Yishmael’s Teshuvah
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 … Continued
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 … Continued
Justice + Truth = Emunah
The Deep Purpose for Suffering Why is it that when someone begins to do teshuvah and starts walking in Hashem’s ways, he frequently encounters difficulties and experiences suffering? If the purpose of suffering is to motivate a person to do … Continued
How to Blot Out the Memory of Amalek
The Secret of the Erev Rav (Part 2) In last week’s article, The Erev Rav Also Went Up With Them, we learned a number of important points related to the Erev Rav and their relationship to B’nei Yisrael. First, the … Continued
The Greatest Decision You Can Make
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): … Continued
Victory Over the Evil Inclination
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 … Continued
Repairing the Breaches in the Fence
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 … Continued
Rosh Hashanah Consciousness All Year Long
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 … Continued
The Merit of the Wicked
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 … Continued
Recipe for Consistent Growth
When you hear the word teshuvah, what do you think about? Perhaps the first ideas to come to mind are that it means to repent or to return to Hashem and His ways. We could add the notion of moving … Continued