This week we look at two Hasidic readings of Vayeshev that together map the inner life: Siach Chayyim teaches that the soul’s descent into this world is purposeful, an apprenticeship in humility, growth, and learning to say “Here I am” even when we’re afraid. The Meir of Premyshlan adds that holiness isn’t only found in elevated moments but in the “lower waters” of daily life, where every ordinary act holds a spark waiting to be lifted. Taken together, the texts insist that our wandering, our struggle, and even our most mundane days are part of the soul’s path back to clarity and connection.

This episode explores how our words of Torah, prayer, and intention become “messengers” that protect and guide us when we face our inner Esau, the parts of us that pull us off our path. Drawing on Siach Chayyim, we look at Jacob’s strategy of splitting into “two camps” of awe and love as a model for spiritual resilience, and with Or HaMeir we dive into Peniel as the practice of seeing the Divine “face within the face” in every situation. Together, these teachings frame our daily work as lifting scattered sparks of presence and finding healing not by erasing our limp, but by carrying our wounds with conscious awareness.

In this week’s episode we explore commentaries from the Skulyer Rebbe and the Or HaMeir, each offering a fierce little window into inner change—lifting ourselves from old patterns, giving voice to buried truth, and integrating both our hidden and revealed selves.

This episode weaves three Degel teachings from Toldot into one arc: Torah-awareness as the “added hey” that opens new possibilities, the idea that our personal lack mirrors a deeper cosmic wound, and the insight that real change comes not from merit but from aligning with the deeper current of mazal. Each teaching becomes a practice: expanding consciousness, healing the world through our own healing, and learning to face the truth of where life is actually carrying us. Together they offer a compact toolkit for spiritual realignment and human thriving.

This week we sit with the Degel’s teaching that Sarah—Shekhinah—becomes “whole” in Kiryat Arba, the place where four directions of Divine flow meet. The mystics say wholeness comes when our own inner movements—reaching, receiving, grounding, and envisioning—come together. When they do, we become a source of nourishment for ourselves and others. This episode explores how to gather those four currents and touch a taste of “Hebron,” the world-to-come that appears in the here-and-now.

In this episode of The Neshamah Project, we explore two luminous teachings from the Maor VaShemesh that reveal how embodied life itself can become a vessel for awakening. First, we reflect on Abraham’s transformation into a living conduit of divine presence—his body, breath, and being illuminated from within. Then we turn to his moment at the tent’s entrance, where overwhelming spiritual light brings him to the edge of dissolution, and simple acts of hospitality become a grounding force. Together, these teachings remind us that spirituality isn’t about leaving the body—it’s about coming home to it. The sacred moves through breath, touch, and service. Presence is found not in escaping the world, but in loving it fully.

In this episode, Rabbi Ben Newman reflects on a teaching from the Maor VaShemesh about Abraham’s journey as a metaphor for our own spiritual unfolding. What does it mean to “go forth” from the stories we’ve inherited — from our comfort zones, our expectations, even our own self-image? Drawing on Hasidic wisdom and Psalm 45, Ben explores how letting go can open us to authenticity, courage, and divine delight — the beauty of becoming who we truly are.

In this episode of The Neshamah Project, we explore a luminous teaching from the Kedushat Levi on Genesis 2:17. Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev reimagines the story of Eden not as a tale of sin, but as a lesson in spiritual readiness — about what happens when we try to take in more light than we can hold. Through reflection and interpretation, we uncover how this Hasidic insight becomes a tool for human thriving: transforming darkness into light, overreaching into wisdom, and our daily struggles into sparks of awakening.

In this episode of The Neshamah Project, we explore two luminous teachings from the Maor VaShemesh on Kohelet. First, “All is breath” — a vision of life as sacred exhalation, where every word and action flows from divine intention. Second, “The breath of many voices” — a reminder that when we gather in prayer, song, or silence, our shared breath reshapes the world. Together, these teachings invite us to return to simplicity, to presence, and to the living rhythm that connects every soul.

After the death of Aaron’s sons, the Torah places the Yom Kippur service—why there, and why “not at all times” yet “once a year”? Drawing on the Maor VaShemesh, we explore how all souls are one body, how one mitzvah can tip the world, and why true teshuvah requires discernment—opening wide on “Yom Kippur moments” while keeping loving boundaries the rest of the year. Includes a practical reflection for shifting destructive patterns personally, communally, and globally.