http://www.chabad.org/search/keyword.asp?kid=193 Newest articles written by Tzvi Freeman Copyright 2005, Chabad.org - Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center, all rights reserved. http://www.chabad.org/media/images/50/CtRx507451.gif 130 52 http://www.chabad.org Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=1037060 http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=1037060 Question: Hello rabbi. I need help. I have been a fairly good Jew for a big part of my life. I celebrate all the holidays. I still teach my son the current parshah with age appropriate materials. I even put on tefillin most mornings, though my bar mitzvah was more than two decades ago. My problem is, as I learn and read, I am finding myself drifting away from the somewhat religious man I once was. Some things seem too obscure, others seem fake. For years, while going to Sunday morning minyan at my local Chabad House, and to services on Friday nights, I've been looking for inspiration. Things seemed meaningless, juvenile sometimes, and complete myths at others. Recently, I saw a different historical account of the Chanukah story that explained away the "miracle of the oil." With modern science and history beginning to shed some light on our origins, it is getting more and more obvious that though we preach some progressive ideas, our Torah is likely not based in fact. Since the core of Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=1026523 http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=1026523 Question: If you commit suicide, is it true that you won't go to heaven? But if there is no Jewish hell, where will you go? Answer: I hope the reason you are asking about suicide has nothing whatsoever to do with your current state of mind or circumstances in real life. It's not a pleasant issue to be thinking about. You write that there is no Jewish hell. Well, not exactly true. If you've ever overstuffed yourself at a Jewish simchah, the night after was certainly a form of Jewish hell. Aside from that, we find a place called Gehinom mentioned in the Bible and discussed at length in the Talmud and many classic Jewish works. Think of it as a sort of laundromat to clean up souls that have been soiled in their passage through this world. Once sparkling clean, they can continue up to their spiritual place from whence they originated, and even higher. A soul that was involved in a serious crime, such as homicide, G‑d forbid, needs a heavy-duty wash to get back in shape. Suicide is consider Wed, 4 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=1014792 http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=1014792 My mother was Protestant and my father was an atheist Jew. My family survived the holocaust in Europe with great struggle. Am I Jewish or am I a gentile? Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=997149 http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=997149 Going without food for 24 hours is not a major stress for the body. Dehydration, however, is what causes that sense of weakness associated with the fast... Sat, 26 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=996340 http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=996340 To a married woman in a desperate situation, who greatly regretted her actions: You should not pray for a miscarriage. You should do what you have to do and let G‑d take care of the rest. If He so wills, He can change the past for you as well. How do I know? Hear me out, step by step. Resh Lakish was a student with a sharp, biting intellect. He was also a highway robber chief. Not simultaneously, mind you. Things changed when he met Rabbi Yochanan. You see, Rabbi Yochanan was exceedingly handsome. When Resh Lakish saw him bathing one day in the Jordan river, he pounced upon him. Rabbi Yochanan kept his wits and told Resh Lakish, "You are so strong! If you would put that strength into Torah, you could be a great rabbi!" Resh Lakish became Rabbi Yochanan's pupil and threw all his strength into his studies. Eventually he became his teacher's study partner. The Talmud is replete with their debates, Rabbi Yochanan suggesting his ideas and Resh Lakish ripping them apart and rebuilding on his Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=993378 http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=993378 That's all forgiveness means: You don't do anything because of your grudge, you don't say anything to express your grudge and you don't even think about why you have a grudge... Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=993372 http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=993372 Question: Let's say I desire that somebody not live anymore, G‑d forbid. Let's say this somebody is a parent. But I don't take any action in this direction. I mean, I just keep acting in the interest of the well-being and health of this person, but simply desire that this person not live anymore. Is that a sin? Response: No, it is not a sin. Sinning isn't so easy. You can't sin with your feelings. You have to either do something, say something or at the very least willfully ponder something in order to sin. If I feel I want to eat pork, that's not good enough--I am still not sinning until I at least start making the plans to get hold of some. If I feel I want to commit adultery, I am also not sinning. At the very least I would have to make some plans, or allow my mind to contemplate the idea. So, too, if I don't want someone to live, that is not a sin--as long as I don't willfully do anything that provides that feeling tangible expression. It's just a feeling, and in many cases, it may Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=987018 http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=987018 Question: Why do we call G‑d "Father" on Rosh Hashanah? Why not "Mother"? Response: To the Jewish mind, G‑d is both here and beyond here at once. Philosophers call that immanence and transcendence. Many of them say that He can't do both at once, but we say who are you philosophers to tell G‑d what He can be and what He can't be? When we refer to G‑d's presence within our world, giving life to all things, then She is the Shechinah. When we refer to G‑d's transcendence beyond this world, we call Him "The Holy One, blessed be He." G‑d does not change or have parts, G‑d forbid. Both are the same one and singular G‑d, just looking at that G‑d from different angles. From one angle you see a modality of being deeply involved and immanently there; from another angle you see Him in a modality of being absolutely beyond all things and transcendent even of existence itself. In our prayers, we--all of us together as one--take the role of the Shechinah petitioning the Holy One, blessed be He. In a Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=987016 http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=987016 es, it is true that Rosh Hashanah is a very serious day. But is it meant to be frightening? Certainly, this kind of relationship with G‑d, with Torah and with Rosh Hashanah is not what G‑d ever meant... Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=987010 http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=987010 Why do we take our New Year so seriously? What's this whole judgment deal? Why all the prayers? Can't we just party? Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EST