Kabbalah for Everyone

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What if wisdom does not begin with having the answer, but with creating enough space to see something new?
In Lesson 20 of Kabbalah for Everyone, Rabbi Yisroel Bernath takes a deep dive into Chochmah, the first intellectual faculty described in Tanya: the initial flash of insight before an idea has been fully developed. Rather than treating Chochmah as simply “being smart,” this class explores it as the capacity to see the essential point before explanations, assumptions, ego, and old stories take over. 
Rabbi Bernath also clarifies an important distinction from the previous lessons: the three souls and Chochmah, Binah, and Da’at are not a one-to-one map. The three souls describe who inside us is speaking and what it wants; Chochmah, Binah, and Da’at describe how an idea moves through the mind. 
At the heart of the lesson is the Chassidic reading of Chochmah as “Koach Mah” - the power of “What?” Wisdom begins when “I know” becomes quiet enough to ask: What am I missing? What is really happening? What does G-d want from me here? This is not low self-esteem. It is bittul - the humility to recognize that our current perspective may not be the whole reality. 
Through examples from relationships, business, anxiety, and anger, the lesson offers a practical spiritual tool: The Thirty-Second Holy Pause. Before reacting, stop the old script, ask one honest question, wait for one clear point, and then let Binah develop it later. 
Sometimes it is simply seeing differently.
Download the PDF Worksheet for Lesson 20 HERE: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/0hp35s9alu7f7y00zzjph/Lesson-20-The-Holy-Pause-Chochmah.pdf?rlkey=d0vbl7v05ju3qiudolcpv807y&dl=0

Key Points
Chochmah is the first point of an idea, the flash before full understanding.
Chochmah is not the same thing as being knowledgeable or intelligent.
The three souls and Chochmah-Binah-Da’at are two different maps of the same human being.
The three souls ask: Who inside me is speaking, and what does it want?
Chochmah, Binah, and Da’at ask: How is an idea moving through my mind?
A sudden thought is not automatically holy, wise, or true.
Chochmah is compared to sight because it grasps the whole point at once.
Binah is compared to hearing because it develops understanding piece by piece.
Chochmah helps us see the essence before getting lost in details.
Koach Mah - “What?” represents openness, receptivity, and intellectual humility.
Bittul does not mean “I am worthless.” It means, “I am not the entire reality.”
You cannot receive a new idea while you are busy defending the old one.
Three major enemies of Chochmah are certainty, speed, and ego.
Chochmah introduces three different movements: Maybe. Pause. What is true?
Wisdom asks not only, “What is this really?” but also, “What is this becoming?”
The Thirty-Second Holy Pause is a practical way to interrupt automatic reactions.
The goal is not to get a complete answer immediately - just one true point.
Chochmah must eventually be developed through Binah and internalized through Da’at.
A central spiritual question of the lesson is: “What does G-d want from me here?”
Real wisdom may begin with the courage to say: “Maybe I don’t know yet.”

#Kabbalah #kabala #Judaism #Jewish #Chochmah #Tanya #chabad #chassidus #chassidut #chassidic #Tanya #JewishWisdom #JewishSpirituality 
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Why is it that we can know something is true, understand it perfectly—and still struggle to actually live it? In this lesson of Kabbalah for Everyone, Rabbi Yisroel Bernath explores the three intellectual powers described in Kabbalah and Tanya: Chochmah, Binah, and Da’at.
Chochmah is the flash of insight.
Binah takes that insight apart, develops it, and understands it.
Da’at connects you to the idea deeply enough that it begins to influence your emotions, choices, and actions.
We connect these three powers of the mind to the framework we’ve been developing throughout the course: the G-dly Soul, Rational Soul, and Animal Soul, the 101st moment, and Truth. Plan. Power.
The question is no longer simply: What do I know? It becomes: Has what I know actually become part of me? Through practical examples, reflection exercises, and the 90-second Inner Team Meeting, we explore how Torah ideas can travel from inspiration, to understanding, to genuine inner change.
I put together a Lesson 19 worksheet so you can follow along, take notes, and work through the exercises afterward.
Download the PDF here:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/wxx5lf2h5ia86va6nlvp1/Lesson-19-The-Three-Ways-Your-Mind-Serves-You.pdf?rlkey=v4nqppzmx0iymjmp7h0k9lj20&dl=0
Key Points
Chochmah: the flash of wisdom, the initial spark or “aha.”
Binah: developing the idea, asking questions, understanding how and why.
Da’at: connecting to the idea until it becomes personally real.
Knowing something intellectually is not the same as being connected to it.
Da’at helps bridge the distance between what I know and how I live.
The G-dly Soul provides direction; the Rational Soul helps translate; the Animal Soul brings energy.
Inspiration without development often disappears.
Understanding without connection may never change behavior.
Real spiritual growth happens when an idea travels from the mind into the heart and then into action.
The Inner Team Meeting asks: What is true? What is my next wise step? What energy can help me do it?
Kabbalah does not ask us to destroy our natural drives, but to educate and redirect them.
Do not wait until every part of you agrees before doing something good.
The goal is not simply to learn more Torah—it is for Torah to increasingly become part of who we are.
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The School for Sensitive Souls - Only 4 Spots Left
If you feel deeply, notice everything, absorb the emotional world around you, overthink, care intensely, or sometimes wonder whether your sensitivity is a blessing or a burden, The School for Sensitive Souls was created for you.
I’m intentionally keeping this group to just 18 participants, and there are now only 4 spots remaining.
Learn more and register:
https://www.kabbalah4everyone.com/checkout/sensitive-souls
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Support Kabbalah for Everyone
If these classes have brought value to your life, you can help us continue making this learning accessible. You can also sponsor a class in honour or in memory of someone, for a birthday, anniversary, yahrtzeit, refuah, or another meaningful occasion.
Support or sponsor a class:
https://www.charidy.com/kabbalah4everyone

#Kabbalah #Judaism #chabad #chassidus #ChassidicTeachings #chassidut #Chochmah #Binah #Daat #Tanya #JewishSpirituality #Jewishpsychology 
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Got your own question for Rabbi Bernath? He can be reached at rabbi@jewishndg.com or http://www.theloverabbi.com

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What happens when one part of you knows what is right, another part is overthinking everything, and another part simply wants what it wants?
In Lesson 18 of Kabbalah for Everyone, Rabbi Yisroel Bernath offers a simple, practical Kabbalah framework for understanding the G-dly Soul, Rational Soul, and Animal Soul: Truth. Plan. Power.
The G-dly Soul helps us identify what is true. The Rational Soul turns that truth into a realistic next step. The Animal Soul provides the passion, drive, stubbornness, and energy to actually do it.
The goal of spiritual growth is not to become less human or to wage permanent war against yourself. It is to teach the different parts of yourself how to work together. This class explores anger, anxiety, procrastination, jealousy, technology, relationships, spiritual growth, failure, and the practical art of turning natural human energy into something holy.
Download the PDF Worksheet HERE
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/b35i5vc2elld2eb1oowz9/Lesson-18-Truth-Plan-Power.pdf?rlkey=yuwgpoatle0ft9ruf7u8l614u&dl=0
Key Points
The three souls do not need to become identical—they need to learn their proper roles.
Truth: What is actually true here? What does my deepest G-dly self know?
Plan: What is one wise, realistic next step?
Power: What natural energy already inside me can help me take that step?
Feelings contain information, but they do not always provide instruction.
You can hear an emotion without handing it the steering wheel.
The Rational Soul should be a translator of truth, not an attorney for every impulse.
Spiritual growth often means giving your natural drives a better assignment.
Stubbornness can become loyalty. Anger can become courage. Ambition can become contribution. Sensitivity can become compassion.
The goal is not to destroy the “ox,” but to harness its strength.
You do not need perfect motives before doing something good.
Sometimes holiness is transformation; sometimes holiness is simply restraint.
The 90-Second Inner Team Meeting: What is true? What is the next wise step? What power can help me do it?
Growth is not about becoming less human. It is about becoming more integrated and more whole.
The School for Sensitive Souls is now open. This will be a much more intimate experience, and registration is intentionally limited to 18 participants. Register HERE https://www.kabbalah4everyone.com/checkout/sensitive-souls

Some of you have also asked how you can support Kabbalah for Everyone and help make these classes possible and accessible:  https://www.charidy.com/kabbalah4everyone

#Kabbalah #KabbalahForEveryone #chabad #chassidus #Tanya #KabbalahForEveryone #GodlySoul #AnimalSoul #RationalSoul #JewishSpirituality #Spirituality #qabbala 
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Got your own question for Rabbi Bernath? He can be reached at rabbi@jewishndg.com or http://www.theloverabbi.com

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Download the PDF worksheet HERE https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/q8oy2i8fo6dg3f8j1xbfp/Lesson-17-Integration-of-the-Three-Souls.pdf?rlkey=nxq3ybh2okjepuml8dj1176wj&dl=0
What if spiritual growth is not about defeating the parts of yourself you struggle with? In this class, Rabbi Yisroel Bernath explores a powerful Chassidic model of inner transformation through the Nefesh HaElokit, Nefesh HaSichlit, and Nefesh HaBahamit, the G-dly soul, rational soul, and animal soul.
The G-dly soul gives us direction. The rational soul translates truth into something practical and livable. And the animal soul supplies the passion, drive, desire, and energy needed to actually move. Rather than viewing spiritual life as an endless inner civil war, this class offers a more integrated path: learning how to educate desire instead of shaming it, redirect intensity instead of suppressing it, and turn ambition, fear, stubbornness, pleasure, and even the need for recognition into forces that can serve a higher purpose. The goal is to become more whole.

Key Points
The G-dly soul gives the destination. It asks: What is true? What does G-d want? What is my purpose?
The rational soul builds the road. It translates big spiritual truths into realistic next steps.
The animal soul provides the fuel. Desire, ambition, intensity, stubbornness, pleasure, and instinct can become powerful sources of energy when properly directed.
The goal is integration, not inner warfare. Kabbalah asks us to bring our different parts into alignment.
Hisbonenut changes the heart. Contemplation helps Torah ideas move from information into lived emotional reality.
Desire should be educated, not worshipped or hated. The question is not only, “How do I stop this?” but also, “What is this energy looking for, and where does it belong?”
Truth. Translation. Training. Identify the higher truth, translate it into one practical action, and train the natural self through repetition.
Do not wait until every part of you agrees before doing good. Action itself can become part of the transformation.
The obstacle can become fuel. The very trait that seems to interfere with growth may eventually become part of what carries you forward.
#Kabbalah #chassidus #Tanya #kabala #WednesdayMorningKabbalah #qabbala #soul #chabad #DirahBiTachtonim #NefeshHaElokis #NefeshHaSichlis #NefeshHaBahamis #tohu #Tikkun 
NEW COURSE The School for Sensitive Souls
If this class speaks to the part of you that feels deeply, thinks deeply, absorbs deeply, or sometimes carries more than you know what to do with, Rabbi Bernath is beginning a new course on October 15th called:
The School for Sensitive Souls
It is a journey through sensitivity, empathy, overthinking, boundaries, emotional intensity, relationships, burnout, and the spiritual gifts hidden inside a sensitive soul — all through the lens of Kabbalah and Chassidus.
The goal is not to become less sensitive.
It is to learn how to carry your sensitivity without letting it carry you.
Register HERE https://www.kabbalah4everyone.com/checkout/sensitive-souls

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Got your own question for Rabbi Bernath? He can be reached at rabbi@jewishndg.com or http://www.theloverabbi.com

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You can download the PDF Worksheet HERE
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/kti2i04bd6rgxgcpsuzr7/Lesson-16-The-101st-Time-Why-Being-Good-is-Not-the-Same-as-Growing.pdf?rlkey=nm3er9rfzuf41sy9sg7m6zw6b&dl=0
In Lesson 16, Rabbi Yisroel Bernath brings together the ideas of the Animal Soul, Rational Soul, and G-dly Soul and asks one of the most practical questions in Kabbalah: How do we know when we are actually growing?
The Alter Rebbe teaches that there is a profound difference between reviewing something 100 times and reviewing it 101 times. One hundred may already be impressive, but if it has become our normal pattern, it may simply be habit. The 101st time represents the step beyond what comes naturally.
This class explores the Kabbalastic concept of oved, a person who is actively serving, stretching, refining, and becoming. It also introduces tikkun, the process of mending and elevating our nature rather than rejecting it.
We discover that even our best traits, kindness, generosity, discipline, intelligence, spirituality, can become more conscious and more G-dly. The goal is not to hate who we are or force ourselves into someone else’s personality. It is to stop allowing habit to become the ceiling of our growth.
Ultimately, the lesson shows how the three souls can work together: the G-dly soul provides direction, the rational soul translates truth into something we can understand, and the animal soul brings the passion and energy to live it.
The question becomes deeply personal: Where is my 101st time?

Key Points
1. Being good and growing are not always the same thing: A trait can be beautiful and still be automatic. Kabbalah asks us to take what is already good and make it more conscious, refined, and connected to G-d.
2. Oved means someone who is actively serving: The Alter Rebbe emphasizes the present tense. An oved is not someone who has “arrived,” but someone who is still doing the inner work.
3. The 101st time represents going beyond habit: The famous teaching of 100 versus 101 repetitions is not about a magical number. It is about moving one step beyond our established nature.
4. Your 101 is personal: One person’s growth may be giving more. Another person’s may be learning to receive. One may need more discipline; another may need more softness.
5. Going beyond nature does not mean harming yourself: Deep spiritual work is not self-punishment, burnout, or unhealthy deprivation. Growth stretches us without destroying the vessel.
6. Every soul has intellect and emotion: The Animal Soul, Rational Soul, and G-dly Soul each have their own way of thinking and wanting.
7. The Animal Soul has a very intelligent lawyer: Desire often comes first, and then the mind creates sophisticated reasons to justify it. A powerful question is:
Did my reason create the desire, or did my desire hire the reason?
8. Tikkun begins with the Rational Soul: The Animal Soul is immersed in desire. The G-dly Soul already wants Hashem. The Nefesh HaSichlit can understand both sides and translate Divine truth into language the natural self can absorb.
9. Kabbalah educates the translator: Learning, contemplation, and prayer help the mind stop serving every impulse and begin teaching the heart a different way to see reality.
10. Iskafya comes before transformation: Sometimes growth begins simply by saying no to an impulse. Over time, deeper work can refine what we actually enjoy and desire.
11. The G-dly Soul also needs Ratzo and Shov: Spiritual yearning must return to life. The goal is not to escape the physical world, but to bring holiness into relationships, work, food, money, family, and ordinary life.
12. The goal is integration: The dream is not a human being fighting themselves forever. It is a person whose mind, heart, body, personality, and passions increasingly become partners in serving Hashem.
13. Growth begins with the willingness to say “maybe”: Maybe I am wrong. Maybe there is another way. Maybe this pattern is not permanent. Maybe G-d is asking me for my 101st step.
14. Dirah BiTachtonim happens inside us too: G-d does not only want the obviously spiritual parts of us. He wants our habits, emotions, intellect, body, and ordinary life to become His home.

Support the show
Got your own question for Rabbi Bernath? He can be reached at rabbi@jewishndg.com or http://www.theloverabbi.com

Single? You can make a profile on www.JMontreal.com and Rabbi Bernath will help you find that special someone.

Donate and support Rabbi Bernath’s work http://www.jewishndg.com/donate

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Access Rabbi Bernath's Articles on Relationships https://medium.com/@loverabbi