CHANUKAH SAMEACH!
HAPPY CHANUKAH!

Here are the sources referred to in this week's episode:

The start of the parsha:
https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.41?lang=bi&aliyot=0

The brothers fear that Joseph and his descendants will lead the Jewish People to idolatry:
https://www.sefaria.org/Bereshit_Rabbah.84.14?lang=bi

Brothers departed from brotherhood and sought religious / legal pretexts against Joseph, to justify killing him:
https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.37.17?lang=bi&with=Rashi&lang2=en

Jacob tells his sons to take down to Egypt a strange present – small delicacies from the Land of Israel, things that people sing about
https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.43.11?lang=bi&aliyot=0&p2=Rashi_on_Genesis.43.11.2&lang2=bi

Rebbe Nachman says he was actually telling them to take with them a melody of the Land of Israel. He goes on to explain that melodies stimulate plants / food to grow, and they also have a profound effect on the human spirit, helping us to grow in important ways (if the melody is suitable).
https://www.sefaria.org/Likutei_Moharan%2C_Part_II.63.1?lang=bi

We say Hallel all eight days of Chanukah:
https://www.sefaria.org/Shulchan_Arukh%2C_Orach_Chayim.683.1?lang=bi

Hallel is associated with Joseph / Yosef , and Hoda'ah (Thanksgiving) with Judah / Yehudah:
https://www.sefaria.org/Sefat_Emet%2C_Genesis%2C_For_Chanuka.23.6?vhe=Sefat_emet,_Piotrk%C3%B3w,_1905-1908&lang=bi

Our Chanukah prayer, Al HaNissim, brings both together:
https://www.sefaria.org/Birkat_Hamazon%2C_Birkat_Hamazon%2C_Blessing_on_the_Land.3?lang=bi

Thank you for listening to The Spirit of the Torah from Applied Jewish Spirituality (AJS) - https://www.appliedjewishspirituality.org/

In every episode, Rabbi Daniel Raphael Silverstein explores insights arising from the Hebrew calendar or our weekly Torah portion, and related practices that can help us to effect positive change in our lives.

The intro and outro music is Shiviti by Dreamers - https://linktr.ee/dreamersmusic

Your support makes these podcasts possible.
To support future episodes of this podcast, please click here: https://www.appliedjewishspirituality.org/donate

We've arrived at one of the best stories ever written, about Joseph and his brothers, and our mystics have a lot to say about the power of stories...

Here are the sources referred to in this episode:

Vayeshev: https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.37.3?lang=bi&aliyot=0

Kabbalah teaches that the "real" Torah is actually the Infinite Name of the Infinite Creator.
Just as the infinite, eternal Torah (which is beyond narrative) was "condensed down" into stories about our ancestors, so too it must be revealed in the stories of every generation.
Our own stories are also full of Torah, which serve to guide us on the path of our lives.
Some folks are more uplifted by stories than by Torah.
We should always be speaking about leaving Mitzrayim / Constricted Consciousness:
https://www.sefaria.org/Me'or_Einayim%2C_Vayeshev?lang=bi

Rebbe Nachman: The world says stories are for putting people to sleep, but I say they are for waking people up!
https://www.sefaria.org/Chayei_Moharan.25.1?vhe=OYW&lang=bi

Joseph / The Tzadik (Righteous Person) wants to awaken people to the truth. This can't be done directly, has to be done through dreams, interpretations of dreams, stories, tricks, accusations, tests...
https://www.sefaria.org/Likutei_Halakhot%2C_Choshen_Mishpat%2C_Laws_of_Theft.3.7?lang=en

Stories create us, give birth to us, and the generations before and after us – we're links in a chain connected by stories:
https://www.sefaria.org/Likutei_Moharan.60.6?lang=bi

It's best not to reveal what the mysteries in the stories mean, then the stories can be most powerful:
https://www.sefaria.org/Sichot_HaRan.151.15?vhe=rabenubook&lang=bi

People sometimes need their "medicine" to be garbed in everyday speech or stories:
https://www.sefaria.org/Likutei_Moharan.164.1.2?vhe=Likutei_Moharan_-_rabenubook.com&lang=bi

To awaken people (including ourselves!) from spiritual sleep / not being awake to reality, when regular Torah doesn't work, we can use stories.
The person needs to begin to rouse themselves first, there must be an arousal from below – like Besht said, we can't help folks to return who don't want to:
https://www.sefaria.org/Likutei_Moharan.60.6?lang=

Thank you for listening to The Spirit of the Torah from Applied Jewish Spirituality (AJS) - https://www.appliedjewishspirituality.org/

In every episode, Rabbi Daniel Raphael Silverstein explores insights arising from the Hebrew calendar or our weekly Torah portion, and related practices that can help us to effect positive change in our lives.

The intro and outro music is Shiviti by Dreamers - https://linktr.ee/dreamersmusic

Your support makes these podcasts possible.
To support future episodes of this podcast, please click here: https://www.appliedjewishspirituality.org/donate

In this week's episode on Toldot, we explore how the Ba'al Shem Tov and his students took the long-running rivalry and dualism of Jacob and Esau and offered a refreshingly optimistic and holistic perspective on apparent opposites such as good and evil, body and soul.

The teaching shows the development from the classical Kabbalah of the Zohar to the new interpretation of Kabbalah pioneered by the early Chasidic masters, and has profound implications for how we today address our highly polarized societies.

Here are the sources referred to in this episode:

Start of the parsha:
https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.32.5?lang=bi&aliyot=0

We are all - individually and collectively - composed of "substance" and "form" (for example, soul and body, leaders and followers etc) and our work is to integrate these two.

If we want to effect change, we need to ourselves make Teshuvah (return, repair or fix what is broken), rather than simply making demands of others.

And then when we do communicate with others, we include ourselves in our words, meaning we acknowledge that we are also working on whatever the matter in question is, rather than being hostile or condescending:
https://www.sefaria.org/Ba'al_Shem_Tov%2C_Vayishlach.7?lang=bi

Lovingly unite ourselves with others in order to effect change:
https://www.sefaria.org/Ba'al_Shem_Tov%2C_Vayishlach.8.1?lang=bi

Leaders affect the rest of us, and vice versa:
https://www.sefaria.org/Arakhin.17a.3?lang=bi

Thank you for listening to The Spirit of the Torah from Applied Jewish Spirituality (AJS) - https://www.appliedjewishspirituality.org/

In every episode, Rabbi Daniel Raphael Silverstein explores insights arising from the Hebrew calendar or our weekly Torah portion, and related practices that can help us to effect positive change in our lives.

The intro and outro music is Shiviti by Dreamers - https://linktr.ee/dreamersmusic

Your support makes these podcasts possible.
To support future episodes of this podcast, please click here: https://www.appliedjewishspirituality.org/donate