In the words of Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam): “Our sages have already said, ‘You have not a generation without such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Indeed, that Godly man, Rav [teacher/great one] Isaac Luria [the ARI], troubled and provided…
Communism’s past mistake was that people were forced to live under certain conditions that were labelled as “communism.” In order for a cooperative society to work, people cannot be forced but rather must want to apply its conditions out of…
Jews in America can either mingle into their surrounding society so as not to stand out, and by doing so, try to avoid various forthcoming blows; or they can be strong Jews, demanding what is rightfully theirs and not giving…
Shame is an assessment of a person that is much lower than they consider themselves, and which they thus cannot agree with. That is, someone else evaluates the person in a way that is lower than the person considers themselves,…
Amid anxiety of a looming attack on Israel from multiple fronts following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, my students asked me in relation to the verse from Jeremiah, “Out of the north the evil will break forth,” which Baal HaSulam…
We are at a turning point in our history because we have exhausted our egoistic paradigm and can no longer continue developing as we have until today. What is the “egoistic paradigm”? It is that we developed according to the…
Hatred between brothers is a consequence of human egoistic nature. We are run by an inner program that makes us wish to suppress and be above others. While our attitude in general is egoistic, our attitudes to our own brothers…
I once visited a place in Israel that housed the furniture and utensils of Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam). I noticed how “Medinat Israel” (Hebrew for “The State of Israel”) was inscribed on his challah knife’s handle. It is a…
Many people have hated and continue to hate Jews because they possess a certain tool that can determine whether or not they aim themselves at the single force of love, bestowal and connection that guides reality. Why is the Jews’…
Indeed, many great Jews were not originally Jewish. For example, Rabbi Akiva was born a non-Jew, but became the Jewish people’s leading teacher in his time. King David, renowned as Israel’s greatest king, had a non-Jewish great grandmother, Ruth. Also,…
There have always been people who wish to flaunt their wealth, while others wish to hide the fact that they are wealthy. The reason those who flaunt their wealth are unashamed is mainly due to the kind of upbringing they…
The hour of death is a new birth. In other words, when we die, a new cycle begins. “The hour of death” means the moment when we part with our life, what we have made of life and how we…