Thursday
Jul082021
SECRET PATH
July 8, 2021This path may be less trodden, but the gates are open wide. * Certainly by now we have corrected the cause of exile. * A call to unity, towards shining the light of the “new Torah.”
Entries in Mattos-Massei (10)
Wednesday
Jul112018
EXITING EXILE WITH EXCITEMENT
Rabbi Chaim Yosef Dovid Azulai (the great Sephardic Sage of the 18th century, known by the acronym of his name) points out that the initials of the opening words of the parsha: “Eileh Massei b’nei Yisroel-These are the journeys of the children of Israel” is an acronym for the four subsequent exiles of: Eileh – Edom (Rome), Massei – Madai (Media/Persia), B’nei – Bavel (Babylonia), and Yisroel – Yavan (Greece).
Wednesday
Jul192017
WHY DECLARE “YECHI”?
G-d instructed Moshe to wage war against Midian for causing the Jewish people to sin, causing them much grief. As the last major campaign before he was to pass, G-d instructed Moshe to take revenge on the Midianites, and only then pass on.
Sunday
Jul192015
STEPPING OUT OF THE STATUS QUO OF EXILE
When one is physically stuck in a place, somewhere he should not be, and not moving forward, then – notwithstanding his great progress within that place, advancing within that space, that realm – he is still in Mitzrayim! * If you’re stuck in a rut, know that it is Mitzrayim, and it is necessary to leave Mitzrayim and journey onward, until you arrive at Yarden Yericho, an allusion to “morach va’da’in – he [Moshiach] smells and renders judgment.”
Wednesday
Jul152015
A MANUAL TO LIVING IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE
The opening of this week’s parsha discusses the institution of the neder-vow. When one makes a vow to either engage in or desist from a certain behavior, one is duty-bound to keep his or her word. There is, however, a method through which one can have a vow annulled. The person who made the vow comes before a tribunal of three rabbis (or even one professional rabbinic judge) and makes it known to them that if he or she had known the consequences of the vow, he or she would never have made it. The three judges then declare the vow to be “null and void.”
Wednesday
Jul232014
DISILLUSIONMENT WITH MOSHIACH’S DELAY: DON’T GIVE UP!
MULTIPLE JOURNEYS : If there is one word that describes all of existence it is “journeys,” the subject and title of this week’s parsha—Massei.
Thursday
Jul042013
GOVERNMENT INTRUSION INTO OUR PRIVATE LIVES IS A SIGN OF MOSHIACH
As we stand on the very threshold of the Final Redemption, the Rebbe exhorted us to engage the mind in subjects that relate to Moshiach and Redemption. This way, the Rebbe explained, we reshape our way of thinking; we experience a paradigm shift. And this is how we begin the process of conquering, not only the Seven Lands which correspond to our emotions, but also the Three Lands which correspond to the way we think.
Thursday
Jul192012
MAKE ISRAEL HERE!
The words of the Tzemach Tzedek to the Chasid to “make Israel here” were not intended to extinguish the Chasid’s passion for the Land of Israel. On the contrary, it was meant to take the ideal of the Land of Israel and extend it to his own turf. Moreover, making our own environment an extension of Israel is a stepping stone to getting there.