The Neshamah Project
Religion & Spirituality
About
Rabbi Ben is a teacher of esoteric Wisdom, kabbalistic and musical.
Episodes
- Neshamah Project Episode 111: Humility and Renewal
Neshamah Project Episode 111 features a teaching from R' Elimelekh of Lezhinsk, drawing from the Noam Elimelekh, specifically on the biblical passages BaMidbar, Numbers 1:1, 2:1, discussing themes of humility and renewal.
- The Neshamah Project Episode 110: A Taste of Reenchantment
This episode of The Neshamah Project features Rabbi Ben Newman discussing a teaching from the Meor Einayim, which posits Shabbat as a preview of the world to come. It explores how practices like Shabbat, silence, and meditation can serve a…
- Neshamah Project Podcast- Episode 109: Same Letters, Different World
Episode 109 of The Neshamah Project Podcast discusses the spiritual power of letters and language, using a story about the Baal Shem Tov to illustrate how perception can transform negative circumstances. It encourages listeners to consider…
- Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 108: Inner Freedom
This episode of The Neshamah Project discusses the Exodus as an internal journey, using Hasidic teachings. Rabbi Ben leads reflections and meditations on themes of constraint, faith, and transformation, with practical exercises.
- Neshamah Project Episode 107: The Architecture of Illumination
Episode 107 of The Neshamah Project discusses Parshat Tetzaveh, focusing on the concepts of connection and wisdom. It explores how awareness and understanding can transform challenging life experiences into sources of light.
- The Neshamah Project-Epsiode 106: Taking the Infinite Home
In this episode of The Neshamah Project, Rabbi Ben Newman explores the deeper meaning of “Vayikchu li terumah” — not as giving something to God, but as taking the Divine into our own lives. Drawing on Hasidic and kabbalistic teachings, we…
- Neshamah Project Epsiode 105: The Hidden Ledger
A mystical reading of Mishpatim that reframes justice as part of a longer soul-arc. Drawing on the Degel Machaneh Ephraim and the Zohar, this episode explores how moments that feel unfair may be part of a deeper reckoning, not punishment b…
- Neshamah Project Episode 104: Redemption Is Singular, Power That Lifts
his episode of The Neshamah Project explores a Hasidic teaching that insists liberation happens one person at a time, each according to their own inner awareness and capacity. We reflect on Moses as a figure of parental love—one who carrie…
- Neshamah Project: Tu Bishvat Special | The Great Chain
For Tu Bishvat, I recorded a special episode of The Neshamah Project Podcast that moves from soil to soul. A spoken-word meditation on the four layers of being: doing, feeling, thinking, and simply being. From dirty hands and daily obligat…
- Neshamah Project Podcast Epsiode 103: The Long Way Around
In this episode of The Neshamah Project, we explore a piercing teaching from the Noam Elimelekh on the Exodus that reframes Pharaoh as the inner force of resistance to change. Drawing on Hasidic psychology, the text examines why stopping h…
- Neshamah Project Episode 102: Does a Golem Count?
A dream-text from R. Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin wrestles with a haunting question: what does it mean to count as a person in sacred community? Moving through golems, speech, da’at, obligation, and minyan, this reflection probes the line betw…
- Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 101: The Power That Heals or Harms
This week we explore two Hasidic teachings on Parashat Va’era that ask how spiritual power becomes healing rather than harmful. Drawing on the Degel Machaneh Ephraim and the Maor VaShemesh, the episode examines the Torah’s pairing of firmn…
- Neshamah Project Podcast: Episode 100-Names in Motion
What if meaning isn’t something we think our way into, but something we do our way into? In this episode of The Neshamah Project, we explore a teaching from Ohr HaMeir on the opening of Shemot, where holy names are not fixed labels but liv…
- Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 99: The Purpose of Descent
This week we look at two Hasidic readings of Vayeshev that together map the inner life: Siach Chayyim teaches that the soul’s descent into this world is purposeful, an apprenticeship in humility, growth, and learning to say “Here I am” eve…
- Neshamah Project Podcast: Episode 98-Two Camps & The Hidden Face: Wrestling with the Inner Esau
This episode explores how our words of Torah, prayer, and intention become “messengers” that protect and guide us when we face our inner Esau, the parts of us that pull us off our path. Drawing on Siach Chayyim, we look at Jacob’s strategy…
- Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 97: The Inner Journey
In this week’s episode we explore commentaries from the Skulyer Rebbe and the Or HaMeir, each offering a fierce little window into inner change—lifting ourselves from old patterns, giving voice to buried truth, and integrating both our hid…
- Neshamah Project: Episode 96- Mysterious Realms
This episode weaves three Degel teachings from Toldot into one arc: Torah-awareness as the “added hey” that opens new possibilities, the idea that our personal lack mirrors a deeper cosmic wound, and the insight that real change comes not…
- Neshamah Project Podcast: Episode 95- Becoming Sarah/Shechinah
This week we sit with the Degel’s teaching that Sarah—Shekhinah—becomes “whole” in Kiryat Arba, the place where four directions of Divine flow meet. The mystics say wholeness comes when our own inner movements—reaching, receiving, groundin…
- Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 94: The Body as a Doorway Between Worlds
In this episode of The Neshamah Project, we explore two luminous teachings from the Maor VaShemesh that reveal how embodied life itself can become a vessel for awakening. First, we reflect on Abraham’s transformation into a living conduit…
- Neshamah Project: Episode 93: Go Forth--The Call Beyond Comfort
In this episode, Rabbi Ben Newman reflects on a teaching from the Maor VaShemesh about Abraham’s journey as a metaphor for our own spiritual unfolding. What does it mean to “go forth” from the stories we’ve inherited — from our comfort zon…
- The Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 92: The Tree, Light, and Death
In this episode of The Neshamah Project, we explore a luminous teaching from the Kedushat Levi on Genesis 2:17. Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev reimagines the story of Eden not as a tale of sin, but as a lesson in spiritual readiness — ab…
- The Neshamaha Project: Episode 91- All Is Breath: The Maor VaShemesh on Kohelet
In this episode of The Neshamah Project, we explore two luminous teachings from the Maor VaShemesh on Kohelet. First, “All is breath” — a vision of life as sacred exhalation, where every word and action flows from divine intention. Second,…
- The Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 90: Sparks of Return
After the death of Aaron’s sons, the Torah places the Yom Kippur service—why there, and why “not at all times” yet “once a year”? Drawing on the Maor VaShemesh, we explore how all souls are one body, how one mitzvah can tip the world, and…
- Neshamah Project Podcast: Episode 89: Desire and the First Fruits of the Heart
In this week’s episode, we explore the mitzvah of bringing the first fruits and the deeper spiritual meaning hidden within it. The Maor VaShemesh teaches that the practice is not only about gratitude, but about desire itself—how we meet ou…
- The Neshamah Project: Episode 88 – Returning the Ox, Building the Guardrail
Two Hasidic masters read the portion of Ki Teitzei in strikingly different yet complementary ways. The Maor VaShemesh teaches that “returning a lost ox or sheep” is about guiding a friend back when their awe or love has strayed—while also…
- Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 87: Rebbe Nachman's Tale of Trust
A Tale of Trust — Rebbe Nachman tells the story of a king who, despite his wealth, discovers true freedom from worry in the joy and faith of a poor fiddler. Again and again, the fiddler’s livelihood is taken from him, yet he adapts with tr…
- Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 86: Justice as Sacred Partnership
What if every act of honest judgment made you a partner in the unfolding of Creation? In this episode, we explore mystical and Hasidic teachings on justice from Degel Machaneh Ephraim and Maor VaShemesh. These powerful texts invite us to s…
- Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 85
In this episode of The Neshamah Project Podcast, we explore two teachings from the Maor VaShemesh on Parashat Re’eh. The first reminds us that the fullness of any mitzvah is revealed when practiced in humility and within community, where t…
- Neshamah Project: Episode 84- A Torah Too Vast for This World
In this episode, Rabbi Ben explores the Maor VaShemesh’s teaching on Parashat Eikev, revealing a Torah so vast it had to be compressed to fit into our world. We journey from the primordial origins of Torah, teshuvah, and Eden to the promis…
- Neshamah Project Episode 83: Light Through Contrast: Korach, the Firmament, and Thriving in Imperfection
In this episode we explore the Noam Elimelekh’s radical insight that the very presence of darkness makes our light shine brighter. Beginning with Korach’s act of “separating himself” and the Genesis image of the rakia—the luminous firmame…
- Neshamah Project Episode 82: Choosing Light
In this episode, we explore a luminous teaching from Kedushat Levi on Parashat Sh’lach: that the glory of the Divine isn’t revealed through perfection or purity, but through our very human capacity to choose goodness in the face of struggl…
- Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 81- Raise the Light: Aharon, Integrity, and the Menorah
Why does Rashi praise Aharon simply for not deviating from a command? In this episode of The Neshamah Project, we explore a deep teaching from the Degel Machaneh Ephraim on Aharon's unwavering integrity. We reflect on what it means to live…
- Neshamah Project Podcast: Episode 80: The Blessing of Light Seen
This week we dive into the Degel Machaneh Ephraim’s luminous reading of the Priestly Blessing, unpacking what it means for grace to be both given and recognized. You’ll hear an inclusive, gender-neutral translation of the text, a fresh ref…
- Neshamah Project Episode 79: Quiet Greatness
In this episode, we explore the Maor VaShemesh’s teaching on how true spiritual maturity moves from loud, visible striving to quiet, inward devotion. Drawing on Torah, prayer, and lovingkindness, we reflect on the path from struggle to dee…
- Neshamah Project Podcast: Episode 78: Stranger in a Strange Land
This week, we explore teachings from Degel Machaneh Ephraim on Parashat Behar, offering guidance for modern spiritual seekers. What does it mean to be a “sojourner” with the Divine? How can we redeem the holiness hidden in our daily lives?…
- Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 77: How We Read It
We explore a mystical Hasidic teaching from the Degel Machaneh Ephraim on Parashat Emor—how Divine speech becomes healing or harmful depending on how we "combine the letters." Join me for a reflection on sacred interpretation, spiritual re…
- Neshamah Project Episode 76: The Two Goats: Wholeness Through Shadow and Light
In this episode, we explore a mystical passage from the Zohar (Pinchas 102:679) that unpacks the ancient Yom Kippur ritual of the two goats—one offered to YHVH, the other sent to Azazel. Through this lens, we reflect on the dual nature of…
- Neshamah Project Episode 75: Words Create Worlds
A soul-stirring teaching from Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl (the Me’or Einayim) on Metzora — how our words create worlds, how harmful speech diminishes Divine joy, and how Torah can heal and restore the sacred power of speech. A deep…
- The Neshamah Project Episode 74: Elijah's Fire-Yearning Toward Wholeness
In this week’s episode, we dive into a powerful teaching from the Me’or Einayim on Parashat Pinchas (with a nod to Shemini)—exploring the mystical link between Elijah, fiery longing, and the soul’s role in the unfolding of redemption. Elij…
- Neshamah Project Episode 73: Between the Sea and the Fire-Spiritual Courage in Times of Crisis
In this episode, we journey through the mystical depths of three Hasidic masters—Maor VaShemesh, Esh Kodesh, and Mei HaShiloach—each offering profound insight into how we navigate moments of spiritual and existential pressure. The Maor VaS…
- Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 72
This episode explores a luminous teaching from the Me’or Einayim on Parashat Tzav—revealing how Torah can elevate us when we tap into the Hidden Light the primordial radiance beyond words and time. We reflect on how true learning connects…
- Neshamah Project Episode 71: The Whisper That Calls Us Back
Episode Title: The Whisper That Calls Us Back In this episode, we explore a teaching from the Degel Machaneh Ephraim that reminds us a divine call to return echoes within us every day. Drawing on the image of Moses as the inner voice of sp…
- Neshamah Project: Episode 70: The Sacred Crown and the Hidden Spark
"They made the tzitz, the sacred crown…" (Exodus 39:30). How can lifting our eyes to the heavens help us uncover hidden wisdom — even in a fragmented and broken world? In this episode, we explore how the tzitz (sacred headplate) symbolizes…
- Neshamah Project Podcast: Episode 69
In this episode we present two commentaries on the Torah portion Vayakhel-- one by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Ephraim of Sudilkov, the Degel Machneh Efraim, and one by Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the Esh Kodesh.
- Neshamah Project Episode 68: Purim and Esh Kodesh
In this special Purim episode of The Neshamah Project, we explore two powerful teachings from the Esh Kodesh, Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, delivered in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1940 and 1942. The Piaseczno Rebbe teaches that the joy of Puri…
- The Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 67
In this episode of The Neshamah Project, we explore a deep teaching from the Degel Machaneh Ephraim about the spiritual connection between work, wisdom, and rest. Drawing from the story of Bezalel, who built the Mishkan with divine wisdom,…
- Neshamah Project: Episode 66
In this episode of Rabbi Ben Newman offers poetic, interpretive translations of the Morning Blessings, and Modeh Ani inviting us to awaken with presence, gratitude, and wonder.
- Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 65
A commentary on Parshat BeShalach (specifically Exodus 14:15) by the Maor VaShemesh (R' Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl).
- Neshamah Project Podcast Episode 64
In this episode, we explore the Me’or Einayim’s mystical reading of Parshat Bo, which sees the Exodus story as an inner liberation of our awareness from “Egypt.” The commentary teaches that even mundane labors or tough experiences contain…
- Neshamah Project Podcast: Episode 63
In this episode of the Neshamah Project Podcast, Rabbi Ben Newman presents a deep exploration of Maor VaShemesh on Parashat Vaera. Through the lenses of Kabbalah and mindfulness, he unpacks the divine attributes of loving-kindness, awe and…