Higher & Higher

Twenty years ago, Rabbi Doniel Katz didn’t have a single Jewish friend. Today, he leads Elevation, teaching even FFBs how to connect to Hashem.

(Photos: Courtesy of Elevation Seminar)

A t a recent Elevation seminar in Jerusalem Rabbi Doniel Katz takes the stage to share the Baal Shem Tov’s technique of ha’alos hamachshavos for getting in touch with one’s inner world.

“We first identify a negative middah then subdue it then turn that energy in a positive direction ” he explains. “This is how Chazal define the difference between a rasha and tzaddik: The rasha’s heart speaks to him while the tzaddik speaks to his heart.”

At the seminar Reb Doniel emphasizes how constant dveikus is predicated on controlling one’s own mind. “Society thinks that happiness is found in the outside world. In truth only when our emotional state is internally generated — independent of external influences — have we achieved emotional liberation.”

Reb Doniel then selects an audience member for a real-time practical application of the technique. “Talk to your heart ” he encourages as the participant silently focuses on an inner struggle. During five minutes of guided meditation the participant reports that decades of anxiety have dissolved on the spot.