How Come Esav Didn’t Do Teshuvah? Ya’akov Avinu had finally extricated himself from Lavan’s control. He had crossed the Yarden, entered Eretz Cana’an and was preparing to meet his brother Esav. He sent messengers ahead of himself, whom Rashi tells us, based on Bereshit Rabbah 75:4, were מַלְאָכִים מַמָּשׁ (literally ‘angels’), instructing them with these…
Avraham’s Little-Kown Role in Helping His Son Do Teshuvah You may already know that Yishmael did teshuvah during the lifetime of his father and that he lived out the rest of his days as a righteous man. But do you know the circumstances that led to his decision to turn his life around and return…
How a Secret Message in Lecha Dodi Can Transform Your Life Have you ever felt like your life was a complete mess, that everything you relied upon to create stability and order in your world had been turned completely upside down, overturned in some type of cataclysmic upheaval? You know what we’re talking about, chas…
The Dispute Between Zimri and Pinchas The Gemara in Berachot 32a offers different ‘proof texts’ to show that Moshe Rabbeinu spoke somewhat impertinently [הֵטִיחַ דְּבָרִים כְּלַפֵּי מַעְלָה, literally, ‘he threw his words upward’] to Ha-Kadosh, baruch Hu when he sought to defend B’nei Yisrael on account of their sins. One such case was in defense…
The Laws of Nature vs. Divine Providence: It’s Our Choice Near the beginning of the first berachah before reciting the Shema in the morning, we praise Hashem by saying the following: וּבְטוּבוֹ מְחַדֵּשׁ בְּכָל יוֹם תָּמִיד מַעֲשֵׂה בְרֵאשִׁית (and in His goodness, He renews [mechadesh] every day, constantly, the work of creation). Further, toward the…
The Secret of the Erev Rav (Part 3) In the past two issues of The Shoemaker Report, we examined the origins and characteristics of the souls of the converts who accompanied the Jewish People when they left Egypt in the days of Moshe Rabbeinu. This group, known collectively as the Erev Rav (‘mixed multitude’), is…
How One Man’s Sin Led to the Death of 36 Soldiers We are living through the greatest time of trouble experienced by Yaakov in over 75 years (and in certain respects, the most dangerous time that we have ever experienced on a global level), as it is written (Yirmeyahu 30:7): הוֹי כִּי גָדוֹל הַיּוֹם הַהוּא…
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…
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…
On June 10, 1963, President John F. Kennedy delivered a commencement address at American University in Washington, D.C. that many historians believe helped seal his fate in Dealey Plaza on that infamous day of November 22 later that year. What did he say that was so unacceptable and inappropriate that it may have fueled the…
Part 3: The Lights of the Supernal Aleph (Likutei Moharan 6:5) This is the third article in our series focused on finding one’s zivug in today’s world. To recap, the first article explained that the root of the problem is related to the widespread difficulty that [young] men today have in being shomer brit. When…