and what is the Torah? 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, 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 with 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. Bu ..read more

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 mi ..read more

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 ..read more

The archetype of exile is the Children of Israel’s servitude in Egypt. The Sages teach us that this exile was in fact a spiritual exile, even more than it was a physical exile. Indeed if the spiritual enslavement hadn’t happened the physical servitude would have been impossible. Rabbi Ashlag, in a letter to his students, explains how the slavery of the Children of Israel by the Egyptians came about. He starts off with an interesting statement from the Talmud on the rules concerning the cities of refuge. A Torah student who has committed manslaughter must be exiled to a city of refuge: and in t ..read more

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 ..read more

When we read about brothers in the Torah, we find that the concept of brotherhood as we understand it today, took much time and difficulty to emerge. The first brothers we know about are Cain and Abel, and the story of their brotherhood is a tragic one . Then the Torah relates the stories of Abraham and his family, and the first set of brothers we have are Yitshak and YIshmael. Yitzhak carries on the tradition of Abraham, but  Yishmael separates, goes his own way  and forms a separate nation. A similar division takes place between the children of Yitzhak : Yaakov and Esau. Yaakov rem ..read more

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 ..read more

In Genesis Chapter 12, the Torah relates: “And there was a famine in the land, and Abram descended to Egypt to sojourn there because the famine was severe in the land.” Genesis 12:10 What sort of famine are we talking about? If we take the Torah in its literal sense, then we mean that not enough rain fell or for some other reason the crops did not grow and there was not enough for people to eat. But the sages of the Zohar, understand the famine to have been a famine for the light of God. As the prophet Amos says , “Behold,  there will be days coming says the Lord when I will send a fami ..read more

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 ..read more

The story of the two brothers Cain and Abel is written in Genesis. This is what it says: “And Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruits of the land, whereas Able brought from the firstborn of his flock and from their fat. And God paid attention to Abel and to his offering, but to Cain and his offering he paid no attention. “   Genesis chapter 4 And we all know the tragic ending. Rabbi Yehuda Leib Ashlag, the great master Kabbalist, relates to the stories in the Torah as depicting elements that are within ourselves. This comes from the fact that every single human being i ..read more