Dear Friends,
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
Dear Friends,
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.
Dear Friends,
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.
Dear Friends,
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.
Spiritual Anatomy - Understanding Ourselves from the Inside Out [45:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadDear Friends,
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.
Dear Friends,
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.
Dear Friends,
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.
Dear Friends,
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.
Dear Friends,
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.
Dear Friends,
Why was Moshe selected to get the Torah on the top of Mount Sinai and not you or me? The question itself is kind of mind blowing, it isn’t mine, it’s Reb Shlomo Carlebach’s. The answer takes us to the depths of what it means every time we immerse ourselves in deep learning.
