Reflecting on the Jewish Rules of Prophet Identification
Forget G·d. Does my soul exist?
A Secret of the Holy Baal Shem Tov
Purim in the Time of Coronavirus
There has never, in the history of the world, been a better week to celebrate Purim. Never have we been so instantaneously connected, so able to join our voices and declare, “According to my senses and calculations, we’re all going to die.” The pain, the disappointment, the terror, when life makes no sense. Our role […]
“Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is coming out to the water, and station yourself before him at the edge of the Nile, taking with you the rod that turned into a snake.” AS HE IS COMING OUT OF THE WATER to ease himself. For he claimed to be a god and asserted […]
Four Useful Non-Jewish Ideologies
“The gentile makes gods of stone and we of theories.”Isaac Bashevis Singer Two questions: (1) Is G-d true? (2) Is G-d central to human perfection? Judaism is not any particular combination of answers to these two questions. If you answer no to both, you are what’s called an atheist. Atheism is the idea that G-d […]
Morte e Satisfação Ao Lado do Tejo
Why ever move from a perfect place?
11 Lessons for Existential Tourists
The Chassidic masters recognize there is something both profound and wrong with uprootedness, travel, the state of being on the road. Their approach is too complex for a full survey here, but we need for contrast look no further than the (desirable) recognition of the Maggid of Mezritch that he is but a traveler in […]
Celebrating Halloween the Chassidic Way
Why can’t we just celebrate Halloween if it’s secular nowadays?
There's No Such Thing As A Simple Idolator
Fourth member of a Sukkot series on the teachings of the Holy Baal Shem Tov. Members the 1st, the 2nd, and the 3rd. “The wholesome simplicity of the simple Jew touches on the utterly simple essence of G‑d. ” The Holy Baal Shem Tov It’s tricky to be simple. The opposite of chassidic simplicity is […]