Light of Infinite

About Light of Infinite

Light of Infinite is a blog, a podcast, a festival and a soon to be released book series, where Erez Safar acts as Your Spiritual DJ, curating insights into the weekly Torah portion and the infinite light of Kabbalah. The project began on the Yartzeit (yearly memorial) of my ex wife’s mother’s passing, and it’s inspired by both her (Yehudis Chava bat Yakov Dov) and my mother (Frida Levona bat Shalom), who passed the same year. When I think of these women, I think of tzedaka and chesed, words that are hard to translate because they capture the real depths of words like ‘generous’, ‘giving’, ‘loving’, and ‘kindness’. These two women embodied and exemplified these qualities to an angelic degree: so full of life, love, warmth, and light, at every turn, every single moment. Being around them inspired me to be more loving, more giving, more full of a zest for each moment in life. My goal with this ongoing project is to spread that inspiration and Light that I received and still receive from them. Using each week’s Torah portion, delving deep into the text, the commentaries, and the Kabbalah connected to it, I’ll share insights that bring that inspiration and Light to life for me, and will hopefully do the same for you. As DJ Shadow sampled on his seminal record, Entroducing, “It’s not me that’s coming through– the music’s coming through me”. With that said, I do not take any recognition for any part of the material except the writing style. The recognition is meant for the Holy One, Blessed Be He, and the Giants of Torah that reveal the the Light of Infinite in a way that only they can. So, I would like to give thanks to some of the Chassidic Masters and Rabbis that I draw the most inspiration from, whose wisdom I’m attempting to bring down and make accessible. These include Reb Nachman & Reb Nosson Mi’Breslov, The Arizal, The Ba’al Shem Tov, R’Menachem Mendel Schneerson (the Rebbe), Carlebach, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and so many others. I hope that these words inspire you to delve deeper into the Torah and kabbalisitc texts, and, as Chaim Vital says, “One can go deeper and deeper, as far as the human mind can delve, and it will always yield new treasures.” Light of Infinite is an upcoming book series where I act as your spiritual DJ, curating insights into the weekly Torah portion and the infinite light of Kabbalah. The sefer (book) will include newly edited, and in some cases, expanded text on the weekly parashah. There will also be a section on key concepts of Kabbalah as well as a section that includes stories and info on some of my favorite Rebbe’s.

Publisher

Erez Safar

Category

religion & spirituality

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

29 Mar 2022

Latest episode

7 Dec 2023

Latest episodes

66 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   7 Dec 2023

   The Three Sided Story (genesis: vayeishev)

   For this week, I do a deep dive into the damaging effects of lashon hara (speaking negatively). Blessings don’t come easily in this world. Everything of great value comes through hardship. Even peace itself comes from being diligent in bittul (self-transcendence), choosing how to navigate our reactions. The deeper & more meaningful a relationship is the better the chances are of having difficult elements to work through. If you want to go deep in a relationship, there will be work to get through so that each person feels that they are being heard & loved in the way that they need. It’s similar in relationships between parents & children: the amount of love a parent feels for their child is indescribable, but it comes from a constant giving of one’s emotional & physical faculties. In the newborn stage, it’s waking up every couple hours to feed, hold or change the baby, when we just want to have one solid night’s sleep. When they are older, it’s a series of challenges that any human goes through & every parent wants to take on. But the connection could not be deeper & the love more profound because of those challenges on the journey. Through the hardships come the blessings. Rashi says that “Yakov sought to dwell in tranquility”. But as soon as he did, immediately the troubles with Yosef & his brothers began, & instead of peace, Yakov ended up mourning Yosef, thinking he was dead for twenty years, only reuniting with him in his old age. It’s said that when a tzadik wishes to live at ease, Hashem says to them: “Are not the righteous satisfied with what is stored up for them in the world to come that they wish to live at ease in this world too! There’s a song by Cage The Elephant that I remixed for my Bonnaroo album called “Ain't No Rest for the Wicked.” It’s a play off the verse from Isaiah, “There is no peace for the wicked.” But Chazal say the same in regards to tzadikim, “The righteous have no rest.” & Job wrote that “man was born to toil" Essentially, in this world, we have work to do, & we can’t hope to sit idly by as our unique gifts & talents grow stale. Thanks for reading! Much love & Shabbat Shalom! - Erez * Listen: Audio/Podcast version - https://lightofinfinite.com/podcast/ ** Get your copy of the book: 'LIGHT OF THE INFINITE: THE GENESIS OF LIGHT' now available as Prime on Amazon! The second half of the book parallels the Parshiot (weekly Torah reading) of Bereishit/Genesis, which we are reading now!! - - https://amzn.to/3uvdfxw **** & OF COURSE, BE SURE TO READ THIS DVAR IN FULL @ https://lightofinfinite.com/the-three-sided-story/ ️

2. 

   7 Dec 2023

   The Bay Area is quickly becoming the antisemitic capitol of America.

   We all have encountered Esavs in our lives, whether as a part of ourselves or manifested in various people we encounter. Yakov demonstrates the various ways to overcome Esav and the yetzer hara he represents. Last week we saw Yakov asking only for food and clothing. He’s a picture of the simple tzadik. At this stage of his life, he was fearful of Lavan and Esav and would flee and run from his troubles. But in this week, we see a more mature Yakov: he has accumulated material wealth because he knows how to spiritualize it, and he approaches Esav instead of fleeing, because he knows the way in which he and all of us must face adversity. Rashi points out the way in which Yakov faced his challenge head on; he didn’t rely on his righteousness or for Hashem to take care of it. He sent gifts, he prayed, and at the same time, he prepared for battle, and separated his camp into two. In difficult situations it’s important to go in with a positive attitude that everything will work out, but we can’t always control how the situation will unfold and how the other person will react and so we have to prepare and protect ourselves at any cost. We have all had to overcome Esavs in our lives, people that are toxic and try to push your positivity into negativity. Sometimes it’s different people at different times. It’s a struggle to be the better person with such people. It’s only recently that I started to question why I’m trying so hard, and considered that it might be time to match toxicity and negativity with just that. But then I realized that that would let that person change you for the worse, making you into what you don’t like about them. R' Nachman teaches that even with the most evil person one has to find the good point in them, and that could elevate them to a place of merit. Focus on the good, and eventually it will be good. So we have to approach it like Yakov and Esav. Yakov came to Esav and sent gifts and said “My Lord,” humbling himself, so that the ascent of good would result in the descent of bad. Part of bittul is self-transcendence - putting your own self aside and figuring out a way to continue to be righteous and to connect to Hashem despite the obstacles. Thanks for reading! Much love & Shabbat Shalom! - Erez * Listen: Audio/Podcast version - https://lightofinfinite.com/podcast/ ** Get your copy of the book: 'LIGHT OF THE INFINITE: THE GENESIS OF LIGHT' now available as Prime on Amazon! The second half of the book parallels the Parshiot (weekly Torah reading) of Bereishit/Genesis, which we are reading now!! - - https://amzn.to/3uvdfxw **** & OF COURSE, BE SURE TO READ THIS DVAR IN FULL @ https://lightofinfinite.com/where-soul-meets-body/   ️

3. 

   23 Nov 2023

   What Happens To A Dream Deferred? (genesis: vayeitzei)

   What Happens To A Dream Deferred? (genesis: vayeitzei) by Erez Safar

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Contact Light of Infinite

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.