Planting Seeds of the Divine - by Yiscah Smith (Paperback)

About the Book

Planting Seeds of the Divine invites us to build an ongoing relationship with the Divine Presence within us by planting seeds corresponding to the weekly Torah portions to help cultivate a garden of the soul.

Book Synopsis

Experiencing deep personal fulfillment, happiness, and sustenance comes from feeling connected to our authentic selves, which involves building an ongoing relationship with the Divine Presence within us, says author Yiscah Smith. Quite organically, then, we may begin sensing the Divine in our interactions with other people. This is because, for each of us, "our essence, as a creation by God, is God."

Planting Seeds of the Divine elucidates how Judaism's sacred texts can provide the foundation for the "end destination" of experiencing intimate encounters with the Divine Presence within--the God-consciousness that so many of us find elusive. Imagining ourselves as spiritual gardeners, we can cultivate our unique gardens with seeds centered on middot (emotional dispositions, character traits, spiritual sensitivities). Each seed corresponds to an aspirational Torah commentary, consisting of a selected Torah verse linked to one of the middot, a summary of the biblical text preceding the verse, classical commentaries, teachings of Hasidic and Neo-Hasidic masters and the author, and step-by-step experiential practices to help us internalize the middot and encounter the Divine.

Each seed contributes to the garden's beauty--the beauty of the self in God-consciousness--which hopefully blossoms into a magnificent garden of the soul.

Yiscah Smith is a thought leader and spiritual activist committed to empowering and ennobling others in the spiritual practice of encountering the Divine spark within and beyond. She teaches Jewish contemplative practice and spiritual texts at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem and for the online platform Applied Jewish Spirituality. She is the author of Forty Years in the Wilderness: My Journey to Authentic Living and founder of Conscious Community Nachlaot, an alternative prayer space in Jerusalem. Her Authentic Jewish Living with Yiscah podcast episodes are available on platforms such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Review Quotes

"Smith . . . provides unconventional analyses of all 47 Torah portions. . . . Readers will find this a thought-provoking companion to their Torah study."--Publishers Weekly

"Yiscah Smith has done a remarkable job of painting a wonderfully textured method of reading the Torah as a guide for spiritual development."--Ariel Evan Mayse, assistant professor of religious studies at Stanford University and coeditor of A New Hasidism: Roots and A New Hasidism: Branches

"An important contribution to this emerging school of Torah commentary that is smart and intellectually sophisticated while also embodied and psychologically and spiritually informed."--Rabbi Josh Feigelson, president and CEO of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality

About the Author

Yiscah Smith is a thought leader and spiritual activist committed to empowering and ennobling others in the spiritual practice of encountering the Divine spark within and beyond. She teaches Jewish contemplative practice and spiritual texts at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem and for the online platform Applied Jewish Spirituality. She is the author of Forty Years in the Wilderness: My Journey to Authentic Living and founder of Conscious Community Nachlaot, an alternative prayer space in Jerusalem. Her Authentic Jewish Living with Yiscah podcast episodes are available on platforms such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts.