Pesach 2003 / 5763 The Secret of Eating at the Seder by Sarah Yehudit Schneider The great Kabbalist, Rabbi Tsadok HaKohen, revealed a deep secret about how to fix the way we engage with the world. He says that humanity’s first sin was not Adam and Eve’s eating of forbidden fruit, but rather the way they ate it. The Tree of Knowledge, says he, was not a tree or a food or a thing at all. Rather it was a way of eating. Whenever a person grabs self-conscious pleasure from the

Pesach 2004 / 5764 A Passover Teaching, from A Still Small Voice Rabbi Isaac Luria, the master kabbalist known as the Ari, teaches that at the original Pesach sedar, in Egypt, a conception occurred. Conception is defined as the point when a soul makes contact with a body and they begin a life together, a story, and a journey. So what was conceived on that first Pesach eve in Egypt. The Ari teaches that it was the collective soul of Israel, a higher-order-unity that is gre

Sarah Yehudit Schneider Everyone knows that this pre Rosh HaShana period is a time for intensive soul searching. There are many advices about what this entails. It’s important to seize the moment, for on Rosh Hashana we receive our allocation of spiritual resources for the coming year (both individually and collectively). The great CEO (Chief Executive Officer) in the sky gives each one of us a budget of “lights,” based on our past performance, and our proposals (our praye

A Rosh HaShana Teaching, 5768 (2007)from A Still Small VoiceBased on R. Tsadok HaKohen, Rosh Hashana 9 When Elul (the month before Rosh HaShana) arrives we begin to exchange well-wishes for a good, sweet, healthy, joyful and bountiful year. One of the recommended practices to prepare for Rosh HaShana, is to create a prayer-vision of the best that could possibly unfold for this new year: What will it look like for ourselves and loved ones to live our lives in the most God-serv

Pesach 2008 / 5768A Pesach Teaching from A Still Small Voice הא לחמא עניא – “This is the bread of humility [and of affliction that brings us to humility]” Kenesset Yisrael (the mystical Body of Israel) was conceived by Avraham and Sarah, floated through the fallopian tube with Yitzchok and Rivka and implanted in the dark womb of Egypt when Yakov descended there with his clan of seventy souls. They gestated “like a fetus in utero”[1] for 210 years and then, on sedar night they

A Shavuot Torah 2008 / 5768 Sarah Yehudit Schneider based on Tsidkat HaTsadik 193, 182-184 According to Jewish tradition, the Torah’s revelation was the most profound manifestation of God that has ever transpired on the planet. An estimated four million people experienced that historic event.1[1] A searing revelation of Presence engraved the souls of an entire nation with the-truth-of-the-universe compressed into a single burst of light. Its impact continues to impel thei

Rosh HaShana, 5769/2008by Sarah Yehudit Schneider Like a shepherd…whose sheep pass beneath his staff, so shall You cause to pass, count, calculate, and consider the soul of all the living…who will live and who will die…who will rest and who will wander, who will live in harmony and who will be harried, who will enjoy tranquility and who will suffer, who will be impoverished and who will be enriched, who will be degraded and who will be exalted. But repentance, prayer and char

5769 / 2008 Sarah Yehudit Schneider There is no person or nation that does not have at least a miniscule sliver of holiness. Otherwise it could not exist. Life is a priori evidence of the presence of G-d. And if G-d is present then there is also at least a miniscule sliver of truth for the Talmud declares: “HaShem’s signature is truth.”1 And so the Midrash concurs: “If a person asserts that there is wisdom among the nations, believe them. Yet, if he contends that there is Tor

Sarah Yehudit Schneider Shavuot, the anniversary of the Torah’s revelation, is called the marriage ceremony between the Jewish people and HaShem. Just as a wedding formalizes and makes public the bond of commitment between a man and a woman, thereby permitting them to enter into physical intimacy, so the revelation of the Torah — its mitzvot and their acceptance by the people — introduced a parallel dimension of intimacy between humanity and G‑d. It enabled the soul to have

Rosh HaShana 5772 / 2010Sarah Yehudit Schneider Eliyahu Dessler teaches that there are three levels of prayer, which can be reformulated as three ways to approach Rosh Hashanna.1 The first level is to cry out to HaShem like a child and pray for relief and redemption. The power of that prayer is its pure, simple faith in HaShem as the one-and-only source of bounty. There is one address for yearning and there is no prayer that HaShem cannot fulfill. To know this and to pray fro

Pesach 2014 / 5774 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Rabbi Yosi the Gallilean said: The Egyptians were struck by ten plagues in Egypt, and fifty plagues at the sea…Rabbi Eliezer said: …In Egypt they were struck by forty plagues, and at the sea by two hundred plagues. Rabbi Akiva said: …In Egypt they were struck by fifty plagues, and at the sea by two hundred and fifty plagues. This is the most obscure passage in the Hagada. The rabbis culled our vast body of teachings and created a

Shavuot 2014 / 5774 Sarah Yehudit Schneider The Torah’s revelation at Sinai was the most profound manifestation of God that ever transpired on the planet. An estimated four million people beheld that historic event. A searing revelation of Presence engraved the souls of an entire nation with the-truth-of-the-universe compressed into a single burst of light. Its impact continues to impel their generations to be seekers and servants of God and will do so until the end of time.

Rosh HaShana, 5775 / 2014 Sarah Yehudit Schneider And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month…it is for you a day of teruah(sounding the shofar).[1] : וּבַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ …יוֹם תְּרוּעָה יִהְיֶה לָכֶם The essential obligation of Rosh HaShana (from the Torah) is not to pray all day, or to get dressed up and have a big family meal, but rather, simply, to hear the shofar. Yet what exactly does Hashem have in mind with this command? Would a short

By Sarah Yehudit Schneider The first of Shevat is the New Year for trees, says the School of Shammai. Beth Hillel disputes this and rules that it falls on the fifteenth of the month. [Mishna RH 1:1] The Mishna informs us that there are four New Year’s days in the Jewish calendar as well as four Judgment Days [1]. It then proceeds to explain the significance of each. There is a subtle quirk in the Mishna’s language that begs interpretation. Among these eight red-letter days, t

In those days, when Mordekhai sat by the king’s gate, two of the king’s eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, Guardians of the Saf (Threshold), were angry, and sought to lay hand on king Ahasuerus. Mordekhai caught wind of the plot and shared it with Esther the queen, and Esther warned the king in Mordekhai’s name. Inquiries were made, the conspiracy was verified, and the two [men] were hanged on a tree. The incident was recorded in the Book of the Chronicles in the king’s presence. [

Pesach 2015 / 5775Based on R. Tsadok HaKohen, Tsidkat HaTsadik #218 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Between Barekh and Hallel (stage 13 and stage 14 of the seder)—between thanking HaShem for the meal (Barekh) and thanking HaShem for our freedom (Hallel)—there is a mysterious interval that revolves around the pouring of Elijah’s cup. We fill a goblet with wine, open the door to welcome Elijah the Prophet~Angel~Harbinger-of-Mashiach, and recite verses that urge HaShem to destroy evil.

Shavuot 5775 / 2015 Sarah Yehudit Schneider תאנא כמה פנים לפנים אית ליה לקודשא בריך הוא. פנים דנהרין. פנים דלא נהרין. פנים עילאין. פנים תתאין. פנים רחיקין. פנים קריבין. פנים דלגו. פנים דלבר. פנים דימינא. פנים דשמאלא. תא חזי זכאין אינון ישראל קמיה דקב״ה דאחידן באנפין עלאין דמלכא. באינון פנים דהוא ושמיה אחידן בהו ואינון ושמיה חד הוא. [הזהר ח״ב דף פז ע״א] It has been taught: How many faces upon faces has the Holy One! Shining faces, dim faces; high faces, low faces; distant fa

Rosh HaShana 2015 / 5776 Sarah Yehudit Schneider A true story: A woman brings yards of lacy fabric and the sketch of a wedding gown to a seamstress who has nearly two weeks to finish the job. The dressmaker (a stranger till that day) prays while she cuts and sews, asking Hashem to guide her work. The dressmaker thinks to herself, really I should be praying for this couple to be happy, fruitful on all levels, and that peace should fill their hearts and home… and I really do w

Chanukka (2015 / 5776) Sarah Yehudit SchneiderBased on teachings by R. Tsadok HaKohen[1] and R. Yitzchak Ginsburgh[2] …הַנֵּרוֹת הַלָּלוּ קֹדֶשׁ הֵם. וְאֵין לָנוּ רְשׁוּת לְהִשְׁתַּמֵּשׁ בָּהֶם. אֶלָּא לִרְאוֹתָם בִּלְבָד. כְּדֵי לְהוֹדוֹת וּלְהַלֵּל לְשִׁמְךָ הַגָּדוֹל עַל נִסֶּיךָ וְעַל נִפְלְאוֹתֶיךָ וְעַל יְשׁוּעָתֶךָ: … These [Chanukha] lights are holy. We are not permitted to make use of them rather only to gaze at them—to awaken gratitude and praise for Your miracles,

Pesach 2016 /5776 Sarah Yehudit Schneider “The reward phase of history called the world-to-come is characterized by unfettered freedom. Liberty (דרור) is its hallmark. Freedom emanates from this Cosmic Yovel—the 50th Gate of Binah which broadcasts the fact that God is One.[i] Its Fifty Gates trace a path of enlightenment that marks our progressive integration of this unfathomable truth.[ii] Moshe reached rung 49. And when we (altogether) attain the Fiftieth Gate, we will di