Kabbalah & Chassidism; Mysticism

Their job was to bring up the rear and gather up any objects left behind--missing socks, perhaps, or lost children... It's not a very glorious role

By law, the menorah stood in a chamber into which only kohanim (priests) were permitted entry. But the law also states that an ordinary person may light the menorah. What is the point—and lesson—of this legal paradox?

The common conception of how the system works is faulty. People see a career as "making a living." But a career doesn't "make" anything

The path of light, sunglasses of the soul, the Lamplighter, the discovery of darkness, the inexistence of the universe, the spiritual significance of the rainbow -- 26 stories, essays and meditations on light and luminescence

We tend to think of life as composed of two kinds of time: "real time" devoted to career, family and friends; and "in-between" time -- waiting-room time, airport time, between-jobs time. Not so, says the Rebbe

We "raise" our children, "climb" the ladders of our careers, "rise" to life's occasions, think "highly" of people we admire, "aspire" to high ideals, regard "heaven" as representative of all that is good and "lofty". Why all this uppity talk?

Life is mostly waste. Take food, for example: we spend many hours earning the money, shopping, cooking, eating, and then most of it passes right through our bodies and into the city's sewer system

Those of you who have had close contact with the Rebbe or with his emissaries, the shluchim, know that a basic theme of Chabad Chassidus is the idea of not living for yourself, but for others. This might be referred to as “lighting the lamps,” particularl...

He was a world-famous figure, I was an anonymous student from 3000 miles away. Quickly it became clear to me that he believed in me more than I believed in myself

The deeper meaning behind the different opinions in the Talmud and commentaries regarding the menorah’s spatial alignment inside the Temple, and regarding the identity of its miraculous “western lamp.”