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 10th, 2011
In Hebrew, the idiom “to see someone’s face” can mean either to appease him or to fight him. After winning the wrestling bout with Esau’s archangel, Jacob says, “for I have seen the angel of God face to face and my soul has been saved.” Several of the traditional commentaries explain that seeing face to [...]
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 12th, 2011
Loving a rasha does not mean to condone his evil deeds. If you love his soul you’ll do everything possible to prevent him from doing wrong. There are two types of sin, sin between man and God and sin between man and man. Sin between man and God is harmful – to one’s individual soul, [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 12th, 2011
Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz (one of the great disciples of the Ba’al Shem Tov) said that a consummate tzadik (righteous person) is one who loves a consummate rasha (wicked person) and that a not-yet consummate tzadik is one who loves a not-yet consummate rasha. The tzadik sees himself reflected on the other side. He identifies [...]
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 [...]
Posted in Tweets from the year 5771 on Feb 24th, 2011
A horn is also a musical instrument, beginning with the shofar, the crown of all musical instruments in the Torah. Unicorns have one horn protruding from their forehead. They’re always turning corners, always becoming nothing, so you’ll never see one. In the Bible, the re’eim is usually translated as unicorn and is said to have [...]
Posted in Tweets from the year 5771 on Feb 24th, 2011
18 = chai (chet-yud, 8-10), life. The triangle of 8 = 36 (all numbers from 1 to 8) and of 10 = 55, together = 91, the triangle of 13, love. Life is love, as King Solomon says, “See life with the woman you love” = 1599 = 13 times 123, love times pleasure. The [...]
Posted in Tweets from the year 5771 on Feb 24th, 2011
The union of God and Israel, as groom and bride, is the theme of the Song of Songs. It took place in the Temple. We bring fire – passion – to the altar from below, and the fire of God descends from heaven to unite with our fire. In the Holy of Holies, the innermost [...]