A False Truth
The Medrash (Tanchuma, Korach, 11) states, that after the debacle with Korach his children repented. They exclaimed: “Moshe is true, his Torah is true, and we are deceitful.” Chassidim would explain that their statement,...
Neirot
Twenty-One Years For Truth
The great tzaddik Reb Pinchas of Koritz worked on the character trait of truthfulness for twenty-one years. For seven years he labored to remove himself from lying, another seven years to recognize what truth was,...
Parshas Mishpatim – The Greatest Lie
By Rabbi Dovid Markel This week’s parsha expresses the prohibition against lying. The Torah states (Shemos, 23:17): “Distance yourself from a false matter.” In the directive against falsehood, the Torah urges the individual...
False Humility
There are some individuals who only see their faults and blemishes. They are only aware of their negative and their essential lowliness. This way of acting is false self-effacement and foolish humility. It destroys...
Parshas Mishpatim – Faith, Logic and Beyond
To view as a Designed and Printable PDF, click here. This week’s parsha focuses on the rational laws of the Torah. Included in this Torah portion however, are the preparations for the giving...
Flesh, Blood and G-d
In Tanya (Ch. 2) it states that every single Jew “from the highest of all ranks to the lowest that is embodied within the illiterate and the most worthless, all derive, as it were,...
Two Eyes, Two Goals
When the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn was a child, he once asked his father the following: “Why is it that G-d created man with two eyes? Wouldn’t man have sufficed with...
Senseless Love
The Talmud (Yuma 9b) states that the Second Temple was destroyed due to senseless hatred. Meaning to say, that they hated for no reason whatsoever; not for holy reasons and even contrary to basic...
Beloved and Dear
In a letter from the “Alter Rebbe,” Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, he writes (Iggeres HaKodesh, 22): “Therefore, my beloved and dear ones: I beg of you to make an effort with all the...
Beautiful or Alive?
In the year 5618 (1858), Rabbi Shmuel of Lubavitch traveled from Russia to Italy and Germany. While the official reason for his journey was for the sake of his health, the true reason for...
