Torah in Ten

Topics include: The Tree of Knowledge, the reincarnations of Cain and Abel and a hidden reference to Lilith.

Topics include: Noah's reincarnation as Moses, the Tower of Babel, Abraham and Sarah as the source of the souls of future converts.

Topics Include: Abraham's journey as it corresponds to the three levels of the soul, a spiritual explanation of the rivalry between Sarah and Hagar, the difference between the names Avram and Avraham.

Topics Include: the three angels visit Abraham, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the rectification of Adam’s soul through the binding of Isaac.

Topics include: The lesson of Sarah's dying of shock, why Abraham paid full price for the Cave of Machpelah, the deeper meaning of getting white hair.

Topics include: Rebecca’s pregnancy, Jacob and Esau as reincarnations of Cain and Abel, why Jacob carried the fragrance of the Garden of Eden.

Topics include: Jacob's dream, Laban as the embodiment of the Primordial Serpent, the conception of Reuben, a deeper meaning of the name "Vayeitzei."

Topics include: The advantages of the chaotic energy of Tohu, the double identity of Jacob's wrestling opponent, the deeper meaning of the mitzvah not to eat the sciatic nerve.

Topics include: When Joseph was reincarnated to be martyred, why the ancestor of Moshiach was born from the union of Judah and Tamar, and how Joseph managed to resist Potiphar’s wife.

Topics include: The mystical significance of the seven sickly cows, how Joseph learned seventy languages in one night, and why the depravity of Egypt may best be described as “bad love.”

Topics include: How Joseph’s reconciliation with his brothers teaches us how to reconcile with G‑d, what Jacob was looking for when he was reunited with Joseph, and a numerical hint to Jacob’s rectification of Adam’s reincarnated soul.

Topics include: a mystical reason for why tefillin are made of leather, the connection between Jacob and Rabbi Akiba, and why Jacob did not bless two of his twelve sons.

Topics include: Moses as the perfect specimen of the human species, the name "Moses" and its symbolic connection to water, why Moses thought the people would not believe him, and the importance of crying out to G-d for redemption.

Topics include: The secret of mastering your own internal "Pharaoh," why Moses was born 130 years after the Jews came to Egypt, blood and frogs as a lesson in passion and coolness, and shortness of breath as a metaphor for the distractions of modern life.

Topics include: Pharaoh as the embodiment of the “irrational attraction to physical pleasure,” the Ten Plagues as a manifestation of the power of the ten sefirot, why the Torah does not begin with the first mitzvah, and why “narrow­mindedness” is the root of all evil.

Topics include: Why it took forty years to complete an eleven-day journey, the spiritual symbolism of the splitting of the sea, and the power of song to preserve the emotional power of a moment.

Topics include: Jethro as a reincarnation of Cain, how we draw the Ten Commandments of Torah into the Ten Utterances of Creation, and why the revelation at Sinai is the basis for our belief in Moses.

Topics include: the kabbalistic meaning of “an eye for an eye,” the prohibition against cooking a calf in its mother’s milk as a precaution against spiritual narcissism, and why the Torah describes G‑d as a “consuming fire.”

Topics include: The symbolism of gold, silver and copper in the Tabernacle; the debate between the philosophers and the kabbalists as to whether G‑d can create a square circle; and how the scarlet, turquoise and purple wool of the tapestries of the Tabernacle represent the harmonization of G‑dly attributes in creation.

Topics include: Kohen, Levi and Israelite as the "core emotional building blocks of the universe," the spiritual reason why there are twelve tribes, and the seven day process of inaugurating the Tabernacle as a culmination of the Seven Days of Creation.

Topics include: How the half shekel donation rectified the masculine aspect of the soul, why we have ten fingers and ten toes, and Aaron as a reincarnation of Abraham’s brother Haran.

Topics include: Why G‑d created the world with language, the lid of the ark as a metaphor for the human heart, and the importance of living an “integrated” lifestyle.

Topics include: How to protect oneself from the "evil eye," the Tabernacle as a physical representation of a spiritual archetype, how the tapestries of the Tabernacle represent a "foretaste" of spiritual attainments to come.

Topics include: The Zohar’s explanation of the small-sized letter aleph in the first word of this portion, the prohibition of sacrificial fats as a warning against “spiritual obesity,” and sacrifices as the ultimate act of supra-rational altruism.

Topics include: The prohibition against extinguishing the fire on the altar as an instruction to banish negative attitudes, the Zohar's explanation of why an impure earthenware vessel must be broken to become pure again, how Aaron and his sons reached the level of holiness attained only by Isaac at the Akeida.

Topics include: Moses and Aaron as they represent masculine dominance and feminine nurturing respectively, sin as a "spiritual pollutant" and how it brought about the gruesome deaths of Aaron's two sons, the positive lesson we can learn from them.

Topics include: The pain of childbirth as a lesson that G-d does not bring upon us burdens that we cannot handle, different shades of tzaraat lesions and their correspondence to different degrees of spiritual sickness, the seven day quarantine of the leper as a metaphor for reincarnation.

Topics include: Where the Torah hints to the spiritually purifying powers of water, why the greatest blessings are often hidden within disaster, the connection between immersing in a mikveh and Moses' forty days and nights on Mt. Sinai.

Topics include: How two of Aaron's sons shared the same soul, which days and months are times of Divine mercy, a mystical explanation for the mitzvah of covering the blood of a slaughtered animal.

Topics include: A homiletic interpretation of the mitzvah to leave the corners of the field unharvested, the beard as a symbol for the flow of Divine blessing, one reason why a person's soul might reincarnate as an animal.

Topics include: Why a person born into Torah observance needs more encouragement than one who chose that way of life; how oxen, sheep and goats represent different types of human egos; and the importance of speaking softly.

Topics include: What the Rebbe told the president of the United States about the meaning of the Sabbatical year, the importance of Mt. Sinai being a relatively small mountain, and the spiritual symbolism of the Jubilee year.

Topics include: The definition of true perfection as the mixture of perfection and corrected imperfection, reward and punishment as cause and effect, why it's so difficult to perform your appointed mission in life.

Topics include: How the census of the Jewish people teaches us about the power of speech, the commandment for the Levites to guard the Holy Temple, why Torah was given in a barren desert.

Topics include: Why the Levite family of Kehat carried the Ark containing the Tablets, why a Nazarite must allow his hair to grow and may not drink wine, and a mystical explanation as to why we have ten fingers.