As usual, Zevi is able to cram an unbelievable amount of information and insight into a 29 minute video while keeping it scholarly, fascinating and entertaining. Thank you seekers of unity! This is what the interweb was made for :-)
I am only a few videos in after DJS turned me on to Zevi. It is abiding love of the Wisdom traditions that permeates these lessons. It is a golden gift of infinite worth. You have opened my heart and mind and i awaken each day knowing I will have blessings of this work integrating my own soul's evolution. I genuflect to the abundant goodness of our Unity.
I love collaborations between my favorite content creators! Time to head over and watch Filip's video! Oh, and I can't wait for the next installment. Hasidism sounds like such a beautiful tradition and I knew so very little about it. I'm so excited to learn more because this was already inspiring and the Baal Shem Tov sounds like my kind of spiritual leader. I'm so grateful for your work on this. Matter chases Spirit Like a dog after its own tail It will never catch its prize Because the two are already one ❤🙏☀
Wow! It's already been 2 years since I watched this last... I'm rewatching this now, there's so much to take in and cover... I feel torn between the horror of the prospect that I'm hopelessly grasping in the dark, and I'll never fully understand all the great richness of Hasidut, and between the thrill of the realization that I don't need to "know it all" in order to embody the essence of Hasidut in the way I live and see the world.
Thinking about the Hasidic position on the consequentiality of the material world to the divine, to vulgarize it in my simplification, is amazing. The interbraiding of the divine and mundane, reminds me of the Dao, in a way. I wrote a poem, I was inspired by someone who wrote a poem in response to your video on Tzimtzum. Which was absolutely incredible. Both the video and the poem. Are markets holy? The music market, Light scatters on a million bells Backed by shuffling feet, screams, Yells and ringing sounds from gongs, Bubbling bong hits, Panic, wonder Heated stuff. The carbon market, Heated stuff, charred and black Frozen into horrible gems, stacked like bricks Beneath the dead excrement of a million bushes, Cows, cars, people, trees. The x, the ex machina, the excrescent-- How variable God starts, ends in trinkets, dully emanating necklaces, steps or tentacles which must be grasped, long appendages of the dawn, come to wake you up, they may be blessed but they're smoking, But the divine loves its ash come to sober you, to drench you in your drunken drowning It may be a bit dark, but it seems appropriate for such times. To recognize the transcendental in the horrifying, and the minuscule long teeth of the sublime inside the wicked, vice versa.
@@SeekersofUnity What he says is what I was thinking and feeling myself. You radiate the Intrinsic Joy, the Awesome Purity of Love that IS The Essence of Hashem in The Creator's Entirety, which IS Everything and ALL. Thank you!
Great video. We´re in real need of mysticism, in whatever branch, Hassidism included. Dark times require a immersion into our deepest nature, for us to have a solid anchor in the trascendent, so we can dedicate our human time to elevate our manifest existence as if it were a mirror for the Absolute. I´m looking forward for part two:)
Just discovered your channel; will definitely delve more deeply. I discovered Hasidism through reading works of Martin Buber in college in the 1960s. *I and Thou* (*Ich und Du*) changed my life. Glad to reconnect with this subject as seen through your warm & affectionate personal lens... !!
Amazing video! The last fifteen years I've done a lot of studying of mystical Judaism. This is some of the best teaching I've encountered. Well done. Fascinating.
Thanks for this illuminating dive in Hasidem Zevi, they way you describe it it's not too hard to see it's appeal, an immanent vision of God brings relevance, meaning and reality to every moment and every thing in the most accessible way; much like your channel.
Thank you Jason, that's very kind of you. And yes, we're going to discuss exactly that in the upcoming installments of this mini-series. With love, Zevi
I feel very fortunate to be availed of these fantastic channels (Let's talk religion, Esoterica, Angela's Symposium and Seekers of Unity). As a gentile with only a rudimentary education attempting to learn anything of the Jewish religion can be daunting at best. The way that you guys break things down into manageable portions make it much more rewarding than I have ever been able to manage alone. I feel honored and very grateful to have such educators as your selves guiding me through this all important journey. Thank you.
It’s a pleasure to be creating education content and breaking it down alongside such incredibly kind and knowledgeable scholars, for beautiful and appreciative people like yourself. The honor is our. To many good years of learning and seeking together 😘
Lovely, thank you! It helped me frame the knowledge from spiritual search in the context of knowledge, understanding and wisdom. I find a similarity with Tibetan Buddhism: learning, contemplation and meditation where learning would be hearing the teachings, contemplation is practicing the teachings in one's own life and meditation is being that.
@@SeekersofUnity I can perfectly understand that. It’s a big task specially when it’s directed at people’s learning from it, that requires lot of responsibility too. However I would like to learn more about Panentheism through your videos as I came to know about that concept from you only. Tk cr bro
@@SeekersofUnity definitely was! I noticed around 07:00 you referred to the tradition in the feminine. Will you be expounding on that in future videos?
I hadn't realized how many of my organic experiences and revelations resonate with these teachings. Hmmmm. Looks like I'm about to do a deep dive into the material. :-) Thank you for sharing.
Liked, and subscribed. I am thankful for your presentation, and thankful for having been guided here, by the companion video presented by Filip Holm from @Let's Talk Religion .
Great video! Ever since I took a class on the Haggadah in my theological studies I‘m very interested in Judaism and especially the Hasidim. I‘m just amazed by their piety and philosophy.
@@zookeeper510 the word of God teaches the wisdom of God. Those who call themselves teachers of harmonic union and imagination are told by the word of God to be as flux or chaff. This is the removed wasted produced by free will and faithful union. As the Word said, be dividend. The war of good versus evil. Who is evil but those who deny God and sit in falsity. They sit as was told. All those of human reason can understand. They stand over truth as evil but in thier eyes they feel divine.
you should get some kind of prize for bringing that so simply and radically formulated Sfar Emes quote to wider attentions, v'ken yirbu, Amen. You've clearly mistranslated as "He" what should, contextually clearly be "he," in the clearest explication of haalas hanitzutzos and b'chol derechecha da'eihu even, in his "u'b'chen"... TY! By the way, very stunning that the Keter Shem Tov clearly means not or ein sof/"elokut," but Aibishter/Atzmus ITSELF
@@SeekersofUnity is my (late breaking lol) memory serving me that this quote from the Sfar Emes is in Idel's H: Between Ecstasy and Magic?? if not, do you remember where you found it? ty
Where can I signup? I'm not quite sure what's happening with me, but ever time I hear the name, "Bal Shem Tov," pronounced I start to cry. I'm not Jewish, at least by way of genes. Thank you so much for your insights on Hasidism.
I was very excited to hear you specifically mention the concept of democratizing God. In my own terminology, I would refer to that as democratizing spiritual technology in the sense that there appear to be spiritual experiences that can be accessed through our neurological hardware via the application of certain practices which would operate as software in this metaphor. I'm in the process of mapping out a course of study primarily involving computational linguistics that is aimed at identifying the mechanisms the Hebrew language employs to generate what we know as mystical experiences. I'm not sure how blasphemous it is considered, but there is a book called The Chicken Kabbalah by Lon Milo Duquette, and it outlines a very interesting interpretation of how the Hebrew language expresses sensory data. I feel like the secrets that hasidism democratizes probably involved some of these linguistic technologies, but I want to learn more about how it works on a technical level. I'm definitely subscribing to your channel to learn more from an inside perspective.
" A few things about Hasidism. First, the word ‘hasid’ comes from a Hebrew word which means pious, pure. It is derived from the noun ‘hased’ which means grace. This word ‘hasid’ is very beautiful. The whole standpoint of Hasidism is based on grace. It is not that YOU do something - life is already happening, you just be silent, passive, alert, receiving. God comes through his grace, not through your effort. So Hasidism has no austerities prescribed for you. Hasidism believes in life, in joy, Hasidism is one of the religions in the world which is life-affirmative. It has no renunciation in it; you are not to renounce anything. Rather, you have to celebrate. The founder of Hasidism, Baal-Shem, is reported to have said, ‘I have come to teach you a new way. It is not fasting and penance, and it is not indulgence, but joy in God.’ The Hasid loves life, tries to experience life. That very experience starts giving you a balance. And in that state of balance, some day, when you are really balanced, neither leaning on this side nor leaning on that side, when you are exactly in the middle, you transcend. The middle is the beyond, the middle is the door from where one goes beyond. - Hasidism teaches life in community. It is a very communal approach. It says that man is not an island, man is not an ego - should not be an ego, should not be an island. Man should live a life of community. We are growing a Hasidic community here. To li
am a proud gay jew,all i hear and at times see is distain and afraid hatred,this is how the allmighty made me and i do believe the almighty doesnt make mistakes
Hey Andreas. I'm sorry to hear about your experience. People are afraid of what they don't know. I'd like to welcome you to Seekers, here you are accepted as you are, for who you are. Thank you for joining us. We hope to remove some of the hate in this world and replace it with love. Proudly, Zevi
Regarding the accessibility of G_D to the common person, I'm reminded of the statement--I think communicated by Jeremiah (pardon my spelling, lack of knowledge & etc., I'm an eclectic orthodox protestant... semi-Anglican, semi-Zwinglian) which says, "Draw near to Me, and I will draw near to you, says Adonai." Anyone, no matter their learning or even mental capacity, can do that, nicht wahr..?
Very interesting. The divine philosophized as being ontologically immanent and epistemologically transcendent through the lens of dialectical monism and tantra is a favorite topic of mine, and sounds like it could have many similarities with Hasidic philosophy.
Excellent presentation. I would like to take this opportunity to have something clarified that a Chabad rabbi told me in conversation several years ago. I asked him if he really believed the world was created almost 6,000 years ago. He said yes, he did believe that. Then I asked him about paleontology and the existence of 65 million year-old dinosaur fossils. His answer was, “Hashem can create anything to look any way He wants. He does it to test our faith.” That was for me the end of that conversation. What is your take on that rabbi’s ideas?
I would compare this view to that twist made by Tibetan Vajrayana to Buddhism in its practice of personal development and boddisattva vow to help others as apposed to rejection of the body and the world and concentration on suffering and ones bad karma. Though I think the westerners practicing need to do more aid and care to actual people, meditating for them is nice and all and I am sure most people like a stupa or a school but food and housing seems more important. No thing is required to reach God Consciousness just love and patience.
unfortunately, Hasidics in israel engage in behaviors that make seculars think that they are elitist. and well, many hasidim act like they are better then secular jews
That’s a really great question Emily. Thanks for asking. I think early Hasidism was a radical move in the direction of egalitarianism. Why it stopped where it did, if it’s progressed or regressed since then, are all really important questions to ask. Thank you for opening the conversation.
Thank you friend. Sure is :) You might enjoy this conversation we just released on Mystical Anarchism: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4S_lZqK8RmU.html
Hello Zevi, thank you for the lesson. Coming here from your recommendation on Keli, and having trouble (possible because of my ignorance of Hebrew) finding the point you mentioned RE Klipot. Funnily enough, this was the first video of yours I watched, and it was partially due to this and the fourth video in this series that prompted my request for more info. Your description of Dira B'tachtonim resonated deeply, and from my knowledge of the Qliphoth they are of a lower register than even the material of Malkuth. Does Dira B'tachtonim extend to that realm as well? Also very interested in how the 'shell's the Klipot represent come to be anthropomorphized as personalities, in juxtaposition to the more abstract planes of the Sefirot. As always, thank you!
Zevi is there any particular (contemporary or else) work you can point to that does a good job at mapping out and outlining all the philosophical and theological differences in the different Chassidic groups? I am so fascinated by these particular nuances?
Hey brother. I'd love to see someone map that out as well. For something coming from a bit more of a historical than philosophical perspective, check out David Biale's Hasidism: A New History, pp. 291-387.
A question off topic if you may...22 letters in hebrew alphabet...I have also heard there is a few more upto 26 and in between...now the question is there any works done by anyone your aware of as to why the difference I do understand the fact that the extra letters could have been taken from aramaic...can you direct towards any works if any?
My question is probably basic... Is the basic nature of human existence one of physical nature or spiritual nature? Are we physical beings trying to shed our physicality or are we accepting the physical being as a valid framework for experiencing the divine?
"אמר רב חסדא מידת חסידות שנו כאן" בבא מציעא נב, ב The assumption implicit in Rav Chisda's answer is that the Chasid goes "לפנים משורת הדין" But you're right, there are more explicit sources, my bad.
Interesting question Veridiana. I didn’t mentioned this in the video when briefly talking about the early iterations of Hasidism, but… there’s a lot of debate among scholars about who exactly the Essenes were and what the word Essene even means. Among the many theories floating around in the theoryverse is that the word Essene is derived from the Hebrew Hasidim, and the ethos of the Essenes, their asceticism, piety, etc., reflect those of Hasidism. But again, just a theory, one among many. 🙏🏼
Brother zevi pls can you explain to me so. Something??? Is there a difference between Ayin and Atzmus???? Or is ayin that which conceals the atzmus? ( by Ayin i mean the ayin that is above the ein sof of the tree of life.) from. My understanding zevi the Atzmus is that which emanates Ayin then the ein sof, then the ohr ein sof and then the sefirots abd then the realities? Is this the incorrect understanding? Also shalom/salam brother may Hashem/Allah bless you with best blessings. (ps pls read tge novel unsung it is a great novel with a lot of kabbalah in it)
Hey Brother. That's a very difficult question, but yes, the order you laid out is good. It's very difficult to speak about these words and categories because all our conventional words and categories (higher, lower, before, after...) fall apart.
@@SeekersofUnity Thank you Brother I appreciate it also if i can one more question is robert amberlain book practical kabbalh reliable from your point of view? Currently Im trying to learn kabbalah but i don't know whom to trust . You and esoterica are my only completely reliable sources but i also read this book so im just trying to get a complete understanding
Check out Filip's fantastic sister video to this one: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qi9JW95P1T8.html and Part #2 of the Series, The Directions of Hasidism: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sguxnbvAmiM.html and Part #3 of the Series, The Inner Work of Hasidism: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VZWgFtMD1oM.html
@@SeekersofUnity as R'Yankel Koppel Goldberg used to say, "that's self-understood"... but u seem to be anav enough to improve your game, for the sake of the Great Work
Inshallah. B’ezer Hashem yisborech. May S/he who gives lips to humanity, move these lips with grace and keep them from untruth, despair, dryness and cracking in the winter, and from heinous mispronunciations. May they lead none astray and only straight to You. May You who burned before Your servant on Horeb, although he was slow of speech and tongue, You who taught him how to say, I Am the Lord your God, your Lover, your Redeemer, who birthed you from within the womb of Egypt. May we be reborn in you, and may our lips be made pure, with a pure speech to serve You in unison, as the Prophet Zephaniah spoke with holy lips, as the purified lips of Isaiah, the burned stuttering lips of Musa Rasul Allah, and these here dyslexic lips. May they sign a sweet song of redemption, with ever inhale and exhale, running and retreating, my soul, my breath i give to You. In Your hands i place my lips, Your lips, wash them, bless them, purify them, have mercy on them, always, from the depths of Sheol to the heights of Seir. Selah.
why have YOU, who obviously have become so fluent in so very many diverse vocabularies, chosen to translate Elokut in Chabad-Lubavitch, lol,'s usual way, i.e., "G!dliness," rather than as Divinity, which is surely, for English speakers, FAR LESS confusing, since it doesn't so strangely grab a word with USUAL ETHICAL/CHARACTER connotations and deploy it with ontological reference!??? i understand most Chabad translators doing so, because of their native, academically unsophisticated Yinglish, but YOU!????? (Speculation #1: you've done so for your Lubavitcher homie audience. BUT IT'S AT THE EXPENSE OF THE SO WIDER AUDIENCE YOU ARE LIKELY BEAMING AT! :)
@@SeekersofUnity meaning, u're making a kabbalah on the atid?? :) quite a good guy to quote, as he seems to perhaps, as did even Warren Beaty eventually FOR THE RIGHT WOMAN, lol, now sweetened into true domesticity and family life... :)
