By Rabbi Amichai Cohen

Characteristics of the month

Permutation of G-d’s Name:  יהוה) הוהי) Hey, Vav, Hey, Yud

Tribe: ראובן Reuven

Letter: ח Chet

Constellation: סרטן Cancer

Sense:  ראיה Smell

Body part: עינים The eyes

Tammuz is the name of Dumuzi, the Acadian sun-god (the Adonis of the Greeks), the husband of the goddess Ishtar. In the Chaldean calendar there was a month set apart in honor of this god, the month of June to July, the beginning of the summer solstice. At this festival, which lasted six days, the worshippers, with loud lamentations, bewailed the funeral of the god, they sat "weeping for Tammuz" ( Ezekiel 8:14 )

How do we resolve this apparent contradiction? Why would a Jewish month be named after an idol? The source of idolatry is the worshiping of the self, the worshiping of the body. Tammuz is a month where someone has the ability to access G-d in the deepest of ways or there is the ability for a person to worship the self and become absorbed...

By: Rabbi Amichai Cohen

The word enlightened by definition means having light. The analogy of light is found across all religions, philosophies and cultures.

In Kabbalah, the analogy of light is extremely important. The book of the Zohar or light, written by Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai in the second century, and the book of the Bahir or illumination written in the first century by Rabbi Nechunia Ben Hakanah show the importance of light in Jewish mysticism. 

In Temple times, the menorah- candelabra served as the beacon light which shined the light of Jerusalem- a city of peace to the rest of the world. 

The symbol of the Menorah was so important, that in fact on the famous Titus archway in Rome, the Menorah was etched as a symbol of conquest of the land of Israel. 

The Menorah continues to serve as the symbol of the modern state of Israel and is even more the sign of Judaism than Star of David. 

Aaron The High Priest

In the tabernacle, Aaron, the high priest would...

By Rabbi Amichai Cohen

Do you question if now is the right time to move?

Research finds moving to new locations (and getting married..) as one of the  most stressful events in one's life. Anxiety about so many unknowns consume our thoughts before the move, while the adjustment period takes a mental tole on us as we settle into our new surroundings.

Here are some Torah tips for how to know when the right time to move is and how to mentally prepare.

In the Torah portion of B'halotcha, the Torah discusses the travels of the Jewish people in the desert.

The 12 tribes of the Israelites were divided into 4 camps, each camp consisting of 3 tribes. In the middle of the 4 camps was the Tabernacle, which stored the ark that housed the tablets -the Ten Commandments. 

During the 40 year sojourn in the desert the Jewish people traveled 42 journeys. 

The Ba'al Shem Tov says that just as the Israelites traveled 42 journeys, so too each individual has 42 journeys in their...

 By: Rabbi Amichai Cohen

"For the Unification of The Holy One Blessed Be- He and His Shechina"

In Chapter 19 of the Keter Shem Tov, the Ba'al Shem Tov explains the meditation found before the beginning of the prayers (according to the Alter Rebbe's Siddur of the Ari) and before the performance of Mitzvot called "L'shem Yichud- לשם יחוד קודשא בריך הוא ושכינתי׳ה״". 

What is this unification. The Ba'al Shem Tov explains that "Kudsha Brich Hu", G-d's male aspect which incorporates the first 6 emotional Sefirot called Zeir Anpin in the Zohar (watch class for elaboration) becomes glorified by Malchut or Shechina, the feminine and 7th Sefirah of the 10 Sefirot.

How does is this glorification happen?

The Ba'al Shem Tov explains that G-d created the world via speech. The Mishna in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of Our Father's) say "the world was created through 10 forms of speech (found in the beginning of the Torah in Genesis). 

If we compare speech within our human components we...

By: Rabbi Amichai Cohen

Do you have negative thoughts? If you didn't you would not be normal.

ANTS

Dr. Daniel Amen, a clinical neuroscientist, child and adolescent psychiatrist, and medical director of the Amen Clinic for Behavioral Medicine. 

Dr. Amen and his colleagues have now conducted over 100,000 (!!!) brain scans which has helped him develop a powerful methodology to help us tap into the biggest lesson he’s learned in all his years of research and clinical work.

In his research, Dr. Amen found that we have approximately 60,000 thoughts a day. Out of those 40,000 are negative...roughly 80%!!

To make this drearier, 90% of our thoughts are those we had yesterday. That means we rethink and ruminate on the same negative thoughts over and over again!

Dr Amen calls these thoughts ANTS: “One of the limbic techniques that is a mainstay of helping our patients at the Amen Clinics is what I call ANT therapy, or learning how to kill the ANTs (Automatic Negative...

By: Rabbi Amichai Cohen

On this past Shabbat we read Parashat Naso, the longest of the 53 portions (Parshiot) of the Torah.

Each Shabbat incorporates the energy of the next week, as well as the “elevation” of the previous week.

That means that that Parshat Naso has within it the elevation of Shavuot, the monumental day of the giving of the Torah.

Even more powerfully, the 7 days after Shavuot are connected to Shavuot. During Temple times sacrifices which were missed can be brought during these 7 days.

On a spiritual level this refers to any level of elevation which was not achieved during Shavuot can be made up during these 7 days.

What is Shavuot all about anyways and what is theTorah?

Experiential Connection

The book of Song of Songs written by King Solomon is a book of love expressing the intimate connection which the husband has for his wife on an external level. On a deeper level, the book is a deep expression of love between G-d and the Jewish people. G-d is...

Lag Ba'Omer is one of the least known days on the Jewish calendar, which is not found in the Torah, yet has a major Kabbalistic and Talmudic significance. 

Known as the Hillula or wedding of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the greatest Kabbalist ever and author of the Zohar.

The Kabbalistic holiday of Log Ba'omer falls out during the week of Hod, which according to Kabbalah is the last rung on the Kabbalistic Sefirot chart. 

Hod means splendor, humility and acknowledgment, which according to Kabbalah are of the greatest importance.

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and the Zohar causes an interconnection of opposites. This explains why according to the Talmud the students of Rabbi Akiva stopped dying.

More specifically, the Zohar says that Rabbi Shimon passed away on the day of Hod of Hod, which according to Kabbalah is the deepest level of acknowledgement and humility.

Please check out our Kabbalah Academy Class for more on Lag Ba'Omer.

By Rabbi Amichai Cohen

Blessings

One of the most powerful expressions of love we can feel from someone is a blessing. It conveys both a deep sentiment as well as a comforting anchor of belief in ourselves, as well as in the entire human race. Can there really be someone who takes the time to bless me? That is a very humbling and heart warming experience.

What is a blessing according to the Torah?

The root of the word beracha ברכה is barech- ברך which can mean 3 things:

1. a knee

2. a pool

3. spelled backward means a vehicle. 

What do these words have to do with a blessing?

High Source

Now proven by physics, we know that all physical vitality comes from a metaphysical and ethereal origin. In Kabbalah we call this "seder hishtalshelus"-order of down-chaining (check out our Live Kabbalah class on this in our Kabbalah Academy). What this basically means is just like within our physical bodies we embody our higher consciousness, within our higher faculties of our mind and heart and...

The Alter Rebbe speaks about the significance of of the traveling of the Tabernacle (Mishkan) in the desert on both a physical and spiritual level. The Alter Rebbe explains that the desert represents the realm of negativity and ego (which is why nothing grows in the desert). The Tabernacle on the other hand is the expression of Godliness and spirituality within the physical and emotional reals of existence.  

“Count [literally, ‘raise’] the head[s] of the sons of Gershon as well.” The phrase “as well” refers back to the command in the previous Torah portion, Bamidbar, to count the sons of Kehos (Numbers 4:2). A later verse (Numbers 4:27) goes on to stipulate that the tasks for which the sons of Gershon were responsible were to be performed at the express direction of Aaron and his sons, the Kohanim (priests). By examining the reason the Gershuni (Gershonites) were singled out to be counted “as well,” together with the reason...