How the Torah Can Be an Elixir of Life or a Deadly Poison It is taught in Kiddushin 30b: תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: ״וְשַׂמְתֶּם״ סַם תָּם, נִמְשְׁלָה תּוֹרָה כְּסַם חַיִּים (The Rabbis taught in a Baraita, “And you shall place [these words of Mine upon your heart and upon your soul]” [Devarim 11:18], a perfect elixir. The…
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…
How to Acquire the Attribute of Yosef ha-Tzaddik In last week’s article Ya’akov’s Fear in Going Down to Egypt, we learned that through the strength of his character, specifically his shemirat einayim, Yosef was able to break the tumah of immorality that filled the land of Egypt. As a result of his unprecedented strength of…
The Power of One Man’s Personal Kedushah After Ya’akov learned that Yosef was alive and well in Egypt, he knew that he needed to go and see him. He set out from his home with his family and all of his possessions and came to Be’er Sheva where he offered sacrifices to the G-d of…
How to Merit Seeing the Beit ha-Mikdash of Fire With words of comfort and consolation, Yeshayah ha-Navi records a promise from Hashem that even though B’nei Yisrael will experience much suffering over the years, He will rebuild for them the Beit ha-Mikdash (Yeshayah 54:11-12): עֲנִיָּה סֹעֲרָה לֹא נֻחָמָה הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי מַרְבִּיץ בַּפּוּךְ אֲבָנַיִךְ וִיסַדְתִּיךְ בַּסַּפִּירִים׃…
The Secret Kavanah of Brit Milah (Part 1) We accept the mitzvah of brit milah without question. Even some of the outwardly less-observant members of our nation, for example, those who desecrate the kedushah of Shabbat without even the slightest pang of conscience, would never imagine not performing brit milah on behalf of their eight-day…
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…
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…
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…
Balak’s and Bilaam’s attempts to curse the Jewish People span three parashiot in Sefer Bemidbar: Balak, Pinchas, and Mattot. That fact alone should give us some idea of its monumental importance. Let’s explore the story together. After Bilaam realized that Hashem wasn’t going to give him an opening to curse the Jewish Nation directly, he…