Thought of the Day
When we awaken a Divine attribute in ourselves, we are drawing on the energy from its source in the world of the sephirot, which then flows down into us and out into the world.
Weekly Teachings
Every Friday a teaching is posted on the site as a subject for study and contemplation during the coming week. The teaching guide the reader in using the teachings and practices of Judaism as a spiritual path that leads to God knowledge. They combine the wisdom of the Kabbalah, Hasidic Masters, and the Rabbis with the knowledge of the mystical and esoteric traditions of other faiths. The teachings provide a path that is both solidly anchored in the Jewish tradition and fully universal in its vision and understanding of the spiritual life.
Forgiveness
18 May 2012 | No Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Self-Transformation
“If I have done any wrong toward my parents, my teacher, my elders, to anybody in the past, by thought, by deed, by word, consciously or unconsciously, may I be forgiven. If anybody has done wrong to me – if they have cultivated a grudge or complained or accused or offended – by thought, by [...]
Weekly Webinar Summary: Session V: Reincarnation Continued
14 May 2012 | No Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Weekly Seminar Summary
OUTLINE SESSION FIVE REINCARNATION CONTINUED I. DIFFERENT LEVELS OF KARMA Personal Karma - Many of the events that will occur to us in this life are the result of what has happened to us in our past lives. They are the karmic debt that we have to pay in order to move ahead.
Lag Ba’Omer
9 May 2012 | No Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Holydays
Bar Yochai! With oil of sacred anointment were you anointed from the holy measure You bore the headplate, a crown of holiness, bound upon your head is your glory… Bar Yochai! In a goodly dwelling did you settle on the day you ran, the day you fled, In rocky caves where you stopped – there [...]
Weekly Webinar Summary: Session IV: Gilgul or Reincarnation
7 May 2012 | No Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Weekly Seminar Summary
OUTLINE: SESSION FOUR REINCARNATION OR GILGUL I. REINCARNATION The term gilgul comes from the Hebrew verb lehitgalgel – to revolve or turn, and the noun galgal – wheel. - Its central principle is that this life is only one part of a larger series of lives. - We return to this world again and again [...]
Willpower
4 May 2012 | No Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Meditation and Prayer
“What is the purpose of spiritual disciplines? To develop free will. The more one strengthens one’s willpower, the more one moves toward God. The Master used to say, ‘Awaken your inner power.’ Success does not come to souls who are weak-minded. “The more one’s mind becomes pure, the more one’s willpower increases. Look at Buddha. [...]
Weekly Webinar Summary: Session Three: The Garments of the Soul
30 Apr 2012 | No Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Weekly Seminar Summary
OUTLINE: SESSION THREE THE GARMENTS OF THE SOUL MAN’S BODIES OF MANIFESTATION I. Man has four bodies of manifestation in the physical world. - There is the dense physical body, the astral body, the mental body, and the etheric body. - Each serves a different purpose. - Each has a definite effect [...]
Spiritual Optimism III: Spiritual Optimism and Israel
25 Apr 2012 | No Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Holydays
Optimism is an intrinsic part of the Jewish tradition. This optimism has upheld us amid countless sufferings and ordeals. This optimism has carried us through two thousand years of exile.
Weekly Webinar Summary: Session Two: Our Soul Family
23 Apr 2012 | No Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Weekly Seminar Summary
OUTLINE: SESSION TWO OUR SOUL FAMILY I. Our Soul Family Each of us has a place that we call home in the supernal realm. In that place, dwell the souls that are part of our neshama or group soul, our soul family.
Spiritual Optimism II: Transcending the Conflict Between Optimism and Tradition
20 Apr 2012 | No Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Spiritual Wisdom
There exists an inherent tension between tradition and optimism. Tradition emphasizes the imperfections in human nature and the many difficulties of life in this world. According to the tradition, our existence began with the fall from Paradise and our banishment onto the physical plane. The rest of history is the story of our decline over [...]
Weekly Webinar Summary: Session One
16 Apr 2012 | 1 Comment | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Weekly Seminar Summary
PART TWO: THE SCIENCE OF THE SOUL OUTLINE: SESSION ONE THE NATURE OF THE SOUL In Judaism, the higher nature of a human being is divided into five major components: the nefesh, the ruach, the neshama, the chaya and the yechida. Each of these expresses a different aspect of the soul.
In the Midst of the Sea
12 Apr 2012 | 3 Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Holydays
“Speak to the Children of Israel that they go forward.” - Exodus 14:15 “He who can forebear, lives. He who cannot, is lost.” - Sri Ramakrishna [1] There are times in life when we feel closed in on all sides, moments when the way back is cut off, and the path forward is blocked. At such times, [...]
Roadmap to Freedom
6 Apr 2012 | 1 Comment | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Holydays
“The order of the Pesach service is now completed in accordance with all its laws, its ordinances and statues. Just as we were found worthy to perform it [this year], so may we be worthy to do it in the future. O Pure One, Who dwells on high, raise up the congregation which is without [...]
Preparing for Pesach
30 Mar 2012 | 3 Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Holydays
The weeks before Pesach are a time of intense physical work, getting our homes ready for the holyday. We turn our house inside out and upside down to seek out and destroy any trace of chametz – leaven and leavened bread. This process is a reflection of an inner process of cleansing that also takes [...]
Manna – Food from Heaven
23 Mar 2012 | 4 Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Self-Transformation
When Swami Vidyatmananda, a westerner that had joined the Ramakrishna order was a probationer, he went to India to visit the headquarters of the Order. One day, he decided to leave the ashram in the outskirts of Calcutta and go into the city for the day to do some shopping. When he told his superiors [...]
Our Natural State
16 Mar 2012 | 2 Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Spiritual Wisdom
When people would come to Ramana Maharshi and ask him how they could reach Self-realization, he would answer them by saying that self-realization is not something to be reached or gotten; it is our natural state. To become realized we do not have to lose our own identity and change into something completely different. All [...]
Purim Knowledge
7 Mar 2012 | 3 Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Holydays
Lord, You fill all worlds, and surround all worlds. And Lord without You, there is no world at all. - The Zohar “The Lord does everything. My Divine Mother dwells in all beings, and they do as she wills.” Swami Premananda, a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna [1] Everything which occurs – both the good and [...]
Zachor – Remember Amalek
2 Mar 2012 | 3 Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Holydays
Despite our deepest wish that it not be so, there are people in this world who have no compassion or love. There are people who show no pity or decency. There are people that prey on the helpless and the vulnerable. There are people who will do or say anything to achieve their goals. In [...]
Weekly Seminar Summary: Session VIII
27 Feb 2012 | 27 Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Weekly Seminar Summary
SESSION EIGHT In this week’s session, we investigated the third aspect of mind – daat or knowledge. We also explored the relationship between the body of sephirot and our [...]
For the Glory of God
24 Feb 2012 | No Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Universal Vision
“Lift your eyes on high, and behold who has created these things.” - Isaiah 40:26 The Hasidic Master, Avraham Dov of Avritch, teaches that one of the key principles in serving God is to ask ourselves about everything that we see, be it a creature or an object, “Who is it that has given it life [...]
Weekly Seminar Summary: Session VII
20 Feb 2012 | No Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Weekly Seminar Summary
SESSION SEVEN THE HEAD CENTERS OUTLINE In this week’s webinar, we explored the two major head centers: hochmah/binah - wisdom/understanding and keter – the crown. These two centers play a key role in the development of our inner life.
Spiritual Discrimination
17 Feb 2012 | 2 Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Self-Transformation
Every morning, we begin our day with the following prayer: “Blessed are You, O Lord our God, Who gives the rooster understanding to distinguish between day and night.” The attribute of discrimination is a great blessing. Discrimination is a power of the mind. It is the capacity to look at any situation and analyze [...]
Wisdom Webinar Summary: Session VI
13 Feb 2012 | No Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Weekly Seminar Summary
SESSION SIX THE MIDDLE CENTERS: AN ELABORATION OUTLINE This week we explored the middle centers of tiferet (beauty) and hesed/gevurah (mercy/power). These two sephirot play a key role in our spiritual development as human beings and as souls.
The Supernal Torah
10 Feb 2012 | 1 Comment | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Spiritual Wisdom
We are told in the Kabbalah that God in the Ein Sof, the Absolute Reality, is pure infinite consciousness. How did this Infinite Consciousness become embodied in a finite world? How did this finite creation arise out of an Infinite Creator? The sixteenth century Kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac Luria (also known as the Ari) provides [...]
Meditation for Tu B’Shvat: The Holy Apple Field
7 Feb 2012 | 1 Comment | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Holydays
This is a meditation in honor of Tu B’Shvat based on this week’s teaching The Ground of Being. Take time to visualize each step of the meditation and to immerse yourself in the experience. Tu B’Shvat Sameach! Yoel
Wisdom Webinar Summary: Session Five
7 Feb 2012 | No Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Weekly Seminar Summary
SESSION FIVE THE CENTERS: AN ELABORATION This week, we began taking an in-depth look at each of the sephirot or spiritual centers. In this session, we explored the three lower centers of malchut, yesod and netzach/hod.
Rooted in the Ground of Being: Tu B’Shvat: The New Year for Trees
3 Feb 2012 | 1 Comment | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Holydays
The most difficult thing in the world is to just be – to stop planning, scheming, and doing and just be. Yet, there is nothing more powerful than a person who truly IS. In just being, we become our true Self. We live centered in the core of our being, and everything that we [...]
Wisdom Webinar Summary: Session Four
30 Jan 2012 | No Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Weekly Seminar Summary
SESSION FOUR: THE THREE CHANNELS OF ENERGY I. There are three energy pathways that run through our spiritual body. – The left-hand pathway is called the column of din or judgment. The right-hand is the column of hesed or mercy. The middle path is the column of rachamim or compassion. It is also called the [...]
Caught in the Net
27 Jan 2012 | No Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Self-Transformation
“Suppose a net has been cast into a lake to catch fish. Some fish are so clever that they are never caught in the net. They are like the ever-free [souls]. But most of the fish are entangled in the net. Some of them try to free themselves from it, and they are like those [...]
Wisdom Webinar Summary: Session Three
23 Jan 2012 | No Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Weekly Seminar Summary
SESSION THREE MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD: THE BODY OF SPIRITUAL CENTERS I. [...]
Living in the Higher Consciousness
20 Jan 2012 | 2 Comments | written by Rabbi Yoel Glick | in Spiritual Wisdom
On this physical plane of existence, we are bombarded daily by a constant stream of sensory stimuli. These stimuli push and pull us in every direction as they compete for our undivided attention. First, this input is taken in through our senses: we see, hear, touch, feel and taste everything around us. These contacts [...]
