Essays
I Am Who I Am: The Names of G-d
Learn about the mystical meanings of the names of G-d – descriptions of the various behavior patterns that can be ascribed to His influence on our lives.
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The Human Story in Twelve Words: The Book of Genesis
The section names of the Book of Genesis chronicle the most basic truths of our existence: that life is purposeful. It chronicles the human story.
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Vistas of Repentance
A moving personal essay about repentance. Release your guilt and shame. You are doing the best you can do. Elevate the past and choose wisely in the future.
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Dreamworld: Joseph’s Dreams
What Joseph’s dreams teach us about the nature of reality. Based on a talk by the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
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The Three Lives of Jacob
Our own moments of transcendence seem fleeting and inconsequential in comparison with Jacob’s decades of tranquil perfection in the Holy Land; our own struggles seem wan and inept when measured against Jacob’s Charan years; our own lives under circumstances of subjugation and oppression seem black indeed when set against Jacob’s Egyptian period. Yet the three lives of Jacob are “signposts” that guide, inspire and enable our own.
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A Day in the Life of a Jew
As Jews, however, we are also guided by a more subtle calendar, a more spiritual clock: the calendar and clock of history. As Jews, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are as central to our concept of morning, noon and evening as the sun’s arc across the sky; Adam, Moses and King David mark our year as prominently as the turning of the seasons; and the twelve sons of Jacob, progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel, are as basic to our daily schedule as the twelve numerals etched on our clock-face or the twelve spiral-bound pages hanging on our wall.
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Abraham’s Tent
Our own sukkot resemble the resting place that Abraham offered his guests. Yet there is also a primary difference between our sukkah and Abraham’s tent.
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Abraham Departed From Self to Self
In his journey of discovery, Abraham departed the “land, birthplace and father’s house” of his native Mesopotamia; but this is not the departure of which we are speaking… Abraham received this call many years after he had renounced the pagan ways of his family and birthplace, recognized G-d, and had a profound impact on his society. Still he is told: Go! Depart from your nature, depart from your habits, depart from your rational self. After rejecting your negative, idolatrous origins, you must now also transcend your positive and gainful past. Reach beyond yourself, albeit a perfected self.
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Noah’s Flood
Practical Kabbalah on Noah’s Flood, which commenced on the 17th of Cheshvan in the year 1656 from creation, and ended on Cheshvan 27 of the following year.
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The Daily Special: The Hebrew Month of Iyar
The Hebrew month of Iyar, whose 29 days fall somewhere in the months of April and May, is unique in that it combines both specialty and consistency in a single mitzvah. The mitzvah is the commandment to “Count the Omer”.
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