The children of Israel were given three gifts to protect them through the travails of the wilderness. Manna from heaven, Miriam’s well and the clouds of Glory. The clouds of Glory have the same essence of that of Aaron the priest, the Sephirah of  Chesed ,loving-kindness, and this is the same light we attract to ourselves when we sit in the Succah. The shade provided by the Succah is that of the shelter of faith and this gives us faith for the New Year now open to us .

The psalmist calls out to God from the depths of his heart.  We too access those depths on Yom Kippur . The Zohar explores the meaning of depth and teaches how Return and  Forgiveness  were given as a gift by God before even Man was created.

We are now in the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur when the theme of Teshuvah reaches its height. Teshuvah is a God-given gift to us calling us back, showing us the way home. Often translated as repentance it really means “returning to our inner selves”.

The language of the Kabbalah penetrates more deeply into our prayers and customs than we are normally aware of. This is certainly the case with Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year. In this talk we take a look at many of the terms and symbols associated with this festival, and discover a day of joy, blessing and confidence. Furthermore it is the day on which the Jewish people, in blowing the shofar, bring the sound of compassion for all humankind.

Many of us wonder why we are here at all? Why did the soul, so perfect and pure, come into this troubled and difficult existence, into this temporal body, which is destined to die, and into a conflict with our ego which is an integral and God-given part of us also. What did the soul have to gain? In a remarkable letter written by Rabbi Yehudah Lev Ashlag we learn that the sojourn of the soul in this body and in this world is incredibly precious as it is here that God can manifest His Names and it is precisely here that that the soul can realize a much greater potential than it could whilst in the higher spiritual realms

All year round we are like a spring, stretched out of shape. Just imagine what a relief it would be if we could let go of all the tensions and pressures that are pulling us out of our natural state of being and come back to who we really are. That is the opportunity we have in the month of Elul. Our soul, which is our true Self is out of its natural environment when in this dense egoistical world. The month of Elul is our God- given opportunity to let go of all that is oppressing our soul pulling it away from its natural being and allowing it to return to its true self.

When we learn Torah we want to learn as an act of service. Not the usual way we learn which is to gain knowledge of information. Giving when learning, brings us into affinity of form with the soul and thus puts us in the right way for receiving the light of Torah

There is a light in the Torah which leads a person back to the good way. This light is there because the essence of the Torah , the Holy Blessed One and the soul are all one. The garments of the Torah are the knowledge. Only when we labor in Torah with the intention of coming into affinity of  form with the Creator we acquire the light within it

Just imagine that we could envisage our redemption now. Just imagine how much happier we would feel in our daily lives if we really could see the time when the consciousness of the world will be raised to that of love and giving benefit to each other.