Soul & Mystical
Have you ever burst into tears for no apparent reason? That is your soul calling out to you, saying hello.
Wait, does Judaism even believe in such things? I thought they were Far-Eastern ideas and New Age concepts. Isn’t the Torah about ritual and performance – do this, do not do that? The Hebrew school I went to never mentioned a soul, and it certainly wasn’t a mystical experience. What does my soul even look like? How do I know when I’ve seen it? How may I touch the mysteries of mysticism?
Chayei Sarah: Beyond Self-Interest
The model of shlichus – that an individual, or a couple, leave their comfort zone and self-orbiting life and go out to build communities – is a model for us all: the ultimate antidote to modern-day self-indulgence.
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Toldot: Beyond Life And Death
My granddaughter just arrived from another world, and has brought us a message of hope. Despite the tragic losses and senseless pain, beyond the incomprehension of it all, life is born yet again.
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Vayeitzei: Responding To Mumbai
Rabbi Simon Jacobson discusses the tragic 2008 killing of the Holtzbergs, Chabad shluchim, in Mumbai, India.
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Vayikra: Restoring the Balance
When we are able to revisit our birthing, prior to the scars we gathered through life, we achieve two things: We see how things ought to be, and we are empowered to realign who we have become today with who we truly are.
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Tzav: Soular Dissonance
The sun and the moon are not two self-contained luminaries, divorced from earthly affairs. They are both an integral, intertwined part of the human condition.
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Pesach: Celestial Passover
The Jewish calendar is regulated by the lunar cycles. We count by and are compared to the humble moon. But once every 28 years we are reminded to recognize the source from whence the moon receives its light.
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Matos-Massei: One Small Step
If our “one step” on the moon can humbly remind us that the internal “moon” of our own inner malchus/dignity remains intact, and that it can actually experience rebirth and renewal, than this indeed is “one giant leap for mankind.”
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Vaetchanan: Religion and Ethics
What should our attitude and response be when we witness Rabbis arrested in chains?
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Yom Kippur: The Real You
Just one day we are asked to enter our “holy of holies.” This gives us the power to be real the rest of the year. So this Yom Kippur open yourself up – and may you experience the REAL YOU.
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Mighty Lessons from the Simple Sukkah
The simple Sukkah reminds us all that our security comes from the “unalienable rights” endowed upon us all by our Creator.
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