How the Mishkan Was Built In what is perhaps his most well-known lesson in Likutei Moharan, R’ Nachman of Breslov explains the importance of looking for, and finding (!), the good points in every Jew, even in someone we might consider a rasha (see L.M. 282). He also teaches there the necessity of looking for…
Building the Mishkan: from Descent to Ascent In the beginning of Parashat Terumah, Hashem tells Moshe Rabbeinu to instruct B’nei Yisrael to bring donations of various materials in order to construct a sanctuary for Him to dwell in (Shemot 25:8): וְעָשׂוּ לִי מִקְדָּשׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּי בְּתוֹכָם (And they shall make for Me a Mishkan, and I…
Yaakov’s Encounter with the Ministering Angel of Esav After Yaakov Avinu conducted his family and possessions across the river when returning to what would eventually become known as Eretz Yisrael, we read the following in the Torah (Bereshit 32:25): וַיִּוָּתֵר יַעֲקֹב לְבַדּוֹ וַיֵּאָבֵק אִישׁ עִמּוֹ עַד עֲלוֹת הַשָּׁחַר (And Yaakov was left alone, and a…
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…
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…
In last week’s article, we reviewed the six main attributes of the parah adumah (disgraced, unblemished soul, occupied fully with Torah, a tzaddik who exhibits true shiflut, yet despised by the nation) and challenged the reader to see the connection between those attributes and the suffering servant of Yeshayah 52:13-53:12. As a follow up to…
R’ Abahu said (Berachot 34b): מָקוֹם שֶׁבַּעֲלֵי תְשׁוּבָה עוֹמְדִין צַדִּיקִים גְּמוּרִים אֵינָם עוֹמְדִין שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר שָׁלוֹם שָׁלוֹם לָרָחוֹק וְלַקָּרוֹב לָרָחוֹק בְּרֵישָׁא וַהֲדַר לַקָּרוֹב (In the place ba’alei teshuvah stand, complete tzaddikim cannot stand, as it says [Yeshayah 57:19], ‘Shalom, shalom to him who is far away and to him who is near’, ‘to him who is…
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…
Part 2: The Essence of Teshuvah (Likutei Moharan 6:2) In last week’s article, we examined the true reason behind the shidduch crisis in the orthodox Jewish world. With G-d’s help, we will now begin to lay out the path that a young man can take in order to cleanse his way, thereby meriting to marry…
Part 1: Defining the Problem (Tikkunei Zohar 14) The orthodox Jewish world is in the midst of a crisis, a crisis of not being able to find one’s marriage partner [shidduch]. Many young men and women are either not dating, or even if they are dating, they are having a difficult time finding that ‘perfect…
Fears can be extraordinarily debilitating, and generally speaking sane people don’t want to be debilitated. This is the reason why a great deal of psychology exists around fear, i.e. how to deal with it, how to overcome it, and even how to benefit from it. On the surface this sounds great, but if you’ve ever…
Last week in our article Don’t Worry, You Won’t Die we examined Chavah’s grave error in eating from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Torah describes her acceptance of the advice of the Nachash [Primordial Serpent] as a form of seduction, as it says in Likutei Moharan 7:3:…