Shtark Torah for Shtark Yiddin

Pri Etz Hadar: The Foundation of the Tu Bishvat Seder Investigating the root of this practice. Tu Bishvat, often called the "New Year of the Trees," has evolved from an agricultural milestone into a mystical celebration of nature’s spiritual depths. At the heart of this transformation is the Pri Etz Hadar, a Kabbalistic text from the 17th century that serves as the basis for the Tu Bishvat Seder. Rooted in the teachings of Rabbi Isaac Luria and his disciples, the Seder mirrors the structure of the Passover Seder, guiding participants through four mystical worlds—Asiyah (Action), Yetzirah (Formation), Beriah (Creation), and...

Why does the Torah start with the letter “Bet?” The key to answering this question lies in understanding the “Priomordial Alef.”

Midrash Bereshit Rabbah א:א opens by explaining the process through which God began to create the world. Toying with its beginning at א:א it begins by featuring two words starting with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet - Alef.

A psychedelic approach to Mishnah, and Torah study in general is not different from that which these disciplines already seeks to accomplish: to recognize and make abundantly clear the connection between all things, which stems from the divine, the One. When one sets out on the quest to acquire a psychedelic understanding of Torah, they must prepare themselves with meditation, contemplation, and intention in anticipation of the perspective shift necessary to acquire such understandings. Whether the subject of study be Mikra, Mishnah, Midrash, or otherwise, one ought to arrive at the site of study with the awareness that what they...

The word “Mishnah” comes from the Hebrew root ש.נ.ה (shin-nun-hey) which means “to repeat.” The preservation of our Oral Torah was a concerted effort of students memorizing the teachings of elders, thus securing wisdom for future generations. As the corpus grew, teachings were organized, often topically. The organization of the Mishnah as it stands presently is something we can count on. So now we’ll count it out for you. There are six sedarim (seder singular) or ‘Orders’ that recount the main subjects of the corpus. Each seder contains between seven to twelve masechtot (masechet singular) that further subdivide the main...

In this recording I share some torah my dear friend Yonim Schweig z'l shared excitedly with me one day. You can follow the sources at www.sefaria.org/sheets/334075  ShtarkShirts Mishnah · Torat Yonim