Self Oppression - Mastering Your World

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Be Within Stay Above

Based on letters and talks of the Rebbe, Rabbi M. M. Schneerson

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A tyrant can steal everything from you but your knowledge of who you are. That only you can give away.

When someone else imprisons or enslaves you, you still know who you are -- even if you are prevented from expressing it.

But when you make your goal in life to be someone you are not, or to be part of a people that are not your own, that is the ultimate surrender. There is no greater captivity, for your essence and being have been locked away in a dark cell.

It is an oppression of the worst sort, but also the easiest to escape. After all, you admitted yourself into this place. So who is preventing you from signing out?

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	Based on letters and talks of the Rebbe, Rabbi M. M. Schneerson More articles... \|
	From the wisdom of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of righteous memory; words and condensation by Rabbi Tzvi Freeman. To order Rabbi Freeman’s book, Bringing Heaven Down to Earth, click here.

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Reader Comments
Latest Comments:

Posted: Jan 2, 2012

How does one become righteous if not to go to a "place one does not belong" in the beginning?

Posted By Gene, Bellvue, Co. USA

Posted: Jan 15, 2009

Sometimes maybe we can't sign out?

"After all, you admitted yourself into this place. So who is preventing you from signing out?"

I know I'm chaging the focus of your essay here, but what about our own fears and insecurities that make it too difficult for us to do something as simple as sign out?

Posted By Michael, Minnetonka, MN

Posted: Jan 15, 2009

self oppression

one can keep one's religious identity even if one does not live in Israel or a ghetto. By being part of wider society we can be good examples and help mankind;which is surely one of the things G-d put us here for in the first place. If we are not doing so;the challenge to elevate ourselves is not so great .Our achievements will be all the greater.

Posted By Anonymous, Manchester, u.k

Posted: Jan 15, 2009

jocelyn's right, that's why i need to have an orthodox conversion; i don't like living in "limbo", nor do i want my two sons' lost to the Jewish people forever.....

Posted By gmb, Lake Worth, FL

Posted: Jan 15, 2009

Self- Oppression

Those who convert to Judaism through non-halachic conversions are the greatest oppressed. They are told by Reform and Conservative "Rabbis" that they are Jews when they are not Jewish. They regret not keeping kosher when they need not. They feel guilt for sins they are not responisble for. They think they are Jewish and they are not. Immigrants cannot pronounce themselves to be US citizens by any means whatsoever. One who thinks they are a member of the Jewish nation and has not immersed in a kosher mikvah, presented themselves before a valid beis din, and agreed to live by Torah. The only escape is undergoing a proper Orthodox conversion. You owe it not only to yourself, but to future generations.

Posted By Jocelyn Ruth Krieger, Boca Raton, Fl.

Posted: Jan 15, 2009

self opression

where does self oppression end and mental illness start? what if you know you are a Jew and a child of Holocaust survivors but have no self beyond that? There are so many kinds of mind and ways of thinking even among Chabadniks that I cannot find myself in anything. Where is my place in the world of good going bad and bad doing good? What am I?

Posted By Norbert (Nusson) Steiner, Boston

Posted: Jan 15, 2009

Thank You

This is a beautiful and important reminder.

Posted By Cathy, Clearwater, FL

Mastering Your World


	Dissatisfaction


	De-Victimizing


	Perpetual Freedom


	The Human Untied


	Re-piecing


	The Puzzle


	The Oppressive Neighbor


	Self Oppression


	From Moses to Now


	Fear of Joy


	Healthy Contributions


	Know Your Strength


	Investing in Earth


	Natural Desire


	Unnatural Desires

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