The Ten Days of Teshuvah
The first ten days of the Jewish calendar are known as “the ten days of teshuvah.” These are days for soul-searching, repentance and return (teshuvah) to G-d.
Read More
What Is A Baal Teshuvah?
The baal teshuvah, who frees the sparks of divinity imprisoned in the realm of the forbidden, is examined in contrast with the tzaddik, who has more limited powers.
Read More
Knowledge and Naught
Drinking until one does not know the difference between Haman and Mordechai on Purim is explored in conjunction with the concept of the tzaddik versus the baal teshuvah.
Read More
A Holy Land
Just as there were two primary modes of sanctification of the Land—the “conquest” mode of the First Temple Era and the “settlement” mode of the Second Temple Era—so, too, are there two modes of sanctification in the macrocosmic endeavor of life.
Read More
The Distant Road
The Second Passover is “a festival in its own right,” offering an opportunity for a teshuvah that is not limited to the literal sinner.
Read More
The Inner Ear
Asked Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov: Have you ever met someone who told you that he hears this echo? To what purpose, then, is this proclamation if no one hears it?
Read More
A Change of Heart: A Chassidic Story About Teshuvah
“To truly experience teshuvah,” concluded Rabbi Schneur Zalman, “is to experience the same degree of regret over one’s past actions as was experienced by the peasant from Shklov as the raging river swept him away.”
Read More
Matot-Masei: Three Weeks of Pain, Seven of Comfort, & Two of Return
Parshat Matot-Masei: 3 Weeks of Pain, 7 of Comfort & 2 of Return. Understanding the 3 Weeks of mourning in a chassidic discourse by Reb Hillel of Paritch.
Read More
