Awakening With Rabbi Ami Silver

Episode 019 A great grandmother who davened in a tallis and received Hasidim looking for brachot and guidance; another whom Hasidim flocked to to listen to her teachings; the Rebbe’s wife who wrote a commentary on a Hasidic sefer and edited the Rebbe’s own Kabbalistic writings. This episode explores the female figures in the Piaseczner’s family who stood out as spiritual teachers. Rabbi Ami shares the scant stories we have about these women, as well as the Rebbe’s poignant writings about his wife, to learn about these women and to uncover a deeper layer of understanding their  impact on the Rebbe's teachings about the rise of the Divine feminine. ***** Please take a moment to complete our listener survey so we can help improve our offerings, and get to know more about those learning with Rabbi Ami: https://forms.gle/KU9sd25CwiMeuUSA8  *****  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 018 "Kabbalah bent the heavens so that a person could glimpse the Divine through their mind and intellect… but Hasidut spread the heavens out even into the street, the house, the attic and the basement, and crowned the divine within the human being."  In the final episode of this series, the Piaseczner articulates the radical shift in the way that Hasidic teachings relate to the body and the physical world. Whereas Kabbalistic literature speaks of the body as a parable for Divine reality, in the writings of the Hasidic masters the body is not a parable, it is an emergent Divine expression that is not distinct from what exists "on high."  Rabbi Ami ends this episode and series with a powerful story and passage from the Piaseczner's own life and experience that illustrate this path of avodah/devotion in practice. Sources: Mevo Hashe'arim ch.4, Tzav Vezeiruz 29  ***** Please take a moment to complete our listener survey so we can help improve our offerings, and get to know more about those

Episode 017  In the next episode of this series, the Piaseczner guides us to our inner experience as the locus for accessing God. The body, senses and emotions are the primary place to turn our attention towards; they are the field in which our spiritual work takes place.  Sources: Mevo Ha-she’arim ch.3 ***** Please take a moment to complete our listener survey so we can help improve our offerings, and get to know more about those learning with Rabbi Ami: https://forms.gle/KU9sd25CwiMeuUSA8  *****  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.

We are honored to re-release one of Rabbi Ami's first episode's as a bonus episode. This is one of the Piaseczner’s final teachings from the Aish Kodesh, which he taught in honor of the yahrzeit of his wife Rochel Chaya Miriam (10 Tammuz). In this teaching, the Rebbe explores the meaning of Miriam’s death, and Moshe’s striking of the rock, through the Kabbalistic lens of feminine and masculine models of Divine interaction. The Piaseczner offers a radical reading of this story and overturns the traditional models, pointing to the desire from below, the feminine quality that emerges from within the earth, as the more potent and necessary model for reaching God.  Sources: Aish Kodesh, Hukkat (תש״ב)  *****  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 016 “... and this world itself and all of its matters, is also a rung and quality of Divine light…”   “... the spiritual work must not be to merely save the soul and neglect the body, but rather to sanctify the body as well until it too becomes soul; and the light of holiness that a person experiences, they must not hide from their body...”   In this third part of this series, Rabbi Ami keeps us learning about the revolutionary and evolutionary teachings of the Baal Shem Tov and his students, through the lens of the Piaseczner Rebbe’s Mevo Ha-Shearim. Here the Piaseczner speaks deeply to the Divine reality that penetrates all of earthly reality, and all human life. The class ends with the Rebbe’s own account of turning away from the crowds of people he was teaching to speak to the Universe, to communicate with the natural world, that knows the Divine reality that courses through it in the full and intimate way that the Rebbe is trying to share.    Sources: Mevo Ha-Shearim ch.3 and

Episode 015  “... and why should the body be considered any less than the mind?... isn’t the primary purpose of Hasidut to reveal the light that is within lowness? To show that it too is holy?” The second part of this series explores the Piaseczner’s evolutionary vision of God’s further manifestation through physical reality. The Baal Shem Tov’s teachings are not merely novel ideas brought to the world by a unique individual. They are an expression of a new unfolding in reality, a new stage of Divine revelation that makes God accessible in new ways and allows for the Torah’s own words to be understood more deeply. This has great implications for the path of avodah - of practice - and how it relates to our thoughts, emotions and embodied lives.  Sources: Mevo Ha-Shearim, chapter 3

Episode 014  The Baal Shem Tov recorded a conversation with the Mashiach in which he asked, “when will you come?” The answer was not too promising, but it spurred the Baal Shem Tov to teach a new path of living, learning and devotion.  This is part one of a multi-part series by Rabbi Ami that explores the path of the Baal Shem Tov as articulated by the Piaseczner Rebbe in his work, Mevo Ha-Shearim. The Rebbe puts forth an understanding of Hasidut as part of a continuous, unfolding spiritual evolution over the ages. These next few classes will unpack the Rebbe’s articulation of what makes Hasidut unique, what is its core mission, and can we walk this path of Divine connection in our earthly, embodied lives. 

Episode 013 There is a Torah that is taught to everyone equally, a Torah that is written in books and can be accessed by all. But there is also a Torah that is a direct communication from the Divine to the individual heart, an intimate, secret teaching that every person must seek to hear and learn through their own experience.  In this teaching from the Aish Kodesh, the Piaseczner Rebbe opens a path for avodah, for the practice of creating a space for this Torah to be received and cultivated. Sources: Aish Kodesh, Ki Teitzeh ת״ש 

"In truth, all pleasure and enjoyment in the world, of any kind, are nothing other than God's own joy and pleasure." — The Piaseczner Rebbe In this teaching for Shavuot, the Piaseczner Rebbe invites us to join God in experiencing pleasure and joy. The Rebbe outlines the contours of pleasure - those experiences that distance us from God, and those that bring us closer - and offers a paradigm shift in which all pleasure, and all forms of joy are at their source a moment of uniting with God. The work is one of developing a greater awareness of this and allowing our contact with the Divine to begin to inform and build our lives around this awareness. Finally, the Rebbe ties this to the essence of receiving Torah and the moment of revelation at Sinai. Sources: Derech Hamelech, Shavuot Leil Aleph (תרפ״ה)

The path through Sefirat Ha’omer to Shavuot is a process of self-refinement, of coming into contact with the myriad parts of our personality that compose the sum total. But how do we orient ourselves toward this work? Is self-development about striving to reach at a new plateau? Are we reaching outward toward a higher goal? Sometimes the outward focus can actually work against us, it can make our goals unattainable, as we search for things that don’t pertain to who we really are. In this episode, Rabbi Ami explores  the process of Sefirat Ha’omer through the particular lens of this week’s middah - yesod - and its connection to the quality of tzaddik. We learn a piece from the Piaseczner Rebbe’s journal that challenges our ideas of what it means to be a tzaddik, and offers an alternative to the all too common self-deprecating and alienating approach to spiritual work. Sources: Tzav Vezeiruz 24 

Episode 012 In the second part of this series, Rabbi Ami continues to illustrate the Piaseczna Rebbe’s framework for how Torah, tefilla and spiritual work can serve to lift and support us, and leave a lasting impact in our lives. This teaching ends with a powerful vision of what took place at Mount Sinai, and how Torah can be revealed through us - its recipients. Sources: Derech Hamelech, Parshat Noach (תר״צ) 

Episode 011 For many of us, our meaningful spiritual moments seem to exist in a vacuum. They happen to us, and then quickly dissipate, leaving us wondering where they went, and what value they truly are in the grand scheme of our lives. The Piasaczner Rebbe was dedicated to teaching us ways to remedy this, to cultivate these powerful experiences and train ourselves to absorb them into our lives. Transformation cannot truly happen without a conscious effort to integrate our experiences. This is the first of two sessions that will explore this path, offering a framework for understanding this avodah and some practical guidelines for engaging with it. Sources: Derech Hamelech, Parshat Noach (תר״צ) 

Episode 011 Rabbi Ami continues his exploration of the Piaseczna Rebbe’s essay, “How to Learn Works of Hasidut” with the second part of a two-part series.  There, the Rebbe expands his exploration of the soul’s composition in order to guide us towards a deeper understanding of ourselves, and to help us find our own soul’s resonance in the teachings of Kabbalah and Hasidut. This is a remarkable framing of the nature of spiritual learning and the personal process that it entails. Sources: Chovat Hatalmidim, Shlosha Ma’amarim 1 

Episode 010 Many people are drawn to Hasidic teachings and spirituality, but few are taught how to engage with these texts and what the path of avodah (spiritual work) looks like in practice. The Piaseczna Rebbe was devoted to guiding people on the path of Hasidut, which he believed was a continuation of the path of the prophets. In this first of a two part series, Rabbi Ami delves into an essay in which the Rebbe guides us in how to approach Hasidic and Kabbalistic texts in a way that will lead to a deeper understanding of ourselves in relation to our Creator. Sources: Chovat Hatalmidim, Shlosha Ma’amarim 1  

Episode 009 Where have all the prophets gone? Where do we hear God’s voice in our day and age? In this piece from Derech Hamelech, the Piaseczner Rebbe probes these questions and offers a path of hearing the Divine voice through our learning and our listening. He also offers a novel approach on the role of a tzaddik and the process of being helped in our own spiritual path.  Sources: Derech Hamelech, Parshat Shemot (תרפ״ט), Mevo Hashearim ch.1 

Episode 008  Rabbi Ami continues his teaching of the Piaseczner Rebbe’s framing of mitzvot as a path towards unifying the body and soul. Here the Piaseczner goes deeper into the spiritual and Kabbalistic underpinnings behind this approach that touches on the core of who we are, what we are made of, and what it means to be alive.

Episode 007 Rabbi Ami begins with a meditation from the Piaseczner Rebbe’s journal on the limits of life in a body, and the potential for the soul to live on by transmitting its teachings to the next generation. We then enter a teaching on the relationship between body and soul, and the unique path of uniting the two that is offered through mitzvot. This is the first of two classes on this teaching from Derech Hamelech. Sources: Tzav Vezeiruz 1; Derech Hamelech, Parshat Toldot (תר״צ)

Episode 006 The path of teshuva, of returning to God, is inherently fraught. How can a person create change within themselves? Aren’t we ultimately stuck with the same personality and makeup that led us into our current state to begin with? By mapping out the Kabbalistic levels of the soul and the vision of Creation, and then translating these concepts into accessible, familiar aspects of our own experience, the Piaseczner shows us a model for true transformation at a root level.  Sources: Derech Hamelech, Parshat Nasso (תרצ״ג)

Episode 005 In this piece, the Rebbe speaks about connecting to the root of our being, and drawing from the highest Self, from which all “Self” emerges. Sources: Derech Hamelech, Parshat Nasso (תר״צ)

Episode 004  This is one of the Piaseczner’s final teachings from the Aish Kodesh, which he taught in honor of the yahrzeit of his wife Rochel Chaya Miriam (10 Tammuz). In this teaching, the Rebbe explores the meaning of Miriam’s death, and Moshe’s striking of the rock, through the Kabbalistic lens of feminine and masculine models of Divine interaction. The Piaseczner offers a radical reading of this story and overturns the traditional models, pointing to the desire from below, the feminine quality that emerges from within the earth, as the more potent and necessary model for reaching God.  Sources: Aish Kodesh, Hukkat (תש״ב)