Ambition

I've never seen anyone as ambitious.

He's unbelievable; he doesn't rest for a second; he's laser focused; he embraces the challenge with excitement; he never compromises with the competition; he is always as peek energy - never letting his guard down.

Yet, surprisingly, he's not interested in making a name for himself; nor is he interested in controlling the entire world. 

He does, however, want to control himself. Completely.

He strives to be a Beynuney.

Securing a Hazard

You took my lock, without my permission, to secure a hazard that you were responsible for; I later came and took my lock, leaving the hazard exposed. Someone then came along and got hurt; who is responsible you or I?

Surprisingly, the Gemara writes that you are responsible; because being that the lock was not yours, you should have assumed that the owner will take it back; thus it is as if you never protected the hazard at all.

Do you agree with the logic? 

(Talmud, Baba Kama 30a) 

Tzaddik vs. Beinoni

What is the difference between the Tzaddik and Beinoni?
A Beinoni can't sin and a Tzaddik can't sin. A Tzaddik can't because he loves Hashem so much that he abhors sin. Yet the Beinoni does that too, by davening! He loves Hashem so much that he puts his taavos to sleep.
So why is it not just a quantitative difference, by the Beinoni the love is for davening and for the Tzaddik all day? And why can't a beinoni love Hashem all day? Is that out of his hands?
Of course this can't be right because there is a beinoni who loves Hashem all day and is called the beinoni who davens all day, and he's no Tzaddik.
So is it that when you strip the tzaddik of everything, of all his avoidah, what do you have? Someone who loves Hashem. When you take a Beinoni and strip him of his avoidah, what do you got? A baal taavah.
Is that the difference?

Listen

Prayer is on of the three pillars of divine service, the other two are study and acts of kindness. The Alter Rebbe teaches that prayer isn’t about talking, as one would think by walking into a synagogue, rather prayer is all about listening. The talking that we do is just to get us into the right mind frame to be able to listen.

What should you listening for? For the sound of your soul, as well as the soul of every creation, singing and longing to G-d. For the divine energy within each person, and each creation, is continuously singing a love song to G-d. For the energy feels it's source and it wants to return to it's source, the divine infinite light. The fact that it is placed in this world by the divine plan does not diminish it's continues yearning to return.

So, next time you go to shul, between reading all those words, make sure you make time to listen. Listen to the voice singing in your heart, in the heart of every human being, in every blade of grass, in every drop of water.

Listen and perhaps sing along.

(Chasidus Mevueres Tefilah, first Mamar)

On Being In Love

I want to be involved with this relationship at every moment. No, doing things for you all day long is not a burden. I look forward to every opportunity I have do something for you. We are in love.


Between the commandments of the Torah and the customs instituted by the sages, Judaism can occupy every moment of the day. To an outsider it may look like a burden, to the person in love with Hashem there is nothing he'd rather be doing.

In the prayer said just before the Shimah we say “enlighten our eyes in your Torah, make our hearts cleave to your commandments, and unify our hearts to love and fear your name”. We want to connect to Hashem with our mind and heart. And we want to fulfill the Mitzvot with Love.

The Art of Living

Life is a mess. You have a great moment and a second later you loose it. You spent a year saving up fir the vacation; after just a few hours of pleasure you managed to get into a fight with you kid and destroy everything you worked for.

So people created art. If you think about it, it's a great invention. For every form of art is defined with a beginning and an end. It captures a particular feeling or story; once captured its; complete, nothing can change it.

We yearn to create something outside ourselves. We are not satisfied by who we are inwardly, we strive to be able to create something we can put on the shelf. Something that our next bad mood won't be able to take away.

The Tanya teaches that every Mitzvah we perform is a creation of a piece of art. “this unity (created by the Mitzvah) is eternal in heaven”; there is a place that the good in our lives is captured and is everlasting, future negativity can't detract from its beauty.

The artist hangs his creation on the wall, then evolves to discover that he must place the art in his heart. Filling his life with everlasting beautiful moments.

The Modern Malchut

I always felt bad for Malchut (the divine attribute of kingship). Ever since the European revolutions in 19th and 20th century monarchy is foreign, leaving much of the Chasidic teachings on Malchut a bit outdated.

This morning it occurred to me that one aspect of Malchut can be better understood in a modern democracy.

Chasudus says that Malchut is the attribute of speech – expressing to others what was concealed within the person. The reason that speech is associated with kingship is because the king rules by the decrees he commands with his speech.

Never was this point clearer then with the modern politician, whose primary way of gaining power is the spoken word. A person with the greatest ideas will never get elected unless he can persuade people with his words.