Living Torah Archives

Maimonides teaches us to imagine the world as hanging in the balance between good and evil. One action may be all that’s needed to tip the scales towards the good and bring salvation to the entire world.

Torah instructs: “Provide yourself with a mentor.” But how does one know who to choose as a spiritual guide? The Talmud Tractate Berachos teaches: “A mentor must be like an angel of G-d”. In his code of Jewish law, Maimonides offers a clue to the conduct of an angel: He describes the future world, “when there will be no envy, rivalry, war or hatred,” and concludes: “At that time the righteous will resemble the Ministering Angels.” So to resemble an angel of G-d means, to be free of the corruptions of one’s body.

Purim Morning with the Rebbe at 770.

The Talmud, 1,500 years ago, already stated, “All ‘end-times’ for the Redemption have passed, it now awaits only repentance.” In 1941, my father-in-law, the Rebbe, launched an intense campaign that “Immediate repentance will bring immediate Redemption.”