The Courage to Come Close: Yehuda, Presence, and the End of Bypass

This week’s Underneath the Underneath enters the moment of Vayigash — when Yehuda draws near.Through a luminous teaching from the Baal Shem Tov, we explore a radically Hasidic approach to suffering, prayer, and presence: not fixing, not explaining, not bypassing — but approaching.What does it mean to come close without an agenda? To praise not as flattery, but as a state of consciousness? To recognize that even what feels like exile or burden is not separate from the Divine?Drawing on the imagery of the snail, the energy of Tevet, the fading light of Chanukah, and the unfolding story of Yehuda and Yosef, this class offers a living map for staying present with what hurts — and discovering how awareness itself softens the weight we carry.This is a teaching about faith, about being a guarantor for one another, and about the quiet courage of saying: I am here.Ohmek Session dated December 23, 2025__________More on Yocheved Sidof:Yocheved Sidof is a mystic, teacher, trauma-informed spiritual guide and leader of Ohmek, a community of women and men pursuing deeper ways of Being.__________Deepen with Ohmek:Ohmek is a community of women and men pursuing deeper ways of being.It is the space that holds all, yet remains empty, the void that allows healing and transformation to take place, take shape, belong, integrate and disperse.It is an invitation inward, into a space and community, as well as one’s own inner world. A place to be stretched and to come together, to feel at home in exploration, with room to be and to breathe.At our upstate retreat center and Brooklyn locations, in our sacred gatherings, healing containers and embodied mysticism classes, we invite you into spiritual experiences and sacred spaces that allow us — collectively and individually — to explore our own depths, underneath the underneath.Website: www.ohmekliving.comInstagram: @ohmek.livingTo support these sessions and our offerings, strengthen our community, and enhance your engagement we welcome you to join MAAGAL, our founding membership circlehttps://www.patreon.com/ohmek/membership