Ariel Evan Mayse
Yiscah Smith has done a remarkable job of painting a wonderfully textured method of reading the Torah as a guide for spiritual development.
Assistant professor of religious studies at Stanford University and coeditor of A New Hasidism: Roots and A New Hasidism: Branches
Rabbi Josh Feigelson
An important contribution to this emerging school of Torah commentary that is smart and intellectually sophisticated while also embodied and psychologically and spiritually informed.
President and CEO of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality
Rabbi Arthur
(Avraham Yitschak) Green
Yiscah Smith has written a warm, personal introduction to a Jewish spiritual path. Highly accessible and inviting, while rich in sources and their creative re-reading. A worthy guide for seekers!
Well-known historian of Hasidism and a theologian, author of many books
in both English and Hebrew.
Rabbi Aaron Leibowitz
Yiscah Smith's Planting Seeds of the Divine offers a rare and precious gift—a seamless weaving of scholarly insight with spiritual depth. Through her masterful engagement with classical commentaries and Chasidic wisdom, Smith illuminates each parashah in ways that speak directly to the soul. What distinguishes this work is its ability to transform ancient text into living practice, inviting readers into a sacred dialogue that nurtures personal growth. This is Torah study as it was meant to be: intellectually honest, spiritually courageous, and profoundly transformative.
Director of Rabbanut Yisraelit program, Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem and serving Rabbi of Vaani Tefilah community, Jerusalem.
Melila Hellner-Eshed
In Planting Seeds of the Divine, Yiscah Smith has demonstrated her creative capacity to take abstract complex ideas from the world of Jewish mysticism and translate them into a living and practical guide for our life journeys.
Zohar scholar, Senior Fellow, Shalom Hartman Institute.
Michael Kagen
Yiscah Smith’s book Planting Seeds of the Divine is a sort of “lifting of the veil of illusion”, a reuniting with the Divine lover, the lover that never left, that’s always present, that’s always a present, just here, just…Using her deep knowledge of the Hasidic masters both old and new, Yiscah reveals the way to reconnect to the Divine using the weekly readings of the Torah as her map or guide.
PhD, author of The Holistic Haggadah and God’s Prayer.
Rabbi Daniel Silverstein
Planting Seeds of the Divine overflows with Yiscah Smith’s warmth, wisdom and dedication to many years of scholarship and spiritual practice. It is an inviting, enjoyable book that will provide any spiritual seeker with depth, inspiration and invaluable practice guidance.
Founder and Director of Applied Jewish Spirituality (AJS)
