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...

Moshe Reuven Sheradsky Founder of WeDu Inc

As the Sages (early commentaries on spirituality) say, “Happiness breaks all bounds.” The Talmud highlights that happiness allows an individual to have an open mind, while unhappiness closes off the mind from everything and focuses it solely on the one thing that isn’t right. A happy person is a joy to be around, is able to focus on other people besides himself, and is able to accomplish what is in front of them with vitality and strength. A happy person can see opportunities, blessings, ideas and more with full clarity. We all have some idea about the advantages of being happy, yet the question many of us have is, “How do we both obtain and maintain happiness?”.

Here are 3 of the 10 instructions LiveKabbalah has for you to live a happy life:

1.Develop Humility You may be resistant to this claim. You may ask yourself, “Aren’t the things that...

A healthy relationship is based on true and healthy communication and bonding. To authentically bond with someone one requires humility. The Sefirah of bonding is called Yesod and the the Sefirah associated with humility is called hod. Find out here how through the process of bonding we march towards the receiving of the Torah and incorporate a "good name".

By: Rabbi Amichai Cohen

What is freedom? That is a relative question that depends on who you ask. For someone in the middle of Africa who does not have running water, freedom is simply running water. Where as, someone living in the comforts of a western country, would not consider running water freedom. For that person it would be perhaps the ability to pay their bills, go on the vacation of their choice or follow their dreams by attaining higher education and starting a business.

Within the hierarchy of creation, the freedom of the inanimate is to simply be. The freedom of the vegetative is to sprout, grow and flourish. Freedom for the animal kingdom is the ability to move, hunt and procreate. Freedom for a human is to be able to utilize the mind, seek knowledge, and express that knowledge in speech and in writing.  The freedom of the inanimate is vastly different than the freedom that the vegetative requires, and the locomotive needs of the animal is vastly different than...

    According to Kabbalah the creation of the world is not a mere historic event. The notion that the world was “once created” is a fallacy. The Ba’al Shem Tov teaches that to perceive the world as having once been created is a false perception of reality. Creation is in fact a continuous and constant current event. 

The verse says “You shall know today and take it to your heart that YHVH is Elokim in the heavens above and on the land below there is no one but him.” (Devarim 4:39)

The Alter Rebbe asks, in Shaar Hayichud and Emunah (Chapter 1), why is it necessary for the verse to declare a simple fact that no other G-d exists in the heavens above or on the land below? Would we ever think that there is a deity that exists somewhere beneath the earth?

    The Alter Rebbe answers by quoting the verse in Psalms “Forever, O G-d, your word stands firm in the heavens.” (119:89) The Ba’al Shem Tov explains that...