Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh's blog
Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 8th, 2011
The two elements of fire and water unite in the Temple. The two elements of air and earth unite in the Land of Israel. In the Temple we offer sacrifices to God. The sacrifices ascend in flame on the altar. The Torah calls the sacrifices “fires.” When offering a sacrifice we experience ourselves burning up [...]
Posted in Rectifying the Sense of Sight on Jul 16th, 2011
The Torah lists by name the non-kosher birds. One of them is the ra’ah, literally “the seer.” The sages explain: It stands in Babylonia and sees a corpse in the Land of Israel. Babylonia (בבל) means “confusion” (בלבול). There God confused the tongues of the builders of the Tower of Babel. The Ba’al Shem Tov explains that [...]
Posted in Questions in the Bible on Jun 6th, 2011
Questions come from doubt. Doubt comes from sin. Sin comes from illusion. The Torah was given to save us from false illusions. Illusion is in the mind. The primordial sin, a physical act, was perpetrated from hand to mouth (taking and eating the forbidden fruit). Doubt is in the heart. From the heart doubt enters [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on May 10th, 2011
The sign of having done a good deed is feeling close to God. Feeling far, estranged from God is the sign of having done something wrong. The 11th of the 13 Principles of Faith outlined by Maimonides is faith in reward and punishment. There is the reward and punishment of the future, in the World [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 1st, 2011
The pit was empty, no water, but full of snakes and scorpions. The pit is the mind, water – Torah, snakes and scorpions – bad thoughts. Joseph’s brothers threw him into an empty pit, an environment without Torah and full of spiritual dangers, negative influences from all sides. A crisis in life is a trial. [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 15th, 2011
In the Torah there are many applications to the “law of similars.” One of them is that in order to kill a snake you must be like a snake. In gematria, Mashiach (משיח, 358) equals snake (נחש). As extreme opposites they are in fact similar, numerically identical. In Kabbalah, a number is defined as the [...]
Posted in Elisha's Skepticism on Mar 10th, 2011
The opening phrase of the Torah, “In the beginning God created…” (1202) = “worms” (תולעים) and “doubts” (ספקות). There are good worms and bad worms. Amalek is a bad worm, a worm of doubt. King David, on the other hand, is a good worm, as he says of himself, “I am a worm and not [...]
Posted in Elisha's Skepticism on Mar 9th, 2011
Elisha Acher came out of paradise a heretic. What went wrong? A worm had been eating away at him all the time. The worm’s name: skepticism. When Elisha Acher entered paradise he saw the archangel Metatron sitting down. But he had learned that angels are not permitted to sit in paradise, but only stand in [...]
Posted in Tweets from the year 5771 on Feb 24th, 2011
There are many worlds. In the highest spiritual World of Emanation there is no consciousness other than that of God. * The Bible speaks of two “rods,” a “pleasant rod” and a “harmful rod.” The rod – a symbol of discipline – can be either pleasant or harmful. * In our “forgiveness” prayers we say [...]
Posted in Tweets from the year 5771 on Feb 24th, 2011
Snails shoot love darts at one another. But you don’t have to be a snail. People do it with their eyes and their tongue. A sign of love is lightning in your eyes. Lightning is God’s arrow. The tongue is also likened to an arrow. Shoot love darts to God. Snails only shoot their love [...]