Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh's blog
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 7th, 2011
“Give not your strength [i.e., your seed] to women, nor your ways to that which destroys kings” (“אַל תִּתֵּן לַנָּשִׁים חֵילֶךָ וּדְרָכֶיךָ לַמְחוֹת מְלָכִין”). This is the Biblical source for the relation between sex and politics. Maimonides quotes this verse (from the last chapter of Proverbs, the ethics of King Solomon, the wisest of men; in [...]
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 18th, 2011
In the ten-rung ladder of spiritual growth outlined by Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair, three consecutive rungs are: “Cleanliness brings one to purity, purity brings one to chastity (i.e., abstinence from overindulging in physical pleasures).” These three attributes correspond to the three “garments” of the soul: thought, speech, and action (but not in that order), as well [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 7th, 2011
The phrase “He is not a body and not a power in a body” (אינו גוף ולא כח בגוף) contains 16 letters. Written as a square, the corners spell באפו, “in His wrath” = גוף, “body”. The diagonal from lower-right to upper-left also reads “in His wrath.” The lesson: No body – no anger. Anthropomorphism [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Apr 7th, 2011
One of our basic tenets of faith in God, in the words of Maimonides: “He is not a body and not a power in a body.” God is both omnipresent and omnipotent. Maimonides explains that if He were corporal (“a body”) He could not be omnipresent (in heavens above and earth below simultaneously and uniformly), [...]
Posted in Tweets from the year 5771 on Feb 24th, 2011
Consummate service of God unites meditation (919), prayer (515), and action (415). They complement one another. Together, 1849 = 43^2. Meditation connects mind to heart. Prayer connects heart to mouth. Action connects mouth (in the Torah speaking is action) to hands. There is something special about hands. When lifted, they ascend above the head and [...]
Posted in Tweets from the year 5771 on Feb 24th, 2011
The prophet says that when God will return to Zion we will see Him “eye to eye,” which reads literally “eye in eye.” In the future, the inner prophetic spiritual eye will be enclothed in the outer physical eye and so will we see God returning to Zion. The middle letter of “eye” is the [...]
Posted in Tweets from the year 5771 on Feb 24th, 2011
People with guts get things done. Without guts you’re better off sleeping. Your guts are in your lower abdomen. That’s the place to begin serving God. Maimonides says that to serve God properly one must be healthy. And it all begins from the stomach, proper eating habits. Every month has its “talent.” The talent of [...]
Posted in Tweets from the year 5771 on Feb 24th, 2011
Today, the 20th of Tevet, marks the passing of Moses Maimonides, named “the great eagle,” master of law, philosophy, and medicine. In his interactions with non-Jewish patients he was known for intercultural awareness and respect for the patient’s autonomy. Of course, Maimonides taught that in a rectified world order all people will recognize the truth [...]
Posted in Tweets from the year 5771 on Feb 24th, 2011
God saved Jacob from his father-in-law Lavan, his brother Esau, and his “son-in-law” Shechem (his daughter’s rapist), three generations. Jacob is the all-inclusive Jewish soul. From him we learn that each of us has an enemy in the previous, this, and the next generations. The common denominator of the three enemies is that they all [...]