Essays

I'll let you in on a little surprise: Who says that yourself is the real you? Maybe the real you is not a subject, not an object, but a verb? Maybe the real you is to be found not in who you are but in those things you need to do?

Two cows, they were, sharing a paddock on the same farm...

Imagine, a couple gets married, and the man says to his new wife, "Would you make me something to eat, please? I'll be right back." She begins preparing. The guy comes back 3300 years later, walks into the house, up to the table, straight to his favorite chair, sits down and tastes the soup that is on the table. The soup is cold

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and the essence of Jewish mysticism

Which is loftier--spirit or matter? the soul or the body? The teachings of Rabbi Schneur Zalman, founder of Chabad chassidism, extol the first over the second, and then second over the first, offering a unique and life-altering vision of reality

Once upon a time, time was round. Then somehow, we straightened it out, put an arrow on the end and took it for a ride. Now let me tell you how it happened...

Imagine asking a Jew, "Did you ever eat on Yom Kippur?" and he answers, "I felt hungry in my stomach."

Thank G‑d for atheists. If not for their scorn, how shallow our god would be!

When G-d created Adam, at the moment Adam opened his eyes, what was his psychological profile? He had no Oedipus complex because he had no mother. He didn't have a birth trauma, because he wasn't born. He had no sibling rivalry... What was this man like?

Actually there are two hearts: the outer heart, forever chasing whatever looks good to it and barking at whatever looks like a threat; and an inner heart, where the fire of the soul burns in serene simplicity

We all yearn for the intimate touch of another soul. So why are we forever repelling love with our anger and criticism?

Parallel universes, supernatural phenomena, and a world where good always prevails. Is this Grimm's fairy tales, or a chassidic text?

Some things are so very astounding that the casually passing mind refuses to notice the wonder.

Are you really happy, or just resigned to your lot? I'd love to meet the person who'd honestly say, "My fantasy life? I'm living it! I can't imagine a thing I'd want to change!"

The Torah's account of the petition presented to Moses by the daughters of Zelophehad is relevant both to women seeking Halachic support for change, and to the rabbis who are ruling on their questions

Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi added to a Scriptural verse a one-word modifier that revolutionized the way we think about ourselves and our lives: mamash.

The physical realm as the "shadow" of the spiritual; the mitzvot as physical "symbols" that manipulate spiritual realities; matter as thye most compact form of energy; prayer as the language of the soul and the minyan as the "critical mass" that unleashes its power

First the elephant's trunk is threaded through the eyelet, then his head, followed by his entire huge body. Imagine dreaming such a dream!

If life is full of meaning, why am I spending it hustling other people for their money?