May 27, 2025 • 9 mins
Welcome to the intro episode of the new season of Truths: Jewish Wisdom for Today—“Seeking Ecstasy.” In this kickoff, Rabbi Dr. Levi Brackman explains why the podcast paused, why he’s launching from the holy city of Safed, and what this season is all about: exploring personal Jewish theology and the paths each of us can take to encounter the Divine in ecstatic communion.
🔍 In this episode you’ll discover:
- The story behind the podcast’s brief hiatus and its return
- The two dimensions of Jewish theology—communal mission vs. personal relationship with God
- How Torah figures from Adam to Moses modeled the search for Divine connection
- Why Safed (Tzfat), center of Kabbalistic study, sets the stage for “Seeking Ecstasy”
- A preview of upcoming conversations with thought leaders on mystical pathways
🔔 Subscribe for weekly episodes diving into personal theology, transformative teachings, and fearless critical inquiry.
👍 Like if you’re ready to embark on your own journey toward Divine ecstasy.
💬 Comment below: What does “ecstasy” mean to you in your spiritual practice?
Levi Brackman is a rabbi, Ph.D. in psychology, best-selling author of Jewish Wisdom for Business Success, and founder of Invown, a platform for real estate fundraising and investing.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Welcome to Truths the podcastwhere love for Tyra is real, the
Jewish people, and God meetsfearless critical inquiry
through powerful conversationsand thought provoking solo
teachings, we explore howtimeless Jewish wisdom can
ignite 21st century meaning.
Drive personal transformation,deepen our connection to God and
(00:25):
to one another, and inspire boldaction to heal our world.
Here's your host, rabbi, Dr.
Levy.
Brackman.
it's La Brackman, with truths,Jewish Wisdom for today.
Thank you so much for joiningthis is a brand new season of
(00:49):
the podcast Truths, JewishWisdom for today, I'm calling
this season Seeking Ecstasy.
Now, as you can see, I am not inmy regular setting, not in my
office, but rather.
I am in the Holy city of sva.
As you can see, in thebackground, got the hills of the
Galilee, and this is really avery, very wonderful setting and
(01:12):
a very, very appropriate placeto be launching this new season
of this podcast, which I hopewill be very informative for
you, but also it's a journeywhich I'm very excited to take.
So let me explain to you myaudience a little bit about what
this season is going to be aboutand why I'm embarking upon this
(01:35):
season.
But before I do, I think Iperhaps owe an explanation of
why this podcast has had alittle bit of a hiatus recently,
and that is because general inmy life, I always look at what
my priorities are in any giventime.
A number of months ago, itbecame apparent to me that there
were other things that weretaking priority from doing the
podcast.
You know, this podcast actuallytakes a while to film and to
(01:58):
prepare for, and therefore, inorder to do it right, I need to
dedicate time in my week to it.
And I found that there wereother issues which I had to deal
with in other areas of my liferelated to my businesses that I
had to focus on, and therefore,the priorities.
Changed.
It doesn't mean that the podcastwasn't still a priority, but
(02:19):
other things moved up in thepriority list and therefore this
moved down a little bit.
Now those things now are takinga little bit of a lesser
priority.
And now the podcast is again, a.
Higher up in the priority list,and therefore I'm taking the
time again to film theseepisodes.
But this season is going to bedifferent.
I'm calling it Seeking Ecstasybecause what it's really about
(02:40):
is trying to figure out Jewishtheology.
Now, I wanna explained to youwhat I mean by Jewish theology
because there's in my mind, atleast two kinds of Jewish
theology.
They're really one but There'sdifferent areas of focus, if you
like, of Jewish theology.
Very often when we talk aboutJewish theology, what people are
referring to is the overarchingmeta theology of Judaism.
(03:02):
Like what is Judaism supposed todo in the world?
Why is it important anddifferent than perhaps other
theologies, maybe otherreligions, et cetera.
What is it that Judaism offers,which is different from a
theological perspective than allthese other theologies, which
are out there?
That is not what I'm gonna befocusing on in this season of
the podcast.
(03:22):
Perhaps.
I did focus on that in previousseasons a little bit, not by
name, but, in part of what wediscussed.
But in this season of thepodcast, I'm gonna be talking
about very much a personaltheology of Judaism.
And what I mean by that is whatare the.
Individual personalrelationships with God.
(03:43):
What does Judaism say and howdoes Judaism portray the
individual relationship with thedivine?
Certainly if you look at theTorah, and we've spent in this
podcast many, many months, everysingle week going through the
Torah portion.
If you look in the Torah, one ofthe things that it seems that
comes out from the Torah morethan anything else is that all
(04:06):
the characters in the Torah werepeople who were seeking
encounters or communion withGod, with the divine, all the
way from Adam when he wascreated from God through to
Abraham, through to Moses.
And Aaron, and so on and soforth.
All these were characters whowere seeking communion
(04:28):
relationship.
They could, if you like,cleaving to God.
They were seeking an encounterwith God.
So how does one attain anencounter with the divine?
What does Judaism say aboutthat?
There are many differentopinions with regard to that.
Well-trodden opinions that arefound within Judaism and here
(04:50):
I've been in SVA over theweekend and one of the wonderful
things that happen when one isin a city like spot one
encounter on talks and meetslots of different people and
one, has the ability to havelots of impromptu conversations
with just random people.
But the beauty of being inva isthat they're not just random
people, because most of thepeople who are here are very
(05:11):
deeply spiritually in tuned andspecifically in a Jewish way.
And so you can walk into asynagogue here and just meet
someone who just happens to knowthe entire shas almost off by
heart, and that's just almost aregular occurrence taking place
here.
People take their Judaism andtheir spirituality in this city
very, very seriously, which iswhy I wanted to launch this
(05:35):
season of the podcast from theHoly City of sva.
That is, if you remember, inprevious episodes, in previous
seasons, I did a whole season onthe Kabbalah, specifically the
Kabbalah of the Ari.
The Ari Kash, the Holy Ari, whotaught for three years here in
the holy city of sva.
I prayed on Shabbat in thesynagogue and the Be Madras in
(05:55):
the study hall of the Ari, herein sva.
So.
This is a place where peoplecome for their spirituality,
come to be in tune with thedivine and seek they could.
One of the wonderful thingsabout being here is you can just
encounter people and have thesewonderful conversations.
And I did that multiple times,over the weekend but what one
(06:16):
finds is that there are manydifferent views of ku.
A personal Jewish theology.
So what I intend to do in thisseason is to have conversations
with multiple different people,to ask them what is their
personal theology?
What do they view one might callit, their de hashem, their
(06:39):
methodology, their pathway inthe service of the divine.
And the way I would put that inEnglish is what is their
methodology in order toencounter?
Divine in order to have acommunion with the divine.
How do they reach that?
How do they achieve that?
And I'm calling this seasonseeking ecstasy because ecstasy
(07:00):
in Hebrew is, and there is, abook written by the second
Habad, rabbi Dove Bear known.
In Haat circles as the Midlerrabbi, the middle rabbi called
contrasts his pylos, which meanstracked on ecstasy.
Its a wonderful translation ofthat by, Louis Jacobs.
(07:21):
And in that he talks about howto reach divine ecstasy or
ecstasy on the divine.
And then there's differentopinions which are also related
to that from other people.
Chiefly the main rival of DoveBear, whose name was Aaron from
STR or Mr.
And he wrote other books, one inparticular called Shada, which
(07:44):
means the Gateway to Service,meaning Gateway to Divine
Service, where he also talksabout this kind of ecstasy.
And when one reaches some kindof level of communion with the
divine, there is some kind ofecstasy, which comes about as a
result of that.
So that's why I'm calling thisseason seeking Ecstasy because
what ultimately this wholedesire or this whole thirsting
(08:09):
yearning for the divine shouldreach in is this kind of
ecstasy.
So I want to see how people havetheir own personal theologies in
this journey.
Of seeking ecstasy.
I'm gonna be interviewing lotsof thought leaders, people who
have thought about this, peoplewho have their own opinions,
(08:30):
maybe their own experiences onthe path to ku, on the path to
ecstasy.
I'm really looking forward tothe conversations I'm going to
be having.
From people like Tz Greenberg,all the way to people like,
rabbi Yuval Charlo and othersalong the way, who have opinions
about what it means to have anencounter with the divine.
(08:52):
I'm looking forward to thoseconversations and sharing them
with you.
And also I'll be doing some soloepisodes where I'll be sharing
ideas that I've studied inrelation to this I idea of
having a personal theology orwhat is a personal Jewish
theology really all about.
So I'm looking forward to thisseason.
I'm here in the holy city of SVAkicking it off because this is,
(09:15):
as I mentioned, the appropriateplace to do it.
I'm really looking forward toit.
I hope that you will gain out ofit as well along this journey.
Again, this has been LavyBrackman with Truth, Jewish
Wisdom for today.
Starting off the first episode,the intro episode to the new
season called Seeking Ecstasy,and.
(09:35):
Until next time, this is yourhost, Lavy Braman.
Welcome to Truths the podcastwhere love for Tyra is real, the
Jewish people, and God meetsfearless critical inquiry
through powerful conversationsand thought provoking solo
teachings, we explore howtimeless Jewish wisdom can
ignite 21st century meaning.
Drive personal transformation,deepen our connection to God and
(00:25):
to one another, and inspire boldaction to heal our world.
Here's your host, rabbi, Dr.
Levy.
Brackman.
it's La Brackman, with truths,Jewish Wisdom for today.
Thank you so much for joiningthis is a brand new season of
(00:49):
the podcast Truths, JewishWisdom for today, I'm calling
this season Seeking Ecstasy.
Now, as you can see, I am not inmy regular setting, not in my
office, but rather.
I am in the Holy city of sva.
As you can see, in thebackground, got the hills of the
Galilee, and this is really avery, very wonderful setting and
(01:12):
a very, very appropriate placeto be launching this new season
of this podcast, which I hopewill be very informative for
you, but also it's a journeywhich I'm very excited to take.
So let me explain to you myaudience a little bit about what
this season is going to be aboutand why I'm embarking upon this
(01:35):
season.
But before I do, I think Iperhaps owe an explanation of
why this podcast has had alittle bit of a hiatus recently,
and that is because general inmy life, I always look at what
my priorities are in any giventime.
A number of months ago, itbecame apparent to me that there
were other things that weretaking priority from doing the
podcast.
You know, this podcast actuallytakes a while to film and to
(01:58):
prepare for, and therefore, inorder to do it right, I need to
dedicate time in my week to it.
And I found that there wereother issues which I had to deal
with in other areas of my liferelated to my businesses that I
had to focus on, and therefore,the priorities.
Changed.
It doesn't mean that the podcastwasn't still a priority, but
(02:19):
other things moved up in thepriority list and therefore this
moved down a little bit.
Now those things now are takinga little bit of a lesser
priority.
And now the podcast is again, a.
Higher up in the priority list,and therefore I'm taking the
time again to film theseepisodes.
But this season is going to bedifferent.
I'm calling it Seeking Ecstasybecause what it's really about
(02:40):
is trying to figure out Jewishtheology.
Now, I wanna explained to youwhat I mean by Jewish theology
because there's in my mind, atleast two kinds of Jewish
theology.
They're really one but There'sdifferent areas of focus, if you
like, of Jewish theology.
Very often when we talk aboutJewish theology, what people are
referring to is the overarchingmeta theology of Judaism.
(03:02):
Like what is Judaism supposed todo in the world?
Why is it important anddifferent than perhaps other
theologies, maybe otherreligions, et cetera.
What is it that Judaism offers,which is different from a
theological perspective than allthese other theologies, which
are out there?
That is not what I'm gonna befocusing on in this season of
the podcast.
(03:22):
Perhaps.
I did focus on that in previousseasons a little bit, not by
name, but, in part of what wediscussed.
But in this season of thepodcast, I'm gonna be talking
about very much a personaltheology of Judaism.
And what I mean by that is whatare the.
Individual personalrelationships with God.
(03:43):
What does Judaism say and howdoes Judaism portray the
individual relationship with thedivine?
Certainly if you look at theTorah, and we've spent in this
podcast many, many months, everysingle week going through the
Torah portion.
If you look in the Torah, one ofthe things that it seems that
comes out from the Torah morethan anything else is that all
(04:06):
the characters in the Torah werepeople who were seeking
encounters or communion withGod, with the divine, all the
way from Adam when he wascreated from God through to
Abraham, through to Moses.
And Aaron, and so on and soforth.
All these were characters whowere seeking communion
(04:28):
relationship.
They could, if you like,cleaving to God.
They were seeking an encounterwith God.
So how does one attain anencounter with the divine?
What does Judaism say aboutthat?
There are many differentopinions with regard to that.
Well-trodden opinions that arefound within Judaism and here
(04:50):
I've been in SVA over theweekend and one of the wonderful
things that happen when one isin a city like spot one
encounter on talks and meetslots of different people and
one, has the ability to havelots of impromptu conversations
with just random people.
But the beauty of being inva isthat they're not just random
people, because most of thepeople who are here are very
(05:11):
deeply spiritually in tuned andspecifically in a Jewish way.
And so you can walk into asynagogue here and just meet
someone who just happens to knowthe entire shas almost off by
heart, and that's just almost aregular occurrence taking place
here.
People take their Judaism andtheir spirituality in this city
very, very seriously, which iswhy I wanted to launch this
(05:35):
season of the podcast from theHoly City of sva.
That is, if you remember, inprevious episodes, in previous
seasons, I did a whole season onthe Kabbalah, specifically the
Kabbalah of the Ari.
The Ari Kash, the Holy Ari, whotaught for three years here in
the holy city of sva.
I prayed on Shabbat in thesynagogue and the Be Madras in
(05:55):
the study hall of the Ari, herein sva.
So.
This is a place where peoplecome for their spirituality,
come to be in tune with thedivine and seek they could.
One of the wonderful thingsabout being here is you can just
encounter people and have thesewonderful conversations.
And I did that multiple times,over the weekend but what one
(06:16):
finds is that there are manydifferent views of ku.
A personal Jewish theology.
So what I intend to do in thisseason is to have conversations
with multiple different people,to ask them what is their
personal theology?
What do they view one might callit, their de hashem, their
(06:39):
methodology, their pathway inthe service of the divine.
And the way I would put that inEnglish is what is their
methodology in order toencounter?
Divine in order to have acommunion with the divine.
How do they reach that?
How do they achieve that?
And I'm calling this seasonseeking ecstasy because ecstasy
(07:00):
in Hebrew is, and there is, abook written by the second
Habad, rabbi Dove Bear known.
In Haat circles as the Midlerrabbi, the middle rabbi called
contrasts his pylos, which meanstracked on ecstasy.
Its a wonderful translation ofthat by, Louis Jacobs.
(07:21):
And in that he talks about howto reach divine ecstasy or
ecstasy on the divine.
And then there's differentopinions which are also related
to that from other people.
Chiefly the main rival of DoveBear, whose name was Aaron from
STR or Mr.
And he wrote other books, one inparticular called Shada, which
(07:44):
means the Gateway to Service,meaning Gateway to Divine
Service, where he also talksabout this kind of ecstasy.
And when one reaches some kindof level of communion with the
divine, there is some kind ofecstasy, which comes about as a
result of that.
So that's why I'm calling thisseason seeking Ecstasy because
what ultimately this wholedesire or this whole thirsting
(08:09):
yearning for the divine shouldreach in is this kind of
ecstasy.
So I want to see how people havetheir own personal theologies in
this journey.
Of seeking ecstasy.
I'm gonna be interviewing lotsof thought leaders, people who
have thought about this, peoplewho have their own opinions,
(08:30):
maybe their own experiences onthe path to ku, on the path to
ecstasy.
I'm really looking forward tothe conversations I'm going to
be having.
From people like Tz Greenberg,all the way to people like,
rabbi Yuval Charlo and othersalong the way, who have opinions
about what it means to have anencounter with the divine.
(08:52):
I'm looking forward to thoseconversations and sharing them
with you.
And also I'll be doing some soloepisodes where I'll be sharing
ideas that I've studied inrelation to this I idea of
having a personal theology orwhat is a personal Jewish
theology really all about.
So I'm looking forward to thisseason.
I'm here in the holy city of SVAkicking it off because this is,
(09:15):
as I mentioned, the appropriateplace to do it.
I'm really looking forward toit.
I hope that you will gain out ofit as well along this journey.
Again, this has been LavyBrackman with Truth, Jewish
Wisdom for today.
Starting off the first episode,the intro episode to the new
season called Seeking Ecstasy,and.
(09:35):
Until next time, this is yourhost, Lavy Braman.
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