Tag: teshuva

Video–Yom Kippur: Leave Your Begging Bowl at the Door

The Sod Yesharim suggests a very powerful practice to get the most out of our highest of holy days, Yom Kippur. (Sod Yesharim is the third Rebbe in the Ishbitz line of chassidut. He wrote in the mid/late 1800's).

Elul and the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy

The prayer is that HaShem should feel free to choose the speediest path to redemption, and that we should have the depth of vision (of x-ray vision) to see and truly experience (to whole-heartedly embrace) the good of it.

Video–Rosh HaShana and the Kabbalistic Mystery of Nesira

R. Tsadok notes that Rosh Hashana (humanity's birthday) is actually a very strange Yom Tov given the debate between Hillel and Shamai about whether its better to be born...or not.

Rosh HaShana Through the Years

A bounty of teachings on how to prepare for Rosh HaShana and how to direct one's intentions on the day itself. Teachings about teshuva, prayer and shofar.

Purim 2021–Who is Charvonah…

Charvonah is a seemingly insignificant character in the Purim story. He is one of the king’s attendants who appears at the beginning with those who convey the kings fateful summons to Vashti and then again at Haman’s demise. It is here, in this second mention, that he delivers his single line:

The Coveted Sukkah of Sodom

"Anyone who fulfills the mitzvah of sukkah in this world, will get a perpetual share (are you ready for this) in the Sukkah of Sodom” [Pesikta d'Rav Kahana].

Chai Elul—A Rosh HaShana Teaching for the Baal Shem Tov’s Birthday

R. Tsadok notes that Rosh Hashana (humanity's birthday) is actually a very strange Yom Tov given the debate between Hillel and Shamai about whether its better to be born...or not.

Turning Noga into Chashmal

Chashmal thus becomes the codeword for embracing paradox by skirting back and forth between opposing perspectives and admitting the truth that’s present in each. This kinetic approach to truth-seeking jiggles the mind open to higher awareness. It is not just a mental exercise, it’s a spiritual practice …and it’s the one that Esther employed to enter the King’s sanctum unawares. Her alternating-chashmal-current jammed the psychic “radar” of the guards blocking her way.

Masters of Judgement

Rosh Hashana marks the conception (when the thought of creation arose within the mind of G-d) and Pesach marks the actual birth (when an actual “creature” evolved that could hold the level of consciousness, called yechida, the capacity to understand what it means that G-d is one on the 50th gate level of understanding. That “creature” is Kenesset Yisrael, the Mystical Body of Israel, born on the other side of the parted sea that served as its birth canal.

Fifteen Stages of the Pesach Seder

The Fifteen Stages That Form the Backbone of Our Pesach Ritual and trace the soul’s journey from conception, birth, childhood, maturity and, finally, enlightenment.