The Halal, the Raqiyah and El Shaddai
The lesson explores the kabbalistic concept of Tzimtzum and the Halal (empty space). Manitou explains that the Halal is real from below but not from above, and describes the Raqiyah as a moral force through which God protects the world from His own infinite being. He connects this to the divine name El Shaddai — the One who said to His world 'enough' — and relates it to the covenant of circumcision.
enReceiving in Order to Give - Stages of Spiritual Maturity
The course outlines four stages of spiritual development: infantile receiving, adolescent pure giving, intermediate religion (giving to receive), and mature wisdom (receiving in order to give). The Torah's formula is to receive from the Creator in order to give. Manitou explains that the root of the capacity to receive is God's desire to give, and that evil arises not from above but from how the receiver receives.
enThe Worlds of Creation in Kabbalistic Thought
An exploration of the hierarchical structure of spiritual worlds in Kabbalistic cosmology: the world of thought (Briah), formation (Yetzirah), and action (Asiyah). The lecture examines how the Torah uses distinct terms—creation, formation, and making—to denote different levels of reality, and how understanding these precise distinctions resolves longstanding interpretive questions in Genesis. The infinite distance between the Absolute and our finite world is discussed as a necessary condition for the existence of creatures.
enThe unique soul of man and the spirit of the first Adam
Manitou explains that unlike animals whose souls belong to a species, each human being has a unique soul — the whole human within one person. A multitude of souls is needed to discover the root of one soul. The Midrash on 'let the earth bring forth living souls' refers to the spirit of the first Adam or the spirit of the Messiah, which is marked in 'the spirit of God hovering over the waters.'