You must be on fire—the fire of an altar burning up the ego inside, bringing the animal close to the divine.
A large ego burning makes a lot of noise.
A small ego burns quietly.
From the wisdom of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of righteous memory; words and condensation by Rabbi Tzvi Freeman. Subscribe and get your dose daily. To order Rabbi Freeman’s latest book, Wisdom to Heal the Earth, click here.
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Avner Stein
Casselberry
June 8, 2025
Really cool image. Reply
Brenda
Toronto, Canada
March 12, 2018
Fuel For The Goal
To shift the ego from it's mighty power that disconnects our hearts, we need fuel.
That fuel comes from our passion for the goal.
That goal is the greatness of the divine nature of G_d.
Our passion for this goal must shift our thoughts and intentions to desire for this transformation of our nature. The energy of this passion is greater when we desire together. Then we will awaken G_d's Light that will re-form our ego.
Then we will experience G_d's force of harmonious connection between us. We will rise to a new level of life.
Reply
Leah
Cleveland
March 12, 2018
I may be wrong, I may be misunderstanding, but I think the noise Rabbi Freeman is referring to here is an internal noise. In other words, how much resistance we are up against from within ourselves, when we try to maintain our humility before G-d in our every moment of life. Reply
Anonymous
ma
June 7, 2013
the noisy fire
I ran into a noisy fire today! And I was thinking that I was minding my own business.
Was I? How did my ego fit in to to put this noisy fire in my path?? I think it comes from my past behavior of being apathetic and my current behavior of choosing my life..so not sure how to address it.
Reply
Lebbaeus
June 9, 2025
in response to Anonymous:
great comment and question. i struggle with the same thing. Reply
Gavri Hanita Hazaka Abir Sellek 2nd
Canada
June 7, 2013
Fire and Ice It is the tongue that fuels the fire of ego. Ego is nothing more then self , nothings in all creation is as dangerous and as deceiving by an Ego out of control. But a man who is cooled down with love in his heart for all, with a humbleness before GOD is who our GOD looks for. The ice is a person cold, cruel, crafty, and devious. His aim is to get what he wants, when he wants it, and then make plans and schemes to get what he wants. Choose well in life the path you live will take. Reply
Anonymous
USA
June 7, 2013
A Fire Dear Rabbi Freeman, would you be so kind as to explain to me when the ego "burn with a lot of noise," and "the ego that burns quietly'? I know that the ego is "self." But these two concepts are not clear to me. Thank you in advance for your kindness, I really appreciate your teachings and daily doses. Reply
Chana
California
June 10, 2025
in response to Anonymous:
Hi, I not Rabbi Freeman but I would like share thoughts on your post. There is not an easy answer to your question. We know the ego represents the “self” of us. Do we need to separate them to understand our self? Perhaps if we see the ego and the self as one with an unlimited possibility of choice. Choosing how we act, think, respond. Our ego shows up in our emotions and we can use those emotions to define our “self.” If our emotions are burning about what ourself wants, needs, desires to make happen, it is a choice to chose positive or negative behavior, thoughts, words. Big burn or small one. If we use these emotions to define our self it will seem the 2 are separate. Right now I am this. Later on I am that. It’s all me. In the Talmud is this - what you are seeing in another person is not really what you are seeing. What you are seeing is what is inside of you. Apply that to what we are seeing in our “ego” it’s our “self.” That’s where refinement happens and that is the burn. Reply
Thomas Karp
New Haven, Ct.
January 14, 2011
Correction.
I meant to say-
"I'm sure we DON'T need to 'burn' it though".
The ego is an important part of our being able to survive.
It's an important part of Israel being able to survive the diaspora.
Nonetheless, Rabbi Freeman, you are right:
The ego does tend to get in the way of getting closer to G-d.
It can distance us greatly from Him if we are not careful.
Reply
Thomas Karp
New Haven, Ct.
January 13, 2011
Definition: Ego
'Ego' is a word that is thrown around so much that it would help if some people returned to it's denotation, it's actually definition.
Ego is the self, yet it is more then that:
It is how one projects oneself to the world, how one wishes to project themself to the world, how one imagines they are projected (seen by) to the world.
The problem with this, of course, is that how one projects oneself to the world and how one actually is in reality can be very far apart.
It's fair to presume that G-d would rather we stand before HIm, and live before Him, as we are without the pretenses through which we project ourselves onto others.
In other words, when we go out into this broken world of ours, we wear 'masks', present a false front to others.
This is a function of our ego, and we need this function to survive in a world that can be unG-dly hostile and dangerous.
Yet it does tend to put a 'kibosh' on our relationship with G-d at the same time.
I'm sure we need to 'burn' it though.
Reply
Recognizing the Ego as part of the self is very very important and those who speak of obliterating it are very wrong. In this world we need an ego to move and achieve good things. It is wise to choose to do good things, and when we are satisfied of our work then the Ego is ,indeed on fire. Sometimes, we need a big fire to change things, but sometimes a small fire will suffice. It is the Ego that helps us thinking when and what fire is appropiate. We were formed with a Ego to fight this nasty world, so this is NOT an obstacle to H' unless the pursuit is on a negative path like sheer pursuit of material stuff. We were not give life for that but to improve ourselves and the world;thus achieving being near H'.