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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Brenda
Toronto, Canada
February 4, 2014
How 4 Becomes 1
The Kabbalists tell us that the purpose of our correction and the goal of Creation is to achieve "equivalence of form" (Dvekut) - the SAME 1, Unique QUALITY of the Creator - to give contentment upon another /Creator without any benefit to the self.
After the correction process, we all humankind will rise to the same spiritual level as the Creator as ONE spiritual system - in 'One Mind and One Heart'
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Lois
California
February 4, 2014
'Four Children'
The Lord, our God is not the God of everything and Everyone, Jews and Non Jews alike?
As long as there is 'us and them' there is separateness which brings conflict and war.
We must grow beyond this concept.
The Lord. our God is One.
How can it be otherwise.
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Anonymous
Montreal
February 4, 2014
The Missing Son....
Actually the 4 sons story is part of the Talmud not the Torah, that is misleading.
What they have in common is that they are all sitting at the table but they are still what they are. It's about accepting and engaging with ALL Jews at the table, loving the stranger so to speak. That's said you are missing the most important son, the one that is not there, the missing chair! That empty chair indeed indicates that someone is gone from our family circle.Those who we have made unwelcome, the hurt, the ill, the lost ones, the dead, because the emptiness is inside of them.. Let us not just remember them as hundreds of nameless and faceless people, but let us personalize it.
It was integrated into the Seder meal by the Talmudic rabbis for the purpose of guiding the current generation, that is, the father who is head of the household, in determining which method of communication would be most appropriate for properly transmitting the story and messages of the Passover festival or Pesach.
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marian E.
Netherlands
February 4, 2014
about the meaning of the word: wicked
I found:
Wicked has two quite contradictory meanings. If something is pure evil, then it is wicked. Think Darth Vader. On the other hand, as an informal slang term, wicked also means excellent — as in "that DJ is wicked, man!"
Other shades of meaning include something playful or enjoyably malicious. Someone might have a wicked sense of humor, for example, meaning it's fierce and takes aim sharply at its victims. Or it can also mean something that, while not actively evil, is still extremely unpleasant. Exams can be wicked, and so can someone's temper or the weather. The word comes from Old English term wicca meaning "wizard, witch".
the greater the Light, the greater The Shadow.It must be highest time for wicked child to take his responsibility for his shadow and work on it! To finally have peace in the world.
Wicked was Churchill's description for a man like Hitler..
There is hope, It is no status-quo, black CAN become grey, see Tolkien's Merlin, "my" noble wizard;-)
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Ruth Housman
marshfield hills, MA
April 18, 2011
Four children/For children
The message of Passover is deeply for children, because surely, THEY are OUR future. The message about slavery, and enslavement of all kinds is for children. Even those too young to understand, will take in glimmers of this, and that mica will spread, from year to year, as they grow, and understand, about caregiving, and what is important, if the soil is fertile, and if they are always watered, acknowledged, and taught LOVE in all its ways.
Bittersweet is about LIFE itself. And the honey and the apples is also about the sting and the honey. And so it is, the Land of Milk and Honey, a place of great ongoing conflict, still.
Perhaps Next Year in Jerusalem will involve love, a resolution that we're all in this together, and just maybe that understanding, will percolate through, as we are all of us Children of the same G_d.
We need to access the child in us all, and re experience, the WONDER. We also need to mourn for those children killed by that same Angel, that spread Death.
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Amy http://souldipper.wordpress.com
Salt Spring Island, Canada
April 6, 2011
Observing May I be given the strength, honesty and power to see which one acts out and needs attention. Reply
José Flávio Nogueira Guimarães
Belo Horizonte, MG/Brazil
April 6, 2011
Thank you
Dear rabbi:
Some of your messages bless me for days! For days I keep thinking about that particular one. You're a beautiful vessel, rabbi!
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Ruth housman
Marshfield, MA
April 5, 2011
"One"
We are all in this together surely. Universe: One Verse, Global Village, diversity being "the key", all one/ alone, the Central paradox: a part/ apart
Within words we see the reflection of what this is all about. All in one. Even all awe. Allah. Listen. Listen long and hard.
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Marshall Roth "shmuel h'kohane"
Toronto/Jerusalem, Canada/Israel
May 30, 2008
"Guess" that's ME! We all embody characteristics of the "Four Types"....whether we choose to acknowledge that 'Fact' or "NOT!" Reply
For Anonymous in Montreal The first line is a direct quotation from the Haggadah. The sages of the Mishnah were able to determine, either by deduction or by tradition, that the Torah is speaking of four children.
And yes, the Rebbe was the one who first spoke about the fifth child, in the early years of his leadership.