Joy is the ultimate vessel.  Nothing organizes the chaotic energies of life and allows you to have the perspective that joy brings.  In this week’s talk, we discuss the unique structure of the Torah portion of Ki Tavo which the Sages arranged we always read before Rosh Hashana.  As we will see, the Parsha has a lot to teach us about how to prepare for the big day that is just around the corner.   In this talk we also discuss the Divine mechanics of light, blessing and negativity — dispelling common misunderstandings about what many people misinterpret as vindictiveness.

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One of the big turn offs for many people contemplating G-d, is the subject of “organized religion”.  It seems like making a connection with the Divine shouldn’t have to involve a large building fund, membership dues, and all the other headaches associated with a part of our lives that is so intensely personal.  But a deeper exploration of Judaism shows us that it isn’t an organized religion in the classic sense at all.  But if that’s the case, how do we cut through all the institutional red tape?  I hope this talk is a start!

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One of the most challenging things in life is doing the right thing when you are caught by surprise.  If you don’t know when the moment is coming, how can you prepare for it?  The Ishbitzer Rebbe, one of the deepest of the Torah Masters, steps out a fascinating approach based on love.  In this week’s talk we hear his thoughts, based on the teachings of Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and tie it all into getting ready for the New Year.

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Imagine trying to view a piece of art with smudged sunglasses.  This is what so many of us experience when we view life.  The art we are looking at is life, and the glasses we are seeing it through is our own feelings about ourselves.   In other words,  so often how we feel is what we see!  In this week’s talk we see just how far this concept goes, especially as we look into how to view the future.

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Who’s world are you living in?  Are you living in your own world, or are you living in G-d’s world?  On the surface they may seem like one and the same.  But imagine for a moment someone is collecting funds.  One person gives a dollar, while the second person gives his last dollar.  Ah, a world of difference!  How we view things cuts to the core of our existence and of who we are.  As a very wise person once put it, “99% of life is in your head”!

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We expect so much of ourselves, and of G-d and of the world, and it crushes us when things don’t work out.  The invitation to hate oneself seems to be extended to us everyday.  And yet, what is our success rate supposed to be?  In baseball, if someone get a hit one out of every three times at bat they go straight into the Hall of Fame.  That’s a whole different set of expectations.  With dating you can go on one hundred wrong dates and still marry your soul mate.  Deeper still is the question of balancing when is it me accomplishing something in the world, and when is it G-d?  After all, doesn’t everything come from Him?  And if that’s the case, how can I ever feel good about myself if it’s just Him doing it?  What is my role?  If I ascribe too much to myself it’s ego!  Too little and it’s poor self esteem!  How do I balance these things?  In this talk, we go into a several step program on how to do it with love!

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This is a time of fixing, of knocking down walls we’ve put up without even knowing it, of ridding ourselves of contradictions and manifesting on the outside what we truly are on the inside.  We also discuss transforming the letter Bais into the letter Aleph, and what the “Apocalypse” is according to the Torah and how we can avoid it.

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When we enter into Shabbos, we literally transport ourselves into another dimension.  It is simultaneously both the journey and the destination — transcendence itself.  In this week’s talk, we explore the two names of Shabbos, to try and unlock the mystery of why it is so much more than just another day of the week.

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Wow, there is a ton of stuff in this week’s talk, exploring everything from fixing the Tree of Knowledge, to the end of death, to why Eliahu lives forever, to the Kabbalah of circumcision, to the connection between Eve and the daughters of Tzlafchad receiving an inheritance in the land of Israel, to making peace, to the walls of Jerusalem.  If you make it all the way through this one (it gets deeper as you go along) drop me an email!

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Tisha B’Av has a duel nature.  On the one hand, it is the saddest day of the year.  On the other hand, our Sages teach that there is light contained within it that is of the Messianic level.  How are we to react?  And what does it tell us about living as Jews in general?  G-d willing this year we will all celebrate together in the Holy City of Yerushalyim!

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This week we begin “the three weeks” the period between the surrounding of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Holy Temple.   But just beneath the surface of the sadness, another story is waiting to be told.  We go behind the scenes to the first 17th of Tammuz, the Garden of Eden, Mount Sinai, the tents of Yaakov, and reveal not only what was, but what is meant to be.

http://torahonitunes.com/audio/Tammuz-Silverlining.mp3

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Our Sages teach that all the righteous people of the world, and every Jew has a place in heaven.  But what is heaven?  It is a place?  A state of mind, a physical reality?  Do you remain you there?  Or is it is some  ethereal realm where we cease to be us and disappear into the infinity of  G-d?  In this week’s talk, we answer these questions and show how practical this information can be to our everyday lives.

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Judaism believes in happy endings.  In modern times this can be seen everywhere from the creation of the “Hollywood Ending”, to good triumphing over evil in comic books.  (Superheroes from Superman to Spiderman were the creation of Jews)  This optimism is so deeply entrenched that when the words of the Prophets from the Haftorah ends on a sad note, the Sages instituted we go back and repeat the last happy thought and end with that!  In this week’s talk, we look at the subject of happy endings, worry, belief and how to put them all together.

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The question is, are you fighting a battle you’ve already won?  So many of us find ourselves addicted to struggle.  We can’t take “yes” for an answer!  Sometimes we have to work hard to achieve, other times we have to recognize that we can’t have it all, no matter what the guy holding the beer bottle with the nice tan in the commercial is saying.  The key is knowing when to strive, and when to be samay’ach b’chelco, happy with our lot.  We look at Korach, the spies, and ourselves, to try to map out some of the keys to human nature and figure out what is normal.

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We explore the inevitability of questioning yourself in life and how to stay connected to your roots even as you become your own person.  Also, more teachings this week from Reb Shlomo Carlebach on what it means to light a fire in your heart, and the Ishbitzer Rebbe on what we were really asking for when we wanted meat in the desert.

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After we got the Torah at Mount Sinai, the Rabbis teach that we reached the level of Adam and Eve before they ate from the Tree of Knowledge.  The question is, why didn’t the final fixing happen then and there?   To answer, we revisit what went on in the Garden of Eden before the snake showed up, and what that has to do with our lives today.

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Is the Torah a book?  A scroll?  A set of instructions?  All of the above, none of the above?  Deeper still what does it mean when the Talmud teaches us that the Torah existed 974 generations before the world was created?!  Further still, what does it mean when it says that G-d looked into the Torah and created the world?  What did He look into exactly??   We can’t really begin to understand our own lives or what the grandness of history is all about until we arrive at a deeper understanding of these questions.  In this talk we address what the true giantness of the Torah is all about.

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The world needs more deep Torah.  I feel privileged to present Reb Shlomo Carlebach giving over the Ishbitzer Rebbe on the first three words of Parshas Bechukosai.  The standard translation is “If you walk in My ways..” Hashem promises all sorts of blessings.  But it’s so much deeper than that.  What the Ishbitzer reveals here is the secret to how to shine.  This means not just how to emanate a holy glow, but how to ensure that after you complete an action that it continues to reverberate through the world with positive consequences.

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A good heart is a great thing!  In this week’s talk we look at a bunch of different topics, including an analysis of the heart based on the sefirah count, stories about Log B’Omer, my last conversation with Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and demystifying “brilliant” speakers.

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Dear Friends,

Speech creates reality.  Our Sages teach that Hashem spoke the world into being.  Reb Shlomo Carlebach  said it’s even deeper than that.  Hashem actually sang the world into existence.  In this week’s talk we look into the power of speech, how to tie your shoes according to the Torah, what the first Divine directive was, and further adventures of the letter Beis inside the letter Pay (see chart).

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I shot this short film on the streets of Jerusalem.  I met Yoseph, the star, the night before at the Holy Wall and immediately knew that I had to make a movie with him.  He kindly agreed and we met the next day.  The idea was simple.  Wherever he’d go people would spontaneously break out dancing.  We met most of the people in the film while we were shooting, so what you’re seeing is more or less what actually took place.  It was mayhem.  So much life, so much energy, so much love.  I haven’t seen Yoseph since, but I think of him almost every day.  Click to get the song!!

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I do this blog for the person who might read or hear something inspiring and smile, or say hello to  someone homeless, or start lighting candles before Shabbat, or put on Teffilin  for the first time, or ask what is Teffilin? and then attend a class and realize that  Jews actually do believe in Heaven and an afterlife, and reincarnation, and the  fixing of the world and that every single recognition of G-d, especially a  recognition that is joined by a Holy action like eating Matzah on Passover, or  fasting on Yom Kippur, or dancing on Simchat Torah or on any day of the   year with someone, or alone in a forest or alone in a crowded room, is a huge mitzvah, and that being happy is a huge mitzvah, and for the one who asks  or  hasn’t yet asked why was I born, and why was the world created, and for  the one who refuses to accept that Jews have been living and dying for  thousands of years for nothing, and for the one who knows or doesn’t yet  know that the Torah is not a book, but is the blueprint of reality, and that all of  time and space, and all the souls of the world both Jewish and non-Jewish are  woven from its Holy letters, and for the one who knows or doesn’t yet know  that if something can be broken it can also be fixed, and that G-d loves us to  pieces, and that the whole reason He created the world was to give us a way  to become even closer to Him, and for the one who knows or who doesn’t   yet  know that the world is still in the process of being created, and that if you  see injustice or evil it’s because the world isn’t finished yet, and that the mitzvot  are the ways in which we bring the world to perfection, and that a  person is never rejected, and that the Holy ones of previous generations used  to wake up every day and say, “Today is the day I’m going to get it right,” and  for the one who knows or doesn’t yet know that it’s better to be poor and  happy than rich and miserable, and for the one who knows or doesn’t yet  know that G-d is creating and recreating the world every instant, and that  science is still catching up with Torah, and that it doesn’t matter how G-d  created us, but why G-d created us, and that it’s okay not to know everything  and that even if we wanted to know everything we still couldn’t, and that we  don’t want to worship a G-d we fully understand because that would make us  just as smart as G-d which is kind of ridiculous and for the one who knows or  who doesn’t yet know that there are 600, 000 root Jewish souls that  correspond to the 600,000 letters in a Torah scroll and that if one is missing the entire scroll is unusable which means that if one of our brothers or sisters is missing that invalidates everything including ourselves, and that therefore we  cannot rest until we’ve opened our eyes to who and where and what we are  and that we can’t stop until we’ve cried out to G-d to let us be who He  created us to be and do what He longs for us to do, and to never ever give up  until we return to the Holy land and proclaim with all of our hearts, and minds,  and souls and might that G-d is one.

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Dear Friends,

There is so much going on!!  We are in the awesome holy month of Nissan, which marks the beginning of the universe and the dedication of the Holy Tabernacle which was a microcosm of the universe.  It is also the month that the Jews leave Egypt.  In this talk we explore a number of ideas — including the interrelationship of freedom and forgiveness, the souls of Noach and Moshe, and the nature of miracles and human effort. By the way, Sir Isaac Newton was fascinated by the Holy Temple and felt that understanding the dimensions of it were the key to grasping the shape of the universe.

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Dear Friends,

What does it mean to unify the Name Yud kay with Vav kay?  What does it mean that every Parsha in the book of Shemos/Exodus starts with the letter vav except the final one which starts with the letter aleph?  How is the first word of the Torah — Breisheet — a microcosm of human history?  How do we go about revealing the hidden?  Lots and lots of ideas in this week’s talk!

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Dear Friends,

Somewhere between the hidden and the revealed, between the great salvations of Purim and Pesach, between yesterday and tomorrow, lie our lives.  This talk covers the blessing over clouds, how Hashem manifests His might through silence, and basic faith.

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Can we stay in Purim for just a little while longer?  Since Purim is all about things flipping over for the good, I thought it would be cool to look at the word Purim in At Bash to see what new levels we can uncover.  Lots of interesting concepts, including an explanation of the philosophy of the At Bash system itself.

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A Fork In The Road

Dear Friends,

One of the most remarkable passages in the Torah is when Mordecai turns to Queen Esther and says, rest assured that Hashem is going to save the Jewish people — the only question is are you going to be part of it?  (4:13)  Using this passage as a springboard we look into the parameters of free choice and how Mordecai’s words still echo in our lives today.

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Dear Friends,

Tons of ideas in the this one relating to Purim, happiness, purity, hiddeness, acceptance of Torah, gematria, pregnancy, bris mila, butterflies, and hope.  Nothing compares to Purim!!!!

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“Who is G-d?  What is G-d?”  This week’s talk begins with that question and evolves from there!  Join us for a free wheeling tour through ideas ranging from basic beliefs to the giving of the Torah to achieving harmony in a world where all of us are given certain desires in our hearts and then told not to act upon them!  What sense does that make?  A lot actually, as we explore the role human beings play in restoring balance to the universe.

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Dear Friends,

When we received the Torah at Mount Sinai, Hashem looked at the pureness of our hearts and asked, who will guarantee that our hearts will remain like this always?  We said that “we” would guarantee it.  But the Gemara teaches (Avodah Zarah 5a) that that was the wrong answer!  We should have said “Hashem, You guarantee that we stay this way!”  Contained here is a fundamental lesson about gratitude and how to avoid the trap of relating to ourselves when we are really trying to connect with G-d.

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Dear Friends,

Four amazing “coincidences” happened to me this week.   I’ve been trying to wrap my brain around this subject for quite a while now and bring you fresh info from the never ending search to decode life.

PS – Here is the link I promise in the talk.  It’s another incredible story.

A real miracle or the doing of extraordinary people?

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Dear Friends,

We all desperately want to be happy.  But how? In this week’s talk we lay out a detailed program for success in this most crucial area of life.

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Dear Friends,

Our Holy tradition teaches that Hashem created the world with the letters of the aleph-bais.  With this in mind, our Sages teach in the Talmud (Shabbos 104) that there is a system called A”t B”ash where we reimagine words by exchanging the last letter of the alphabet for the first letter, the second to last letter of the alphabet for the second letter and so on.  More than just “playing games” to derive new spellings, the Sages are offering us a new portal into accessing the infinity of the Torah.  In this talk we deeply explore the geometry of this world and the next, and the opportunities available to us only in the here and now.

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Dear Friends,

Best Friend?  So many of us think of Hashem as either our Father, or our King or our Master — but Best Friend?  Is that even a possibility?  Where in the Torah does it say that?  Well, I’ll tell you!  In Mishle 27:10 it says, “Do not forsake your friend and the friend of your father”.  Our Rabbis teach us that this friend refers to Hashem!  The question is how do we make that all important first step?

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Dear Friends,

How many wings does an angel have?  This may sound like the most esoteric of questions, but the Torah actually tells us the answer — and even better how many they have today (hint – two fewer).  We also discuss the story of Yoseph and how he prepared for his fateful encounter with his brother before he was sold.

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When Hashem gave us the Torah at Mount Sinai the Kabbalists say that He pronounced the letter Aleph.  Now all that is well and good — except the letter Aleph is silent!  We explore the meaning of this paradox while also looking into the nature of beauty, Yoseph and Chanukah.

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In this week’s talk, we explore a wide array of ideas associated with Hanukah, from it being historically the last holiday to be added to the Jewish calendar, to the fact that it must be celebrated in a person’s home, to it’s yearly connection to the story of Joseph, the amazing story of a little known Jewish hero, and beyond.

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Getting ready for Hanukah!  Let’s light up the darkness together!

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Dear Friends,

This week’s Torah portion is unique in the Torah in that there are no “breaks”  — no white spaces within it.  It is no coincidence that this portion also contains the account of Yakov, Jacob our forefather, running for his life, finding his soulmate, entering into the business world and raising a family.  If you think you don’t have any time in your schedule to do anything — then this week’s talk is for you!

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We are living through a time often called the “age of information”.  Ironically, the barrage coming at us can often obscure that which is most essential to keep in the forefront of our consciousness.  In other words, sometimes the more we know the less we end up knowing!  In this week’s talk we pull the lens way back to observe the overall pattern that informs not only our personal lives, but all of creation.

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In our quest to become closer with Hashem, and attaching ourselves to Him through the mitzvahs, we must be careful not to turn our spirituality into a straight jacket.  In this week’s talk, we discuss some strategies on how to avoid this very common trap.

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Dear Friends,

The world is being created over and over and over again — every single nano-second.  The implications of this are vast!  G-d is His abundant mercy is giving us tremendous opportunities.  How does this work and how can we benefit from it?  In this talk, we take a look.

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Think good and it will be good!  Most of our lives are spent either thinking about what’s already happened or worrying about what hasn’t happened yet.   Meanwhile, the only thing that’s actually is going on — the right now of it all — gets buried turning us into bystanders in our lives.  How can we strip away the distractions and zero in on the now?  In this week’s talk we discuss some strategies.

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Dear Friends,

Is there anyone in the history of the world who was like Abraham our father?  Through his sincere exploration of the world he came to the conclusion that there can only be One G-d.  And G-d responded by revealing himself and the Torah to him.  Awesome beyond awesome!  This talk is a compendium of teachings that we can learn from his greatness in order to emulate them and achieve success in our own lives.

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Anyone who’s lost a parent, or any loved one, goes through the inevitable process of wondering whether they’ve been abandoned by G-d.

Part of an answer comes in the words of consolation we say to someone in mourning. “May G-d console you among the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.”

Interestingly, the Hebrew word used for G-d here, HaMakom, literally means “The Place.” May “The Place” reach out to console us. There are many different names for God in Jewish prayer and Torah, each of them opening our eyes to a different aspect of His light and reality. But the name HaMakom, “The Place”- or perhaps better, “The Omnipresent One” – is rarely used. Why this special name at this most sensitive time?

Before we can answer, let’s look at another expression of the concept of place in Jewish mourning. Ordinarily, we’re supposed to have a set place where we pray, either in our home or in shul – ourmakom kavuah. According to Jewish law, during the 12 months of mourning a person must move this place about eight feet from the usual place of prayer. The simple explanation is that in our lives we’ve experienced a sense of dislocation and this is reflected in our choice of a place of prayer. Maybe it reflects dislocation in our relationship with G-d, as well.

But there’s an interesting twist in this halacha, which is that on Shabbos, we return to our regular place. This has to do with the special blessing of the day. The Ishbitzer Rebbe asks what the difference is between simcha (joy) and oneg (bliss). “Simcha,” he says, “is when G-d gives you something you didn’t have before, but oneg is when G-d shows you what you’ve had all along.” Shabbos is a time ofoneg, when G-d lifts us out of the work-a-day week and gives us a heavenly perspective. On Shabbos we can experience oneness between the physical and the material, and the seamless flow that connects them. Thus un-dislocated, we can return to our usual seat in the synagogue. Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav ties together these various strands with regard to the parting of the soul. Says RebbeNachman: “Most people think that when someone dies, he goes from one room to another. But I say when someone dies, he goes from one side of the room to the other side of the same room.”

In other words, people may think of this world and the next as two discrete entities, two worlds that are next to each other but otherwise have nothing in common. But the reality is that the universe is one room, not two. And that same Divine energy that enlivens the upper spheres exists below here, albeit in a different external form. Imagine a never-ending road. This is life. At a certain point, we may shed our bodies, but the journey along that same road continues; in fact, we don’t even miss a step.

Thus, as much as we think that there’s a separation between our departed parent and us, or (worse) between G-d and us, it’s really not the case. So G-d consoles us by saying, “I am the Place, so wherever you go and whatever you feel, I am with you.” The mourner sees this continuum most clearly on Shabbos, but it is always there.

I once heard Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach comfort someone who had lost her mother. “Now you’re closer to your mother than ever,” he said. “Because it used to be when you wanted to be with her, you’d have to call her, or she’d call you. But now, the truth is that wherever you go, she’s right there with you.” And how close is that? According to our Sages, “closer than two hairs on a person’s head.” This world and the next are completely intertwined.

In those same words of consolation, the word used for “you” – “May God console you among the other mourners of Zion…”- is etchem the plural form. Why? According to the Baal Shem Tov, it’s because the departed soul needs to be comforted along with the mourner. But the departed are with G-d in the Garden of Eden! Why do they need comforting? Because they’re sad that we’re sad.Unbelievable.

Thus the Omnipresent One is with each of us in every realm, and we are all a hair’s breadth from one another, across time and in every place. The more we understand this, the more we’ll be comforted with all the mourners, living and dead.

And now we see how G-d consoles us with the name HaMakom. Contained in that name is the realization that wherever we go, and whatever we’re experiencing, He is with us. And this is the ultimate comfort for all the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

David Sacks speaks frequently on topics of Jewish spirituality, and is an Emmy Award-winning writer/producer.

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What did Avraham know that Noach didn’t?  Also, we compare the first two great couples Adam and Eve and Avraham and Sarah to see what the numerical differences in their names teaches us about their similiarities and differences.  We also explore something that has puzzled me for a long time — namely, how we make sense of the Kabbalistic tradition that the generation of the flood is reincarnated as the generation of the desert.

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On the one hand, G-d is everywhere.  And yet, on perhaps an even deeper level, G-d charges us with awesome responsibility of revealing His oneness!  The ark Noah built had precise measurements.  The Hebrew word for measurements is “Middos” — a word more commonly understood as character traits.  In this week’s talk, we discuss how we can contruct our lives in a way that reveals G-d presence in the world.

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The question is, if we know that whatever is going on in the Torah portion of the week is going on in the world — why aren’t we reading the portion of Bereisheet which deals with creation of the world on Rosh Hashana?

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Dear Friends,

What can be said about the holiest day of the year?   Here are some thoughts to get us ready for the day.  Wishing all of you the sweetest sweetest year!

http://www.torahonitunes.com/audio/YomKippur.mp3

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Dear Friends,

Every person is so needed by G-d.  One expression of this is the fact that every Jewish person corresponds to a particular letter in the Torah.  Just like a Torah scroll is unkosher if it is missing one letter, so too if one of our brothers or sisters is missing we can’t be complete, either.  But what does this connection mean on an even deeper level?  In this talk we dive into the deep end.

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It is said that science describes the process through which something comes into being, but Torah describes why that thing exists. Put another way, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov says that science describes the outside of a phenomenon whereas Torah describes the inside. What then does the Torah say about Laughter?

The Talmud (Shabbos 30b) records that the great Sage, Rabbah, always began his lectures with a humorous statement. This uplifted the students. According to the Baal Shem Tov, humor is that thing that ushers a person’s mind from a place of constricted consciousness to a place of expanded consciousness. A person in a place of expanded consciousness sees the totality of creation before him. He sees G-d’s presence and goodness acting upon everything. And he realizes that anything and everything that happens is an expression of Hashem’s love for us whether we can understand it in the moment or not. Constricted consciousness is, of course, the opposite – the understandable impulse to take things too literally, believing that they are not a part of something greater. And so the greatness of humor is in its awesome ability to lift one out of depression into a place where the unseen – G-d’s constant love and goodness-becomes palpable and real.

Humor and Laughter, while great in themselves, are actually subsets of a larger topic – Joy! One of the surprising things I learned when I started studying Torah was the central focus our religion puts on happiness. As Rebbe Nachman once put it, people are sad because nothing is going right for them – but what they don’t realize is nothing is going right for them because they’re sad! On the verse, “For you shall go out with joy” (Isaiah 55:12), the Kotzker Rebbe explains, “the beauty of joy is that it has the power to extricate man from all troubles.” Joy means being in touch with the bigger picture, or as we said earlier, being in a state of expanded consciousness. The Hassidic Revolution that took place in Jewish thought properly restored Joy to the forefront of Jewish values. This is actually very important to understand. So many of us think that Torah is essentially an intellectual discipline, but there is a vital emotional component as well.

From a comedy perspective, the surest way to get a laugh is by juxtaposing the expected with the unexpected. Thus, when we’re convinced that the world is one way and the opposite happens – something that puts us in touch with how great and marvelous the world really is — the result is laughter! If humor is the vehicle that transports us from a place of constricted consciousness to a place of expanded consciousness, then laughter is our reaction to that dizzying process.

From a comedy perspective, the surest way to get a laugh is by juxtaposing the expected with the unexpected. Thus, when we’re convinced that the world is one way and the opposite happens – something that puts us in touch with how great and marvelous the world really is – the result is laughter.

With this in mind, one of the perplexing things in the Torah is the fact that our holy father Yitzhak, who represents the spiritual attribute of gevurah or strength, is Hebrew for the word “laughter” you might ask what does gevurah/strength has to do with laughter since they seem like total opposites. The reconciliation of these polar opposites is very deep. Sarah was a motherless woman of ninety. What is the last thing such a woman would expect to have? A baby! And what is it that our holy mother Sarah has? A baby! Laughter itself! Thus, Yitzhak becomes the embodiment of the unexpected. That’s the explanation from the comedy standpoint. On a deeper level, Yitzhak comes to represent the ultimate strength it takes to not let go of your dreams. As such, he becomes the spiritual repository of Avraham and Sarah’s most intractable desires. And this is gevurah or strength itself.

Psalm 126 says that in the Messianic era, “our mouths will be filled with laughter.” Why? Because laughter in its highest and holiest expression is our reaction to the realization that the world is so much bigger, deeper and more beautiful than we ever gave it credit for. When we realize that we were being led toward redemption all along, our only response will be to laugh.

The laughter Yitzhak represents is the happy ending that awaits us all — the Messianic Era which Hashem in His goodness has promised us. The Kabbalists say that when this day comes, let it be soon, G-d will grant us the eyes to see that we never left the Garden of Eden.

Until then, the question is, how much do we believe in G-d’s goodness? If we know He’s good, then we can never give up hoping that a change for the better is just around the corner no matter how grim the circumstances. In Psalm 121 it says, “I raise my eyes to the mountains. From where (m’ayin) will my help come?” Fascinatingly, the Vilna Gaon understands the word m’ayin to mean “from nothing.” The line now reads, “I raise my eyes to the mountains – from nothing will my help come!” In other words,      G-d’s salvation can arrive from anywhere in an instant.

Once we understand this secret, we’re in on the ultimate joke. That it’s all good and it always was.

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On Rosh Hashana, we pledge not to remain a cheap imitation of our 'old self.

There is a fascinating dialectic contained within Rosh Hashana. On one hand, it’s the beginning of the new year. And yet Rosh Hashana actually occurs in the seventh month, (Nissan, commemorating the Exodus from Egypt, is the first month — see Exodus 12:2.) This means that Rosh Hashana actually falls out in the middle of the year!

There is a deep secret contained in this. People reach the middle of their lives and think that meaningful change is impossible. Therefore, the Almighty put Rosh Hashana in the middle of the year to teach us that it’s never too late to begin again.

In the most obvious sense, Rosh Hashana is all about making God our king, for whom we have awesome respect and commit to following His instructions.

But there’s an even more primary step. The Kotzker Rebbe once observed that some people come to him in search of assistance to reach God. But their efforts are for naught, for “[God's] glory fills all the earth” (Isaiah 6:3). Rather, the Kotzker taught, for whom must people search? For themselves.

The Midrash (Kohelet Rabba 1:3) comments that “one who grows old is like an ape.” The KotzkerRebbe explains that the nature of an ape is to imitate. “Just as it is the way of an ape to imitate humans, so too, a person, when he has become old, imitates himself, and does what was his manner previously.” In other words, most of us, at some point in life, either consciously or not, become satisfied with who we are and what we’ve become. As such, we cease to strive toward attaining greater spiritual heights. We are content to live out our remaining days as a mere imitation of ourselves!

From this we see that the Torah perspective on “growing old” is not a function of age, but rather on whether we remain committed to spiritual growth.

Therefore, the question we all must ask is: Have I become an imitation of myself? And if so, when did it happen and what factors are to blame? Is it malaise, a crisis in belief, anger at God, or simply laziness? Unless we find the root of the problem, how can we hope to uproot it?

But there’s another, perhaps bigger, question: Who do I want to be? As Hillel says, “If not for me, then who?” (Avot 1:14) In other words, if I recognize the need to go beyond the “me,” because I am no longer content with who I am now, then “who” exactly would I like to become?

Rosh Hashana is the most ideal time to contemplate this. Because on Rosh Hashana the DNA for the year is being formed, and God looks to us as partners in its creation.

Rabbi Akiva Tatz gives the following example: Imagine you’re an architect sitting in front of a blueprint. Think about how much easier it is to change the position of the windows before you construct the building than it is after the house has been built!

Rosh Hashana is the time when we make the blueprint for our new selves. The power to envision what we want to become is exponentially greater now, than it is once the year has already been built.

Using this as a framework, let’s go deeper. Every situation, or “scene” we find ourselves in life — whether as seemingly trivial as standing on line in the supermarket, or deciding whether or not to lose our temper — is a uniquely designed opportunity for us to grow spiritually, to become more “God-like.” On some level, we are like actors and God is the Ultimate Playwright.

Now imagine the author is about write the next act, but before he does so he gives you the opportunity to discuss who you’d like to be, and what role you’d like to play in the new production. This is what the prayers of Rosh Hashanah are all about. The Almighty is about to create the new year, but before He does, in the ultimate sign of love and respect, He looks to us for input.

Take the time to dream the greatest dream of yourself, and then chart the course to realizing it. Ask yourself: Am I constantly striving to be a better parent/spouse? Am I making an effort to learn Hebrew and observe Shabbos? Do I empathize with the plight of Jews around the world, and the devastating terror in Israel? Do I have a fixed time for Torah study every day?

Now structure a timetable for achieving your goals. For some reason, we never think in terms of deadlines when it comes to spirituality. But why not? As Hillel concludes, “If not now, when?” “Now” that I have envisioned the new me, “when” will I bring it into being?

Great days are coming. Let’s use them to make a big breakthrough, for ourselves and our world.

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Six Minutes On the Goodness of G-d (Video)

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Did you know that according to the Beis Yaakov (The second Ishbitzer Rebbe), deep down, every person believes they created themselves?

If Rosh Hashanah is all about making Hashem King, how can I succeed if I’ve carved out a realm separate from G-d?

Happy New Year!

Liberating the Fortress – Rosh Hashanah 2009

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This is the story about a silver plate. It was a trophy I won for finishing in first place at the Harvard National Invitational Speech Tournament when I was a junior in high school. But that wasn’t the most special thing about it. Strange as it sounds, that silver plate would come to encapsulate my Jewish spiritual journey. But that would take many more years to discover.

My earliest memories of being Jewish were of my mother tucking me into bed, and saying the Shema with me.

There’s no one here. Am I supposed to say, “Excuse me?” And then I remembered that God is here.

Another big one was when I was six. I learned that after you burp, you’re supposed to say, “Excuse me.” Later that night, I was sitting alone in our giant pink kitchen, and… I burped. I remember thinking, There’s no one here. Am I supposed to say, “Excuse me?”

And then I remembered that God is here. So I did.

When I was eight, a neighbor sent us a subscription to “Talks and Tales,” the Chabad Children’s Magazine. The issues were only a few pages long, printed in black and white on shiny pages, and each one contained a Chassidic Story.

The premise of each was there is a God, He loves us, and He is intimately involved in every aspect of our lives. I loved them. They changed my life and became the foundation of my Jewish education. (By the way, we are still getting to the silver plate!)

When I was 15, I wanted to start keeping Shabbos. Well, not exactly. What I really wanted to do was to go to shul Saturday mornings. The only problem was that I’d just started competing for my school’s Speech Team, and all of the tournaments were held on Shabbos.

I didn’t know what to do. I enjoyed competing and was beginning to do well. On the other hand, even though my family didn’t observe Shabbos, my soul was telling me that I should be in shul. And not just any shul — my shul.

It was small and warm and holy. On Simchat Torah my life changed there while dancing with the Torah. I was 14 and it was clear to me then that the Torah in my arms was the center of my life. Someone suggested I speak with the rabbi. His name was Reb Shlomo Carlebach. Reb Shlomo never pushed anyone into religious observance. He’d inspire people (thousands all over the world) and then left it up to them to take the next step in their Jewish journey.

He once said that the difference between a rabbi and a rebbe, is that a rabbi teaches you something you didn’t know before, but a rebbe connects you to the deepest part within yourself.

We spoke and afterwards, he told my parents that I had a gift for speaking and that I had a responsibility to develop that, too. In our innocence this was interpreted as a recommendation that I should go to the speech tournaments. When I shared this with Reb Shlomo years later, his eyes almost popped out of his head. In his extreme tactfulness and gentleness, he had been misinterpreted.

The truth is, I wasn’t ready at that point in my life to commit to that level of observance. Looking back, I think this turned out to be a blessing since it gave me the chance to continue to grow spiritually at my own pace.

And so I started competing in the Speech Tournaments. It was a painful choice. Time passed.

Inspiration if it’s not nourished fades. Our souls are subject to the forces of gravity too, and if we don’t nurture them our wings molt, and we can forget about the sensation of soaring.

I wanted to say thank you back to God. So I started keeping Shabbos.

After graduating college, I was so filled with a sense of thanks for all the blessings in my life — my parents, my friends, my health, my career — that I wanted to say thank you back to God. I thought the best way to do that would be to start keeping Shabbos.

I once thought that every Friday night God says, “Good Shabbos” to the world by sending us Shabbos. I wondered, how can I say “Good Shabbos” back? And then I thought — by keeping Shabbos! I was writing comedy for television at the time and that made it a little tricky, but thank God it all worked out.

After much searching, I met my wife, who also loves Shabbos, and then one day I came home and noticed something special. There is a custom to put your Shabbos candle sticks on a silver tray. My wife kept that custom. What I hadn’t realized was that she’d chosen the silver plate I won at the speech tournament to rest the candles on.

My head spun.

That plate was the very representation of not keeping Shabbos. And yet here it was, serving as the foundation for the Shabbos candles themselves!

How could that be?

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov teaches that wherever a Jew walks, he’s heading toward Israel. Even if he’s heading in the opposite direction, he’s still heading toward Israel. Furthermore, our Sages teach in the Talmud that if one returns to God out of love, all of their mistakes turn into mitzvahs.

For many years now I have been using to the best of my ability the skills I learned competing in speech tournaments held on Shabbos to teach about the beauty of Shabbos. I even have a weekly podcast called Spiritual Tools for an Outrageous World.

It’s amazing how God runs the world. Sometimes He blesses us to see that our destiny is being played out right in front of our very eyes, even if in the moment it’s impossible to see.

Ten years passed between wanting to keep Shabbos and actually keeping it. All those years I was looking at the world and what it held, all the while secretly comparing it with the joys and holiness of Shabbos. After being fortunate enough to see much of the world, I finally knew. Nothing is better than Shabbos.

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Imagine an epic battle between Sea Monsters and a diver out to recover a precious gem.  In a piece of Aggadata –  the deeply encrypted transmissions of the Talmud –  such a tale is related.  What does it mean and how does it teach us to wage life’s battles better?  Using the understanding of the Malbim we take a look in.

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Dear Friends,

Imagine you buy a lottery ticket, never check to see if it won, and then never think about that lottery ticket again.  Now imagine that ticket was a winner and was worth thirty million dollars.   The question is, did you lose thirty million dollars or not?  On the one hand, you most certainly did.  But on the other hand, if you never knew you ever had it to begin with, you never had it to lose!  In this week’s talk we discuss the spiritual dimensions to this question and explore the bottom line of life.

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Dear Friends,

I just published a new piece that I hope you like.  It’s called “A Place for the Light.”

www.aish.com/sp/so/53785442.html

Today I took questions.  We had time for three.  The first was, is it our tradition that Moshe ascended Mount Sinai for a second time this month (Elul) and came down with the second tablets on Yom Kippur?  Is G-d really leading me throughout all the hardships I have experienced?  And, how are we to understand what “righteousness” is, in light of the verse “The righteous person falls down seven times and gets back up”?

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Dear Friends,

What does it mean to test G-d?  And what about miracles?  We look deeply into the sources and arrive at a more sophisticated understanding of what it means to be in this world.

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Dear Friends,

Can you imagine eating a hotdog and thinking the whole time this is the worst sushi you ever had?  We need to know what something is first before we can begin to evaluate it.  The same thing goes with this world.  Until we understand how it works we will constantly be met with frustration and disappointment.  In this week’s talk, we set out some of the basic ground rules for understanding how Hashem runs the world.

http://www.torahonitunes.com/audio/LittlebyLittle-Ekev2009.mp3

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Dear Friends,

Tisha B’Av is now over and a dramatic upswing in positiveness now kicks in.  In this week’s talk we look at the spiritual DNA of the month of Av and where we are now.

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Dear Friends,

Every year before Tisha B’Av we are always beginning the book of Devarim.  What is this new book teaching us about fixing the world?

http://www.torahonitunes.com/audio/FixingTheWorld.mp3

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Dear Friends,

So often it seems like we’re wondering around in the darkness.  Sometimes we’re blessed with moments when a light turns on and then in retrospect we see that we were never alone, even though it felt that way at the time.  Here is a personal story about how sometimes everything comes together in a wonderful way, even though it took years to see it.

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Dear Friends,

Did you know there is a Torah way to cut an onion?  Ideally, one shouldn’t begin by cutting off it’s roots.  While this doesn’t necessarily apply in our generation, back then there were even negative health implications for one who did this.  Which got me thinking… If I am that connected to an onion — imagine how connected I am to another human being!  In this week’s talk we discuss previous generations impact on us, and our impact on future generations.

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Dear Friends,

Purification comes when we transcend our limitations.   In the language of the Sages such a thing happens with the ashes of the red heiffer.  Not only does it remove the ritual impurity of death, but on a deeper level it is fixing the sin of the golden calf.  In this week’s talk we explore the interplay between the finite and the infinite, the rational and the super rational, and the nature of faith.  How necessary is faith anyway, and what is it’s relationship to reality?

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Dear Friends,

According to the Jewish view of the world, the body and the soul are meant to be best friends.  Without the soul the body is just a lump of earth, and without body the soul has no way to perform mitzvahs in this world.   How are we to proceed when (as is so often the case) the body and the soul are at odds with each other?  In this week’s talk we lay out a program on how to assess and needs of each and how to balance them.

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Dear Friends,

Why is life so confusing?  To answer (one part) of this giant question we take a look at another question — is the Torah written in chronological order, or not?  Factor in that we ourselves are compared to Torah scrolls, and that Judaism (unknown to many people) actually believes in reincarnation, and now we have very interesting ingredients for a talk that begins in the Garden of Eden and goes straight back to our daily lives.

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Dear Friends,

Who is the real you?  Or, put a different way, when you use the word “I” what is it that you have in mind exactly?  In this talk we trace the history of consciousness from the Garden of Eden to Mount Sinai to waking up in the morning.

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Dear Friends,

Getting out of bed in the morning for many of us is the most challenging part of the day.  The Torah teaches us that we have to arise in the morning like a lion!  In this weeks, talk we look into what that means and how to do it.

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Dear Friends,

Many people are surprised to learn that before Adam and Chava ate from the Tree of Knowledge — the Torah records two earlier rebellions made before human beings were even created!  The first is the incident between the sun and the moon and the second was by fruit bearing trees.  Given that these creations don’t have free choice, what are the Rabbis teaching us with these accounts, and how did they set the stage for mankind’s first test?

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Dear Friends,

In this, the third talk in the Garden of Eden series, we discussed what the nature of the test really was.  We also explore what the true nature of the special garments Hashem made for Adam and Chava were.  Finally, we take another look at the snake and how in our own lives he tries to defeat us.

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Someone asked me this past week what interests me so much about the Garden of Eden.  I think it’s because for me it’s the perfect setting to most fully understand the human condition and what this world is all about.  Even more, it also allows us to see in the clearest way how Hashem interacts with us — especially berfore, during and after we’ve done something off.   In this week’s talk we look at an amazing question — if the snake wanted to kill Adam and marry Eve, and the snake knew that eating from the tree would bring death into the world — then why did it tempt Eve to eat first?

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- The Webmaster

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Dear Friends,

So often in talking we present opinions as facts.  For example, when we say, “That movie is no good!” we really mean “I didn’t care for that movie”.  Being conscious of distinctions like can actually have a transformative effect on us, instilling humility and refining ourselves spiritually.  Speech in general is a hugely powerful gift, and the Torah gives us really helpful direction on how to use it sensitively. In this week’s talk we discuss some highlights from this giant topic.  We also explore a discussion in the Talmud about of all things… whether the parchment of Tefilin can be written on the skin of a fish!  A discussion that will take us all the way back to the Garden of Eden.

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Hope is such a precious comodity and often so fleeting.  In this week’s talk we analyze how taking a forward looking perspective on the unfolding of time can not only increase positiveness but put us in harmony with destiny.

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Dear Friends,

Freedom!!!  Here is an overview of the Hagadah and Pesach!

Have A Great Holiday,

David

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Dear Friends,

We make a blessing over the sun once every twenty-eight years!  Can you think of where you were (and who you were!) twenty-eight years ago?  In this overview we  explore the amazing spiritual depths behind this mitzvah.

Have a Great Week,

David

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[audio:Trumah2009Completing-the-World.mp3]

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Dear Friends,
We discuss what salvation feels like in this week’s talk.  This week’s Torah portion begins with the words “And Yisro heard”.  What did Yisro, the father-in-law of Moshe, hear that caused him to travel to Jewish people?  Rashi, quoting the Gemara, says he heard about the splitting of the sea, and the war with Amalek.  Amazingly, a few verses later (Ex. 18:8) Moshe tells Yisro about “all the troubles” that had befallen the Jewish people since they left Egypt and how Hashem rescued them.  What troubles is Moshe referring to?  Rashi says, the splitting of the sea, and the war with Amalek!  The very same events!  How can that be?  This is the subject for today’s talk — the difference between hearing about a great salvation and experiencing one, and how that relates to our lives today.

Have a Great Week,

David

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Most people when asked will tell you that the greatest single miracle that Hashem performed was the splitting of the Sea.  So overwhelming is that event that relatively little attention is paid to the event that immediately follows.  Moshe leads the Jewish people to the wilderness of Sur where there is nothing to drink for THREE DAYS!  Putting aside the irony of walking through water and then not having any, what is Hashem trying to teach us by juxtaposing these two extreme events in our life?  Moreover, I wonder, what is the more difficult experience — the hard time that follows another hard time?  Or the hard time that follows the really good time?  And what does all of this have to do with the ultimate paradox in Torah — the par adumah — the ashes of the red heifer?  Finally, we take a look at the difference between waiting and humility with a detour into alchemy.

Have a Great Week,

David

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Dear Friends,

In this week’s Torah Portion, we have a verse (Ex 12:10) with two separate mitzvahs in it.  The first mitzvah is to finish eating the whole korbon Pesach, the Passover lamb offering, and not leave over any of it till the morning.  The second mitzvah contained in this same verse, instructs us to burn whatever is left over of the Passover offering the next morning.  The question is, how can we burn what is left over of it — if we’ve already been commanded not to leave anything over of it?!  The answer gives us a deep insight into the Torah and life and opens our eyes to realizing how we are never alone.

Have a Great Week,

David

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We begin this talk with a further discussion of the “garments” Hashem gave Adam and Chava in the Garden of Eden. It ushered in the transformation of humanity, our going from creatures of light to creatures (of light) encased in skin. Learning from the Hassidic Master the Bnei Yissacher we see very cool secrets about the process and the future of humanity in the final letters of the words themselves. We also discuss the teaching from Pirkei Avos 4:11 about one who keeps the Torah in poverty will come to keep it in wealth, and levels in how to understand that. Somehow (!) this leads to a discussion of psychics and Jewish law.

Have a Great Week,

David

[audio:Quantity-vs-Quality-vaeira2009.mp3]

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Dear Friends,

We just began a new book in the Torah.  The book of Shemos or Exodus is both the account of the Jewish people’s enslavement in Egypt and also our redemption.  On a deeper level, it’s not just that Hashem and Moshe are taking us to Israel — remember we were in Israel already with Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaakov — it’s that we are leaving Egypt and GOING BACK to Israel.  That’s a very big difference!  On a cosmic level  this correlates with our exile from the Garden of Eden and the return that we are heading toward with arrival of Mashiach and the perfection of the world.  And it all begins with Moshe noticing the burning bush — a sight that according to the Kotzker Rebbe — others saw, but none bothered to investigate.  In other words, when we endeavor to search for the truth, Hashem brings salvation into the world.

Have a Great Week,

David

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What is the Jewish view of money? In today’s talk we take a look at the prayer we say for our livelihood three times a day and discover that it doesn’t mention money once! What are our holy Sages trying to teach us?

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Lots to talk about today. First, having just finished the book of Breisheis, we say “Chazak, Chazak, V’Nitchazayk” — Be Strong, Be Strong, and Have Good Courage! But what do we need courage for? We just finished the task! It’s like wishing someone a good trip after they’ve already come home! Next, we speak of Hashem like He is our King and Our Master, and Our Love — which is it? Is Judaism schizophrenic? We cover a way of visualizing our most important relationship in a way that encompasses the varying aspects in one. Finally, we discuss what this means: “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of G-d like waters fill the ocean” Isaiah 11:9. Isn’t the ocean nothing more than water?! So how can the waters fill the ocean — if the ocean is only water?!

[audio:Maybe-Im-Not-In-a-Crisis-Vayechi-2008.mp3]

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Dear Friends,

One of the most perplexing things in life is just how slow things take!  The Exodus from Egypt is a perfect example.  Here is something that Hashem Himself wanted to do — and yet when we see how He brought it about we find that He does it one stage at a time.  Since all future redemptions are based on this, studying it will give us hope and patience for personal lives.

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The Kotzker Rebbe famously said that it’s a big miracle to resurrect the dead, but it’s an even bigger miracle to resurrect the living!  In this week’s talk we discuss the one time only phenomenon in the Torah of a “closed” parsha — that is a section of the Torah that begins without the customary separation from the previous week’s section.  We explore many deep ideas that this teaches us including discussions concerning the Jewish views of resurrection and the Mashiach.

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We have a powerful concept in Torah that says that even if something learns Torah not for the sake of Heaven, that person will come to learn for the sake of Heaven. In today’s talk, we develop this notion of Divine flow, and connect it to the purifying dynamics of mikvah, a river, and saying something nice.

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[audio:WhatisYourSuccessFantasy-Teves2008.mp3]

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[audio:Hanukah-TheFixingofRandomness-2008.mp3]

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