frail mother's faith in an ancient legend, the Lamed-Vav, stands between Raizel and the total loss of all she loves.
New people have started to mysteriously appear in the sedentary village. Chaim, the new tinker, could he be one of the mysterious Lamed-Vav? Could his simple acts of kindness, and his counter-intuitive wisdom be the village's salvation? And what of the strange new youth who has come to the village? Who is he, and why does he cause Raizel to feel things she has never before experienced?
In the end, Raizel will discover that nothing is ever quite what one expects, and the most miraculous results can come from unexpected sources.
In this first in a series of stories, an old legend is introduced to help us face the challenges of our times. Our modern myth that people are only out for their own narrow interests, and that only strength and wealth prevails, is put to the test by an ancient myth of love and compassion being the true foundations of the world.
At Amazon
At Barnes and Noble
At Smashwords
Volume 1, Number 2: The Jewish Cossack
The legend of the Lamed-Vav that began in “Simple Chaim” now moves to the next generation in “The Jewish Cossack”. Nissim Kozlovsky has been raised by his mother, Raizel, to believe in the legend of the Lamed-Vav, 36 hidden people who are the repositories of God's compassion in this world. But in the terrible early days of WW II, Nissim feels torn between the Lamed-Vav’s ideal of Divine Compassion and the call of his Cossack blood to be a warrior in the cause of Divine Justice.
Leading a resistance unit in the frozen forests of Poland, Nissim directly confronts a greater evil than he could ever have imagined. His efforts to fight power with power seemed doomed to futility. Will a simple act of kindness turn out to be the world’s salvation?
At Amazon
At Barnes and Noble
At Smashwords
Volume 1, Number 3: Descent Into Darkness
This story is a prequel to "Simple Chaim". Readers of that story will know that Raizel's father, Nathan, was a very hard-hearted man. Nathan was about as far away from the path of the Lamed-Vav, the path of compassion and simple kindness, as a human-being can get. But before we can learn to walk the road that leads to Divine Compassion, we must first understand the road that leads away from it.
What traumatic events could produce a man like Nathan? It is easy to judge such a man, but do we dare to understand him? In "Descent Into Darkness" we learn the greatest threat to all our lives - that when we fight against our destiny and our innate compassionate nature, even in the name of grand intentions, then, like Jonah, we enter the very belly of the Beast. And the consequences for ourselves and the world can be truly tragic.
At Amazon
At Barnes and Noble
At Smashwords
Volume 1, Number 4: Love and the Golem
Finally! All the threads of the first three Lamed-Vav stories are woven together into a climactic tale. As Raizel and Valery race to save Nissim from certain death at the hands of a sinister Gestapo general, there is much more at stake than their son's life. The Lamed-Vav's essence of kindness and compassion may not prove to be enough. The dark power of the Golem may be necessary.
At Amazon
At Barnes and Noble
At Smashwords
(See the form at the bottom of this page to get your FREE copy of "Simple Chaim".)
The Legends of the Lamed-Vav by Lable Braun are stories that emobody the Lamed-Vav philosophy into entertaining fables that, through their surprising twists and turns, show how simple acts of kindness (and also simple acts of selfishness) can have the most unexpected, almost miraculous, effects.
Click Here to Purchase at Amazon
(Kindle Format)
Click Here to Purchase at Barnes and Noble
(Nook Format)
Click Here to Purchase at Smashwords
(Multiple e-Formats, including PDF, Text, and Online)
Volume 1, Number 1: Simple Chaim
A young girl's world is falling apart. Her mother is deathly ill. Her over-bearing father lives in fear and has narrowed her world to the little farm they work in the Pale of Russia. Now rumors have come that the Czar has commanded the Cossacks to attack her village. Only her frail mother's faith in an ancient legend, the Lamed-Vav, stands between Raizel and the total loss of all she loves.
New people have started to mysteriously appear in the sedentary village. Chaim, the new tinker, could he be one of the mysterious Lamed-Vav? Could his simple acts of kindness, and his counter-intuitive wisdom be the village's salvation? And what of the strange new youth who has come to the village? Who is he, and why does he cause Raizel to feel things she has never before experienced?
In the end, Raizel will discover that nothing is ever quite what one expects, and the most miraculous results can come from unexpected sources.
In this first in a series of stories, an old legend is introduced to help us face the challenges of our times. Our modern myth that people are only out for their own narrow interests, and that only strength and wealth prevails, is put to the test by an ancient myth of love and compassion being the true foundations of the world.
At Amazon
At Barnes and Noble
At Smashwords
Volume 1, Number 2: The Jewish Cossack
The legend of the Lamed-Vav that began in “Simple Chaim” now moves to the next generation in “The Jewish Cossack”. Nissim Kozlovsky has been raised by his mother, Raizel, to believe in the legend of the Lamed-Vav, 36 hidden people who are the repositories of God's compassion in this world. But in the terrible early days of WW II, Nissim feels torn between the Lamed-Vav’s ideal of Divine Compassion and the call of his Cossack blood to be a warrior in the cause of Divine Justice.
Leading a resistance unit in the frozen forests of Poland, Nissim directly confronts a greater evil than he could ever have imagined. His efforts to fight power with power seemed doomed to futility. Will a simple act of kindness turn out to be the world’s salvation?
At Amazon
At Barnes and Noble
At Smashwords
Volume 1, Number 3: Descent Into Darkness
This story is a prequel to "Simple Chaim". Readers of that story will know that Raizel's father, Nathan, was a very hard-hearted man. Nathan was about as far away from the path of the Lamed-Vav, the path of compassion and simple kindness, as a human-being can get. But before we can learn to walk the road that leads to Divine Compassion, we must first understand the road that leads away from it.
What traumatic events could produce a man like Nathan? It is easy to judge such a man, but do we dare to understand him? In "Descent Into Darkness" we learn the greatest threat to all our lives - that when we fight against our destiny and our innate compassionate nature, even in the name of grand intentions, then, like Jonah, we enter the very belly of the Beast. And the consequences for ourselves and the world can be truly tragic.
At Amazon
At Barnes and Noble
At Smashwords
Volume 1, Number 4: Love and the Golem
Finally! All the threads of the first three Lamed-Vav stories are woven together into a climactic tale. As Raizel and Valery race to save Nissim from certain death at the hands of a sinister Gestapo general, there is much more at stake than their son's life. The Lamed-Vav's essence of kindness and compassion may not prove to be enough. The dark power of the Golem may be necessary.
At Amazon
At Barnes and Noble
At Smashwords
