32 texts in Kabbalah & Mysticism
). The celebration of Tu BiShvat, the 15th of the Hebrew month of Shevat, as a "New Year for the Trees" has deeper roots than it first appears, reaching into the mystical heart of ...
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...
Think about biting into a juicy piece of fruit. It's delicious. But according to some fascinating Kabbalistic teachings, there's a whole lot more going on than just satisfying your...
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 a tradition that encourages us to do just that. A tradition rooted in tikkun (spiritual repair), or repair, and the power of mindful action. The idea is...
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 oversee al...
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...
Peri Etz Hadar turns to Tu Bishvat Teaching. In Kabbalah, the cosmos isn't just a big, empty space. It's organized into different realms, or worlds. These aren't physical places, b...
In Jewish mystical thought, particularly in Kabbalah, the shells and layers of fruits can tell us a whole lot about the spiritual realms they represent. we eat the inside, and we d...
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. That brings us to the ide...
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...
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 text...
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...
Peri Etz Hadar turns to David and the Holy Sanctuary. We’ve talked before about the power of speech in Kabbalah, how words can stir the sefirot (the divine emanations), those divin...
Peri Etz Hadar turns to Fruit Trees and the Deeper Meaning of Harvest. Well, the tradition offers some pretty amazing answers. Think about this line from (Psalms 107:37), "The frui...
Peri Etz Hadar, a profound work, explores the mystical significance of the natural world. It reminds us, drawing on (Ezekiel 47:12), that "Its fruit is food and its leaves a source...
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 that wh...
This blessing, this goodness, isn't just about the taste in our mouths. It's about the health that flows through our bodies, whether we eat a little or a lot. As the Psalmist sings...
Peri Etz Hadar turns to Gathering Adam's Scattered Holy Sparks Through Prayer. This passage, taken from Peri Etz Hadar, explores this very concept, yearning for the reunification o...
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...
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. Specifically...
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...
Peri Etz Hadar turns to Hidden Intentions Behind Fruits at Tu BiShvat. Holding its weight in your hand, feeling the hundreds of seeds nestled within. The Tikkunei (spiritual repair...
That slightly sweet, almost chocolatey taste? The Zohar, in 3:216b within Ra’aya Mehemna, invites us to contemplate the Divine Name, HHVY, when we savor it. It's a simple act, eati...
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...
Peri Etz Hadar turns to Trees and Holiness of Berakhot. Next, let's savor the sweetness of a cherry. Now, turn to the eighth mishnah of that same chapter. Here, the kavvanah shifts...
Peri Etz Hadar turns to Thirty Sacred Fruits from the Three Worlds of Being. This isn’t your average orchard tree. This Tree of Life is described as a Holy Tree extending in twelve...
