Live Kabbalah: Living from the Soul

The letter Shin rises in three branches from a single root, like a flame rising from its coal. Sefer Yetzirah describes the flame bound to its coal, and the soul itself is called a shalhevet, a flame. It stays rooted in its source at all times, even when we do not feel its light.

In this guided meditation, Rabbi Amichai Cohen takes us into the image of the Shin. We enter sheket, inner quiet, so that we can hear our own flame and stoke it. We notice where we swing between over-giving and harsh judgment, and we return to the steady middle branch, Yaakov, rachamim, compassion, where the flame burns with warmth and clarity.

We learn that Shin carries the value of the name Elokim, G-d hidden within nature, that simcha shares its letters with machshava, thought, and that our fire lights the fire of others, and theirs lights ours. This is the work of the Light Warrior: to illuminate the world and dispel darkness, one day at a time.

May this meditation steady your flame and remind you that the eternal fire within you, the esh tamid, can never go out.

More teachings, courses and meditations: www.livekabbalah.com

Avraham faced ten tests, and one thread runs through all of them: trust. The Torah says that he believed in G-d, and G-d counted it for him as tzedakah. How can belief be charity? And how can we give anything to G-d?

In this short teaching, Rabbi Amichai Cohen explains that there are two kinds of faith. Passive faith carries us. Active faith, emunah lived as bitachon, brings what we believe into our lives. Rav Saadia Gaon teaches that one cannot exist without the other.

The word bitachon together with the name Avram adds up to 318, the number of men Avram took with him to rescue Lot from the four kings. Trust is how Avram met his tests, and it is how we meet ours. When we live our faith actively, we give G-d something new in this world, and we receive the greatest gift ourselves.

Where in your life are you being asked to move from believing to trusting?

If you are a therapist, a healer, a teacher or a coach and want to bring teachings like this into your work, the Lamplighter Practitioner Certification begins on 8 November. Only a few places remain. Details at livekabbalah.com/light-warrior-lamplighter.

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Where does the fire come from once the holidays are over? In this class on the Hebrew letter Shin, Rabbi Amichai Cohen teaches Shin as the letter of fire, one of the three mother letters of Sefer Yetzirah, and as the balance of Chesed, Gevurah and Tiferet held in its three branches.

King Solomon calls the soul the candle of G-d. Like a flame, it longs to return to its source, and Sefer Yetzirah describes the flame bound to the coal. Our strength is already there. We need to remember to draw from it. We also learn Shin as change, the number 300 and the name Elohim hidden within nature, Shin as a tooth that chews a teaching until it becomes part of us, and simcha, joy, written with a Sin.

Recorded live in the Light Warrior Circle, the weekly Exploring Oneness class of Live Kabbalah. Join the live classes and the full library at livekabbalah.com.

In this teaching from her weekly Tanya class, Miriam explores Chapter 15 and the two kinds of Benoni: the one who serves G-d and the one who has grown comfortable. Why does learning something one hundred and one times change everything? What does it mean that we rent the donkey but never own it? And why must real growth come from love, not from pushing or shame?

A warm and practical teaching on stretching beyond your comfort zone with tenderness.

The full class, with reflection questions, lives in the Light Warrior Circle: livekabbalah.com

#Tanya #Kabbalah #Chassidus #InnerGrowth #LiveKabbalah

Resh (ר) begins with a surprising possibility: the place where we feel empty may become the place where we learn how to receive.

Rabbi Amichai Cohen explores five dimensions of the letter Resh, including its connection to rash, the difference between Resh and Dalet, the movement from acher to echad, the meaning of its numerical value of 200, and the promise of return found in the relationship between Kuf and Resh.

Along the way, we ask what separates having enough from feeling enough, and how humility can become a doorway to awareness, connection, and a new beginning.

This class was recorded live in the Light Warrior Circle on October 18, 2026.

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What could the blues have to do with the music of the ancient Temple? And why can one melody hold both sorrow and joy?

Rabbi Amichai Cohen welcomes Eduard Shyfrin—a scientist, entrepreneur, author and blues musician—for a conversation that begins with the blues and opens into the questions of the soul. Raised in a home filled with jazz, blues and books, Eduard returned to playing during lockdown and discovered a new passion for composing.

He shares his intriguing theory connecting the blues, sacred music and Jewish tradition. From there, we explore the personal crisis that led him to Torah and Kabbalah, the difference between measured time and inner time, and what his search has taught him about life, the soul and how we should live. His books include From Infinity to Man and The Relativity of Death.

Recorded on 8 October 2026.
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We can feel close to Hashem during prayer, then find ourselves becoming hard on ourselves or someone else as we return to the day. In this short teaching, I explore what the ashes left on the altar can teach us about that transition. Terumat HaDeshen helps us understand what to hold on to and what to let go of within ourselves. We look at how to release harsh, punitive judgment while keeping the discernment that helps us grow. Even when the feeling of closeness fades, our connection with Hashem remains, and we can carry that awareness into daily life.

At the end of Parshat Bereishit, the Torah says something startling. Vayitatzev el libo, G-d was saddened in His heart, and regretted creating humanity. Does G-d have a heart? And what does it mean for G-d to be sad?

The Rambam teaches that these are expressions, not literal attributes. Chassidus goes deeper. The Alter Rebbe explains that the heart is the place of Malchut, the place where knowledge has to land. All through Tishrei we have been drawing daat into the heart, and the etrog itself represents the heart. When G-d is sad in His heart, Malchut is not seeing the potential of humanity.

The Alter Rebbe also teaches that simcha is different from pleasure. Pleasure is immediate. Joy is knowing a treasure is stored for you, even when you cannot see it. And the repair comes through one person, Noach, who found grace in the eyes of Hashem.

So the question for this new year is practical. What is one choice I can make that rises above the limits of my own heart? This world is where G-d's heart is, and the greatest potential is stored here for us. It is within our choice to be that Noach and to build that ark.

Shabbat Shalom and a blessed new year.

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Today marks three years since October 7. We remember where we were that day, what happened, and how much has changed since then. We are three years after October 7, and in many ways we are still within it.

The Torah constantly reminds us to remember. Zachor. We remember coming out of Egypt, we remember the Beit Hamikdash, and on Rosh Hashanah we remember that Hashem is present in our lives. Life goes on. The day to day takes over, and without making space for remembrance, we can slowly lose touch with what once felt so clear.

For me, remembering this day includes the pain and the atrocities, and also the unity that followed. It means remembering the spirit within us that rose up with love for Hashem and love for one another, and asking how we can bring that into the way we live today.

In this short reflection, I speak about remembering who we are, staying clear about good and evil, and remaining connected to that faith and unity.

May Hashem bring each of us out of our personal and collective galut into complete geulah. 🤍

Rabbi Amichai Cohen

https://LiveKabbalah.com

The last day of Sukkot is Hoshana Rabbah, the Great Salvation. On this day the simplest of the four species takes the primary focus: the aravah, the willow. It has no taste and no smell. Its only virtue is that it is part of the community, and without it we do not fulfill the mitzvah of the four species.

In this short teaching, Rabbi Amichai looks at why the willow grows by a stream of water, the flow of life, and why its branches move together in the wind. That, he teaches, is what the whole holiday of Sukkot is about: coherence, flow and togetherness, with ourselves and with others. From the Ushpizin of the first days, Avraham and Chesed, Yitzchak and Gevurah, Yaakov and Tiferet, to the last day of King David and Malchut, the quality that holds all of the dimensions together.

And we ask what it means to move from our personal salvation to the great, collective salvation: to listen, to leave room for the other, and to feel what is here for all of us in this moment. Like the willow, rustling in the wind just because that is where the wind is going.

Read more: Hoshana Rabbah: The Willow and the Great Salvation
A guided meditation for the sukkah: Surrounded by Light
Learn with us: livekabbalah.com

Chag Sameach. Many blessings,
Rabbi Amichai