They lied to us. They told us that Eve was a sinner.

That she had, in fact- brought sin into the world. They said that she disobeyed God and ruined paradise for everyone, especially men. They said that she was dangerous and could not be trusted. For this, she needed to be silenced and deserved to be punished. They wrote it down in the bible and said it was the word of God.

Then, we were born- girls. And somehow, each of us in our own way, was blamed too and considered poisonous, so they didn’t let us lead or vote for leaders. They preferred us to be pretty and pretty silent. But we were making progress! We were gaining ground!

That is when we awoke to the catastrophe of the lie.

On November 8, 2016, The United States elected a President misogynist and liar.

How?

Because his opponent- a woman- was too dangerous. She could not be trusted. Just like Eve, she needed to be silenced and punished. The suggestion that Hilary Clinton behaved improperly with her money or misused her email accounts, that she was in fact, poisonous, activated a pandemic of poisonous Eve mythology.

It had been 2463 years from the time the bible was canonized with the myth of Eve until that day. But it was if no time had passed. The lie was that pervasive, that penetrating- that contaminating.

This is not about political affiliation. It’s not about whether or not you like the current president or think Hilary Clinton would have made a better president. It’s much, much bigger than that.

This is not about politics. It’s about awakening to TRUTH.

You see, it was never about the apple. It is about what came after: the epic blaming and shaming of Eve and every woman.

Six years ago, I felt like Eve. I fell from Paradise. Hard. I was literally down on my knees. If you were looking for Rabbi Kolton in July of 2012, you would find her in a state of torrential grief, maybe on the bathroom floor. My life as a rabbi and a Jew ruptured. It wasn’t pretty. “I just wish you had left the temple with your dignity,” said my mom. Yeah- me too. But grace was not available to me then, just like it wasn’t for Eve. We never fall into Grace. No. First, we hit the pavement.

I lost my income, my pulpit, and my community. The only place in my life that had felt like Eden, was now, literally locked behind me. Worst of all, I felt so ashamed. But something kept telling me, “It’s worth it. Keep going. There is so much more!” But more of what?

This blog is about what I struggled with, learned and discovered in the past 6 years. It’s about the quest for truth, feminine spirituality and the big journey of self-love. And it’s unabashedly disobedient.

Because Eve was no sinner. Eve was the first one to have the audacity to act on her own behalf. Eve was being true to herself. That is why she picked the apple. Eve did not bring sin into the world. She brought truth and spiritual bravery.

Eve was beautiful. Eve was a badass.

So are you.

It is our time, our calling. This is what the Dalai Lama meant when he told a large audience, “The world will be saved by Western women.” He meant you and he meant me and he meant NOW.

Somehow- someway- in this great era of #me too and never the less she persisted- we are finding our way back to Eve and recovering our power. We are waking up as a collective and we are rising! We are remembering who we really are. I feel it everywhere. Don’t you?

For 3000 years, feminine power has been constricted, shut down, burned, slayed, hung on the gallows, covered up and exploited. Finally, the time has come to recover from this history. So take my hand because together we are going to rise up from the flames to become the free, brave birds that we were always each meant to be!