Insights into Rabbi Ashlag's Kabbalah podcast: Recent Episodes
Yedidah Cohen
Although Pesach is now behind us, we mention the miracle of the exodus from Egypt every single day in our prayers. Each year, a different aspect leaps out at me; this year, it was the Crossing of the Red Sea.
If we look at the ten plagues God inflicted on the Egyptians, they occur within the bounds of nature: Nature taken to extremes. But the Red Sea’s parting lies in entirely another dimension: beyond the domains of nature. A sea divides. The seabed becomes dry land, solid enough for 600,000 people to walk on. The ordinary borders between sea and land change for precisely the time it takes for the Children of Israel to pass through.
One imagines the miracle of the Crossing of the Red Sea to be a one-time event. But in fact, it isn’t. When Joshua led the Children of Israel into the Promised Land, the waters of the River Jordan parted, and they crossed on dry land. The Talmud records an instance when Rabbi Pinchas Ben Yair, was on his way ot recscue hostages the River Ganni parted for him.
We have just celebrated Yom Haatzmaut Independence day when we celebrate the miracle of the State of Israel, for miracle it surely is. According to all the laws of nature—the sociological laws the anthropological laws and the laws of demographics and statistics—our existence as the Jewish people isn’t explainable. Yet here we are!
What is the basis of this phenomenon, and do these events have meaning for us today?
To answer these questions, we must first consider what nature is, and discover what causes an event beyond nature’s ordinary boundaries.
What we call “nature” is the way the world usually works. The holy Ari teaches that the world has only two basic elements: the Creator and the created. These express themselves as the goodness of God and the desire to receive this goodness.
The desire to receive the Creator’s goodness is the created element and forms the primary material of all creation: All elements of reality, inanimate, plant, animal, and human, have the desire to receive goodness. In the human this desire to receive God’s goodness manifests through all aspects of ourselves, our physical being, our emotions and our desires to know and control our lives.
Our soul however is part of the essence of God. Unlike the created aspects of ourselves, our soul desires not to receive, but to give unconditionally, just like the Creator; its Root, only gives. When we give altruistically to others, we act according to our soul’s desire. Likewise, when we place our faith and trust in the goodness of the Creator, instead of relying on external sources, we act according to our soul’s desire. When we accord with our souls’ wishes, we are no longer confined to the material of the natural world; we have gone beyond the boundaries of created nature.
At this point, the Sages teach us that a law higher than the laws of nature can now come into play.
In the last six months, we in Israel have merited witnessing the most incredible examples of deeds of ultimate selflessness, deeds that are truly beyond the boundaries of nature. So many men and women, young and not so young, selflessly gave their lives to save helpless victims on October 7 and in its aftermath.
Throughout all these months of difficulty, people from all levels of society have been volunteering: helping the wives of reservists, helping the farmers harvest the land, and helping each other stay calm, cheerful, and confident. These actions of selflessness that are above and beyond the boundaries of nature are not actions you will find portrayed in the media, but they are numerous and do change reality.
Witness what happened on the night of April 13: Iran sent an incredible number of lethal ballistic missiles to murder as many Jews as possible, indiscriminately. Yet we merited to a miracle above nature!—a modern Crossing of the Red Sea! Any scientist will tell you that no human system is as good as what happened that night. No human system is 99.9% successful. Yet that is what happened!
Today, as we watch with growing dismay and disbelief the stream of antisemitism in the streets and universities of cities all over the world, let us take heart from the realization that miracles like the Crossing of the Red Sea are not one-time miracles. They can and do happen in our time too.
How can we create the conditions that can bring such miracles about?
Acting against our created nature isn’t easy. Very often, we want to, but we need to know how. However, we are blessed that the Torah of the soul, the Kabbalah, is now available to us through the the great Kabbalist of the 20th century, Rabbi Ashlag. When we learn the Kabbalah, we can get to know what our individual soul wants and how it needs to express itself. Then, we can all contribute to the energy field in which the miraculous can happen.
Thus, the words of the prophet Micah, “Just as in the days of your coming out of Egypt, I will show you miracles” (Micah 7:27) will come true.
I bless you and all whom you love so that we may merit witnessing miracles in our lives for which we can all give thanks.
The Torah is not a history book. The outer events of our forefathers’ lives are recorded in the Torah, but the meaning of these events and the intentions of the protagonists are recorded in the inner aspect of the Torah, the Zohar. It’s when we put the inner intentions together with the events, we can begin to understand why these stories are important for us today in living our own lives.
In this shiur we look at one example in which Yaakov teaches us how to handle our own selfishness and egoism. We discover that before we plan to do a mitzvah, our own yetzer hara comes to us as an inner voice telling us that since our work is not perfect it’s not worth doing. This is the voice of Laban, who claimed all Yaakov’s work for his own. “The daughters are my daughters, and the sons are my sons, and the animals are my animals, and all that you see is mine.”( Gen.33:43)
What does Yaakov teach us to say to this inner voice?
He says “I dwelt with Laban yet I kept the Torah and mitzvot.” We need to ignore it. We need to raise ourselves up with pride in the fact that we are the children of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, and have faith that God takes pleasure in our work, in whatever form it takes.
But then “Yaakov sent messengers to Esau.” This action of Yaakov takes us by surprise. Why not let sleeping dogs lie? But here again Yaakov is teaching us an important lesson. After we have done the mitzvah we need to go to the opposite extreme, and consider how much our wills to receive for ourselves alone are really the basis of our work.
What is Esau’s response? He sas, I have plenty my brother, Keep what is yours!” In other words, here our inner voice of the yetzer hara is saying exactly the opposite! it says,”you are so righteous, you have nothing more to do!” It wants to convince us that our work is perfect, so that we rest on our laurels and don’t prgress another inch!
What does Jacob do? He entreats Esau to accept his gift and humbles himself before him. In the same way, we also need to realize how much our wills to receive for ourselves alone are involved in our service to God. We need to ignore the inner voice of Esau , and separate from it going our own way into the Land of Yisrael, the consciousness that is in affinity of form with God until we merit to come to Beit El, the house of God.
This podcast is dedicated lilui nishmat my dear mother, Chaya bat Menachem haLevi
Material taken from Birkat Shalom ” Al HaTorah, Parhsat Vayishlach, and the Zohar with Perush haSulam Parahst Vayishlach, beginnning
We think it is ourselves that think our thoughts, but Rabbi Yehudah Leib Ashlag tells us that this is a delusion. In actual fact it is God who sends us our thoughts in order to communicate with us, giving, uniquely and intimately, his love to each one of us. Whether our thoughts are positive or negative they all come from him. And thus we actually have an open channel of communication with the Creator of all the universe . This should bring us to feel great joy and thanks.
When travelling in Jerusalem today, we see a thriving city. The elderly sit with their staffs in their hands and the children play in the streets, fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah made 2000 years ago. So why should we mourn on Tisha b Av today? The Zohar teaches us that the inner meaning of Jerusalem is the point of holiness in our heart. On Tisha BAv we need to take stock and mourn that the consciousness of God is so low on our own personal agenda and on that of the world. It is our mourning for the consciousness of God in our lives that helps us realize how much we desire and long for the rebuilding of our inner Jerusalem.
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, also 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. When we learn , immerse ourselves, in the Torah we are connecting directly the Holy blessed One, and with our own soul. And this is the great gift that we are given every Shavuot , to renew our connection with the Divine essence. But we’re not just a soul, we are also made up of the body. These two components, while they need each other , also oppose each other. Our body aspect ,our egoism tells us, “whatever you do, to better yourself in the material sense, or whatever actions you take which increase your importance are good. “ Whereas the soul, says, “whatever we can do in giving unconditionally, whether to God or to our fellow human being, is good, because such actions bring us close to God. Our body aspect is more familiar to us: it starts to grow the moment we are born , whereas our soul incarnates later. The voice of the ego is strident , fitting in with the messages we get from the society around us and the media, whereas the soul whispers and we have to strain to hear its voice. So how are we going to want to contact the soul? How are we going to decide that the yetzer hara, our evil inclination, is really our worst enemy ? 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 to show us the reality of our own egoism , so we will want to receive the Torah again with all our heart.
When we first look at the Haggadah, it seems to be a collection of somewhat disconnected paragraphs, with the overall motif being the story of the Children of Israel coming out of Egypt. But when we use knowledge gained from the Zohar and the teachings of Rabbi Ashlag we discover that the Haggadah is really a meditation on the inner meaning of exile and redemption, as the Haggadah oscillates from light to darkness and back to light again. It is not describing events of 3000 years ago, but relates to our own inner exile and the redemption by God for each one of us on this holy night. One of the most enigmatic parts of the Haggadah is the story of the four sons. We will use this part of the Haggadah to hear the voice of God calling to us and to examine our possible responses.
Rabbi Ashlag, in a letter to his students, points out the cause of the exile of the Children of Israel in Egypt. He shows that this very same cause operates in ourselves today causing us to become disempowered. It is our disconnection with the soul within us that enables us to become easy prey to fears and worries. When we reconnect value the soul within us as our own inner Sage, we reconnect with the God within us, and we leave our inner exile and come to our state of redemption.
Before the story of Joseph and the brothers, brotherhood does not seem to have been an important value in family life. In the selling of Joseph as a slave to Egypt, both Joseph and his brothers discover they have lost something precious and now have to work hard to regain it. But the gain is far greater than they imagined. In discovering brotherhood they lay the foundations of discovering the common humanity that binds us all together.
There is a famine in the land, and Abraham decides to go down to Egypt, taking Sarai with him. The Zohar teaches that the famine was a spiritual thirst for the light of God. In which case why go down to the consciousness of Egypt, known as a source of spiritual pollution? Why does Abraham ask Sarai to say she is his sister not his wife? This most peculiar story, found in the early life of Abraham takes on a new dimension when looked though the inner dimension of the Zohar, and tells us much about how we too, need to handle the different aspects of good and evil found within ourselves.
Both Cain and Abel are elements within our consciousness. The Cain within us is the part that wants to use our intelligence to try to fulfill the greatest desires a person has, to know God. Although it puts on the cloak of giving, underneath it really wants to receive. Abel on the other hand is the part of us that truly wants to give from the heart. Although from we stumble into the will to receive for ourselves alone, the Abel part of ourselves offers our turning back to God in faith as its gift, and feels itself blessed to do so. This is the gift that God heeds.
The word with which the Torah opens is Bereishit. This word is one of the most discussed words in the Zohar because it contains within itself the sodot, the inner meanings of the origin of creation, the inner meanings of the nature of creation, and of creation’s ultimate destiny. In this short piece we will consider one aspect only: the word ברא bara creation itself. What actually was created? The holy Ari teaches us that prior to creation, reality is entirely filled with the limitless light of God, His goodness. Since this goodness contains all that is, the only new creation that can possibly be, is a state of emptiness. So the word ברא implies emptiness. It describes a state of consciousness in which we are outside of the consciousness of light. It is a state of longing, a state of being incomplete. If our natural state is one of being filled with light, then the state of creation is therefore an unnatural one. Indeed, this is how we experience it. We all experience periods in our lives of dissatisfaction, of loneliness, of alienation; episodes when we ask, “What is my life about?” Sometimes these states of consciousness are short-lived, but sometimes these feelings of emptiness and of longing seem to characterize most of our lives. We sometimes try to deny these times, to fill them up with something to distract ourselves from our unease. But this is because we do not realize their potential. By understanding the word ברא we discover that this essential emptiness is actually the essence of creation. We need to harness the power of creation that is inherent in these difficult times.
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!”
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 Scripture says : God said to Moses, “ Come into Pharaoh.” Rabbi Ashlag teaches us that discovering the core of our inner egoism, which is inside each one of us, ultimately helps us transform it. Furthermore, the knowledge that it was God who created the darkness within us, and there is no one else to blame, is actually the knowledge that sets us free. By approaching the darkness within us we can ask God to accompany us and help us redeem it and ourselves. From a letter of Rabbi Yehuda Leib Ashlag
On the surface, the story of Joseph and his brothers appears to be a family drama. But on examination it’s a process of development of a new quality in humanity’s consciousness—Brotherhood. This quality of mutual acceptance and the willingness to give to each other, even suffer for each other, is the basis of "All Israel are guarantors for each other" and is the prerequisite for the complete fulfillment of the Torah.
Our essence is not something we can sense directly or feel, but then neither can we sense an electron directly. It doesn't make it less real. Our essence has actions that affect our lives and our choices. Our essence is eternal
Many people ask is Judaism a spiritual path. This is because Judaism does not resemble other religions in the way it deals with spirituality. In other religions, there is a separation between the physical world and the spiritual world. But Judaism sees the world as a whole. It sees the physical dimension of the world as being, in itself, spiritual. This wholeness is seen when we look on all aspects of the Torah as integral parts of a whole.
Rabbi Yehudah Leib Ashlag, whose 66th yahrzeit falls on this Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish Year, not only penetrated and opened the Torah of the holy Ari and the holy Zohar but showed us the pathways of love that form the heart of Judaism.
When we look at the mourning on Tisha b’Av, we are actually mourning the disconnect with our spiritual source. Destruction of the temple in Jerusalem meant that the direct revelation of the light of God was no longer available to the people as a whole. Gradually 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.
Our world, both politically and culturally is in turmoil. Our value systems are being turned upside down. Freedom of speech in the West is no longer guaranteed. Our economic systems serve only a few with the majority suffering under huge burdens. And, in more than one country, democracy itself and the freedom of the individual are under attack. All this was true before, but now added to that is the Coronavirus crisis and the latest riots in the US and the world. Where are we heading? Times of chaos are definitely uncomfortable for us: and we are the individuals who are destined to live through them. But such times also provide opportunities for us to reassess our values and to make new decisions in the directions that we, as individuals, as families, and as communities want to go.
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.
On the other hand when we are told what is in the Torah, we begin to see it makes demands on us. It demands that we work with it, learn it, practice it. It makes ethical demands, in action not just in thought. It has mitzvot for us to keep whether they are convenient or not, whether we have grown up with them or not; mitzvot which declare our relationship with God as well as delineating our ethical relationship with our fellow human being; mitzvot of action and of feeling; mitzvot of thought and speech. The Torah demands a living, active relationship with God, here in the now. Not as something historical. The Torah doesn’t let us bask in a cozy armchair feeling of being one of the chosen people but it demands a relationship in the present. A renewed covenant, a renewed commitment. That is the meaning for us of the upcoming festival of Shavuot.
Why was Kabbalah hidden form previous generations, and why is it revealed to us now? We find it is not because we are worthy, but that without Kabbalah we cannot fulfill the purpose of our lives and come to the full redemption which is now close.
The Zohar teaches us that when we act in holiness, that is in giving unconditionally, we cause blessing and holiness to flow back to us. With the actions we do with the lulav and etrog we cause the seven Sephirot of Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut to bring blessings of love and compassion from the higher Sephirah of Binah to all the world.
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.
Shavuot, the festival of the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, shares the same essence as that of the day of the final redemption, when all the tikkun of Creation will be complete, and the “Earth will be filled with the knowledge of God as the water covers the sea.” What are the elements that demonstrate this, and what is our role in bringing this great day nearer? A talk from the Zohar and the commentary of Rabbi Ashlag.
Just as we were exiled in the historical Egypt, we all suffer different aspects of exile wherein we are in exile from our inner selves. Connecting with the name of God, HaShem helps us put our trust in God, helps us forgive ourselves and others and helps trust that HaShem will release us from the bondage of our inner Pharaoh, as indeed He does.
In these weeks we read the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai in the weekly parasha. All the root souls of the children of Israel were there. This moment of being in God’s presence, of hearing his voice indelibly changed us, both as individuals and as a people, and through us the world. What was this experience like? What did we, who were there, feel? How did we experience God’s voice? The Torah tells us the facts: and indeed they are dramatic, but to get inside the experience we need to go to the Zohar the central text of the Kabbalah. This podcast opens up that inner experience that still resonates on.
Why is Tu B’shvat the New Year for trees? What does this mean for us as human beings? In which ways are the human and the tree similar? What are our fruits of holiness that are equivalent to the fruit given to us by the tree? These and other questions are addressed by Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag in a remarkable letter he wrote to his students on Tu B'shvat 1957.
The Zohar on the story of Jacob and Esau opens us to the real intentions of our forefather Jacob. We discover that his only desire was to bring righteousness about and to help Esau despite himself.
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.
The Zohar itself declares we should not use the Torah as telling literal stories. These are its words: Rabbi Shimon said: "Woe to the man who says that the Torah comes to tell literal stories and stories of people like Esau and Laban and such like. For if this were so, even in these times we could make a Torah out of the words of ordinary people — even nicer stories than these." In this podcast we look at Rabbi Ashlag’s disappointment to such a use of the Kabbalah and how it fueled his resolve to bring out the true wisdom of the Torah for all .
One evening in 1892 in a suburb of Warsaw, a seven-year-old boy was lying in bed when, suddenly, a book fell off the bookshelf, hitting him on the head. The boy picked it up and started to examine it. His father, hearing the sound, came in, and seeing the book in his son’s hand, took it from him and replaced it on the shelf. “This is a book for angels, not for you,” said the father. But the boy argued, “If it has been printed, it must be meant for everyone.” “No,” insisted his father, “it is not for you.” But the boy’s curiosity had been aroused, and he started to study it. It was a book of the Kabbalah and its light illumined his heart. The child was Yehudah Leib Ashlag who, one day, was going to change the way we see spiritual consciousness.
When we read books of kabbalah, as for example English translations of the Zohar , or look at diagrams of the Sephirot, we often end up more puzzled than enlightened. This is because Kabbalah actually uses a specific language.
The words of the Torah are the vessels for its wisdom. They are written as black letters on the white parchment . The white is the light of the wisdom of the Torah, but if it were not for the letters we would not know what it says. Similarly our lacks and desires make up the words of our lives. By learning the meanings of the words of the Torah and of the Kabbalah we can understand our own desires more accurately . We look at "zivug", the union of opposites and see how it applies to relationships.
In this happy and optimistic letter for the New Year that Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag wrote to his friends and students in the Beit Hamidrash for Rosh Hashanah, he teaches that the themes of Rosh Hashanah are actually advice the Sages are giving us in how to come closer to our Creator.
The great light of God that comes into the world on Rosh Hashanah is identical to that which came into the world at the time of its Creation. But if we were to receive it "straight", as it were, it would be dangerous for us. The shofar sounds the voice of loving-kindness and compassion, which clothes this great light so all the world may benefit from the light of God in its bounty and blessing.
In Judaism the word "sin" actually means missing the mark. When we look back on our lives , we may see many things we wish now we had done differently. It transpires that the main sin is that we didn't ask for help when we needed it. An article from the Kabbalist Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag
Feeling sad and feeling happy all at the same time? Conflicting emotions aren't that rare; interestingly enough the Zohar talks about them in context with the person who wants to draw closer to God again after having strayed. How can he come close to God when he is feeling sad, when the injunction is " serve the Lord with gladness" !? Rabbi Baruch Ashlag looks at this Zohar with sympathy and depth.
We have two ways of relating to the goodness that the Creator gives us: receiving or giving. But these two functions are very often mutually opposite, each feeling that its own way is the correct way, even though such function is often incomplete. But a greater harmony and balance is achieved by co-operation, thus causing a third, middle way to emerge. The Torah itself comes forth from and guides us to this middle way.
Rabbi Ashlag teaches the redemption of the Children of Israel from Egypt as an on-going process within ourselves. He teaches that Egypt is within us, personified as our egoism, and this constitutes our bondage. The elements of the Pesach preparations and Seder night guide us so we can also celebrate our own redemption by the Hand of the Almighty with joy.
Becoming Adam implies coming to resemble the Creator in His loving kindness and unconditional love. But how can we fully embody this? From the Kabbalah of Rabbi Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag
When the children of Israel encamped at Mount Sinai, the Sages teach that they encamped "as one man with one heart." It is from this teaching we understand that the revelation of God to the people at Mount Sinai was dependent on their being united What does this unity imply? How do we achieve unity while still respecting our individuality? Rather than look at this idea in a philosophical way, Rabbi Ashlag taught unity in the most practical way possible, by encouraging mutual love, support and responsibility between his students. His advice then is still good now.
"In every generation, a man is obliged to see himself or herself, as if he is coming out of Egypt." Every single day we mention the redemption from Egypt in our prayers. The coming out of Egypt, is not a one- time historical event, but a present reality for each and every one of us. Each one of us has within us our own personal Egypt. The word Egypt in Hebrew is מצרים which means narrow or constricted places. Each one of us has our own limitations that we need help in overcoming. We need our own redemption. From the Torah of Rabbi Ashlag.
Prayer is our connection with our Source. Yet there are many sad and broken people in the world who yet do not call out to the Divine for help. Rabbi Ashlag teaches us that the very turning to God constitutes a Divine call to us. Zohar
Without the wick, the oil, and the vessel to place it in, the flame of the candle cannot light. Each of these three components have an inner equivalent in our service of God, with which we, too, can light our own inner flame. From the teachings of Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag
If we don't know the intentions of the other person we can so easily misjudge their overt actions. Nowhere is this truer than in the Bible stories. Learning the literal story alone, may even lead us away from the truth revealed within it. By revealing intentions, the Kabbalah teaches us the consciousness of the Torah in a way that we can grow ourselves. Nowhere is this more poignant than in the story of Jacob and Esau.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. From that English translation we would infer that this verse is talking about the initial creation, which subsequently unfolded. But the Sages of the Zohar took a rather different view of this statement. They saw this verse as embodying the glorious fulfillment of the Creation, when humankind will come to a full consciousness of compassion and love.
Rosh HaShanah, the new year is a day of choice; a day when we are given the possibility of choosing again. This is an amazing thought. For so many of us, the days go by and we seem to have drifted into habits of thought , feeling and even actions, which on closer examination we may not in fact espouse. So what does this new choice consist of, and how do we choose? From the Kabbalah of Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag
The soul's origin is God. To return, to do the work of teshuvah, is to return to our origin; no longer separated from God, no longer divided from our truest selves, but united in the Divine. This opportunity is a gift of the Creator to all of creation. From the teachings of Rabbi Kook and Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag.
By means of a parable Rabbi Baruch Ashlag helps us identify different elements within our own personalities. Surprisingly, seeing our negative aspects turns out to be a forward step on the spiritual path.
In the external world, the Temple has been destroyed and is not yet rebuilt. We lack the real living reality of God within the heart of the nation. If we extrapolate that to our inner selves we can see, that what we are really missing is the experience of the presence of God within ourselves, and it is that lack that we mourn at this time.
In a letter that Rabbi Ashlag wrote to his brother, he teaches that the soul incarnates into this world, because only when it is clothed in the physical can it experience feeling; whereas in the higher realms it has knowledge of God but not feeling. It is through our difficult feelings that we long for the revelation of God's light in our lives, creating the desire, the vessel for his light.
"She shall give to your head a garland of grace, a crown of glory she shall grant you” The inner beauty of the Torah speaks to our soul, as the essence of the Torah , the essence of the soul and the essence of the Creator are One. A life of Torah is a beautification of the Creation . From the teachings of Rabbi Ashlag on the Zohar and on the Etz Chayim of the Ari z''l
The term "night", in the language of the Kabbalah refers to the time when the Creator's presence is hidden from us. We yearn for the day… . But is there something we are missing? The Zohar hints to us that there is a special value to the time of the night. From the teachings of Rabbi Ashlag in preparation for the festival of Shavuot.
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.
We are living in turbulent times; the light of redemption is close but so are the forces of destruction growing. How do we deal with this?The inner meanings of the Megillat Esther as explained by Rabbi Ashlag teach us what choices are available to us, and how to make these choices conscious and positive.
Rabbi Ashlag teaches that all the events of the Torah are not simply historical events but a record of the revelation of God within us. Thus in our psyche we find all the elements of the story of the Exodus, including the inner Pharaoh. How does this inner pharaoh manifest, and what is going to help us get free?
We think that our thoughts are a response to our outer reality. However, Rabbi Ashlag in examining the causes of the exile of the Children of Israel in Egypt shows that precisely the opposite occurred there. The Children of Israel suffered initially a spiritual descent, which then enabled the Egyptians to gain a hold over them they would otherwise never have achieved. The same principles hold true for each of us, regarding our own inner exiles, and our inner redemptions today.
"O God, My God, You, I seek You. My soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You, in an arid and thirsty land without water" ( Psalm 63). David said these words when he was in sorrow and trouble. The Zohar looks at the circumstances in which David said this Psalm , and shows us the nature of God's light when it is hidden from us. It transpires that David is actually teaching us the consciousness of God's light when it is concealed from us and how we may yet connect with God even when we can't.
The Sages of the Zohar asked Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai , Why did Jacob withhold giving Esau some lentil stew until he had sold him the birthright? The unspoken question is "Is that the way a righteous man behaves?!" Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai 's answer, was decisive. Jacob was a righteous man of truth who is incapable of deceiving anyone. What was this truth of Yaakov and how does it affect us till this day?
The Binding of Isaac, the Akedah, is not understandable in normal human terms. By studying the teachings of the Zohar on this event, we are led to see how it was an act of great love and fulfillment equivalent in its essence to that of the creation of the first day in which both Abraham and Isaac took part fully.
"And God spoke to Avraham". These three words open a new birth for humanity; they herald a new consciousness in the world— on a deeper level they are the words, which both God and Man have been waiting for, the advent of Avraham, the embodiment of loving-kindness.
The stories of the Torah are actually elements represented within ourselves. By identifying our inner Cain and our inner Abel we can find alternative means of behavior that prevent our inner Cain from "murdering" our inner Abel.
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.From the teaching of Rabbi Ashlag
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
Our relationship with God is a dialogue. Our thoughts, words and actions, and, even more, our intentions affect this most intimate of our relationships profoundly. Nowhere is this dialogue seen more clearly than at this time of the year, when "the King is in the field" and our soul is close to us. From an oral talk by Rabbi Ashlag given to his students.
A holy dialogue increases the life and goodness in the world. The Zohar teaches us that God's only desire is to give goodness to His created beings. Therefore all that He wants to give us is ready for us. However, we cannot always receive the goodness He wants to give, because we become separated from Him by receiving for ourselves alone. Blessing God for everything we enjoy is a simple and wonderful way that Judaism teaches us to change the one-way flow into a productive dialogue.
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, the focal point of our self. By learning the significance of our inner Jerusalem we learn also why we mourn for her in these three weeks and how each one of us may rebuild our inner Jerusalem. From the Kabbalah of Rabbi Ashlag.
We all have times when we feel connected, and times when we seem to lose it. How do we stay in contact with our soul, with the Shechinah, through the ups and downs? The Zohar, interpreted by Rabbi Ashlag, gives clear and helpful guidance.
The Torah is the great repository and record of our connection with the Divine. Its very words are vessels which hold within them the Divine relation, as it was, as it is and as it will be. Its very essence is one with the Divine. It is both the garments for the Divine and it is one with the Divine who is clothed within it.
All over Israel people are gathering to recite psalms or offer up prayers for the safety of the three kidnapped children. The outpouring of prayers from all sectors of the community, secular as well as religious, is unprecedented. In this podcast we learn why prayer works and offer up our own prayers for the boys' safety. From the Kabbalah of Rabbi Ashlag.
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? From the teachings of Rabbi Ashlag
"God is my strength and my song; He will be for me a salvation." This phrase from the scriptures finds unexpectedly beautiful and intimate interpretations given to it by the Sages of the Zohar. Their words spoken and recorded two thousand years ago reverberate for us today, helping us in the here and now. A lesson from the Zohar itself.
"Every person needs to see him/herself as if he or she came out of Egypt." In these words the Haggadah tells us that we all suffer from the Exile and yearn for the redemption. In this talk Rabbi Yehudah Lev Ashlag teaches us that Pharaoh is not just the historical figure but an aspect of ourselves. How do we deal with the inner Pharaoh?
Why can't I sense my soul? Why is it that I don't always feel like doing actions that I know are good and kindly? Rabbi Ashlag, the great Kabbalist, teaches us that we have awareness of the paradigm related to receiving but there is a fundamental reason why acts related to altruism seems unreal to us. How do we get to act "out of the box"?
Rabbi Yoseph, the son of Rabbi Joshua Be Levi tells of his near-death experience in which he saw what is truly real. People who we venerate in this world were often at the bottom of the scale in the world to come. Our values of this world are truly upside down!
The Torah commands " Make for Me a sanctuary so I may dwell within them." The Netivot Shalom teaches us that the Sanctuary in the wilderness was a map of the soul. Making a sanctuary for God today means making an appropriate vessel for His light to enter into our hearts. The planning and building of this inner sanctuary is equivalent to that of the Sanctuary built then. From the Kabbalah of Rabbi Ashlag
In the Kabbalah terms like " the light", "the vessel", "the Sephirot" are common. But these are often depicted in misleading ways such as in diagrams. Their real meaning is much richer and multi- dimensional as the Ari himself taught. and Rabbi Ashlag enlarged on.
When we start to learn the Kabbalah of Rabbi Ashlag and we learn that most of our desires are driven by our own egoistic desires that separate us from the Creator, it comes as a shock. We notice that even our good deeds seem tainted with our selfish ways. We feel stuck, even paralyzed. How do we move forwards now? From the teachings of Rabbi Ashlag
Rabbi Ashlag teaches us that the true purpose of learning Torah is in order to correct the heart. But what does he mean by "heart" and why does it need correction? How does the Torah help with this? A podcast
When we start on our inner work and we understand that we want to give to our fellow man, and to God, unconditionally, we feel we can just get out there and do it. To our dismay we find, that even with the best of intentions somehow things don't work out the way we plan. Eventually we realize we can't do it alone. We need the Creator to help us. We need a miracle, the miracle of Chanukah. From the Kabbalah of Rabbi Baruch Ashlag
Learning the Kabbalah implies learning a new language of behavior and emotions. The language of giving instead of our inbuilt responses of receiving. From the Kabbalah of Rabbi Ashlag .
We search for something fulfill our desire, yet don't stay satisfied for very long. This well known process leaves us frustrated. Rabbi Ashlag teaches us how to define what we are really looking for by looking at the desires of the soul rather than those of the ego.
Why did Avraham break off from his communication with God and turn to give hospitality to the angels? This tiny detail in the life of Avraham , has a profound meaning for us today.. A podcast from the Kabbalah of Rabbi Ashlag
Giving is the force of the soul, whereas receiving is that of the ego. Nevertheless being receivers is our original nature according to the Purpose fo Creation. . From Rabbi Ashlag's Matan Torah we learrn how to come to give so that the Purpose of Creation can be fulfilled.
"And your name shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations."This sentence not only changes reality for Abraham but also for us.. From Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag on the Zohar .
" Let us make Man, in our image, like us, " (Genesis) not only reflects how the human come into being but also our complexity and unique role in the process and purpose of creation as a whole.
The shade provided by the Succah is that of the shelter of faith and this gives us faith for the New Year now open to us .This has the same essence as the Clouds of Glory that protected the Children of Israel in the wilderness.
The Temple service on Yom Kippur teaches the consequences of two possible paths:that of the ego or that of service, via the sacrifice of the two he- goats which were chosen by lot. One for God and one for Azazel.. Rabbi Ashlag on the Zohar .
The shofar brings the light of compassion into the world on Rosh Hashanah. . The year cycle starts again, bringing the original light into the world which needs balancing through the mitzvah of the shofar . A class on the Zohar and Perush HaSulam.
Confessing what we have done wrong is a key element of Teshuvah. But many of us find the feeling of shame a serious impediment. Learn how shame is viewed by the Sages in a positive light and how it came to us at the Giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai
The essence of the month of Elul is "I am my Beloved's and my Beloved is mine." It’s a time for repairing relationships till they reach the level of love they had before we messed up, whether they are relationships between ourselves and our fellows or ourselves and God. It is a time of Teshuvah, a time of coming back.
Love your neighbor as yourself is a great principle of the Torah. This it is actually a statement which sums up the whole of the Torah. In this talk we look at the relationship between loving our neighbor unconditionally and the soul. From Matan Torah by Rabbi Ashlag
Where is God within us? This is the remembrance of the destruction of the our inner Temple. The Zohar teaches us that the real destruction and exile is the absence of God in our lives. From the teaching of Rabbi Ashlag
Jerusalem implies dvekut, unity with God This period of the three weeks of the destruction of the Temple 2000 years ago teaches us how to rebuild our inner Jerusalem today., from the teaching of Rabbi Ashlag
On the 17th Tammuz the children of Israel committed the sin of the golden calf . Each year we may rectify the golden calves in our own lives.
Rabbi Ashlag wrote both technical and discursive works, which seem easier to understand. Yet it is through his technical works that we learn the underlying processes of the souls. Actually all the works point to one thing. How to fulfill the purpose of our lives.
Lighting the Menorah is a metaphor for the work of the mitzvot. The western candle, that shone miraculously testifies to God's light that He gives us and through which He sustains us. From the teaching of Rabbi Baruch Ashlag
The light of the Torah is one. The vessels with which we receive the light of the Torah are called the garments of the Torah. However, to access the light of the Torah we need to add in the ingredient of faith. Faith that the Torah itself can bring us back to the good way.
Rabbi Ashlag teaches: the night is the time of exile when the soul is separated form God , but it is through Torah and mitzvot that the soul reunites with God. This is the meaning of Shavuot.
The ego expresses itself through the heart and mind. The Kabblists teach that even though it separates us from the soul and from the Creator, its origin is in the purpose of Creation. The tikkun of the ego leads to the unification of mind, heart and soul to form a coherent vessel for the light of God.
Israel's independence is part of the process of redemption but is not yet fully actualized. It is intimately connected with the revelation of the Zohar in this generation : From the writings of Rabbi Ashlag
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. From the Zohar of Rabbi Ashlag
Listen to a live class given by Yedidah on the inner meaning of the Seder night using texts from the the Talmud, the Zohar, and the teachings of Rabbi Yehudah Lev Ashlag.
The energy of exile and redemption comes around again as we approach Passover. But are we simply re-enacting an historical event? According to the Kabbalah to the extent we can experience an inner exile we can likewise come to an inner redemption. A teaching from the Haggadah of Rabbi Yehudah Lev Ashlag, Vzot l'Yehudah.
The essence of Purim is its light. The Sages teach us that it is on the festival of Purim when the Jews were saved from total destruction that the light of redemption shines out the strongest. We connect with this light by reading the Megillah, the book of Esther, having a festive meal and giving presents of food to our friends and gifts to the poor. Celebrating also means finding the elements of the story within ourselves. Finding the Mordecai (and the Haman) inside oneself and really celebrating the light of Purim!
When Adar comes in we increase our joy. What is the true basis for joy and how can we come to true feelings?
The Zohar states that the Torah, the soul and the Holy Blessed One are one. It also states that God is hidden in the Torah. How does Torah differ from other knowledge? How can the Torah help me hear my soul? What qualities do I need to cultivate in order to find the Essence of God hidden in the Torah?
The tree is a metaphysical and spiritual symbol . For Tu B'Shvat,, the New Year for Trees, from the Kabbalah of Rabbi Ashlag
The path of the ego or the path of the connection with the Torah. T We stand at the crossroad. How do we choose? A podcast based on the writings of Rabbi Ashlag
A Kabbalist is not someone who knows Holy Names but rather someone who allows the light of the Torah to shed light on his own motives and intentions. From the Zohar and the teachings of Rabbi Ashlag
Following the recent tragic events at Newtown Connecticut, people ask but where was God? The holy Rabbi Of Peicezna who taught in the Warsaw Ghetto in the holocaust, teaches faith when in the midst of suffering.
Rabbi Ashlag teaches us that a human being is considered as a small world. The elements of the Bible stories are to be found within each one of us. So inside each of us we have the element of the Children of Israel and the element of Pharoah. We have the element of Jacob and the element of Esau. Similarly for Chanukah we have within ourselves the element of the Greeks and the Maccabee within us. What do these parts of ourselves represent? Why do they battle?
Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag, in a letter written to a friend around the time of Chanukah asks the question, "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.
Feelings may mislead us. Sweet may be bad and bitter may be good. .Yet they form an important part of our decision-making. How can we get our feelings to be more accurate, and distinguish good from bad? Rabbi Ashlag teaches us from the Kabbalah.
The psalmist ponders the value of man. How do we evaluate ourselves and why do we sometimes seem so worthless and other times so valuable? What are we really? From the Kabbalah of Rabbi Ashlag
Hurricane Sandy hit the coast of America this week. The Zohar discusses Man's relationship with nature and the forces of Creation, and we learn how the consciousness of the human being is a prime factor in influencing the behavior of natural forces.
Keep safe. we're thinking of you....
(Inspired by a talk given by Rabbi Avraham Mordecai Gottlieb)
Our choice lies in this world yet our perfection is already assured at the soul level in the Infinite. From the teachings of Rabbi Ashlag
"And God called the light "day" and the darkness "night"." Why did He do that? What does this mean for me? These are questions that the great Kabbalist Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag asks. His answer takes us to the Purpose of Creation, the process of Creation, and the role these play in our own individual lives.
The shade provided by the Succah is that of the shelter of faith and this gives us faith for the New Year now open to us .This has the same essence as the Clouds of Glory that protected the Children of Israel in the wilderness.
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.
We are now in the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur when the theme of Teshuvah reaches its height. 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". By the Sages, the term Teshuvah not only describes a state of mind of regret when we wish make amends, but it is also also used to describe a higher state of spiritual consciousness than we had previously attained. So the question we need to ask is, how is achieving a higher consciousness considered a "return"?
The language surrounding Rosh haShanah is imbued with connotations from the Kabalah.By looking at the true meaning of the symbols of this festival we can approach it with happiness and confidence .
When in the body the soul can attain, that is both know and feel the true Names of God. This is knowledge she cannot attain whilst in the spiritual worlds
Elul is the month when God's closeness is revealed to us and the soul , our true Self can reconnect with God
Learning Torah can be an act of service when we give to the material rather than receive from it. Our usual approach when learning is to try gain information, gain knowledge. What does an approach of giving when studying mean?
The story of Creation also implies its ultimate perfection when the world will be raised to the consciousness of God