God's Desire for Relationship

Fact: God created humans such that emotion not processed by the frontal lobe of the brain becomes stored in the body as tension.
Fact: Frontal lobe of brain is center of human awareness/consciousness. It is the part of the brain which enables conscious relationship.
Fact: Unprocessed emotion causes a deterioration in health.
Fact: Torah tradition teaches that a lack of health comes because of some lack in relationship with God.
Hypothesis: Emotions stay with us until we experience awareness of them, i.e. have relationship to them because one of the main things God wants is a relationship with us. Ideally, He wants intimacy. That is why emotion must be involved. A person disconnected from emotion becomes ill.

This would explain why Rachmana leiba bai--God wants the heart--is a basic tenet of Torah. And the service of the heart is prayer--i.e. talking to God.

Heartfelt communication is at the root of intimacy. What would it be like if a man wanted intimacy with a woman (or vice versa) and, even though she is in the room with him, all he does is talk about her, but not to her. Or let's say he talks to her, but only via a script he was given and never actually talks to her from his heart. What kind of intimacy would be engendered?

That's how many of us deal with God. We talk about Him, but not to Him--not from the heart. At best, we talk to Him via the script written two thousand years ago by the Men of the Great Assembly.

Suggestion for healing: Talking to God from the heart causes emotion to be digested because it activates the frontal lobe of the brain into the body and releases emotional tension, producing greater health and wellbeing. This is because God wants true, intimate relationship. 

Passover: Experiencing Personal Redemption

One of the hallmark statements of Passover is that on Seder night, everyone should have a personal experience of geulah, of liberation from the bondage of slavery. From a purely physical perspective, after weeks of hard work preparing for Pesach (Passover), scrubbing and cleaning and boiling and shlepping (toting), it is relatively easy to feel freedom by sitting down to the seder (except for serving and cleaning up from the meal!). Intellectually, we can understand the idea that nullifying our physical hametz (leaven) correlates to a cleansing of the soul from theyetzer hara—the evil inclination. However, do we truly experience this cleansing? Do we come out of Pesach with a greater ability to control our lower urges? Do we find a greater ability to perceive Hashem’s (G-d’s) presence while performing our daily activities (increased d’vekut)? The truth is that most of us do not experience such an increased awareness--certainly not a sustained one. So how can we experience geulah—redemption? 

Which Emotion Goes With Knowing "It's All One"

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Previously, we discussed that idea that the recognition of life’s ups and downs as the manifestion of a unity is an aspect of redemption--geulah. We also discussed that in order to access the full spiritual flow of geulah, such knowledge must be accompanied by an emotional experience. Thus the Torah states,“V’yadaata hayom v’hashevotha el l’vavecha ki Hashem hu HaElo-him…--You shall know today and [bring] it to your heart that Hashem is Elo-him.”

The importance of recognizing that all of our experiences are from Hashem and for the good is evidenced by the fact that the “motto” of the Jewish people is the Shma.

Living in the Paradox

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G-d created a pardoxical world. In each and every moment, we exist a paradoxical existence. At one and the same time, we are sentient beings with free choice, and also marionettes controlled by the Puppetier, Hashem, orchestrating His Divine Story.

Creation of Faith: A Little Known Story about Adam, Eve, the Tree, the Sin and Humanity

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Your humble author has composed the following story as a tool to empower a deeper healing process. Although it is consistent with sources within Torah midrashic and kabbalistic tradition, this story is not intended as a scholarly work. 

Want to know a secret? G-d intended to have Adam and Chava (Eve) eat from the Etz HaDa’at Tov V’Ra--the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. His commandment not to eat from it was only temporary.

Baruch P’tarani M’Onsho Zeh

The occasion of my son, Gavriel Nachman’s bar mitzvah rekindled my wonderment about the phrase—“Baruch Ptarani M’Onsho Zeh. In my twenty-four years of working to come to Torah, I have often wondered about this phrase. It seems such a strange way to thank Hashem for the gift of bringing my son to the covenant of mitzvoth. 

Sinat Chinam and the Sages’ Intent (Part 1)

The Bet HaMikdash embodies our ultimate intimate relationship with Hashem. Its destruction represents indescribable distancing from Hashem. In light of Tisha B’Av, I would like to discuss the prime cause of the destruction of the Second Temple, “sinat chinam.”