All Are Equal Before Him

“Shomea Tefilla” – “He hears prayer”: Rabbi Yehuda ben Shalom said in the name of Rabbi Elazar: The nature of flesh and blood is that if a poor person comes to tell him something, he does not listen; if a rich person comes to say something, he immediately listens and accepts it. But the Holy One, Blessed is He, is not like that; rather all are equal before Him – - women, slaves, poor people and rich people . . . The same language is used regarding Moshe (Moses), master of all the prophets, as is used regarding a poor person . . . to inform you that all are equal in prayer before G-d.

Purity And Force Of One’s Intentions

“Know than that Chochmah is what clarifies everything, and the elevation of the sparks of holiness that fell from Tohu depends chiefly upon it”
The key to differentiating good from evil-and knowing how to release the kernel of good within evil in order to liberate it-is Chochmah, or insight. The purer one’s insight the clearer one will be able to recognize what is good and what is evil, and purity of insight is dependent upon the purity and force of one’s intentions.
Arizal - Apples from the Orchard

Sunbeams In A Dark Room

The “Evil One” is like a prankster running through a crowd, holding up his tightly closed hand. No one knows what he is holding. Each individual imagines that the closed hand contains just what he desires. They all hurry and run after the prankster. Then, when he has tricked them all into following him, he opens his hand and is completely empty. No worldly desire is ever fulfilled. Worldly desires are like sunbeams in a dark room. They may seem solid, but a person who tries to grasp a sunbeam finds nothing in his hand. The same is true for all worldly desires.

Rabbi Nachman

Cultivate The Tree

The soul is like a tree planted in the land. Our task is to dwell in the land and cultivate the tree. If the soil is good – if our faith is strong – and we do our work, the tree will grow and bear fruits. Many people think positive thinking is a good thing but basically a matter of blind man’s bluff. You have no idea where you are going, but as you grope around, you put on a mighty front that everything’s just wonderful. Without G-d, everything is a matter of chance, and experience seems to show that the worst disasters can overtake the best. In the end, everyone dies, and who really knows what comes after death? Trust in G-d is the confidence… Ask G-d to help you to understand what you should do, and to develop trust in Him….

UNDER THE TABLE & How to get up

Direct Your Heart

The Baal Shem Tov said that a person who is completely pure, who never caused even the slightest blemish in the world, cannot see evil in any man, He cannot even hear about the evil that a person has done. For G-d does not allow him to see or hear evil. When you see that somebody is doing evil, or even if you are told about it, you must therefore know that you have somewhat of a stain of the very same thing. Even if you are a righteous person, you still have something of that blemish. G-d therefore brings about the sight or news in order that you should direct your heart to repent and rectify it. The person who did the actual evil, however, depends on you. Thus, he too will then repent…

Turkey Consciousness

The real essence of man is not, as most of the world is inclined to think, his physical body, but his soul. The soul is the Prince: it comes from the highest realms – the “court of the King”– and is ultimately destined to rise and return to its proper place, enjoying the true goodness of closeness to God. If we came into this world with all our higher soul-powers intact, we would always recall the spiritual worlds from which the soul originates. Seeing this world in its true perspective, we would understand its material dimension for what it is – a limitation that has to be mastered and transcended in order to acquire the spiritual goodness that is our destiny. What creates the test of the soul is that “the Prince thinks he is aTurkey.” The Prince in us is the authentic soul, but when we come into this world, our higher, spiritual consciousness is mostly lost to us. In order to function and go about our everyday business, a lower form of consciousness comes to the fore – this-worldly, material, Turkey consciousness. This is what tends to blot out our awareness of the lowly nature of this world and our true purpose in it.

UNDER THE TABLE& How to get up

 

Personal Divine Providence

Following the thesis – G-d’s is everything- and its antithesis -the soul has autonomous free will- comes their synthesis, the third element of faith: Divine Providence. Divine Providence specifically refers to personal Divine Providence. Even though I have free will and am autonomous, G-d directs everything that happens in my life—helping me and guiding me with every step I take. When an individual decides to embark on a positive path, purifying himself and his life, the Almighty facilitates it.Conversely, when an individual chooses the opposite direction, he is not helped, but an opening is made available, for the measure by which G-d encourages the good is always greater than the measure by which He allows the opposite.

Lessons from the Patriarchs

G-dly Awareness

The main reason for the suffering of people in exile is that they have fallen from G-dly awareness, attributing everything to nature, chance and fate. This is why they experience pain and suffering. This is the only reason for their suffering, because if they had the G-dly awareness to understand that everything is under G-d’s providence, they would feel no pain at all. The truth is that the people are beyond nature. It is only when they sin (forget G-d), that they become subject to the laws of nature. The main reason for their exile and pain is that they lack G-dly awareness and attribute everything to nature.

RABBI NACHMAN

Let There Be Light

It is written, “And G-d-Elohim said, “Let there be Light, and there was Light.” G-d spoke through the power of His name Elohim, which is the Attribute of Constraint. He thus constricted His Light. As a result of this, “there was Light.” Only then could light exist which could endure, and which creation could tolerate.

Kether Shem Tov 247

Right and Wrong

Religion deals with powerful moral categories: Right and Wrong. It is thus very prone to abuse. History shows no lack of cases where individuals, groups and whole societies have used “religious principles” to sanction the most cruel, destructive acts of wanton greed and folly. Even if we do not consciously want to deceive ourselves or anyone else, is there not a danger that natural human weakness may induce us to unconsciously misinterpret spiritual and religious teachings in order to provide rationalizations for our own unhealthy attitudes and behaviour? As Rebbe Nachman says: “The way the Yetzer HaRa (evil) deceives a person is by first dressing itself up in good, persuading him that the thing he is tempted to do is really good”. And even with no ulterior motives at all, one can sometimes simply get things wrong.

Avraham ben Yaakov