Yesod Blocks: Foundational Torah

Female and Male, male and female, what are these models? How do they interrelate with the world of obligation and Torah? The answer is both more simple and more profound than today's cultural tendencies suggest...

Welcome to Episode 2 of Embodied Torah! In this episode, we explore the concept of the breath, how breathing impacts our total neshama/body dynamic, and the underlying Torah depths of breathing. Ariella walks us through some breathing tools to help us harness this powerful aspect of our being. Breathing is a core way of making room for Hashem within us, and this episode will reveal why and how tha...

Torah is the body of Hashem's thoughts, the way He thinks about things in the world. We can absorb those thoughts, and the underlying perceptions (de'ot) they embody, allowing us to become more real, true and clear.

This Erev Shabbos episode analyzes more forms of melakha, as well as the underlying depth of rabbinical decrees.

Breaks in between a bracha and the corresponding action have a particular impact on the structural purpose of a bracha. We often think of the concept of "hefsek" as technical, but its depth is truly profound.

Halakha can be technical, but it's strikingly simple to find the depth and layering underneath technical halakhot. The brakhot of Torah are examples of this truth, as they have technical aspects, while underneath, the layers and themes are profound.

A brand new series from Yesod Blocks, Embodied Torah is a collaboration between Zev Bannett (the founder of Yesod Blocks) and Ariella Anouchi, a licensed and practicing Yoga therapist and Jewish educator. Join us as we explore how to embody and fully live out the profound Torah concepts discussed at Yesod Blocks. New episodes will be released weekly and will be available at yesodblocks.com. To lea...

Little details of Halakha contain mountains of underlying truths and concepts. Accessing these truths and then embodying them is the goal of this whole process.

How much distance from Melakha do we need in order to pull ourselves into the higher, fuller state of consciousness called "neshama yeteira?"

Reality is real, but it's not always what we want. Torah and reality are one. Torah and reality can become what you want, when you learn to see the distortions in your own perceptual landscape.

Melakha has three parts. It requires the application of our consciousness (neshama) to the material world. It requires that the application of consciousness leads to higher order organization in the material world. Lastly, it requires that the higher order state is permanent. We begin to explore the world of Melakha more deeply in this Erev Shabbos episode.

Simple halakhot on the surface... There is a mountain of underlying thought hidden beneath the waves.

Halacha is the outer shell, the practical expression of the inner world of who you truly are. It is 5% of Torah, and the other 95% is the map of your internal "becoming."

In Torah, thanking someone means "admitting" - developing a deeper awareness that we are each a fragment, a powerful, individual part of a larger network of self. We each have the power to create, but we also rely on each other, and the Self of all Selves, to actualize the power within us.

Our bodies are an integral part of the totality of our being. Perceiving this in a careful, truthful, balanced way has been difficult throughout history. The Torah is the key to achieving this balance.

The words you speak almost always generate a corresponding cascade of thoughts and associations in your mind, which you then use to further engage in conversation. Exception: when those words are said out of habit, and with no understanding. Experiencing Hashem, conversing with Hashem, saying Brachot and having them trigger cascades of thoughts just like the rest of your speech- all of this is pos...

It's hard to see the effect water has on us, because it's so easily accessible nowadays. But water can act as an experiential doorway to the infinite...

Prior to washing Netilat Yadayim, we are not supposed to touch openings of our bodies. The framework of thought underlying this is extensive and deep. The intangible world we experience is a vibrant backdrop to the tangible medium in which we live...

We drill into morning Netilat Yadayim, discovering the profound underlying core that is manifest as this seemingly simple halakha. 

Melakha is not "work," or "labor." Learning how to extricate ourselves from our own creative funnels is parallel to pulling ourselves out of a deep orientation of ourselves as our bodies, our professions, our desires, our emotions. We are beyond all those things, though we do operate in the world through each of them. The Etz HaDa'at allows us to forget this, and become consumed with our own creat...

Bathroom humor seems to be part of an attempt to deal with the existential wackiness of our souls (selves) being linked to a body with so many issues, features and functions. The halakhot of the bathroom directly relate to this existential issue, and help us develop clarity in the relationships we have with the different aspects of the physical vessel we call "the body."

Covering our heads is an ancient and well-known halakha. It's supposed to help us remember "the One who is above us." But how does it do this, and where, exactly, is Hashem? Is He above us? Or everywhere? Or both?

Is it important to put your shoes on in a certain order? Or could it be that there's something else important that is being expressed and reflected in how you put on your shoes? Unexpectedly, that "something else" is the key to solving the political divide destroying so much of today's culture.

Halakhot of dress are the cover for a massive framework of perspectives of sexual energy. Understanding how this energy can pervade our perceptions is integral to healthy sexual relationships as well as every-day activities.

What is the concept of "kavod Shabbos," or "honoring Shabbos?" We always hear that we "rest" because Hashem "rested," but that sounds strange in two different ways. What is the deep core of the halakha of Shabbos?