Finding the Middle Way: A Path to Unity
We live in turbulent times. The Jewish people are home again after a long exile — but we are divided, fragmented, and struggling to find our way to one another.
I wrote this short booklet exploring the concept of achdut — unity — not as a political slogan, but as a guide to a living reality. Unity is not something we have to create, it is our true inner reality. All we have to do is uncover what is already there. It is the reality of Knesset Yisrael, the joint soul of Israel. Yet in our times we seem so polarized.
Beside the soul there are the different aspects of desire we use to channel the light of the Creator. This is the basis of the 12 tribes of Israel: 12 different ways of serving the Creator and thus 12 different ways of seeing reality. How do we cope with the fact that in our essence we are one, and on the other hand in the way we see the world we are different?
Drawing on the Torah, the Zohar, the teachings of Rabbi Yehudah Leib Ashlag, and what I have learned in my life’s journey, I offer a practical path to uncovering the unity that is our essence.
Unity is not just something nice to have, it is crucial. If we can achieve unity, and thus a more peaceful way of being the outer world will conform, and we can resolve seemingly insoluble problems in a different way.
Getting to the middle way is the Kabbalah’s advice on making space for the other while not losing ourselves in the process. But it takes awareness and practice.
Written from Tzfat, Israel, in the midst of war and hope.
This is my gift to you — to download freely, to read, argue with, add to, and pass on in any way you wish.
With my blessings, Yedidah Cohen, Tzfat
I would love to hear your thoughts and responses. Write to me at yedidah@nehorapress.com