An Essay on the Spiritual, Emotional and Physical significance of the Age of Bar Mitzvah

This piece is an excerpt from:
‘The Garden of Paradox’ – The Essence of Non Dual Kabbalah in 3 Conversations.

The conversation occurs in Rav Pinson’s study with three representational students,
embodying respectively, the philosopher, the activist and the mystic.…

Following the River back to its Source

from the introduction to ‘The Garden of Paradox’ by Rav DovBer Pinson

G-d planted a Garden in Eden… and placed there the human… G-d made grow out of the ground every tree that …

Join us on Shabbat Hagadol,
for a celebratory Shabbos and Kiddush,
Inaugurating the New IYYUN Center!

Friday Evening:7:00 pm – Zohar on the Parsha
7:45 – Kabbalat Shabbat

Shabbos Day: 10:00 am – Shacharit Service
10:45 am …

Rectifying our Subconscious

Through Creative Visualization

Rav DovBer Pinson

The oldest known Kabbalistic text — Sefer Yetzirah — teaches that the month of Elul is connected to the Hebrew letter Yud, …

Upon awaking, each morning, we find ourselves with the possibility of a fresh start, a new beginning.
The world has awoken from its slumber and is full with a vibrant and radiant energy.
Now what?

Kabbalistically, the Omer days are not merely an immaterial space that bridges Passover with Shavuot. The counting itself is seen as integral to the process of moving from liberation to revelation.

Amongst all other holidays, Yom Kippur is acknowledged as the most holy and sublime. On a simple level, it appears that Yom Kippur is a day dedicated to repentance, but is this really the case? Think of it, first is …

An assiduous and devout Chassid once implored his master to teach him the one best way to God.

While most people believe that they choose their thoughts, in truth, their thoughts merely occur.
Whatever is placed in front of the person becomes that which fills his mind.
The quest in meditation is to liberate ourselves from this enslaving condition.

In the flame itself, there are two lights:
One white and luminous, the other black or blue.
The white light is the higher of the two, and it rises steadily.
The black or blue light is underneath the (white light),
Which rests on (the black or blue light) as on a pedestal.
The two are inseparably connected,

THE NAME PURIM:
To fully grasp the power, and unpack the spiritual significance of this holiday, we need to explore its name, Purim.

Pesach is not merely the celebration of a past event. It is an open gate to spiritual liberation that manifests every year, in every generation.

The objective of the Exodus is true freedom, which was reached with the giving of the Torah. Torah is the blueprint and very foundation of all creation. Integrating the Torah deeply into our lives connects us with the ultimate, unrestricted, uninterrupted flow of creation—its authentic freedom.

The point of it all is balance, the middle path, the balancing and counter-balancing of our emotional state. Lag B’Omer gives life and hope to the days that are otherwise meant to mourn.

Noise is so much a part of our life that we have become depended on it for our wellbeing. So many of us derive our sense of being alive from sound, and we feel empty in silence. There is a need, and almost perverse compulsion to break any silence and talk, or perhaps sing.

Charity: Two “Owners”

The charity that is given from the more fortunate to the less fortunate establishes a relationship between ‘giver’ and ‘receiver’ and ultimately reveals a deep bond between the two ‘owners’—the person who gives it away and the …

BEING IN THE PRESENT:
A prisoner, in the sixteenth century who was incarcerated for life was given a unique choice; one day of the year he was allowed to live a free man. . .

A Basic Understanding

“You shall love Hashem, your G-d, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you today shall be upon your heart. You shall teach them thoroughly …

The word teshuvah is normally translated as “repentance”, yet teshuvah does not mean “repentance”, rather it means ‘turning around.’

In English, the word prayer is employed to describe various activities such as, petition, intercession, adoration, devotion, penitence, thanksgiving, confession, protest, affirmation, introspection, contemplation and evaluation. While all these may be the branches of prayer, what is prayer itself?

The Talmud refers to prayer as “service of the heart”. Prayer is an activity of the heart, with the heart and in the heart. When we truly pray, there is a deep movement inward and upward—to connect with the Ultimate Source of all reality.

Ana B’Koach – The Prayer

The Ana B’Koach prayer, as a whole, represents a movement from one state to another. It is made up of seven verses corresponding to the seven days of the week. The initials of each …

Prayer is likened to the ladder in the dream of Yaakov. As the Book of Genesis relates (28:12), in his dream, Yaakov saw “a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven.”

The first thoughts upon awakening—and even more so, the first words spoken—have tremendous power and exert great influence on the rest of the day. They are the seeds which grow throughout the day.

Hodu (“give thanks”) is the official beginning of the “Verses of Praise,” and it is here that we ascend to the second rung on the ladder of prayer.

This blessing serves as an opening for the “Verses of Praise” (Pesukei De’Zimra). In the following passages of praise, we tell of the greatness of the Creator and the way He is manifest within creation, with the aim of arousing our emotions.

Ahavas Olam is a prayer for unity. When we say, “bring us in peace from the four corners of the earth,” we gather the four fringes (tzitzit) from the four corners of the prayer shawl (talit).

The Shema is the ultimate expression of Divine unity. It declares not only that there is one God, but that there is nothing else other than God. God is one and the same as He was before and after the creation of the world, and all that exists is included within God.

As our separate self is no longer expressed, this prayer is chanted quietly or whispered to oneself. In fact, this prayer is often called “the silent prayer.”

Recalling our particular verse ensures that we remember our identity in this life and in the next, for now and for all eternity.

When the Temple stood, it served as a conduit for holiness and Godliness to flow into this world.

Aleinu is more than prayer, as it also serves to help smooth the transition between prayer and our movement outward into the world.

The mincha (afternoon) prayer was first introduced by the Patriarch Yitzchak. A form of this prayer was later recited in the Temple when the afternoon offerings were brought.

To bring a korban is to take a physical entity—in Temple times this was an animal, bird or wheat—and convert it into holiness. Then, this was achieved when the offering was consumed by the Divine fire on top of the altar. Today, we can achieve the same internally when we relinquish and surrender our actions to God.

The Zohar teaches that “all things holy need summoning.”

In the prayer service, whenever there is a change between prayers, a break or movement, a special prayer called a kaddish (“sanctification” of the name of God) is recited in order to bring unity.

In the world of kedusha, which signifies full integration, there is no forgetfulness.

In this powerful chapter of Psalms, the name of God, Elokim, appears seven times.

The reading of the Torah is called Kriat HaTorah, the word keriah meaning “to call out,” as in one friend calling out to another. When we read the Torah, we call out to God and, thus, bring down the same energy that gives power to the verses we are reading.

Our souls are rooted in Divine oneness; we are truly a part of God above. As far as our souls are concerned, God is our Father, our Source of being. Our bodies, however, function in a universe of apparent separateness, a world of distance. On its own, the best that the body can feel is like a servant serving its master.

We all believe. “Israel are believers, the sons of believers.”

Kabbalah is referred to as The Tree of Life. In the following essay I wish to explore the three fundamental truths of our lives; our Source of being, who we are, and where we are, in other words the Divine, man and world.

Seder Hishtalshelus

A Map of the Order of Creation

To Download:

HishtalshelusMap_10.13…

By Louise Danielle Palmer
In this article, I’ve tried to distill the Kabbalistic teachings of Rabbi Pinson to their essence. What is presented here is a mix of Rabbi Pinson’s words and mine, based on his writings and teachings, and the conversations we’ve shared in his home in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, over the past year.

While Neitzsche suggested that the ‘fire magic of music’ is to be found in its anti-rationality, and what he sought in music was its ‘ecstatic irrationality’, the Jewish mystic looks to unveil within music its transcendence.

From an interview in the Jewish Book News in conjunction with the release of the book Inner Rhythms: The Kabbalah of Music.

During the course of one’s life, a person may become impregnated with an additional soul for a short period of time. The impregnated soul does not come to substitute for the present soul, rather it is like a guest within the host soul, achieving what it needs to and then it departs.

If reincarnation is a fundamental idea of Jewish theology, why do so few Jews believe in it?

A great Chassidic master, who had scores of devoted followers who were themselves great scholars, once befriended a simple man, unlearned and unremarkable in any way and accorded him considerable honor and affection. This puzzled many of his followers, and finally, one student, a learned and righteous man, dared approach the master to inquire about his manner. The Rebbe did not reply.

Fire and smoke poured from the mountain and the earth shook. The entire Community of Israel stood together in awe at the foot of Sinai as the Divine Presence thrust them into profound revelation. The thunder of awakening surged through each heart and mind as a transcendent voice spoke out: Anochi Ha-Shem Elokecha.

The Sefer Yetzirah, among other texts, reveals a constellation of unique energies, themes and spiritual practices for each month of the year. We will build on these teachings in order to discover some of the deeper meanings of the month of Shevat, and its special day, Tu b’Shevat.

G-d’s gift of the Torah is an expression of the highest love imaginable. Within the Torah, G-d revealed Himself and His innermost desires and showed us the way to love and come ever closer. Where fear once predominated, there became a universe permeated by love, inspired by the most positive, life affirming partner/power, G-d Himself.

Who Are We?
Reaching a Deeper Understanding of Self

An Exploration of the Soul

Kabbalah teaches that there are fifty ‘gates’ or levels on our spiritual path, and the fiftieth gate is bina, absolute clarity and freedom. This teaching follows the pattern of the Torah law of Yovel, the Jubilee year, which occurs on the fiftieth year of a fifty-year cycle.

The means to our survival has always been a relentless cleaving to our center, and to the Divine Center-point of all reality. When the dreidel is spinning intensely around its center, the four sides blur and appear circular; the multiple surfaces of the cube become as the single surface of a cylinder, as they cleave, so-to-speak, to the oneness of their center.

There is a custom that has been practiced by many Jews throughout the entire world for generations, a ceremony celebrating a boy’s first haircut. Essentially, the primary purpose of the haircut is to reveal the peyos/sidelocks.

Every age, every …

The distinction is quite clear, heaven is where it is me and you, hell is me or you. Hell is where, and for that matter when, we cannot stand seeing another human beings pleasure, heaven, on the other hand, is …

Heaven – paradise – Gan Eden is seen as a place/state where one experiences oneself devoid of ego, aggression, and resentment, the purity of the transcendence. Conversely, Hell- Gehenom is viewed as a place/state where one experiences the tension of …

Humans are the only creatures on earth -at least this is what humans think- who are aware of their own mortality. We are finite, and being conscious of our finitude we quest for immortality.

True, on one level we realize …

Before we begin reading the Torah, we open the ark and recite a passage from the Zohar.

The Baal Shem Tov once said that when the ark is opened and we recite these words with purity, faith and from the …

What do we bring to the table of judgment? Our brains, our power, our art. These are all from God. Even when we decide—and it is our own decision—to do good and to restrain ourselves from the opposite, we are …

The Midrash tells us that following the brutal murder of his brother Hevel, Kayin was summoned to the heavenly tribunal for judgment. After a brief deliberation, it was decreed that Kayin would be condemned to a life of wandering: “You …

As we climb the four levels of prayer upward and inward, we come more in touch with our deeper levels of soul, and they become our internal reality.

God will extend a hand and assist us in the process of self-transformation and re-unification.

LINES, CIRCLES AND INFINITY: Meditations on the Seder Plate.
On Passover night we are given the power to tap into a space beyond the perpetual pendulum of cause and effect.

Energy for the Week of Parshat Tetzaveh:
Refining our Spiritual Wardrobe!

Only free people have names. A slave is a nameless statistic, with no independent personal identity or existence. Likewise, when we are slaves to our emotions and reactions, we have no independence from the stimuli or influences in our lives.

We live in an age of great confusion and uncertainty. There is a devastating lack of leadership; both on a collective/global and individual/personal level. Clearly, our life, and life in general, seems to be spinning out of control.

Kedusha, holiness–and every truly positive phenomenon in the world–is eternal. A Yom Tov- a religious holiday is not merely a remembrance of a past miracle or positive event. It is a celebration of the reshimu, the eternal imprint of the …

The number four resonates throughout the Seder. As we will review, the four cups of wine reveal our redemption from the four types of exile, the four questions inform us of the specific mitzvoth of the Seder, and the discussion among the four sons in the haggadah illustrates the archetypes of the four levels of consciousness and redemption.

When we recite the Hagadah, we should take it personally–it should liberate us. Therefore, all of the characters depicted in it should be seen as reflections or representations of different parts of ourselves. We need all three elements, Moshe, Aharon, and Miriam, in order to bring about a redemption from our ‘stuckness’.

Olam — the Hebrew term for world, universe, creation — is rooted in the word helem (concealment). The way this material-based universe operates, the way it was set up and created is that creation does not unambiguously point to a …

When the Outer reflects the Inner

Lights seem to speak to us in a very deep way, particularly those gentle lights that dance atop of candles. There are few visuals that are as warming to us as the sight of a burning flame, a pure simple …

Over the years, a custom has developed that on Rosh Hashanah, during the course of the day, we go out to a living body of water with lively fish swimming therein and symbolically cast away our unwanted negative baggage. We …

A closer look at the special nature of the prayers of Rosh Hashanah.

Every time we promise and say we will or will not do this or that, we create a form of reality through our words. Therefore when our actions do not match that reality, an emptiness results. Vows uttered but not fulfilled are empty, lacking vessels of fulfillment. And in order to repair this lack—in order to build the necessary vessels— we need to remedy how we speak. We begin by becoming conscious of our words.