Mashpia (Spiritual Mentor)

Torah instructs: “Provide yourself with a mentor.” But how does one know who to choose as a spiritual guide? The Talmud Tractate Berachos teaches: “A mentor must be like an angel of G-d”. In his code of Jewish law, Maimonides offers a clue to the conduct ...

My friends in recovery have a saying:"We are only as sick as our secrets.” I keep on hearing this, but I have a hard time accepting this idea. I have always wondered: After all, isn't it important to have some privacy?

Moses made demands of the people; when necessary, he rebuked them. A docile calf would do no such thing...

In terms of our spiritual development, we can apply this law to all types of spiritual sicknesses. We are not the ones to make the final diagnosis of our own faults and shortcomings...

We can appreciate the connection between a mentor and a friend. But why is the lesson of judging people favorably taught in the same sentence?

Loyalty is beautiful, and good for many things. But it is not good for distinguishing fact from fiction. Or for distinguishing fiancés who should be married from fiancés who should not.

Our group of twelve had come to Tanzania to tackle Mt. Meru, an extinct volcano that rises some 15,000 feet into the deep-blue African sky. We began this trip as individuals – but were to return as a single unit...

The Torah cautions us that the danger of bribery is not merely a possibility, nor even a probability. It is an automatic effect. We are all judges, all of the time...

Just as some people refuse to see their faults, so there are those who insist on digging too deep, persecuting themselves over every fault and making unreasonable demands upon their lives. Eventually they collapse from exhaustion, or worse, kick back ...

A mentor, our sages tell us, must be like an angel. That's a problem. Having never seen an angel, you will always be in doubt: Perhaps the mentor you have chosen is not like an angel. How can you ever rely on your mentor while so unsure of his or her ...