32 texts in Kabbalah & Mysticism
It’s not just about planting saplings and hugging trunks (though, hey, those are good too!). The celebration of Tu BiShvat, the 15th of the Hebrew month of Shevat, as a "New Year f...
There's a beautiful custom, a minhag, for the faithful – the tamim in Hebrew – to eat lots of fruit on a particular day, celebrating them with words of praise. And that day is Tu B...
Jewish tradition has some pretty strong feelings about that, especially when it comes to something as simple as eating. Think about biting into a juicy piece of fruit. It's delicio...
Maybe there's more to that feeling than you realize. Jewish tradition, particularly through the lens of Kabbalah, teaches us that even the simple act of eating is laden with spirit...
More than just wasting food, Jewish tradition suggests there's something deeper at play. Something…cosmic. It’s a notion found in the mystical text Peri Etz Hadar, a fascinating ex...
It sounds wild, I know. But today, let’s dive into a tradition that encourages us to do just that. A tradition rooted in tikkun (spiritual repair), or repair, and the power of mind...
But Jewish mystical tradition, particularly the Kabbalah, suggests exactly that. It proposes that while God, the blessed Creator, reigns over the earth and assigns angels to overse...
Rabbi Hayyim Vital, a towering figure in Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) and the foremost disciple of the great Rabbi Isaac Luria, delved deep into this very question. He taught that t...
We usually don't give it a second thought, but in Jewish mystical thought, even that simple act can be a doorway into understanding the hidden structure of the universe. : fruit. S...
It's not just about protection from the elements or hungry animals. In Jewish mystical thought, particularly in Kabbalah, the shells and layers of fruits can tell us a whole lot ab...
Jewish mysticism certainly sees it that way. It’s not all sunshine and roses. There's a constant push and pull, a cosmic dance between light and darkness. And that brings us to the...
It teaches us about correspondences, about how the world below mirrors the world above. And sometimes, this mirroring is about more than just beauty – it's about the struggle betwe...
But it goes deeper than planting saplings and eating dried fruit. My father, may his memory be a blessing, had a unique way of looking at things, especially when it came to Jewish ...
There’s a special day in the Jewish calendar that invites us to do just that: Tu Bishvat, the 15th of the month of Shevat. It’s often called the New Year for Trees. But why this pa...
"And establish for us, the work of our hands." That's a powerful line from (Psalm 90:17), isn't it? It speaks to the idea that we can, through our actions, influence not only our o...
My teacher, a man steeped in the wisdom of generations, used to say something profound about that connection. He believed that every time we eat fruit, we have a chance to do a tik...
That’s the idea behind a beautiful, if somewhat hidden, tradition in Jewish mysticism: consciously engaging with the spiritual root of what we eat. We’ve talked before about the po...
We know the Torah tells us, right at the beginning in (Genesis 1:11), that the earth should bring forth "fruit trees producing fruit according to its kind." Simple enough. But what...
It's more than just a snack; it's a connection to something ancient and deeply spiritual. Peri Etz Hadar, a profound work, delves into the mystical significance of the natural worl...
And it's one that the ancient prayers, particularly those connected to seeking blessing and abundance, address head-on. : we ask for blessing, but we also ask for protection from t...
It's more than just a simple pleasure; it's a connection to something profound. This blessing, this goodness, isn't just about the taste in our mouths. It's about the health that f...
We find it even in seemingly simple prayers. one. This passage, taken from Peri Etz Hadar, delves into this very concept, yearning for the reunification of these scattered sparks. ...
There's a powerful verse in Isaiah (55:13) that paints such a vivid picture: “Instead of a briar, a cypress will arise, instead of the nettle, a myrtle will arise. And it will be a...
The prophet Isaiah did, and his vision is breathtaking. "The arid desert will be glad and the wilderness will rejoice and blossom like a rose, it shall greatly flower and also rejo...
There's a beautiful prayer, a verse from (Psalm 90:17), that speaks directly to that feeling: "May the favor of the Lord, our God, be upon us, establish the work of our hands for u...
And when it comes to Peri Etz Hadar – the "Fruit of the Goodly Tree," that is, the etrog – that feeling goes into overdrive. It's a whole system for elevating what we eat. Specific...
Just a quick "borei peri ha-etz" (Creator of the fruit of the tree) and we're off to eating. But what if I told you that even something as ordinary as grapes or figs could be a doo...
That’s what we’re exploring today: the hidden kavvanot (intentions) behind specific fruits, as revealed in the mystical depths of the Zohar, the central text of Kabbalah. These fru...
to the mystical world of fruit, intention, and the Divine Names. Let's start with carobs. That slightly sweet, almost chocolatey taste? The Zohar, in 3:216b within Ra’aya Mehemna, ...
The ancient mystics certainly did. They saw the natural world, including the orchard, as a living tapestry woven with divine threads. Let's peel back a layer of that wisdom, focusi...
Let's begin by considering a pistachio. Sounds simple. But turn your mind to the seventh mishnah – a section of Jewish law – in the sixth chapter of Berakhot (a tractate of the Tal...
It’s a question that dives deep into Jewish mystical tradition, and one that leads us to some truly fascinating ideas. Let's talk about fruit. Not just any fruit, but a specific co...
