Purim – Father, Why Have You Forsaken Me?

The Hasidic reading of the book of Esther centers the understanding of the text around the Tzadik and around understanding the "Torah of the heart" (pnimiyut haTorah). This reading focuses on the movement from worshiping out of fear (din - judgement) to worshipping out of love (pnimyut ha'Torah). I will explain the concept of Nesira...

Faith Without Love is Nothing.

 To understand James, its essential to understand his basic equation, " As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." (James, 2: 26). Faith needs deeds and deeds need faith, deeds without faith is dead, faith without deeds is useless (James 2, 20 "You foolish person, do you want evidence...

The Gospel and the the Insurance Policy.

Insurance policies promise to be there when you need them most. When things go bad, they're there for you, they'll take care of it. Put your worries on the policy, it's taken care of. However, when something eventually does go wrong, you very often find that the issue is not covered by the policy. I...

The Tzaddik will be delivered over to Edom: Ramchal 1.

The following excerpt is taken from a text titled' "tefilot Ramchal," meaning, "prayers of the Ramchal." The Ramchal focuses on the Tzadik, and his central importance for the redemption of Israel and the world. In this prayer, we see that the Righteous on (the Tzadik) who is also called, "the foundation" (alluding to the verse'"the...

Did Christ Come on Time?

The similarities between Jewish Mystical thought and Christianity has already been subject to long scholarly debate. In the beginning of the 20th century, Martin Buber wrote about the link between the teachings of the Ba'al Shem Tov and those of Jesus. This topic has been discussed by scholars such as Moshe Idel and Shaul Magido,...

מצוות פטר חמור.

מצווה לפדות את החמור מהכהן. וכידוע חמור הינו בחינת משיח בן יוסף שנקרא "עני ורוכב על חמור." ועל משיח בן יוסף לעבור ייסורים, שהוא בחינת נושא עוון עבור כל עם ישראל, "והוא מחולל מפשיענו." (ישיעהו נ"ג; ל"מ, תנינא, קי"ח). והמשיח נמשל לדג אשר ישנו על שני עיניו שני עננים, בחינת ישמעאל ועשו, ושני סנפירים בחינת...

The Mitzvah of Redeeming the First Born.

It is a mitzvah to redeem the donkey (petter chamor) from the kohen. As is known, the donkey (chamor) corresponds to the aspect of Mashiach ben Yosef, who is described as “a poor man riding upon a donkey” (ani ve-rochev al chamor). Mashiach ben Yosef must undergo suffering—he is the one who bears the iniquity...

He Will Suddenly Arrive.

"The son of David only unexpectedly." "The redemption of Hashem is at the blink of an eye." "Today - if you listen to his voice." "The son of man is coming at a time you don’t expect." The Messiah is said to come unexpectedly, Pitom,  meaning "suddenly" as the Hasidic teaching goes, "the son of...

The High Priest: Yeshua and the Pardon from the City of Sanctuary.

The "ir miklat" cities of refuge were a place where people were sent who committed acts of murder unintentionally and they are only released with the death of the high priest. The connection between the death of the high priest, and the death of the Messiah, is striking. The death of the high priest signals...

Ceasar, Esau – Jesus, Jacob.

The subject of Judaism is within a covenant, this covenant ties the individual to the material world, and places the individual in a space that is both before and within the law. The spiritual calling of Judaism is embodiment, to become one, to bring oneness into the world. This is the basic tenant of Kaballah,...