Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh's blog
Posted in Re'eh on Aug 16th, 2012
The cursed kingdoms The first verse in Parashat Re’eh contains seven words, which correspond to the seven emotive sefirot (from loving-kindness to kingdom). The seventh word is “curse” (קללה) and it corresponds to the seventh sefirah, the sefirah of kingdom. The reason why kingdom is liable to be cursed stems from the seven primordial kings [...]
Posted in Devarim on Jul 27th, 2012
Seven traits of perception for a good counselor In this week’s Torah portion, we learn how Moses sought wise, perceptive and well-known men to be judges over the Jewish people. From the prayer that we say three times a day, “Return our judges as they were initially and our counselors as they were at first,”[1] [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 9th, 2011
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 [...]
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 25th, 2011
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 [...]
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 Uncategorized on Jun 9th, 2011
First put on your right shoe, then your left shoe, then bind your left shoe, and finally bind your right shoe. That’s the way Jews do it. The Torah was given to sanctify the mundane. Shoes allow us to walk the face of the earth, to contact physicality and move around as we wish freely. [...]
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 Questions in the Bible on Jun 2nd, 2011
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 [...]
Posted in Questions in the Bible on May 29th, 2011
After his sin God asked Adam, “Where are you?” Do you know to what depth you have fallen? Adam ate the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. He pursued knowledge (God wants us to be knowledgeable, doesn’t He?). And he got it – the knowledge of the depth to which [...]