Internal Tribes
How Reuven, Shimon, Levi and Yehudah represent four different phases we experience as we go through the order of the morning prayers: 1) Reuven—the first paragraph of Shema, 2) Shimon—the second paragraph of Shema, 3) Levi—the blessings after Shema, and 4) Yehudah—the Amidah prayer. (Based on the discourse "Yehuda Achecha Yoducha 5738.")
| Related Text: | מאמרים מלוקט: מאמר יהודה אתה יודוך תשל"ח |
| See Also: | Internal Tribes, Part 2 |
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| Audio: | Listen to Audio | Download this MP3 |
Rabbi Moishe New heads the Montreal Torah Center. He is a sought out lecturer on Kabbalah and Chassidus, and their relevance in our lives today.
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I'm confused and hope for some elucidation please: we are told to get out there and make a dwelling place, we live in the Era of Action, it behooves us to Do Mitzvahs and also to model for the Nations all the goodness of Hashem. At the same time, as you noted, by SEEING the violence and evil that is currently out there (maybe its always out there, but it seems so bad atm) we are being contaminated. In fact, forgive me for mentioning my own faults here, I used to watch the news; it was part of my professional work, but I continued after retirement and yet didn't understand why I felt increasingly sick and depressed...until I started doing very deliberate daily schedule of learning and mitzvot and got rid of the television altogether. I am not strong enough internally to handle the gantze velt. I was immersed in it, know it all too well and do not want to be touched by it any longer...I realize this is not what we're being taught, but after a lifetime...I'm out of word space