This week in Parshat Shoftim, we look at what judgment really means. Not the negative, critical, or destructive kind, but the holy power of discernment, which ultimately leads us to true inner alignment. We explore how judgment, when softened with kindness, becomes one of the most powerful tools for living in your truth.

If God is everywhere, why did we need the Beit HaMikdash? In this class I explore the deeper purpose of having a physical space of alignment, and how that teaching applies to us today. We’ll talk about our human need for guidance, being witnessed in our pain, and why no one is meant to walk their path alone. The message: choose to be seen, because healing and growth happen in connection, not isolation.

The prophecy for Moshiach is given over in this week’s Torah portion. From it, we learn how to live in the energy and alignment we all want, not waiting for some future time, but starting the practice now, so we can usher in the freedom we desire. It’s about the small, steady steps, the commitment, the dedication, and the belief in what we’re working toward. Our choices matter. The Torah shifts from feeling like a list of rules to follow into a loving guidebook for living in alignment with ourselves and with the Shechina. That’s Moshiach energy, and we get to live in that TODAY.

In this episode, we explore the profound spiritual art of asking. Through the story of Moshe’s prayer to enter the Land and God’s refusal we uncover what it really means to pray, to desire, and to be told “no.” What if the unanswered prayer is not rejection, but redirection? What is the purpose of waiting? We talk about levels of desire, the feminine art of receiving, and how to hold the “no” without shutting down, but instead, becoming.

The last and final book of the Torah starts this week and is different from the rest in that it is told not just through Moshe, but by Moshe in his own words. The obvious question is: why repeat all the stories that were just told? There is a deep teaching in the way that Moshe re-tells our story that teaches us how to connect to our own stories of our lives and retell it with the perspective of purpose and hindsight. The lesson we emulate from Moshe is about embodying your own uniqueness to be a channel of bringing the Shechina into this world.

The first topic in this parsha is annulments, which may seem to be irrelevant to most people. However, as we delve into the conversation of promises, what they are and how we can use them, this couldn’t be further from the truth. We learn the fundamentals of manifestation, straight from the torah source, and how to use the power of our words as we co-create our lives with God in every moment that we are in this world.

Pinchas, the son of Aaron commits a murder and is awarded the covenant of peace. How can evil be perceived as a blessing and deserve a reward? Is it possible to do something bad, but have pure intentions, and so it becomes good? Why do bad things happen to good people? Through this question, we learn about what good and bad is and how our perspective is a key part of this equation. The lesson we learn from Pinchas is all about the lens that we view the world through. We hold the keys to the goodness that we desire.

As we move into the weeks that preempt us receiving the Promise Land, we encounter resistance in the form of spiritual warfare. In the story of Balak's curse transforming to perhaps the greatest prophecy of all time, we learn the practice of transformation. of extracting our light that is held within our darkness.

Learning the explanation to Parah Aduma was only that there are some things we don't understand, never sat right with me. There had to be more, and so I searched for the deep teachings in these words. Encoded in this chapter is a fundamental life lesson:  trusting the wisdom without having an understanding. This is the secret to living a Torah life. Parah Aduma teaches us the mechanism of defying human logic and embracing trust, humility and welcoming in existential spirituality to our lives. Even when, and especially when, we don't understand. 

Through the story of Korach, we learn about acceptance of what is. Our lot in life, with all its challenges and beautiful things, is tailor made for me. Highlighting our differences only highlights our sacred individual holiness. There is no such thing as a hierarchy, we each have our own path and our own light to discover. When there is a rumbling of unrest, this lesson is about looking inward instead of standing on an external moral injustice.