Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Edward Hoffman is a licensed psychologist and has been an adjunct associate professor at Yeshiva University in New York City for more than 20 years. An award-winning author, his books include Paths to Happiness, The Wisdom of Maimonides, and The Kabbalah Reader. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. His newest book is Lamed Vav and the Power of Mystical Kindness: Awakening to the Presence of the 36 Hidden Messengers.
Edward discusses the Jewish mystical tradition of the Lammed Vav — the 36 hidden righteous individuals whose compassion and kindness spiritually sustain the world. Drawing from Kabbalah, folklore, Hasidic teachings, and psychology, he explores how ordinary acts of empathy, storytelling, dreams, and joy may carry profound transformative power. Hoffman also examines the influence of figures such as the Baal Shem Tov, the Zohar, and Martin Buber, suggesting that hidden spiritual wisdom often appears through humble people and everyday encounters.
00:00:00 Introduction
00:03:43 Hidden righteous souls
00:08:20 Meaning of the number 36
00:12:23 Kindness in ordinary life
00:18:39 Compassion beyond religion
00:23:21 Mysticism and the Zohar
00:27:21 The Baal Shem Tov
00:31:10 Joy, healing, and helping others
00:38:27 Midrash and sacred storytelling
00:53:31 Conclusion
New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in "parapsychology" ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is also the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death. He is Co-Director of Parapsychology Education at the California Institute for Human Science.
(Recorded on Thursday, April 30, 2026)
For a complete, updated list with links to all of our videos, see newthinkingallowed.com/Listings.htm.
Check out the New Thinking Allowed Foundation website at http://www.newthinkingallowed.org. There you will find our incredible, searchable database as well as opportunities to shop and to support our video productions – plus, this is where people can subscribe to our FREE, weekly Newsletter and can download a FREE .pdf copy of our quarterly magazine.
To order high-quality, printed copies of our quarterly magazine: NTA-Magazine.MagCloud.com
Check out New Thinking Allowed's AI chatbot. You can create a free account at awakin.ai/open/jeffreymishlove. When you enter the space, you will see that our chatbot is one of several you can interact with. While it is still a work in progress, it has been trained on 1,600 NTA transcripts. It can provide intelligent answers about the contents of our interviews. It's almost like having a conversation with Jeffrey Mishlove.
If you would like to join our team of volunteers, helping to promote the New Thinking Allowed YouTube channel on social media, editing and translating videos, creating short video trailers based on our interviews, helping to upgrade our website, or contributing in other ways (we may not even have thought of), please send an email to friends@newthinkingallowed.com.
To download and listen to audio versions of the New Thinking Allowed videos, please visit our new podcast at itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/new-thinking-allowed-audio-podcast/id1435178031.
Download and read Jeffrey Mishlove's Grand Prize essay in the Bigelow Institute competition, Beyond the Brain: The Survival of Human Consciousness After Permanent Bodily Death, go to bigelowinstitute.org/docs/1st.pdf.
You can help support our video productions while enjoying a good book. To order a copy of New Thinking Allowed Dialogues: Is There Life After Death? click on amzn.to/3LzLA7Y (As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.)
To order the second book in the New Thinking Allowed Dialogues series, Russell Targ: Ninety Years of ESP, Remote Viewing, and Timeless Awareness, go to amzn.to/4aw2iyr
To order a copy of New Thinking Allowed Dialogues: UFOs and UAP – Are We Really Alone?, go to amzn.to/3Y0VOVh
To order a copy of Charles T. Tart: Seventy Years of Exploring Consciousness and Parapsychology, go to amzn.to/4oOUJLn
To order Lamed Vav and the Power of Mystical Kindness, go to amzn.to/4f9SDTO
Edward Hoffman is a licensed psychologist and has been an adjunct associate professor at Yeshiva University in New York City for more than 20 years. An award-winning author, his books include Paths to Happiness, The Wisdom of Maimonides, and The Kabbalah Reader. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. His newest book is Lamed Vav and the Power of Mystical Kindness: Awakening to the Presence of the 36 Hidden Messengers.
Edward discusses the Jewish mystical tradition of the Lammed Vav — the 36 hidden righteous individuals whose compassion and kindness spiritually sustain the world. Drawing from Kabbalah, folklore, Hasidic teachings, and psychology, he explores how ordinary acts of empathy, storytelling, dreams, and joy may carry profound transformative power. Hoffman also examines the influence of figures such as the Baal Shem Tov, the Zohar, and Martin Buber, suggesting that hidden spiritual wisdom often appears through humble people and everyday encounters.
00:00:00 Introduction
00:03:43 Hidden righteous souls
00:08:20 Meaning of the number 36
00:12:23 Kindness in ordinary life
00:18:39 Compassion beyond religion
00:23:21 Mysticism and the Zohar
00:27:21 The Baal Shem Tov
00:31:10 Joy, healing, and helping others
00:38:27 Midrash and sacred storytelling
00:53:31 Conclusion
New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in "parapsychology" ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is also the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death. He is Co-Director of Parapsychology Education at the California Institute for Human Science.
(Recorded on Thursday, April 30, 2026)
For a complete, updated list with links to all of our videos, see newthinkingallowed.com/Listings.htm.
Check out the New Thinking Allowed Foundation website at http://www.newthinkingallowed.org. There you will find our incredible, searchable database as well as opportunities to shop and to support our video productions – plus, this is where people can subscribe to our FREE, weekly Newsletter and can download a FREE .pdf copy of our quarterly magazine.
To order high-quality, printed copies of our quarterly magazine: NTA-Magazine.MagCloud.com
Check out New Thinking Allowed's AI chatbot. You can create a free account at awakin.ai/open/jeffreymishlove. When you enter the space, you will see that our chatbot is one of several you can interact with. While it is still a work in progress, it has been trained on 1,600 NTA transcripts. It can provide intelligent answers about the contents of our interviews. It's almost like having a conversation with Jeffrey Mishlove.
If you would like to join our team of volunteers, helping to promote the New Thinking Allowed YouTube channel on social media, editing and translating videos, creating short video trailers based on our interviews, helping to upgrade our website, or contributing in other ways (we may not even have thought of), please send an email to friends@newthinkingallowed.com.
To download and listen to audio versions of the New Thinking Allowed videos, please visit our new podcast at itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/new-thinking-allowed-audio-podcast/id1435178031.
Download and read Jeffrey Mishlove's Grand Prize essay in the Bigelow Institute competition, Beyond the Brain: The Survival of Human Consciousness After Permanent Bodily Death, go to bigelowinstitute.org/docs/1st.pdf.
You can help support our video productions while enjoying a good book. To order a copy of New Thinking Allowed Dialogues: Is There Life After Death? click on amzn.to/3LzLA7Y (As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.)
To order the second book in the New Thinking Allowed Dialogues series, Russell Targ: Ninety Years of ESP, Remote Viewing, and Timeless Awareness, go to amzn.to/4aw2iyr
To order a copy of New Thinking Allowed Dialogues: UFOs and UAP – Are We Really Alone?, go to amzn.to/3Y0VOVh
To order a copy of Charles T. Tart: Seventy Years of Exploring Consciousness and Parapsychology, go to amzn.to/4oOUJLn
To order Lamed Vav and the Power of Mystical Kindness, go to amzn.to/4f9SDTO
