Seekers of Unity

Hayyim Rothman is a scholar of modern Jewish thought, focusing on political theology and Jewish Anarchist theology in specific. Hayyim was a Fulbright postdoctoral scholar at Bar Ilan University and taught at Boston College, where he earned his doctorate in philosophy focusing on the political thought of Baruch Spinoza. Hayyim is an ordained rabbi with advanced degrees in Jewish thought and education, from Yeshiva University and Florida International University.    Hayyim is the author of No Masters but God, Portraits of Anarcho-Judaism, a study of Jewish religious anarchism, in which he brings to light the forgotten legacy of religious Jewish anarchism, and the adventures and ideas of its key figures.   Set in the decades surrounding both world wars, No masters but God identifies a loosely connected group of rabbis and traditionalist thinkers who explicitly appealed to anarchist ideas in articulating the meaning of the Torah, traditional practice, Jewish life and the mission of modern Jewry. Full of archival discoveries and first translations from Yiddish and Hebrew, it explores anarcho-Judaism in its variety through the works of Yaakov Meir Zalkind, Yitshak Nahman Steinberg, Yehuda Leyb Don-Yahiya, Avraham Yehudah Hen, Natan Hofshi, Shmuel Alexandrov, Yehudah Ashlag and Shmuel Tamaret.    With this ground-breaking account, Hayyim Rothman traces a complicated story about the modern entanglement of religion and anarchism, pacifism and Zionism, prophetic anti-authoritarianism and mystical antinomianism.   In this conversation with Hayyim we discuss the legacy of Spinoza's rationalism, mysticism and anarchism in German Idealism and later Marxists thinkers, followed by focusing on two of thinkers in Hayyim’s research, Shmuel Alexandrov and Yehudah Ashlag, looking at their mystical anarchism, unitive metaphysics, nationalism and universalist politics, their optimism and response to Nazism, their apolitical messianism and critical utopianism.

Continuing our series on the Druze by sitting down with Sheikh Professor Fadel Mansour, senior member of the Druze community, member of the management committee of the Higher Druze Religious Council in Ussafiya and a retired biologist at the Vulcani Institute.

We spent the past few months encountering, befriending and filming religious minorities in the Holy Land, turning strangers into friends. We crossed political, cultural, linguistic and religious borders and boundaries, in an attempt to chip away at the fear of the unknown, to show people that one step past their comfort zone, lies open arms, brothers and sisters, kindness, compassion and hospitality. On the other side of fear, we found love.   “The precondition for peace is dialogue” said Martin Buber, and the precondition for love is knowledge. Deep encounters lead to deep understanding, leads to deep love. Know thy neighbor.    This docuseries attempts to break down barriers, move past the fear of the unknown and get to meet our neighbors to find the common threads that bind us.

Continuing our introduction to the philosophy of Hasidism with a discussion of her inner work. Introducing Bitul and D’vekut, Hiskafya and Hishapcha, Nefesh Habehamit and Nefesh HaElokit, Alma D’Hiskasya and Alma D’Hisgalya, Hitbodeut and Hibonenut, Avoda B’Gashmiut, Shvira and Tikkun, Ohr and Keli, Klipot and Kavana, Avodat Habirurim and B’chol d’rachecha Join us: https://facebook.com/seekersofunity  https://instagram.com/seekersofunity  https://www.twitter.com/seekersofU  https://www.seekersofunity.com  Thank you to our beloved Patrons: Dale, Ethan, Gerr, Effy, Noam, Ron, Shtus, Mendel, Jared, Tim, Mystic Experiment, MM, Lenny, Justin, Joshua, Jorge, Wayne, Jason, Caroline, Yaakov, Daniel, Wodenborn, Steve, Collin, Justin, Mariana, Vic, Shaw, Carlos, Nico, Isaac, Frederick, David, Ben, Rodney, Charley, Jonathan, Chelsea, Curly Joe and Adam.   Join them in supporting us: patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seekers paypal: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_...

Continuing our introduction to the philosophy of Hasidism with a discussion of her directionality on the divine and human realms. Introducing Ratzu and Shuv, Dira B’tachtonim, Tzimtzum lav K’pshuto, and Ayin and Yesh. Join us:  https://facebook.com/seekersofunity  https://instagram.com/seekersofunity  https://www.twitter.com/seekersofU  https://www.seekersofunity.com  Thank you to our beloved Patrons: Gerr, Effy, Noam, Ron, Shtus, Mendel, Jared, Tim, Mystic Experiment, MM, Lenny, Justin, Joshua, Jorge, Wayne, Jason, Caroline, Yaakov, Daniel, Wodenborn, Steve, Collin, Justin, Mariana, Vic, Shaw, Carlos, Nico, Isaac, Frederick, David, Ben, Rodney, Charley, Jonathan, Chelsea, Curly Joe and Adam.   Join them in supporting us:  patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seekers paypal: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_...

A Philosophical Poetical Foray into Hasidic Thought. Exploring the History, Characteristics, Definitions, Metaphysics, Message and Mission of Hasidism, Mysticism for the Masses. Part 1: Nothing But God: The Metaphysics of Hasidism.   This is part of a collaboration with Filip Holm from @Let's Talk Religion Check out his sister video here: https://youtu.be/qi9JW95P1T8 Join us: https://facebook.com/seekersofunity  https://instagram.com/seekersofunity  https://www.twitter.com/seekersofU  https://www.seekersofunity.com  Thank you to our beloved Patrons: Noam, Ron, Shtus, Mendel, Jared, Tim, Mystic Experiment, MM, Lenny, Justin, Joshua, Jorge, Wayne, Jason, Caroline, Yaakov, Daniel, Wodenborn, Steve, Collin, Justin, Mariana, Vic, Shaw, Carlos, Nico, Isaac, Frederick, David, Ben, Rodney, Charley, Jonathan, Chelsea, Curly Joe and Adam.   Join them in supporting us:  patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seekers paypal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=RKCYGQSMJFDRU 

A Metaphysical Dialogue Between the Mystical, Logical and Dialogical. Join us for this final instalment of the series around the thought of Martin Buber. A three-way dialogue between John Vervaeke, Guy Sengstock and Seekers of Unity, working together to draw out and clarify the connections between dialogos, mystical experience and transformation.

Professor Gregg Henriques, author of A New Unified Theory of Psychology, directs the Combined Clinical and School Psychology Doctoral Program at James Madison University. He is a licensed clinical psychologist with expertise in depression, suicide and the personality disorders. He has developed an integrative meta-theoretical framework for the field of psychology an integrative meta-theoretical framework for the field of psychology and is now applying his framework to researching well-being, personality and social motivation. Henriques teaches courses in personality theory, personality assessment, social psychology and integrative adult psychotherapy. He is married to Andrea Henriques and they have three children, Sydney, Jon, and Lanie.

Shammai Siskind is an intelligence analyst, congregational rabbi, teacher of Jewish philosophy and a self-proclaimed chocolate snob. In this convo we discuss Jewish Pantheism, Comparative Theology, the place of Subjectivity in Religion, the meaning of the Soul, Messianic Consciousness, Becoming God, Sanctifying the Ordinary, the need to Articulate the Moment and to Transcend the Ordinary, Metaphors of Directionality and Partzufim.

Demystifying Mysticism and Decanting Kabbalah. Attempting to make sense of Seder Hishtalshelut, Kabbalah’s ‘Great Chain of Being.’ Exploring Cordovero’s liminal Keter, the middle-most point in existence, and Luria’s Tzimtzum, concealing and revealing, literal and non-literal. Dance with us between the cosmic curtains of consciousness, as we trace the traces of light lingering in the void, and find God hiding in plain sight.    Part of a series on Jewish Pantheological thought. Looking at the way thinkers within the Jewish tradition thought about the relationship between God and World, in creative, daring and inspiring ways. This is the second instalment looking at the thinking of the Kabbalists on this issue, trying to get a glimpse of just how they go about thinking and unpacking nothing less than what they believe to be the mysteries of the universe, God and the human condition.