Tag: wisdom
The Klipah Precedes the Fruit
The passion lights of the gevurot, when unpacked and enlightened by their matching lucid-lights, produce all the bliss of future times.
A House For Himself, Sukkot For His Herds
The Torah reports that after this huge test, victory, and blessing Yacov headed straight to sukkot:
Video: On 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.
Video: Rosh HaShana and the Kabbalistic Mystery of Nesira
You might be surprised to know that Rosh HaShana is not only Day of Judgement and the Day of Remembrance, it is also, says kabbala, the Day of Nesira (surgical uncoupling). This is a short teaching about that profound dimension of Rosh HaShana.
Achdut, A Tisha B’av Video by Sarah Yehudit Schneider, 2024
An inspiring and practical teaching on Tisha B’Av 2024 by Sarah Yehudit Schneider
Tisha B’av Video by Sarah Yehudit Schneider, 2023
Explores the metaphoric question of, "Does God cry?"
Turning Wisdom into Oral Torah
Our Written Torah is fixed and final. Its sequence of letters, spacings, stories and commands is sacred and static. A scribal error of even a single letter invalidates the entire scroll. Its authority derives from its constancy. Our Oral Torah is the opposite—it is always changing and expanding. Not a second passes that does not leave it enriched by some new insight discovered in that moment somewhere on the planet. The Oral Torah lives and evolves.
RUACH HAKODESH, A PARTNERSHIP
In ruach hakodesh, the person who’s assuming the role of boots on the ground is the initiator and decision maker. They choose a goal, mission, problem or project and pursue it with action and prayer.
Tisha B’av Video by Sarah Yehudit Schneider, 2023
Explores the metaphoric question of, "Does God cry?"
SHADOWS AND LIGHT: CHANUKKA 5783/2022
Chanukka lights bring healing to the corruptions of power that surround our light and lively Chanukka observance.
Video: Sarah, Sarai, Yiska
Sarah is the Matriarch of the Jewish people. Tradition ascribes superiority to her Divine Inspiration over Avraham's.
The Dust of Their Skirmish Reached to the Throne of Glory: Sukkot 5783
The “dust” of Yakov's epic battle with Essav reached to the Throne of Glory and is the force behind the Jewish people’s success in business, war and Torah study.
Elul and the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy
The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, when spoken in a prayer gathering, are always potent to invoke mercy. The question is, How?
“This Opposite This” HaShem Made the World
The whole drama of geopolitics comes down to “who eats who?": In the end, whose narrative is going to prevail, and absorb everyone else into its story line.
Our Fruit Tree and Vegetable Kingdom Role Models: Tu B’Shvat 2021
On Tu B’Shvat we celebrate our generous and magnificent fruit trees that selflessly nourish the world for no other reason than that it’s what they are designed to do.
The Chinukh of Chanukka
Chanukka 5781 / 2020
This holiday is called Chanukka because it is training (chinukh) and practice for the future redemption. How so?
Chai Elul: A Rosh HaShana Teaching for the Baal Shem Tov’s Birthday
Rosh Hashana (humanity's birthday) is actually a very strange Yom Tov given the debate between Hillel and Shamai about whether it is better to be born...or not.
A Short Tribute to Etrog for Tu B’Shvat
The word for etrog (אתרוג) relates to the Hebrew root, רגג, which means, “to long and desire"; etrog corresponds to to the heart area, the center of conscious emotion and desire.
Chanukka: Harbinger of Messianic Gender Shifts to Come
Chanukka references toward the future, R. Luria associates them with Mashiach ben David, when “the woman of valor becomes the crown to her husband.”
Masters of Judgement
Rosh Hashana marks the conception and Pesach marks the birth of Knesset Yisrael, the Mystical Body of Israel, born on the other side of the parted sea.
ZOT CHANUKKA: A TRIBUTE TO THE SHEKHINA
The kabbalists read into Chanukka’s eight days, a journey of progressive tikun down through the sefirot from Binah to Malchut, beginning and ending on a feminine note.
Shame is Nothing to Be Ashamed About
Divine perfection, in order for it to be infinite, must include the possibility of perfecting… it’s a paradox.
The Shame Behind Causeless Hatred
Baseless Hatred is what caused our exile, and yet for two thousand years we haven’t managed to fix it. Why?
The Akeida: A Hero’s Journey
Rosh HaShana 5778 / 2017 Rabbi Dr. Yehuda Gellman’s exploration of the Mei HaShiloach’s teachings on the Akeida that appears in his book “The Fear, the Trembling, and the Fire.”
Holiday Teachings