Abraham spent his whole life teaching the message of the G-d of love and protesting against the idolaters’ cruel practice of sacrificing their children. Why would G-d ask Abraham to sacrifice his son? How would he ever face the world after committing the same crime as idolaters? Imagine the scandalous …
All things are mortal, but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality? ~ Mark Twain When G-d said to Abraham “Go to yourself–Lech Lecha” what was He actually asking Abraham to do? This command seems to be contradicted by the remainder …
Your Ultimate Self-Worth Adam and Eve were living a carefree life in the Garden of Eden. They had only one restriction. G-d commanded them not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad. However, forbidden fruits tend to seem more tasty to people. In addition, having a …
Torah teaches that the goal of life and the source of true happiness is holiness. We are holy when we are whole — integrated and harmonious with our inner self, with our nation, with the rest of humanity, with nature and with G-d. This is accomplished through fulfilling the Commandments …
Yom Kippur is all about love and forgiveness. It’s about how we are always inseparably one with G-d. On Yom Kippur we get a glimpse of ourselves, our choices and our relationship to G-d from another perspective — G-d’s perspective. This is the transformational power that makes it into a …
When we take a bird’s eye view of the holidays that inaugurate the New Year, we see a collection of diverse and disturbing of images for G-d. The predominant image for G-d, on Rosh Hashanah, is King and Judge who is writing us into a cosmic Book of life or …
Building the Kingdom of Consciousness The Kabbalah teaches, “There is no king without a nation.” This point requires deep exploration especially on Rosh Hashanna when we acknowledge G-d as our King. It may make sense that, in the human world, a king is dependent on having subjects who acknowledge his …
The Magic Formula to True and Lasting Happiness. And you shall be happy in all that the Lord your G-d has given you (Deut. 26:11) Many people have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose. — …
“I (G-d) will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto you (Moses); and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him” (Deut. 18: 18) The Torah claims that G-d revealed Himself to the entire …
“Thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from your needy brother; surely open thy hand to him.” — Deut. 15:7-8 The Talmud teaches: “Tzedaka [commonly translated as charity] saves from death.” When we need an incredible influx of life force — because we are facing …