Transformative Torah: Recent Episodes
Batya Hefter
Transformative Torah seeks to transmit the teachings and spiritual path of the hasidic masters to the modern seeking Jew.
Where do you go after the extraordinary experience at Sinai?God tells the people ‘build an altar of earth’.R. Mordechai of Izbica tells us how to get down to earth.
What do you do when God's path is hidden, when your life seems to take the wrong turn? Pharaoh finally let the Jews go, but to Moshe's distress, God takes then via the indirect route. Rabbi Mordechai Yosef shows how taking the 'bones of Joseph', is Moshe's answer.
Pharaoh symbolizes evil and the world of appearances. Moshe, symbolizes the Torah and the world of truth. Yet, Moshe, according to the Zohar, is afraid to confront Pharaoh. What happens with the world of truth collides with the world of appearances. The symbolism of the Staff and the Snake, will give us a clue.
Untangling Israel from Egypt. How did we get out then, how do we get out now?
Moshe is frustrated that his efforts to redeem the people made their suffering worse. God teaches Moshe that the children of Israel will not be free from the clutches of Egypt, until they untangle their confused identity.
On Moshe’s return to Egypt, we are told that God confronted Moshe and sought to kill him. Why would God want to kill the man he chose to redeem His people? The clue rests in the symbolic meaning of circumcision and Moshe's speech impediment.
Jacob on his deathbed is confronted with a dilemma.
May he bless or must he rebuke his children?
In Jacob’s last moments we learn how he encounters uncertainty.
Yehuda the extraordinary figure from whose lineage comes the line of kings, began as compromiser and sinner. Following sincere repentance, he becomes the archtype of an egoless man with a pure heart. With only his integrity he approaches the unknown king which causes his self-controlled brother Joseph to break down in tears.
Joseph, Jacob's favorite son, beautiful like his mother, a man of self-restraint and worldly success, appears to be perfect. His self-control to resist Potiphor's wife's seduction, earns him the title of the Tzaddik, the Righteous one. But, there is a flaw in all of this perfection, as the story of the Baker and the Steward will come to show.
Eisav the impulsive son and hunter, father of Amalek arch enemy of the Jewish People, has come to symbolize evil. Surprisingly, the Rabbi's take Jacob to task for not trying to draw Eisav his brother back into the fold. The quality of truth, attributed to Jacob, is understood as an ability to illuminate the innate potential good hidden within Eisav.
Yitzchak is blind,Moshe has enduring vision,Yitzchak may not leave the Land of Israel,Moshe may not enter.What is the meaning of this riddle?
‘And these were the years of Sarah’s life’
‘They were all equally good’ (Rashi)
Really?
Brit Milah - why is that the covenant? What is the symbolic meaning of the ‘orla’ literally, foreskin? The prophets cry out against those who have an orla, a blockage on their heart, tongue or ears. The meaning of this mitzvah may uncover the meaning of how you want to live as a Jew in the world.