Yesod Blocks: Foundational Torah

Sexual desire, confusion and issues are all over our culture, media and personal lives. The goal of this show is to clarify these issues, clean up the confusion and help us live this area in alignment with truth and divine integrity.

For the full episode, visit Yesod Blocks or download our new app here.

For the full episode, visit Yesod Blocks or download our new app here.

For the full episode, visit Yesod Blocks or download our new app here.

For the full episode, visit Yesod Blocks or download our new app here.

For the full episode, visit Yesod Blocks or download our new app here.

For the full episode, visit Yesod Blocks or download our new app here.

For the full episode, visit Yesod Blocks or download our new app here.

For the full episode, visit Yesod Blocks or download our new app here.

For the full episode, visit Yesod Blocks or download our new app here.

For the full episode, visit Yesod Blocks or download our new app here.

For the full episode, visit Yesod Blocks or download our new app here.

For the full episode, visit Yesod Blocks or download our new app here.

For the full episode, visit Yesod Blocks or download our new app at here.

For more, subscribed at www.yesodblocks.com and download our new app, Yesod Blocks.

The Daily Halakha and Kabbalah podcast returns with this new episode about the centrality of wanting/yearning/desire in the process of Tefilla/Alignment. To listen to these episodes on a daily basis, visit www.yesodblocks.com, subscribe, and download our brand new App from the Apple or Google App stores.

Mundane, technical and practical details of life are the clothing for the profound underpinnings of reality. Learning to see those deeper layers is the difference between a life of depth and a life of emptiness. Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 253:3.

We are immortal creatures, tethered to a finite body. Discovering the depths of this truth is the key to higher states of consciousness and development... Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 53:20.

Hatred is a projection of our own emotional entanglements, a result of a perception in which we see someone else's reality as intermingled with our own. Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 53:19.

The problem with the way "chosenness" is discussed is that nothing can be "chosen" in a vacuum. "Chosen" for what? Anyone chosen for anything is always chosen for a particular role, for a particular purpose. When this remains unspecified, it gives rise to the shallow thinking that underlies all of today's cultural obsessions with race, gender, and any other external attributes we all share. Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 53:18.

The development of dogmatic thinking is ubiquitous in humanity, often dubbed an example of "human nature." Ironically, the phrase "human nature" is an example of dogmatic thinking, detached from the underlying mapping of our ways of being. Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 53:18.

On Shabbat, we walk the knife's edge between the restrictions of Halakha designed to pull us out of our fixation on our creativity and the spiritual expansion derived from pleasurable experiences.  Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 253:2.

Balancing the different aspects of any given situation involves seeing its complexity, breaking that complexity into its granular components and then assessing the parts and whole. Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 53:17

Leadership and authority are often conflated with hierarchy and bureaucratic power. True leadership, true power, is the ability to discover our own talents and then use them to help elevate everyone around us. Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 53:15, 16.

Oral Torah is the world of mind and thought, Written Torah is the anchor, the body of that world.  Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 53:14.

Our bodies are the most visible, and thus the most perceptually loud, aspects of our total being. This intensity can often interfere with other areas of our development and consciousness, creating significant distortions. Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 53:13.

We often discuss how "everyone is special," but also how "everyone is different." It's crucial to define the different aspects of our being so we don't become confused about when to see each other as endlessly, irreplaceably unique and when to see each other in terms of quantifiable abilities and skills that set us apart. Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 53:12

Our bodies convey to us that we are separate from each other, and from the world. They draw a line around us, circumscribing the "me" from "everything else." The perception created by this physiological fact is one of isolation, often embedding itself in a need to self-actualize in order to prove to "them" that we can "do it alone." The key to properly contextualizing this perception (which is flawed when observed in isolation) is the concept of "hoda'ah." Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 53:11.

We possess the ability to separate our selves, our neshama consciousness, from the entirety of our vessel, our body and its attributes. This allows us to rescript, update and alter the world of Da'at, the world of our perceptions. This is the key to becoming who we dream of being... Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 53:6.

In our hearts, we know that truth should trump ego. The taint of the Etz HaDa'at (the Tree of Knowledge) rears up in complex moments, making us struggle to discern truth in the messy landscape of life. Preparing ourselves for such complex situations ahead of time can allow us to navigate them powerfully, rescripting ourselves to become sources of power and clarity in the world, instead of products and victims. Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 53:5.

Partial perspectives, distorted opinions - these are more accurate descriptions for the concept of "politics." A group tefillah session, today called "minyan," has a structure to it, and when we understand the role of distortions in that structure, both positive and negative, this tool can become far more activated. Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 53:4.

In a vacuum, without context, regular practical lifestyle behaviors can appear odd, or even neurotic. When the missing context is provided, what seemed strange suddenly becomes relatable and intelligible. Halakha is the ultimate example of that, especially today, when so much context (read: Hashem) is missing from the world.

Incoherence in our minds leads to mental corrosion, distortions and confusion, all a function of the toxin of the Etz HaDa'at. The structure of Psukei DeZimra is meant to heal this on the level of Yetzira, the world of emotional conviction. This allows us to move away from perfectionism to real evolution. Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 53:2.

The ending berakha of Yishtabah is the activating sign-off after the process developed in Psukei DeZimra. Access its underlying purpose and meaning, and use it every day to change your perceptions, your inner software, your very being. Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 53:1.

The consciousness-level dynamic of Shabbat is profound and delicate. Developing the awareness of this dynamic is key to truly seeing melakha for what it is, and how to use it intentionally, and in healthy ways.

Episode #7 is out! Join me and Ariella as we explore the process of inner cleansing we are meant to achieve before Pesach. This process is unique and specific, yet often confused with general cleaning of our homes. The energy of Pesach, the fire that comes from a new love, is meant to be an overriding passion that dissolves boundaries, ignores limits and calculations and explodes outwards. This is the energy of "freedom," the release from narrow confines, from constantly seeking to control, from the passivity engendered by the seeming monotony and inevitability of life's difficulties... Check out Ariella at www.yogawithariella.com. Check me out at www.yesodblocks.com.

Pesukei DeZimra is Level 2 of the structure of Hashem's relationship to reality. Plugging into how Hashem sees things is the key to accessing our own inner machinery clearly. Learning how to navigate the structure of the tefillah tools at our disposal helps us not only unlock Hashem within ourselves, but also clarify how to think about failure, error and priorities. Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 52:1.

The future of our world is vastly different from the present, and the past. We are so used to death as a "feature" of life. But it doesn't have to be that way. In this powerful episode, we explore the way the future will look, in light of one simple halakha about music... Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 51:9.

Our thoughts are meant to be triggered by the word flow of Pesukei DeZimra. Learning to channel our thoughts, instead of trying to force them under our control, is the key to achieving these outcomes. Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 51:8.

On Shabbat, we walk the edge, operating in the  space between stopping and being. Learning to access our inner states of being, to access Hashem, in the space created by emerging from our Melakha funnels, is the key to unfurling the Neshama into higher form.

We often think of today's society as "modern, sophisticated." The people in the past are "archaic, primitive." What if Avoda Zara was not something archaic at all, but far more advanced than we can even imagine? What if our own distortions, our own Etz HaDa'at-tainted minds, have reduced us to an incredibly superficial way of relating to reality? What if Hashem is right in front of us, and we've just forgotten how to see?

Developing awareness of the intangible realities behind being is the purpose of the Torah's instructions. The distortions of the Etz HaDa'at led to a muting of those intangibles in our perceptual landscape. When repairing these distortions, using tools like Pesukei Dezimra, there are often competing elements present, and the halakha system relates to these competing elements with halakhot like the one in this episode.  Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 51:5.

Berakhot, used properly, create consciousness context for our behaviors, feelings and thoughts. This process is meant to be cumulative, and interrupting it can undermine the continuous evolution we are seeking. Understanding the mechanics of interruptions, in the context of Pesukei DeZimra, allows us to harness the power of berakhot more effectively. 

The words we say are meant to create a cascade of thoughts in the realm of our Bina, our thought-space. The word "amen," part of the language of "emuna," is a tool that augments this process. In this episode, we explore the rare instances when we say "amen" to our own brakha. Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayim 51:3.

Cycles are a central dynamic in the world after the introduction of the taint of the Etz HaDa'at. Many of us long for answers or ideas that allow us to stop struggling and thinking, so we can just "know." Those kinds of ideas exist, but only on the deepest levels of idea structure. Beyond those levels, life is an oscillating, dynamic system of cycles, and we must constantly assess and reassess our thoughts and ideas, to ensure that we have not become trapped in the narrow spaces created by the Etz HaDa'at...

Tefilla is an internal process of alignment. We have different tools we can use to activate the process of aligning ourselves with Hashem. The Siddur is the most known tool, but the physical actions we engage in during Tefilla are also part of the toolkit at our disposal. Understanding their impact and structure allow us to take our Tefilla from something habituated to something intentional, something alive. For our more advanced Torah and Kabbalah content, subscribe at www.yesodblocks.com. For more about Ariella's work visit www.yogawithariella.com.

Answering "Amen" to things is so well-known that it has actually become part of mainstream cultural language. As is often the case, the more well-known something is, the less it is carefully understood. In this episode, we explore the layers underneath this word, and its usage in the process of Tefilla. Shulhan Arukh, Orah Hayim 51:2. For more, subscribe at www.yesodblocks.com.

In this episode, we begin moving into the next layer of existence explored in the system of Tefilla. Olam HaYetzira is the layer of "form" in which raw materials reflect intention and conviction. 

Purim is the way of the future. It is a celebration of being deeply rooted in the underlying truth of existence, while simultaneously living in the normal, day-to-day routine of life. Developing a perception of reality that unifies these opposite aspects into oneness is the doorway to Olam HaBa, the phase of immortality. In this episode, Ariella and I discuss techniques that can help us expand and embed this perception within ourselves. For more content like this, check us out at www.yesodblocks.com and www.yogawithariella.com.

The world of Bina is the world of the mind, the world of thought. The mind is our most powerful tool in our interaction in this patterned and logically coherent existence. Because of Da'at Tov VaRa, we often end up using it passively, never learning how to harness its power to achieve our purpose in life- finding truth.

Sometimes, Shabbos is perceived as a time to avoid melakha, the application of our consciousness to the flow of space and time in order to bring higher states of permanent order. While this is true, a failure to understand the balance of this can lead us to confuse the setting of Shabbos, created by melakha reduction, with the purpose of Shabbos, which is the unfurling of the neshama...