Shlomo Zacks has narrated 24 audiobooks on Listento.it by 13 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.2★ across 20 ratings. The most-rated is Torah Studies: A Parsha Anthology.
Torah Studies: A Parsha Anthology
Summary
In a paradigm of true leadership, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of sainted memory, embraced all issues of import to Jews, Jewish life, and beyond, spurring a Jewish revival that continues to gain momentum even after his passing. Through his incisive and illuminating Torah expositions, the Rebbe inspired an awareness of a attainable higher reality and sparked an enthusiasm for Torah study among scholars and layman alike. The essays collected here are selected from the Rebbe's investigations of the weekly Torah portion. In these studies of our most sacred text, the Rebbe weaves together many centuries of traditional Jewish scholarship, focusing them through the prism of his intense Chassidic spirituality. Time and again the result is a fresh insight into the great themes of Jewish life, themes no less relevant today than in our long and distinguished past. Torah Studies represents only a fragment of the vast body of the Rebbe's teaching. His collected writings and disourses are gathered in more than 200 volumes and constitute an immense legacy to future generations. They include Torah exposition, analysis of Jewish law, Talmudic discourses, explorations of Jewish mysticism and letters of guidance to Jews throughout the world. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, adapter of this work, is Chief Rabbi of Great Britian.
©1996, 1999, 2011 Kehot Publication Society (P)2014 Kehot Publication Society
The Jewish Book of Life After Life
Summary
What is a soul? What happens to us after we physically die? What is consciousness, and can it survive without a physical brain? Can we remember our past lives? Do near-death experiences prove immortality? How does reincarnation really work? Drawing from ancient Jewish wisdom and a modern understanding of consciousness, Rav Pinson explores the possibility of surviving death, the near-death experience, and a glimpse into what awaits us after this life. (This book is an updated and expanded version of the book Jewish Wisdom of the Afterlife.)
©2015 DovBer Pinson (P)2018 DovBer Pinson
Catch the Jew!
Summary
Catch the Jew! recounts the adventures of gonzo journalist Tuvia Tenenbom, who wanders around Israel and the Palestinian Authority for seven months in search of the untold truths in today's Holy Land. With holy chutzpah, Tenenbom boldly goes where no Jew has gone before, at times risking his life as he assumes the identities of Tobi the German and even Abu Ali in order to probe into the many stories in this strange land and poke holes in all of them. From the self-hating leftists in Tel Aviv to the self-promoting PLO execs in Ramallah, from the black-clad Haredim of Bet Shemesh to the glowing foreign human-rights activists in Beit Hanina, from Jewish settlers and the Christians who come from abroad to toil with them to ardent Jerusalem monks and Bedouins in surprisingly glorious shacks, Tenenbom takes on the people of the land, getting to know them and disarming them as he breaks bread and mingles with anyone and everyone. Does Palestinian wife number one hate the Jews more than she hates wife number two? Who finances cash-rich NGOs pursuing a Judenrein Israel? Who sets Palestinian olive groves on fire and why? What is the emotional gravity that pulls idealistic human-rights activists from other countries to Israel and only to Israel? Who are the flaming feminists who sacrifice their lives for the rights of polygamists? Whose land is this, anyway? By turns poignant, enraging, and laugh-out-loud funny, this unique travelogue lays bare the intensity of this turbulent land in an unprecedented, eye-opening education, person by person, city by city, and meal by meal. You will never look at Israel the same way again.
©2015 Tuvia Tenenbom (P)2015 Tuvia Tenenbom
Thirty-Two Gates
Summary
What is authentic Kabbalah? What did the Chassidic teachings innovate? Finally, a book that introduces and explains the most basic precepts of this ancient wisdom, in a practical, user-friendly way. Through the 32 Gates of awareness, from The Infinite Source of all life - to finite, immediate creation, Rav Pinson guides us along the map of creation and existence according to the deeper teachings of Torah. Words and concepts that are often confusing and esoteric - such as; the Ten Sefiros, Ein Sof, Tzimtzum and the various Names of the Divine - are demystified in this text, offering us a true gateway into a higher awareness and a more fulfilling existence. Each chapter is a gate to be opened and explored, and concludes with an affirmation that allows the listener to internalize the knowledge so it becomes understandable, relatable, and transformational.
©2019 DovBer Pinson (P)2019 DovBer Pinson
The Essential Talmud: An Introduction
Summary
The Essential Talmud is a masterful introduction by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz to the great repository of Jewish wisdom, the Talmud. A book of profound scholarship and concise pedagogy, The Essential Talmud succinctly describes the Talmud's history, structure, and methodology. It summarizes the Talmud's main principles, demonstrates its contemporary relevance, and captures the spirit of this unique and paradoxical sacred text as a human expression of divine law.
©2010 Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz (P)2018 Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
Israel's Edge
Summary
How will Israel keep its strategic edge over an increasingly dangerous Iran? Israel has been preparing for this day by creating a special and secretive IDF unit called Talpiot. Instead of being trained to fight, the few soldiers each year selected for Talpiot are taught how to think. In order to join this unit they have to commit to being in the army for 10 years, rather than the three years a normal soldier serves. Talpiots are taught advanced level physics, math, and computer science as they train with soldiers from every other branch of the IDF. The result: young men and women become research and development machines. Talpiots have developed battle ready weapons that only Israel's top military officers and political leaders know about. They have also dramatically improved many of the weapons already in Israel's arsenal. Talpiot has been tasked with keeping Israel a generation ahead of a rapidly strengthening and technologically capable Iran. Talpiots contribute to all of the areas that will be most important to the IDF as Iran becomes even more powerful including missile technology, anti-missile defense, cyber-warfare, intelligence, satellite technology and high powered imaging. Talpiot soldiers have also been a major factor in the never ending fight against Israel's other enemies and many have left the R&D lab to fly fighter planes, serve in the field as commanders of elite army ground units and at sea commanding Israel's fleet of naval ships. After leaving the army, Talpiots have become a major force in the Israeli economy, developing some of Israel's most famous and powerful companies. Israel's Edge contains dozens of interviews with Talpiot graduates and some of the early founders of the program. It explains Talpiot's highly successful recruiting methods and discloses many of the secrets of the program's success.
©2016 Jason Gewirtz (P)2017 Jason Gewirtz
Letters of Light
Summary
As a carpenter employs tools to build a home, so G-d utilized the 22 letters of the Hebrew Alphabet, the alef-beis, to form heaven and earth. These letters are the metaphorical wood, stone and nails, corner posts and crossbeams of our earthly and spiritual existence. In Letters of Light, Rabbi Aaron L. Raskin explores the essence of these holy letters, illustrating how they continue to be a source of creation, reflection, prayer, and inspiration in our everyday lives. Each letter is examined in terms of its design, gematria (numerical value), and Hebrew meaning. Rabbi Raskin's insights are guided by the rich foundations of Chasidic philosophy, particularly by the illuminations of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe. The result is a unique and insightful exposition of how the 22 letters of the alef-beis can provide wisdom and guidance for every aspect of our lives.
©2003 Rabbi Aaron L. Raskin; Sichos in English (P)2014 Rabbi Aaron L. Raskin
Wisdom to Heal the Earth - Meditations and Teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe
Summary
In Bringing Heaven Down to Earth, Tzvi Freeman explored an original means to deliver the wisdom of a great sage of our times, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, known universally as simply "the Rebbe". Using pithy yet highly readable, brief meditations, that book unveiled for us a deeper meaning to life and provided practical guidance to weather its waves and storms. It is a book that changed tens of thousands of lives. Now, in Wisdom to Heal the Earth, Freeman continues with that winning format, this time along with brief complementary essays. But now, he takes us yet further, peering toward the Rebbe's vision of a world toward which all humanity is headed and demonstrating how the details of our everyday lives are vital, crucial, and especially urgent today in reaching that grand and ultimate destiny. In Jewish parlance, we call this Tikun Olam - the notion that we all enter this world with a mission to accomplish: to repair and perfect our assigned share of the world so it can become the world its creator meant it to be.
©2018 Chabad.org (P)2019 Chabad.org
Inner Worlds of Jewish Prayer
Summary
The instinct to pray is as ancient as instinct itself. Prayer itself has taken on countless forms, from offerings to song, words to whispers, tearful supplication to sublime silence. At times, prayer is as primitive and raw as a cry for help; at times, prayer is a formulaic equation intended to effect change - but always, flowing from a place deep within, and forever with a hope for a better future. While attention is paid to the poetry, history, theology, and contextual meaning of the prayers, the intention of this work is to provide a guide to finding meaning and effecting transformation through our prayer experience. Explore: What happens when we pray? How do we enter the mind-state of prayer? Learning to incorporate the body into the prayers Discover techniques to enhance and deepen prayer and make it a transformative experience In this empowering and inspiring text, Rav Pinson demonstrates how through proper mindset, preparation, and dedication, the experience of prayer can be deeply transformative and ultimately, life-altering.
©2014 DovBer Pinson (P)2017 DovBer Pinson
The Garden of Paradox
Summary
Derived from actual discussions and classes at the IYYUN Center, The Garden of Paradox is a primer on the essential philosophy of Kabbalah, presented as a series of three conversations, revealing the mysteries of Creator, Creation, and Consciousness. With three representational students embodying, respectively, the philosopher, the activist, and the mystic, Rav DovBer Pinson tackles the larger questions of life. Who is God? Who am I? Why do I exist? What is my purpose in this life? Accessing the deepest secrets of Torah and Kabbalah, The Garden of Paradox helps us to find reason for the world we live in and the lives we have been given. Written in clear and concise prose, Rav DovBer Pinson gently guides the listener towards making sense of life's paradoxes and living meaningfully.
©2012 Dovber Pinson (P)2016 Dovber Pinson
Visualization and Imagery: Harnessing the Power of the Mind's Eye
Summary
In the realm of visualizations, there are both externally based visuals where one uses an actual external object as a focal point, as well as inner creative visualizations where one creates an image within the mind's eye. In addition, there are also awareness practices with which one learns to become aware of what already exists within the inner screen of the mind's eye. Each of these methods will be explored in detail throughout this book, along with explanatory ideas and anecdotal events meant to contextualize the practices within the broader framework of Torah thought and spiritual practice.
©2015 Dovber Pinson (P)2016 Dovber Pinson
Turning Judaism Outwards
Summary
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994), the Lubavitcher Rebbe, took an insular Chasidic group that was almost decimated by the Holocaust and transformed it into one of the most influential and controversial forces in world Jewry. This superbly crafted biography draws on recently uncovered documents and archives of personal correspondence, painting an exceptionally human and charming portrait of a man who was well known but little understood. With a sharp attention to detail and an effortless style, Chaim Miller takes us on a soaring journey through the life, mind and struggles of one of the most interesting religious personalities of the Twentieth Century.
©2014 Chaim Miller (P)2014 Chaim Miller
The Mystery of Shabbos
Summary
In The Mystery of Shabbos, Rav Pinson delves into the transformative power of Shabbos. With an all-encompassing perspective that ranges from the literal Pshat observation and Halachic implications of the texts to the allegorical, the philosophical, and finally, to the deeper secrets as revealed by Kabbalah and Chassidus, this audiobook creates an elegant tapestry of thought and experience. The Mystery of Shabbos is a profound meditation on the meaning of Shabbos and demonstrates the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual possibilities available and given to us with the gift of Shabbos. Studying and contemplating this inspired text on the depths of Shabbos will unveil a redemptive light in your experience of the Seventh Day - and by extension, every day of your life.
©2020 Dovber Pinson (P)2020 Dovber Pinson
Sound and Vibration: Tuning into the Echoes of Creation
Summary
Through our perception of sound and vibration, we internalize the world around us. What we hear and how we process that hearing has a profound impact on how we experience life. What we hear can empower us or harm us. A defining human capacity is to harness the power sound - through speech, dialogue, and song, and through listening to others. Hearing is a primary dimension of our existence. In fact, as a fetus, our ears were the first fully operating sensory organs to develop. This audiobook will guide you in methods of utilizing the power of sound and vibration to heal and maintain mental, emotional, and spiritual health, to fine-tune your midos and even to guide you into deeper levels of deveikus/conscious unity with Hashem. The vibratory patterns of the aleph-beis are particularly useful portals into our deeper conscious selves. Through chanting and deep listening, we can use the letters and sounds to shift our very mindset to induce us into a state of presence and spiritual elevation. Through the restoration of authentic Torah practices, Rav Pinson sheds new light onto these historical treasures and brings them into today's modern setting, providing us with real tools to transform our lives and connect with the Creator.
©2019 Dovber Pinson (P)2019 Dovber Pinson
Inside Time
Summary
Inside Time by acclaimed author, Rabbi Yanki Tauber, is a three-volume book series exploring the soul of time as defined by the Torah and illuminated by Chassidic thought, particularly by the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. The three volumes of this series examine the essence of time and its origins in the primordial phases of creation; the cycles and systems that characterize it and define the trajectories of our lives; and the particular time-qualities that are brought into focus by the festivals and special dates of the Hebrew calendar.
©2015 Meaningful Life Center (P)2015 Meaningful Life Center
Of Tears and Laughter
Summary
A Talmudic exegesis by the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson. Adapted from two siyumim delivered by the Rebbe (on tractates Makkot and Yoma), Of Tears and Laughter focuses on two moving Talmudic stories that occurred in the aftermath of the destruction of the second Beit Hamikdash. With his unique, holistic approach to Torah study, the Rebbe explores the positions taken by the leading Sages of that time, and examines their lives and teachings. With a spotlight on Rabbi Akiva and his response, the Rebbe searches the Talmud for laws taught by Rabbi Akiva, his life's story, and allusions to the composition of his very soul, to provide a comprehensive and insightful reasoning for Rabbi Akiva's optimism. In the final analysis, the Rebbe provides a breathtaking mosaic of the leaders of the Jewish people in the post-second Beit Hamikdash era.
©2017 Kehot Publication Society (P)2017 Kehot Publication Society
Koren Talmud Bavli Vol. 20
Summary
The Koren Talmud Bavli is a groundbreaking edition of the Talmud that fuses the innovative design of Koren Publishers Jerusalem with the incomparable scholarship of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. Aramaic. Please note: This audiobook is in Hebrew.
©2015 Adin Steinsaltz (P)2015 Adin Steinsaltz
Yes, It's Possible
Summary
Ehud Diskin's mother wanted him to play it safe when he was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces. Instead, he volunteered for one of the IDF's most dangerous assignments in a move that altered the course of his life. In Yes, It's Possible, a compelling new translation of his Hebrew memoir, Diskin recounts his fascinating and tumultuous life story growing up and maturing alongside the State of Israel. The son of a family with deep roots in Israel, Diskin is a member of Israel's statehood generation, whose first memories are of the War of Independence. These children were later called upon to physically defend Israel's existence and sovereignty. Diskin served as a commander in the Armored Corps during the War of Attrition, Yom Kippur War, and later in the Planning Division of the IDF. He eventually reached the rank of colonel. Yes, It's Possible is full of captivating stories, funny anecdotes, and nostalgia for the little Israel of bygone days, along with the penetrating human insights of a sharp and successful businessman.
©2015 Gefen Publishing House (P)2015 Gefen Publishing House
Thou Shalt Innovate: How Israeli Ingenuity Repairs the World
Summary
Thou Shalt Innovate profiles wondrous Israeli innovations that are collectively changing the lives of billions of people around the world, and explores why Israeli innovators of all faiths feel compelled to make the world better. This is the story of how Israelis are helping to feed the hungry, cure the sick, protect the defenseless, and make the desert bloom. Israel is playing a disproportionate role in helping solve some of the world's biggest challenges by tapping into the nation's soul: the spirit of tikkun olam - the Jewish concept of repairing the world. Following Start-Up Nation's account of Israel's incredibly prolific start-up scene, Thou Shalt Innovate tells the story of how Israeli innovation is making the whole world a better place. Israel has extraordinary innovators who are bound together by their desire to save lives and find higher purpose. In a part of the world that has more than its share of darkness, these stories are rays of light.
©2018 Avi Jorisch (P)2018 Gefen Publishing House
Inside Time 3 Volume Set
Summary
Inside Time, by acclaimed author Rabbi Yanki Tauber, is a three-volume book series exploring the soul of time as defined by the Torah and illuminated by Chassidic thought, particularly by the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. The three volumes of this series examine the essence of time and its origins in the primordial phases of creation; the cycles and systems that characterize it and define the trajectories of our lives; and the particular time-qualities that are brought into focus by the festivals and special dates of the Hebrew calendar. Volume one addresses the mystical view of time and its cycles. Volume two covers all the holidays and significant days from Rosh Hashana through Purim. Volume three covers all the holidays and significant days from Passover through Elul, the closing month of the Hebrew year.
©2015 Meaningful Life Center (P)2015 Meaningful Life Center