kabbalah and festivals
Inner Exile, Inner Redemption
Seder night is the night in which the greatest light of God, the light of redemption, comes into the world. It is the night in which God delivered the children of Israel from Egypt. And this energy, this great light comes into the world again every year. How will we receive it? How will we relate to it? As we start the Haggadah we say , This year we are slaves, next year we will be free. In this podcast we ask the question how and in what way are we in slavery now and what do we need to do to get free?
The Four Sons: An inner view of the Haggadah
Four responses that we could give to Go’s voice when He calls us within ourselves, calling us to be like Him, giving unconditionally.
The wise, the wicked, the perfect and the one who doesn’t know how to ask are all within ourselves.
When looked at from the inner perspective, this enigmatic portion of the Haggadah becomes a clue to our own behavior.
God's Name on Seder Night
As we move through Seder night, we drink the four cups of wine and we relate to the elements on the Seder plate, we are not usually cognizant of the fact that both these central components of Seder night, actually represent the four-letter Name of God, YHVH
The story of the Children of Israel in Egypt is our story
Before the Pesach holiday begins we are busy clearing out the chametz, the leaven from our houses. The Zohar informs us that this leaven represents the yezer hara, our egoism, within us. This process gives us an opportunity to come to our true freedom
The inner meaning of Seder night, the night of redemption
Listen to a live class given by Yedidah Cohen on the inner meaning of the Seder night using texts from the the Talmud, the Zohar, and the teachings of Rabbi Yehudah Lev Ashlag.
Who knows One? From Exile to Redemption
Listen to a live class given by Yedidah Cohen on the inner meaning of the Seder night using texts from the the Talmud, the Zohar, and the teachings of Rabbi Yehudah Lev Ashlag.
God keeps his promises: A talk for the last days of Pesach
Blessed be He who keeps His promise to Israel.
This saying in the Haggadah gets greater force when we learn a remarkable article in the Zohar, in which we learn how faith played a crucial part in the redemption and that God, kept His promise to the froefathers, Abraham Isaac and Jacob to the letter. This is a promise we rely on even today.
The Four Cups of Wine: Their Inner Meaning
“And we awaken with their joy, and drink four cups of wine for the four aspects that are never separated from each other when this union is found.” Zohar Emor 135.
Learn a piece from the holy Zohar together with Yedidah on the inner meaning of the four cups of wine that we drink on Seder night.
THE OMER
In the external unchanging pattern of counting the days between Pesach and Shavuot there is an extremely rich inner reality. Each day pertains to a different Sephirah, a vessel for the light of God. How may I experience this richness? Rabbi Ashlag explains the Zohar on the Sephirot, the precise vessels for the light of these days and their meaning.
The Four Cups of Wine: Their Inner Meaning
“And we awaken with their joy, and drink four cups of wine for the four aspects that are never separated from each other when this union is found.” Zohar Emor 135.
Learn a piece from the holy Zohar together with Yedidah on the inner meaning of the four cups of wine that we drink on Seder night.
The beauty of the Spiritual Night; in preparation for Shavuot
Rabbi Ashlag teaches that the essence of Shavuot and the essence of the redemption are one. Likewise the night in which the Bride joins with Her Creator, also refers to the long days of exile when the forces of separation rule over us,
Preparing to Receive the Torah
The Zohar teaches us that the essence of the Torah, the essence of God, and the essence of the soul are one.
But we cannot attain the essence of God directly —even the essence of ourselves, our soul, is hidden from us. So the one aspect of this godly essence that we are given as a gift to grasp and to attain, is the Torah.
But we’re not just a soul, we are also made up of the body. These two components, oppose each other. How are we going to want the Torah, the connection with our soul?
In this podcast we study a beautiful article of Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag in which he shows us that it is God who came down on Mount Sinai, who shows us the reality of our own egoism, so we will want to receive the Torah again with all our heart.
Redemption is the Essence of Shavuot
Shavuot, the day on which all Israel stood as one and experienced the voice of God directly has all the elements of the final redemption too. It is the day on which we received the Torah then and we renew our receiving now. For the Torah is not just a way, it is also a destination.
The Giving of the Torah is Eternal
How did the Children of Israel reach the incredible spiritual state of “As one Man with one heart,” that enabled them to receive the Torah on Mount Sinai. If we were able to reach that same state, would we be able to stand at our own Mount Sinai and hear the voice of God speaking directly to us? Rabbi Ashlag assures us that the answer to this question is “Yes!”
The Vessel for the receiving of the Torah
Shavuot is the festival when we celebrate the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. The same energy of the light of Torah comes around again every year. However, we also need to consider a different question: How should we receive the Torah?.
As one man with one heart
The giving of the Torah is an eternal act that never ceases; for God is always giving. So why is it that we don’t feel the revelation of God in our lives now? To receive the light of God we have to want it. What brings us to want the revelation of God’s light in our lives now, and how did the Children of Israel achieve this state at Mount Sinai?
The night of the Bride: A class on the essence of Shavuot
The giving of the Torah is an eternal act that never ceases; for God is always giving. So why is it that we don’t feel the revelation of God in our lives now? To receive the light of God we have to want it. What brings us to want the revelation of God’s light in our lives now, and how did the Children of Israel achieve this state at Mount Sinai?
The garments of the Torah hide its essence
The Torah comes in different garbs, traditionally known as Pardes These comprise the Bible, the Talmud, the Halachah and also the Kabbalah. But how do i know which to relate to? What do I do with all the aspects I disagree with?
Why do we feel conflicted over Torah and mitzvot? – a post for Shavuot
All the Jewish people living today are sparks of the 600, 000 root souls of Israel that stood together at Mount Sinai and received the Torah. Those root souls are us. We reincarnate, time and again, throughout the generations. And so we too stood together at the foot of the Mountain and experienced the voice of God. That moment is forever etched into our souls.
The sin of the golden calf : dealing with it today
To our eyes the making of the golden calf seems foolish . Why did they do it?
The basis for the sin is still with us today and affects us all
Rebuilding our inner Jerusalem
Rabbi Ashlag teaches that the inner meaning of Jerusalem is the point of holiness within our soul wherein we can come to love our fellow unconditionally and thus come to the love of God.
Where is God?
On Tisha B’ Av we need to contemplate not the historical destruction alone but the destruction of our inner Temple. The Zohar teaches us that the real destruction and exile is the absence of God in our lives.
My soul, Jerusalem
Jerusalem is known in the Bible by different names: “the city”,” the city of David”, “the epitome of beauty”, “the city forever joined”. In the Kabbalah we learn that Jerusalem represents the soul.
Mourning for our inner Temple on Tisha B'Av
Rabbi Ashlag teaches that the real mourning we do on Tisha B’ Av is to mourn the lack of awareness of our own inner Jerusalem, our soul. The lack of space we give her, the ways we override her whisper with the strident shouts of the ego, and the ways we fail to build our own inner Temple through which her light could be manifest to ourselves and to all who accompany us on our journey here.
An Inner view of Tisha bAv.
Living without the direct revelation of God in our lives has become the norm. We need to remember that this is not normal, and each one of us needs to mourn and long for a direct connection with the Creator in our mind heart and soul. This is the rebuilding of Jerusalem within ourselves.
Forty days of love: From Elul to Yom Kippur
It’s a time for repairing relationships whether they are relationships between ourselves and our fellows or ourselves and God. It is a time of Teshuvah, a time of coming back.
Enjoying the month of Elul
So many people dread the run up to the high holy days. They feel guilty about what they didn’t do all the year and anxiety about the year to come. But it needn’t be like that at all. The month of Elul is the opportunity for a good inner spring-clean and there is a real joy in that!
Shame is a precious feeling
Our Sages saw the feeling of shame as a positive step. They understood it arises from the person’s felt discrepancy between his behavior and what he really feels about himself. This means he is in touch with the most essential aspect of himself, his soul, and thus can improve.
Coming back home: The shofar's call
Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, in his great work, Mesillat Yesharim, (The path of the righteous) writes:
“ the rooting out of the will which prompted the deed is considered a rooting out of the deed itself.”
This loving-kindness manifests in the sound of the shofar. The voice of the shofar opens the opportunity to make good , to undo , to come back fresh…. and to a new start.
What does the prayer "Write me in the book of life" really mean for me? Can we say the prayer “ write us in the book of life” wholeheartedly?
Most of us would simply say yes. But Rabbi Ashlag finds that this is not such a simple prayer as it seems on the surface. Life, does not refer to just physical life but actually means loving unconditionally and wishing to do good unconditionally. Which part of ourselves can sign up to that wholeheartedly, and what holds us back? The work of Elul for the High Holidays.
ROSH HASHANAH; THE NEW YEAR The language of Rosh Hashanah is derived from the Kabbalah
We don’t usually appreciate just how deeply the language of the Kabbalah penetrates our prayers and traditional customs. In this talk we are going to examine the true meanings of the terms,”life:” and “judgement” and the role of the Shofar in bringing blessing and compassion to the world.
The Shofar, the sound of compassion
What do we hear when we blow the shofar? Do we hear a cry to battle or do we hear a call for repentance?
The Zohar teaches us that the shofar, in its essence, is the sound of compassion.
Changing our outlook on Rosh HaShanah
Do you feel upset and anxious when it comes around to the High Holy days? So many of us do. Many of the symbols associated with Rosh HaShanah, have been distorted over the centuries. Now with our knowledge of Kabbalah we can learn what “life” really is and how the shofar is the instrument of compassion.
THE TEN DAYS OF TESHUVAH Coming back to our true selves
Teshuvah is a God-given gift to us calling us back, showing us the way home. Often translated as repentance it really means “returning to our inner selves”.
The Inner Essence of Yom Kippur
What does atonement really mean? Forgiving the hurts that others have done us somehow contradicts our sense of natural justice. Equally, what do I have to do make amends when I feel guilty and ashamed of mistakes I have made?
From the depths I call on You
The psalmist calls out to God from the depths of his heart. We too access those depths on Yom Kippur . The Zohar explores the meaning of depth and teaches how Return and Forgiveness were given as a gift by God before even Man was created.
Yom Kippur : A chance to reclaim our true identity
On Yom Kippur we have the opportunity to release A precious part of ourselves from the bondage of the animal soul and its confusing behaviour and rediscover our real selves.
The gate of tears is never locked
Yom Kippur is a day of prayer and supplication. But do I know what I really want to pray for? How do I know what my deepest needs really are? If I express them with the sorrow and pain I feel, will they be answered? From an essay by Rabbi Baruch Shalom Halevi Ashlag
SUCCOT
What does the Torah refer to when it says that God made the Children of Israel dwell in Succot when they came out of Egypt? Going beyond any historical fact the succah has an inner significance of the entire coming year helping us build a vessel for the light of faith.
Kabbalah: What is it?
The children of Israel were given three gifts to protect them through the travails of the wilderness. Manna from heaven, Miriam’s well and the clouds of Glory.
The triumph of the soul over the ego
Rabbi Ashlag teaches that a human being is a small world, implying that every event in the outside world may be reflected within us. Within us we have the elements of the Chanukah story: the Greek and the Jew, the way of the rational vs. faith.
The miracle
Rabbi Ashlag asks, “What is a miracle? and in his answer we find that the Chanukah lights don’t just spread physical light but they point the way for our own personal miracle too. Spiritual exile and the miracle of spiritual redemption is the message of Chanukah in our own lives
The Chanukah candle within
“The three components of the chanukah candle are the vessel itself, the wick and the oil. All three elements need to be present to receive the flame of Chanukah.”
Thus Rabbi Baruch Ashlag starts an amazing letter on the elements that make up the equivalent of the Hanukkah candle within each and everyone of us. The light of Hanukkah is the revelation of God’s goodness in a direct and unequivocal way, such that the weak overcame the strong, and the few the many.
The fruit of holiness
Tu Bshvat is the New Year for trees. But why should trees have a new year? “For a man is as the tree of a field.” Like the tree we also have fruit to give, the fruit of our lives and of our labor. What type of fruit will we be giving out? Who will reap the benefit?
From a letter by Rabbi Ashlag on the inner meaning of Tu Bshvat.
And a Man is as a tree of the field"
A letter written by Rabbi Ashlag to his students illustrates just how to look at our lives taking this phrase personally
Purim, then and now
We are living in turbulent times; on the one hand the light of redemption is undoubtedly getting nearer Equally, the destructive elements of the world seem to be growing in strength. .
Mordecai and Esther give us clues how to cope
The joy of expecting Purim,
In the month of Adar, we increase our joy. But happiness is not a feeling one can fake or force. So it’s clear that the Sages of the Talmud intended the increase in our simchah in our joy to relate to an inner joy, something more connected with our inner being.
The basis of true joy
The Sages have taught that when the month of Adar comes in we increase our joy. They are referring to the happiness of being in unity with the Creator. However to feel the presence of the Creator in our lives we need to first feel how empty our lives are when we don’t feel in connection with Him, otherwise we do not appreciate what we are given.
Until we don't know!
The essence of Purim is its light. What is the difference between cursed is Haman and blessed is Mordecai? Finding the Mordecai (and the Haman) inside oneself and really celebrating the light of Purim!
