Tag: light

SHADOWS AND LIGHT–CHANUKKA 5783/2022

There’s an elephant in the room, though I think most readers are unaware of its shadowed presence. It’s the portion of the Chanukka story that occurs after the victorious restoration of the Temple that we celebrate with our chanukiyot.

Chanukka through the years

Just as eyes are windows to the soul, so the Chanukka lights are windows into the soul of the chag.

A TEACHING FOR THE FAST OF TAMMUZ

This Torah of Atzilut was what Adam would have received had he not opted for duality, preferring Knowledge of Good and Evil over the Tree of Life’s non-dual Knowledge-of-the-Holy-One. It is also the Torah that we received at Sinai, but forfeited when we too betrayed its calling.

Malchut Sh’b’Malchut

To describe the king as “entangled in the tresses” is to assert that there is a level of G-d that is entangled by our conceptions and projections of Him/Her/It.

“This Opposite This” HaShem Made the World

This tug-of-war stripped down to its basics is really about “who eats who?” And, really, the whole drama of geopolitics comes down to exactly that: In the end, whose narrative, whose scripture, whose ideology, whose story of why we are here and where we’re headed and what G d wants from us…whose narrative is going to prevail, and absorb everyone else into its story line. “Who will eat who?”

Sifra, Sefer, Sippur

The Torah, says Sefer Yetzira, is really three in one. There’s the Torah of Bereshit, the Torah of Sinai, and the Torah of souls. Our job, says the Baal Shem Tov, is to unify these three Torot with every word we speak and breath we take.

The Chinukh of Chanukka

Since Chanukka and Purim reference toward the future, R. Luria associates them with Mashiach ben David, and the 7th marriage blessing when “the woman of valor becomes the crown to her husband.” R. Luria brings fascinating evidence of the gender shifts that weave through the messianic lineage and narrative.

The Reward of a Mitzvah

The Zohar is teaching that HaShem (so to speak) looked into Him/Her/Itself and articulated a will for a creation that would revel in the glory of G-d. That vision and all the myriad ways it could materialize and all the laws that define its parameters…that is the primordial Torah.

Chanukka through the years

Just as eyes are windows to the soul, so the Chanukka lights are windows into the soul of the chag.

Black Fire on White Fire–Torah of Atzilut

This Torah of Atzilut was what Adam would have received had he not opted for duality, preferring Knowledge of Good and Evil over the Tree of Life’s non-dual Knowledge-of-the-Holy-One. It is also the Torah that we received at Sinai, but forfeited when we too betrayed its calling.

Converts: Unsung Heroes of the Oral Torah

Shavuot 5778 / 2018 Sarah Yehudit Schneider “And you shall know the soul

A Chanukka Meditation from the Zohar

This Chanukka teaching is dedicated to Yaku, daughter of Heltcha: “Thank you for

The Transmutation of Shame though Teshuva

Rosh HaShana 2016 / 5777 Based on R. Tsadok HaKohen, Tikanat HaShavin 5:10-12,

The Torah of Atzilut — The Torah of Souls

Shavuot 2016 /5776 Sarah Yehudit Schneider The Torah revealed at Sinai (on Shavuot) is

A (Short) Discourse on Freedom

Pesach 2016 /5776 Sarah Yehudit Schneider “The reward phase of history called the

Topsy-Turvy Gluon Dance ~~ Purim 2016 /5776

A Model for Ahavat Yisrael Sarah Yehudit Schneider כִּי הָמָן בֶּן-הַמְּדָתָא הָאֲגָגִי צֹרֵר

“These Lights are Holy…”: An Instruction for Meditatioin

Chanukka (2015 / 5776) Sarah Yehudit Schneider Based on teachings by R. Tsadok

“…Until there are no stragglers in the marketplace.”

Sarah Yehudit Schneider When is the time for lighting Chanukka candles? The

Sweetening the Dinim – Rosh HaShanna

Rosh HaShana 2013/5774 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Our Rosh Hashana avoda—its soul-searching, lengthy prayers,

Artist Yoram Raanan - Menorah

Hillel says to move toward many; Shammai says to move toward one

Chanukah, 2012 / 5773 Inspired by R. Tsadok HaKohen, Resisei Laila, 56 and

On Chanukka Everyone’s a High Priest

A Chanukha Teaching–2011 Based on R. Tsadok Hakohen, Pri Tsadik – Chanuka #1

The Inner Search for Pure Oil

Sarah Yehudit Schneider Among the various categories of mitzvot are those that

Inviting Our Inner Stranger

A Pesach Teaching 2010 / 5770 by Sarah Yehudit Schneider הָא לַחְמָא עַנְיָא דִּי

Chanukkah, Greece and Democracy

5769 / 2008 Sarah Yehudit Schneider There is no person or nation that

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