Awakening With Rabbi Ami Silver

Thoughts and teachings on the Three Weeks, and the spiritual stance of learning to be with all that is not right. Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gIYF4BJ1_e-idp-qyTEUlU1hX_i3fKT3QBnMmuFUQ9Y/edit?usp=sharing ***** Please support Rabbi Ami and this podcast by contributing here, designating “Awakening”: https://www.paypal.me/shefapodcastnetwork This podcast is supported in part from a grant from the Hadar Institute. Music is by Rabbi Daniel Kohn. To purchase, go to his cdbaby page. Shefa's logo is the "Returning Light Meditation" by Avraham Loewenthal. Audio is by David Kwan.

"Moshe didn't know who was speaking to him..." -- Bamidbar Rabba 14:20 "'And nobody knows Moshe's burial place'... Even Moshe doesn't know where he was buried" -- Sotah 14a Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14j2Q09ByioGFJJZiDy2jhP4ePuW7Xn8tuOYMar1yEI4/edit ***** Please support Rabbi Ami and this podcast by contributing here, designating “Awakening”: https://www.paypal.me/shefapodcastnetwork This podcast is supported in part from a grant from the Hadar Institute. Music is by Rabbi Daniel Kohn. To purchase, go to his cdbaby page. Shefa's logo is the "Returning Light Meditation" by Avraham Loewenthal. Audio is by David Kwan.

Dipping into the Torah that can carry us through. This piece from the Piaseczner Rebbe speaks of accessing a Self that exists beyond and within, a point of contact with the Divine in our root, that paves the way for a radical new framework of what it looks like to live with faith. Sources: Derech Hamelech, Parshat Nasso תר״ץ ***** Please support Rabbi Ami and this podcast by contributing here, designating “Awakening”: https://www.paypal.me/shefapodcastnetwork This podcast is supported in part from a grant from the Hadar Institute. Music is by Rabbi Daniel Kohn. To purchase, go to his cdbaby page. Shefa's logo is the "Returning Light Meditation" by Avraham Loewenthal. Audio is by David Kwan.

In honor of Lag Ba'omer, thoughts on making space for beauty to emerge, for secrets to be noticed and heard, and for love to be sought after. Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d66bYRaVxAy2lnWPS_zYiyOIpooL17RkHjPEdFGr9Lc/edit ***** Please support Rabbi Ami and this podcast by contributing here, designating “Awakening”: https://www.paypal.me/shefapodcastnetwork  This podcast is supported in part from a grant from the Hadar Institute. Music is by Rabbi Daniel Kohn. To purchase, go to his cdbaby page. Audio is by David Kwan.

With Lag Be'omer approaching, Rabbi Ami guides us through the story of Rebbe Shimon Bar Yochai, exploring its connections to sefirat ha'omer, the tragedy of Rebbe Akiva's students, the hidden dimensions of Torah - and ultimately, the potential for healing that this story contains. Technical difficulties affected the sound quality of this class. However, we decided to share it for its timely content. The audio evens out after the first 7 or so minutes. Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Yzrf4mniECN8H_hlOkJ4VF7882T2AeX_QB6gv44QJsc/edit?usp=sharing ***** Please support Rabbi Ami and this podcast by contributing here, designating “Awakening”: https://www.paypal.me/shefapodcastnetwork  This podcast is supported in part from a grant from the Hadar Institute. Music is by Rabbi Daniel Kohn. To purchase, go to his cdbaby page. Audio is by David Kwan.

On Seder night we’re obligated to “see ourselves in every generation, as if we left Egypt.” This is not just a metaphor - it is offering a practical, experiential guideline to help us engage in a story from our past, and to participate in liberating ourselves in the present. Based on a close reading of the book of Exodus and a powerful teaching from the Piaseczner Rebbe, this class explores the liberating power of seeing and being seen, and the redemptive power of sharing a quality of vision with our children - those who we are raising, and those who are living within each one of us. Sources for further awakening

Many of us throughout the world are staying home these days due to quarantine and general guidelines around Coronavirus. Here Ami shares some thoughts and teachings about making a spiritual home, turning our house into a place of prayer, and our shared world into a house for God.

Dive into the everlasting nature of Purim, the redemption that takes place in light and shadows. Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CsTV0u9iUTSETy28sFk1ixM_6W4t3L2h43aiclKXq2I/edit?usp=sharing ***** Please support Rabbi Ami and this podcast by contributing here, designating “Awakening”: https://www.paypal.me/shefapodcastnetwork This podcast is supported in part from a grant from the Hadar Institute. Music is by Rabbi Daniel Kohn. To purchase, go to his cdbaby page. Audio is by David Kwan.

Episode 39 In this session we continue our exploration of the postures of prayer with the Maharal and a stunning piece from the Zohar, describing how we fall before God, and are lifted by none other than God. Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cOyQS0h0uwS_g3y_9DbSaJd8EHLOTHd_xZesUuxNgic/edit?usp=sharing

Episode 38 Is bowing just an add-on to our prayers, a nice ritual that accompanies parts of tefillah? Or is it part and parcel of tefillah itself? What would that look like? Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tSMYjxAJGVGTA0BCBOh5Km-4-8xVYc29Fj0eDFNOZSE/edit?usp=sharing ***** Please support Rabbi Ami and this podcast by contributing here, designating “Awakening”: https://www.paypal.me/shefapodcastnetwork This podcast is supported in part from a grant from the Hadar Institute. Music is by Rabbi Daniel Kohn. To purchase, go to his cdbaby page. Audio is by David Kwan.

Episode 37 We are so used to making brachot, to saying blessings as we go through our daily tasks and in our prayers. But what is a bracha? In this class we explore the deeper dimensions of what a bracha is, and what it might mean to engage in the practice of making and saying brachot in the moments of our lives. Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vQ_Xqcgjck67IxQ_PaS8_hhAW5AmuYC4A2D4KNntNVg/edit?usp=sharing ***** Please support Rabbi Ami and this podcast by contributing here, designating “Awakening”: https://www.paypal.me/shefapodcastnetwork This podcast is supported in part from a grant from the Hadar Institute. Music is by Rabbi Daniel Kohn. To purchase, go to his cdbaby page. Audio is by David Kwan.

Episode 36  “Tefillah is a space for me to not exist in a splintered reality… a place to unify my reality.. in Rebbe Nachman’s words, ‘to make the entire tefillah one’”. In this episode of Awakening, we explore approaching Tefillah as a way of coming into contact with our source of life, through savoring and attaching ourselves to the experience. Join Rav Ami as he guides us through teachings from Rav Kook and Rebbe Nachman of Breslov.  Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kt15BhAm3waWRn8VrB8eWiSvaKCIBxZOsf37kJg4Lwg/edit?usp=sharing  ***** Please support Rabbi Ami and this podcast by contributing here, designating “Awakening”: https://www.paypal.me/shefapodcastnetwork  This podcast is supported in part from a grant from the Hadar Institute.  Music is by Rav Daniel Kohn. Help support him by purchasing his music.  Audio is by David Kwan.

Episode 35 In the eyes of the Hasidic masters, we do not pray to God—we pray *with* God. Join Rav Ami as he guides us through teachings on tefillah from the Baal Shem Tov, Rav Pinchas of Koretz, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov and the Piaseczner Rebbe. Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kx2DBx2HvX-ty-G5I-LdaKhE73iSuRUm23ckXezlcFc/edit?usp=sharing ***** Please support Rabbi Ami and this podcast by contributing here, designating “Awakening”: https://www.paypal.me/shefapodcastnetwork This podcast is supported in part from a grant from the Hadar Institute. Music is by Rav Daniel Kohn. Help support him by purchasing his music. Audio is by David Kwan.

Join Rav Ami as he guides us in a kavanah for taking three steps backward and forward, inward and outward, to enter into prayer in Presence. ***** Please support Rabbi Ami and this podcast by contributing here, designating “Awakening”: https://www.paypal.me/shefapodcastnetwork This podcast is supported in part from a grant from the Hadar Institute. Music is by Rav Daniel Kohn. Help support him by purchasing his music. Audio is by David Kwan.

Episode 34 Can we really stand in prayer before our Creator? Is it possible to approach God in our humanness, or do we leave our shortcomings behind when we show up to daven? This week, Rabbi Ami shares the sources behind the approach to tefillah - taking three steps back and forth, and the opening words of the amidah - to discover the possibility of bridging the impossible gap. Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ivvo3JZjLhkEuvnd0doldsH3oQu5hnt4wGQCIpqcKuY/edit?usp=sharing ***** Please support this Rabbi Ami and this podcast by contributing here, designating “Awakening”: https://www.paypal.me/shefapodcastnetwork This podcast is supported in part from a grant from the Hadar Institute. Music is by Rav Daniel Kohn. Help support him by purchasing his music. Audio is by David Kwan.

A meditation on joining together with God, in Presence, based on a teaching from the Piaseczner Rebbe. ***** Please support Rabbi Ami's teaching and this podcast, designating “Awakening” with your contribution: https://www.paypal.me/shefapodcastnetwork This podcast is supported in part from a grant from the Hadar Institute. Music is by Rabbi Daniel Kohn. To purchase, go to his cdbaby page. Audio is by David Kwan.

Episode 34 While much of the language and forms of prayer tend to be outward-directed, tefillah is an invitation to turn inward, to cultivate an internal space in which we can meet ourselves together with the Divine. This teaching from the Piaseczner Rebbe helps guide us into that space.   Sources: Aish Kodesh, Ki Teitzeh ת״ש ***** Please support this podcast by contributing here, designating “Awakening”: https://www.paypal.me/shefapodcastnetwork This podcast is supported in part from a grant from the Hadar Institute. Music is by Rabbi Daniel Kohn. To purchase, go to his cdbaby page. Audio is by David Kwan.

A guided meditation on opening the space of the heart - makom halev - as the space for prayer. Please support this podcast by contributing here, designating “Awakening”: https://www.paypal.me/shefapodcastnetwork This podcast is supported in part from a grant from the Hadar Institute. Music is by Rav Daniel Kohn. Help support him by purchasing his music. Audio is by David Kwan.

Episode 33 Our primary sources point to prayer as a prophetic practice - the direct meeting between human beings and their Creator. The fixed prayers we have are based on this direct communication, and are an attempt and opportunity to reclaim that connection. We’ll explore these themes with the help of Leonard Cohen and the Piaseczner Rebbe. Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZLL5kyyw0VXYAUTwXFl7XZr0QZ8ybGR3bMWfNEi6y9U/edit?usp=sharing ***** This podcast is supported in part from a grant from the Hadar Institute. Music is by Rabbi Daniel Kohn. To purchase, go to his cdbaby page. Audio is by David Kwan.

Hanukkah teachings from the Piacezner Rebbe