Many people make mystical claims about their worldview, but few can articulate their view in a way similar to Rabbi Jeff Roth. In this episode, Rabbi Roth explains that he views the fundamental problem of human existence as a rift between the human being and the divine. He explains that this rift created the ground of what we call evil. Rabbi Roth locates the origin point of the split between the divine and the human as the formation of the conceptual, thinking mind and language. He draws from mystical Jewish and Buddhist practice. Rabbi Roth’s understanding of the various problems with different translations of the original stories from the Torah supports his approach of deconstructing the original language used in both The Torah and The Zohar. This process of understanding and deconstructing takes an act of awareness, contemplation, and a handle on the original language systems used to communicate foundational stories in, not only the Judeo-Christian myth, but also any story that human beings have identified that reflects the origins of creation. Bio Rabbi Jeff Roth is the founder and Director of The Awakened Heart Project for Contemplative Judaism. He was the co-founder of Elat Chayyim where he served as Executive Director and Spiritual Director for 13 years. He is the co-leader of the Jewish Mindfulness Teacher Training program and has facilitated of over 190 Jewish meditation retreats. He is the author of, Jewish Meditation Practices for Everyday Life and Me, Myself and God, both from Jewish lights Publishing. https://www.awakenedheartproject.org Theme music provided by: http://www.modernnationsmusic.com Song of the week from Slaid Cleaves https://www.slaidcleaves.com Music page: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/breakfast-in-hell/380426781?i=380426816 Learn more about this project at: http://www.thesacredspeaks.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks