Concepts in Chassidic Philosophy

Twice Moses states in our Parshah that "there is none else"--that nothing exists aside from G-d. Are these just words, or do they mean something that we can understand?

G‑d is the one truth that pervades all existence and we, in turn, must create that oneness within our hearts.

If not for the scrolls, there would be no reason for plain old doorposts...

To believe that the world is something separate, an entity unto itself, would be to accept that G‑d is not really everything. This would assume that He is one thing and that the world is another thing.

The Torah instructs us to know G-d’s unity: “The L-rd is G-d in the heaven above and upon the earth below there is none else.” What is the nature of G-d’s unity?

When you’re feeling sad, do you go to your father or to your mother? Is it transcendence that you seek, or the solacing embrace that assures us that nothing is meaningless, that everything we are and feel can be borne, inhabited and redeemed?

They entered me like tiny pieces of a puzzle that found the space, or impression, that was carved exactly to fit their dimensions. Then they would snap together, forming sentences and paragraphs and concepts...

There is none else beside Him (4:36) Rabbi Binyomin Kletzker, a Chabad chassid and disciple of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, was a lumber merchant. One year, while he was adding up the annual accounts, he inadvertently filled in under a column of figures...

So I don't exist. Or I don't exist and do exist at the same time. So what? I still have to get up in the morning, I still have to deal with my credit card balance, my mother-in-law, and this guy whose elbow is crushing my ribs on this crowded subway car. ...