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Essays on the weekly Torah portion, the holidays and Jewish thought.
Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Remez If P’shat is the simple meaning of the text, Remez is the alluded meaning. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Resurrection: No Dropouts Following this line of reasoning, we have one more issue to settle. What added dimension do we gain from the Resurrection of the Dead? Haven’t we already -- during the Messianic Age – reached the point where the purpose of creation is fulfilled? Hasn’t the world – during the… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The Barriers Removed A story is told of the famed Rabbi Moshe Alshich, one of the greatest rabbis of his time, who lived in the city of Tzefat in northern Israel. Tzefat was a city renowned for its Talmudic scholarship and scholars, but, particularly, for its great level of teaching of kabbalah.… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The Chassidic Contribution The 19th of Kislev is the anniversary of the release from prison of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812). Rabbi Schneur Zalman, a disciple of Rabbi Dovber of Mezeritch, the successor to the Ba'al Shem Tov, the founder of the Chassidic movement, was the founder of the… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The Farmer, Archeologist, Geologist and Treasure Hunter To better appreciate the differences between the four worlds of interpretation, an analogy from four ways one can analyze the earth could prove helpful. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The Fifth Level-The Essence of Torah In the foregoing essay, entitled “On the Essence of Chassidus,” the Lubavitcher Rebbe elaborates on the four levels of interpretation as they apply to Modeh Ani in particular. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The Four Faces of Genesis – Sod And finally on the level of Sod, the word Breishit is translated as if the word were a composite of two words “Bara” and Shis.” Meaning that G-d “created six.” Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The Great Thank You- P’shat When we examine this prayer that a Jew says upon awakening, we will discover that it too, as all parts of Torah, has at least four ways of looking at it. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The King and the Prince There is yet one more analogy from the human sphere that relates to a king and his son the crown prince. The king gives his only son, the heir to the crown; the best education money can buy. He hires the best tutors and gives his son everything that is needed to make him the… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The Messianic Age: The Completion of the Palace the Second Goal In the last few chapters we have been discussing the mission of the soul in this world. Its goal is to struggle with the material world and the obstacles that are posed by our bodily existence. Ultimately, the soul reaches a higher level than it was at before it “descended” into… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The Quantum Leap To better understand this quantum leap; let us refer to the Zohar’s description of the four levels of interpretation as representing the “four Worlds.” As is well known, our existence that came about through G-d’s creating process has to go through four “worlds” or levels of… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The Resurrection of the Dead a Jewish Belief One of the most under-emphasized Jewish beliefs is the resurrection of the dead. This is in stark contrast to the way things were in the days of Maimonides. Maimonides bemoans the fact that everyone was talking about the resurrection of the dead. People were asking questions… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The Secret of Awakening-Sod The highest level of interpretation – Sod – cannot be adduced from the text of Modeh Ani. Having some basic outside information will also not suffice. Here one must know the secret ahead of time. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Three Distinct Principles We must still understand why there is a need for three distinct principles. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Three Donkeys In the Torah there is a reference to three great people and their donkey. Abraham saddled his donkey. Moses put his family to ride his donkey and the Moshiach will ride and be revealed on his donkey. Our sages tell us that these three donkeys were one and the same donkey. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Three Forms of Messianism While there are multitudes of messianic philosophies, they can all be reduced to three forms. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Torah and Secular Knowledge Despite the fact that Torah is divided into many levels, even the "lowest" level of Torah possesses a G-dly light that is untarnished and unfiltered by anything in this world. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Torah: G-d’s Revelation on Earth G-d's energy comes into this world in many shapes and sizes. When we look at a living being we see G-d. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Why the Descent of the Soul? Why would G-d take the soul, which is a part of Himself, and force it to descend into a physical world clad in a physical body? To make the question even stronger – and which will serve as the key to the answer – we can add: Why did G-d put all the temptations, the blandishments… Parsha Beshalach – Ahead of the Angels Angels are spiritual beings that are totally devoted to G-d. Because they have no free choice they are in a constant state of devotion to Him. Obviously, humans who have inclinations for evil are spiritually inferior to angels. However, when G-d shows His love for the Israelites—as He did at the tim