Wonders from Your Torah

There are two levels of “nothing,” absolute nothing and relative nothing, and two levels of “something,” intangible something and tangible something. Absolute nothing is the awareness that besides the absolute existence of God all is naught and that God’s absolute existence is absolutely incomprehensible;  relative nothing is the state of nothing that precedes creation ex-nihilo; intangible [...]

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Both the mind and the heart possess an “inner eye.” On Shabbat the inner eye of the mind opens to see Godliness in contemplative meditation. In the Temple the inner eye of the heart opens to see Godliness in heartfelt prayer. The verse says, “And they shall make for Me a sanctuary and I shall [...]

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Our origin is in the Divine nothing. Our goal is to understand everything, as it says, “Those that seek God shall understand everything.” We come from wisdom, the father principle, and we go to understanding, the mother principle. Father, “the depth of the beginning,” is “nothing” (“wisdom appears from nothing”; the “nothing,” the source of [...]

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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 [...]

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Before Yisroel Ba’al Shem Tov there were three Ba’alei Shem: Eliahu Ba’al Shem, Yoel Ba’al Shem, and Adam Ba’al Shem. “Ba’al Shem” means “master of the Name (of God).” By the power of the Divine Name the Ba’al Shem works miracles, especially to heal the sick. The Ba’al Shem Tov is the master of the [...]

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“Egypt” (מצרים) means “straights,” alluding to psychological blocks and states of confinement. Chametz (leavened bread) symbolizes egocentricity. Egocentricity (chametz) is the source of all psychological confinement (Egypt). No slave could escape the confining borders of Egypt. The Exodus is the miracle of breaking through the borders of Egypt by nullifying one’s sense of egocentricity. There’s really [...]

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The four questions that we ask at the Seder table begin: “What is the difference between this night (of Pesach) and all (other) nights?” The children at the Seder table ask their father to explain to them the meaning of all the unique customs that we perform on the first night of Pesach. We are all children of our [...]

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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), [...]

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The messianic formula: Lights of Chaos in Vessels of Order. Lights of Chaos are great, unbounded lights. They give full, outspoken expression to what one believes to be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. For many others they are terribly intimidating. Often, the end result is “the breaking of the vessels” [...]

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In one verse King David says: “I place God before me always” (“שויתי הוי’ לנגדי תמיד”). But in another he says: “My sin is before me always” (“וחטאתי נגדי תמיד”). How do they go together? First, let us note that the combined gematria of “God” (הוי’, 26), and “my sin” (חטאתי, 428) = “always” (תמיד, 454), [...]

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