Episodi

  • Chanukah & Miketz: The Melody of Integration

    Chanukah & Miketz: The Melody of Integration
    Dec 22 2024
    CHANUKAH SAMEACH! HAPPY CHANUKAH!Here are the sources referred to in this week's episode:The start of the parsha:https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.41?lang=bi&aliyot=0The brothers fear that Joseph and his descendants will lead the Jewish People to idolatry:https://www.sefaria.org/Bereshit_Rabbah.84.14?lang=biBrothers departed from brotherhood and sought religious / legal pretexts against Joseph, to justify killing him:https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.37.17?lang=bi&with=Rashi〈...
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    19 min
  • Vayeshev: Stories To Wake Us Up

    Vayeshev: Stories To Wake Us Up
    Dec 15 2024
    We've arrived at one of the best stories ever written, about Joseph and his brothers, and our mystics have a lot to say about the power of stories...Here are the sources referred to in this episode:Vayeshev: https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.37.3?lang=bi&aliyot=0Kabbalah teaches that the "real" Torah is actually the Infinite Name of the Infinite Creator.Just as the infinite, eternal Torah (which is beyond narrative) was "condensed down" into stories about our ancestors, so too it must be re...
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    18 min
  • Vayishlach: From Dualistic Conflict to Holistic Integration

    Vayishlach: From Dualistic Conflict to Holistic Integration
    Dec 8 2024
    In this week's episode on Toldot, we explore how the Ba'al Shem Tov and his students took the long-running rivalry and dualism of Jacob and Esau and offered a refreshingly optimistic and holistic perspective on apparent opposites such as good and evil, body and soul.The teaching shows the development from the classical Kabbalah of the Zohar to the new interpretation of Kabbalah pioneered by the early Chasidic masters, and has profound implications for how we today address our highly polarized...
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    12 min
  • Vayeitzei: Living the Dream-Ladder

    Vayeitzei: Living the Dream-Ladder
    Dec 1 2024
    Happy Moon! Chodesh Tov! In this week's episode we'll explore Jacob's dream of the ladder, which is an absolute centerpiece of Jewish spirituality.Below are some of the life lessons we can learn from it, according to our spiritual teachers.Start of the parsha: https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.28.10-32.3?lang=bi&aliyot=0When we unify ourselves with the "lowest level of existence" then our consciousness can expand infinitely: https://www.sefaria.org/Toldot_Yaakov_Yosef%2C_Vayetzei.17?vhe=Eic...
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    14 min
  • Toldot: Our Patriarchs as Kabbalistic Archetypes

    Toldot: Our Patriarchs as Kabbalistic Archetypes
    Nov 24 2024
    In this episode, we explore a foundational idea in Kabbalah. The Sefirot (qualities, emanations or characteristics) of the Divine which make up the Tree of Life are said to correspond to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. How do we see this in the Torah, and through the commentaries of the Ba'al Shem Tov and his students?Here's the parsha: https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.25.19?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=enFirstly, we learn from the Patriarchs that everyone has to find their own unique path of Divi...
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    21 min
  • Chayei Sara: Just Like Starting Over

    Chayei Sara: Just Like Starting Over
    Nov 17 2024
    In this episode, we'll be exploring Reb Noson / Rav Natan of Breslov's Chasidic interpretations of the Torah, Kabbalah and Midrash, centered on this week's Torah portion. Here are the sources referred to in this episode:Opening of the parsha with Rashi:https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.23.1?lang=bi&aliyot=0&p2=Rashi_on_Genesis.23.1&lang2=biWe need to constantly begin anew, seeing ourselves as if we have not even yet begun our journeys, constantly adding sanctity and vitality each an...
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    16 min
  • Vayera: Teaching the Angels a Lesson

    Vayera: Teaching the Angels a Lesson
    Nov 10 2024
    Reb Noson / Rav Natan of Breslov's Chasidic interpretations of the Torah, Kabbalah and Midrash are deeply resonant for me at the moment, and also providing so much guidance that translates into actual practice in our daily lives.Here are the sources referred to in this episode:The amazing teaching from Reb Noson's masterpiece, Likutei Halachot, that this week's entire episode is based on, which says that eating is our ultimate spiritual practice, and which ties together all the sources below:...
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    18 min
  • Lech Lecha: A Tribe Called Quest

    Lech Lecha: A Tribe Called Quest
    Nov 3 2024
    Kabbalah teaches that our lives are a quest. How do we keep going in the right direction, one step at a time? Here are the sources referred to in this episode:The Infinite one tells Avram to "go forth" or "go to yourself" or "go for your own benefit" - https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.12.1?lang=bi&with=Rashi&lang2=enAlso Rashi (on "the land that I will show you"): Hashem didn't tell Avram where he was going, in order to make the place more beloved to him."The Land of Israel" (both the ...
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    12 min