Joey Rosenfeld: What Does Jewish Mysticism Say About This Moment? [Teshuva Bonus Episode]

18Forty Podcast

18Forty

Religion & Spirituality, Judaism

4.6 • 638 Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2025

⏱️ 79 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This series is sponsored by Mira and Daniel Stokar.

In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast, we speak with rabbi, psychotherapist, and “translator” Joey Rosenfeld about how our generation can understand languages of mysticism, philosophy, and suffering in today’s chaotic world.

In this episode we discuss:

Where should we channel our spiritual work as we near two years since October 7?
Will Mashiach come in our lifetime?
What is the purpose of yearning and desire?

Tune in to hear a conversation about how “Yiddishkeit is the guardian of deficiency.”

Interview begins at 8:49.

Rabbi Joey Rosenfeld is a practicing psychotherapist in the addiction field focusing on the interface between philosophy, spirituality, and psychology. His shiurim on Jewish philosophy, Kabbalah and the inner workings of the human soul have been watched and listened to by thousands around the world and he has a dedicated following of students from the entire spectrum of the Jewish community.

References:

Tikkunei Zohar

“The Source Of Faith Is Faith Itself” by Aharon Lichtenstein

Pirkei Avot 4:2

Halakhic Man by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik

Tanya ch. 36“

Why Is There Something, Rather Than Nothing?” by Sean Carroll

Mishneh Torah by Maimonides

Sippurei Maasiyot by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

“Anthem” by Leonard Cohen

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi friends and welcome to the 1840 podcast where each month we explore different topic balancing modern sensibilities with traditional
0:21.7	sensitivities to give you new approaches to timeless Jewish ideas. I'm your host, David Bischoffkin,
0:27.8	and this month we're exploring Teshuvra. Thank you so much to our series sponsors, Danil and
0:33.4	Mirostokar. We're so grateful for your friendship and sponsorship. This episode is a
0:38.2	bonus episode to our normal Teshuvius series. So buckle up. You're in for a real treat. This
0:44.6	podcast is part of a larger exploration of those big, juicy, Jewish ideas. So be sure to check
0:50.0	out 1840.org. That's 1-8-F-O-R-T-Y.org where you can also find videos, articles, recommended
0:55.8	readings, and weekly emails. There's this video online, which you may or may not have seen,
1:02.1	but it really struck me. It's a professor teaching his class, and he has an empty jar in
1:08.2	front of him. And in front of the jar, he has a bunch of, like, rocks. Bear with me. He has this empty jar, and he puts all these rocks in the jar, and they fill up the entire jar. And it looks like the jar is full, and he turns to the class and says, is the jar full? And the class is like, yeah, it's full. It's filled with rocks. So then he takes out a bunch of like little pebbles.
1:28.6	He pours the pebbles and they find the way and they like have a place that in the crevices in
1:34.4	between these larger rocks, the pebbles do have a place. He's able to pour in all of these pebbles.
1:39.5	And then he turns to the class again and says, is the jar full? And the class is like, yeah, now it's
1:46.0	definitely, definitely full. And then for the final act, the professor takes out like a big pile of
1:52.8	sand. And then the professor pours this sand into this jar that's already filled with rocks and
1:59.8	pebbles. And the sand sand because it's so small
2:02.8	and is able to really take the shape of the container does find a place in those really small
2:08.0	crevices, those really tiny empty spaces and then it's able to truly make the entire jar
2:14.7	completely full. Why am I bringing this up now? I was actually having a conversation.
2:19.7	I was at a JLI retreat. J.L.I is, I believe, called the Jewish Learning Institute, and it's run by
2:26.7	Rabbi Mintz. It's this incredible gathering and program that I've got on. I've been merited to
2:31.4	be invited to come the last two years. I was having a conversation
	...

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