Episodes

  • Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 94: The Body as a Doorway Between Worlds

    Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 94: The Body as a Doorway Between Worlds
    Nov 4 2025
    In this episode of The Neshamah Project, we explore two luminous teachings from the Maor VaShemesh that reveal how embodied life itself can become a vessel for awakening. First, we reflect on Abraham’s transformation into a living conduit of divine presence—his body, breath, and being illuminated from within. Then we turn to his moment at the tent’s entrance, where overwhelming spiritual light brings him to the edge of dissolution, and simple acts of hospitality become a grounding force. Together, these teachings remind us that spirituality isn’t about leaving the body—it’s about coming home to it. The sacred moves through breath, touch, and service. Presence is found not in escaping the world, but in loving it fully.
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    16 mins
  • Neshamah Project: Episode 93: Go Forth--The Call Beyond Comfort

    Neshamah Project: Episode 93: Go Forth--The Call Beyond Comfort
    Oct 27 2025
    In this episode, Rabbi Ben Newman reflects on a teaching from the Maor VaShemesh about Abraham’s journey as a metaphor for our own spiritual unfolding. What does it mean to “go forth” from the stories we’ve inherited — from our comfort zones, our expectations, even our own self-image? Drawing on Hasidic wisdom and Psalm 45, Ben explores how letting go can open us to authenticity, courage, and divine delight — the beauty of becoming who we truly are.
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    13 mins
  • The Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 92: The Tree, Light, and Death

    The Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 92: The Tree, Light, and Death
    Oct 16 2025
    In this episode of The Neshamah Project, we explore a luminous teaching from the Kedushat Levi on Genesis 2:17. Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev reimagines the story of Eden not as a tale of sin, but as a lesson in spiritual readiness — about what happens when we try to take in more light than we can hold. Through reflection and interpretation, we uncover how this Hasidic insight becomes a tool for human thriving: transforming darkness into light, overreaching into wisdom, and our daily struggles into sparks of awakening.
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    13 mins
  • The Neshamaha Project: Episode 91- All Is Breath: The Maor VaShemesh on Kohelet

    The Neshamaha Project: Episode 91- All Is Breath: The Maor VaShemesh on Kohelet
    Oct 7 2025
    In this episode of The Neshamah Project, we explore two luminous teachings from the Maor VaShemesh on Kohelet. First, “All is breath” — a vision of life as sacred exhalation, where every word and action flows from divine intention. Second, “The breath of many voices” — a reminder that when we gather in prayer, song, or silence, our shared breath reshapes the world. Together, these teachings invite us to return to simplicity, to presence, and to the living rhythm that connects every soul.
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    13 mins
  • The Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 90: Sparks of Return

    The Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 90: Sparks of Return
    Sep 25 2025
    After the death of Aaron’s sons, the Torah places the Yom Kippur service—why there, and why “not at all times” yet “once a year”? Drawing on the Maor VaShemesh, we explore how all souls are one body, how one mitzvah can tip the world, and why true teshuvah requires discernment—opening wide on “Yom Kippur moments” while keeping loving boundaries the rest of the year. Includes a practical reflection for shifting destructive patterns personally, communally, and globally.
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    14 mins
  • Neshamah Project Podcast: Episode 89: Desire and the First Fruits of the Heart

    Neshamah Project Podcast: Episode 89: Desire and the First Fruits of the Heart
    Sep 10 2025
    In this week’s episode, we explore the mitzvah of bringing the first fruits and the deeper spiritual meaning hidden within it. The Maor VaShemesh teaches that the practice is not only about gratitude, but about desire itself—how we meet our strongest cravings and transform them into offerings of the heart. Along the way, he weaves the story of Laban, Egypt, and the gathering of holy sparks into a map for spiritual life, reminding us that every act of restraint, every pause before pleasure, can help repair something ancient. What does it mean today to dedicate our “first fruits”—our first energy, first thoughts, first creativity—to the sacred?
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    24 mins
  • The Neshamah Project: Episode 88 – Returning the Ox, Building the Guardrail

    The Neshamah Project: Episode 88 – Returning the Ox, Building the Guardrail
    Sep 6 2025
    Two Hasidic masters read the portion of Ki Teitzei in strikingly different yet complementary ways. The Maor VaShemesh teaches that “returning a lost ox or sheep” is about guiding a friend back when their awe or love has strayed—while also knowing when silence and patience are the greater acts of care. The Maor Einayim turns the command to build a guardrail on your roof into a teaching about guarding the mind itself, raising thought in silence to the Divine when faced with adversity. Together, these teachings offer modern seekers wisdom on friendship, boundaries, resilience, and cultivating inner guardrails of awareness.
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    16 mins
  • Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 87: Rebbe Nachman's Tale of Trust

    Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 87: Rebbe Nachman's Tale of Trust
    Aug 31 2025
    A Tale of Trust — Rebbe Nachman tells the story of a king who, despite his wealth, discovers true freedom from worry in the joy and faith of a poor fiddler. Again and again, the fiddler’s livelihood is taken from him, yet he adapts with trust, resilience, and song—until even iron itself turns to wood. A timeless teaching on living with radical trust in the midst of uncertainty.
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    16 mins