Tag Archives: spirituality
Save Me!
A guy is riding his motorcycle down a mountain road when suddenly he loses control and goes hurtling off the cliff. As he’s sailing through the air, he shouts out: “God! Please make a miracle! Save me!” Within moments his … Continue reading
Lost Beyond Eden
“Do not despise any person and do not disdain anything for there is no person who does not have his hour and there is no thing without its place” -Ben Azzai from Pirkei Avot 4:3 Just as the soul fills … Continue reading
The Transcendent Path
If you find yourself affixed to a single path to truth—the path of prayer and praise, or the path of kindness and love, or the path of wisdom and meditation, or any other path of a singular mode —you are … Continue reading
On Choosing God
Negate your own will in favor of God’s will. -Ethics of the Fathers 2:4 If I surrender my will and turn my life over completely to the will of God, do I not thereby abrogate my power of free choice? … Continue reading
The Terrible Living God
Many people express gratitude to the Almighty for being saved from desperate and problematic situations. But surely they’d have preferred that the problem would have never have arisen in the first place! This, however, is not the proper attitude. The … Continue reading
Mishpatim: Law and Spirit
There was once a Jewish girl who stopped in Israel on her way to India to seek spirituality. Friends suggested that she go to Neve Yerushalayim to take a class and give Judaism one last shot before seeking other pathways … Continue reading
The Rabbi and The Taxi Driver
The position which baalei teshuvah [penitents] occupy cannot be occupied even by tzaddikim [completely righteous]. -Berachos 34b A surgeon once encountered difficult complications during an operation and asked his assistant to see if there was anyone in the surgical suite … Continue reading
If Water Can Wear Down A Stone
Set aside time each day to meditate and pray alone in a room or some meadow and express your innermost thoughts and feelings and personal prayers to God. Use every kind of appeal and argument. Use words that will endear … Continue reading
Early in the Morning – Late in Life
Moshe ascended early in the morning and descended early in the morning. -Shabbos 86a Rabbi Menachem Bentzion Sacks used to expound upon this theme. The climb to God, the spiritual drive to perfection, must begin early in one’s life. In … Continue reading
Being Light in the Darkness
He explains there that tzaddikim are classified in two general categories. The first is that of the “complete tzaddik,” also known as the “ tzaddik who possesses (only) good.” Such a tzaddik has succeeded in completely transforming the evil of … Continue reading
