Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh's blog
Posted in Rectifying the Sense of Sight on Jul 22nd, 2011
Shabbat in relation to the weekdays is as sight to hearing. Throughout the week Divine vibrations fill my heart. On Shabbat I see Godliness. In the Zohar we learn that the word Shabbat (שבת) depicts the secret of the eye. The three branches of its first letter, shin (ש), allude to the three Patriarchs and to [...]
Posted in Questions in the Bible on May 31st, 2011
There are three forms of the question “where?” in Biblical Hebrew. They first appear in the Torah in evolving order, both grammatically and numerically. The first form, ey (אי), comprises only two letters (perhaps the simplest syllable in the Hebrew language) and first appears in the question we contemplated above, “Where is Abel your brother” (אי [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 25th, 2011
Both Purim and Pesach commemorate the redemption of the Jewish People. Both begin with the letter pei (פ), which means “mouth.” Informing Miriam and Aaron of the unique level of their brother Moses’ prophecy, God says: “I speak to him mouth to mouth.” The phrase “mouth to mouth” alludes to the two redemptions of Purim [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 14th, 2011
The Torah has body and soul, law and mystery. Both derive from a common source: the Hebrew language. The first text of Kabbalah is the first text of Hebrew grammar, the Book of Formation. All the myriad laws of the Oral Torah are the product of intense and detailed analysis of the syntax of the [...]
Posted in Tweets from the year 5771 on Feb 24th, 2011
Creation begins with the letter bet, which stands for blessing. In Kabbalah, the letter bet is the Divine energy embodied in the right eye. God created us with two eyes, the right eye to see good in others and the left eye to see what needs correction in ourselves. “A good eye shall be blessed [...]
Posted in Tweets from the year 5771 on Feb 24th, 2011
The 4 elements of the ancients, fire-air-water-earth, correspond to the 4 modern elements, carbon-oxygen-hydrogen-nitrogen, respectively. The element of earth is the power of growth in the earth, primarily nitrogen. Our atmosphere is a mixture, 3 parts earth to 1 part air. Coals are carbon – fire. Diamonds are concentrated carbon – fire. Most important: All [...]
Posted in Tweets from the year 5771 on Feb 24th, 2011
In a cultivated acre of 50 palms, 1 is male and 49 are female. Sounds like the 50 days of counting the Omer. In the Torah, the lulav (palm frond) is called the palm (of the hand) of the palm (tree). In English they are the same word. Holding a lulav is a sign of [...]
Posted in Tweets from the year 5771 on Feb 24th, 2011
What do you prefer, to know all that a human mind can possibly know, or just to be nothing? To be nothing does not mean to cease to exist, it just means that you are neither here nor there. “I am nothing” sounds like a contradiction. In Hebrew, the 3 letters “I” (אני) permute to [...]
Posted in Tweets from the year 5771 on Feb 24th, 2011
When the mind is too tired to study a Torah text in depth, that’s the time to count its letters. God created mathematics for relaxation. God created music for spiritual elevation. The Torah itself is primordial, it reflects God Himself. But it has both music and mathematics. If mathematics is relaxing from it, then music [...]