Nehora School presents the Kabbalah of Rabbi Ashlag

The Crossing of the Red Sea was an extraordinary event, a miracle, described in detail in the book of Exodus. The waters parted to allow the Children of Israel to cross on dry land for precisely the right amount of time required to get across safely and then they returned to drown their implacable enemies. This is the ultimate miracle, an event that breaks the boundaries of nature. To our surprise we discover that the parting of the waters to allow a people to cross is not a one -time event. There are two other instances: one when the waters of the River Jordan parted to allow the people of Israel to enter the Promised Land, and there is a further instance described in the Talmud. This leads us to ask what conditions are required to enable the boundaries of nature to be breached and we look at the survival of the Jewish people and the establishment of the State of Israel from this perspective.

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 that we begin to understand why these stories are important for us today in living our own lives. In this shiur we will look at one example in which Yaakov teaches us how to handle our own selfishness and ego, before we going to do a mitzvah and how we need to relate to it after the mitzvah by looking at the story of his relationship with both Laban and Esau.

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.

As we move through Seder night, we drink the four cups of wine and we relate to the elements on the Seder plate, we are not usually cognizant of the fact that both these central components of Seder night, actually represent the four-letter Name of God, YHVH Pharaoh said, “Who is YHVH that I should […]

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.

On this week of the Parasha Toledot, we read the story of  Ya’acov and Esau. This story is such a perplexing one when we read the simple bald recital of the events as they took place  as described in Bereishit, the book of Genesis.  So many questions arise! Ya’acov refuses to give Esau soup until […]

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.