Why the Body Should be a Source of Shame Tangentially to the main thrust of last week's article which focused on the necessity of modesty, we cited an interesting statement in the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (3:1): וְהַצְּנִיעוּת וְהַבֹּשֶׁת מְבִיאוֹת אֶת הָאָדָם לִידֵי הַכְנָעָה לְפָנָיו יִתְבָּרַךְ שְׁמוֹ (Modesty [tzniut] and shame bring a person to know…
The Essence of Kedushah and Swords of Iron In the past few articles, we explained the fundamental distinction between good and bad and the importance of having emunah. We also learned that we have the power to create angels by learning Torah, observing mitzvot and doing acts of kindness. These angels are our allies. They…
Sichot ha-Ran 89 and Swords of Iron In last week's article entitled Men May be Created Equal, but Angels are Not, we expounded upon two major teachings contained in our holy Torah. The first teaching was from Pirkei Avot 4:11 which states that anyone who does a mitzvah acquires for himself an angelic advocate or…
Likutei Moharan 20 and Swords of Iron After Yaakov Avinu left Lavan, he went, as the expression goes, from the frying pan into the fire. His destiny was to come face to face with his brother Esav. Knowing that this was his destiny, he sent messengers to Esav (Bereshit 32:4): וַיִּשְׁלַח יַעֲקֹב מַלְאָכִים לְפָנָיו אֶל־עֵשָׂו…
Learning from King Chizkiyahu's Mistake Many years ago, during the reign of the righteous king Chizkiyahu, the kingdom of Yehudah was being overrun by the Assyrians. One Jewish city after the other fell to the invaders and the local population of Jews were subjected to unspeakable atrocities. One final city remained unconquered—Yerushalayim. High officials of…
Following in the Footsteps of R' Akiva and Nachman Ish Gamzu In our last article entitled Rabbi Akiva's Night in the Field which we published just prior to the start of the Festival of Succot, we learned how to face life, build and live by true emunah even in the midst of difficult or even…
Orach Chaim 230:5 and the Meaning of Real Emunah We often talk about the importance of having faith [emunah] but do we really understand what it means? Pause for a few moments and ask yourself. Don't just think about an answer, put your understanding into actual words. Speak it aloud, and try to use simple…
We are now in the final countdown to Rosh Hashanah 5784, and thoughts of teshuvah should be constantly in our minds. The question is, what is the essence of teshuvah that we need to be working on and how does it relate to the theme of Rosh Hashanah? Let's begin with Rosh Hashanah. As is…
After Lee Harvey Oswald was taken into custody for allegedly shooting President John F. Kennedy, he was asked if he shot the president. He responded, “No sir, I didn't shoot anybody…I'm just a patsy.” What is a patsy? A patsy is a victim of deception, a person easily cheated or fooled, or as we say…
It has become a popular saying, often attributed to Mark Twain (although there is no known source that he ever said it) that, 'If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed, but if you read the newspaper, you're misinformed.' If true, we would seem to be caught between a rock and a hard place, in…
It is taught in Kabbalah that Hashem has three hands: יָד הַגְּדוֹלָה [yad ha-gedolah, the great hand], יָד הַחֲזָקָה [yad ha-chazakah, the strong hand], and יַד הָרָמָה [yad ha-ramah, the exalted hand]. What are these hands? They are spiritual lights, i.e. the sefirot in the upper world of Atzilut. Yad ha-gedolah corresponds to chesed on…
A number of months ago, a friend of mine asked me why some people (such as 'yours truly') clap from time to time during davening, even during Shemoneh Esreh itself. At the time, I didn't give him much of an answer as I was caught off guard and didn't have sufficient knowledge at my fingertips….