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Rabbi Hoffman's book on Hebrew Paradox [Triangles]

Weekly Parsha with text and audio

On This Page:
Various subjects, videos and audio in no particular order

Ana B'Koach

Each of the seven lines of Ana B'Koach corresponds to one of the lower sefirot on the Etz Chayyim, the Tree of Life. Each of the six words in each of the seven lines, in turn, also correspond to a sefirah [sphere].

This video highlights the various permutations. In the first recitation, the words are spoken in pairs, using each line for a full inhalation and exhalation. The second version uses the song that came in a dream to one of Rabbi Hoffman's students years ago.

In the first, the permutations are rapid, in the second, much slower. During the seven weeks of the Sefirat ha Omer, we spend a full week on each sefira, with each weekday corresponding to a permutation, so they each take a whole day. An example of this would be: "Today is the 3rd day of the 5th week, or Tiferet of Hod.

ANA B'KOACH

Another ANA B'KOACH

 

Shacharit at Shalom al Yisroel Audio of the entire morning prayer service. Many parts include several voices, a guitar, tambourines and bells. Those parts were recorded during our Sunday morning davening.

Here is the Hoshana Rabba:




Psalm 119 ~ Read in Hebrew with English translation shown in a video.


Psalm 119 has 176 verses which are divided into twenty-two stanzas, one stanza for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet; within each stanza, each of the eight verses begins (in Hebrew) with that letter. The name of G-d (Yud Kei Vav Kei) appears twenty-four times.

The Jewish tradition is to read the stanzas for the letters of the names of people who are deceased - spelling out the person's name and sometimes ben [son] or bat [daughter] of "Mother's name." Also, the word "Neshama" [soul], which is Nun, Shin, Mem, Heh. Keep in mind that by reading the entire psalm, a person mentions ALL of the souls of everyone who has ever died.




Rabbi Hoffman's Classes and Study Groups on archive.org

Photos of Rabbi Hoffman and Neiel Baronberg's Recent Trip to Ukraine

More recordings of prayer services with Rabbi Hoffman are made into movies on on Rafi's youtube page. Many of these have Hebrew and transliteration that follows the singing as a learning tool.

Jewish History Timeline


Teshuva Therapy [a January 2008 essay]

Rabbi Hoffman and Deborah Miller [editor of Sacred Fire] are collaborating to bring Torah based dialectics and Torah psychotherapy to the world at large. Based on hours of telephone learning between Denver, Colorado, and Melbourne, Australia, Deborah and the Rabbi have completed several chapters of a proposed book, which are linked below.

Find out how Torah is relevant to YOUR life! Explore your life through the parsha and with the guidance of Rabbi Kaslonymos Kalmish Shapira, the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto, and our ancestors who have graciously allowed the stories of their mistakes and journies, to be told in full. Thursday nights, 7:30 p.m., Shalom Al Yisrael.

Recordings of many classes are on the Parsha page and much more audio can be found on archive.org with this link.

From Ari and Rabbi Hoffman:
“Hashem oz l’amo yiten, Hashem yevoraich es amo bashalom”…Amen.
Victim Psychology and Moshiach

Learning at the Grave of a Tzaddik

Here is a slide show and a one hour audio of Reb Henoch Dov Hoffman giving a shiur Erev Tisha B'Av 5773 [7/16/2013] at the Kever [grave] of Chaninah ben Dosa. The Rabbi's trip included a shiur at the kever of Rebbe Shimon Bar Yochai on Mount Meron, and the rest of the photos are at the kever of Rav Chanina Ben Dosa, and the ancient tree growing out of its roof.


The recording is about 57 minutes long, and the sound clears at about 90 seconds.

Some of the subjects of the shiur are:

Without Yochanan ben Zakkai, the learning would be lost. He started the yeshiva at Yavneh after being smuggled out of Jerusalem, and wrote down the mishneh. Without him there would be no Judaism today. The point is to develop the "Lev Tov" - the Good Heart.

The shiur is centered around a story from Talmud Chagigah about Yochanan ben Zakkai, Eliazar ben Arak and the concept that Maaseh Merkava [Kabbalah] cannot be taught in a place where there is cheating in business and only to a student who already knows it.

Concepts of sincerity, ulterior motives, authenticity in prayer emerge in the discussion. At the end, the group circles the kever 7 times singing Psalm 148. [Thanks to Arieh Chaim for the audio and photos]

Here is the Audio Mp3 - Opens in a new tab

 

Special subjects:

Torah Goes to the Movies
Jesus in the Talmud - a reaction to The Passion
Pessach Tshuva as Seuda
The Last Seder in the Warsaw Ghetto
Jewish History Timeline
Megillat Ruth

Playing with Negative Space : The Nation of the Void
[Includes a Kabbalistic look at the Morning Prayers and Chart]
Connecting the Dots: Integrating Reality by Embracing the Maidservant
[Addictive Sexuality]

Elul - Ezer C'negdo and Spiritual Hunger
The Torah of Radical Amazement Paradoxes, Provocations, and the Portal to Revelation
Tisha b'Av and Tu b'Av / The Sterile Womb and the Fruitful Womb

Holy Days
Rosh ha Shanah
Yom Kippur

THE TREE OF LIFE
THE FOUR WORLDS


Larger version with English at bottom of page

Hebrew Version

 

 

THE TREE OF LIFE
THE FOUR WORLDS

The chart above is an attempt to record all of the various sets of four that the Rabbi has connected to the four worlds of the Tree of Life. Different fonts were used to connect the themes, which makes graphic designers wince, but is a way to link the words in through the dense amount of content... I'm open to other ideas to resolve the design challenge.

Note that at the transition points in the service, moving up the tree in the chart above, between the worlds, the Kaddish is recited [when there is a minyan].

Sons of Leah

  • Ruvain - see my pain
  • Shimon - hear my bitterness
  • Levi - accompany me
  • Yehuda - gratitude

Print Versions of Rabbi Hoffman's "Dialectic of the Hebrew Language," a comprehensive guide to the Rabbi's teachings are available ~ just email Rabbi Hoffman

Also, now available: Posters of the Rabbi's Correspondences to the Tree of Life

Tree of Correspondences Poster
Tree of Correspondences Poster by RafiMetzDesign
20" by 28" ~ $17.50 plus shipping - available in all sizes

Three books by Rafi Metz, including a Hebrew primer for students and teachers:

 

Chaverim's notes and writings from learning with Rabbi Hoffman
About the Rabbi's Australia sojourn [June, 2003]
Rabbi Henoch's Teaching
Dancing with the Rabbi
Anyway & Simcha IV - by Yaakov S.

 

Sacred Fire: Torah from the Years of Fury 1939-1942 by Kalonimus Kalmish Ben Elimelekh, J. Hershy Worch, Deborah Miller, Kalonymos Kalmish, Rabbi Shapira
Publisher: Jason Aronson Publishers
Publish Date: December 2000

Sacred Fire [Amazon.com]

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