Beyond Good and Evil Why is there death in the world? Why do bad things happen to good people? How can G-d allow evil to exist? These are probably the most powerful and most difficult questions that challenge faith. No one wise would claim to know the answer and no one who has experienced pain and rose above it can answer. Few have the knowledge, sensitivity, and courage to tackle such questions. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, in his ma’amer delivered in…
Likkutei Torah: Parshas Chukas VaYa’as Moshe Part 1 Concept Background to the Ma’amer: I. The verse: See for yourself in the preceding verse: Rashi writes that one had to gaze intently at the copper snake for the healing to work. Rashi: Moshe Rabbeinu wasn’t told to make it out of copper, but since Hashem called it a “nochosh” (“snake,” in Hebrew) he made it out of “nechoshes” (“copper”). (Bereishis Rabbah 19:31:8) II. Love and Fear. These are the two extremes…
The gemora in Shabbos 118b says, “If only the Jewish people kept two Shabbosos according to halocha—they would immediately be redeemed!” The gemora Yerushalmi in Taanis (chapter 1, at the end of halocha 1) says, “If the Jewish people kept one Shabbos properly, the son of Dovid (i.e., Moshiach) would come.” The seeming contradiction is resolved in Likkutei Torah (Behar 41a, from the Zohar vol. 1,) that says that there are two types of Shabbos: 1. “Lower” Shabbos: the type of…
Here, the Alter Rebbe explains how to have ahavas olam, eternal love. The general definition of ahavas olam, is a love that it’s based on one’s understanding of the greatness of G-d, that is, His Creatorship, Kingship, etc. Since it is a love based on understanding, there are two (basic) ramifications: 1. It is limited, like the mind from where the love was born and the subject which was contemplated (existence). a. Subject to change, for better or for worse. 2. It is…
The dew that fell in the desert to cushion the monn is the same [type of?] dew that will revive the dead. Likkutei Torah parshas Eikev.
Likkutei Sichos, vol. 19, page 42 “And the man Moshe was extremely humble, more than any person on the face of the earth.” Beha’alos’cha, 12:3 If the prerequisite to learning Torah properly is humility, and Moshe was the most humble of all men, then Moshe Rabbeinu learned the Torah the best. So, when Moshe Rabbeinu transmitted the Torah to us a second time from himself (“mipi atzmo”), not as a direct transmission from G-d, we know that his understanding and his…
Here the Alter Rebbe explains that life on Earth in a material body is a temporary thing. The main purpose of the soul is to be united with the Infinite. Source: Likkutei Torah, Parshas Chukas, D.H. Oz Yoshir Yisroel.
The Rebbe Rashab explains in the first ma’amer of Samach Vov, that there is a difference between r’usa d’liba (awakening of the heart, inspiration) and t’shuva (return). He explains that the difference lies in the approach. Inspiration is a result of realizing that one is in the presence of something greater, namely G-d, and wanting to be a part of this greater being. T’shuva on the other hand is a result of realizing how far one is from G-d followed…
You’re probably familiar with the statement, “Against your will you live and against your will you die.” It means that the soul is thrown into the physical body and this physical world while all she wants is to be attached to G-d. Here the Rebbe Rashab asks the question: there’s a general principle that a hamshocho, spiritual “drawing down,” or expression can only willful. So, how then could it be that the soul is forced into the body? He…