Repentance

To Separate or Not to Separate
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To Separate or Not to Separate

How One Decision can Become a Turning Point in Life After Avram returned from Mitzraim, we read the following about Lot (Bereshit 13:5): וְגַם־לְלוֹט הַהֹלֵךְ אֶת־אַבְרָם הָיָה צֹאן־וּבָקָר וְאֹהָלִים (And also Lot, who went with Avram, had a flock, cattle and tents). Since we already know from 13:1 that Lot was traveling with Avram, it…

A Worm, Drippings of a Honeycomb and Men of Faith
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A Worm, Drippings of a Honeycomb and Men of Faith

Rosh Hashanah and Breaking the Power of Imagination Good things come in threes: three patriarchs (Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya’akov), three mochin [spiritual brains] (chochmah, binah and da’at), three kinds of seichel [intellect] (potential, actualized and acquired), three lower aspects of the Jewish soul (nefesh, ruach and neshamah), three ‘garments’, i.e. manifestations, of the soul (machshavah…

Don’t Give Up – You are Hashem’s Whole Desire
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Don’t Give Up – You are Hashem’s Whole Desire

The Incredible Journey of Eternal Soulmates Life has been difficult lately – not just here in Eretz Yisrael but everywhere. And when life is difficult all over, people have a tendency to lose hope and get depressed. They begin by wondering if their life has any meaning or if Hashem bothers to pay any attention…

The Beautiful Maiden or the Evil Maidservant
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The Beautiful Maiden or the Evil Maidservant

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…

The Erev Rav Also Went Up With Them
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The Erev Rav Also Went Up With Them

The Secret of the Erev Rav (Part 1) R’ Yirmeyah ben Elazar taught (Eruvin 18b): כָּל אוֹתָן הַשָּׁנִים שֶׁהָיָה אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן בְּנִידּוּי הוֹלִיד רוּחִין וְשֵׁידִין וְלִילִין שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר ״וַיְחִי אָדָם שְׁלֹשִׁים וּמְאַת שָׁנָה וַיּוֹלֶד בִּדְמוּתוֹ כְּצַלְמוֹ״ מִכְּלָל דְּעַד הָאִידָּנָא לָאו כְּצַלְמוֹ אוֹלֵיד (All the years that Adam ha-Rishon was in [self-imposed] isolation [from Chavah], he fathered…