In this episode of Truths: Jewish Wisdom for Today, Levi Brackman sits down with his longtime friend Adam Haston, real estate investor and author of The Wonder Effect: An Adventurous Guide for Igniting Your Passions and Pursuing Your Calling.

Drawing on nearly 30 years of shared history from yeshiva and Chabad outreach, Levi and Adam explore how to move from “just sitting” through life to actually living with vision and purpose. They unpack core ideas from The Wonder Effect — crushing limiting beliefs and “idols,” knowing yourself, using curiosity as a compass, and building a concrete vision for your next 3–5 years — and put them into conversation with Chassidic and Kabbalistic concepts like ratzon (deep will), kavana (intentionality), and bittul (self-transcendence). 

Along the way they talk about: why people are afraid to really look at themselves; how to distinguish your true purpose from other people’s expectations; the “Jonah complex” and fear of success; why many religious people never actually experience spiritual ecstasy; and how the same inner work that leads to a meaningful career can also open you to a genuine encounter with the Divine.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• How two former yeshiva bochurim ended up talking about AI, real estate, and wonder
• The origin story of The Wonder Effect and why Adam wrote it for his kids
• “Crushing idols”: breaking false self-images and inherited narratives
• Practical ways to start discovering your calling if you feel you “have no passions”
• Purpose as an answer to “What am I for?” — religiously and psychologically
• Ecstasy, bittul, and why you can’t reach God while protecting your image
• The danger of confusing spiritual experience with spiritual truth
• How Jewish sources on ratzon and Keter map onto modern purpose-in-life research

Perfect if you’re feeling stuck, rethinking your life direction, or looking for a bridge between Jewish spirituality and modern personal-growth tools.

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Levi Brackman is a rabbi, Ph.D. in psychology, best-selling author of Jewish Wisdom for Business Success, and founder of Invown, a platform for real estate fundraising and investing.

Rabbi Yitzchok Lowy grew up in Lakewood in a Hasidic–yeshivish home, learned in top Lithuanian yeshivot, and later immersed himself in the world of contemporary Hasidic and Kabbalistic teachers. 

In this conversation, we sit together in his beit midrash in New York and trace the “origin story” of his Beit Midrash Iyun LaMachshava—a study space built for people who can’t turn their minds off, but also don’t want to walk away from Torah or community.

We talk about the disappointment that pushed him away from standard mussar and hashkafa talks—“flat, one-dimensional” Torah that never allows for real complexity—and the attraction he felt to the broader “Hasidic renaissance” and Chabad-inflected thinkers who took ideas, soul, and inner work seriously. But then we follow him further, to the moment he realizes that even those teachers live in their own “boxes,” have red lines they refuse to cross, and sometimes won’t follow their own arguments to their logical end.

From there the conversation opens into bigger questions: the difference between faith and knowledge, why “I believe” is not the same as “I know,” and why the simple sentence “I don’t know” is, for him, a moral and spiritual stance rather than an admission of failure. We talk about the Rambam “ruining” the Talmud’s open-endedness, the loneliness of serious teachers who have no peers, the dangers of charismatic leadership and tzaddik-culture, and what it would take to build a real community of thinkers inside Haredi life rather than outside of it.

If you’ve ever felt “too thoughtful for the system” but still deeply attached to Torah, people, and place, this episode will feel uncomfortably familiar—in a good way.

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Levi Brackman is a rabbi, Ph.D. in psychology, best-selling author of Jewish Wisdom for Business Success, and founder of Invown, a platform for real estate fundraising and investing.

Rabbi Avram Wilner has reissued, footnoted, and clarified key works of Rabbi Aharon of Staroshelye, a towering but under-learned student of the Alter Rebbe. We explore the fault line between learning Chabad as a path of inner avodah and affiliating with the modern Lubavitch movement; the two tiers of Kabbalah (universal vs. elite); the role of hispa’alus and bittul; and why emotion can’t be skipped if transformation is the goal. We also compare the Middle Rebbe’s methodical, head-to-heart pathway with Rabbi Aharon’s allowance for early emotion, and discuss today’s non-Lubavitch but Chabad-focused communities that focus on lived bittul. 

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Levi Brackman is a rabbi, Ph.D. in psychology, best-selling author of Jewish Wisdom for Business Success, and founder of Invown, a platform for real estate fundraising and investing.

Is Orthodox Judaism still Talmudic — or has it slipped into safe, post-Talmudic conformity? Professor Menachem Fisch — Joseph & Ceil Mazer Professor Emeritus at Tel Aviv University, Director of its Center for Religious and Inter-religious Studies, and Humboldt Research Prize laureate — joins Levi Brackman to reveal the Talmud as a radical engine of creative dissent and critical self-examination. Discover:

• Why the Bavli’s fictitious debates matter more than their “final” rulings
• Hillel vs. Shammai and the virtue of being offendable
• Parallels between paradigm shifts in science and halakhic evolution
• How every learner can — and must — own the conversation

🎧 Watch / listen now and rethink what it means to be a “Talmudic Jew.”
 #Talmud #JewishPodcast #MenachemFisch #Orthodoxy #JewishWisdom

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Levi Brackman is a rabbi, Ph.D. in psychology, best-selling author of Jewish Wisdom for Business Success, and founder of Invown, a platform for real estate fundraising and investing.

Rabbi Dr. Levi Brackman sits down with Prof. Moshe Koppel—mathematician, long-time Israeli resident, and author of Judaism Straight Up—to explore what it means to “speak” Judaism naturally instead of consulting a rule book at every turn.

Highlights include:

• Shimen vs. Heidi: two real people who illustrate organic tribal Judaism and cosmopolitan universalism
• Why thick social norms help communities last, and how thin “fairness-only” ethics can fall short
• The role of instinct, family memory, and everyday practice in shaping halakhic decision-making
• How concrete beliefs and abstract theology each serve different emotional and intellectual needs
• A brief look at DICTA, Koppel’s project that applies language-tech tools to classic Jewish texts

If you’re curious about living tradition, social cohesion, and the balance between rules and fluency, this conversation lays out the ideas clearly.

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Levi Brackman is a rabbi, Ph.D. in psychology, best-selling author of Jewish Wisdom for Business Success, and founder of Invown, a platform for real estate fundraising and investing.

Welcome to Truths—"Seeking Ecstasy" season, Rabbi Dr. Levi Brackman’s first solo deep dive in the new series.

After opening with a heartfelt prayer for Israel amid the current Iran conflict, Rabbi Levi tackles the heated debate sparked by Rabbi Manis Friedman’s bold claim that “God needs our mitzvot.”

► What do classic sources—Maimonides, Nachmanides, Ramak, the Arizal, and Chassidic masters like R. Aaron of Staroselye—actually say?
► How do Kabbalah and Chassidut reconcile an all-perfect, utterly simple Divine Essence with a universe that seems to matter?
► Is “God needs” even the right phrase, or is “for the needs of God” a crucial nuance?
► Why quick sound-bites fall short, and how personal mystical experience informs this paradox.

If you’re ready to trade headlines for primary texts, paradox, and mindful contemplation, this episode is for you. Like, subscribe, and share your thoughts below—let’s keep the conversation rigorous and respectful.

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Levi Brackman is a rabbi, Ph.D. in psychology, best-selling author of Jewish Wisdom for Business Success, and founder of Invown, a platform for real estate fundraising and investing.

“In His Image: Why Maimonides Alone Isn’t Enough & Psychedelics Have Their Place — A Conversation with Rabbi Yuval Cherlow”

In this episode of Truths: Jewish Wisdom for Today, Rabbi Dr. Levi Brackman sits down with the esteemed Rabbi Yuval Cherlow to ask: Can a purely intellectual theology—à la Maimonides—ever deliver the full depth of Jewish transcendence? And might there be a role, however careful and halakhically framed, for psychedelics in our modern quest for ecstasy?

Episode Highlights
1. Beyond Maimonides: The Limits of Pure Reason
Why the Rambam’s philosophic approach, while indispensable, must be complemented by embodied practices if we’re to move from head-knowledge to heart-awakening.

2. Divine Image & Moral Freedom
What “b’tzelem Elokim” really entails—our autonomy, accountability, and even our right to wrestle with God.

3. Sacred Experiments: Psychedelics & Ecstasy
Under what conditions, if any, might psychedelics serve as catalysts for genuine awe—and how do we weigh their dangers against their potential to unlock the soul?

4. Consciousness & the Soul
How our capacity to recognize another’s inner life—and to engage in honest dialogue with the Divine—marks us as God’s image-bearers.

5. From Theory to Practice
Why Jewish wisdom must first shape our everyday ethical choices before it can lift us into mystical heights—and how simple rituals (even a bit of wine) can open the door to ecstasy.

About Rabbi Yuval Cherlow
Rosh Yeshiva, Yeshivat Hesder Amit Orot Shaul, Tel Aviv

Director, Tzohar Center for Jewish Ethics; ethical advisor to Israel’s Ministry of Health

Co-founder, Tzohar (1995) — building bridges between religious and secular Israelis

Former IDF reserve company commander; alumnus of Yeshivat Har Etzion

Author of BeTzalmo (In His Image) and numerous responsa volumes on freedom, responsibility, and our divine spark

► Subscribe for new episodes weekly
👍 Like, Comment & Share to bring these challenging insights into your world.

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Levi Brackman is a rabbi, Ph.D. in psychology, best-selling author of Jewish Wisdom for Business Success, and founder of Invown, a platform for real estate fundraising and investing.

In this episode of Truths: Jewish Wisdom for Today—part of the Seeking Ecstasy season—Rabbi Dr. Levi Brackman visits Jerusalem to sit down with Yehuda Ber Zirkind for their second full-length conversation. After their first discussion in New Haven sparked passionate debate, they explored:

What “Jewish theology” really is: A living dialogue about God, tradition, and community rather than a fixed creed.

The possibility of knowing the Divine: Wrestling with doubt, agnosticism, and the nature of spiritual “knowledge.”

Personal versus collective faith: How individual experiences and Jewish peoplehood shape one’s spiritual journey.

Cultivating holiness today: Practical guidance for infusing the mundane with sanctity and living ethically in a secular age.

About Rabbi Yehudah DovBer Zirkind
A senior research fellow at Herzog College’s Hasidic Research Institute and the David Cardozo Academy, and a graduate student in Yiddish literature at Tel Aviv University, Zirkind lectures on Hasidism, Jewish thought, Yiddish and Hebrew literature, and folklore. His forthcoming thesis examines “The Sacred, the Secular, and the Sacrilegious in the Life and Literary Works of Chaim Grade.”

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Levi Brackman is a rabbi, Ph.D. in psychology, best-selling author of Jewish Wisdom for Business Success, and founder of Invown, a platform for real estate fundraising and investing.

Welcome to the intro episode of the new season of Truths: Jewish Wisdom for Today—“Seeking Ecstasy.” In this kickoff, Rabbi Dr. Levi Brackman explains why the podcast paused, why he’s launching from the holy city of Safed, and what this season is all about: exploring personal Jewish theology and the paths each of us can take to encounter the Divine in ecstatic communion.

🔍 In this episode you’ll discover:

• The story behind the podcast’s brief hiatus and its return
• The two dimensions of Jewish theology—communal mission vs. personal relationship with God
• How Torah figures from Adam to Moses modeled the search for Divine connection
• Why Safed (Tzfat), center of Kabbalistic study, sets the stage for “Seeking Ecstasy”
• A preview of upcoming conversations with thought leaders on mystical pathways

🔔 Subscribe for weekly episodes diving into personal theology, transformative teachings, and fearless critical inquiry.
👍 Like if you’re ready to embark on your own journey toward Divine ecstasy.
💬 Comment below: What does “ecstasy” mean to you in your spiritual practice?

Support the show

Levi Brackman is a rabbi, Ph.D. in psychology, best-selling author of Jewish Wisdom for Business Success, and founder of Invown, a platform for real estate fundraising and investing.

In this episode, Rabbi Dr. Levi Brackman discusses the Torah portion "Lech Lecha" from Genesis 12, which introduces Abraham. Unlike Noah, Abraham's background and reasons for God's favor are minimally detailed in the text, though expanded upon in the Midrash.

Rabbi Brackman highlights the theme of journeying in Abraham's life, noting that he embarks on seven distinct journeys—including leaving his homeland at God's command, traveling to Egypt due to famine, and returning to Canaan. These journeys often repeat in the text, prompting deeper examination of subtle differences.

Throughout these travels, Abraham experiences five divine encounters. Initially, God speaks without formal introduction, but later identifies Himself as "the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans" and "El Shaddai." This progression mirrors Abraham's deepening understanding of God through his life's journey. Each encounter reinforces promises about the land of Canaan and Abraham's innumerable descendants, comparing them to the dust of the earth and the stars in the sky.

The episode also explores how Abraham acquires wealth. While Pharaoh gives him livestock and servants in Egypt, Abraham returns to Canaan rich in gold and silver—possibly through trade, although the text is not explicit. This contrasts with a later event where Abraham refuses spoils from the king of Sodom, indicating his complex relationship with wealth and ethical considerations.

Rabbi Brackman reflects on the narrative's seemingly disjointed nature, suggesting it mirrors life's complexities. Abraham's life is filled with challenges—famine, familial strife, moral dilemmas—illustrating that the path to greatness is rarely straightforward. The recurring themes of journeying and divine communication underscore the importance of faith and perseverance. Despite setbacks, Abraham follows God's guidance toward the fulfillment of divine promises.

In conclusion, Rabbi Brackman interprets "Lech Lecha" as a reflection on life's complexities and the importance of steadfast faith. Abraham's experiences teach that while the journey may be fraught with challenges, remaining committed to one's spiritual path leads to fulfillment and the realization of greater promises. The episode invites listeners to embrace life's uncertainties while holding onto guiding principles.

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Levi Brackman is a rabbi, Ph.D. in psychology, best-selling author of Jewish Wisdom for Business Success, and founder of Invown, a platform for real estate fundraising and investing.