The Jewish Mind: Recent Episodes
Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc
Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc is the founder and director of The Jewish Mind. Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc additionally serves as the Shliach at Chabad of North Miami, and as the Rabbi of the Jewish Center. \He can be reached at TheJewishMind@icloud.com
Understand what took place at Mount Sinai, giving us, the offspring, that which even our forefathers did not have
When going head to head with the Evil Inclination, the fight just gets to hard. However, there is a better way!
The world we live in looks and feels like such a dark and chaotic jungle. Why then does G-d call it His garden?
There is nothing to fear but the fear of fear.
Do not try to eliminate fear. Rather, be brave and face your fear, accept your fear, and move forward nonetheless.
The Five Books of Moses documented one universal flood, while the Zohar documents a second one, which we are living through today.
Topics explored in this class: How do we continuously keep a conscious awe of G-d's presence? What are there so many blessings to say in Judaism? What do mitzvoit accomplish? Why is he/she so blessed with abundance, joy, love and health, when I do so much more good than he/she does, and have so little?!
Faith is not an easy way out of knowing and understanding.
Rather, we must diligently work on understanding today that which we could only believe yesterday, all the while opening up faith to unprecedented realms of G-d within our life.
Plan B is the Original Plan, only that we have to first go through Plan A, in order to get to the chosen Plan B.
Once upon a time it was our job as parents to protect our children from exposure to indecency. Today, we must empower our children for when they will be exposed to indecency.
Can one learn to have faith in G-d?
Can the rational adult thinking mind accept faith?
Or, is it time for some inner-child work...
The physical and metaphysical power of keeping kosher is of great magnitude. Learn why.
"Here the son asks, 'what [is this night different...]'"
Understanding the mystical journey of the Passover Seder
- Yithro Class: "An Unorthodox View Of Religion Vs Spirituality" by Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc
Printed Lecture: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3to1z0wxcg7y8ub/14.%20Vaiera%205781%20--Two%20Holy%20Brothers%20Within%20Us.pdf?dl=0
Link to the written lecture: https://www.dropbox.com/s/g9o05zeqnn6izx4/13.%20Shemos%20--Roots.pdf?dl=0
Yes, it is a long class, but I DOUBLE DARE you to listen to the last piece from 52:50 to the end. I dare you to be able to hear it, argue with it, accept it, and to heal with it!
Learn about the one relationship that will make or break every other relationship we will ever have
Link to the printed Lecture: https://www.dropbox.com/s/l20j9h6mqd0wwgq/12.%20Vayechi%20-The%20Mysticism%20of%20You.pdf?dl=0
Link to typed out Lecture:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lbc0yv5t1ebirwb/9.%20Vayeishev-Chanukah%20--Daughters%20of%20Zion.pdf?dl=0
link to written notes of this week's lecture:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3yl2g7ie07jf2ng/8.%20Vayishlach%205781%20--The%20Peaceful%20Battle.pdf?dl=0
Brief overview of the Parsha Insights into the Parsha *Mystical exploration, with practical application
According to Kabbalah and Chassidus, the two primary emotions of the human are Love and Fear. And being as such, it is fair to say that Love and Fear are the primary emotional needs of the human. Yet, while most people are nodding in agreement concerning the human need for the experiencing love --in both, the giving and the receiving--, nevertheless, with very few exceptions, most are vehemently nodding their head in disagreement, concerning the human need of experiencing fear.
Well, for starters, the emotion of fear received a bad rap in recent history. Franklin D. Roosevelt, elected as the 32nd President of the United States of America, in the times of the Great Depression, in his inaugural speech, paraphrased Henry David Thoreau, “Nothing is so much to be feared as fear”), by saying, “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is … fear itself.” A little more research as to the origination of this quote will take us to the great sixteenth century French writer Michel de Montaigne, who wrote, “The thing of which I have most fear is fear,” after which, in the seventeenth century, the English writer, Francis Bacon, wrote in his 1623 book De Augmentis Scientiarum: “Nil terribile nisi ipse timor,” or “Nothing is terrible except fear itself.”
Moreover, as the ancient wisdom of Martial Arts made its way to the shores of America, many taught and perceived a severely perverse notion of the maturity in one facing his inner-fears, with an immature slogan of, “No Fear!” as if this was a desired ideal for the perfection of humanity.
This is not true at all. Rather, one would best embrace, “There is nothing to fear but the fear of fear!” Fear, in itself, is a divine emotion, deeply embedded within the human being precisely because (-Genesis 1:27), “And G-d created man in His image; in the image of G-d He created him.” However, as has been the history of human intervention into the course of nature, mankind has oft set themselves to remove what they understand to be but an unnecessary unpleasant component, only to realize that by doing so, they have upset the greater balance of the ecosystem, the biology system or the human psyche system. So, I say, “Give fear a chance!”
In this lecture, based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered, on this Shabbat in 1953, we are going to explore the divinity of the emotion of fear, as it serves to the human’s healthy state of mind
To live life is to live with the greatest conundrum of all, and to embrace the two antithetical working psyches in every breath that we take. And yet, so many have mastered it. And the gift of its mastery is not necessarily wealth, power or fame. Rather, it is but sheer true contentment. When every part of us feels acknowledged, validated, respected, safe and nurtured, what we feel is sheer true contentment. And no amount of power or pleasure in the world can buy that or even sustain that.
In this lecture, we are going to explore the antithetical dualism that exists within us from the angel of our mechanical living and our passionate living. Yes, many clinch the challenge of this dualism by working all week, while enjoying the weekends, working for months, while enjoying vacation weeks, and by fulfilling our duties, and then enjoying our hobbies.
For those of us who have abused our passions, transforming them into obsessions and even addictions, for those of us who pay the price with debilitating depression, and even the High-End Addicts, who successfully maintain their duties, therapy lies in, “Go back to the essentials,” such as morning showers, brushing teeth, and making beds. Yes, the road back is through working the Mechanical Life.
And for those for us who have succumbed to the squareness of the essentials, killing our passion, dreams and adventurous side, living completely in rote, our therapy is to take a vacation, an excursion, and to find a hobby we do only because we enjoy doing it.
Here we are going to explore whether we can consummate our innate antithetical dualism, rather than feed them separately, and we are going to explore this by first exploring the spiritual source to this dualism.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered, on this Shabbat in 1969, exploring the life of Sarah, as summed up with the verse (-Genesis 32:11), “And the life of Sarah was one hundred years and twenty years and seven years; [these were] the years of the life of Sarah.”
- Parsha Chaya Sarah Class: "Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match..." by Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc
Stephen Covey in his bestselling book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, defines the fifth habit as, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Seeking real understanding affirms the other person and what they have to say. That's what they want. That's what we all want --to be understood, valued and affirmed. John F. Kennedy, in his Inaugural Address, delivered on January 20, 1961, said, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” That’s what we all want, to be part of a greater whole, in which what we give is magnified in that which we will receive in turn.
There is no true spirituality, I believe, in which one only seeks to understand, but not to be equally understood, and in which one seeks only to do, but not to have done for them as well. As a matter-a-fact, I will suggest that only doing and giving, in a relationship, without being willing to receive, is maybe the worst form of being passive-aggressive in a relationship, because love, caring and commitment is created in the giving, and not in the receiving. Thus, by only understanding and giving, without allowing for the other to understand and to give, is to only allow for your own feelings in a relationship, without allowing for, nor making any room for the other’s feeling.
Thus, in a spiritual relationship, it must be a two-way relationship, in which each are both, giving and receiving, help from each other.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered, on this Shabbat in 1969, exploring the spiritual depth of the verse (-Psalms 111:8), “Steadfast forever, made in truth and uprightness,” according to the interpretation of the holy Zohar.
Brief overview of the Parsha Insights into the Parsha *Mystical exploration, with practical application
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/697863256/videos/10158514176343257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/3-lech-lecha-5781-when-abraham-danced-the-moonwalk
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/k062ztm8yoow1hl/3.%20lech%20lecha%20--when%20abraham%20did%20the%20moonwalk.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/nsKGRlr4K8s
The moonwalk is a dance move in which the dancer glides backwards, but his/her body actions suggest forward motion. Formerly known as the "backslide", the moonwalk is a popping move. It became popular around the world following Michael Jackson's moonwalk during his performance, which was broadcast on May 16, 1983. However, there are many earlier recorded instances of the moonwalk. Similar steps are reported as far back as 1932, used by Cab Calloway. Nevertheless, the moonwalk, as we know it today, was created by dancer and singer Jeffrey Daniel, a member of the R&B group Shalamar, which, after he taught it to Michael Jackson, became known as the moonwalk.
Well, that’s enough about its history. What I would like to focus on is the opening description of the moonwalk: A dance move in which the dancer glides backwards but his/her body actions suggest forward motion.
In essence, so much of life’s traveling seems to be just like that, in which we simultaneously need to be moving in two opposite directions, spiritual and physical, ascent and descent, practical and meaningful, and I can go on with the antithetical motions we must simultaneously be moving in. In this lecture, we are going to explore the spiritual source to the moonwalk of life, and the moves it takes to dance it well.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered, on this Shabbat in 1977, exploring G-d’s commandment to Abraham, “Lech Lecha - Go forth from your land and from your birthplace and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you.”
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/697863256/videos/10158497893773257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/2-noach-5781-send-it-to-the-cloud
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0dlrc5anhw4m2sz/2.%20noach%205781%20--send%20it%20to%20the%20cloud.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/lYdHHirwg9o
--
Why the cloudy days?
From childhood on, cartoons always portrayed sunshine as a good and a fun day, while cloudy days as sad and boring days. However, is it actually so?
Kabbalah speaks of cloudy days being a source of melancholy. One becomes more introspective on a cloudy day, and on a more accountable mindset, than on the sunny days, which are represented more with the running free in the grass kind of imagery.
What is the deeper meaning to the clouds?
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered, on this Shabbat in 1982, exploring the spiritual dimension why is it that when G-d made the covenant with Noah, to be symbolized by the rainbow, does G-d say, “My rainbow I have placed in the cloud… And the rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will see it, to remember the everlasting covenant”?
- Zoom Noach 5781: "See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Speak No Evil" by Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/697863256/videos/10158481600648257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/1-bereishit-5781-dont-live-life-cluelessly
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/b0c0bbcvk5uaac4/1.%20bereishit%205781%20--don%27t%20live%20cluelessly.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ypa6HD5ImAY
---The origin of the proverb, “Ignorance is bliss,” is in Thomas Gray’s poem, “Ode on a Distant Prospect of EtonCollege” (1742). The quote goes: “Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise.” My teachers, however, would add but two words to the proverb,“Ignorance is a fool’s bliss.”
To believe that ignorance is bliss, is to believe that we cannot handle the truth. Even more so, it is to believe that G-d has brought us knowledge of something that we can do nothing about, not for the world around us, nor for the world within us. This goes in contrast to the teaching of the Baal Shem Tov that everything one sees and hears is to serve as a lesson for them in their lives, and even more so, is a knowledge brought to them so that they can do something about it.
Thus, he who revels in ignorance, is one who flees responsibility and accountability. While in truth, there is no greater bliss, and a feeling of deep contentment, in knowing that we have lived up to our responsibility, with the knowledge of a truth that G-d brought to us.
However, according to Kabbalah and Chassidus, G-d created the world precisely with a bliss of ignorance, and it is our purpose to overcome this fool’s bliss, and search out the truth, and to live by it.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered, on this Shabbat in 1969, exploring the deeper dimension of how G-dcreated the universe, and the purpose behind why G-d did it so.
“Maggid d’vorov l’Yakov...” and this includes, “minhag Yisroel Torah hee,” so, what is G-d’s Kol Nidrei about?
The promise of boundaries between Mitzvois and Averois, the promise of Seder Hishtalshilus, the promise of Elokim are nullified by the Lifnei Havayeh.
However, this nullification can be done only in the physical realm, and not in the spiritual realm. Thus, Teshuvah must be done through, “Take with you words,” Torah and Mitzvot. Intimacy must be more than a feeling, it must be an action, in order to turn two hearts into one. Thus, when we annul the wall we build between our physical secular life and our Divine Jewish life, G-d in returns annuls the boundaries of separation between Light and Darkness caused by our sins.
This sermon delves into the challenge some are presented with, by teaching of the Rebbe on Neilah. Neilah means closing, and now the doors of Yom Kippur atonement and judgement are closing upon us. Not that the door is closing on us, but that the door is closing on everyone else but us, and we are left alone with G-d.
King David states (-Samuel II, 24:14; Chronicles I, 21:13), “I am greatly oppressed; let us fall now into the hand of the L-rd; for His mercies are great; but into the hand of man let me not fall.” Why I felt the exact opposite, and what the Rebbe’s Neilah means to me today.
Synopsis This sermon delves into the what is the primary function of a parent.
They say that a child loved unconditionally by his mother, will grow up to be a conqueror. What exactly is “Unconditional Love”?
A parent’s job is to make their position unnecessary in the life of their children. This is ultimate unconditional love. How is this done?
An exploration into the Rebbe’s directive to his shluchim: “Connect the person with G-d, and get out of the way.”
The primary job of a parent is to connect their child with the child’s “being-ness,” beyond the identity of their “doing-ness.”
The primary words of the proclamation Shema may very well be, “Shema Yisroel.” We turn to our soul and say, “Hear! You are Yisroel!” The letters of Yisrael make up the words Lee Rosh -Unto Me a Head. G-d tells the person that, “Your soul is from the depths of My Being.”
Please, do not listen to this sermon on Rosh Hashanah, but rather, either before or after Rosh Hashana.
Please, do not listen to this on Rosh Hashanah itself, but rather, before or after Rosh Hashanah
Weekly Zoom Parsha Class 11. Parsha Netzavim-Vayelech
Brief overview of the Parsha Insights into the Parsha *Mystical exploration, with practical application
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10158393060418257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/11-zoom-parsha-class-netzavim-vayelech-5780
YouTube: https://youtu.be/xzIZfekkCXk
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10158379995798257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/36-sovoi-5780-releasing-the-tiger-within
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fjl71c32qsq9l6j/36.%20sovo%205780%20--releasing%20the%20tiger%20within.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/Pg0VkeYKspE
For many of us, there is this pressing non-squashable feeling that we were meant to be more. At times we fight the feeling, labeling it as ego, as an unjustifiable need to be special, bordering on disassociation, hiding within a fantastical world, rather than accepting and living within the reality of life on life’s terms.
However, sometimes this voice of feeling suppressed, and unable to connect to one’s true inner-strength, talents and gifts, needs to be heard. At times we need to truly hear, acknowledge and accept that we are Divine Beings, and not rats in a rat-race, hamsters on a wheel, or humans in a battle for survival.
In philosophical terms, we can quote Viktor Frankl that every human has the most innate need for meaning and purpose, and in the terms of Chassidus, we can quote Rabbi Shmuel of Lubavitch that a life of simply not dying isn’t called living. In this lecture we are going to explore the higher self within each and every one of us, and how to release our higher self into our lives.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat in 1973, which was the 18th of Elul, exploring the spiritual dimension of G-d’s Light and of our Light.
- Zoom Parsha Class: Tavo Brief overview of the Parsha Insights into the Parsha *Mystical exploration, with practical application
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10158375960363257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/10-parsha-zoom-class-tavoYouTube:
YouTube: https://youtu.be/onPApR59ICY
FaceBook:https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10158363027528257/
SoundCloud;https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/34-teitzei-5780-the-peaceful-warrior
Written:https://www.dropbox.com/s/3ejwyb94n90fkae/35.%20tetzei%205780%20--the%20peaceful%20warrior.pdf?dl=0
YouTube:https://youtu.be/WTgGF8nXvqw
__In a certain sense, life is meant to be lived as a war. And I mean this on the spiritual level. Dawning back to the birth of our nation, when our Matriarch Rachel was pregnant, the prophet told her (-Genesis 25:23), “Two nations are in your womb, and two kingdoms will separate from your innards, and one kingdom will become mightier than the other kingdom, and the elder will serve the younger.” This, we are taught, exists within each of us. There is the kingdom of Esau, referred to as the Evil Inclination, or as the Animalistic Soul, and there is the kingdom of Jacob, referred to as the Good Inclination, or as the G-dly Soul. Our sages teach us that, “And one kingdom will become mightier than the other kingdom,” means that both kingdoms cannot simultaneously be mighty, nor coexist in peace. Our mission in life is to make sure that, “The elder [Esau; Evil Inclination; Animalistic Soul] will serve the younger [Jacob; Good Inclination; G-dly Soul].
This war between the two kingdoms is an Obligatory War, and not a Permissible War. And living one’s entire life waging a war can lead to Battle Fatigue. Is there another way? And thus, in this lecture we will explore the way of the Peaceful Warrior.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat in 1965, exploring the spiritual dimension of spiritual warfare and the peaceful warrior.
- Zoom Parsha Class: Teitzei 5780Brief overview of the ParshaMystical Insights sprinkled throughout*Focusing on one concept of the Parsha, mystically, emotionally and tangibly ---FaceBook:https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10158358670578257/
SoundCloud:https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/9-zoom-parsha-class-teitzei-5780
YouTube:https://youtu.be/_Y6jzHaegRo
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10158329707863257/
SoundCloud:https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/34-reeh-5780-the-truth-the-whole-truth-and-nothing-but-the-truth-so-help-me-g-d
Written:https://www.dropbox.com/s/vqbdqn4fbifujaj/24.%20re%27eh%20--the%20truth%2C%20the%20whole%20truth%2C%20and%20nothing%20but%20the%20truth%2C%20so%20help%20me%20g-d.pdf?dl=0
YouTube:https://youtu.be/iayLxD4jgKU
For many, there is the struggle between the two worlds we live in, Judaism versus Secularism, Spirituality versus Physicality, our Synagogue versus our Office, and our Pursuit of G-d versus our Pursuit of Comfort and Luxury.
We reflect about what the prophet told Rebecca about her immense pregnancy pains (-Genesis 25:23), “And the Lord said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb, and two kingdoms will separate from your innards, and one kingdom will become mightier than the other kingdom,’” upon which the sages (-Rashi, ibid) explain, “Will become mightier than the other kingdom: They will not be equal in greatness; when one rises, the other will fall.”
Each and every one of us is Rebecca, and in our womb we have the egocentric Esau and the Theo-centric Jacob. And, we reflect upon, “They will not be equal in greatness; when one rises, the other will fall.” This brings us to have to make a seriously difficult decision, as to which we want… This physical world, or the World to Come…
Or is there a Truth of Truths, which sees things differently, all together…
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered, on this Shabbat in 1969, exploring the three levels of truth.
Brief overview of the Parsha Insights into the Parsha *Mystical exploration, with practical application
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10158311328188257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/33-eikev-5780-having-a-hearing-post
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8c0htpt1flup09f/33.%20Eikev%205780%20--Having%20a%20Hearing-post.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/j0JfwqIHt2E
— What happens when we just aren’t open to our faith, our spirituality and our tangible and palatable relationship with G-d? What is there for us, to give us a fighting chance, and a door out of inner-purgatory, when we are experience a total crash and burn in our higher humanity, and our G-dly image, in which we were created?
Yes, we are expected to crash and burn, as the verse states (-Proverbs 24:17), “For a righteous man can fall seven times and rise...” And, for a moment, we will not define, “a righteous man,” as a righteous person, but as the righteous spirituality within each of us. What do we have, in the darkness of the fall, through which to, “And rise?”
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered, on this Shabbat in 1969, exploring the spiritual dimension of the mezuzah that we are commanded to place at our doorpost, and how this commandment manifests itself in placing an inner-mezuzah on our inner-doorpost.
Brief overview of the Parsha Mystical Insights sprinkled throughout *Focusing on one concept of the Parsha, mystically, emotionally and tangibly
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10158293503698257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/32-vaeschanan-5780-rebuilding-jerusalem
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wr7t1c4tsrzp2m3/32.%20vaeschanan%20-rebuilding%20jerusalem.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/T1MY9Yz04ug
Our sages teach us over and over again, “The descent is for the need of the ascent!”
Every pain, every suffering, and every destruction, is but the groundbreaking to a, “Greater will be this house than the first house.”
Yet, the destruction hurts, hurts terribly, to the point of the promise that an ascent is evolving, is so distant, not affording us any consolation, comfort or empowerment at all.
Just this Thursday we mourned over the destruction of the Holy Temples, Jerusalem, and an exile that has been lasting for almost 2,000 years! And exile of persecution, exterminations, and humiliation. G-d, how are we to survive this all?!
This lecture is based primarily on two maamorim the Rebbe delivered, one on last Shabbat and one on this Shabbat in 1969, exploring the spiritual dimension of consolation that G-d is giving us, in our mourning over the destruction of the first and second Holy Temple.
A brief overview of the Torah-portion Why Moses prayed 515 prayers (mystical) Why did we add a verse to the Shema (mystical) How could G-d tell us, "I love you!" as G-d was having our enemies taking us as slaves in shackles?! (mystical)
Zoom Parsha Class: Va'eschanan
A brief overview of the Torah-portion Why Moses prayed 515 prayers (mystical) Why did we add a verse to the Shema (mystical) How could G-d tell us, "I love you!" as G-d was having our enemies taking us as slaves in shackles?! (mystical)
FaceBook:https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10158237607068257/
SoundCloud:https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/29-pinchas-5780-who-daat
Written:https://www.dropbox.com/s/bflh6twhyhq5vhe/30.%20pinchas%205780%20-who%20da%27at.pdf?dl=0
YouTube:https://youtu.be/c0eEgrNgMSs
We have each met, at some point in our lives, a Pauper with a lot of money, as well as a, Wealthy Man with very little money. I don’t mean pauper or wealthy in the poetic sense, but in the literal financial sense, and nevertheless, the pauper has a lot of money, and the wealthy man has very little money. I want to emphasize as well, that I am not referring to the teaching of our sages (-Ethics of Our Fathers, Chapter 4, Mishna 1), “Who is rice? He who is happy with his lot.” I literally mean it from the practical financial perspective.
Well then, what gives? If I am speaking from a financial perspective, then how can a wealthy man not have a lot of money, and a pauper have a lot of money?! The answer lays in the individual’s ownership of, and relationship with, his money. And in order to understand this, we are going to explore the deeper mystical secrets of the teaching of our sages (-Talmud, Nedarim 41a; Talmud, Kesubos 68a), “There is no pauper but in da’at, and no rich man but in da’at.” The translation most often used for da’at is knowledge, and nin this teaching of our sages we are referring to da’at as mindset. However, in Chassidus da’at represents the most complicated of the three intellects, Chochmah (Wisdom), Binah (Understanding) and Da’at (Recognition and Feel).
In this lecture, through unearthing the secrets of da’at we will understand the secret of being truly wealthy.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor (-Link) the Rebbe delivered, on the 13th of Tammuz in 1969, exploring the spiritual dimension of the prayer of Moses.
Rabbi Avrohom LipszycThe Jewish Center - Chabad of North MiamiThe Jewish Mind 12550 Biscayne Boulevard - Suite 310 North Miami, FL 33181 Tel: 305.892.1234 Email: TheJewishMind@icloud.com
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10158217423148257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/28-chukas-balak-12-tamuz-a-wealthy-mans-prayer
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bh88q75qoxnl2oe/29.%20Chukas-Balak-12%20Tammuz%205780%20-A%20Wealthy%20Mans%20Prayer.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/OmayELA-qCc
This lecture is going to take us to the Kabbalistic standards of wealth, in which the person beyond lacks nothing. In addition to this, the lecture is then going to explain what the prayer of such a wealthy man is all about. What makes this an issue is that the Torah mitzvah of prayer is to ask G-d for one's needs (-See Maimonides, Laws of Prayer, Chapter 1 Law 2), and thus, how can a man with truly no needs fulfil the Torah mitzvah of prayer? The practical modern day issues that we will extrapolate from this mystical journey are: (a) How can we connect with this level of wealth (b) How can we take our prayers to this level?
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered, on this Shabbat in 1969, exploring the spiritual dimension of an illogical mitzvah and of the prayer of Moses.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10158190287103257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/28-korach-gimmel-tammuz-5780-infinite-connection-integrating-the-head-with-the-foot
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/oun3c3p6ccevrbs/28.%20korach-3%20tammuz%20--infinite%20connection%20-intergrating%20the%20head%20with%20the%20foot.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/w2eo5d4NasA
For the modern-day issue of this lecture I want to introduce the concept of interdependence. Let us begin with three different social definitions1:
DEPENDENCE - has to do with relying upon or being controlled by someone. Pet’s and children, for instance, are dependent upon their owners/parents.
INDEPENDENCE - has to do with not relying upon, not being controlled by, or even controllable.
INTERDEPENDENCE - mutually dependent, but with options and reciprocity, and without control.
Harold Kelley and John Thibaut developed interdependence theory over the course of 4 decades, beginning in the 1950s. Interdependence theory describes the structural properties that characterize interactions and the implications of such structure for human psychology. Whereas most psychological theories focus on the individual, suggesting that people behave as they do because of their unique experiences or cognitions or personalities, interdependence theory regards the relationships between people as important as the people themselves. Thus, the theory represents a much-needed model of the nature and implications of interdependence; it is a truly social psychological theory.2
Many believe that the preferred state is total independence. However, that is an ego-driven opinion. In truth, for the very commencement of any social existence, in which Adam went from being the sole human, to Eve being created, G-d stated (-Genesis 2:18), “And the Lord G-d said, ‘It is not good that man is alone; I shall make him a helpmate opposite him.’” A holistic approach to this verse will reveal that every human being has areas in which they must accept being dependent, independent, and interdependent.
In this lecture, we are going to define how these three different experiences exist within the Jewish people as a nation, within the individual, within the community, and within the relationship between a Rebbe and his chosid.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor (-Link) the Rebbe orally delivered on Shabbat Tetzaveh in 1981, and then edited it for print in 1992, and personally distributed to each and every chosid. This maamor was the last maamor that the Rebbe edited before his stroke, and has become viewed as the Rebbe’s Maamor Hilula, which serves as the Rebbe’s spiritual Last Will and Testament.
- https://www.quora.com/
- http://psychology.iresearchnet.com/
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10158171165098257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/27-shlach-5780-the-art-of-challah-making-selflessness-selfless
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tpk66ixxh7qh0kf/27.%20shlach%205780%20-the%20art%20of%20challah.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/ULPd8P5D9Fc
I heard this great line in a conversation between two people: “Do you know why everyone you love and help leave you, and you are left a lonely man? Because, even when you try to do something selfless, you make it selfish.”
Shazam! Kaboom!
What an awesome insight! Only, that I see this not limited to those who are outstanding in their self-centeredness and selfishness, but rather, as a flaw imbedded within the very DNA of human beings, albeit, at different levels of quality and quantity. It takes a very serious level of awareness, prayer, and work, in order to be able to loosen the grip of this self-centeredness imbedded within us.
More than ever, this awareness, prayer and hard work to loosen the bounds of self-centeredness is pertinent when we are working on Teshuvah (return; repentance), working on bringing about a Tikkun for a past wrong doing.
In this lecture, we are going to explore the process in keeping our selflessness from becoming selfish.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered, on this Shabbat in 1968, exploring the spiritual dimension of the mitzvah of separation a portion of one’s dough for Challah.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10158150230838257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/26-behaalotecha-5780-the-freedom-to-be-transcending-to-true-self
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/krltkf89u07i11e/26.%20behaalotecha%205780%20-both%20the%20big%20and%20the%20small%20-understanding%20the%20bignness%20of%20smallness.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/U64KC444X6s
-- The greatest contradiction for the human being is freedom. The human soul fights for freedom, while the human body demands discipline. Medically, Maimonides explains, that, “The change of a cycle (habit pattern) is the beginning of ailment.” Child psychologists are in agreement that the child needs, and actually demands discipline. The soul, however, fights for freedom, in which nothing needs to be, and everything simply is.
On a mystical level, anything that has a source cannot experience true freedom, for it is defined by its source, and it cannot experience what it doesn’t have, meaning that it didn’t receive from its source. Thus, the only true freedom that exists is within G-d, “Primary Being… all the [other] entities require Him and He, blessed be He, does not require them nor any one of them” (-Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Yisodei HaTorah, Chapter 1 Laws 1-3). It is only because the human being has within the core essence of his soul, “Is truly a part of G‑d above” (-Tanya, Likkutei Amarim, Chapter 2), that the human has true Freedom of Choice. Were the human to be only descending product of a higher spiritual source, then the human could not have Freedom of Choice, for it would be trapped behaving in a manner consistent with the make-up of its source. Yet, on the other hand, the human is made up of a psyche that is a reflection of the Ten Emanations. The outer layers of the soul itself, is a reflection of its source’s image. The body, from the physical to the metaphysical, for example, from the brain to the mind, all work in patterns, create and protect their homeostasis, and are as workers following the blueprints of its genetic source.
And thus, the conflict between the need for freedom, and the inability to sustain it, once it has been obtained. This conflicts stems from the fact that the road to achieve freedom, and to maintain freedom is counter-intuitive to the human mind and soul. This lecture will explore the antithetical coexistence of human freedom, how to achieve it, and how to then maintain it.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe orally delivered on this Shabbat in 1969, and then edited it for print in 1991, in which the Rebbe explores the mystical meaning behind Aharon kindling the Menorah of Souls in the Holy Tabernacle.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10158128705343257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/25-naso-5780-the-dot-the-line-and-the-box-making-it-real-wholesome-and-totally-transformative
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/viq238a8uxan7c4/25.%20naso%205780%20-the%20dot%2C%20line%20and%20box%20-working%20self-developement.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/w5ttZlo-EVo
__ There is no greater feeling than when after a deep and strenuous day of work, we come home feeling that, “Man! Today’s work was real and it was wholesome!” This is the feeling that leaves us, even though exhausted, however, deeply rejuvenated, as if we have drunk from the Well of Life itself.
Not so, when we deeply know that we didn’t give our work all that we got. Rather, we just skimmed the surface in order to just get through. We know that we went through nothing but a very shallow transformation, at best, if any at all. And this leaves us feeling frustrated, wasted, cheated and shameful of self, deep inside.
In this lecture, we are going to take a deep look into what it takes to making it real, Wholesome and Totally Transformative.
This lecture is based primarily on two maamorim the Rebbe delivered, one on Shavuot and the other on this Shabbat in 1968, exploring the development of how G-d gave us the Torah, and of How created the world.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10158102213433257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/24-shavuos-5780-having-a-mount-sinai-experience
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dy4awvrwiumq7ht/24a.%20shavous%205780%20-having%20a%20mount%20sinai%20experience%20%28autosaved%29.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/GvU5NBFGIpg
Albert Einstein (-Link) is quoted for saying, “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Let’s take this quote to its very root. According to science, with a blend of Kabbalah, our thinking is the product of nature and of nurture. On the nurture side, our perception is based on the earliest truisms we learned from our primary caretakers and our environment about reality. On the nature side, our thinking is based upon our merging elements of our souls’ faculties of intellects and of the merging elements of our physiological brains. And while our studies are proving to us, that much of the brain is soft-wired, rather than, hard-wired, nevertheless, much of why different people have different talents, such as in art, music, science, numbers, abstract logic, etc., are the outcome of their nature of merging elements within their specific soul and of their specific brain, which then effects their mind and its ways of thinking.
The point being, that our, “Kind of thinking,” when we are speaking about something far deeper and more wholistic, than a mathematical formula, is something far genetically deeper, both physically and spiritually, than to just erase the blackboard, and start over from a radically new premise.
With this understanding, I reflect upon what Dr. Carl Jung said to the relapsing alcoholic businessman Rowland Hazard III, as documented in the Big Book of Alcoholic Anonymous, page 27:
The doctor said: "You have the mind of a chronic alcoholic. I have never seen one single case recover, where that state of mind existed to the extent that it does in you." Our friend felt as though the gates of hell had closed on him with a clang.
He said to the doctor, "Is there no exception?"
"Yes," replied the doctor, "there is. Exceptions to cases such as yours have been occurring since early times. Here and there, once in a while, alcoholics have had what are called vital spiritual experiences. To me these occurrences are phenomena. They appear to be in the nature of huge emotional displacements and rearrangements. Ideas, emotions, and attitudes which were once the guiding forces of the lives of these men are suddenly cast to one side, and a completely new set of conceptions and motives begin to dominate them. In fact, I have been trying to produce some such emotional rearrangement within you. With many individuals the methods which I employed are successful, but I have never been successful with an alcoholic of your description."
Upon hearing this, our friend was somewhat relieved, for he reflected that, after all, he was a good church member. This hope, however, was destroyed by the doctor's telling him that while his religious convictions were very good, in his case they did not spell the necessary vital spiritual experience.
Dr. Jung is here describing the very core nature of what it means, “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them,” when speaking of a core problem within the depts of our, “Kind of thinking.”
With this understanding, we are now going to explore what, “Completely new set of conceptions and motives,” we experienced 3,332 years ago, at Mount Sinai, when G-d gave us His Torah, and how this New Kind of Thinking, happened. And, most importantly, how we can access this change of thinking today.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor that the Rebbe delivered on the holiday of Shavuot, in 1969, exploring the mystical teachings upon the unprecedented, and never to be repeated, Mount Sinai experience.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10158078146003257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/23-bamidbar-5780-the-gift-of-spirituality
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wrk0lkihsqdf3hu/23.%20bamidbar%205780%20-the%20gift%20of%20spirituality.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/1cyv5U7cryY
For our modern-day let us take a deeper view into what Torah is all about. Torah, for many, is seen as the constitution of the Jewish religion. In other words, Torah is seen as a religion, filled with obligations and prohibitions, which ultimately govern whether will go to Heaven or to Hell. However, in Chassidus teachings, this isn’t so. Torah is G-d’s ultimate gift to the Jewish people. The gift behind this gift is that the Torah offers a connection and a relationship with G-d. And thus our sages (-Shemot Rabbah Portion 30:9) teach us on the verse (-Psalms 147:19), “He tells His words to Jacob, His statutes and His judgments to Israel,” that, “The Holy One, blessed be He, what He does, He tells Israel to do and to heed.” Torah is the wisdom and will of G-d, through which G-d behaves, creates and relates to His universe, and thus, Torah is the bridge through which we become one with G-d in our intellect, emotions, thoughts, speech and actions. Which leads us into the topic of spirituality.
Spirituality, ultimately is a binary code. The binary code is simply (i) G-d, and (b) Ego. Now, before I continue, it is important to emphasize is that Spirituality, in being a Binary Code, is not Black and White! There is an infinite spread of levels in the ratio within us of what percent of us is about G-d, and what percent of us is about Ego. In any and every intention that we have to any given action that we do, there is this infinite levels of ratios. To embrace this is to accept our humanity, and the journey of growth that we are meant to embrace.
This lecture is going to explore the Spirituality of Torah, in levels upon levels. The modern-day issue of this lecture will then answer is how embrace this on a practical level.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor that the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1969, exploring the mystical teachings of the Jews arriving at Mount Sinai on Rosh Chodesh Sivan.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10158053136858257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/21-behar-bechukosai-5780-the-gates-have-opened-understanding-lag-bomer
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/raotuymq6t5sve1/22.%20behar-bechukosai%205780%20-the%20gates%20have%20opened%20-understanding%20lag%20bomer.pdf?dl=0
YouTube https://youtu.be/an34jzopGVU
A regular struggle that some of us have, when we hear about the stories of the righteous and saintly of old, is the simple fact of, “But, I Am Not a Tzadik…” So, what can this story teach someone like me?! This becomes especially so, when we speak of the supranatural performed by the saintly and the righteous. Their powers to do so, through prayer and through Torah-study, is due to their transparency in their desires, will, intellect, emotions, thought, speech and action, to their will and paradigm that G-d has given us through His holy Torah, and through our connection with Him in prayer. The negation of self to G-d, is what allows these great giants to embody the spirituality and divinity within the Torah, to create these miracles. As our sages teach (-Talmud, Sotah 12a; Jerusalem Talmud, Chapter 3, Law 10) upon the verse in Job (-22:28), “You will make a decision, and it will be accomplished for you,” that, “The righteous decrees and G-d fulfils,” and that, “G-d decrees and the righteous nullify.” Meaning, that even if G-d has decreed upon someone illness or suffering, the righteous can nullify G-d’s decree.
The average person does not reach this level of humility, self-negation and transparency, through which he or her can become a conduit for G-d’s miraculous powers. Thus, what can these stories be telling us? Some would suffice with saying that the point of teaching us these stories are to teach us the importance of having a faith in the saintly and the righteous, as the verse states (-Exodus 14:38), “And they believed in G-d and in Moses, His servant.” However, the Rebbe takes this yet a step further, as I so often heard the Rebbe say, “Who is this, and which is he, who would have the brazenness of heart to compare himself to these righteous upon who the world is founded?! And yet, nevertheless, it is our obligation to take but at least a piece of this and to incorporate this into our lives, as well.” And thus, we must accept that we are capable, and obligated, to stand upon the shoulders of these giants, and to follow in their footsteps. But, how?!
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered exploring what Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai created for each and every one of us, from the righteous, to the average, and for the even way less than average.
-- Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc The Jewish Center - Chabad of North MiamiThe Jewish Mind 12550 Biscayne Boulevard - Suite 310 North Miami, FL 33181 Tel: 305.892.1234 Email: TheJewishMind@icloud.com
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10158031546303257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/21-emor-5780-how-far-are-you-willing-to-go
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6aa44nbd3xywv0g/21.%20Emor%205780%20-How%20Far%20Are%20You%20Willing%20to%20Go.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/xXCUe20ECgg
__One of the greatest quandaries of faith is the peaceful co-existence of Histadlut (Effort) and Bitochon (Faith; Trust). To my grandmother, of blessed memory, this wasn’t a quandary at all. For her, it was all summed up in, “G-d says, ‘Do!’ and I will help you!” Ah… The beautiful simplicity of the faith of yesteryear… However, in my complicated, and sometimes even self-destructive, mind, it isn’t so simple at all, ever. The You and the I tug-a-war between G-d and myself, where G-d ends, and I begin, in our relationship, where the responsibility in self-reliance of Hishtadlut ends and where the entitlement of Bitochon begins, and frankly, where does the accountability of Hishtadlut end, and where does the accusatory victimhood of Bitachon begin.
And all of this, because of a perverse understanding of both, Histadlut and Bitachon. Hishtadlut has nothing to do with self-reliance, and Bitochon has nothing to do with neither entitlement, nor is it an excuse for victimhood. And yes, G-d does say, “Do, and I will help you,” but in a far deeper sense than it may read. In the deepest sense, the truth of effort, freedom of choice, faith, and trust in G-d all coexist and are mutually inclusive.
In this lecture we are going to explore the flow and dance between G-d commanding us, “I shall be sanctified amidst the children of Israel,” the work of our Hishtadlut, and the, “I am the Lord Who sanctifies you,” our Bitochon in G-d’s doing.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat in 1965, exploring the three crowns of G-d.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157883103303257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/20-vayikra-5780-healing-the-world-working-the-mystical-approach
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/o7cjpuz5sdb0t61/20.%20vayikra%205780%20-healing%20the%20world%20-working%20a%20mystical%20approach.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/0V7J4ccakZ4 --
One of the greatest paradigms that any human can have is the paradigm of, “I can make a difference!” This, and this alone, is the Torah perspective, always!
Yes, I am aware of the universal Serenity Prayer, in asking for the serenity for the things that we cannot change, and for the wisdom to know which those things are. However, notice that the Serenity Prayer uses the word, “Change,” while I used the words, “Make a difference.” Even when I cannot change something, how I respond to it, and what I do about it, makes a difference. Take for example Candace Lightner, who founded M.A.D.D. (Mothers Against Drunken Driver) after her 13-year-old daughter, Cari, was killed by a drunk driver. On the one hand, without finding some form of acceptance and serenity in the fact that there is nothing she can do to bring her daughter back to life, Candace would be stuck in painful paralysis, crippling any semblance of life. On the other hand, look at what a difference Candace made in the world, with something that she could not change!
In Jewish belief, and especially in Jewish Mystical belief, there is nothing in our lives that lives us incapable of making a difference. It begins with understanding the spirituality of what we are experiencing, and taking it straight to our relationship with G-d. This does not negate physical, practical and medical responses and precautions. However, this takes us beyond just those physical responses, giving a possibility to make a universal difference through taking spiritual action as well.
And so it is with the present COV19 pandemic. Torah mandates that first and foremost we must take medical and social precaution and responses. However, as a people of faith in G-d, and in G-d’s sovereignty of the world, we mustn’t stop there, but rather, then go on to take spiritual steps to make a difference as well.
This lecture will explore ailment and healing on a mystical level, with the practical steps that this spirituality asks of us to take.
This lecture is based primarily on two maamorim the Rebbe delivered on the verse (-Jeremiah 17:14), “Heal me, O Lord, then shall I be healed; help me, then I shall be helped, for You are my praise!,” one in 1961 and the other in 1964, exploring the mystical dimensions of ailment and healing.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157853868793257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/19-hachodesh-5780-the-inner-communal-seder
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/olpaorexodkdtgu/19.%20vayakhel-pekudei-hachodesh%205780%20-the%20communal%20seder.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/q86S6PNipOQ
- Each and every one of us have righteousness, and each and every one of us has repentance to do. King Solomon says (-Ecclesiastic 7:20), “For there is no righteous man on earth who does good and sins not.” Isaiah (-60:21) states, “And your people, all of them righteous.” And both are true concerning each and every single one of us.
Nevertheless, there are those of us who find ourselves as only one or the other. Some of us are so super hypersensitive about our shameful mistakes, that we see ourselves as having no viable righteousness to ourselves, defining ourselves only as sinners, with only the journey of repentance as any hope of salvation. Others, see themselves as righteous. I don’t mean in arrogance, but rather, in a true self-evaluation, they find themselves to be organized, logical and decent. And for them, they see they journey of spirituality to be only that of a logical day-by-day steady growth, with no need for any irrational leaps of faith and commitment.
Both are lacking in seeing their true wholesomeness, which mandates a dual journey in their relationship with G-d. Without embracing our duality, we will always lack in our wholesomeness, and thus, in our inner-peace. In this lecture we will explore the mystical dimensions of Passover, teaching us of having a personal inner-communal Passover Seder, inviting all of who we are, the righteous and the repented within us, to the event.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat in 1969, exploring why the Passover Sacrifice can be brought either from a lamb or from a goat, with no Biblical preference at all.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157811459948257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/18-tetzaveh-5780-which-came-first-the-olive-or-the-oil
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/79h4smyftg3e1gp/18.%20tetzaveh%205780%20-which%20came%20first%20the%20olive%20or%20the%20oil.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/oMIhn3xpZVY
When we pull back from sharing and engaging, one of two things can be happening: (a) We are self-sabotaging, pushing others away, and denying ourselves our calling, or, (b) We have turned inwards, digging deeper within ourselves, searching for more to share, and more to evolve into.
The two have the same outwardly appearance, of pulling back, withholding and isolating, and nevertheless, they are in essence polar opposites. One is taking us into deeper growth and greater engagements with others, while the other is robbing us and others of who we are, and why we are here on earth. How are we to know what truly drives us in holding back and isolating? The obvious answer is to sit and wait to see what it leads us to, greater engagement or greater isolation. The deeper was of knowing is to be able to hear where the isolation and withholding is coming from, our Ego Animalistic Soul or from our Selfless G-dly Soul.
And thus, is the olive developing and bringing us the oil, or is the olive holding back the oil, and needs to be crushed in order to get it out of the way of the oil.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1965, exploring the opening commandment of our Torah-portion, “And you shall command the children of Israel, and they shall take to you pure olive oil, crushed for lighting, to kindle the lamps continually.”
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157789014408257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/17-terumah-5780-take-than-give-engaging-with-g-d
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wj2og1pdn8sqngb/17.%20teruma%205780%20-take%20then%20give%20-engaging%20with%20g-d.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/lKIIPfwOJoI
-- In many Kabbalistic and Chassidic teachings, we are taught that the woman must first entice and arouse the man, after which there can be copulation. However, then the teachings go on to teach that the man has to first empower the woman to arouse and entice, meaning that it is the man who must first entice and arouse the woman.
When Kabbalah and Chassidus speak about men and women, especially in intimacy, it is metaphoric. What the metaphor is, will depend upon the topic its dealing with. It may be our soul’s masculine faculties and its feminine faculties, which are the reflection of the Holy Masculine Emanations and the Holy Feminine Emanations. Lower than this, it may be speaking of the Soul (masculine) and its Body (feminine). Highest of all, the source of all male and female intimacy, it speaks of G-d (male; husband) and the Jewish people (female; wife).
And thus, we are being taught, that when we are engaging with our relationship with G-d, our first job is always to receive from G-d, and only after this, can we give G-d. Yes, our relationship with G-d begins with the simple humility of being on the receiving end, and knowing that it is only through humbly receiving from G-d, that we can ever give back to G-d.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat in 1965, exploring the donations that were given in order to build the Tabernacle -the mobile Holy Temple in the dessert.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157746302938257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/16-yisro-5780-the-holiness-of-darkness-working-the-beauty-of-mankind
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/r8nvdmkh8wjfg0k/16.%20yisro%20-the%20holiness%20of%20darkness.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/3Hffvk9O3U4
Darkness, in most cultures, is synonymous to evil. This is why we start our scary stories with, “It begins on a dark night, where a dark man waits, with a dark purpose.” We speak of our times of suffering, fear and pain as, “It was a very dark time in my life….” So too, it is in the teachings of Kabbalah and Chassidus, in which Light refers to goodness and divinity, while Darkness refers to Evil, the Other Side, and that which conceals and fights the Light.
And nevertheless, this is all in the teachings concerning Seder Hishtalshilut -Order of Evolution of the Infinite Light, including the Moar, the Source of Light. However, when we speak of the Essence we speak specifically of Darkness, in a defiance of any form, description or revelation. Thus, there are the polar opposite dynamics of Darkness. Within the realm of Light, it carries a negative connotation, while, above and beyond Light it carries the ultimate expression of exaltedness and divinity.
Being that G-d has created man in, “His Image and His likeness,” thus, within us too, there exists not just the negativity of Darkness, but also the ultimate goodness of Darkness. And so too, in the world we live in, and in the experiences that we live through. Darkness while in its expression is negativity, it is also the portal to the exalted heights of our ultimate image and likeness of G-d.
In this lecture, we are going to explore the two sides of Darkness, its holy and its unholy sides, and how to transform the entirety of Darkness into its ultimate Light and goodness.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1965, exploring the “Opaque Darkness [Thickness of the Cloud],” into which Moses entered in order to receive the Torah.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157730667693257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/15-beshalach-5780-being-at-peace-with-the-universe
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2tef60et9ghyz0k/15.%20Beshalach%20-Being%20at%20Peace%20with%20the%20Universe%20--Embracing%20G-ds%20Will.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/tM4DHUgQNnQ
Some people live a life of constant war, never being in peace, neither with themselves, with others, nor with the universe. This exists among the religious as well, who may feel that the universe at its very core is fighting against them being religious. Whether it be not working on Shabbat, keeping kosher, respecting modesty boundaries, or simply that the entire Law of Attraction backfires on them, attracting nothing but antagonism.
This life of war can stem from the belief that this physical world is the domain of the devil, or it could be based on the belief of what mankind has turned this world into. The core of this belief may also be based on a word often used when something goes wrong; Kaparah -Atonement. The foundation of this belief is that we have done bad in our lives, and every and any form of suffering is but an atonement for our wrongdoing, which is ultimately a kindness from G-d that G-d is cleansing us in this world with bearable suffering.
I am not arguing with any of these beliefs at the moment. Rather, I just want to point out that each and every one of these beliefs drive at, “It’s me against the universe!” Some may say, “Its G-d and me against the universe!” Be it as it may be, the outcome here is that the individual is not at peace with the universe. For some it is that G-d is not at peace with the universe, and it is our job to bring the universe into submission to G-d, creating or restoring peace between G-d and the universe.
Even those who are not at peace with the universe may believe that there are those outstanding in religion or in decency that have found peace with the universe. Whether it be some tzadik (righteous one) such as King Solomon, or whether it be, l’havdil, Mahatma Gandhi or the Dalai Lama. Either way, this being at peace with the universe is reserved for the chosen few, and not for you or I.
in this lecture we are going to explore the ultimate universal peace that lies at the very core of the universe’s existence, and how this becomes available to everyone.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat in 1969, exploring the mystical secrets behind the Splitting of the Sea of Reeds.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157705761623257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/14-bo-5780-e-unum-pluribus-e-pluribus-unum-understanding-our-meaning-and-purposemp4crdownload
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/czwvsh6pgoefdhx/14.%20Bo%20-10%20Shevat%20%20E%20Unum%20Pluribus%20and%20E%20Plurinus%20Unum%20-Understanding%20What%20Our%20Goal%20Is.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/XSiv-q3lX3A
Viktor E. Frankl, founder of Logotherapy, is most notable for his book, Man’s search for Meaning. The premise of Logotherapy and of his bestseller is, that the primary motivational force of an individual is to find a meaning in life. Without meaning the challenges of life become unbearable, and the good moments in life become fleetingly meaningless.
When looking for one’s purpose and meaning in life, I would like to suggest taking a holistic approach, in which we do not isolate ourselves and our purpose from the greater meaning and purpose of the entire world and universe. The question of one’s individual purpose should therefore begin with the question of why did G-d create the universe. Once we understand the holistic meaning of all existence, we can then better ask about our specific individual piece of the greater holistic purpose.
This approach leads us to having a relationship with everyone and everything, and therefore, applies to every incidence in our lives, regardless of its pleasantry or pain. This also develops within us an inner-peace of oneness, rather than being fragmented by all the responsibilities and relationships that we have in all the different areas of our lives.
In this lecture we will delve into this holistic approach to man’s search for meaning, first getting into the mysticism of the meaning of creation, and then getting into the practical application of meaning and purpose within our own life.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on the 10th of the Jewish calendar month Shevat, in 1960, exploring what lies behind G-d’s name, Tzva’oit.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157683566633257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/13-vaeira-5780-you-want-it-darker-understanding-g-ds-answer-to-moses
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2tef60et9ghyz0k/13.%20Vaiera%20-You%20Want%20It%20Darker%20--Understanding%20G-d%27s%20Answer%20To%20Moses.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/mcqxQ27-GPM
Thomas Fuller, an English theologian, in the year 1650, in his work titled A Pisgah-Sight of Palestine and the Confines Thereof, a book of his descriptive geography of the Holy Land, coined the phrase, “It’s always darkest before dawn” The phrase seems to have become an accepted Universal Truth.
The idea behind this is related to the literal meaning of dawn. Dawn begins when the first Light begins to show over the horizon from the sunrise. Therefore, there is the least Light before dawn begins, because there is no sunlight at that point. That is also the longest point since last seeing Light.
One beautiful aspect to be learned from the millennials is their belief in their entitlement to always question every previously accepted truth with, “Says who?!”
I would suggest that the answer to this question concerning the quote about it always being darkest before dawn is G-d, in his answer to Moses on why it got worse for the Jewish people in Egypt, just before their redemption from Egypt began.
The modern-day issue of this lecture is to understand this Universal Truth, its reason, and what we are to do when it gets darkest.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1969, exploring G-d’s answer to Moses, when Moses asked G-d (-Exodus 5:22-23), “O Lord! Why have You harmed this people? Why have You sent me? Since I have come to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has harmed this people, and You have not saved Your people."
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157663849578257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/12-shemois-5780-named-stars-being-extraordinary
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qxog54m6grtzaok/12.%20Shemois%205780%20-Named%20Stars%20-Being%20Extraordinary.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/P9iO3PCBsPw
There is an interesting Chassidic teaching that goes as follows: The moment you were born is the moment that G-d told the universe that it could not exist without you.
What this means is that there is something that only you can offer the world, and that no two of us exist to bring to the world the exact same thing. In other words, each of us are extraordinary in our individual gift to the world.
Thus, the Talmud (-Shabbat 118b) tells us of a story in which Rav Yoseph asked Rav Yoseph the son of Rabba, “Your father, in what was he most vigilant in?”
The question on this is, that Rabba, a saintly sage of the Talmud, was vigilant in all of Torah and Mitzvot! The answer that is given in Kabbalah and Chassidus is that what the sages are teaching us with this question is that every soul has a unique relationship with a specific Mitzvah, and it is through the extraordinary vigilance of this specific mitzvah that his performance of all the other Mitzvoit become special. The word for vigilant is Zohir, which are the same Hebrew letters as the word Zohar, which means to brilliantly shine. Thus, from the mystical interpretation of Rav Yoseph’s question, Rav Yoseph was asking concerning Rabba, which was Rabba’s extraordinary Mitzvah, through which everything else that Rabba did shone with Rabba’s extraordinary brilliance.
However, experiencing being extraordinary takes more than just being born with a unique gift for the universe that none other have. According to Kabbalah and Chassidus, what being extraordinary means is that we share our extraordinary gift with the universe in an extraordinary way. What this means is that there is an ordinary way to perform and to share our unique gift with the universe, and then there is an extraordinary way to perform and to share our gift with the universe. In this lecture we are going to learn what it means to perform something in an extraordinary fashion, and how through this, we bring our extraordinary gift into all that we do.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1965, exploring why the Torah counted the Jewish people again, and how this brings forth the Jewish peoples’ being cherished by G-d.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157645562973257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/11-vayechi-5780-telling-your-story-getting-to-the-essence-of-it-all
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/j9jvifceumnv5rq/11.%20Vayechi%20-Telling%20Your%20Story%20--Getting%20to%20the%20Essence%20of%20it%20All.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/X2zbW4QSUWU
______ The greatest struggle of an artist, and often it becomes the neverendingly driving pain of the artist, is trying to give the essence of his story through his art. This struggle often creates an unhealthy relationship between the artist and his art, not allowing him to be okay with his art, show his art, or to depart with any of his art.
Chassidus explains this struggle as the paradoxical relationship between essence and expression. Being that essence defies description, thus, essence defies expression. Expression is based upon the boundaries, form and description of that which is being expressed. When the article being expressed defies description, there will never be any satisfactory expression that will appease the one describing the article. Thus, the never-ending struggle of the artist, who adamantly wants to express nothing less than the essence of his thought, feeling or soul.
The best the artist can do is to cease control over his work, get out of the way, do the best he can in remaining loyal to what he is trying to express, and then to allow the audience to work out what the art is saying to them. And the more that the artist succeeds in getting out of the way, the more he shall exceed in expressing the core of what he seeks to express, albeit, never fully expressing the “non-expressible indescribable essence.”
And so it is, with relationships. There is the frustration of someone in a relationship expressing, “You don’t understand,” to which the other argues, “I do get it,” to which the first-person writhers in the pain of not being understood, coupled with the fact that the other person doesn’t even get that they don’t understand. The outcome of which, a frustration begins to creep in, as the loneliness of not being understood at our very core-essence, begins to gnaw away at the foundation of the relationship. After all, what we are truly looking for is the depth of intimacy, as in “into-me-see,” and can anyone ever truly see into our “non-expressible indescribable essence?”
In this lecture we are going to explore how one can truly tell their story, the story of their very essence.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1965, exploring the mystical secrets that Jacob wish to tell his sons before his passing
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157629535063257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/10-vayigash-5780-the-art-of-receiving-learning-how-to-give
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/igqynho6vx0xvyt/10.%20Vayigash%205780%20-The%20Art%20of%20Receiving.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/j9LknbwX618
-- For our modern-day issue in this lecture let us first understand the commandment of prayer. The definition of this commandment is, “Bakoshat Tzrochov -Asking for YOUR needs.” So much so, that one opinion states that from a biblical standpoint one doesn’t need to pray every day, but only when one has a need. The other opinion states that the biblical commandment is to pray once a day for our needs. The logical reason of the second opinion is that every day we have basic needs for survival. While the first opinion is maybe saying that only when we feel the lack of having our sustenance are we obligated to pray for them, and not if we are already feeling healthy, have a roof over our heads, and have money in the bank.
The point I would like to emphasize here is that praying for someone else, if it isn’t fulfilling our own personal need that the other person be helped, is not the fulfillment of the commandment of prayer! It is a form of charity to pray for others, but the commandment of prayer mandates that we ask for our own needs. So, what lies at the heart of this commandment?
The commandment of prayer is all about the Art of Receiving. So many of us, thank G-d, are good at the art of giving. However, our ego struggles with the art of receiving. In addiction recovery, this is the hardest step to recovery. Learning to ask for help, and then being willing to receive the help, is the hugest struggle for the addict. This is why there is the need for an addict to hit “Rock Bottom,” completely smashing the addict’s belief that he, on his own, can control his acting out. In the rooms of recovery the first three fundamental steps of the Twelve Steps are loosely translated as, “Step One: I can’t. Step Two: You (G-d) can. Step Three: So, I think that I am going to let You.”
Prayer demands the humility of, “G-d, yes, You want me to do the work, however, without You, I cannot achieve anything.” Thus, does King Solomon say, (-Psalms 127:1-2), “If G-d will not build a house, its builders have toiled at it in vain; if G-d will not guard a city, [its] watcher keeps his vigil in vain. It is futile for you who arise early, who sit late, who eat the bread of toil, so will G-d give to one who banishes sleep from himself.”
In this lecture we will explore the healthy art of receiving, and from there, the healthy art of serving.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1969, exploring the mystical teachings of Judah’s approaching Joseph.
Mikeitz-Chanukah – 5780 “Toot Your Horn! --Creating Your Personal Chanukah Miracle” (Based primarily on d”h V’al Hannissim…, 5729)
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157602355153257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/9-mikaitz-chanukah-toot-your-horn-creating-your-personal-chanukah-miracle
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5rmemff47ent5sz/9.%20Miketz-Chanukah%205780%20--Toot%20Your%20Horn%20--Creating%20a%20Personal%20Chanukah%20Miracle%20.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/x20ojbPtrwI
-- One of the beautiful scenes in Fiddler on the Roof is when Tevye gives his blessings to his oldest daughter, Tzeitel, to marry Motel the tailor. And then Motel breaks out in song, singing the classical, “Miracle of Miracles.” The song lists the famous miracles that G-d performed for the famous people throughout Jewish history, and then goes on to say
“But of all G-d's miracles large and small The most miraculous one of all Is that out of a worthless lump of clay G-d has made a man today
“Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles G-d took the tailor by the hand Turned him around and miracle of miracles Led him to the Promised Land…
“But of all G-d's miracles large and small The most miraculous one of all Is the one I thought could never be - G-d has given you to me”
The point here being that the greatest of miracles is when G-d performs one for me, for the individual person who is experiencing it.
The verse states (-Psalms 121:5), “G-d is your shadow.” According to Kabbalah and Chassidus, what this means is that as a shadow responds to the movement of the person, so too, G-d responds to our actions. In other words, we, through our actions, can bring about that G-d perform a miracle for us. How does one do this?
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat Chanukah, in 1969, exploring what the Jewish people in the times of the Syrian Greeks did in order to bring about the miracle of Chanukah
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157586116578257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/8-one-nation-under-g-d-indivisible-understanding-jewish-unity
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wy8cporw2oyymy2/8.%20Vayeishev%205780%20-One%20Nation%20Under%20G-d%2C%20Indivisible.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: Link https://youtu.be/sdgnq-oBxHI
The Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America reads, “One nation under G-d, indivisible,” while the Declaration of Independence declares that, “All men… are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” America went through a difficult journey in understanding the individualities of the states, and the Federal Republic for which it stands. A Journey that culminated with a Civil War, since which the Supreme Justice System peacefully decides which issues are designated for states to decide for themselves, and which issues are for the Federal Government to decide for the entire Union.
In truth, this is one of the primary journeys of the United States of America, as a Union and as individual states, as a nation built upon democracy, to define the parameters in which the individual stands alone, and in which the individual stands as part of a nation. In the democracy and liberty of the individual, we do not deny that the individual is part of a whole nation, with responsibilities and limitations of the individual to the nation. And on the other hand, the nation does not define the entire definition, responsibilities and liberties of the individual, for in democracy, the individual stands also as an island unto his own, with total self-dominance.
So too, in Judaism, and especially so in Chassidus, there exists these two sides to one coin of the individual as a whole unto himself, while simultaneously being part of a greater whole. On the one hand, the individual is called, “An entire universe,” unto himself, while on the other hand, the individual is called but a part of an, “One complete floor,” which is defined that in every generation the individuals of that generation are all part of one human being, with each soul being another organ, limb etc. of that one being. In this lecture, we are going to understand the relationship of one Jew to another, in their individuality and in their unity.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on the 19th of Kiselv, in 1969, exploring the mystical teachings concerning the Jews being scattered among the nations of the world.
FaceBook:https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157567525728257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/7-vayishlach-5780-freedom-of-choice-vs-divine-providence
Written Lecture: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gp60x1w349dvsm0/Freedom%20of%20Choice%20vs%20Divine%20Providence%20-December%202019%20Venetian%20Islands.pdf?dl=0&fbclid=IwAR1pkijgWWP5pkRye-H0AXlkqTn2d1iQB1xijbyqKSj4ULuga3zTXr-BBsw
YouTube https://youtu.be/I81k2ivXq5o
-- Let us first understand the impossibility of these two fundamental beliefs. The first issue is that as fundamental beliefs, both of these beliefs are absolute. Meaning, that a person’s Freedom of Choice has to be absolute. There is no virtual reality and stage effects that make it look like we have Freedom of Choice, while really, only G-d controls what we do and what we cause. We truly and absolutely have total Freedom of Choice in our actions, with no controlling influence forcing our choices in any form or fashion.
This is true even for addicts in addiction. The saying in addiction recovery is, “I am powerless over my addiction, but I am not powerless over my recovery.” If there is ever an absolute powerlessness that completely denies any freedom of choice, it is the addict with his addiction. Today, with brain scans and scientific research, we truly know that addiction is a disease that takes away a person’s freedom of choice, to the point that he is absolutely hopeless and powerless when it comes to acting out his addiction. However, even in this case, a person has power to choose recovery, of which the side-effect is sobriety. How much more so, when we are not speaking of powerless addicts, but only of people with strong inclinations, and all the more so, when we are speaking of people who simply choose whether to show self-restraint or not.
The moment that one removes the absoluteness of the freedom of choice that the human has, one has negated all of the truth to Torah, Mitzvoit, and any purpose for existence.
On the other hand, the same absoluteness must exist in the fundamental belief that everything that happens in the universe is absolutely directed by an absolute Divine Providence. The absoluteness oft his fundamental belief leaves for nothing at all to take place in our lives or in the universe at large, which is not absolutely controlled and guided by G-d’s providence and knowledge. Without the absoluteness of this belief there can be no true belief in G-d, and even less so, in trusting G-d. How can we trust a G-d who is not in control of any and everything that happens in my life?
Thus, it seems to be that an absolute belief in a person’s Freedom of Choice and an absolute belief inDivine Providence are mutually exclusive, while Judaism demands for us to believe in them both, as mutually inclusive.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157546852438257/
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3muisgjv70p6tp2/6.%20Vayeitzei%205780%20-One%20Alone%20and%20One%20and%20Alone%20--Achieving%20Jewish%20Nirvana.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/sJyVBuswDUs --
Nirvana is a place of perfect peace and happiness, like heaven. In Hinduism and Buddhism, nirvana is the highest state that someone can attain, a state of enlightenment, meaning a person's individual desires and suffering go away.
What does Nirvana mean in Judaism? How is it obtained in Judaism? What are the fundamental differences between Nirvanas as it exists in Judaism from as it exists in Hinduism and Buddhism?
Well for starters, The Hindu belief in a G-d, or in many G-ds, is a complicated issue, and not one that we will discuss here. However, in Judaism, in which there is one G-d, and even deeper yet, in which monotheism does not just define that there is only one G-d, but that ultimately, everything is G-d and G-d is everything, Nirvana means to have an absolute transparency and oneness with G-d. The entire negation of self is the negation of any identity or ego, other than being part-and-parcel of, “G-d is everything and everything is G-d.” In Judaism, it is only here where the, “nor sense of self,” of Nirvana is found.
Another fundament of Nirvana in Judaism, is that rather than being of abnegation and isolation, it drives for engagement. Nirvana in Judaism is to find G-d, and our oneness with G-d, in our physical engagement, in our mundane activities of life, as well, and not only in our spirituality, meditation, concentration and prayers.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1969, exploring the mystical teachings concerning G-d, His name, and the Jewish people being, One, Alone, and One and Alone.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157530559778257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/5-toldot-5780-an-organic-blend-how-to-treat-ourselves
Written Lecture: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1jxq5jq6gy68gpc/5.%20Toldos%205780%20-An%20Organic%20Blend%20--Learning%20How%20to%20Treat%20Ourselves.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/dBgE0B6lxZE
-- The modern-day issue of this lecture is about how is one to treat himself or herself. Our sages tell us that G-d had the same question in concerning how to treat us: "A king had fine crystal drinking glasses, and said, 'If I will clean them in hot water they will crack, and if I will clean them in cold water they will remain dirty...' so too G-d said concerning the world, 'If I will use the attribute of strictness the world will not survive, and if I will use the attribute of kindness, they world will devolve into sin...'"
So too, concerning how we should treat ourselves. If we are to be gentle with ourselves, we will devolve into slothfulness and over indulgence. While, if we are to be strict with ourselves we will devolve into self-resentment, bitterness and cruelty. Discipline is important, and necessary, and so is emotional self-care. Finding a balance between the two is the obvious answer. However, this isn't just a matter of balancing the quantity between the two, gentleness and strictness with self. Rather, what we primarily need is a balance between the quality of our strictness and gentleness towards self. As the joke goes, "He stuck his head in boiling water, his feet in freezing water, and wondered why he wasn't feeling lukewarm..."
What we are going to learn here is that the appropriate way to treat ourselves all the time is with a qualitative balance between gentleness and strictness. However, what exactly is a qualitative balance between gentleness and strictness?
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1965, exploring the mystical meaning behind Abraham and Isaac being identical in appearance.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157508717613257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/4-chaya-sarah-5780-the-double-cave-finding-the-cave-of-the-patriarchs-within-us
Written Lecture: https://www.dropbox.com/s/l5tu9ruq9nyeu22/4.%20Chaya%20Sarah%205780%20-The%20Double%20Cave%20--Finding%20the%20Cave%20of%20the%20Patriarchs%20%28Machpelah%29%20Within%20Us.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/-2dq_sDsefg
The modern-day issue of this lecture, based on the mystical teachings of Kabbalah and Chassidus, is to embrace the humility and beauty of having sinned in our lives, and what these experiences offer us through Teshuvah.
King David in Psalms (-66:5) states, “Go and see the deeds of G-d, awesome are His plots upon mankind.” Upon this verse our sages explain that G-d plots upon mankind to sin, bringing proof that G-d had plotted that Adam should eat from the Tree of Knowledge. Why would G-d plot upon to commit sins, sins that G-d Himself prohibited us from performing?!
I profess to you, that it is because second chances are the original desire of G-d. There is the original desire of G-d that man live his life performing only, “Torah and its Good Deeds.” However, what takes Torah and G--d Deeds to their true power is when they are imbued and driven by the power of Teshuvah (Return; Repentance). The truest reason for the soul descending from its utopian place in Heaven, and to descend into this imperfect world of darkness and evil, is only because in a utopian environment there can be no Teshuvah. It is only in a life of mistakes and sins that a soul can experience the omnipotence and oneness with G-d of Teshuvah. And thus, G-d plots upon mankind to sin. Bringing them to the opportunity of Teshuvah.
The challenge is, however, that we do not fall into the arrogant disbelief, self-loathing and depression that we have sinned. Rather, we must be humble in the acceptance of our imperfection, in order to experience the power of Teshuvah that our imperfections, mistakes and sins offer us.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1969, exploring the mystical --and our personal and practical-- dimensions of the holy burial place of our Patriarchs and Matriarchs.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157488581943257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/4-vayeira-5780-when-our-fire-dies-rebuilding-our-fire-within
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4nahrc038ypp6fd/3.%20Vayeira%205780%20--When%20Our%20Fire%20Dies%20--Rebuilding%20Our%20Fire.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/NYqtVPjTk_8
-- There is a saying referring to our emotional experiences that, “הזמן עושה את שלה -Time does its thing.” Emotions are like a fire that needs to be consistently fed and renewed, or, “Time will do its thing,” to our emotions, which primarily means that time will weaken our emotions, to a point of utter extinction. And this works for the good and for the bad, as we are taught concerning emotions such as anxiety, depression (non-clinical) and the likes, “There is a white wolf and a black wolf within our emotions, and it is the one we feed that grows, and the one we don’t feed gets smaller and smaller.” Thus, emotions are not hard-wired, and we can, and must, either evolve or devolve them, depending on whether they are beneficial or hurtful to us.
And so, it is with our emotions that fuel our relationship with G-d.
The question is, what if we were side-tracked and too preoccupied to work on our emotions in our relationships, and suddenly we see that the fire in our relationship has extinguished. Can we reignite and rebuild the fire?
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1965, exploring the mystical --and our personal and practical-- dimensions of the story of Elisha the prophet helping the wife of another prophet, whose husband had died, and she and her children were left poverty-stricken.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157469305768257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/2-lech-lecha-5780-go-to-you-traveling-lifes-journey
Written Lecture: https://www.dropbox.com/s/yj3u3r3vbs1zcc5/2.%20Lech%20Lecha%205780%20--Go%20to%20You%20-Traveling%20Life%27s%20Journey.pdf?dl=0
YouTube: https://youtu.be/qP-r81TtYjc
The Alchemist, is a novel by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho that was first published in 1988. Originally written in Portuguese, it became a widely translated international bestseller. The overall theme is of a young shepherd that has a dream of a treasure hidden in the pyramids in Egypt. And he travels an entire journey, with many events, only to reach the pyramids, start digging, and find out that the treasure is exactly where he had the dream.
The reason why this novel became such a classic, I would suggest, is precisely because of how pertinent the message is for each of us, as we consistently search for our ‘treasures’ outside of ourselves, and outside of where we are. While, in truth, G-d buried the treasure of each and every one of us, nowhere else but within us.
Rabbi Mendel Futerfass, while in a labor camp in Siberia, bunked with political criminals, who would play cards. Having playing cards was forbidden in the labor camp, and Reb Mendel witnessed again and again, how search after search, the guards would never find it, while right after the search, the cards reappeared and the card game continued. Reb Mendel asked for their secret, and they told him that they were professional pick-pocketers, and when the guard came in, they would put the cards in the guard’s pocket, and before he left they would take it back out. The moral being that the one place people never search for what they are looking for, is within themselves.
The message of this week’s Torah-portion, “Lech Lecha -Go to you,” is precisely to learn how to search within ourselves for everything in life.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1965, exploring G-d’s commandment to Abraham, Lech Lecha -Go to you, from your land, and from your birthplace, and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157453498128257/
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/a3t59gux8xecz5z/1.%20Noach%205780%20--Where%20is%20YOUR%20Ark%20-Rising%20Above%20the%20Struggles%20of%20Life.docx?dl=0
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/1-noach-where-is-your-ark-raising-above-the-struggles-of-life
YouTube: https://youtu.be/QmOG4yRD2uQ
Here is a fact of life: All human beings experience struggles in life. From the rich, famous and powerful to poor, unknown and downtrodden. Struggles, one may say, is the purpose of life. Why, you ask? Because our soul descends into this world to reach unprecedented heights, and unprecedented heights can only be reached when we are pushed far out of our comfort zone. In other words, the soul achieves its goal only when we transform our struggles into opportunities, and then successfully work these opportunities.
This is actually what the story of Noah and the flood is all about.
The flood rains for 40 days and forty nights, and then the waters prevailed for 150 days. After which the waters began to subside, leaving Noah in the ark for a total of 12 months before he was able to leave the ark.
The flood waters, according to the teachings represent the struggles of life, which have the potential of numbing and drowning our spirituality. And thus, King Solomon states (-Songs 8:7), "Many waters cannot quench the love, nor can rivers flood it." As a matter-a-fact, not only can the waters not drown our spirituality, rather, the struggles become opportunities, through which our spirituality reaches unprecedented heights. And thus, the verse states, (-Genesis 7:17-18), "Now the Flood was forty days upon the earth, and the waters increased, and they lifted the ark, and it rose off the earth. And the waters became powerful, and they increased very much upon the earth, and the ark moved upon the waters." However, this only worked for those who were in the air-tight ark, while those who were outside succumbed to the raging waters. Thus, it is through building an air-tight ark, with all its biblical specifications, and then entering into the ark, that we can transform the struggles into opportunities.
This lecture is here to teach us how to build our arks, enter our arks, and how to transform our struggles into opportunities.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1977, exploring the deeper dimension to the ark, and how it presents itself in our personal and individual lives.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157268188398257/
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/37-eikev-5779-human-feelings-experiencing-our-divine-image
YouTube: https://youtu.be/j_IaT26pg00
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/yw5oqxz2k4f0lls/37.%20Eikev%205779%20--Human%20Feelings%20--Experiencing%20Our%20Divine%20Image.pdf?dl=0
There is a quote from Anne Lamott “I may not be much, but I'm all I think about.”
This human obsession with self, expresses itself very much so in our relationship with others, be they our family, friends, or even G-d. Let’s take this a step deeper, and we will see that all relationships are in the arena of emotions, primarily, love, fear and compassion. Thus, our capacity of emotions is the area most effected by our obsession with self, for it is through this obsession with self that we give birth to any and every one of our feelings for others.
In this lecture we are going to examine how we can break free from our bondage of self, in which our obsession with self dominates our each and every thought.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1968, exploring what it means to love G-d and to fear G-d.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157216597078257/
YouTube https://youtu.be/0iT_yl0H2PA
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vjb005096xxt17l/35.%20matos-maasei%205779%20--life%27s%20journey.pdf?dl=0
One of the greatest challenges of our generation, in which immediate gratification is prevalent, is that capacity to embrace life at its fullest. The reason I say this is because, 80% of living life is the journey, while only 20% of life is being at its destiny. In truth, in the 20% isn’t a full experience, because reaching one destiny immediately mandates setting a new destiny. And this human trait of always setting a new destiny, once the old destiny has been reached, is truly a trait of which, “Unto death do us part!”
Thus, the sum total of our lives aren’t the destinies that we have reached, but rather, the true sum total of our lives is, “And these are the journeys…,” which is the opening of the concluding sum-total Torah-portion of Sefer Bamidbar, the Book of Numbers.
The modern-day issue of this lecture, is therefore: How does one embrace the full journeys of our lives?
This lecture is based primarily on the two maamorim the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, one in 1965 and the other in 1979, exploring the mystical secrets behind the 42 journeys that the Children of Israel traveled in the desert, from Egypt to Jericho.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/2102184870076827/
YouTube: https://youtu.be/O54QmPMBW-0
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gmxhzlkxkga10v7/34.%20Pinchas%205779%20--Manifesting%20Our%20Passion.pdf?dl=0
Our modern-day issue for this lecture is: How do we fix our internal flat tire
Our passion is the air in our internal tire, which allows us to pursue our dreams. However, all too often, instead of being able to contain the passion within our tire, we end up decapitated, with a flat tire, not being able to pursue our destiny. Instead we are stuck in a life of frustration, knowing that we can do so much better, and yet we can’t. Not when our gas of passion is leaking out, instead of compounding and lifting us into mobility.
Thus, our modern-day issue is clear: How can we compound the passion within a leak-free mind and heart, so that it compels us all the way to the finish line?
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1965, exploring the mystical secrets behind Pinchas’ act of passion, which finally brought him to his destiny of being a Kohain.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157178083818257/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ob8sbpv9b98zv11/33.%20Balak%205779%20-From%20Good%20to%20Better%20-Getting%20Beyond%20good%20and%20Bad.pdf?dl=0
The world says that when you lie with dogs, you get fleas. Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi says (-Tanya, Chapter 28), "He who wrestles with a filthy person is bound to become soiled himself." My personal favorite is, "Even if you win the rat race, you're still a rat."
"What are our options," you ask? After all, the struggle to stay alive, with a roof over our head, car in the garage, and to send our kids through college is nothing more than a rat race. As the saying goes, idealism and ultraism is good for the young, and then we have to start paying bills. And to fight the rat race will only leave us with fleas and filth anyway. Which ultimately leaves us with the, "Oh Well, if you can't fight them, you might as well join them," attitude.
Chassidim have an answer that goes like this, "Mehn darf zich haiben hecher -We need to rise ourselves up higher." Yes, life is a struggle, however, we get to choose at what plane of reality we are going to have this struggle. Are we going to be struggling on the plane of being Homo sapient or an animal, or are we going to struggle between being a Divine Being or a Homo sapient?
The modern-day issue of this lecture is how to, "Zich haiben hecher -To rise ourselves up higher."
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on the holiday of 12 Tammuz 1965, exploring the mystical secrets behind a verse in Balaam's failed curses.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/2093282030967111/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0w9xrdufg4726tl/32.%20Chukas%205779%20-Logical%20Obedience%20-Having%20a%20Thorough%20Relationship%20with%20G-d.pdf?dl=0
Our modern-day issue for this lecture is: What are the Ground Rules in Having a Relationship with G-d?
More than ever, this has become a modern-day issue. While, since the birth of man, and then the evolution of his power of knowledge, our struggle in understanding the ground rules of having a relationship with G-d has been a modern-day issue. However, then the struggle may have been more of science questioning the very existence of a G-d. Today, with the development of Quantum Physics, and so much unprecedented technology of scientific exploration, the modern-day issue, has for many shifted from the “if” to the “how,” in which the question is less so of if there is a G-d to the question of how is one to have a relationship with G-d.
Thus, this lecture will be targeting on the majority of the people, who’s belief in G-d, at its lowest is agnostic, and for those who, as a prelude to religion, want to establish a spiritual relationship with G-d. With this being said, this lecture will not be putting an effort in proving that G-d exists, nor will it be putting an effort on emphasizing the necessity for an organized religion. Rather, it will be putting all its efforts in establishing a foundation for a thorough spiritual relationship with G-d.
What I mean by this is the balance and mutual inclusivity between, “A G-d that I can fully understand cannot be my G-d,” and, “I need to know what is it that I believe in.”
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1965, exploring the mystical secrets behind the statute of the Red Cow.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/2088999631395351/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/phyf9esay4m000s/31.%20Korach%205779%20Caviar%20and%20Margarine%20-Balancing%20Our%20Modus%20Operandi.pdf?dl=0
-- Sir Noël Peirce Coward is quoted for saying, “Wit ought to be a glorious treat like caviar; never spread it about like marmalade.” What Coward was saying is that in order for things to maintain their glory, they need to be withheld, and used wisely and sparingly. For, when not used as such, they lose their glory and value.
Chassidus, explains that there are, within the infrastructure our souls, and thus within our psyche, two specific faculties, whose jobs it is to work out the delicate balance between glory and victory. The precise names of these two faculties are actually, Hod -Glory and Netzach -Victory. Netzach is on the Right Column of Chessed -Kindness; Revelation. Thus, the motto of Netzach is, “At all costs, me most prevail!” Hod, on the other hand, is on the Left Column of Gevurah -Strength, Strictness, Justice and Concealment. Therefore, the motto of Hod is, “Protect the glory and value by measured constraints!”
Let’s get practical about this. If someone is holding a gun to the head of your child, all bets are off, and glory is out the window! You will get on your knees, beg, cry, and do whatever self-demeaning act the man with the gun to your child’s head is demanding. Not so, for $1000.
Many struggle with finding the fine balance between maintaining the glory of our G-dly image, and with doing whatever it takes in order to get what we want. Thus, this lecture is titled Caviar & Marmalade, and will explore the modern-day issue of finding the G-dly balance in our Modus Operandi.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1965, exploring the Modus Operandi of Korach, in his uprising against Moses.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/2081363682158946/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/t4rjxckrxy7s7rj/30.%20Shelach%205779%20-Shattered%20Silence%20-Learning%20How%20To%20Engage.pdf?dl=0
At large, people don’t succeed because of what they didn’t do, and people haven’t failed because of what they did do. Rather, people succeed because of what they were brave enough to do, while others have failed because of what they were too afraid to do.
What we have just learned is that in order to succeed we need to engage, and in order to engage, we need to be brave. Well, how does one acquire braveness?
Let us take a look at what is the definition of being brave? Being brave does not mean to not have fears, as much as it means to have fears, and to move forward anyway. Thus, we now better understand what we are looking to acquire. We aren’t looking to acquire fearlessness, rather, we are looking to accept our fears, and to move forward anyway.
What does it take to allow yourself to be afraid, and to then move forward anyway, despite the fear of doing so?
This is the modern-day issue of this lecture.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1965, exploring why the Twelve Spies, who were righteous leaders of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, were afraid for the Children of Israel to enter into the Promised Land, and wanted instead for the Children of Israel to remain in isolation in the Sinai desert.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/2075978066030841/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xibfid72cybe88q/29.%20Behalotecha%205779%20-Light%20Your%20Fire%20-Kindling%20Our%20Souls.pdf?dl=0
Both, in the Jewish world and in the secular world, we hear a lot about Tikkun Olam and Humanitarian Causes, which both focus on the existence of pain, darkness and suffering that needs to be fought. As a matter-a-fact, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of Britain, said it as such, “The Jewish people had become excellent survivors from a place of persecution and evil, however, we are challenged in living with success.”
The blood line of primary Jewish organizations depends on evil for their very existence and source of income, as emergency campaign after emergency campaign become their motto. The Rebbe bemoaned again and again as the heroes of the Jewish underground came to America, the land of the free, and succumbed here in America, to the peaceful face of the very secularism that they fought under persecution in Russia.
And the same exists in our individual life, as we focus our energy to fighting our character defects and self-centered desires. The teachings of Mussar focuses on identifying our egocentric body and its drives as being dark and as needing to be broken. Even in Chassidus we speak much of Iskafya to break the ego of the Animalistic Soul.
However, is life just about battling evil? Is the existence of our G-dly Soul just in order to overcome our Animalistic Soul? And then what, when the evil will be banished and the darkness dispelled?
Let’s look at it from another perspective. When life is all about battling evil, then we eventually succumb to a phenomenon called Battle Fatigue, and especially when it is a 5779 yearlong battle, starting with Adam, Eve and the serpent!
Thus, the modern-day issue for this lecture is to learn how to take a break from battling our darkness, and to instead live within nourishing our light.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1966, exploring the difference between Aaron’s kindling the lamps of the Menorah in the Mishkan -Tabernacle, and the princes of the Twelve Tribes of Israel bringing sacrifices and offerings for the inauguration of the Mishkan.
FaceBook: Link Notes: Link
The modern-day issue for this lecture is to understand and connect with the ultimate depths of self.
In this lecture we will discover that there are many levels to how we become wholesome with self: (i) Living with self (ii) Being one with self (ii) Being self
For many, obtaining any one of these levels of wholesomeness would allow for inner congruency and inner-peace. However, for some, either because their level of hyper-sensitivity, as a backlash to how they have ailed and desecrated their inner-congruency and inner-peace, or simply because instead of growing and evolving emotionally with self, they have numbed their feelings and continuously 'checked-out' on self, today, living with self, or even being one with self, won't fill that void, not until they can live with being self.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1965, exploring the difference between the written letters of the Torah-scroll and the engraved letters of the Two Tablets of the Covenant.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157095492903257/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vewqt0tboylmmjl/28.%20Naso%205779%20-Got%20Passion%20101%20102%20103%20-Understanding%20the%20Human%20Gift%20of%20Passion.pdf?dl=0
When someone feels ‘lifeless,’ what they are really feeling is a life without a drive, which is a life without passion. Now, I don’t necessarily mean the overwhelmingly intense irrational let-it-all-go type of passion (actually, I do…, but that’s just me), nevertheless, passion, at any level, is a must to live life with all its challenges and days-ins and days-outs. Even the left-brained methodical profiles need some sort of passion to get them out of bed in the morning and back into bed at night.
Thus, the modern-day issue of this lecture is, where does one find passion?
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1965, exploring of the esoteric depths the census and jobs of the three families that made up the Tribe of Levi: Kehot, Gershon and Merori.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/2058095147819133/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/exu31ekkj73hsi7/26.%20Behar%205779%20-When%20G-d%20Says%20I%20Am%20G-d%20-Healing%20Our%20Pleasure%20Center.pdf?dl=0
-- Before I speak to you about this lecture’s modern-day issue, I would like to give you some statistics about addiction: (Statistics are provided in the notes for the addictions of Alcohol. Drugs, Food, Gambling, Porn and Sex.)
I went through these statistics so that we understand that we are not speaking of an isolated small portion of society. Now, let’s talk about this lecture’s modern-day issue.
Studies show that addiction has to do with the pleasure center of the brain being unhealthy, overworked, and “all lit up.” The addict creates synaptic connections in his brain, to the point where alcohol, drugs, food, sex, porn or gambling isn’t the problem, but the solution. To the addict, his addiction to every problem, emotion, from anxiety to depression to happiness. It is so, because the addict has evolved his pleasure center of his brain to be the most active and driving center of his brain, creating an unsustainable homeostasis of pleasure chemicals within his brain and body cells. Thus, the modern-day issue for this lecture is how to heal one’s pleasure center in his brain.(1)
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1965, exploring the three levels of Shabbat and their power of pleasure.
(1) Addiction demands a recovery program, and this lecture will NOT help an addict recover from his addiction. It is but a supplement for the addict in a recovery program, and for the non-addict to reformat their pleasure center, and to rewire their synaptic connections.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10157024855473257/
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wda8i53w3gasr9h/25.%20Emor%205779%20-As%20Holy%20as%20Thou.pdf?dl=0
The modern-day issue for this lecture is to understanding the inner-hunger of being, which is never satisfied with anything less than its fulness of being. In other words, there seems to exist a Black Hole within our depths, which just cannot be satiated with any human achievement, as moral, powerful, intellectual, emotional, financial or even spiritual as the achievement may be.
We find one striving to become ever so wealthy, only to then be equally driven into living the life of a minimalist, once he realizes that wealth did not bring him the state of nirvana and satisfaction that he is so desperately starving for.
The reason is because one cannot fulfill nor satisfy the hunger of our core being-ness with anything of its own being-ness. The core essence of our being-ness is not of physical, nor even of spiritual completion. Rather, the core essence of our being-ness is the holiness of G-d, and thus, only when we become, “As Holy as Thou,” will we truly achieve the absolute fulfillment of nirvana, of being satiated to the fullest contentment of our being-ness.
In this lecture, we are going to discover simultaneously, both, the depth, and the practicality, of connecting with, and experiencing, the Holiness of Thou within us.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1965, exploring the three levels of (-Isaiah 6:3) “Holy, holy, holy is the L-rd of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.”
FaceBook Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/2049303028698345/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ue297haeiggb4x6/24.%20Kedoshim%205779%20-The%20Power%20of%20Saying%20Boruch%20Hashem.mp4?dl=0
--The modern-day issue for this lecture is, the power of speech, not in what our speech does to others, as much as what it does for/to ourselves. Let us begin with the question of, which came first, the chicken or the egg? In other words, when someone uses cynicism, cockiness or negativity as a way of speech, which came first, his being cynical, cocky or negative, or did he first begin to speak this way, which then turned him that way?
I will suggest one of the two following possibilities, as I see it: i) His form of speech was actually a form of emotional self-protection, and that in truth he was neither cynical, cocky or negative. Speaking this way was just his way of not allowing himself to get hurt by expectations, to peer-pressure or to criticism. And, now, he has become cynical, cocky or negative.
ii) He may have had some of these traits, but quite soft and few, which now became exasperated and developed to uncontrollable patterns.
Thus, either way, the speech either literally came first, or turned a mole hill into a mountain.
However, this can be used to our advantage, by using this tool of speech for developing lovingness, caring-ness, and optimism. Additionally, we will learn in this lecture, how to use this tool to draw and magnify this reaction from G-d within our lives, of having G-d’s benevolence, unconditional love, and grace in our lives.
This lecture is based primarily on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbat, in 1965, exploring the power of the produce of the fifth year, following the first three years of orlah and the fourth year of netah revai
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/2045233979105250/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/60obccu5w7svzem/23.%20Acharei%205779%20-After%20Life%20-Embracing%20The%20True%20Gift%20of%20Life.pdf?dl=0
__ G-d’s law of gravity is that whatever goes up has got to come down. In lieu with this law, G-d’s desire is that every spiritual inspiration of yearning to the Above, must manifest itself in a physical action down here below.
Spirituality, emotions and inspirations are all but fuel, which needs to pass through the fuel-injection line, into the motor of actions. Otherwise, the fuel is a powerful and even pleasurable waste of time and energy. Filled with promises, dreams, goals and aspirations, but with no dividends or any returns at all.
In Jewish mysticism, the ebb of inspiration, which does not lead directly into the flow of action, is called death, as the soul which leaves its body. Yet, how often do we read books of Torah-inspiration, secular self-help or biographies of those who have succeeded, and we feel alive with hope and with inspiration, but to have the balloon of action popped, and the air of inspiration escaping.
In this lecture we are going to explore the After Death, in how we resurrect after the escaped inspiration, to truly living a better life. The lecture is based on a talk of the Rebbe, delivered in 1965, exploring the opening verse of our Torah-portion (-Leviticus 16:1), “And G-d spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron's two sons.”
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/2037454033216578/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/p6y460bdhccn641/22.%20Pesach%205779%20-The%20Four%20Cups%20of%20Redemption.pdf?dl=0
-- How often do we feel disappointed when our efforts don’t bring us back the results that we were aiming for? How much more so, it is when we are speaking of spiritual matters, in which we feel that we truly stepped out of our comfort zone for G-d, and feel that G-d promised us if we do, we will receive spiritual reprieve, a spiritual meaning and sense of purpose and spiritual and emotional contentment. And yet, while we have truly taking this step, and not that we are deceiving ourselves, but we have truly, tangibly and practically taken this step out of our egocentric behaviors, and towards G-d’s will for me, and nevertheless, we do not experience the desired, or even promised, experience of life. Now, doubly so is the sense of dejection, if what we are searching for, is not a physical, or even spiritual, selfishness, but for to live the will of G-d for us. And, nevertheless, so it is, as a feeling of futility descends upon us.
We are speaking here of a scenario in which we are the Pharaoh of our own Egypt, and within us we have our own Moses, the G-dly Soul, who comes to help us free ourselves from our inner-slavery. We hear Moses, we take guidance from our Moses, and we act on it, and still, no reprieve from our self-centeredness, which is the motive and drive for our every thought, speech and action.
Rabbi Yitzchok Luria, the Arizal teaches that holidays are not (only) the past, but by remembering through study, prayer and observances of the holiday, we reenact the event once again. “Nizkarim V’Na’asim -[Through] Remembering and [we create the reenactment of the] what was done [happened],” is how the Arizal defines these words in the verse. Thus, in this lecture, we will search for our Personal Seder to create our personal Passover 2019 Redemption, of our present 2019 inner-exile, with which we struggle with.
This lecture is based on a maamor the Rebbe delivered in 1965, on the second night of Passover, after the Seder, which explores the deeper, yet most practical, meaning to our drinking Four Cups of Wine at the Seder.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/2033432410285407/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/clridecefg1tn0q/21.%20Metzora-HaGodol%205779%20-The%20Art%20of%20Happiness%20--Finding%20Infinity%20in%20the%20Details.pdf?dl=0
An entrepreneur and CEO of his many businesses once told me, “If you want to see me get frustrated, talk to me about details! That’s why I have company manager and project managers.”
For many people, happiness is synonymous with freedom, and freedom is synonymous with not having to deal with the details. CEO personalities long for the day to be able to hire others for the suffocating and pesky details, so that they be free to work on the Big Picture. Michael Gerber (-Link), small business guru, writes in his E-Myth Revisited (-Link), that entrepreneurs need to work ON their businesses, rather than to work IN their businesses. And, even when working ON their business, the job of the entrepreneur is to be the visionary, and then hand over the vision to the managers, who in turn, need to work out the details.
The message here seems to be, that happiness is the freedom from details. In this lecture we are going to discover, that while Pleasure may lie in the freedom of details, however, Happiness lies specifically in the details.
This lecture is based on a maamor the Rebbe delivered in 1965, which focus on the custom of reciting the Shir Hashirim (Songs) on Passover, exploring the connection of happiness with details.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/2029219534040028/i9
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wuc5zxcz6p1ic29/20.%20Tazriah-Hachoidesh%205779%20-Beyond%20the%20Shame%20--Accepting%20the%20Depths%20of%20Our%20Divinity.pdf?dl=0
Almost any Torah teaching can be absorbed on the level of, “The cup is half full,” or on the level of, “The cup is half empty.” In general, the difference between the approach of Mussar and the approach of Chassidus is that Musar focuses on having us accept the gall, arrogance and self-centeredness of our body and its drives, while Chassidus on having us accept the divinity of our souls, and the preciousness of our bodies1 in the eyes of G-d. Nevertheless, even the teachings of Chassidus can be perceived through the eyes of the non-Chasssidic pessimism. For example, one of the greatest focuses of Chassidus is on Bittul -Self-nullification, internalizing the depths of the teaching (-Talmud, Sotah 5a) “Rav Ḥisda says, and some say that Mar Ukva: Concerning any person who has arrogance within him, the Holy One, Blessed be He, said: He and I cannot dwell [together] in the world, as it is stated (Psalms 101:5–6): ‘He who slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I destroy; he who is haughty of eye and proud of heart, him will I not suffer [oto lo ukhal].’ These verses should be understood as follows: Do not read the verse as:2 ‘Oto lo ukhal;’ rather, read it as: ‘Itto lo ukhal,’ meaning, with him, I cannot bear to dwell.”
- "We have absolutely no conception how precious to G-d is the body of a Jew." (-HaYom Yom, Elul 29)
- In Hebrew letters the words oto and itto are the same, and the difference lies in the vowels.
With this, we are taught (-Zohar, Volume I, 23b; Zohar, Volume II, 201b; Torah Ohr, Page 42) that even our services to G-d is too gross to ascend before G-d, and thus, all our words of prayer must first be, hugged and kissed by angels in order to be cleansed from human fingerprints of ego and self-seeking, before they can ascend to heaven, and appear before the Throne of Glory.
These teachings, for a generation that struggles with self-worth, self-identity, and struggles to not numb the inner-emptiness of shame, guilt, and worthlessness, through chemicals and unhealthy behaviors, can be horrifically damaging, and even lethal.
In this lecture, we will get beyond the first dimension of these teachings, and full embrace the power that G-d has placed within us humans alone, to be the center of the universe and in the ultimate control room of all existence, because of how precious and loved we are by G-d.
This lecture is based on a maamor the Rebbe delivered in 1965, exploring the Torah secrets of how parents give birth to either a boy or a girl.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/2025356687759646/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/brdkfrrin6nwu1j/19.%20Shmini-Parah%205779.%20In%20G-d%27s%20Acropolis.pdf?dl=0
-- People are gifted with many different emotions, allowing us to react accordingly to different situations. Often, these emotional reactions to different experiences create a mood-set. Today, science understands how certain thoughts, creating certain neuropath patterns, firing off associative neuropaths, in turn create chemical and hormones, which in turn, create mood reactions within our very body cells, as these chemicals fill their ports.
For example, if from a young age we associate eating with feeling safe, then these associative neuropaths will fire off together, creating a sense of calmness and security within our body cells, creating a gestalt of calmness when we eat. Likewise, if the thought of meeting with a certain person associates itself with chaos, stress or anxiety, then the neuropath connections of the thought of having to meet with this person will simultaneously fire off the neuropaths that create stress chemicals, feeding them to our body cells, creating a gestalt of stress.
Thus, the gazelle’s neuropath connections in the brain that pick up the scent or presence of a hungry tiger will automatically fire off the neuropath connections in the brain that will create an immediate influx of adrenaline, cortisol and the likes, so that it goes into fight or flight survival overdrive.
However, the animal will only respond to external stimuli to create these neuropaths synopsizes in the brain. A rustle in the bushes will trigger the horse’s fight or flight reaction. However, the human mind has the power to do this without any external stimuli. The human mind, left completely to its own devices, void of any external stimuli, can begin to contemplate, imagine and replay non-existing events that will create mood chemicals and hormones in the brain, which will create moods of worry, happiness, fear, depression, anger, calmness and the likes.
When the brain creates habitual thinking patterns of this sort, it becomes the homeostasis of the mind’s thought-pattern, which then becomes the homeostasis of the associative neuropathways that now fire off simultaneously, which in turn creates a homeostasis of a high influx of stress chemicals, which creates a homeostasis of the stress ports within each cell that needs to be filled. The outcome of all of this is, that the body is now driving the mind to think that which will cause the brain to produce the amount of stress chemicals that now feels normal to the body cells.
When the mind’s fantasy thought patterns become volatile in their polar extremes, we now have a person who will experience wild mood swings.
What is the spiritual source to this, within our souls? What form of service of G-d gone wrong causes this within our souls and bodies? Which service to G-d will restore a balance to our moods?
This lecture is based on a maamor the Rebbe delivered in 1965, exploring the secrets of the purification process of the commandment of the Red Heifer, and of the a match that will take place in the Messianic era between the Leviathan and the Wild Bull.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10156881954738257/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xaobk6f4zcr1hzv/18.%20Vayikra%205779.%20Pass%20The%20Salt%20Please.pdf?dl=0
Handout https://www.dropbox.com/s/gtayuke5unrw4bv/18.%20Handout%20for%20Vayikra%205779.pdf?dl=0
People say that life has its ups and its downs. People also say that if G-d gives you lemon, then make lemon juice. And there are so many more sayings that allude to life being a package that isn’t all good, and that accepting life on life’s terms means to be able to accept that which is not tasty, or even inedible.
Dare I ask, “Says who?!” Why couldn’t, and why wouldn’t, a perfect G-d make a perfect world, with a perfect life for each and every one of us? And I can already hear the pessimists talking to me about Tikkun (correction) for our sins, and even for the sins of our past lives. Not so, my dear nay-sayers. (a) Our sages tell us in Genesis, upon a word with a missing letter, that this teaches us that G-d created intentionally an imperfect world, absence of our sins, etc. (b) Our sages also tell us that the soul does not descend into this world for its own Tikkun, but rather, to accomplish a mission for G-d in this physical realm of the universe.
So an imperfect life and an imperfect world is not the outcome of imperfect, and even bad, people, but of G-d’s perfect ways. Why would G-d choose that imperfection, and even inedible imperfection, be the mark of G-d’s perfect ways?
This lecture is based on a maamor the Rebbe delivered in 1965, exploring the commandment not to miss putting salt on every sacrifice, the Purim story of Haman versus Mordechai and the law (-Talmud, Megillah 7b) “A person is obligated to become intoxicated on Purim until he does not know between cursed is Haman and blessed is Mordecai.”
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/2014237882204860/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gxm1m00izjxa46f/17.%20Pekudei%205779.%20Where%20to%20Find%20G-d%20in%20Our%20Lives.pdf?dl=0
The undeniable fact is that we are mortals, and in addition to being mortals, we are the only creature that is capable of contemplating, denying, fighting, negotiating, and ultimately accepting our mortality. The outcome of this gift is, that while for all other creatures it is only their spiritual source, guardian angel, so to speak, that can acknowledge having a Creator who is their protector and provider, we humans can acknowledge this within our physical being and conscious mind. Thus, among no other creatures does there exist neither atheist nor believer, within the human race everyone categorizes themselves as atheist, agnostic, believer, or decisively indifferent.
I have found that most every human, and one point or another, on one level or another, is looking to know where G-d is. Sometimes, in order to be with G-d, holding G-d’s hand, and other times to temporarily run away from G-d. Thus, King David states in Psalms (-139:8-10), “If I ascend to the heavens, there You are, and if I make my bed in the grave, behold, You are there. [If] I take up the wings of dawn, [if] I dwell at the end of the west, there too, Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will grasp me.” At time we say this in gratitude, and in other times in frustration, but we are always saying, thinking or feeling this, at some level or another.
Well, where can we find G-d? The most common mistake is that believe that we can find G-d in spirituality. Spirituality is but the vestibule through which we must travel in order to find G-d. However, G-d’s choice of residence is within the physical and the mundane.
In this lecture we explore what purpose spirituality serves for humans, and how to use it for living our physical, and often mundane, lives.
This lecture is based on a maamor the Rebbe delivered in 1965, exploring the relationship between holy Shabbat and the six mundane working weekdays, the spiritual and the physical.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/2010266482602000/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/i2o67kzg9r8n8ql/16.%20Vayakhel%205779.%20The%20Quintessential%20Vacation.pdf?dl=0
Handout: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jfqsz849e6qup5m/16.%20Handout%20for%20Vayakhel%205779.pdf?dl=0
What is a real vacation, anyway? It is to recuperate from yesterday? Rejuvenate for tomorrow? Or, is it to experience a whole new dimension of pleasure and inner-peace today?
Well, if we are going to be honest about the practical, as well as the ideological, then, our answer is: (d) All of The Above!
Yet, so few of our vacations hardly fully service any one reason of its purpose, how much less so all three. What are we doing wrong in our vacationing, so much so, that many male species, in particular, shy away from taking vacations, and almost dread it altogether. And, nevertheless, in the truest sense of the experience, we all yearn for the quintessential vacation.
In this lecture, we will explore the components of a quintessential vacation, and how to create them.
This lecture is based on a maamor the Rebbe delivered in 1965, exploring the relationship between Shabbat and building the Holy Temple, and why we are forbidden to even build the Holy Temple on Shabbat.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/2006250556336926/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xzjnfcs8qlw1jcc/15.%20Ki%20Sisa%205779.%20Purim%20Katan%20-Sleepless%20in%20Shushan.pdf?dl=0
Handout https://www.dropbox.com/s/4wz0muotgz6bupx/15.%20Handout%20for%20Ki%20Sisa%205779.pdf?dl=0
-- There is a saying, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” However, there is also a saying the response saying of, “Dear G-d, I am strong enough, thank You.”
We are taught as children, and retaught as adults, that the darkness and hard times in our lives are here to make us stronger. However, when do we get to tell G-d that we are at our preferred weight and muscle mass, without wanting to get any stronger? How can we choose to not have any more darkness, challenges or suffering anymore in our lives? Can we at all say this to G-d?
The answer is yes, when we handle the one and only darkness, struggle and suffering of our lives.
There is a Chinese proverb that says, “No light is complete without its darkness (shadow).” This is actually a play of a saying of the holy Zohar (-Volume I, 46a) on the verse (-Geneses 1:5), “And it was the evening and the morning of day one,” that in order to have a one [complete] day there must be an evening and a morning; a day [light] and a night [darkness]. So, yes, there is going to be a night (darkness, challenges or suffering) in our lives, whether it be health, financial, mental or emotional. However, what we will learn is that if we deal with it right, then we don’t need to go through it anymore.
This lecture is based on a maamor the Rebbe delivered in 1965, about the miracle of Purim, of which the Book of Esther states (-6:1), “On that night, the king's sleep was disturbed.”
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/2002031386758843/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bnlmln1r2gdhi9h/14.%20Tetzaveh%205779.%20Producing%20Soul-oil%20to%20Illuminate%20Our%20Lives.pdf?dl=0
Handout: https://www.dropbox.com/s/k1vs2uhs1vnb6sx/14.%20Handout%20for%20Tetzaveh%205779.pdf?dl=0
One can build for themselves an entire beautiful home, with all the finest furniture, appliances and amenities necessary for a comfortable living, however, they didn’t install any light system in their home. The expirience of comfort suddenly is gravely diminished. All the amenities and the finest of comfortable furniture are all there, but the pleasure of comfort in using them isn’t. This is actually the entire secret of Shabbat Candles, which was to bring that special pleasure and peace to all that has been prepared and put in place for the Shabbat meal and post meal experience.
So too, it is in our religious lives. We can do the mitzvoit, study-Torah, and good-deed, however, we having installed the light, and thus, our spiritual experience of our religious observances is gravely diminished. The light that we must draw into our furnished beautiful home of religiosity comes from our soul. More specifically, we must produce Soul-Oil from which to bring the warmth and illumination of divinity and spirituality into all that we do and into all our lives.
This lecture is based on a maamor the Rebbe delivered in 1965, on this Shabbat, in which the Rebbe explores the deeper mystical secrets to the producing of olive-oil for kindling the Menorah in the Tabernacle and the Holy Temple.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1997707683857880/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/94snwwvs8o22lpi/13.%20Terumah%205779.%20Charity%20-Receiving%20What%20G-d%20is%20Giving.pdf?dl=0
Handout: https://www.dropbox.com/s/rdsgimk5ldy3uc6/13.%20Handout%20for%20Terumah%205779.pdf?dl=0
I want to begin with a brief story that took place with the Reichmann brothers of the Olympia and York company. Once at a family Sheva Brochoit celebration (-Link), someone was nudging one of the Reichmann brothers to tell him the secret of how to become so financially successful. Reichmann just remained quiet. At some point, another of the Reichmann brothers couldn’t stand it anymore, and blurted out, “Its 97% mazal, and 3% brains!” To which the first Reichmann brother now spoke up and said, “And our prayers are that the 3% brains doesn’t get in the way of the 97% mazal…”
I believe that the Reichmann brother was actually paraphrasing Psalms (-127:1), “A song of ascents about Solomon. If the Lord will not build a house, its builders have toiled at it in vain; if the Lord will not guard a city, [its] watcher keeps his vigil in vain.”
Man, on his own, is a finite mortal, with finite potential, of which Rabbeinu Bechaya (-Genesis 1:28) explains that an infant, from the moment of birth begins to dry up [decompose]. Therefore, man, on his own, cannot truly accomplish any infinite and eternal accomplishments. In Kabbalah and Chassidus this even applies to Torah-study and Mitzvah-observances. This is why we are taught that while in the womb of the mother, one is taught the entire Torah, after which, just prior to birth, the fetus receives a flick on the upper lip, which causes the fetus to forget all that it learned. The reason for being taught the entire Torah as a fetus is because were it not given to the human from Above, on his own, the human could never perceive the infinite wisdom of G-d. So too, with every Mitzvah. Were there not to be first a gift of empowerment from Above, mankind would never be able to perform an infinite and eternal action, and the union of G-d and human through Mitzvah-observance is infinite and eternal.
Therefore, King Solomon says that any true accomplishment can never be accomplished without G-d, for man, on his own, cannot give or accomplish that which he himself does not have. This lecture is going to explore how one is to receive what G-d is giving him, in order that he may go one and accomplish what he is meant to accomplish.
This lecture is based on a maamor the Rebbe delivered in 1965, which the Rebbe based on a maamor of his processor, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch delivered 175 years ago (5605 [1844]), exploring the Jewish people in the desert donating to the building of the Tabernacle
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10156787468938257/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mfefxrc6lcf6eab/12.%20Mishpatim%205779.%20Mount%20Sinai%20-Where%20There%20is%20Smoke%20There%20is%20Fire.pdf?dl=0
Handout: https://www.dropbox.com/s/j7sl4omiu22jx8x/12.%20Handout%20for%20Mishpatim%205779.pdf?dl=0
John Bradshaw, in his book Healing the Shame That Binds You, coined the concept that we are Human Beings and not Human Doings. Bradshaw’s point being that we need to see beyond our self-worth as being only defined by what we are doing, but to see that our ultimate worth is that we are a Human Being of G-d.
I would like to see this concept of Being versus Doing through the eyes of Judaism and specifically through the teachings of Chassidus.
How does one become a spiritual Being, rather than, just a spiritual Doing? Or in the vernacular of Chassidus, how does one Become Torah and Judaism, rather than, just Doing Torah and Judaism? There is Torah as an academic exercise, which is the commandment of Knowing. Then there is the Torah as Knowing in order to Do. However, where is the Torah in order to Be?
Let’s find practical words for this. How does one break the constraints between the Mind and the Body, and not just the extremities of the Body --the Tools of Actions--, but through to the Holistic Body’s Inner Dimension of Being, Feeling, and Experiencing?
Thus, we are clearly stating that we can each reach the ultimate experience of To Be or Not To Be in our Judaism, way beyond just the To Observe or Not To Observe question. How? How can we break down the essence of barrier between the I and G-d, in which we can live simply within the absolute embrace of G-d in all of our Being-ness?
Let us one more final time reword this.
To live just within the To Observe or Not To Observe question, is to continuously wage the war of where G-d’s dominion (interference) within our lives ends, and where our freedom begins. It is a question that we will have to face over each of the 613 mitzvoit, and even again and again every time we face the same mitzvah. However, to boldly face the question of Being-ness instead of Doing-ness, the To Be or Not To Be question is to just have one question, just once, and to continuously implement our decision. Thus, begins a life of bliss in our Judaism, of inner-peace and total acceptance of living as one with G-d.
This lecture is based on a maamor the Rebbe delivered in 1965, on this Shabbat, in which the Rebbe explores the purpose of why Mount Sinai was all smoking, why the smoke formed a cloud, and why G-d had Moses walk into a pathway that G-d opened for Moses within the smoke-cloud.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1989677657994216/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/o6phcznb2we2z1b/11.%20Yisro%205779.%20When%20Religion%20Doesn%27t%20Make%20Sense.pdf?dl=0
Handout: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zuidk68qzgthhj8/11.%20Handout%20for%20Yisro%205779.pdf?dl=0
Judaism has, what seems to be, an impossible approach to faith in G-d. Maimonides defines the first of the 613 mitzvoit to be: “The first of the positive commandments is the mitzvah to know that there is a G-d, as it states (-Exodus 20:2): ‘I am G-d, your Lord.’”
Some codifiers explain that there can be no commandment to believe in G-d, for to believe in G-d is a prerequisite to commandments. How can there be a commandment if there is no Commander?! Thus, the first and founding commandment of the Ten Commandments, and of the 613 mitzvoit is to know, rather than, to believe, that there is a G-d.
However, this presents fundamental issues, for (a) faith is not knowledge and knowledge is not faith, (b) how can the finite mind know the infinite G-d, and (c) a G-d that we can know cannot be our G-d, for G-d must transcend our capacity in order to be our G-d.
And nevertheless, G-d demands that we have a knowing relationship with Him, so that our minds be one with G-d, and not just our power of obedience and our body of actions.
Were we only ably to be obedient and only to ‘do’ G-d’s commandments, this relationship would not permeate and embody our minds, nor our human power of emotions either. G-d wants our higher faculties in our relationship with Him, as well. Thus, faith must embody itself within our minds of knowing, as well.
This lecture is based on a maamor the Rebbe delivered in 1965, on this Shabbat, in which the Rebbe explores the deeper meanings behind Moses entering into the (-Exodus 20:18) “And Moses drew near to the opaque darkness, where G-d was.”
If you have any questions or comments on this lecture please email Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc at TheJewishMind@icloud.com.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1985802051715110/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/rwmdwh6tzsbevwf/10.%20Bshalach%205779.%20When%20Pharaoh%20Becomes%20an%20Agent%20of%20G-d.pdf?dl=0
Handout: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5rpkrgp2kla2mus/AAB3v7AvIDwMKG_Vm8R6zAYua?dl=0
Why do the righteous have to live under the dominance of the wicked who prosper? For 210 years the Jewish people lived under the dominance and suffering of Pharaoh’s cruelty, and throughout history unto present, again and again we find good people living under the dominance and often persecution of the wicked who prosper. Why? Why do the wicked have power over the good?
Yes, we can look at it from a perspective of that we are in exile, and we are in exile is because of our sins and unwillingness to surrender to G-d and to change our ways. However, there are ways for G-d to have us experience exile without the dominance of the wicked over us. For example, the forces of natural disasters, and the likes. More importantly, according to Kabbalah, the fact that we have sinned wouldn’t give evil power of good, and wouldn’t give power to the wicked over G-d’s Chosen People. Goodness and holiness comes from a higher source than evil and wickedness, thus, regardless of whether G-d is upset with us or not, how do the wicked have dominance over us?
How much more so, when we aren’t talking about an aspect of exile, but an aspect of our serving G-d! How is it possible that the wicked dominate us in this area?!
This lecture is based on a maamor the Rebbe delivered in 1965, on this Shabbat, in which the Rebbe explores how Pharaoh was able to chase of out of exile unto Mount Sinai to receive the Torah.
FaceBook LiveFeed: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10156743110618257/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/iskv8595zp0jks5/9.%20Bo.%20Beam%20Me%20Up.pdf?dl=0
Handout: https://www.dropbox.com/s/06mjqpzv0powzd4/9.%20Handout%20for%20Bo%205779.pdf?dl=0
Deep within us we acknowledge that spiritual is infinite, while physical is finite, spiritual is eternal, while physical is mortal, and that spiritual is superior. While physical is inferior. We also acknowledge that there is something spiritual within us that defines our being alive, rather than, being a lifeless corpse. However, we identify with our physicality, and feel remote from the abstract intangible spirituality within us. Thus, most often we feel inadequate and inferior, and that our accomplishments are insignificant and lacking.
Our reactions to this inferior complex is one of two: (a) We take on an ego persona, always proving to ourselves and others that we are better than. (b) We try to fully embrace our eternal and infinite spirituality in all our affairs.
The challenge is that neither of these approaches successfully fill the hole of inferiority permanently. (a) When we take on an ego persona, trying to project what we don’t truly believe to be, we ultimately end up having to face the teaching of Rabbi Shmuel of Lubavitch, “You aren’t fooling G-d, nor are you fooling your fellow man. You are but fooling yourself, and what is the big wisdom in fooling a fool…” (b) Our sages say that in three ways we are compared to angels (spiritual) and in three ways we are compared to animals (physical). Thus. To deny what is at least 50% of who we are will only lead to suppression, which in turn leads to frustration and mental illnesses.
The question we will explore here is how to fully embrace all that we are, physical and spiritual, with absolute contentment, and with absolutely no sense of inferiority.
This lecture is based on a maamor the Rebbe delivered in 1959, on Yud Shevat the 9th Hilullah of the Previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yoseph Yitzchok of Lubavitch, and on the 8th anniversary of the Rebbe’s leadership.
“Being Special”
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10156724623213257/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ljw9rz5ergw4xbv/8.%20Vaeira%205779%20Being%20Special.pdf?dl=0
Handout: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8so2kega6oo899z/8.%20Handout%20for%20Vaeira%205779.pdf?dl=0
People have a yearning to be special. Society imposes an often-misconstrued sense of what we want to be special at, such as being a special professional sports star versus being a special outstanding teacher, or as being a Hollywood star versus being an outstanding social worker, and so on. However, be it as it may, most people just want to be special at whoever they are or at whatever they do.
Well, what does it mean to be special? And, whatever being special does mean, is it received by nature or nurture, is it achieved by the merit of our parents, known as zechut avot, or is it achieved by one’s own hard work?
And finally, what can only one being special accomplish, that not being special can’t accomplish?
This lecture is based on a maamor (-Link) the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbos in 1965, in which the Rebbe explains why the Torah interrupts in middle of the discussion of Moses going to speak with Pharaoh to tell us the lineage of Moses and the age of Moses. (a) Don’t we already know who Moses is? (b) The verse states that Moses was 80 years old, however, Moses was actually 79 years old?
If you have any questions or comments on this lecture please email Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc at TheJewishMind@icloud.com.
FaceBook LiveFeed: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10156709133198257/
Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/j9ei9pmjj9s34yo/7.%20Shemois%205779%20MAke%20Your%20Name%20Count.pdf?dl=0
Handout: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bde28mi86lzzxoz/7.%20Handout%20for%20Shemois%205779.pdf?dl=0
The words Unconditional Love in themselves are so soothing. The mere thought that we could be loved unconditionally is such a healing to our very existence in its most existential core. Once a colleague told me as follows: “There is nothing you can do or not do that will make G-d love you any more or any less!” Once again, I felt that soothing and healing surge through me. However, something deep within me rejected this belief, finding it in contrast to how I understood G-d and His relationship with mankind. I realized that I am in conflict with what I want to believe, with what I find as the ultimate truth of Torah and especially as explained in Chassidus, and nevertheless, somewhere in my mind, as it was formed by childhood experiences of parents, siblings, teachers and friends, I find this teaching to be heresy.
Of all things, to find the most fundamental truth as taught by the Rebbe over and over again, as heresy…
In truth, it isn’t the teaching that I was struggling with, but with the mere concept of Unconditional Love. It seemed to be but another Disney Concept, and I didn’t want to be let down again by my childish belief in a non-existing magic.
So, let’s try and wrap our minds and hearts around G-d’s unconditional love for each and every one of us, so that we once and for all be freed of a prison called: Abandonment.
And now, let the lecture begin…
FaceBook LiveFeed: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10156695256993257/
Written Notes https://www.dropbox.com/s/hjsa9ui6m1qszyz/6.%20Vayechi%205779%20Does%20G-d%20Ever%20Say%20No%20To%20A%20Prayer.pdf?dl=0
Handout: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mevlhe5vastxt8n/6.%20Handout%20for%20Vayechi%205779.pdf?dl=0
-- When we pray to G-d for something, does G-d ever say no?
Some people say, “We pray for what we want, and Gives us what we need.” Often we thank G-d for not giving us what we pray for, realizing what a mistake that would have been. Others say, “Be careful for what you pray for, lest you receive it.”
But what is the truth about prayer? Is prayer a shot in the dark, or is prayer an absolute practice that always works?
Well here is a Jewish counterintuitive fact (-Sefer Maamorim 5725, d”h Vayigash Eilov Yehudah…): Prayer always works, and is always answered with a yes!
The teaching brings a simple proof from this law: One is not allowed to make a blessing in vain. Please turn to your Handout Page 1.
Thus, from a legal point of view it would be a prohibition to make a blessing in the Amidah if G-d didn’t answer yes to that prayer. For, it is forbidden to make a blessing on something that we are not having enjoyment on. For example, one can’t make a blessing on food if one is not eating food.
Here is an example of a blessing in the Amidah, blessing #8 of the reads, “Heal us, O L-rd, and we will be healed; help us and we will be saved; for You are our praise. Grant complete cure and healing to all our wounds; for You, Almighty King, are a faithful and merciful healer. Blessed are You L-rd, who heals the sick of His people Israel.” If after the opening words of asking G-d to heal us, if we were not healed then it would be forbidden to then make a blessing, “Blessed are You L-rd, who heals the sick of His people Israel,” for this would be making a blessing in vain!
Thus, we must conclude that every prayer is answered by G-d with a yes, or our sages would not have set us up to make every day, three times a day, 13 blessings in vain.
Thus, we are going to explore in this lecture precisely how G-d answers each and every one of our prayers.
This lecture is based on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbos in 1965, in which the Rebbe explains Jacobs wanting to reveal to his sons when Moshiach will come, and the Divine Presence lifting from Jacob, causing Jacob to speak of other things instead.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/TheJewishMind/videos/1003074773235775/
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jwgjc40nitmyo4t/5.%20Vayigash%205779%20-When%20Judah%20Meets%20Joseph%20-Studious%20Prayer.pdf?dl=0
Handout: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wiki0zepsl4ot43/5.%20Handout%20for%20Vayigash%205779.pdf?dl=0
The secret of prayer is not the knowledge of mystical unifications, in as much as it is all about humility. Prayer is about changing the will of G-d, as we say in our prayers, “Yehi Rotzon Milfonecha… May it be Your will…” Simply speaking, anything that happens, happens only because it is the will of G-d for it to happen. So, when we are praying for a person who is sick or when we pray to not experience any lack of funds, in essence we are asking G-d to change His will for our experiences. How does a finite human being change the infinite will of G-d? The answer is that in order to change the already existing will of G-d me must transcend beyond the will of G-d and connect with the Master of the Will. What does the finite human being have to connect with and to arouse the Master of the Will?
Our sages explain the power of prayer is all about the novelty of the egocentric human being nullifying himself and his self-reliance, and instead turning to G-d as his sole Higher Power and source of sustenance, health, etc. The power of this novelty is described as the king who is pleasured by the novelty of a talking parrot. Yes, in comparison to the songs of praise of the angels we are but like a babbling parrot compared to the King’s wise ministers. However, a special delight is aroused from the speaking parrot, who is just repeating what he has heard, without having any knowledge of what spiritual unifications and global shifts happen because of these words of praise, request, and gratitude. The angels, on the other hand, which have superior understanding and emotional experiences before G-d their Creator do not arouse the delight of novelty, for angels do not have an Evil Inclination, and thus, do not experience self-centeredness, ego or narcissi.
Thus, the secret of having our prayers answered is all about praying with humility before G-d. The modern-day issue we are going to explore is how does one experience humble prayers.
This lecture is based on a maamor the Rebbe delivered on this Shabbos in 1965, in which the Rebbe explains the encounter between Judah (Prayer) and Joseph (Torah-study) on a mystical level, and then setting forth its practical implications.
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1960846630877319/
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/h1xlmg9caozgws8/4.%20Mikaitz%205779%20-Is%20G-d%20But%20Gippetto.pdf?dl=0
Handout: https://www.dropbox.com/s/agrtae1k3hql0v6/4.%20Handout%20for%20Mikeitz%205779.pdf?dl=0
Rabbi Levi Yitzchok, father of the Rebbe, taught, that on the High Holidays we do not pray for a life that is simply not death, but for a life that is about being alive.
It has also been said that the problem with living the life of the Rat Race, is that even if you win, you are but a rat…
Nevertheless, this is the life most of us are living, the life of a rat Race, which in greater measure, is to live the life of not death. This is not just amongst those who live a secular life, but even among those who live a religious life, and nevertheless, their religious life is as the life of a Religious Rat Race.
The question is how do we truly live a life of being alive, rather than, a life of a Rat Race or a life of just not being dead
Pinocchio (/pɪˈnoʊkioʊ/; Italian: [piˈnɔkkjo]) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel The Adventures of Pinocchio (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Lorenzini, better known by the pen name Carlo Collodi. Carved by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a village near Lucca, he was created as a wooden puppet but dreams of becoming a real boy.
The story of Pinocchio, while he is a wooden puppet, is a story of a full-blown true human child, with feelings, intellect, and mischievousness. And nevertheless, Pinocchio years to become a human child. Why? Because, Pinocchio, with all his human characteristics, and the sense of being alive, was but a puppet.
Thus, the title of this lecture is, “Is G-d but Geppetto?” Are we all but ‘puppets,’ with human-like characteristics, who think and feel that we are alive?
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1956898904605425/
Written: https://www.dropbox.com/s/131xxazo1re5hlj/3.%20Vayeishev%20-The%20Chariot%20-Take%20a%20Ride%20on%20the%20Wild%20Side.pdf?dl=0
Handout: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2wu7bw39cf2f3v7/3.%20Handout%20for%20Vayeishev%205779.pdf?dl=0
Viktor Frankl was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor. He was the founder of logotherapy, which is a form of existential analysis. Frankl’s best-selling book called, Man's Search for Meaning, chronicles his experiences as a concentration camp inmate, which led him to discover the importance of finding meaning in all forms of existence, even the most brutal ones, and thus, a reason to continue living.
Thank G-d, we do not have to find meaning in any such brutal suffering as Frankl had experienced and witnessed others experience. Nevertheless, our generation has an unprecedented rise in the amount of people that suffer with a depression disorder. We today understand far better that much depression and other mental disorders are an outcome of childhood trauma called ACE’s Adverse Childhood Experiences. I am attaching a Link from SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) and a Link to clip on ACE’s, and from there you can go on to do more research. One important ACE to consider is the childhood trauma of Abonnement, which does not necessary mean that a parent physically walked out on their child, but rather, that a parent was emotionally unavailable to their child. Emotional Neglect is a primary ACE. There are amazing, albeit horrific, studies done on an infant’s reaction to when their mother simply shows them a blank face, without a facial expression of love and communication.
As the recipient of ACE’s, and I would argue that presently we are all people with ACE’s, we must each find meaning to our lives.
Thus, this lecture will explore precisely what is the meaning to life, and any form of suffering in life.
This lecture is based upon a maamor delivered by the Rebbe in 1965, exploring the power of prayers.
Title: The Gift -A Deeper Look into Prayer
*Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/y2hxfbhfbb7i7ny/2.%20Vayishlach%20-The%20Gift%20-A%20Deeper%20Look%20into%20Prayer.pdf?dl=0
*Handout: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5sx4y4s5ypzya0v/2.%20HANDOUT%20Vayishlach%20-The%20Gift%20-A%20Deeper%20Look%20into%20Prayer.pdf?dl=0
What is the truth about prayer? Is it a placebo, which translates as the power of the mind of the person prayed for? Or, does it carry divine powers? In preparation I did a search on medical research on the healing power of prayer, not just for the person praying, but even prayers for a third party who was not aware of the prayers being offered on his behalf. The research has conflicting outcomes.
Well, I guess that this is the most that a rabbi could ask for from a field which has attacked anything spiritual, all the more anything religious for centuries.
This lecture isn’t going to take a medical approach, but a mystical approach in a practical manner.
This lecture is based upon a maamor delivered by the Rebbe in 1965, exploring the power of prayers.
If you have any questions or comments on this lecture please email Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc at TheJewishMind@icloud.com.
Is one to marry who they love, or is one to learn to love who they married?!
So many are in utter disbelief of the Chassidic dating process. Most often there is a matchmaker who introduces to the parents of the potential bride and groom an individual who they do not know. The research process begins, and if the parents are satisfied with what they have learned about their potential ‘in-law,’ they discuss it with their son/daughter, and then a first date is set. The amount of dates is usual anywhere around 10, give or take, although if still unsure, there can be more. These dates are held in public areas, anywhere from a Hotel lobby over soft drinks, to a restaurant or the likes. If the young man and the young woman decide that they are for each other, they become engaged (yes, the young man proposes), and a wedding date becomes set for anywhere from an average of 3-5 months later. In the interim, the fiancés maintain modesty and moderation in the quantity and quality of their meeting and talking.
Can one, in their furthest stretch of imagination claim that the young couple to be are in love?! Really?! 10 public dates, and they have the deepest of true feelings called love?! Absolutely not! What they have ascertained if but compatibility, chemistry, and a common ground on which to build a partnership, respect and love.
Now, the process of creating love begins. This lecture will explore how one goes about building this love. Simultaneously, it will explore how one builds a feeling of love for G-d.
This lecture is based upon a maamor delivered by the Rebbe in 1964, exploring the mystical powers of Noach’s Ark.
If you have any questions or comments on this lecture please email Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc at TheJewishMind@icloud.com.
This lecture is going to explore the modern-day issue of people feeling Over THERE, away from everyone else, who are over HERE. If you don’t get what I am talking about, then G-d bless you, and this lecture will be an amazing spiritual High Holiday preparation lecture. However, if you do understand what I am talking about, this will also be a life-altering lecture.
So, what am I talking about?
There is a percentage of the population who feel different in a challenging way. It is as if the whole world is over HERE, and for some reason they are over THERE. This is not only about people who are noticeably quirky among people, but even those who project a very macho or sassy persona. “My insides don’t feel the way their outsides look,” is a core thought and feeling for this group of the population. Some take cover in finding other THERE’niks, while others turn to self-medicating of one of many unhealthy forms.
Ultimately, the THERE’nik learns that it isn’t others with whom he doesn’t see eye-to-eye, but with himself. It is as if within himself exists a HERE, while the ‘him-him’ who dominates his thoughts and his feelings is over THERE. One of the signs of such an individual is that he is always living in his head, rather in the HERE of reality and presence. In his head movies are playing, of which he used to be the director, but is now an involuntary actor, forced to emotionally play his part. And thus, he is always over THERE in his head, in his movie, living and feeling a life of fiction.
This lecture is based upon a maamor delivered by the Rebbe in 1969, exploring the month of Elul, in which G-d goes to be THERE with His people, and to reveal to them the road from THERE to HERE.
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kcre008k48ypvxo/31.%20VaEschanan%205778%20%20-How%20To%20Earn%20Grace.pdf?dl=0
Earned Grace?! The title of this class, “How to Earn G-d’s Grace” is seemingly an impossible paradox. Why so? Well, let’s look up the definition of Grace. grace ɡrās/ noun 2. the free and unmerited favor of G-d
You see, the whole point of grace is that it is free and unmerited, which is another way of saying unearned. In other words, if you earned it, it isn’t grace, but a reward or payment for what you earned. G-d promises us (-Leviticus 26:3-4), “If in My statutes you shall walk and My commandments you will observe, and you shall perform them, I will give your rains in their time, the Land will yield its produce, and the tree of the field will give forth its fruit…” Thus, creating a cause and effect relationship with us. This relationship does not entail Grace within it. Grace is specifically a free, unmerited and unearned favor of G-d.
However, the verse tells us (-Job 14:15), “You desire the work of your hands,” which is also interpreted to mean, (-Mishna, Baba Metziah Chapter 3, Mishna 6), “A man wants one measurement of his own, rather than, nine measurements of his friend.” Our sages tell us that before G-d created the cause and effect for us, by giving us the Torah and its commandments through which we can earn G-d’s blessings, we were living from Bread of Shame, meaning unearned. Thus, there is a shame in receiving even G-d’s grace, for it is within our G-d-given nature to view such as the Bread of Shame, to be eaten with a feeling of shame, rather than, with self-respect.
My friends, every time we live off of the grace of others, we may believe that we feel like a ‘winner,’ however, our human-ness knows better and we have lost our reflection of being in G-d’s, “Image and likeness.” It is for this reason that G-d’s ultimate grace is that even in receiving G-d’s grace, we are yet able to earn it.
Grace with Self-respect Well, back to the impossible paradox, if we earn it then it isn’t grace, and if it is grace then we didn’t earn it. The Rebbe, explains (d”h Hashomayim Kisee, 57--, footnote #?) it as follows: There is to actively earn something, and there is to remove the obstacle from receiving something. To earn something is to live in a cause and effect relationship with G-d. For the cause action we did earned us (created the divinity flow) the blessing that we receive. However, to remove the obstacle from receiving from G-d is not that we earned the divinity flow. That, G-d is giving us freely. Only that we unblocked ourselves from receiving that which G-d is giving us freely.
What blockage from receiving G-d’s grace do we have to remove? Rav Ḥisda says, and some say that Mar Ukva says: Concerning any person who has arrogance within him, the Holy One, Blessed be He, said: He and I cannot dwell together in the world, as it is stated: “He who slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I destroy; he who is haughty of eye and proud of heart, him will I not suffer [oto lo ukhal]” (-Psalms 101:5). This verse should be understood as follows: Do not read the verse as: “Oto lo ukhal”; rather, read it as: Itto lo ukhal, meaning, with him, I cannot bear to dwell. -Talmud, Sotah 5a
By the act of removing our ego, we are able to have self-respect even in receiving G-d’s grace, for even though we have not earned G-d’s grace, we are still within the self-respect of, “You desire the work of your hands,” by removing our blockage from receiving G-d’s grace. Thus, we have the best of both worlds, by receiving G-d’s infinite grace, rather than, our finite earned rewards, and nevertheless, we can receive G-d’s grace with self-respect, by diligently working on removing our ego.
In this lecture, based on a maamor delivered by the Rebbe in 1985, we are going to learn what the true definition of G-d’s Grace is, and how we are to practically live within it with earned self-respect.
Written Notes Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/276xrb4mviyth88/30.%20Devorim%205788%20-Finding%20Your%20Oasis.pdf?dl=0
What is the purpose of having an oasis in life?
Yes, an oasis, a fertile spot in a desert where water is found, is very helpful in life in order to rejuvenate ourselves to be able to continue on in the Raging Waters of life, earning a living, and with family and community responsibilities.
But there is an even greater purpose of having an oasis in our lives.
Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden, living with the aftermath of agricultural hard work, menstrual cycle and labor-pains. Nevertheless, Adam and Eve remembered what life could and should be like. However, the following generations had no true picture of what life could be like. Even Adam and Eve needed an oasis to know what the Garden of Eden without a jealous serpent would look like.
There is a reason why communist dictators are controlling the internet of what can and what cannot be seen in their countries. For, the mind, heart and spirit cannot yearn for that which it does not know. Thus, for this very same reason, G-d placed oases within the world for us to truly experience what life could and should be like.
Additionally, it is only when we are connected to our oasis that we are empowered to create what the world can be like. Our sages state (-Talmud, Berochot 5b), “The prisoner cannot free himself from jail.” This is why, unless we are within our oasis, we cannot free ourselves or our world. It is only when we are in the freedom of our oasis, out of the box of imprisonment, that we can bring freedom to the universe. As a matter-a-fact, it is said that a true leader is already ‘there,’ from which he looks back at the ‘here,’ and figures out how to get everyone from ‘here’ to ‘there.’ And so it is with us finding our oasis. We must find our oasis, be ‘there’, from ‘there’ look back at the ‘here’ of our present lives outside of the oasis, and then build the bridge from the outside to the oasis, bring our entire lives within the oasis.
This lecture is based upon a maamor delivered by the Rebbe in 1958, exploring the destruction of the Holy Temple, the present oasis of the Holy Temple, while in exile, and how to bring the entire universe to an unpresented stage of an absolute indestructible omnipresence oasis.
Understanding the power ofd the Soul's Garments (Thought, Speech, and Action), reaching beyond the capacity of the soul's faculties.
The Soul, with all its faculties, are locked within a box, if we don't give it a form of expression, through which the soul can output, as well as input. The soul's garments, Though, Speech, and Action, are the garments of the soul, through which the soul can express itself outwardly, and evolve through input.
"For within each and every one of us there is an entire family!"
We each have Ten Faculties, comprised of Intellects and Emotions, and as with every family, we need to learn how to all get along with each other...
Audio: (Live: 1:06:08) https://soundcloud.com/michael-benmeleh/lighthouse-project-rabbi-avrohom-lipszyc-become-the-profiteer-of-your-own-sufferings-01-31-18
LiveFeed: (Live: 1:06:08) https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1785338961761421/
YouTube: (Live: 1:06:08) https://youtu.be/sKyJ-nfyCu8
Written Class: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4n0ak3jdyo0ua12/13.%20Yisro%205778%20-Be%20the%20Profiteer%20of%20Your%20Suffering.pdf?dl=0
Profiteering is viewed as a negative act. The definition of profiteering is to, “make or seek to make an excessive or unfair profit, especially illegally or in a black market.” However, this is only concerning one profiteering from another person’s suffering. The absolutely positive, and even mandatory profiteering, is the profiteering we do from our own suffering.
It has been said that the reason Jewish people don’t drink is because it interferes with their suffering. Which leads us to our modern-day issue of this lecture. There is a perverse form of ‘righteousness’ that stops us from profiteering from our suffering, when in truth, from G-d’s POV, the only reason that we are suffering is for us to profiteer from the suffering!
Nevertheless, in our perverse understand of sin and punishment, we are afraid to profit at all, never mind, “excessive or unfair profit,” from this, “Illegal black market,” of G-d’s punishment upon us. Truth be said, the Talmud (-Kesubois 36b) itself rules that the law must be careful of, “Sheloh yehai choitah niskar -That the sinner should not profit.” However, there the focus is on the sinner not making selfish profit, which would lead him to believe that it is worthwhile sinning. What if we are speaking of a person who is willing to do Teshuvah (return; repentance), in realizing that all benefits are not for sole selfish purpose, but of serving G-d and his fellow man? As a matter-a-fact, in holiday prayers we state, “Because of our sins we have been exiled from our land and have been distanced from our land,” and in another teaching (-Talmud, Pesachim 87b) it states, “The Holy One, blessed be He, did not exile Israel among the nations save in order that proselytes might join them, for it is said: ‘And I will sow her unto Me in the land;’ surely a man sows a se’ah (a small measurement) in order to harvest many kor (a large measurement)!”
Yet, majority of people do not know how to profiteer from their own suffering, and with this the suffering becomes permanently real, for it serves no greater purpose for G-d and for G-d’s universe.
In this maamor of the Rebbe, based on the Jews purpose in exile, we will overcome our need for suffering for suffering’s purpose, and unleash G-d’s gift of potential within suffering.
"The main thing is that they (the parents) sanctify themselves at the time of coitus."
What does it mean to sanctify one's self at the time of the most carnal act of all?
A practical approach to being holy in one's marital relationships, and its impact on the child, according to the secrets of Kabbalah.
LiveFeed: (Recorded Live; 1:04:04) https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1782405648721419/
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2a4b353xmyi17s9/12.%20Beshalach%205778%20-Get%20Into%20The%20Action.pdf?dl=0
The human plethora of intellectual and emotional experiences often leaves the element of Action feeling lifeless. In Kabbalah and Chassidus we define the Four Categories of the universe, as the Speaker (human), the Living (animal), the Sprout-er; Grower (botanic), and the Silent (inanimate). Then Kabbalah and Chasidus goes on to explain how they each exist within the microscopic universe, as our sages say, “The microscopic world, this is the human.” Within the human, Speaker (power of will), the Living (intellect), the Sprout-er; Grower (feelings), and the Silent; Inanimate (action).
The entire entertainment industry, from reading to cinema, and everything in between, is pretty much based on our need to run away from action, into either intellect or emotions. So many of our actions are focused on nothing else but to produce the chemicals in our brains which create emotions.
Ultimately, the latest scientific research is now showing, that when the body (action) is controlling the brain’s pharmacy (Amygdala), through actions or thoughts, to produce chemicals in order to create desired feelings, we are living in active addiction. Thus, the difference between addiction and productivity is whether the mind, through the brain, is directing the body, or whether the body, through thoughts and actions, is controlling the brain.
In other words, to be subservient in our actions to experiencing emotional bliss, is an addiction, while, being subservient in our intellects and/or our emotions to experience actions is being productive.
Nevertheless, more and more, we are succumbing to the virtual reality available to us, to spike our intellects and our emotions, and the more difficult it is becoming for us to live within the real-time world of action.
In this lecture, based on a maamor of the Rebbe, delivered in 1978, exploring the difference between the Hebrew letter Hai and the Hebrew letter Koof, we are going to learn the road to living a productive life of actions, filled with Higher Intellects and Higher Emotions.
Only a ray of a ray of the lowest level of the G-dly Soul shines into our physical being. This is called, "Young (Fragile) Child."
However, the essence of our G-dly Soul, which remains above, is called, "Mighty One"
How do we connect the G-dly Soul within us to its Omnipotence above?
In this lecture we will explore the power of how to be selfless, even with genetics of survival and selfishness.
In this lecture we explore the fundamental binary code with which G-d created the entire universe, terrestrial and celestial. This defines for us the inner-conflict of the human.
In this lecture we explore what the G-dly Soul is, how it differs from every other creation, including angels, and its power.
Handout Link https://www.dropbox.com/s/12j9grujjgb0tui/The%20Secret%20of%20the%20Hebrew%20Letters%20-Handout.pdf?dl=0
LiveFeed Link: (Recorded Live 1:10:28) https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1779335352361782/
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/b9lnacsallig6cq/11.%20BO%205778%20-The%20Secret%20of%20the%20Hebrew%20Letters.pdf?dl=0
The modern issue we are going to discuss is why is it that all too often we fall too low emotionally, which then affects us physically, spiritually, financially, and in our relationships.
Regardless of how deep our minds hear that we are each a precious child of G-d, the apple of His eye, as an, “Only child born to parents in their elder years,” and nevertheless, for so many of us, this firm belief and knowledge, doesn’t stand against the bombardment of depression, low self-esteem, and the need of consistent validation from others. At times, we fall so low into vulnerability, that one criticism in the face of nine compliments, sounds screeching as the loudest, deepest, and truest of them all.
The question is, why? Why are humans so susceptible to falling so low, emotionally?
More importantly, as always, is not the knowledge of the challenge, but of its cure.
Based on two very in-depth teachings of the Rebbe, on this Shabbat and this Saturday night in 1958, on the mystical secret of the Hebrew Letters, we are going to discover where the emotional and spiritual downslide begins, and how to reverse it.
LiveFeed Link: (Recorded Live 1:01:24) https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1776668552628462/
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wsvstgq0kc4gstg/10.%20Vaeira%205778%20-Restoring%20the%20Omnipotent%20Name%20of%20G-d%20Within%20Us%20%28002%29.pdf?dl=0
We are all familiar with the term, “Making a deal with the devil.” What exactly does this mean? What does the devil want from the deal, and what do we pay for making this deal with the devil? This question, in a certain dimension will answer what Pharaoh wanted from the Jewish people, and what so many other kings and kingdoms who, on the one hand, seemed to despise us, and yet on the other hand, refused to let us go, by banishing us from their kingdom. Haman, the Spanish Inquisition and Hitler, may their names be erased, wanted us dead. This is the lineage of Amalek, in which they want nothing from us, but our obliteration, heaven protect us. However, Pharaoh didn’t want us dead, and didn’t want us banished from his midst, although the verse (-Exodus 1:12; Rashi) clearly states that, “And they [Israelites] were as thorns in their eyes.” Nevertheless, Pharoah wanted us to exist in Egypt, only that we be the ultimate subordinate servants to him. Not the other 69 nations of the world, but specifically us. Why?
- We are all familiar with the term, “Making a deal with the devil.” What exactly does this mean? What does the devil want from the deal, and what do we pay for making this deal with the devil? This question, in a certain dimension, will answer what Pharaoh wanted from the Jewish people, and what so many other kings and kingdoms who, on the one hand, seemed to despise us, and yet on the other hand, refused to let us go, by banishing us from their kingdom, or by annihilating us, Heaven forbid. Haman, the Spanish Inquisition and Hitler, may their names be erased, wanted us dead. This is the lineage of Amalek, in which they want nothing from us, but our obliteration, heaven protect us. However, Pharaoh didn’t want us dead, and didn’t want us banished from his midst, although the verse (-Exodus 1:12; Rashi) clearly states, “And they [Israelites] were as thorns in their eyes.” Nevertheless, Pharoah wanted us to exist in Egypt, only that we be the subordinate servants to him. Not the other 69 nations of the world, but specifically us. Why?
Well, what we have here are two modern-day issues to deal with: (a) What happens when we make a deal with the devil and how to get back our soul from the devil, and (b) what lies behind antisemitism of the ‘Pharaohian Style.’
We will discover the answer to these questions through a Maamor delivered by the Rebbe in 1958, exploring the four terms of redemption, in this week’s Torah-portion.
LiveFeed Link: (Recorded Live 1:06:34) https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1773967506231900/
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/c57326tqutc370b/9.%20Shemois%205778%20-Give%20Up%20The%20Fight%20and%20Enjoy%20The%20Light.pdf?dl=0
There is a movie called, Peaceful Warrior, based on a fictionalized memoir by Dan Millman called, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, about his own life’s struggle in being a gymnast who overcomes a motorcycle accident, which left him with shattered right femur. The very notion of a Peaceful Warrior is an oxymoron. Peaceful people aren’t warriors, and warriors aren’t peaceful. Yes, there are warriors who fight for no other reason than to protect liberty and peace, but their life is a life of war against enemies of peace and liberty.
In Addiction Recovery meetings there is a Chip System, in which people pick up chips to denote their time of sobriety. The first chip is the White Chip, in which you are told to, “Give up the fight and pick up a white.” The addict has been fighting with his addiction, trying to stop, for so long, and in recovery the first thing he is told is that he has to give up the fight to stop drinking, drugging, sexing, or whatever the addiction is. What he is being told is that he has to become a Peaceful Warrior, or he will lose the war, over and over again.
Why so? The Alter Rebbe in Tanya explains it with a simply quote of the Talmud “If the Almighty did not help him, he could not overcome his evil inclination.”
Well, how do we invite the Almighty and His blessing of help into our life? The conclusion of the entire Talmud answers this question: “The Holy One, blessed be He, found no vessel that can [sufficiently] hold the blessing for Israel, save for peace.”
Now, all my life I only thought that this Mishna speaks of getting along with others, and it took much study of Chassidus, on the level in which it is a guide and a way of life for a person who consistently has two antithetical screeching voices in his head. The Mishna is speaking of peace within self, in as much as it is speaking of peace with others. Rabbi Sholom Dov Ber of Lubavitch states, that he who is not at peace with themselves will not even be able to embrace with nature’s natural genetic love and peace one has for their spouse and children! Thus, ultimately, the only vessel for having G-d, and His blessing of help, in our lives, is to have peace with one’s self.
Majority of our generation is either at war, or in a state of complacency. Either, is to live without G-d’s blessing of help in our lives, and without G-d’s help, “he could not overcome his evil inclination.”
In this lecture, based on a maamor of the Rebbe in 1988, on the impact of commandment-performance, we will learn how to give up the fight, and live in the light.
“Finding Faith In Difficult Times”
LiveFeed: (1:07:12) https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1770982806530370/
Written Class: https://www.dropbox.com/s/k2m1c7e3zfk46tp/8.%20Vayechii%205778%20-Finding%20Faith%20in%20Difficult%20Times.pdf?dl=0
“Have Faith!” is what people tell us. Doctors today understand the importance of faith from a medical point of view. The mindset of the patient, in whether they have faith in a compassionate Higher Power who is protecting them and will see them through their recovery, or whether they do not have faith, is crucial to their percentages of healing, from a medical point of view. Faith, we today know, literally rewires the neuro-pathways in the mind, creating different chemicals, and unleashes greater powers of our body-cells.
Faith empowers us and embolden us in making financial decisions, being better and higher selves in relationships. Faith also diminishes the primary offender of self-realization, self-actualization, and success in our lives, which is self-doubt.
All this is brought about through faith.
All too often we hear ourselves thinking, “I wish I had his/her faith! I just don’t, regardless of how hard I try…” Ultimately, it seems that this isn’t even a religious matter, but more of a spiritual matter. Meaning, that there are masses of observant people who are following the instructions of their upbringing, but lack tangible faith in a loving and compassionate Higher Power. Maybe, better said as, they have faith that such a Higher Power exists, for others, however, they lack in faith and trust that this same Higher Power is unconditionally loving and compassionate to them, and would be there compassionately and lovingly for them, in their difficult times, or at any time at all.
On the other hand, there are non-observant people, not by rebellion, but simply non-observant, who have a most amazing, powerful, and tangible faith in G-d, and this faith imbues their lives with optimism, love, sense of security, to the point where observing them one says that they are living a most magical life of wonders.
Is this faith, or the lack thereof, hardwired into our brains, and either we truly have it, or we spend our lives faking it, or, can we acquire this faith? And, if so, how?
In this lecture, based on a maamor of the Rebbe in 1978, on Judah being the fourth son of Jacob, we will find where and how to acquire this faith.
LiveFeed: Part I (18:37) https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1768054803489837/ Part II (40:32) https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1768054803489837/
Written Class: Link https://www.dropbox.com/s/nfiz0o998g0f0bv/7.%20Vayigash%205788%20-Letting%20Go%20of%20The%20Past%20-The%20Power%20of%20Humility.pdf?dl=0
In life there are up’s and down’s and sweet moments and painful moments. All of this is perfectly normal for the person that lives in the present, a present undictated by his past. However, all too often, this isn’t the case.
A bit shy of two decades ago I was told by a lawyer, who was presenting his client against an insurance company. Peter was the lawyer’s name. Peter explained to me that his client had a rare neurological disease, in which the brain kept on replaying the accident causing the pain of the impact of the accident in present-real-time.
This is precisely what happens to many of us, albeit not on the physical neurological level, yet absolutely so on the psychological and emotional level. Worst of all, this happens to us on an intellectual level, in which our paradigm of life and our paradigm of every present and pending situation is perceived through. The past dictates to us our present, in which, we are actually always stuck in replaying the past.
In this lecture, based upon a teaching of the Rebbe concerning Joseph and his brother Judah, we will learn how to liberate ourselves from replaying the pain of our past, over and over again.
If you have any questions or comments on this lecture please email Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc at TheJewishMind@icloud.com.
Live Feed (Recorded Live 1:02:00): https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1755995948029056/
Written Class: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ki43u77r5gmo2vu/5.%20Vayeitzei%205778%20-When%20Feelings%20Simmer%20Down%20and%20Life%20Begins.pdf?dl=0
“The mind rules over the heart,” nevertheless, the true experience of human life is his realm of emotions. Feelings, is what drives the person.
The healthy, definition of the directive, “The mind rules over the heart,” is not that our power of intellect should delete our heart’s emotions. Rather, that the mind should direct our feelings, keeping our feelings (a) only in the realm of appropriate concepts, and (b) even within appropriate realms, that they remain within sustainable and productive intensities.
On an even deeper level yet, the heart’s feelings should be an expression of what the mind perceives. What this means is that the heart bring what our Higher Intellect perceives into becoming our human reality.
The relationship between the mind and feelings has been scientifically discovered, and continues to develop. Thoughts of the mind cause physical reactions in the neuron connections of the brain. Of these physical reactions to thoughts is the creation of (Neuro)peptides. Virtual or factual thoughts create the same feelings. For example, thoughts of virtual danger and thoughts of factual danger will have the same physical reaction of the brain and the peptides the brain will create.
The danger is that in the brain there is the amygdala, which is a part of our brain’s Limbic System, which has the job of regulating the emotion hormones in our blood. It monitors that the homeostasis of our blood-level remains intact. Our body’s emotional memory creates a mandatory homeostasis in our emotion hormone levels. Under prolonged emotional experiences, our body-cells create a norm of emotional stress, fear or love levels, and transforms its receptors in order to be able to receive and process this norm of peptides. Any change in the amount of peptides now produced by the brain into the bloodstream, will agitate the body’s cells.
In response the amygdala will drive the mind to think the thoughts that will produce the necessary peptides to bring back the homeostasis of hormone balance in the bloodstream, and through this, comfort be restored within all the cells of the body. The outcome is the antithesis of our directive, “The mind rules over the heart.” The heart, the emotional homeostasis of our body, is now ruling the mind’s thoughts. This is what is called, The Addiction of Feelings, and is the human experience in total havoc, pain and destructiveness.
In this lecture, based on the final showdown between Jacob and his father-in-law Laban, we are going to learn the healthy process of letting feelings simmer, so that life can begin.
“Creating Good Luck ~The Art of Pottery”
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/e2b2vtesaffw0pu/6.%20Vayishlach%205788%20-Creating%20Good%20Luck%20-The%20Art%20of%20Pottery.pdf?dl=0
One of life’s greatest challenges is our frustration in not being successful, which often bleeds over into jealousy and resentment.
Yes, there is the Effort part of success, which is called Hishtadlut. We each need to get over any human perception of a contradiction between Hishtadlut vs. Emunah –Effort vs. Faith and acceptance. Yes, we even have to get over our human perception of the Jewish concept of, “Who is rich? He who is happy in his lot.” And, after getting over our human perceptions of Effort, Faith, Acceptance, Wealth, and Happiness, we then find that all is true! G-d wants us to put in Effort with Faith and Acceptance, and G-d wants us to be Happy in the present situation, while working on become as Rich as our G-d-given talents and capacities allow for us to be.
The non-spiritual question of all of the above is built on the terminology of Effort, Talent and Luck. Luck plays a big role in whether we are successful or not. The Talmud actually tells us that being rich or being poor is Bmazlah talya –Hangs on luck. It is this Luck factor that we speak of. It is this Luck factor that causes so much frustration, jealousy and resentment, to he who puts in the time and effort, and yet tastes no success.
Can one change their Mazal (Luck)? The Jewish answer is absolutely yes! Well, the second question then is, how can one change their Mazal?
The answer is to understand what Mazal is. I is an alignment of the spiritual celestial orbits and constellations, as they express themselves in the physical stars and constellations, which is the true study of astrology, of which Abraham was a student? The answer is yes, luck is a deciding factor. However, after Abraham saw through astrology that he and Sarah were not to have children, and G-d went to bless Abraham with a child, G-d said to Abraham, “And He took him outside: …He [G-d] said to him [Abraham], ‘Go out of your astrology,’ for you have seen in the signs of the zodiac that Abram is not destined to have a son.” Thus, while Mazal is the alignment of constellations and orbits of celestial beings, nevertheless, G-d clearly tells Abraham that there is something greater and more powerful, which can actually change one’s luck.
Thus, we will now define Mazal as King Solomon does, Birkas Hashem (G-d’s Blessing), and the question now becomes, how to change one’s predefined astrological Mazal, by becoming a receiver of the Mazal of G-d’s blessings.
In this lecture, built upon a maamor of the Rebbe, delivered on the 19th of Kislev 1957, on the redemption of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the Alter Rebbe, from the Czarist prison in 1798, we will learn how to become a vessel for the Mazal of G-d’s Blessing.
Written Class: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7cu2c67qkdyhvh1/4.%20Toldot%205778%20-True%20Love%20--When%20Love%20and%20Fear%20Work%20As%20A%20Team.pdf?dl=0
There are two modern day issues that we are going to deal with: (a) Our distaste for the emotion of fear, especially in a relationship, and especially in our relationship with G-d. (b) Our challenge with finding true and fulfilling love, with G-d, with our family, and with our fellow.
Our generation yearns for an impractical love. Fiddler on The Roof, has an interesting scene, in which Tevya was introduced to the New Age type of love, from his modern son-in-law to be. Tevya comes home and asks his wife Golde, “Do you love me?” Golde responds with partial shock and partial disgust, for Golde was educated in the old ways of love, in which love is to be a practical feeling, practical enough to drive a relationship and the duties it entails.
Our generation feels starved with that love of old, and any such relationship leaves us feeling imprisoned and suffocated. Thus, there is this deep sense of abandonment and loneliness in the love of old. Love, today, needs to be an overwhelming overflowing feeling of having wings, flying, and walking on clouds, or the question, “Why am I in this relationship, anyway,” begins to nag.
On the same note, our generation despises any sense of fear, in any relationship, whether it be with G-d, parents, teachers, or any sort of authority, and how much more so with a spouse. “There is nothing to fear, but fear itself!” is our perception of fear.
What we are going to learn in this lecture, based on the relationship between Abraham and Isaac, is that without fear, true and intense love is impossible.
If you have any questions or comments on this lecture please email Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc at TheJewishMind@icloud.com.
LiveFeed: (Recorded Live, 1:04:50) https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1750290035266314/
Written Class: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wxq0r177gp7myue/3.%20Chaya%20Sarah%205778%20-The%20Giver%20-The%20Hero%20is%20The%20Receiver%20not%20The%20Giver.pdf?dl=0
Many people seem to be worried of the selfishness of capitalism, in which people aren’t giving as much as they could or should. However, in truth, our capitalistic country as an establishment, and our citizens as a population are one of the kindest in the world, when it comes to giving.
The greater challenge and struggle of our capitalistic country and citizens is when it comes to the humility of receiving, in being able to ask for help. I would suggest that the ratio of the Free World population is well beyond 1-to-a-1000, in which for every 1000 people who give help, there is only 1 person who is willing to ask for help.
In the DNA of Free People is embedded the arrogance of Self-Reliance, masked in the humility of not burdening the other.
There is a movie called, The Giver, which is all about the person who has the knowledge of the Outside, while in Judaism, the mystic who is charged with guarding and teaching the infinite secrets of the Inside, is called a Mekubal, which means, The Receiver.
In this lecture, based on a teaching of the Rebbe, delivered on this week’s Torah-portion in 1987, we will discover the infinite greatness of The Receiver, in face of the finite greatness of The Giver.
Link To The Written Class: https://www.dropbox.com/s/od4uypc5xlps9ua/2.%20Vayeira%205778%20-Is%20Prayer%20Selfish%20-One%20Must%20Pray%20For%20Their%20Own%20Needs.pdf?dl=0
Often, I have people tell me that they never pray for themselves, and only pray for other people. Well, according to ALL opinions, to do so is to not fulfill the Biblical commandment of prayer! Yes, an exception would be to pray for someone you love, to the point, that their needs effect you, and are, in truth, your needs as well. However, what makes that prayer a prayer, is that you are praying for what is ultimately your own needs.
Additionally, being that the majority of people, physical needs are real and necessary, biblically speaking, praying, specifically for our physical needs, is what the commandment of prayer is really all about.
So, prayer is a selfish experience, to pray and to ask of G-d to fulfill our needs. Or, is it?
If you have any questions or comments on this lecture please email Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc at TheJewishMind@icloud.com.
If you enjoyed this lecture, please consider making a donation: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=9TLKZSDRB4Z6L
Title: “Lech Lecha: The Moonwalk ~Dancing with G-d”
LiveFeed: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1745037739124877/
Written Class: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ulrplgf08cj5roa/1.%20Lech%20Lecha%205778%20-The%20Moon%20Walk%20~Dancing%20With%20G-d.pdf?dl=0
The Moonwalk is an interesting paradox in which the legs seem to be moving in a walking forward motion, while in truth, the legs are actually moving the body backwards.
Much of life seems to be us dancing The Moonwalk, in which we are working, taking steps, planning and setting goals to move forward, and nevertheless, our balance sheets in some, many or most areas in our lives show that we haven’t been moving forward, and in some areas, even moving backwards.
In this lecture, based on the mystical Three Journeys of G-d’s commandment to Abraham (and all his offspring), “Go unto yourself, from your land, from your birthplace and from your father’s home,” we are going to explore The Moonwalk on a mystical and spiritual level, from which we will then learn to actually dance gracefully forward in life.
If you have any questions or comments on this lecture please email Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc at TheJewishMind@icloud.com.
LiveFeed: To Be Updated
Written Class: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xf3tohu0vak6bbp/40.%20Ki%20Teitzei%205777%20-Some%20Things%20Just%20Don%27t%20Mix%20-Defining%20Oneself.pdf?dl=0
We live in a generation for which performing Havdalah (separation) is a far more difficult than performing Kiddush (sanctification).
I don’t mean this just in the literal sense, in which many traditional families, who have a Friday Night dinner, with Kiddush, do not have a Saturday Night Havdalah. Rather, I mean it in its emotional paradigm as well. Our generation has defined only pluralism and all-inclusiveness as the only politically correct spirituality to embrace. To define a holiness and a mundaneness, and to then draw a border to the Tent of what is In-the-Tent, and what is Out-of-the-Tent, is as un-G-dly, and therefore, as un-Jewish, as it gets.
Nevertheless, is Shabbat, Shabbat, without a Havdalah to divide it from the rest of the week, allowing for yet another Kiddush, for the upcoming Shabbat? And, is a Tent a meaningful Tent, with any value at all, if there isn’t an outside and an inside?
In this lecture, based on a teaching of the Rebbe, delivered in 1966, exploring the prohibition of hooking up an ox and a donkey together to a plow, we will find the truism that only through boundaries can we create a defined identity. Show me a man with no boundaries, and I will show you a man without an identity.
So, listen, learn and make it happen.
If you have any questions or comments on this lecture please email Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc at TheJewishMind@icloud.com.
Trailer: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1723386574623327/
LiveFeed: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1724098461218805/
Written Class: https://www.dropbox.com/s/037xbmbxfd6kb15/39.%20Shoftim%205777%20-I%20Want%20What%20I%20Want%20-Opening%20All%20Gateways%20FromTo%20Our%20Souls.pdf?dl=0
"I want what I want," may not be such a self-centered negative feeling after all.
The infinite Power of Will lies at the core of our souls. However, to experience it, one must open all gateways to their soul, and infinitely want what they want!
Based on a teaching of the Rebbe, exploring the commandment of, "Place judges and guards at all your gateways," we will find our way to the infinite core of our souls!
So, listen, learn and make it happen.
If you have any questions or comments on this lecture please email Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc at TheJewishMind@icloud.com.
LiveFeed Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1719134558381862/
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/pyxy5au2gysq4xv/38.%20Eikev%205777%20-The%20Gift%20of%20Gratitude%20-Embracing%20the%20Depths%20of%20Grace%20After%20Meals.pdf?dl=0
From a mental state of mind point of view, from an emotional state of being point of view, from a health point of view, from a longevity point of view and from a success point of view, statistics and research have now understood and proven the importance of having the attitude of gratitude. We each know this, want this attitude in our lives, and nevertheless, just a precious few succeed in achieving the Attitude of Gratitude as a permanent personality.
Why?! What stops us from surrendering our sense of entitlement, disappointment, sense of victimhood and ongoing resentments?
One needn’t be a rocket-scientist to know that the answer is Ego. However, knowing the answer obviously hasn’t helped us solve the issue. Why?
Self-knowledge is important, but insufficient.
Got it! However, this too hasn’t gotten us out of the prison…
In this lecture, based on a teaching of the Rebbe, delivered in 1966, exploring the Zohar’s opinion on the commandment of saying grace over everything we drink, eat and enjoy, we will find the mystical reason of why we struggle with having the Attitude of Gratitude, and the practical actions we need to take to overcome the struggle.
Title: "Jerusalem Our Capital ~Embracing the Gift of Fear” (based primarily on d"h Boneh Yerusahalyem... 5729)
Trailer: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10155465550693257/
Audio: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/37-vaeschanan-5777-jerusalem-our-captal-embracing-the-gift-of-fear
LiveFeed: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1716515495310435/
Written Class: https://www.dropbox.com/s/btsa8nhsjtexde3/37.%20Va%27eschanan%205777%20-Jerusalem%20Our%20Capital%20-The%20Gift%20of%20Fear.pdf?dl=0
We have all heard of the quote of Roosevelt's 1933 inaugural speech, "There is nothing to fear but fear itself."
The human emotion of fear has been sentenced to negativity and a paralysis, to be overcome. However, G-d commands us to embrace the gift of fear, towards G-d and towards our parents.
In this lecture, based on a teaching of the Rebbe, delivered in 1969, exploring the mystical depths of Jerusalem, we shall learn how to embrace the gift of fear and the unprecedented heights and fulfillment that fear brings.
Title: Physical Spirituality ~Overcoming Self-Sabotage
Trailer: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10155443919003257/
Written Class: https://www.dropbox.com/s/or633x5lqz7d9nq/36.%20Devarim%205777%20-Physical%20Spirituality%20-Overcoming%20Self-Sabotage.pdf?dl=0
LiveFeed To Be Posted
Recent discoveries in the field of neurology has given us keener insight to the brain's chemical loop, which reinforces the continuous self-sabotage that many individuals struggle with.
In this lecture, based on a teaching of the Rebbe, in 1969, exploring the mystical experience of the destruction of the First and Second Holy Temples, we will understand the shortest and surest route to overcome self-sabotage, and to reach our fullest potential of success and fulfillment.
Trailer: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10155415128208257/
LiveFeed: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1710967385865246/
Written Class: https://www.dropbox.com/s/u7sikzworpxo8d1/35.%20Matos-Maasei%205777%20-Time%20to%20Make%20a%20Promise%20-Respecting%20Our%20Limits.pdf?dl=0
LiveFeed To Be Posted
The reality of life is that at times we each get overwhelmed. We each have different capacities, which define what scenarios and what quality and quantity of a situation overwhelms us. However, at large, everyone has their breaking point in their self-reliance, at which we then become overwhelmed.
The most primal response we have when we get overwhelmed is Fight or Flight. Some go into aggressiveness and battle, while others go into isolation and a sense of paralysis.
In this lecture, we are going to explore a teaching of the Rebbe concerning the laws of making and of dissolving an oath, from which we learn why we get overwhelmed in life, and the spiritual way to deal with it.
LiveFeed: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1707445326217452/
Written Class: https://www.dropbox.com/s/e8gmu1quqdxsglc/34.%20Pinchas%205777_%20HaGomel%20Kindness%20Upon%20the%20Culpable%20~Overcoming%20Life%27s%20Dangers.pdf?dl=0
Often we think that only a miracle can save us from our present situations. We feel that the standard cause and effect, and the work and accomplish laws of Mother Nature is insufficient, or worse, has turned against us. Only an extraordinary experience, nothing short of a miracle, can help us.
Where does this thought process come from?
Well, as Jews, we are blessed with a 2 perfect excuses of victimhood. One is called Ayin Horah -the Evil Eye, while the other is simply called Mazal -Luck, as in, “What should I do that I have no mazal, like a curse, in which no matter how hard I try, everything turns to ashes?!’
Yes, in Jewish tradition there is such a thing as an Ayin Horah, there is such a thing as Mazal, AND there is such a thing as prayer that shields, protects and overcomes all of the above.
However, presently I am not even talking of a need for prayer to ward off the Evil Eye or to draw in ah bisseleh mazal (a bit of mazal). Rather, we are talking about our need to precisely cease and desist fighting life on life’s terms, to stop trying to sneak under the radar of Mother Nature, and to embrace her Universal Laws.
In this lecture we are going to learn how to align ourselves with Mother Nature, and to uncover her miraculous powers.
If you have any questions or comments on this lecture please email Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc at TheJewishMind@icloud.com.
Trailer Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheJewishMind/videos/1824606780889446/
LiveFeed Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1691852341110084/
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/trabppm2luu4tti/30.%20Beha%27alotecha%205777%20-Be yond%20The%20Rat-race%20~Living%20Successfully.pdf?dl=0
Small-Business Guru, Michael Gerber, says that one must work ON his business, rather than IN his business. Author Napoleon Hill, after a decade of research, says that all successful people connected with a Higher Intelligence.
Through a teaching of the Rebbe upon Aaron's Kindling of the Menorah versus the Twelve Princes of the Tribes of Israel bring sacrifices on the altar, we will find the mystical insight and a practical road to these two secrets of success.
Trailer Link: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10155366649123257/
LiveFeed Link: To be created tonight
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ie3z1szi55q070u/33.%20Balak%205777%20-Celebate%20or%20Celebrate%20-Walking%20With%20G-d.pdf?dl=0
This week's modern issue is Celibate verses Celebrate, which does G-d want?
In a teaching of the Rebbe, delivered in 1966, exploring the arrest and liberation of his father-in-law and predecessor, Rabbi Yoseph Yitzchok of Lubavitch, in Stalin's Russia for his underground religious work to keep Judaism alive, we learn of a greater spirituality of prosperity, unavailable in the spirituality of poverty.
LiveFeed Link: To be created
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/b83sugadgqw6w7r/32.%20Korach%205777%20-Ledearship-Greatness%20and%20Humility%20-Overcoming%20the%20Paradox.pdf?dl=0
More people are afraid of success than they are of failure! Hence, many people face the challenge of self-sabotage. Some general categories of reason are shame, guilt, fear of loneliness, fear of succumbing to ego and fear of losing our altruistic ideals.
At the heart of all these reasons lay the paradox of success and of leadership. Leadership demands a strong self-respect, identity, certainty, and clear vision of greatness. However, if any of these mandatory leadership quality falls prey to Ego, and then the gift of leadership turns into the curse of tyranny. Thus, the very core of the necessary qualities of leadership seem to be Siamese Twins with the very core of the death trap that awaits leadership gone wrong.
In this lecture we will turn to a teaching of the Rebbe, delivered in 1962, exploring the story of Korach and the 250 leaders of the Jewish people who rebelled against Moses, demanding more greatness and leadership, to the point that they each fought to become the High Priest in the Holy Temple. Korach was the cousin of Moses and is called a Pikach –Wise Man in the Torah. The 250 leaders are called, “chieftains of the congregation, representatives of the assembly, men of repute,” in the Torah. Here are men, who by the word of G-d, are worthy of leadership. What went wrong?
The lesson extrapolated from this biblical story paves the bridge over which we can overcome our challenge of self-sabotage, and travel on to our success and leadership for which G-d individually intended for each of us.
Trailer Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1694582350837083/
LiveFeed Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1695191634109488/
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ox3lied306cseo6/31.%20Shelach%205777%20What%20A%20Feeling%20-Experiencing%20Emotional%20Maturity.pdf?dl=0
Emotions, Can’t Live With Them, Can’t Live Without Them The phrase "perception is reality" has been attributed to political strategist Harvey LeRoy "Lee" Atwater (1951 – 1991), and has well become today the standard perception of reality.
There is a far deeper experience of reality, which lay at the heart of why perception is reality. Feelings are the deepest experience of human reality. So much so, that people react the strongest to feelings. Nothing truly impactful in our lives are ever done other than in a reaction to a feeling.
Feelings, however, when left to their own devices, become extremely chaotic, and when this happens, our lives become extremely chaotic. Thus, far too often our feelings are something that we can’t live with, nor can we live without.
In this lecture, we are going to explore a teaching of the Rebbe, delivered in 1966, defining the report of the 10 spies who declared that Jewish people would not be able to conquer Israel, versus the 2 spies who said that, “We will inherit [conquer] them!”
Mystically speaking, the powerful nations of Canaan represent powerful emotions, and the Jewish People represent, “Mind over heart.” Thus, the 10 spies were saying that the power of these overwhelming emotions are too much for the linear mind to dominate. Caleb, responds that these emotions as well can be dominated and redirected. Caleb was right, and through his directions we will learn how to first subdue, and then redirect our powerful emotions towards productivity.
Trailer Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheJewishMind/videos/1824606780889446/
LiveFeed Link: To be created tonight
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/trabppm2luu4tti/30.%20Beha%27alotecha%205777%20-Beyond%20The%20Rat-race%20~Living%20Successfully.pdf?dl=0
Parsha Beha'alotecha 5777
Small-Business Guru, Michael Gerber, says that one must work ON his business, rather than IN his business. Author Napoleon Hill, after a decade of research, says that all successful people connected with a Higher Intelligence.
Through a teaching of the Rebbe upon Aaron's Kindling of the Menorah versus the Twelve Princes of the Tribes of Israel bring sacrifices on the altar, we will find the mystical insight and a practical road to these two secrets of success.
Trailer Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1684945018467483/
LiveFeed Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1685827895045862/
Written Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qc1yfikw54qmn02/29.%20Bamidbar%205777%20A%20Something%20Called%20Darkness%20-Transforming%20Into%20Infinite%20Light.pdf?dl=0
There is a huge difference between when your family doctor tells you that you child has a vitamin deficiency and that you need to add vegetables and vitamins to his diet than if the doctor tells you that you have high cholesterol and cholesterol plaque built up in your arteries. One demands nothing more than introducing more positive stuff into one’s life, while the other speaks of a pre-existing negative situation in our lives, which demands the work of transformation, through strict diet and vigorous exercise.
And so it is spiritually as well. However, before we speak of religious spirituality, let us speak of spirituality of good character versus character defects. There is a difference between having to develop and strengthen good character traits, versus removing pre-existing character faults. Here too, one speaks of introducing and strengthening the good, while the other speaks of a hard-earned removing of and the transformation of negative engrained character faults. Here too, the latter is far more difficult.
Now we can speak of the religious spirituality. The Torah tells us that Torah-study and commandment-observance brings blessings into our life. When we feel that we are lacking in blessings, we add on in our Torah-study, commandment-observance and acts of goodness and kindness to our fellow. However, there are times that we aren’t merely suffering from the absence of G-d’s blessings. Rather, we are dealing with the reality of true darkness and negativity in our lives.
Last week the Torah told us that if we walk in G-d’s statutes we will receive G-d’s blessings. Then the Torah goes on to say, “And if you despise My statutes and reject My ordinance… I will order upon you shock, consumption, fever, and diseases that cause hopeless longing and depression… I will set My attention against you…” There is a difference between not doing G-d’s commandments out of laziness and weakness and of actively despising and rejecting G-d’s commandments.
Thus, we speak here of a darkness that is the absence of light, and of a darkness which is a something, an existence of its own, outside of being the absence of light. In turn, we speak of an experience of darkness that is the absence of blessings, and we speak of an experience which is the presence of a dark curse.
In this lecture, we are going to explore the transformation of the latter Darkness into the highest form of light.
Trailer: https://www.facebook.com/TheJewishMind/videos/1795808540435937/
LiveFeed Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1682980775330574/
Written Notes Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/uibdhp0ahg65uf0/28.%20Behar-Bechukosai%205777%20-Lets%20Make%20Lots%20of%20Money%20-Turning%20the%20Mystical%20Key%20to%20Extreme%20Wealth.pdf?dl=0
I cannot count the amount of times that I sit with individuals who are baffled by the fact that regardless of how hard they try, how much effort they put into the perfect business plan and how much Torah-study and mitzvot they take upon themselves in order to receive G-d’s financial blessings, and they still remain stuck under the roof and blockage of poverty. It literally seems like they simply do not have G-d’s blessings for parnassa, sustenance, G-d forbid. I sit before them, time after time, and pray for G-d to guide my words of advice so that they be able to turn the mystical and/or practical key to unlock their blessings for wealth.
There are times that the guidance I receive is to bring them down to earth to do the practical physical work, rather, than hide behind spiritual issues. Once a Mr. B in Crown Heights wrote to the Rebbe that his materials are consistently being stolen from his van, and that he put a charity pushka, a mezuzah and Torah Book in his car, and the van is still being broken into to. The Rebbe responded, “Change the locks to the van!” Yes, sometimes a rabbi’s job is to pull a person back down to earth. Other times the guidance I receive is to speak of a commitment of Torah and Mitzvot, whether it be Torah-study, Tefillin or Shabbat. However, there are those times when it seems that this isn’t an effort issue, neither of the physical or spiritual level. There seems to simply be a mazal issue of G-d’s blessings being blocked from the recipient.
Based on a mystical teaching of the Rebbe, delivered on this Shabbat in 1966, we are going to explore how to turn the mystical key to unlocking extreme physical wealth in our lives.
Trailer: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10155154965193257/
LiveFeed Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1677381149223870/
Written Notes Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9tbf9mshb987y0m/26.%20Acharie-Kedoshim%205777%20-May%20The%20Force%20Be%20With%20You%20-Letting%20G-ds%20Blessing%20Into%20Your%20Life.pdf?dl=0
To introduce the modern issue that we will be talking about today I want to share with you a story. Once there was a fine, pious and extremely poor Jew, who everyday would pray with tears and deep begging of G-d that he win the lottery. The hearts of the angels melted every day from this man’s prayers. Finally, one day, they could take it no more, and they turned to G-d and asked, “G-d, why do you not grant this man his prayers?” To which G-d answered, “I would, if only he stopped noodging!”
For those who are not familiar with the Yiddish terminology noodging, here is the definition from wordsmith.com: From Yiddish nudyen (to pester, bore), from Polish nudzic. The word developed a variant spelling 'nudge' under the influence of the English word 'nudge'. A cousin of this word is nudnik (a boring pest).
What is this metaphorical story telling us? What secret does it contain for us to understand why our prayers aren’t being answered? What do we need to change about the way we pray, in order to have them answered?
This lecture is going to explore precisely the answer to these questions, based upon a mystical teaching of the Rebbe, delivered on this Shabbat in 1964.
LiveFeed Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1680150092280309/
Written Notes Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5att7sirzi88z3d/27.%20Emor-Lag%20B%27Omer%205777_%20For%20The%20Power%20of%20Love%20~Experiencing%20the%20Magic.pdf?dl=0
Have you been abducted by the love-farce of Hollywood? It has been said that Adobe PhotoShop-ed pictures of models have given both men and women a false expectation of human beauty, and has falsely defined what we expect our self and/or spouse to look like. Well, so too, Hollywood has given us a false expectation of what our relationships and love life is supposed to look like.
What is the true spiritual power of love that we can expect from our relationships? Are there different levels of love that we can expect, dependent on different levels of our investment of energy, time, mind and heart? If so, what are these different levels of love, and what investment does each demand of us?
This lecture is going to take us to a story of the great composer of the holy Zohar, and from it we will have a true insight to the power of love, and how to experience its magic in our lives.
LiveFeed Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1677381149223870/
Trailer Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheJewishMind/videos/1779948822021909/
Written Notes Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9tbf9mshb987y0m/26.%20Acharie-Kedoshim%205777%20-May%20The%20Force%20Be%20With%20You%20-Letting%20G-ds%20Blessing%20Into%20Your%20Life.pdf?dl=0
To introduce the modern issue that we will be talking about today I want to share with you a story. Once there was a fine, pious and extremely poor Jew, who everyday would pray with tears and deep begging of G-d that he win the lottery. The hearts of the angels melted every day from this man’s prayers. Finally, one day, they could take it no more, and they turned to G-d and asked, “G-d, why do you not grant this man his prayers?” To which G-d answered, “I would, if only he stopped noodging!”
For those who are not familiar with the Yiddish terminology noodging, here is the definition from wordsmith.com: From Yiddish nudyen (to pester, bore), from Polish nudzic. The word developed a variant spelling 'nudge' under the influence of the English word 'nudge'. A cousin of this word is nudnik (a boring pest).
What is this metaphorical story telling us? What secret does it contain for us to understand why our prayers aren’t being answered? What do we need to change about the way we pray, in order to have them answered?
This lecture is going to explore precisely the answer to these questions, based upon a mystical teaching of the Rebbe, delivered on this Shabbat in 1964.
LiveFeed Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1674695239492461/
Trailer Link: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10155129803888257/
Written Notes Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/q4ukb9w9ieft6xl/25.%20Tazria-Metzorah%205777%20-How%20To%20Get%20Engaged%20To%20Be%20Married.pdf?dl=0
Are you single, looking to get married? Are you in a relationship that seems to be the perfect choice for life, but you are still not engaged to be married?
Here is an unexpected question for you. Do you want to get married without even being engaged? After all, why just waste even more time with an engagement period before getting married? Just set a marriage date and get straight away married!
Many people feel that the primary reason for delaying getting married is FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). Even when the boy and the girl say that they are certain about each other, that the other is the right one who they want to spend the rest of their lives with, yet, nevertheless, they are procrastinating, pushing, what they agree to be the inevitable, off for a little longer. Why?
Financial stability is a big excuse that I get to hear very often. However, I am not really sure that I understand it. The couple is living together, sharing the financial burden together, living already as what is a marital relationship on all levels, and yet, it would be irresponsible to get married now, before there is financial stability?! I mean, if they were to say that they will get married now, but don’t want to have children until they have financial stability, now, that would be a different conversation. However, why would postponing a marriage because of financial stability make sense for two people who are already emotionally and financially –unofficially-- married anyway?
This lecture is going to explore the mystical concepts of Kiddushin (Betrothal; Engagement) and Nesuin (Marriage) in Judaism. What we learn from these mystical teachings is that the only way to get from single-life into being married, even if you already are in a long-term monogamous relationship is to first leave single-life into being engaged, betrothed.
Amazingly enough, even though a monogamous relationship, when it is not only sexually monogamous, but emotionally monogamous as well, seems to have all the ingredients of an engagement, minus the ring, there is an infinite separation between being betrothed and in being in a monogamous relationship.
Thus, in this lecture we will learn that the secret of how to get from a monogamous relationship to a marriage is through becoming engaged on a spiritual level.
Trailer Class: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1664481150513870/
LiveFeed: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1665142947114357/
Written Class: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bd1syamsvm08lt5/24.%20Tzav%20-%20HaGodol%205777%20-Finite%20Seeds%20for%20an%20Infinite%20Harvest%20-Living%20Within%20the%20Blessings.pdf?dl=0
Finite Seeds for an Infinite Harvest ~Living within the blessing
All of creations are either completely celestial, and thus infinite, or completely terrestrial, and therefore finite. This is why the body and the soul of all of creations were created simultaneously, through one utterance of G-d. For example, when G-d said, “Let the earth give forth living animals,” the earth gave forth a living animal.
It is only concerning the human that G-d had changed the format. G-d separately formed the body out of earth and then separately blew the soul of life into the body.
The “Orach Chaim HaKodosh,” explains that man was also created as a living person, and the soul that G-d later blew into his nostrils was the Nefesh HaSicli, the Intellectual Soul. In the teachings of Chassidus we would define this as Adam originally being created with his Animalistic Soul, the life-force of the cells and organs of the body, including the brain as it serves as the life-center, nerve-center, and the motor to the body. Then G-d breathed into mankind a piece of Himself, a piece of G-d, which is the G-dly Soul.
Actually, until this very day it works the same way. The Animalistic Soul is the soul that the child is born with, while the G-dly Soul enters into the person in stages, and is completely within the child for a boy at the age of 13 and for a girl at the age of 12. This is why the sages say that the Animalistic Soul, which is the drive of the egocentric Evil Inclination says to the G-dly Soul, which is the drive of the selfless Good Inclination, “My contract [of submission of the person] is [dated] first!”
The outcome of the human having an infinite celestial soul and a finite terrestrial body is what the sages describe as, “With three ways man is compared to an angel, and with three ways to an angel.” The practical issue that this creates within the person is the Infinite Struggle.
The finite human has infinite aspirations. The human is the only living creature on earth that has an innate need to create an eternal legacy, which defies the grave in which his finite body shall be put to rest. The human being is the only creature that is plagued with a feeling of futility, which most often surfaces in full blossom in what we call a midlife crises. At the heart of this is the human’s being incapable of finding purpose and fulfillment in the Animal Kingdom’s life of, Eat, Don’t be eaten and Procreate. The soul of the human is infinite and eternal, and wants to express this in its finite experience here on earth.
In this lecture we are going to explore how to fulfill our innate irrepressible need to create an infinite eternal legacy.
If you have any questions or comments on this lecture please email Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc at TheJewishMind@icloud.com.
Trailer Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheJewishMind/videos/1736572779692847/
Audio Link: https://soundcloud.com/hachaim/23-vayikra-5777-top-of-the-seventh-when-g-d-and-we-become-one
LiveFeed Link: Will be posted
Written Notes Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6r9kz13cb3g24ed/23.%20Vayikra%205777%20-Top%20of%20the%20Seventh%20-When%20G-d%20and%20We%20Become%20One.pdf?dl=0
Parsha Vaikra 5777: Top of the Seventh ~When G-d and We Become One (based primarily on d”h Hachoidesh Hazeh Lochem (II), 5726)
In a conversation with a woman, discussing the feeling of being protected and of losing that feeling, the woman shared with me the precise moment of when she for the first time in her life felt unprotected, vulnerable, and afraid. The woman went on to tell me that she has never recovered that feeling of sureness and protection ever since. For this specific woman, it happened after a ski accident, when she was in a leg cast, on crutches, and while walking as such down the stairs, she fell down the staircase. At that very moment she looked up into her husband’s eyes, and said, “I lost it.” Not understanding what his wife meant, he just pushed aside what she said with soothing words of, “It’s okay… etc.” She responded with, “No. You don’t understand. I lost my Guardian Angel…”
Many of us may not be able to pinpoint the exact moment that we lost our feeling of being protected, and many of us may have never had the feeling of being unconditionally protected by a Higher Power in the first place. What is important for this lecture, however, is the latter feeling, of not being unconditionally protected by a Higher Power.
In my book, The Gift of Sin, which will be in print, G-d willing, shortly, I speak of the first such human experience when Cain responds to G-d saying (-Genesis 4:14), “Behold You have driven me today off the face of the earth, and I shall be hidden from before You, and I will be a wanderer and an exile in the land, and it will be that whoever finds me will kill me." The discussion there is of the effect of sin on mankind. This lecture isn’t about the effect of sin, rather, the lecture explores the personal experience of feeling blessed and protected by G-d in everything that we do.
The Reichmann family is a Canadian family best known for their property empire built through the Olympia and York Company. Being quite an affluent family, people often sought their advice and their ‘secrets’ to success. Once at a wedding two of the Reichmann brothers were sitting at a table, and a man was pestering one of the brothers to share his ‘secret’ to success. The other brother couldn’t take it anymore and replied, “It is 97% mazal (luck) and 3% intellect!” To which the first brother then added on, “And all that we do is pray that the 3% of intellect should not get into the way of the 97% of mazal…”
What paralyzes the majority of the population from the pursuit of happiness is precisely the 97% of luck that it takes to become successful. You see, if one accepts that it takes 97% mazal, and at the same time believes that they don’t have any mazal, then they are paralyzed of even beginning their pursuit.
In this lecture, we are going to uncover how to bring mazal into our lives, and how to bring the tangible feeling of being unconditionally loved, blessed, and protected by G-d into our lives.
Trailer Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheJewishMind/videos/1729321953751263/
LiveFeed Link: To Be Posted
Written Notes Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/v06dfk5r9xcnt2m/22.%20VaYakhel-Pekudei-HaChoidesh%205777%20-Effort%20vs.%20Faith%20-Getting%20Out%20of%20G-d%27s%20Way.pdf?dl=0
In this lecture, we will be exploring a fundamental conflict that people of faith deal with in their practical relationship with G-d. I am not speaking of religious people in particular, but of people of faith in a Higher Power, Who rules heaven and earth together with all that happens to them in their day-to-day lives.
The paradox is that of Effort versus Faith. This question expresses itself sometimes in our confusion concerning our prayers and G-d’s answers. How often have I been asked by people if there is a time to accept that G-d is answering their prayers with a, “No?” The question is whether we are to continue with our effort of praying and to continue in our effort of working towards our goals, or whether we should consider that G-d has answered us, “No,” and that we should accept G-d’s answer.
This question is such a deep one, and lay at the core of our faith in G-d and in G-d’s relationship with us. I have explored this question in a series of lectures on prayer titled, “Talking, Listening and a Two-way Conversation.”
In this lecture, we will be exploring a different angel of the question of Hishtadlut (Effort) versus Emunah (Faith).
Thus, this lecture is going to explore how far the necessity of our Precious Effort goes, and when it is time to get out of G-d’s way with Perfect Faith.
LiveFeed [Part I] Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1653696318259020/
LiveFeed [Part II] Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1653696318259020/
Written Notes Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/20.%20Tetzaveh%205777%20-The%20Rock%20of%20Moses%20-Subduing%20the%20Rebellion%20Within.pdf
Faith teaches us that everything that happens is for the good, even when we are suffering. The Talmud (-Berochos, 54a) states, “Just as one blesses [G-d] for the good [experiences that happen in their life], so too, one [must] bless for the bad.” This ruling means that one must receive suffering with joy. The reason for this is that ultimately faith dictates that G-d is good, and that everything which G-d does is for the good.
However, the Talmud goes on to tell us that there is a different blessing made for when we have a good experience happen to us than the blessing we make when we have a bad experience happen to us. For the good experience we say, “Blessed be Who is good and does good,” while for a bad experience we say, “Blessed be the true judge.” Thus, even though our faith teaches us to accept suffering with joy, just as we accept good occasions with joy, however, good occasions are sweet, while bad occasions remain bitter.
Is there then a way through which to transform the very bitterness of suffering into the sweetness of goodness?
In the Book of Exodus (-15:22-26) we are told of how the Jewish people in the desert arrived at waters which were too bitter to drink. Moses prayed to G-d, and G-d taught Moses how to transform the bitter waters into sweet waters. Can we too perform this transformation?
In this lecture, through studying the Rebbe’s mystical teachings upon this week’s reading of the laws of the Parah Adumah –Red Cow we will learn how to do more than just accept suffering with joy, and how to reveal the sweet waters within the bitter waters in life.
Trailer Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheJewishMind/videos/1710814885601970/
LiveFeed Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1653696318259020/
Written Nots Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/20.%20Tetzaveh%205777%20-The%20Rock%20of%20Moses%20-Subduing%20the%20Rebellion%20Within.pdf
Transformation is a beautiful thing. It is something we all yearn for, to transform into that prince or princess who we know we are, if we can just slay all the dragons we face within ourselves. We all wish that there could be this Fairy G-dmother, who with a twirl of her wand would bring forth our objective mind, our kind heart and our beautiful personality, which all lay beneath the rags and bruises inflicted upon us by our witch of a stepmother, figuratively speaking.
For those of you who didn’t grow up on Disney movies, and are more scientifically inclined, for you it might be a pill or a metaphysical liposuction surgery, instead of a Fairy G-dmother. However, the desire is the same, transform me, and wake me up when you finish! But life doesn’t work as such, at least not for the most of us.
As a matter-a-fact, I read this medical report concerning the effects of NDE’s, which stands for Near Death Experience, and research has proven that NDE’s at large do not cause lasting changes. The wild driver in an NDE car crash will not long endure a change to lawful and considerate driving, unless he takes upon himself to make a life-change of the educational variety, where he studies and works daily on internalizing the free gift of life he was just given, and works daily on subduing his reckless and selfish Mr. Hyde.
And this is precisely what this lecture is all about, Subduing the Rebellion Within.
In the language of Kabbalah and Chasidus the word for Transformation is Ishapcha, and the word for Subduing is Iskafya.
In this lecture we are going to explore two of the most beautiful garments of the Kohain Godol -the High Priest, which are the Eiphod Apron, and the Choishain Breastplate. On both of these garments there were precious stones, upon which the names of the Twelve Tribes of the Children of Israel were engraved, and yet, each in a very different manner. Through the mystical exploration of the differences between these two garments we will learn of the differences between the necessary hard road of Iskafya, and the destiny of Ishapcha.
Shalom!
This is Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc with another great lecture bringing the timeless teachings of the Rebbe to solutions to modern day issues.
This week's Parsha tells us of Moses' building campaign, gathering funds to build the Tabernacle in the desert.
In 1975 the Rebbe delivered a maamor exploring the mystical meanings behind the three different types of donations that were given.
Through this maamor we reveal how to have a wholesome relationship.
So, listen, enjoy and make it happen!
Trailer Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheJewishMind/videos/1702556566427802/
Live Feed Video Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1651254451836540/
Written Notes Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/19.%20Terumah%205777%20-Let%27s%20Get%20Physical%20-Because%20ity%20is%20the%20spiritual%20thing%20to%20do.pdf
Live Feed Link: https://www.facebook.com/TheLighthouseProjectMiami/videos/1648738865421432/
Trailer Link: https://www.facebook.com/avrohom.lipszyc/videos/10154925032308257/
Written Notes Link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/18.%20Mishpatim%205777%20-Counting%20the%20Uncountable-%20Ward%20Off%20the%20Envious%20Powers%20of%20the%20Evil%20Eye.pdf
Shalom,
I am Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc, and this week I will once again bring the solutions of the timeless mystical teachings of the Rebbe to modern life issues.
This Shabbat we will be taking out two Torah scrolls from the holy ark, and in the second one we will be reading the portion of the Half Shekel.
G-d commanded Moses to take a census of the Jewish people. However, G-d warns Moses that by counting the number of the Jewish people Moses will be opening the Jewish people up to the envious powers of the Evil Eye, the Ayin Horaah. Therefore, G-d commands Moses to not directly count the Jewish people, but rather, that each Jew should give a Half Shekel coin, and then Moses should count the coins, rather than the people.
In this lecture, which is based on a maamor that the Rebbe delivered in 1966, we are going to explore the gift of being counted, and the secret of how to ward off the envious Ayin Horaah.
So, listen to the class, enjoy and make it happen.
Link to Trailer: https://www.facebook.com/TheJewishMind/videos/1684241958259263/
Link to Written Notes (available until March 15, 2017, after which you can request them at TheJewishMind@icloud.com): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/17.%20Yithro%205777%20-Because%20My%20Insides%20Don%E2%80%99t%20Feel%20the%20Way%20Your%20Outsides%20Look%20-Reconciling%20Ourselves.pdf
THE JEWISH MIND’s pursuit to have modern life issues meet with the timeless wisdom of Judaism demands that we embrace that modern life issues are experienced differently by people. Thus, while the entire human race holistically is touched by each of its member’s issues, however, some issues will resonate with some stronger than others. The primary purpose of these lectures is therefore for each of us to learn to identify with the underlying core issue, rather than, identifying with how we each experience differently the same issue. The core issue that we are dealing with here is precisely of how we resonate with other peoples’ projections of their experiences.
Let us understand this core issue of modern life. To internally resonate with how other people project themselves and their experiences is to subject ourselves to the confusion of, “Why don’t my insides feel like the way your outsides look.”
It is amazing how people who don’t fundamentally trust other people, and yet they fall prey to the naiveté of believing that other people truly believe in themselves just the way they project themselves to. It is amazing to see how many people believe what other people say or show about themselves and their lives. Let’s take the classic example of how we view our marriages in comparison to the way the other couple project the beauty, the bliss and the love of their marriage. We then fall into this deep depression, resentment, and jealousy of why the inside truth of our own marriage doesn’t look as good as the outer projection of their marriage.
The mere fact that what differs between their marriage and our marriages is only that they are better actors than we are, and that they don’t carry the truth of their marriage on their sleeves as we may, doesn’t even enter our suddenly naive minds, which otherwise never trusts anybody… In most scenarios, their marriage is on the whole neither better nor worse than ours. Both marriages have their ups and downs, their insides and their outsides. However, our sudden naiveté creates very deep sensitivities of believing that there is something terribly wrong and missing with us and with our relationships.
This lecture is going to take us to the core of why our Insides and our Outsides create different experiences of self and of life. In the process, this lecture is going to redirect us to viewing our insides in comparison to our own Outsides, rather than to other peoples’ Outsides, and then it will teach us how to reconcile our own Insides with our own Outsides.
One of the greatest challenges that people face is the struggle of us being a Divine Being having a Physical Experience. The outcome of us being primarily a Divine Being having a Physical Experience, and not being a Physical Being having a Divine Experience is in the different layers of the journey from our spiritual inspirations to our physical success. Were we to be Physical Beings having a Divine Experiences it would have been far more natural and easy to walk the practical action part of the journey to success. However, the reality, as we each know, is that we start with spiritual stirrings in our soul and metaphysical inspirations within the theater of our minds. Many then get lost in these two non-practical and non-action legs of the journey to success, never walking the road to actual success. The reason for this is precisely because we are Divine Beings having a Physical Experience, and therefore, the starting point for our journey to success is on a very spiritual plane, within the properties of our souls, and from there we must walk through the processing of our spiritual properties into our physical actions in order to acquire actual success.
This lecture is going to take us into the core omnipotence of our souls, and bring us through the most powerful properties of our souls, to which success is but a natural course of events. Then we are going to explore the necessary processing that must take place from our Divine Being-ness into our Physical Experiences in order to create actual physical success.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until March 1, 2017, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/16.%20Beshalach%205777%20-Can%20You%20or%20Will%20You%20-Walking%20the%20road%20to%20actual%20success.pdf
There is a unique difference between the person who is naturally affluent and the person who is unnaturally ‘loaded’. The difference stems within the core of their soul, in which one is the embodiment of oneness, peacefulness and calmness, and as his affluence grows, his calmness grows. For this individual, the naturally affluent person, affluence fits like a tailor-made suit. The core of the person who is unnaturally loaded is an embodiment of chaos. Every form of possession, power and responsibility is verging on becoming, The straw that broke the camel’s back, and his wealth makes him look like the individual who is wearing a suit that just doesn’t seem to properly fit him.
For the naturally affluent person every experience of growth is a blessing, true and appreciative friends grow in quantity and quality, and his own spiritual growth rises higher and higher. For the unnaturally loaded person every experience of growth is a struggle, poorly masked in a sense of false confidence. Eventually, the latter begins to come apart by the seams, the people around him begin to suffer from him, most friends begin to leave him, those who stay are a bundle of nerves victims of abuse, and the individual himself begins to turn to any of a variety of objects or activities in a futile attempt to keep it all together.
In this lecture we are going to explore why this core difference between the naturally affluent and the unnaturally loaded exist, and how to become naturally affluent.
This lecture will dive into the core difference between Jacob telling Esau, “I have everything,” and Esau telling Jacob, “I have a lot.” Which of the two is the humble paradigm? How can Jacob say, “I have everything?!” Is it even humanely possible to have everything?!
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until February 15, 2017, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/15.%20Bo%205777%20-A%20Dot%20of%20a%20Difference%20%7E%20Embracing%20Affluence%20Instead%20of%20%27Being%20Loaded%27.pdf
There is a powerful truth about mankind, that at our very core we cannot withstand the glare of honesty. There is a sobering saying amongst our sages that says, “A man knows in his soul the bitterness of his heart,” which speaks of a man knowing the truth of who he is and where he spiritually and morally stands.
In very large measure, our generation fails to live up to the generations of men who were willing to live up to their beliefs. I am not speaking of man of religiosity, but of man such as the founding fathers of America and its constitution, for example. Here were men who were true to their beliefs of inalienable rights for all mankind, and were willing to pay the price for what they believed in, whether it be when George Washington fought at war with the English, or when he stepped down after his terms of presidency.
To quote Polonius, of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “This above all: to thine own self be true.”
There are men to whom the rule of life is, “The ends justify the means,” and amongst them there are those of which the ends is no more just than the means. These are people who will continually pursue ways and means to intoxicate their conscious so as to not have to face the deterioration of their humanness, but ultimately to no avail, as dishonesty and the shame thereof shall extract its fee from their soul, casting them into fear, insecurity and paranoia.
The kernel of revolt within man begins with shame. Steadily and surely the shame of dishonesty within one’s self builds into anxiety which ultimately evolves into a paralysis that denies the individual of pursuing happiness.
In this lecture, the venomous shame of, “A man knows in his soul the bitterness of his heart,” is the issue of modernity that will meet with the healing powers of Judaism.
What we are going to learn here is that being bashful is the cure for overcoming shame.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until February 15, 2017, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/14.%20Vaeira%205777%20-Are%20You%20Ashamed%20of%20Bashful%20-Understanding%20the%20blessing%20from%20the%20curse.pdf
I am awestruck how the further that communicational technology takes us, the less clarity we have of what is true and what is not true. Today, every civilian has unprecedented footage of the frontline of combat, and every voter has at their fingertips unprecedented power of research on any candidate, and the one thing that we don’t have is clarity of truth.
The story of the Middle East is another perfect example. The world has a plethora of footage and a plethora of information, everything but clarity and truth.
How did this happen? Isn’t knowledge and transparency an innocent man’s strongest weapon of protection? And yet, communicational technology has become the worst weapon of destruction against innocence and truth. Again I ask, how did this happen?
The answer is Batman’s nemesis, The Riddler. The Riddler saw its demise nearing as truth and transparency would rob him from his game, and therefore, he hacked into the power of communication, and made its powers his. Now, instead of having unprecedented truth and transparency, we have unprecedented falsehood and misleading riddles, casting the world into an unprecedented Universal darkness, casting the story of truth and innocence further away and more untold.
If you will share with me a moment of silence now, you will hear the unnerving evil cackle of The Riddler as we discuss this. How are we to overcome this, as we watch terrorism and evil forces manipulate the minds of innocent people looking for nothing more than peace, love, tolerance and the liberty of liberalism?
The answer is Batman, better known as the Dark Knight.
What an antithetical name is at play here! A Knight is a soldier who protects the Light of innocence and goodness, while Dark is a euphemism for evil. Nevertheless, this Dark Knight is the only one who can protect us from the Riddler.
My friends, I am not speaking to you of a comic strip or a movie. Rather, I am speaking to you of the deepest mystical truth of how spirituality works.
Each and every one of us is searching for clarity and truth. It isn’t the hard work that truth demands that leaves us in depression and misery. Rather, our sages tell us (-Metzudas Dovid on Proverbs 15:30), “There is no joy in the world as that of being released from doubt.”
This depression, misery and agony of doubt has become far greater in modern times, and is leaving our youth, and the majority of the population in a paralyses of not being able to pursue happiness, for we know not in which direction to pursue it. This lecture will give clarity and guidance how to break free of The Riddler’s grip.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until January 30, 2017, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/13.%20Shemois%205777%20-Riddle%20Me%20This%2C%20Riddle%20Me%20That....%20-Deciphering%20the%20Riddle%20of%20Creation.pdf
“Feelings,” is the word that brings us at times such joy, and at times such pain. At times we feel so gifted for our frontal cortex opening up for us a plethora of feelings unavailable to any other creature in the universe, and at times, we feel so cursed by our capacity of feelings, and wish that we could be nothing more than an intellectual droid.
In the mystical teachings of Chassidus, the gift that only the human being possesses is not that of higher intelligence, but of higher feelings. The gift of the human is the Knowing Heart, in which all of his higher intelligence is translated into tangible feelings. The depth of the human journey is to bring internal peace between that of, “The mind understands that which the heart cannot feel, and the heart feels that which the mind cannot perceive.” Feelings are where the actual reality of the human experience takes place.
However, the Dark Side knows this secret, and knows of the power and manipulation that will be theirs if they can just get control over our feelings. Just ask any dishonest salesperson who looks not for the beauty of human exchange of equal benefits, but of manipulating an emotional customer to serve his sales quota for the month.
Feelings are the heaven and the hell of each and every human being. It simply depends on whether you maintain Emotional Bliss or Emotional Chaos.
In this lecture we are going to journey through the human emotions, and Find Emotional Bliss.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until January 30, 2017, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/12.%20Veyechi%205777%20-Emotional%20Bliss%20-Cleansing%20our%20feelings.pdf
In many spiritual teachings, and in the mind and hearts of many, the goal of life is to cleanse and open our hearts so that we may experience in our lifetime true love. Some have been hurt, either in their own relationships or through the divorce of their parents, and in order to protect themselves they have decided that they don’t believe in true love. Others simply don’t feel that they have the potential to experience true love, while yet others refuse to give up and live without true love in their lives, and fight the battle of humbling, cleansing and opening their hearts for true love.
Yet, what is amazing is that Kabbalah and Chassidus teach us within the heart of every Jew there lies an innate true love. However, this love is called, “The Hidden Love,” and while it exists within each and every one of our hearts, nevertheless, it is hidden within our hearts, and we do not simply feel it. There is a journey, the journey of life, which each and every one of us needs to undertake in order to be able to tangibly feel true love in our hearts.
This lecture will uncover the map to our journey for true love.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until January 15, 2017, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/11.%20Vayigash%205777%20-Where%20Is%20My%20Experience%20of%20Love%2C%20Already%20-Understanding%20why%20love%20doesn%27t%20come%20easy.pdf
This week’s and last week’s Torah-portions speak in great detail about dreams. First we read of Joseph’s two dreams of how his brother will bow to him, the first dream speaking of bundles of straw and the second dream of stars, the moon and the sun bowing to his bundle of straw and to his star. Then we have the dream of the wine-merchant with the three baskets of grapes on his head, and the baker with the three baskets of pastries on his head. Finally, we have the two dreams of Pharaoh in the first one there are the seven fat cows swallowed up by the seven skinny cows, and in the second dream the seven fat stalks swallowed up by the seven skinny stalks.
All these dreams are told in great detail, in which the details are all specific details in the message and interpretations of the dreams to its dreamer.
People react to dreams very differently, from one extreme to the other. Some see their dreams as a message, and reconfirm this by stories upon stories of how they dreamt about someone who they haven’t seen in ages, or about something they haven’t encountered in ages, and suddenly that person or thing, immediately following the dream, comes into their lives. Other people are to the far other extreme of total cynicism of trying to interpret any sort of reality out of a dream. Then there are those who cautiously are uncertain as to what their dreams mean, if there is to be any meaning at all.
What we are going to explore in this lecture is not the specifics of how to interpret dreams. Rather, we are going to present here the totality of the structure of dreams, as it is explained throughout the teachings. What is thoroughly confusing of the teachings upon dreams is that they seem to contradict themselves again and again. It is only when we have a clear picture of the structure of the world of dreams that suddenly all the teachings fall into place and complement each other. Thus, we will start by quoting the teachings from the Talmud, Zohar and other sources from our sages, experiencing the contradictions amongst them.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until December 30, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1vjk5ijclhcg6kt/10.%20Mikeitz%205777%20-Interpreting%20Dreams%20-deciphering%20the%20world%20of%20dreams..pdf?dl=0
Darkness manifests itself in the human experience in a very personal way within him and around him. From the moment that Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge, they have internalized evil, darkness and temptation within the human being. No more would some outer creature, such as the serpent, be the one to arouse within the human thoughts of temptations. Rather, from then on, the voice of temptation arise from within us. So too, the dark emotions of insecurity, fear and jealousy are not imposed upon us, but are aroused from within us. And these dark emotions and desires within us attract into our lives dark and challenging situations that we need to deal with, whether they be of the relationship, financial, or health nature.
Chanukah was the story of the Jewish people engaging, rising up to, and transforming the darkness into an unprecedented Divine Light. Ultimately, this is the reason why G-d had in His original plan that Adam and Eve would sin, and experience darkness, for the original plan was for the unprecedented Divine Light of second chances, which is all about bringing the ultimate Essence Light, which can only come out of darkness.
As you always experience with The Jewish Mind forum, first we will dive into the mystical spiritual teachings, and from there we will extrapolate the practical actions that will transform our practical daily life experience.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until December 30, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/9.%20Vayeishev%205777%20-Listen%20Darkness%20My%20Old%20Friend%20-Celebrating%20the%20Energy%20of%20Chanukah.pdf
There is so much to be said about true wealth. In Jewish teaching our sages are quoted for saying, “There is no poverty but for in the mind.” A simple way to understand this is through a story that my friend once told me about life in the Shtehtle.
So, the rich man buys a new hat for two ruble, and a year later sells the hat to a poor man for one ruble. At the end of the day, how much did each man end up spending on their hat? One ruble! However, the rich man wore a new hat, while the poor man wore a used hat.
Yes, wealth in its most practical sense is manifested in having an abundance of financial wherewithal. However, wealth is more than just an ingathering of financial means. I remember the time when they found that the beggar at the synagogue in New York who would sit there in filthy clothes suffering from malnutrition, who after he died, the authorities literally found $1,000,000 in cash in his infested rundown apartment. And such stories there are unfortunately many of. These type of stories are not the only example, for there are the examples of people who show-off their financial wealth in a most pitiful and insecure fashion. And then there are those who are so attached to each and every one of their millions of dollars, unable to help anyone with their vast wealth.
The point that I am making here is that in essence, for someone to become truly wealthy they must experience a transformation on their DNA level. No, I am not being poetic or seeking out dramatic expressions. What we are going to explore here is the spirituality of wealth. When someone undergoes a true spiritual experience they are transformed completely to the point that they are genetically different in how they experience themselves, G-d, and the world around them. Otherwise, they remain a poor person with a lot of money, and that isn’t called being wealthy.
In this lecture we explore the mystical teachings of wealth and how to obtain it.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until December 30, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/8.%20Vayishlach%205777%20-The%20Spirituality%20of%20Wealth%20-Understanding%20the%20road%20to%20richness.pdf
“Ladies first,” is what a gentleman says, however, is it what a gentleman believes?
Let’s put away the political correctness, and let me say that no one is recording our thoughts to have them suddenly appear on social media when we decide to run for president… So, please, let us both be very honest with our thoughts now.
What I have found in discussion with many men is that when a man says, “Ladies First,” they are thinking of one of two inner-beliefs, or both of them: a) The woman is the weaker sex, and needs the man’s protection. Thus, ultimately, the woman needs for the man to say to her, “Ladies first,” in order for the lady to be empowered in this Man’s World of ours in her being first. b) That the gentleman thing for a gentleman to do is to honor the woman with, “Ladies first,” and thus, this has nothing to do with whether the man truly believes that the lady is truly first with or without the man offering this to her, because, in his belief system, his offering the woman to be, “Ladies first,” has nothing to do with who the woman is in society, but rather, of his own being a gentleman in society.
The point here is that in both of these belief systems the man does not believe that the woman, in her own right, is first, higher, and more powerful than the man in our present state of the world. Yes, of course this man believes that the woman needs to be respected and has many amazing gifts, talents, and powers. However, does this man truly believe in his heart of hearts that women are superior to men, and therefore truly are in the rightful truthful G-d-given realm of, “Ladies First?” Men, hear what I am saying here. Are women, without the chivalry of the man, rightfully first, before man, built upon the woman’s superiority to man?
My research has shown that most men don’t truly believe so. They even speak of equality as a gift of the modern thinking man. Just the thought of these words doesn’t dawn upon them, “A gift…” either way, the title of this lecture is, “Ladies First -For Real!” and the definition here of, “For Real,” is that it is about a G-d-given superiority, and not a gentleman’s gift to the fairer gender.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until December 30, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/7.%20Vayeitzei%205777%20-Ladies%20First%20-For%20Real%20%20-Understanding%20the%20power%20of%20the%20woman.pdf
One of the larger issues that our generation is dealing with is the lack of fulfillment. Looking at the amount of prescriptions that are being administered for depression, including the medical prescriptions for pets for healing depression, one can understand how far-reaching this struggle for the experience of fulfillment is.
In this lecture we are going to explore Judaism’s solution for this modern day issue. We will explore a non-conventional answer to how we can truly embrace a very strong and personal sense of fulfillment. For starters, the answer may just be in the opposite direction of where many a conventional therapy solutions take us.
There is something very interesting in the medical field concerning the human nervous system. Where one experiences the pain isn’t where the pain is coming from. For example, the immense pains of kidney stones are projected to an area that isn’t where the kidneys are. The communication between the nervous system and the brain, and then back from the brain to the nerves to the body is often unconventional. So too, it is with the emotional system between the conscious mind, the subconscious mind and the soul. The communication is one that is very unconventional, and approaching it only from a conventional dictionary will leave us misunderstanding it. This is why our exploration is going to first take us into the layers within our metaphysical and spiritual psyche, so that we can track the soul’s deepest sense of fulfillment and its connection into our daily physical life.
This will be one of the most important and life-changing lectures that we will ever hear contingent upon us doing the work it guides us to do.
I want to emphasize this contingency for a moment.
Once, while I was a student shliach (emissary) of the Rebbe, of blessed memory, to Caracas, Venezuela, I met up with an Israeli who was sent there by the Israeli government to train the president of Venezuela’s security team in martial arts. After a conversation on martial arts I asked whether there is any books that can teach me martial arts. The man laughed and said, “That is the challenge for us Jews. We want to learn everything from the books. To study martial arts you need to get onto the mat!”
Actually, life has taught me that there isn’t a single thing, including spirituality, which can be learned from the book. Everything, including spirituality, can only be learned on the mat.
This is why so many self-help books offer the right information, and yet remain useless. Self-knowledge is necessary, however, desperately insufficient. Thus, once again I say to you, “This will be one of the most important and life-changing lectures that you will ever hear contingent upon you doing the work it guides you to do.”
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until December 15, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/6.%20Toldot%205777%20-Want%20To%20Make%20a%20Baby%20-Getting%20beyond%20the%20philosophy.pdf
The modern issue to be dealt with in this lecture could best be defined in the lyrics from a movie my youngest son enjoys, called, Alvin and the Chipmunks. Here are the lyrics:
'Cause you're hot then you're cold You're yes then you're no You're in then you're out You're up then you're down You're wrong when it's right It's black and it's white…
So, what is up with these bi-polar experiences that so many of us go through, often on a daily basis?! More importantly, what is the answer to this experience, to overcome it and to turn it into a positive experience of growth?
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until December 15, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/5.%20Chaya%20Sarah%205777%20-The%20Power%20of%20Israel%20%20-Getting%20beyond%20experiential%20bi-polar-ism.pdf
The modern issue that I want to have meet Judaism in this lecture is the issue of exhaustion. One of the sayings of Tony Robbins and his colleagues of motivational speakers, which most intrigues, and then alienate, people like you and I is the saying, “Have a dream that makes you want to get up in the morning!”
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until December 1, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/4.%20Vayeira%205777%20-Are%20You%20Tired%20of%20Being%20Exhausted%20-Becoming%20someone%20new.pdf
Just the sound of it, the thought of it, and then to even dare to feel it is so intriguing and so attractive. However, exhaustion has seemed to so deeply set into us once we pass the age of thirty, after which every year brings deeper exhaustion, and every decade deeper fatigue. Why is it so? Yes, the younger generations, as that of my children, growing up with idols like Larry Page, Sergey Brin (founders of Google) and Mark Zuckerberg (founder of FaceBook) living life in worn jeans and a T-shirt, with endless possibilities, it seems easier to embrace the dream that makes you want to get up in the morning. However, for my generation who wears a suit and tie to work, and who live with constant stress, anxieties, and a thick ceiling over our heads, eventually this slogan alienates us, and just breeds within us deeper resentment and exhaustion, causing waking up in the morning to get just a bit more difficult every day. The question that we will explore through the mystical teachings of Judaism is, why it is so for my generation, and the solution we will explore through the lens of Jewish mysticism is how to reorganize the seats on our generational bus, and to return to a vibrant life gifted with the priceless experience available to precisely my generation and older.
So, my fellow friends (and older), dust off those bell-bottoms and flares, and, “Let’s make life great again!”
The reason for our daily exhaustion and our fatigue of life is because we aren’t eating right, at least not on a mystical level. The answer to exhaustion and fatigue is rejuvenation, and rejuvenation comes from replenishing our energy supply. As a matter-a-fact, as life goes on replenishment isn’t enough to overcome our exhaustion of life’s grind, and our war-fatigue of life’s stress and anxieties. What is actually needed is an unprecedented lavish supplement of nourishment, unprecedented in quantity and in quality. Otherwise, exhaustion and fatigue is bound to overcome even our well-nourished souls and its energies.
Studies have shown that one out of five people suffer from loneliness. Studies show that it is a human need to have communication and connection, and that experiencing loneliness is our human-ness letting us know that it is not having its needs met.
This lecture is going to take us to the mystical teachings that reveal the source of Separation Anxieties, Abandonment Anxieties, and the feeling of Loneliness according to Judaism. Most importantly, this lecture will teach us on how to overcome and how to heal these detrimental anxieties and feelings according to the mystical teachings of Judaism.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until November 15, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/3.%20Lech%20Lecha%20-Beyond%20Connection%20-Breaking%20the%20Epidemic%20of%20Loneliness.pdf
Understanding Jewish Nirvana Let us begin by defining what Nirvana is. (a) In Buddhism: a transcendent state in which there is neither suffering, desire, nor sense of self, and the subject is released from the effects of karma and the cycle of death and rebirth. It represents the final goal of Buddhism. (b) a state of perfect happiness; an ideal or idyllic place.
Jewish Nirvana, as we will learn, is different than the Nirvana of Buddhism, or even than the state of perfect happiness. That is why, according to the teachings of Kabbalah and Chassidism, Nirvana did not take place in the first Torah-portion of Bereishit, in which Adam, Eve and all of creation were perfectly created by G-d, and were in a state of Garden of Eden. It is precisely in the second Torah-portion of Noach, in which the entire world experienced the Flood that brought about Nirvana!
Thus, the Modern Issue that meets Judaism in this lecture is that of our generation’s struggle with a state of agitation and unhappiness, and our search for a state of Nirvana. What we will discover in this lecture is that the direction to Jewish Nirvana is quite different, and in a way quite the opposite, than the direction to conventional Nirvana.
Two Teachings from the Holy Zohar Let us begin with introducing two mystical teachings from the Holy Zohar, and the mystical connection between them.
(a) ‘These are the offspring of Noach [Noach was a Tzadik –righteous man],’ (-Genesis 6:9) Opened Rabbi Chiya and said, ‘And your people, all of them righteous, -(the Zohar is defining that when the verse says that Noach was a Tzadik it is referring to every Jew)- shall inherit the land forever,’ (-Isaiah 60:21) come and see, all of Israel has a portion in the World to Come, -(as our sages teach upon this verse of Isaiah 60;20, ‘Shall inherit the land forever,’ that every Jew has a portion in the World to Come)- Why? Because they heed the covenant upon which the world exists… All who heed the covenant upon which the world stands is called a Tzadik. How do we know this? From Joseph, who heeded the covenant -(the Zohar here is referring to the covenant of the circumcision in a metaphoric way of sexual conduct, and the Zohar is referring to how Joseph overcame the temptation of the wife of his master Potiphar)- and therefore merited to be called a Tzadik. And for this [is the meaning of the verse in Isaiah] ‘And your people, all of them righteous, -(the Zohar is defining that when the verse says that Noach was a Tzadik it is referring to every Jew)- shall inherit the land forever.’
Right after this teaching the Zohar brings another teaching concerning the very first word of the verse, “These.”
b. Rabbi Eliezer said, wherever it says, ‘These [are the offspring of Noach],’ it comes to negate the prior. We learned, what does it say prior -(in the previous Torah-portion)- , ‘And a river came out of Eden to irrigate the garden, and from there it separated [into four fountainheads]…’ -(Thus, our Torah-portion of Noach beginning with, ‘These’ negate that of the, “River going out of Eden to irrigate the garden…”)-
Thus, we need to understand what these mystical teachings are saying, and what the connection between the two is.
It is through understanding this that we will find the broad highway to Jewish Nirvana.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until November 15, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/2.%20Noach%20Parsha%20Class%205777.pdf
Taking a look at the recent decades, we find people, and especially American Citizens, leaning forward, backward, to the left, and then to the right, in trying to find inner-balance. There was the hippie decade, the mercenary decade each trying to find inner-balance, which breeds inner-purpose and fulfillment. There is the rush to the physical, the spiritual, the disciplined, the free-spirited, the focused futurist, and the living in the present, each finding where their soul lives in peace.
Sadly, we also see the generation of despair, lunging forward and backward, trying to leave go of a need for meaning and purpose in order to find inner-peace. Amongst these are those who question if inner-peace even exists, or are we pawns upon a celestial chess-board or mere hamsters in a cage of some being’s entertainment.
The answer, I believe, is to be found in the Torah, and more specifically, at the very opening of Genesis, in which G-d tells us the story of creation. Amongst the wealth of mystical knowledge hidden in this story, must also lie the secret to man’s search for meaning, in which he will find the secret to obtaining inner-balance.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until October 15, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/1.%20Bereishis%205777%20-Wholesomenessv-Finding%20inner-balance.pdf
When we look for a precise example of what it means that “Happiness comes from within, and can never truly come from without,” I think that a perfect example for this would be the polar opposite experience of happiness, which is loneliness.
For starters, there is a huge difference between a loner and the feeling of loneliness. The loner doesn’t feel lonely, and often feels irritated when he can’t be alone. He or she usually work best and feels most productive when he or she is able to be alone. Loneliness, on the other hand, is the feeling experienced when one is sad and not okay in being alone.
Studies have shown that the original belief of psychologists that the internet would help relieve people from the feelings of loneliness was wrong. Their original belief was that the loneliness that is driven by an individual’s paralyzing shyness would now end. However, instead, it has now been proven that the power of anonymity within social media has a huge amount of lonely people communicating, without ever being freed from their pain of loneliness.
Let us take this a step further. Loneliness is never relieved by the presence of another. Lonely people experience loneliness even at a wedding, while sitting at a table of friends, semi-listening to their friends’ conversations.
In this lecture we are going to explore loneliness and how to overcome loneliness, from the perspective of Jewish mysticism.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until October 15, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/50.%20Nitzovim%205776-%20The%20Lonely%20Soul.pdf
In this lecture we are going to discuss what I call the Non-Medical Bipolar Disorder, where it comes from and how to overcome it. By Non-Medical Bipolar Disorder I am referring to the average person’s shifts between feeling empowered and inspired to be able to overcome all obstacles and succeed, to the weakened feeling of, you can’t fight city hall, that feeling that there are superstars amongst us, but the rest of us in reality can only achieve mediocrity.
I am clearly not talking about the medical Bipolar Disorder or Clinical Depression, which has to do with chemical imbalance and should be treated medically. This lecture is exploring why we have these sudden strong feelings of empowerment, where they come from, and how we can hold on to them, making them our natural disposition and attitude in life. In every inspirational, self-help and life-coaching book out there the emphases is on attitude, that there is the winning attitude and the losing attitude. Many of us turn to religion and spirituality for this very reason, in search of inspiration, which in other words is an attitude change.
The problem with externally suggested inspiration is that our insides are fighting this external inspiration, if for no other reason than that of the habitual patterns in our mindset, and therefore, we keep on needing to turn to the external inspiration. Eventually, the novelty of the external inspiration, which took our internal mindset by surprise, loses its novelty and its power over the decades of our engrained mindset.
Thus, we must not rely on the external inspiration to carry us through the long-term overhaul of self. Rather, the external inspiration is but a shovel handed to us in order to dig deep within ourselves in order to find our inner-wellspring of empowerment, inspiration, and winning attitude.
It is precisely this inner-wellspring, and the earth that covers it up, that we are going to explore. It is precisely the shovel and the digging that uncovers this inner-wellspring, bringing it to our day-to-day life surface that we are going to define in this lecture, based on the mystical teachings of Judaism.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until October 15, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/49.%20Ki%20Thavo%20Parsha%20Class%205777.pdf
There is a very defining verse in the book of Job (-5:7) that reads, “Because man is born for trouble, but flying creatures fly upward.” Rashi, the classic commentator of the 11the Century, explains the verse as, “Because man is born for trouble: For it is impossible that he should not sin and receive trouble as punishment for sin. He is not like the flying creatures-the angels and spirits-who fly upward, and are not of the earthly creatures (other editions read: fly upward so as not to be among the earthly creatures), over whom the Adversary and temptation rule.”
Many define the word l’omal to mean hard work, rather than as trouble, however, the content is the same. The key words here are, “over whom the Adversary and temptation rule.” Thus, the meaning behind hard work or trouble for which man was born speaks of the inner-war that the person must wage against his inner-Adversary and inner-temptations that must be conquered, stripped naked and transformed.
This raging battle is a lifetime’s war, as our sages teach (-Ethics of Our Fathers Chapter 2, Mishna 4), “Do not believe in yourself until the day you die.” To emphasize this point, the Talmud (-Brochot 29a) point this teaching towards Yochonan the High Priest, who, “For lo, Yochonan the High Priest officiated as High Priest for eighty years and in the end he became a Min (one who did not fallow the Oral Law).”
To appreciate this we must understand that a High Priest who entered into the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur and was not worthy of doing so would die in the Holy of Holies. Yochonan the High Priest entered and exited safely the Holy of Holies eighty times! And, nevertheless, he ended up succumbing to the inner-war, and fell victim to his inner-Adversary and inner-temptations…
Thus, this life of battle, which is mandated of each and every one of us, from the holiest High Priest to the simplest Water Carrier, seems to be telling us that there is no rest for the weary and no inner-peace for the moral.
This lecture is going to explore this lifetime of battle, its purpose, and how to find inner-peace while waging it.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until September 15, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/48.%20Ki%20Seitzei%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
I am one of three siblings. My older brother was born 16 months before me, and my sister seven years after me. My brother and I are as different as night and day. He is blessed with social skills, a keen understanding of the authority hierarchy, and how to play them. Me, not so. Therefore, I spent my most formative years being asked again and again, “Why can’t you be like your older brother?!” Being brought up in a generation when kids were to be seen and not heard, all I could do was to yell at the top of my imaginary voice, “Because I am not my brother! I am me!” Eventually, I took the rule of kids are to be seen to heart, and starting acting out in order to be seen.
When a child feels unaccepted by his primary caretakers, educators, and what he perceives as all of society, he learns that the alternative to being loved and accepted is to be resented, and thus, he sets upon being resented by society. Some take this to the extreme and end up having run-ins with the law. But for by the grace of G-d, I was spared any permanent dealings with the law, but did the darn best that I could in being resented by a system who refused to accept me, by the authorities who just wanted me to be like my older brother, and by would-be-friends who I wouldn’t give a chance to choose to resent me, because I instead forced upon them to resent me.
The fact is that I am but one of a huge percentage of a large population. And, it is for this one percent within each of us that this lecture is going to explore the “Murder, She Wrote,” of our well-intentioned primary caretakers and educators, and with this, this lecture will give clear guidance in how to resurrect ourselves from this unintentional murder, and to go on and fully live the life of who G-d created us to be.
If you have any questions or comments on this lecture please email Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc at TheJewishMind@icloud.com.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until September 15, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/47.%20Shoftim%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
This Shabbat and Sunday are the two days of Rosh Chodesh (beginning of a month) of the Jewish calendar month of Elul. Elul is the final month of the Jewish annual cycle, bringing us straight to Rosh Hashanah -The Jewish New Year. This month is called in Jewish Law and in Jewish Mysticism as the Month of Compassion. I remember hearing the Rebbe, of righteous memory, talking about the concept of compassion, in which the Rebbe explained that a person’s point of reference for compassion is their mother’s compassion towards them. Then the Rebbe became emotional and asked, “But what of the child who lost his mother at a very young age, and doesn’t have that point of reference? What point of reference does the child have through which to understand and embrace G-d’s compassion and this month of G-d’s compassion?”
My friends, for the life of me I cannot remember the Rebbe’s answer, for I became completely absorbed in the Rebbe’s question, and lost my train of thought in following what the Rebbe was saying. I want to use this experience to dive into a human condition that is growing in momentum, that of the transgender.
However, first, I want to make a very clear disclaimer: I am not discussing the legal aspects of becoming a transgender according to Jewish Law. For that, please consult a competent rabbi on the Jewish Law concerning this transformation, and concerning how the Jewish Law views a transgender post-op concerning their gender, etc. This lecture is discussing what I believe to be the underlying spiritual, mental and emotional aspects of a person’s feeling that he is a transgender. In order to stay focused in a simple manner, we will be exploring the male-to-female transgender, from which you can extrapolate how this would apply to a female-to-male transgender.
All I am asking is that the audience let go of any phobias, bias, and close-mindedness so that we may enter into the spiritual world and see the beauty of what is taking place in our generation, and how to manifest it in the healthy, kosher and beautiful manner, of which G-d intended this experience to be.
If you have any questions or comments on this lecture please email Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc at TheJewishMind@icloud.com
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until September 15, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/46.%20Re%27eh%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
I want to talk about how both sides of the political isle have sadly bastardized the divine selfless experience of compassion into a subhuman political selfish experience of compassion. One side of the isle is accusing the other side’s infinity to liberal compassion as the crutch of eternal enabling, while the second side fires back at the right-wing’s tyrannical lack of compassion as being with the intention to suppress the lower-class. From a spiritual perspective, both are embracing anything but G-d’s beautiful gift of compassion.
Our sages of mysticism build their introspective search to understand G-d and G-d’s universe upon the verse (-Genesis 1:27), “And G-d created man in His image; in the image of G-d He created him,” which leads to the teaching (-Tanchumah, Pekudei 3; Avot d’R’ Nosson, Chapter 31), “The human is the microscopic universe,” which logically concludes with (-Job 19:26), “And from my flesh I see G-d,” explained in Chassidism to mean that when I see and understand my inner-makings I see G-d.
Thus, let us turn within ourselves to see from hence comes this bastardization of compassion within the macroscopic world. Even more so, let us truly turn introspective and see how we experience compassion within ourselves for ourselves, and understand what Self-compassion is all about.
This is the specific human condition that we are going to deal with today, because so many struggle with the divine concept of self-compassion, confusing it with the negative experience from the ‘other-side’ of sitting on the pity-pot and of victimhood.
In this lecture we will see that self-compassion is how the soul reaches its greatest heights, and is the very reason why the soul descended into this world. In the soul’s previous perfect environment of heaven the soul couldn’t have tangible self-compassion, and therefore the soul could not enter into the ultimate heights of communion with G-d. This is why the soul left heaven and descended into this world, In order to truly be able to experience self-compassion. However, the gift of self-compassion comes with the slippery challenge of victimhood. The intention of this lecture is to clarify the difference between the two, and to present the meditation and the state of mind that leads to self-compassion.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until September 15, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/45.%20Eikev%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
The Talmud states that a person would rather have one measurement of his own than nine measurements of another’s. Another teaching states that in Egypt we ate, “Bread of Shame,” and only once we received the Torah, and with it a Cause and Effect relationship with G-d, that, “If in My statutes you will walk and I will give your rains…,” have we begun to eat Bread of Honor. These teachings lend to our relationship with G-d being one of earning our keep, and with this, prayer would become one of bargaining with G-d over what we have earned.
However, what we will discover in this lecture is that prayer is anything but bargaining. It is where we open ourselves up to G-d’s grace.
Now, true, the Talmud is speaking to us of self-worth, which comes through earning our keep, through responsibility and accountability, and not through receiving unearned kindness. If so, why is prayer all about asking for G-d’s grace? Webster’s definition of grace is, “unmerited divine assistance.” Chassidic teachings tell us that while studying G-d’s Torah we are as a student before our Teacher, and with prayer we are as a child before our Father, pointing out the beauty of our relationship with G-d that is exclusively found through prayer. Why is prayer so intimate and beautiful if it turns to G-d for, “unmerited assistance,” which we just defined as, “Bread of Shame?”
This leads us to the concept that we will be exploring through the Modernity Meets Judaism of this lecture.
Many people work consciously on building true self-value and self-respect. We work with focus on ripping away co-dependence and on cutting down our reaction to external validation or depreciation. Only, to then once again have the air taken out of our sails by some unexpected event or comment.
How does one find true infallible self-worth?
In this lecture we will find the ultimate self-worth, which will stand up to any and every attack made by the insecurity, fear, pain, or evil intentions of others or of self.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until September 1, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/44.%20Va%27Eschanan%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
Many view life as being made up from positive or negative events, however, in truth, life is made up of positive or negative energies. While there are sweet and bitter events, it is our energy in which we receive it and react to it that will create whether it is a positive or a negative event. The famous Torah-event that exemplifies this concept is the story of Joseph. The story doesn’t read as just a negative journey with a positive outcome. Rather, the story is all about Joseph’s positive energy manifesting itself in every environment he is in, bringing blessing, warmth and light to all those who encounter him during his journey.
Thus, the issue that we are here to discuss today is an issue that defines the difference between those who embrace democracy’s opportunity to pursue happiness, and between those who are still using the gift of democracy to just run away from past persecution.
I want to spend a moment and emphasize the difference between the two paradigms of democracy.
Successful people aren’t running away from a negative past. Now, I didn’t say rich people aren’t running away from a negative past, I said that successful people aren’t running away from a negative past, for by definition, success isn’t running from, but existing within. Allow me to explain that.
Whether one is in a negative experiences or whether one is running away from a negative experience, he is living within the grip of a negative experience, and his present situation is being defined for him by a negative experience.
Rabbi Yoseph Yitzchok of Lubavitch relates how as a child in cheder (Torah elementary school) his teacher told him that it is better to be outside looking into the classroom, than it is to be in the classroom looking outside. And so it is with our discussion. Better to be outside of ‘success’ looking into it, being absorbed with success, and living within the interest of success, than living within the ‘success’ always looking out the window, being obsessed and living in anxieties of poverty and need.
Thus, the gift of democracy isn’t about finding happiness, as much as it is to be able to stop running from purgatory and to start pursuing happiness.
In this lecture we will be exploring how to stop running from negativity, how to become immune to negativity, and how to achieve happiness. We will first discuss the mystical teachings of what Adam and Eve brought to the world through eating from the Tree of Knowledge, and how to get beyond what Jewish mysticism refers to as the Bite of the Serpent, referring to the serpent’s persuasion upon Eve.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until September 1, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lsz5pm8iheh4wku/43.%20Devarim%205776%20Parsha%20Class.doc?dl=0
There are great struggles in our journey to life, and not just struggles, but failures. And while there are some great quotes about failure being strengthening and revision, and while it is true that the greatest success stories of the most successful people began with failures, bankruptcy, and ridicule, nevertheless, for some of us failures don’t turn into determination, but into blockage, a blockage that we can’t seem to penetrate.
Now, we can debate whether all people were created equal or not until we are blue in the face, but this forum focuses not on debates but on solutions. And as far as solutions are concerned, the fundamental focus here is upon the teachings of, “According to the camel is the burden,” and “The Holy One, blessed be He, does not deal imperiously with his creatures.” Thus, regardless of the nature or nurture that one is born with or into, everyone is capable of making sure that their struggles and failures do not define themselves as impenetrable blockages in their life.
this lecture will first afford us self-knowledge of life’s journey, and its struggles and failures that must be endured. Thereafter, this lecture will give concrete guidance based upon this self-knowledge. However, in the final analysis, we will have to actually travel the 42 sojourns of life’s journey, empowered by this self-knowledge and guidance. And thus, this lecture will guide us through the fundamental principle of the forty-two journeys of life, if you are willing to travel the journey of life. Know, my friends, that nothing in the history of mankind has been accomplished without someone taking to journey to accomplish it.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until August 15, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/42.%20Mattos-Massei%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
People turn to spirituality for inner-peace and fulfillment. Something deep within us knows that our pursuit for happiness will never be fulfilled in just the physical realm of our being alone. Inner-peace and fulfillment demands wholesomeness in our pursuit, and our wholesomeness can only be achieved through embracing both dimensions of our being, our soul and our body, our physical and our spiritual. When we are overly absorbed in just our physical pursuits we feel emptiness, and thus, we turn to spirituality for inner-peace and fulfillment.
The question we need to ask is what should we do when spirituality doesn’t bring us the inner-peace and fulfillment that we seek for? Which then leads us to the question of why would spirituality not bring us inner-peace and fulfillment? Isn’t that the missing link in our life in fulfilling the purpose of why we are here?
But then again, didn’t our soul have all the spirituality it could have asked for when it was in heaven, before it descended into this world when we were each born? Well then, obviously, our soul was in pursuit for happiness, inner-peace and fulfillment, and came here to find it!
In this lecture we will explore the soul’s pursuit for happiness and fulfillment, and why it reincarnated itself on earth again within our present life to find it. Most importantly, we will discover how to help our soul achieve its fulfillment in our present reincarnation.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until August 15, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/41.%20Pinchas%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
The human soul is built for love, to receive love and to give love. Well, if the human being was built for love, then love should be a simple journey for the human soul, and yet it isn’t. Why?
True Love is an art, and like with every art, True Love takes mastering specific disciplines, time, and continuous practice and work. It is so for the very same reason that all and any art demands this. The reason is that true art comes from inside, and G-d created the human soul with the complexity of layers upon layers of self. The conception of true art must find its way out, passing through each layer, donning and expressing itself in a sober way within the language of each layer, until it can sanely reach outside, onto its best suited medium for the art. And all the while, the process of emergence and transformation must remain loyal to the original conception of the art. Otherwise, it isn’t true art anymore.
And so it is, with True Love. True Love must come from, and must reach into the inner-core essence of the human soul. However, the process of emergence of one’s True Love for another human from his inner-core essence, and the submergence of allowing the True Love of another human to reach into our inner-core essence is the process of true art. When done right it brings us to the depths of fulfillment and wholeness, and when done wrong it creates a depth of discord within us. Thus, while the human soul was built for True Love, True Love for a human soul is no simple journey.
This lecture is going to take us through the layers of the human soul, which, as the verse states, “G-d created man in His image; in the image of G-d He created him.” (-Genesis 1:27) According to the mystical teachings the image of G-d that G-d is referring to (even though G-d has no image) is the image of the ineffable Tetragrammaton name of G-d, as the four letters are manifested in the Ten Emanations, which G-d created, through which to have a relationship with His finite creations. As we travel through these four layers of the human soul, we will leave a path through which True Love can emerge unto others, and can submerge from others.
True Love is real and is available to you, if you are willing to learn the disciplines, learn the journey that must be traveled, and if you practice, practice, and practice.
So, come along. You were built for this.
**If you have any questions or comments on this lecture please email Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc at TheJewishMind@icloud.com.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until August 1, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/40.%20Balak%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
On the one hand we are taught to feel our feelings, while on the other hand we are taught to not allow ourselves to feel pain and discomfort.
As young children, it was the Holy Grail of our parents to protect us from any feelings of discomfort, pain, and sadness. Let alone any feelings of unbearable extreme pain and suffering.
What this lecture will teach us is that the only way to truly break free from being anything but our true essential self we must first fearlessly feel our feelings, and specifically so concerning the deepest feeling of extreme unbearable pain which is bursting forth from the essence of our being!
Learn here how to identify Essential Feelings, how to feel the feelings, and how to use their omnipotence in order to break free and be the ultimate success of who you are.
**If you have any questions or comments on this lecture please email Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc at Link.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until August 1, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/39.%20Gimmel%20Tammuz%20II%20_Parshas%20Chukas_%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
One of the last commandments of the Torah is the commandment of Hakhel, in which once every seven years all the Jewish people, the men, the women, and the children, would gather together to hear the king read to them verses from the Torah.
Why does the G-d choose monarchy for the Jewish people?
In this lecture you will learn what the mystical teachings of Chabad say about who a Rebbe is, and what his relationship with the Jewish people of his generation is all about.
Additionally, in this lecture you will learn how to perform the microscopic form of Hakhel in which we gather together all the fractured pieces of ourselves, and experience inner-congruence, inner-peace, and wholesomeness.
NEW: If you have any questions or comments on this lecture please email Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc at TheJewishMind@icloud.com.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until July 15, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/38.%20Gimmel%20Tammuz%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
We live in a generation in which people's self-worth swing as a pendulum from being Superman to being in the grips of depression.
This lecture will take you through the mystical journey of the 12 Spies who toured the land of Israel, the report they brought back to Moses and the Jewish People, and the aftermath of their report.
In this mystical journey you will learn the secret of believing in your true self, which means getting off the swinging pendulum of worthlessness and living the destiny that G-d hand-crafted just for you.
NEW: If you have any questions or comments on this lecture please email Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc at TheJewishMind@icloud.com.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until July 1, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/37.%20Shelach%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
"Speak to Aaron and say to him: 'When you kindle the candles...'"
Simply speaking, the verse is speaking of the candles of the Menorah in the Holy Temple. However, mystically speaking the verse is speaking of kindling our soul in our relationship with G-d.
This lecture will take you on a journey into the depths of human relationships and its powerful fragility.
To maintain a healthy relationship one must learn: A) When and how to be the giver in a relationship B) When and how to be the receiver in a relationship C) When and how to remain beyond the relationship
In this lecture you will learn all this and more!
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until July 1, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/36.%20Beha%27alotecha%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
When Moses went to up Mount Sinai to Heaven, the angels asked G-d why a human was among them. G-d answered to the angels that Moses had come to receive the Torah in order to bring it down to the Jewish people.
The angels were in an uproar! "Why G-d are you giving your perfect holy Torah to the imperfect human being?! Give Your glory in the Heaven (to the angels)," the angel cried
G-d told Moses to answer them, and Moses did. Moses' answer went over so well, that the angels immediately admitted that the Torah is meant to be given to the physical human being, and not to the spiritual angel.
What was Moses' answer to them?
More importantly, how does Moses' answer give is strength during our hardest and darkest times of our life?
This lecture will lift you up from your deepest moments of loneliness and despair.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until June 15, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/35.%20Bamidbar-Shavous%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
So often I am asked, "Rabbi, do you believe that people can ever really change? Isn't it true that a leopard can't change its spots?"
This lecture deals head on with this question on a mystical and practical level.
First it will explore the difference between the 'Written Letters' of the Torah Scroll written by Moses, and the 'Engraved Letters' of the Two Tablets engraved by G-d.
What we will realize through this lecture is that spiritual beings such as angels and even souls, once they leave the physical body, CANNOT change, while as long as the person is alive and his soul is within his physical body, he CAN change. How?
Listen to the lecture, learn, enjoy, and apply.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until June 15, 2016, after which you can email TheJewishMind@icloud.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/34.%20Bechukoisai%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
According to all medical statistics stress is the number one killer in our modern times.
At the birth of our nation, G-d gave us the cure for stress. G-d gave the Jewish people a gift called Shabbat, the gift of inner-peace.
This lecture deciphers the three-dimensional Shabbat, dimension by dimension to reveal to us the cure to the stress epidemic.
In this lecture you will dive down into the depths of Jewish mysticism, and return with tangible and practical steps of how to cure the stress in your day-to-day life.
Learn, heal, and live stress-free!
Here is a link to the printed notes of this lecture, which are available until June 15, 2016, after which you can email us to receive them at TheJewishMind@icloud.com https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/33.%20Behar%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
G-d commands us that we are to be holy. What is that supposed mean? What does it mean to be holy?
Jewish Law defines it to a specific situation under specific terms. However, Jewish Mysticism defines it as a daily way of life for any person at any time, place, or situation.
As a matter-a-fact, we are commanded to become three different types of holy!
How holy are we to become? As Holy As Thou?! YES!!
In this lecture we will learn how to free ourselves of the shame of our past sins, and in its place to don the Essence Crown of Teshuvah!
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until June 1, 2016, after which you can obtain them by emailing your request to chabadnmiami@gmail.com: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/32.%20Emor%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
This is the link "G-d's Paradigm of Spirituality and Holiness" mentioned in the lecture: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=JCMDSMAGK5E7Y
"Wealth! ~G-d's Paradigm of Holiness and Spirituality," is a life altering lecture that will change your relationship with money.
People created this paradigm that 'Spirituality', 'Holiness' and 'Closeness to G-d' exists only in poverty, and is broken in luxury. Think about this for a moment... Go ahead, close your eyes, and see what is the first image of holiness that comes to your mind. I can bet that it isn't a luxurious picture, embellished with wealth.
Because of this, there is a piece of us that is pushing away wealth, in our deeper pursuit for purpose and spirituality. When we do push forward for a life of wealth, we sense a sacrifice, in which we are giving away our spirituality because of our pain of poverty. Thus, there is a piece of us that wishes that we wouldn't be pursuing wealth. Our Higher Power senses this, and thus, we close ourselves off from receiving a lifer of wealth.
This lecture offers a total new and G-dly paradigm to holiness and spirituality, and with it, we will open our lives to truly receive wealth.
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Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until May 15, 2016, after which you can obtain them by emailing your request to chabadnmiami@gmail.com: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/31.%20Kedoishim%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
Rosh Chodesh is the first day of the Jewish Calendar month, which is based upon the lunar cycle. Rosh Chodesh is the day of the birth of the new moon, as the moon begins to reflect the sun's light. 'Erev' (the day before) Rosh Chodesh is the day that the old moon completely looses its light, and enters into total darkness.
The Sun and the Moon represent a relationship between the Soul and the Body, and represents the relationship between two people. Relationship go through times of total darkness, pain and suffering. Relationship go through 'Erev Rosh Chodesh' moments that are truly scary and painful. Why?
This lecture will teach you the reason of the dark, painful, and scary moments that we experience within ourselves, and within our relationships with others. The lecture offers a caring, sweet, loving, and kind alternative.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until May 15, 2016, after which you can obtain them by emailing your request to chabadnmiami@gmail.com: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/30.%20Acharei%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
Moshiach (Messiah) most have two dimensions to his personality, that of a King and that of a Teacher, because he has two missions, to heal the world from the two pronged contraction.
This lecture will take you on a mystical journey through the secrets of creation, the secrets of G-d's Infinite Light, and the secrets behind exile, darkness, and suffering.
In this lecture you will learn about the human need for intimacy and the human need for respect, and how to obtain them both in all your relationships.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture, which will be available until May 15, 2016, after which you can obtain them by emailing your request to chabadnmiami@gmail.com: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/29.%20Pesach%20II%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
Four ~Understanding the Four Quadrants of a Relationship
The number four is connected with the Passover Seder. We speak of the Four Sons at the Seder Table, and we drink the Four Cups of Wine.
The Four Cups of Wine were instituted for the Four Terminologies of Redemption used in the verses of the exodus.
Redemption is deeply connected with Teshuvah (Returning; Repentance), thus, just as there are the Four (terminologies of) Redemption, so too there are the Four Teshuvahs.
Teshuvah isn't just about correcting our past sins. Rather, Teshuvah is primarily about having an intimate relationship with G-d. Thus, the Four Teshuvahs are in essence the Four Quadrants of a Relationship. In order to have a wholesome relationship one must journey through these Four Quadrants of a Relationship.
The Four Quadrants of a Relationship will take you through a journey in which you will learn to accept yourself, being loved by someone else, and to accept someone else for who they are.
In this lecture you will learn how to have a wholesome relationship with yourself, with another, and with G-d.
Below is a link to the written notes of this lecture. They will be available here until May 1, 2016, after which you can email chabadnmiami@Gmail.com to receive them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/28.%20Pesach%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
Passover at the Seder Table we eat Three Matzot and we drink Four Cups of Wine. What are the deeper secrets of drinking the Four Cups of Wine?
At the Seder we have the children ask the Four Questions.
This year, let us do something daring!
Let us invite our inner-child to the table, and let us allow our inner-child to express his Four Questions of all that he has been through, his confusion and fears of his abandonment, his confusion of his not being lovable, his confusion of being pushed into being hidden, and his confusion of not being worthy of true joy.
Then, let us spend the rest of the Seder with our inner-child apologizing to him or her for our adult’s misunderstanding and confusion between slavery and freedom. Let us embrace our inner-child, and commit to him that we will never again mistake humiliation for humility, and that we will never again mistake joy for arrogance.
Most important of all, let us immediately live up to this commitment, and truly be happy at the Seder, thanking G-d for the Pluribus of gifts, talents, and beautiful details that G-d personally hand-crafted into who we each are.
In this lecture you will learn exactly how to do this.
Here is a link to the notes of this class. It will available until April 30, 2016, after which email your request for them to chabadnmiami@gmail.com: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/27.%20Metzorah-HaGodol%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
“If a woman conceives and gives birth to a male…” -Leviticus 12:2 “If the woman emits her seed first she will bear a male, and if the man emits his seed first she will bear a female.” -Talmud; Niddah 31a There are two opinions as to why it is so. One is that if the woman emits seed first, then the male emits seed second which means that his seed is on top, so the child will be a male. The second opinion is that it is precisely because the woman emits her seed first, which means that her seed is the foundation, that the child will be a male, for from the woman comes male!
In the Universal Matrimony, which took place under the Mount Sinai Marital Chupah Canopy, G-d made us His wife (the woman), and He [G-d] our husband (the male). Thus, what does this verse, the Talmudic teaching, and the two mystical opinions of who emits seed first, mean to us in our daily practical service to G-d.
What we will be exploring here is the difference between the spiritual arousal coming upon us from G-d Above, or from within us Below. We will also explore the two layers of spiritually arousing ourselves, and the difference of effect that it has on how we spiritually effect the universe.
In this lecture you will learn the deep difference between having a relationship with G-d through what you do versus the relationship you can have with G-d through who you are.
In the final analysis, what G-d wants is for us to embrace our Being-ness, so that G-d can have an essence relationship with us.
Here is a link to the printed notes, available until 4/15/2016. After this, email Chabadnmiami@gmail.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/26.%20Tazriah-HaChodesh%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
"You formed this Leviatan with which to sport.” -Psalms 104:26
What is the Leviatan, and what is the sporting event that the verse is speaking of?
"The animals [the Wild Ox] and the Leviatan they are the sport of the righteous in the World to Come...The Wild Ox will gore the Leviatan with its horn and tear it, and the Leviatan will slaughter the Wild Ox with its fins. " -Leviticus Rabah: Portion 13:3
This sporting event between the Wild Ox and the Leviatan is what will provide the food for the feast that we will have when Moshiach comes. At this meal they will drink from the Guarded Wine (“wine which has been preserved in its grapes from the six days of Creation”) and eat from the Leviatan (sea-creature), and from the Wild Ox.
So there is the Leviatan Sea Creature, the Wild Ox Land Creature, and the sporting event ends with at the last minute with the Leviatan slaughters the Wild Ox with its fin, and we eat!
Something mystical is going on here, and you are about to find out what!
In this lecture you will learn the steps to the Essence Pleasure Dance of the universe, and how to live a well-balanced emotional life. ____________ Here is a link to the printed notes, available until 4/15/2016. After this, email Chabadnmiami@gmail.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/25.%20Shemini-Parah%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
"On that night, sleep eluded the king " -Esther 6:1
"It is the custom to raise your voice here, for this is the main portion of the [Purim] miracle." -Customs of MaHaRI"L
“That night sleep eluded the King, -this refers to the ‘King of the Universe’.” (-Yalkut Shimonie; Esther 6:1)
What does it mean that G-d was sleeping?
What is the mystical difference between “That" night and "This" night?
Why was G-d sleeping on That night?
How did we wake G-d up on That night?
Napoleon Hill wrote two books, Think and Grow Rich, and, Outsmarting the Devil. The latter is the shadow which completes the light of the first. What is the Kabbalistic take on the secret to success, and how to outsmart the devil of failure?
In this lecture you will learn the deepest mystical secret of the Purim miracle, and how to perform it in your personal life.
____________ Here is a link to the printed notes, available until 4/15/2016. After this, email Chabadnmiami@gmail.com to request them: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/24.%20Tzav-Purim%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
"And you shall salt every one of your meal offering sacrifices with salt, and you shall not omit the salt of your G-d's covenant from [being placed] upon your meal offerings. You shall offer salt on all your sacrifices." (-Leviticus 2:13)
What was 'G-d's Covenant' with the salt?
The power of salt is that, “It in itself has no taste, but nevertheless, it brings taste to meat.”
What lesson in life is this commandment giving us?
“As says the proverb of the Primordial Metaphor; 'From the wicked comes forth wickedness,' and my hand shall not be upon you.” -Samuel I 24:14)
The Torah is a metaphor for the Primordial Infinite Light of G-d, blessed be He. How do we decipher this Primordial Metaphor?
“Raba said: It is the duty of a man to mellow himself [with wine] on Purim until he cannot tell the difference between ‘cursed be Haman’ and ‘blessed be Mordechai’." (-Talmud: Megillah 7b)
What is this law all about? What similarities can there be between the two, and why would only intoxication lead us to seeing them?
In this lecture you will learn how all of the above is all about creating a transparency and a transformation in our lives.
Here is a link to the printed notes to this lecture. This link will be available until April 16, 2016, after which you can email Chabadnmiami@gmail.com to request it.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/23.%20VaYikra%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
"These are the numbers of the Tabernacle, the ‘Tabernacle of the Testimony,’ which was counted by the command of Moses, the work of the Levites under Ithamar the son of Aharon the Kohain.” (-Exodus 38:21)
According to Jewish mysticism this opening verse of our Torah-portion of Pekudei lays out before us the entire journey of our daily prayers, the journey of ascending and descending upon Jacob's Ladder.
Additionally it defines for us the two true paradigms of G-d, one being of the Primordial Higher Paradigm of the never-changing G-d, and the second being of the 'postmordial' Lower Paradigm of the creation of G-d, our Creator.
How can two paradoxical paradigms both be G-d's paradigms of truth?
"(K)e-l deot Hashem -For a G-d of thoughts is G-d.” (-Samuel I 2:3)
"Thoughts," plural, two paradigms.
Shabbat and weekdays, two paradigms.
"My child Israel," and "My servant Jacob," two paradigms.
Kiddush Service brings us up into the Shabbat Higher Paradigm of, "My child Israel."
Havdalah Service leads us down into the Weekday Lower Paradigm of, "My servant Jacob."
However, G-d's Greater Love is all about the beauty of our Havdalah Service.
--Here is a link to the printable notes of this lecture, available until April 1, 2016. After this date, you may email Chabadnmiami@gmail.com to receive it.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/22.%20Pekudei%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
Title: Shabbat, Before and After ~Finding inner-piece
"Moses called the whole community of the children of Israel to assemble, and he said to them....Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have sanctity, a day of complete rest to the Lord " -Exodus 38:1-2
Moses commanded the Jewish people after he commands them to build the Tabernacle, and then again just before they build the Tabernacle. Why?
G-d began creating the world on the first day of the week, Sunday. However, before G-d started creating Sunday, there was a Primordial Shabbat. After G-d created the world in six days, G-d rested, and the=at was Shabbat, the seventh day of the week.
So, there are two different Shabbatoit, one BEFORE the six weekdays, and one AFTER the six days of the week. What are these two Shabbatoit about?
Then, there is a THIRD Shabbat! What is that Shabbat about?
Ultimately, Shabbat is the gift of pleasure, which comes from true inner-peace. How does one achieve this?
Why does Judaism choose monarchy as its form of government?
In this lecture you will find the human's capacity and need for being in a relationship, how to have a relationship with G-d, and how to truly find inner-peace.
Here is a link to the notes of the lecture. (Available until 3/15/16, after which you can request it directly from Chabadnmiami@gmail.com) https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/21.%20VaYakhel%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
"When you will count the heads of the Children of Israel for their counting... this is what they shall give... a Half-Shekel of the holy shekel twenty geirah the shekel (geirah is a smaller coin then the shekel, and the verse is telling us that a whole shekel is 20 geirah, thus, we now know that a Half-Shekel is 10 geirah).” -Exodus 30:12-13." -Exodus 30:12-13
Why does the Torah tell us the value of the whole Shekel, from which we must deduce what the value of the Half-Shekel is, instead of just telling us directly the value of the Half-Shekel that we are commanded to give?
What the Torah is letting us know is that what we are in essence giving is a Half of a greater Whole, and that the two halves are of one whole. What is the Whole, what is our Half, and how are the two halves of one whole ultimately given?
The Talmud talks pf the thief's prayer to G-d that he be successful and not get caught. Why is the Talmud accepting this hypocritical behavior?!
What do Chassidim really believe about their Rebbe?
Why do Chasssidim go to pray at the Ohel, resting place of the Rebbe, of righteous memory? Why is this ritual different to them than going to pray at the resting place of any other holy righteous Tzadik?
In this lecture you will learn fact from myth about chassidic belief and tradition, and you will learn the secret to experience wholeness.
__________ Link for notes (available until 3/1/201 -after this date email your request to Chabadnmiami@gmail.com): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/20.%20Ki%20Sisa%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
"And you [Moses] shall command the children of Israel, and they shall take to you [Moses] pure olive oil, crushed for lighting, to kindle the lamps continually." -Exodus 27:20
One a spiritual level, what does this mean to crush the olive?
Why do bad things happen to good people?
What does Kabbalah say about punishing children for their bad behavior?
This lecture will take you through your Higher Olive and your Lower Olive, as you explore why they both need to be crushed in order to truly produce G-d's oil.
Link to the written notes: (available until 3/15/2016. After this date email Avrohomlipszyc@gmail.com the notes.)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/19.%20Tetzaveh%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
“The Lord spoke to Moses saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and have them take for Me a Terumah (donation)'" -Exodus 25:1-2
Why, "TAKE for Me," and not simply say "GIVE a donation...?"
In this lecture we will learn the imperative foundation needed to be in a healthy and non-abusive relationship with another person. We will learn the necessity to TAKE as well as to GIVE in our relationships, or we will be forcing upon ourselves an abusive relationship! Yes, it must be GIVE before TAKE, but it also must be that we TAKE after we GIVE.
We will also learn that it is very different in having a relationship with G-d, where we must first TAKE from G-d, before we GIVE to G-d.
This lecture will enrich all your relationships!
Link to notes: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/18.%20Terumah%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
After G-d gave the Ten Commandments...
"The appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire atop the mountain, before the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses came within the cloud, and he went up to the mountain, and Moses was upon the mountain forty days and forty nights." -Exodus 24:17-18
"Within the cloud:This cloud was a kind of smoke, and the Holy One, blessed is He, made a path within it." -Rashi ibid
However, during the Ten Commandments...
"And the entire Mount Sinai smoked because the Lord had descended upon it in fire." -Exodus 19:18
What is this smoke, what is the path, and why must it be crossed?
With this we will explore distinct differences in the smoke as it happened during the Ten Commandments and how it happened after the Ten Commandment.
Why was it that during the Ten Commandments it was just a fire, while after the Ten Commandments it was a consuming fire? Additionally, why was it that during the Ten Commandments the entire mountain smoked, while after the Ten Commandments it was only atop the mountain?
Another concept to explore here is that rocks (mountain) are not consumed by fire, and therefore, (a) the mountain should not give off smoke because of the fire, and (b), a mountain cannot keep a fire going, as the fire needs some sort of consumable fuel to attach to for it to remain alive.
In this lecture we will learn the purpose of creation, our mission as the Chosen People, and how to find G-d in our darkest moments.
Link to Written Notes: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/17.%20Mishpatim%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
"The people remained far off, but Moses drew near to the 'Arophel,' (Opaque darkness; Thick of the cloud) where G-d was." -Exodus 20:18
Why did G-d have to give the Children of Israel the Torah, if our forefathers already knew the Torah through Divine Inspiration?
There are three reasons why, which build and expand upon each other.
In this lecture you will learn the secret of the Arophel, the opaque darkness and thick of the cloud. With it you will learn the power of studying the secrets of the Torah, and of living Torah!
Link to Written Notes: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/16.%20Yisroi%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
"And with a mighty hand he [Pharaoh] will drive them out of his land," -Exodus 6:1
"Against Israel’s will he will drive them out, and they will not have time to make provisions for themselves, and so He says, ‘And the Egyptians pressed the people strongly...’ " -Rashi ibid
"One out of five [Israelites] went out, and four fifths [lit., parts of the people] died during the three days of darkness." (-Rashi; Exodus 13:18) And the last fifth didn't want to leave either, and had to be forced out by Pharaoh! After Pharaoh and his kingdom were broken by the Ten Plagues, was he really in any position to force the Jewish people out of Egypt without provisions for their journey?!
In greater depths, how can any evil exist in G-d's world? What is the ultimate purpose of the existence of evil, beyond its offering us Freedom of Choice to choose between good and evil?
Finally, why did the Jewish people not want to leave Egypt, and needed Pharaoh to forcefully send them out of Egypt?
Link to the printed notes: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/15.%20Beshalach%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
G-d has come to His garden, which called Earth. It is here that we can have a conscious relationship with G-d.
What is a relationship?
How do we get into relationship?
How do we maintain a relationship?
Why do some people feel lonely in their relationship?
In this lecture you will learn different levels of relationships, how to get into them, and how to maintain them, starting with having a conscious relationship with G-d.
Here is the link to the written notes: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/14.%20Bo%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
Have you ever wondered what the secret to explosive success is?
Explosive Success definitely demands emotions, however, emotions that endure.
Have you ever wondered what the secret to endurance is? Why do some people have focus, endurance, and will-power, while others don't? Is it just genetic? Is it just the way we were nurtured?
Hear why Moses had to be eighty years old in order to to lead the Jewish people out of exile. Find out where that Eighth Dimension power of Moses is within you. Find the infinite endurance that you inherited from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is within you. Connect the dots, because your time for explosive success is now!
In this lecture you will learn how to connect your emotions to your two superior human powers in order to bring you the freedom you deserve.
Printed Notes: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/13.%20Vaeira%205776-%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
Title: Be a Star with a Name Learning how to shine.
The Book of Exodus begins with G-d counting Jacob and his family who came to Egypt.
However, G-d already counted the same family of 70 members in the Book of Genesis, when it tells of how Jacob and his family joined Joseph in Egypt!
Why does G-d count them twice, when they were alive and came to Egypt, and then again after they died in Egypt?
"To show how precious we are to G-d, as the verse states, ‘who takes out their host by number; all of them He calls by name (Isaiah 40;20).'" -Rashi Exodus 1:1
What secrets lay in being counted by name, by G-d? How does this guide me into being a shining star in times of darkness?
In this lecture you will learn about the deepest powers of your soul, and how to bring them forth!
Link to notes of the class: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/12.%20Shemois%205776-%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
The Holy Temple had two altars, and outer altar for sacrifices, and an inner altar for incense.
The Human Temple has two hearts, and outer heart and an inner heart.
The outer heart is susceptible to being influenced by the evolution of our mind, maturity, and by that which we see, hear, and experience with others.
The inner heart is not influenced by the individual's perception, maturity, or experiences. The will of the inner heart is defined only by who the individual is at the core essence of his being. The inner will was, is, and always will remain as it is.
Living only within the outer heart is a a life of being thrown forth and back as we evolve as a person. Living within the foundation of our inner heart gives us stability and freedom to be who we are.
In this class you will learn how to identify your inner heart from your outer heart, and how to connect with the freedom and stability of your inner heart.
Here is a link to the written notes of this lecture: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/11.%20Vayechi%205776-%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
Prayer is different that Torah-study. Torah-study is focused on G-d's words to me, while prayer is focused on my words to G-d.
However, before we pray we say, "My L-rd, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare Your praise." -Psalms 51:17
This verse is far more than just lip-service. When said right, this one-verse makes all the difference in prayer. It is the secret of (a) how to have our prayer granted, and (b) how to feel the presence of G-d with us in our daily life.
Link to written notes: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/10.%20Vayigash%205776%20-Parsha%20Class.pdf
Eradicate the Axis of Evil ~Understanding the Chanukah Story.
President George W. Bush used the term “axis of evil” in his State of the Union Address on January 29, 2002 to describe governments that he accused of helping terrorism.
What is G-d’s definition of “axis of evil’?
The Chanukah war was not just against evil, but also against the axis of evil. Today, in a world wrought with terrorism, we must once against engage in the Chanukah war to eradicate the axis of evil from within ourselves, and from the world, once and for all.
This lecture will give you the definition of axis of evil, and lay before you the practical blueprints to wage, and to win, the battle.
Link to the written notes of this lecture: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4614078/9.%20Mikaitz%20-Chanukah%205776%20Parsha%20Class.pdf
Holy Smoke! ~Bringing G-d into our smoke.
The concept of 'Holy Smoke' comes from the holiest soul, in the holiest place, on the holiest day, making smoke! Once a year, on Yom Kippur, the High Priest would enter into the room within the Holy Temple in Jerusalem called the Holy of Holies, and place incense in front of the Holy Ark. The law of this commandment was that the entire Holy of Holies was to be filled with smoke.
Kabbalah searches for the deeper meaning of the Holy Smoke, focusing on the three Hebrew letters that formulate the word OSho"N, which means smoke.
In this exploration you will learn about the prison of smoke, and how to liberate ourselves from it.
Link mentioned in the lecture: http://www.fifthsense.org.uk/what_is_smell/psychology/
Jacob sent gifts to Esau in hope to appease Esau's anger and hatred towards Jacob. What is the mystical meaning behind this, and how is this mystical meaning a guidance for us to bring about transformation in our personal lives?
In this lecture we explore which service to G-d is considered a gift to G-d.
We also explore how this is the unique service through which we can transform our physical situation of poverty, sickness, loneliness, and the likes.
By understanding this gift and how it works, we are now capable of transforming our life into a life filled with physical blessings and prosperity!
How To Attract Success ~Understanding beyond the fear of success
Matina Souretis Horner (born July 28, 1939) is an American psychologist who was the sixth president of Radcliffe College. She is most well-known for pioneering the concept of "fear of success." Many others in the field have discussed this paralyzing fear as well. The book, Fear of Success by David Ward Tresemer, D.W. is dedicated to it. Fear of Success is also inspired by a model of David McClelland et.al (1953) on achievement motivation (nAch), Susanne Babbel, Ph.D., M.F.T., author of Somatic Psychology, discusses it. This fear is being found to be a cause of failure, pain, and frustration for more and more people in our generation.
In 1965 the Rebbe revealed to us that Jacob had this fear, and it is this fear that manifested itself expressively through Jacob’s famous dream of the ladder. In this dream, Jacob also receives direction from G-d on how to get beyond his fear. This is what we will be exploring in our present lecture.
We will also be exploring why there was a harlot in the palace, and what is the Jewish belief of the Satan.
"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently...” -Abraham Lincoln; Illinois State Capital June 16, 1860
“And these are the offspring of Isaac the son of Abraham, Abraham begot Isaac.” -Genesis 25:19; Mount Sinai 2448 (1313 BCE)
Amazingly enough Abraham Lincoln was teaching us what the Torah, in this week's Torah-portion was teaching us.
If Issac was the son of Abraham, then obviously Abraham begot Isaac! Why then the double language in the verse?
Abraham and Isaac represent two different sides of the isle, and a house divided against itself cannot stand. Thus, the Torah emphasizes that the two sides of the isle are not separated against each other! "Isaac the son of Abraham, Abraham begot Isaac.”
This lecture takes us through the mystical layer of this verse, the mystical layer of Abraham Lincoln's most famous line of his House Divided Speech, and of the mystical layer of both sides of the isle.
Stability is what we look for in others who we interact with, and even more than this, it is what we look for in ourselves.
What is the secret to stability?
Can stability survive the roller-coaster of change that life throws upon us?
How can we empower the essence of stability in our life?
All this and more are discussed in this lecture.
The Prophet's Wife ~Understanding a timeless story of the prophets.
This week's Haftorah starts with a story of a widow and her two sons who were suffering from extreme poverty, and the collector was threatening to take her two sons as slaves for payment.
The woman cries out to Elisha the Prophet, who performs a miracle, filling all the empty containers in her house with oil, for her to sell and be able to live with her sons in abundance.
A story in the Torah, read every year by Jews throughout the generations, has a timeless lesson for all who read it. Otherwise, why would the story have been documented in the eternal and timeless Torah?!
Thus, who is this woman to you? Who are her two sons to you? How about her jug of oil, collector, empty containers, and Elisha the Prophet?
Finally, how is this story of the Haftorah connected to the story of Abraham in the Torah-portion of this week? How is this relationship between the Torah-portion and its Haftorah a timeless lesson to us?
All this and more are discussed in this lecture.
G-d commanded Abraham, "Go to yourself!"
What does it mean to go to yourself?
Why did Abraham have to physically leave the land of his birthplace and his father's home, and go to the Holy Land of Israel (to be) in order to go to himself?
Understanding the spiritual evolution of the different worlds, we come to find the answer to this questions. Then, we explore what this means to you and I today.
The story of Noah and the Flood is in the Torah because it has an eternal lesson to each and every individual, in every generation, and in every geographical location in the world.
What is the lesson?
The flood is called the "Waters of Raging Chaos," and it is called the "Waters of Comfort." Well, Which is it?
Both! For one transforms into the other.
Listen and learn how.
Moses says that the commandments are close to us, the Rebbe says that G-d never gave us a contract that life will be easy? What are they each saying, and how are these two statements mutually inclusive?
Why is Rosh hashanah on the sixth day of creation, rather than, on the first day of creation? Why is mankind the centerpiece of the universe? What does the verse mean that G-d said, "Let 'US' create mankind..." Who was G-d talking to? Why?
Lear this and more in this lecture.
"I am unto my beloved and my beloved is unto me."
The verse speaks of two different relationships. One is the person below reaching up to G-d, our Beloved, and the other is G-d reaching out to us below.
The first relationship is the pre-High Holiday experience, when we search our heart and return to G-d. The second relationship is the High Holidays, when G-d's presence reaches out to us.
However, a keener understanding of our 'Beloved' relationship with G-d will reveal that even when we are reaching out to G-d, G-d's reaching out to us already exists!
This lecture will reveal why G-d allows for a person to sin. It will also reveal why G-d allows for the purity of a man's soul and heart to be covered with layers upon layers of impurity.
Listen, learn, and enjoy!
“If you go out to war on your enemies... and you take his captives, and you see among the captives a beautiful woman and you desire her, you may take [her] for yourself as a wife.... and she shall shave her head and let her nails grow. And she shall remove the garment of her captivity from upon herself, and stay in your house, and weep for her father and her mother for a full month. After that, you may be intimate with her and possess her, and she will be a wife for you.” -Deuteronomy 21:10
Pogo Possum said, "We have found the enemy and he is us!" The verse on a spiritual level is talking about the war within each of us. Specifically, it is the war of the POV's (Point of Views), for our life and our universe depends all upon the POV we choose to live with.
This lecture will change your POV, and thus, it will change your life.
What does Napoleon Hill mean when he writes that his decade of of research for his book Think and Grow Rich has shown him that every successful man is in love with a woman?
Why is the Evil Inclination called The Great King, while the Good Inclination is called The Poor Wise Man?
How is this all explained in the spiritual soul of the commandment, "Judges and officers you shall place at all your gateways?"
Listen to this lecture to find out all this and more!
Yours truly, Avrohom
Creation, by definition is small, created from the smaller Emotion Emanations, while the Torah manifests the greater Intellect Emanations. Thus, through studying-Torah, we are magnified, so to speak, in the eyes of G-d.
Additionally, Torah-study, has the Bird's-eye view, and genetically transforms the Jungle of this world into the Garden of true Essence Pleasure.
Tefillin, on the other hand, causes a personal transformation within the mind and heart of the individual.
Yours truly,
Avrohom
Why is it so within human nature to struggle with consistency?! To me, it seems as if only the chosen few were blessed with the personality profile groomed for consistency, and it comes with such a heavy price upon other areas of the personality profile, that it makes someone like me grateful that I am not so blessed!
This is what we are going to explore here, from a Kabbalistic and Chassidic perspective, and more importantly, we are going to explore what to do about it.
The answer to the why, in a nutshell, is that the human experience of life is on the emotional level, which is subject to continuous evolution, and restructuring of our emotional balance throughout our life, year, month, week, day, and even hour. The primary definition of self, in accordance to Kabbalah and Chassidus is our emotions. What differs between the Animal Kingdom and the Human Race is not the Cortex of our brain as we intellectually contemplate abstract concepts, but as it impacts our experience of emotions. Nature’s Laws of emotions is what truly dictates our experience of life. Thus, it is important to explore Nature’s Laws that govern over emotions. This is what we will do tonight, from the Bird’s-eye view of the Torah as taught in the mystical teachings of Chassidus.
What is a rich man's prayer? What does rich mean? What is the secret of the Red Heifer?
Discover a 3D Judaism, and how to embrace it!
One's capacity to have peace with others depends upon his having peace within himself.
However, the mind (cold and calm) and the heart (hot and excited) are pivoted for war! How can there ever be inner-peace?!
Learn how from a Kabbalistic Bird's-eye view, drawn down into a business plan for success by the Small Business Guru, Michael Gerber, and the decades of research of Napoleon Hill.
This then sets the practical blueprints for our spiritual growth.
Yours truly,
Avrohom
Links mentioned in the lecture: http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/media_cdo/aid/1924092/jewish/Do-It-Yourself-Taking-Challah.htm
http://www.chabad.org/library/howto/wizard_cdo/aid/363326/jewish/1-What-Is-Challah.htm
The Mitzvah of Challah is to separate a piece of dough for G-d from a dough the we make to bake.
What are the deeper dimensions of this Challah? What does flour represent? What 3 practical lessons does Challah teach us for our day to day life?
Listen and find out!
Graph-link to print up for this lecture: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzcSICY88UXxLTVQQzYydXdSZTQ/view?usp=sharing
The Torah as well as Creation evolved through the evolution process of 'Klal' (general all-inclusive 'dot')and 'Prat' (three-dimensional specific details)
First G-d created the all-inclusive one utterance of creation, and then G-d extrapolated from it the other nine utterances of "And G-d said let there be..." with which G-d created the world.
So too, G-d first said the all-inclusive one delivery of all Ten Commandments, and then G-d extrapolated from it each of the Ten Commandments individually.
Why did G-d do this? Why are both, the Klal and the Prat necessary? What can only be introduced into creation through our diligent learning of the details of Torah?
G-d hoisted a decorated Mount Sinai over our head to serve as a Chuppah canopy, and G-d betrothed us three times!
“And I will betroth you to Me forever, and I will betroth you to Me with righteousness and with justice and with loving-kindness and with mercy. And I will betroth you to Me with faith, and you shall know the Lord.” -Hosea 2:21-22
Why would one bride need three wedding bands?!
Learn of the evolution of the soul, from her being the holy beautiful and graceful bride up in Heaven to becoming the "lame and blind" bride here below.
When and how does this betrothed "lame and blind" bride become a fully married wife?
At Mount Sinai, where G-d gave us the Ten Commandments, G-d proclaimed us as His wife.
We call G-d, "Our Father," and "Our King." Why does G-d now introduce the marriage relationship between G-d and us?
What does a wife do for her Husband? How does a wife transform a husband from being a half of soul to be a complete person?
Find out what is the secret to a happy marriage!
“When you come to the Land and you plant any food tree, you shall surely block its fruit [from use]; it shall be blocked from you [from use] for three years, not to be eaten. And in the fourth year, all its fruit shall be holy, a praise to the Lord. And in the fifth year, you may eat its fruit; [do this, in order] to increase its produce for you. I am the Lord, your G-d.” –Leviticus 19:23-25.
What is the secret between the Forbidden Fruit of the free years of produce of a new tree?
Why does G-d create things that are forbidden?
What is the greater purpose in the agony of suppression?
Learn about all this and more!
“A locked up garden is my sister, [my] bride; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain.” -Songs 4:12
The stages of Betrothal and Marriage, learning how to find pleasure and oneness in our relationship.
What is the '"Ring of Betrothal" all about? How does one truly get married?
Can Judaism ever be fun?!
Listen and find out!
A beautiful exploration into understanding the Transformational Wisdom and the Knowing Heart.
What is our personal exile of Egypt and redemption of Egypt today in our personal day to day life?
After the redemption from Egypt, why are we still in exile?
Can we have a true and valid intimate relationship with G-d?
Learn all this and more in this lecture!
“On that night, the king's sleep was disturbed…” -Esther 6:1
Rabbi Jacob Halevi, known as the Maharil, (5120-5187 - 1360-1427) writes that at this verse (Esther 6:1) the reader should raise his voice, for this is the “might of the miracle!”
Yalkut Shimoni explains that this verse is referring to G-d, the, “King of the Universe!” It was the sleep of G-d, so to speak, that was disturbed on that night, and this is the might of the miracle, that G-d’s, so to speak, was woken from His sleep.
What does this mean?
The Book of Esther tells us that Haddasah is Esther.
Who is Haddasah and who is Esther?
Within our soul there is a Haddasah and there is an Esther. There is the Light of Love and the Potency of Self-sacrifice.
When we live in the darkness of persecution or in the darkness of assimilation, the Light of Love (Haddasah) is extinguished, however, the Potency of the Soul (Esther) is awake.
It is Esther that resurrects Haddasah.
How does one connect with and actualize the Potency of the Soul? Through the power of the divinity of Torah-study.
Our sages teach us that the Tabernacle of Moses in the desert, which evolved into the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, is eternal and unchangeable.
How can that be?! The Tabernacle of Moses DID change into the Holy Temple, which was destroyed!
Understanding the eternalism of the Holy Temple, and it reflects in our personal life and our day-to-day living.
“He tells HIS words to Jacob, HIS statutes and HIS judgments to Israel.”
“Not like the ways flesh and blood (mankind) are the ways is G-d. Flesh and blood tell others to do, while they themselves don’t do. And G-d is not like that, only what He does He tells Israel to heed and to do!”
So, does G-d tell us to do what He does, or does He do what he tells us to do, or both?!
What difference does it make?! Listen to find out!
The purpose of life is to become a 'home' for G-d, and to transform the world around us into a transparent home for G-d.
To fulfill this purpose we have the Torah and its Mitzvot, though which we transform our mind, heart, body and the physical objects of the world around us into conduits and vessels to G-d's will.
However, this logical lifestyle isn't enough. To become a 'home' for the Essence of G-d, we need to transcend beyond the limitations of logic and perception, into a Holy Foolishness of absolute illogical commitment and dedication to G-d.
G-d sent Moses to Pharaoh to redeem the Jewish People. Pharaoh responds by doubling the work load upon the Jewish People. Moses questions G-d, "Why have you made it worse for the Jewish People?"
G-d answers Moses, “I have revealed myself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with the name E-l Sha-dd-ai, however, I My ineffable Tetragrammaton I have not made known to them.”
(a) We clearly find in the Torah that G-d does reveal himself to our Patriarchs with the ineffable Tetragramaton?! (b) How does this answer Moses’s question? (c) Why did the Jews have to go through the slavery and suffering of the Egyptian Exile before they could receive the Torah, and why must we go through this long and bitter exile before we can receive the deeper dimensions of the Torah that Moshiach will teach us?
To understand this, we turn to a deep and revolutionary mystical concept the Rebbe taught on this Shabbat in 1968.
The Torah-portion speaks of Judah approaching Joseph, with Joseph being higher than Judah.
The Haftorah, a prophesy of Ezekiel speaks of bringing Joseph and Judah together, with Judah being superior. Which is Higher, Judah or Joseph?
Joseph is Torah-study and Judah is prayer. Which is greater, Torah-study or prayer?
How to bring Judah and Joseph together
Make the power of prayer, endorsed by Torah-study, reach it fullest potential!
A Deeper Battle - Creating A PRECIOUS Home
What are the mystical secrets of Chanukah?
The purpose of creation, the deeper battle between good and evil, and ultimate transformation is the secret of Chanukah!
Come and learn the three practical lessons of these mystical secrets of Chanukah.
“And Jacob said, ‘O G-d of my father Abraham and G-d of my father Isaac… I have become small from all the kindnesses and from all…’”
"Kindnesses," the plural tense for there are two types of Kindnesses. (a) The Infinite Omnipotent Chaotic Emotion, and (b) The Finite Contracted Orderly Ray Emotion.
Each has a virtue and a vice, and each can be devastating and lonely.
Here we learn how to heal the emotional wreck, and create extraordinary moments from the lifeless.
The ultimate war which brings true and everlasting peace is the war of transformation.
There is no need to break or kill the enemy. Rather, respect, reveal, and transform the enemy from without, and most importantly from within!
“And the life of Sarah was one hundred years and twenty years and seven years..."
Why not just simply state, "The life of Sarah was one hundred and twenty-seven years?!"
Anthony (Tony) Robbins sees this as "Unleash the power within!"
"...[these were] the years of the life of Sarah.” Why does the verse repeat this again?
Come and learn the Kabbalistic Secret to the Gettysburg Address!
"And he (Abraham) planted an 'EiSHeL' in Beer-Sheba..."
What is an EiSHeL?! What does this Torah-story teach us today?
The Giver*, -What lay beyond the Memory Shield?
The angel flicked our lip while we were being born and created a Memory Shield, protecting us from all the infinite colors, music, perception, and feelings.
The Receiver of Memories, who becomes The Giver, helps us break through the Memory Shield, allowing for our Encompassing Faculties to permeate our Internal Faculties, open us up to a deeper reality.
And thus, Abraham planted an EiSHeL in Beer-Sheba
*by Louis Lowry
G-d tells Abraham, "Lech Lecha! Go to you..." Go to you?! What does that mean?
"From your land, your birthplace, and from your father's house..." The itinerary is reversed! First you leave your house, neighborhood (birthplace), and then your land.
Find out the secret of a delicious 'kishka'. The secret of this eternal two-way trip of the journey of every single soul that descends into this world!
How does one transform curses into blessings? Why do we need to fear G-d, rather, than just love G-d? Can fear be a beautiful intimate experience? Ever feel too intensely passionate to express your love?
Find your answers together with a practical guide to have a healthy and balanced relationship with G-d and with those who you love!
"You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together." -Deuteronomy 22:10
What does the ox represent? What does the donkey represent? What offspring comes from crossing them? What is the cure for this?
"Judges and Officers you shall place at your gateways..." There is a precious orchard with Seven Gateways, at which we each must place Judges and Officers.
What is this precious orchard? Which are the Seven Gateways? Who are the Judges and Officers who we must place there? What is this all leading to?
Listen to a fascinating lecture and discover you precious orchard and the journey into it.
“Zion shall be redeemed through justice and her penitent through righteousness.” -Isaiah 1:27
There is Zion and there is its Prisoners. There is Redemption through Justice and through Righteousness.
“A song of ascents. When the Lord returns the returnees to Zion, we shall be like dreamers.” -Psalms 126:1
What is the secret of dreams? The power in which the antithetical can co-exist in peace. Parallel Universes, Linear and Circular. The power of Teshuvah. The gift of Exile, in which we are, "Like dreamers!"
The Rebbe, in his last edited 'maamor' (Chassidic Discourse) left us his will. Faith, Love, & Moshiach.
There is the faith, the love, and the yearning for Moshiach created by what we see around us, outside of us, which penetrates us in the deepest way.
However, there is the Faith we have in G-d, the love we have for our fellow Jew, and the yearning we have for Moshiach which comes from within us, from "Know Thyself." When the essence of who we are becomes clear to us, and defines every detail of who we are!
Tuesday,July 1st, 2014, is the 2rd day of the Jewish calendar month of Tammuz, which will be the 20th Yahrtzeit of the Rebbe.
The Love of a Rebbe. If only King Solomon would have known of it, he would have written his book of Shir HaShirim (Songs) differently!
Understanding a Rebbe from the two primary roles a Rebbe plays amongst the Children of Israel, the Brain and the Heart.
The Heart's love for each and every cell of its body. Opening ourselves for the experience.
- Holy War is a war for the sake of Heaven.
- However, what does for the sake of Heaven mean?
- Why can a true love relationship only be built upon a holy war, a separation for the sake of Heaven?
This recording is dedicated in memory of Eli Cohen, The Impossible Spy.
- The Torah tells us of Moses sending 12 spies to tour the land of Israel.
- As with all tour guides in Israel, they delivered political opinions, rather, than geographic and demographic facts.
- What were these holy men thinking?
- Were they wrong or just ahead of their times?
- Find the impossible spy within you!
A Pre-dawn Mamor. The wedding day’s crown. My daughter, sister, mother. The Reactionary kiss. What is the secret?
Who made the crown, the angels or us? Both! Moses explains the angels that A) The Soul is Essence B) It is the Soul down here in temptation that the Torah is meant for.
Jacob’s Ladder: a) Prayers b) The Soul.
One Soul, Two Dimensions. The angels need to connect them.The Rebbe RaSHaB’s explanation of Tanya chapter 13. The angel’s reward.
In Closing: The early bird or the early worm? For she is the daughter, the sister, and the mother! The ladder is all one!
Black Is Beautiful! ~The Beauty of a Soul in a Dark Place.
Why did G-d descend Mount Sinai, and not bring us up to Heaven to receive the Torah? What is the Kabalistic Binary Code of the Universe? Understanding Tzimtzum 101! "I am black and yet I am comely O' daughters of Jerusalem." -Songs 1:5. What does this mean? Who is talking to Who? The beauty of the 20th Century Jew!
Parshas Behar: Title: Where? ~ Understanding Life’s Journey ~
Life’s Journey is all about Journey One, Journey Two, and Journey Three. Some are good beginners, some are good battlefield warriors, and some are good deal-closers. But unless we take all three Journeys, we get stuck a “wannabe,” rather, than being a success in our lives. Singing through confession ~ Get off the pity-pot!!! Why G-d plots our sins! Revisiting our childhood dreams and promises to ourselves, while we stand in front of the mirror. *Dare to make it happen!
Dear Friends,
What is the Point of Advantage of Chabad Lubavitch around the world?
The Rebbe.
Who is a Rebbe? What is his role? Why is there such devotion of a Chossid?
Listen, learn, and enjoy!
Yours truly,
Avrohom
Dear Friends,
"If a woman conceives and gives birth to a ..." Can there be so much more than meets the eye here? Can G-d be asking us to have His baby?
"This month shall be to you the head of the months; to you it shall be the first of the months of the year." What is wrong with Rosh Hashanah? Why the need for a new beginning to a new cycle? Can there be so much more than meets the eye here? Can G-d be asking us to have His baby?
Listen, learn, and enjoy!
Yours truly,
Avrohom
Dear Friends,
What does it mean to be able to say about G-d that, "He's my G-d?"
Well, it's more than just a Sister Act!
One need's to be able to earn saying, "He's my G-d." It takes a connection, and it takes a sacrifice.
Listen, learn, and enjoy!
Yours truly,
Avrohom
Dear Friends,
"And He (G-d) called to..."
Abraham was called by G-d, Moses called by G-d, and Samuel was called by G-d. A clear an audible voice, which then left no doubt for them of their calling in life.
What about you and me? How are we to hear the voice of G-d? How we to know our true calling in life?
Listen, learn, and enjoy!
Yours truly,
Avrohom
Dear Friends,
Why did the Jewish people make a Golden Calf? Because they felt abandoned when Moses din't come back down the mountain on time!
So, now let's talk about Valentine's Day...
Listen, learn, and enjoy!
Yours truly,
Avrohom
Dear Friends,
True Love... What is love, what is true, and how does one pursue it?
Yes, love, true, and true love all exist, yet one must travel beyond the wall to find it.
Listen, learn, and enjoy!
Yours truly, Avrohom
Dear Friends,
Why did G-d create wealth and poverty? Why did G-d not create only wealth, and completely abolish poverty? Our sages teach us that this is in order for Chesed kindness to exist. Why does Chesed need to exist? If there were noone in need then we would not have a need for Chesed, so why does G-d purposely create that Chesed should exist?
You will definitely be surprised by the answer...
Listen, learn, and enjoy!
Yours truly, Avrohom
Dear Friends,
Does the energy of your spirituality get frazzled by organization? Is the intimacy of your prayers stifled because of protocol? Is organized religion the damper to your holy Yom Kippur? Then you best...
...Listen, learn, and enjoy!
Yours truly, Avrohom
Dear Friends,
4/5 of the Jewish people refused to leave Egypt with Moses, knowing that the only other alternative was to die in Egypt during the plague of darkness. Yes, 80% of the population could not accept reality.
The Jewish people never crossed the Sea of Reeds, they went in and came out, making a u-turn in the sea, on the same side. Then why did need to experience the Splitting of the Sea, walking on dry land in the ocean environment?
Listen, learn, and enjoy!
Yours truly, Avrohom
Dear Friends,
Moses was told by G-d, "Come to Pharaoh...," however, there is no message that G-d asks of Moses to relate to Pharaoh! What is the purpose of this, "Come to Pharaoh?"
This was about Moses, and not about Pharaoh. G-d told Moses to face his own fear! How does one face their fear? How does one learn to be brave, and to overcome fear?
Listen, learn, and enjoy!
Yours truly,
Avrohom
Dear Friends,
Sibling rivalry, where does it come from? Why is it so deep? How can we overcome it?
Listen, learn, and enjoy!
Yours truly,
Avrohom
Dear Friends,
What is the secret of the Chanukah Lights? How can this help me today? What recovery does the Chanukah Flame offer an abused child?
Listen, learn, and enjoy!
Yours truly,
Avrohom
Dear Friends,
Fiddler on the Roof, a lean too much to the a side, and the fiddler falls to the ground. He must maintain balance, while playing his tune of life.
What did the Jacob tell the angels that he sent to Esau, which teaches us the secret of Being a Fiddler on the Roof.
Listen, learn, and enjoy!
Yours truly,
Avrohom
Dear Friends,
Our Patriarch Jacob is called the man of truth. Nevertheless, he is dishonest in how he receives his father's blessings. Why? What can you and I learn from this?
Listen, learn, and enjoy!
Yours truly,
Avrohom
Dear Friends,
What is the meaning behind the name Chaya Sarah - The Life of Sarah, for a portion that discusses only her death and burial, and then moves on to her son's marriage?
Why does Eliezer refuse to introduce himself as anything other than, "The Servant of Abraham?" He was a prince, a scholar, and a warrior!
What is Abraham doing when he sends away all his children other than Isaac? What is he forcing Isaac to face?
Three stories, one message!
Listen, learn, and enjoy!
Yours truly,
Avrohom
Dear Friends,
Abraham, the ultimate good and kindness, argues with G-d in defense of Sodom, the ultimate evil and meanness.
He negotiates with G-d, that if there is fifty, forty-five, forty, thirty, twenty, or ten righteous men amongst them, will G-d not let the evil survive in the merit and protection of the righteous? What is this form of negotiation?
What can we, in our personal life, learn from this story.
Listen, learn, and enjoy!
Yours truly,
Avrohom
Dear Friends,
When G-d told Abraham to, "Lech Lecha -Go to yourself!," G-d offered Abraham something more than just living a wholesome life. G-d was offering him the ultimate journey of life!
Leadership is trailblazing a new portal between Heaven and Earth. It takes a, "Lech Lecha -Go to yourself!," to be a leader.
Oh, and btw, have you ever wondered why all our Patriarchs and Matriarchs were barren and needed a miracle to have children?
Listen, learn, and enjoy!
Yours truly,
Avrohom
Dear Friends,
Why did G-d choose the rainbow as a sign of His covenant with creation?
Why was the logic of, "G-d saw ... every thought which came from his heart throughout the day was purely evil (Genesis 6:5)," originally, the reasoning for, "I will wash away man....," and then, the same logic becomes the reasoning for the opposite, "I will no longer curse the earth because of man, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from the first stirrings in the womb (Genesis 8:21)?"
Listen, learn, and enjoy!
Yours truly,
Avrohom
Dear Friends,
What is the purpose of creation? What is the purpose of my life?
The answer to both these questions is one and the same. Just read the oprning verses of creation. "And there was chaos... and darkness upon the depths... And G-d said, 'Let there be light and there was light'"
Why is it that by all other statements of creation it says, "And G-d said let... and it was so," however, here it says, "... And there was light?"
What lesson can we learn from this difference of wording?
Listen, learn, and enjoy!
Yours truly,
Avrohom
After the High Holidays comes the Holiday of Sukkot. What leg of the journey is Sukkot? What is is for us to experience and accomplish? What is it's relationship to the High Holidays
Rosh Hashanah is a new beginning, and Yom Kippur is about dealing with old baggage. Should we not first reconcile our old issues and then start a new beginning? Why would we, ten day after we started everything fresh and new, introduce old troubles?
An intricate prayer on Rosh Hashana is "Avinu Malkeinu -Our Father, our King."
What is the difference in G-d being our King or His being our Father? One of the intrinsic prayers of Rosh Hashana is, "Avinu Malkeinu -Our Father our King." What is the difference in my being G-d's subject or G-d's child? Which is the bigger emphasis on Rosh Hashana, Our Father or our King? Why? Learn and enjoy!
Why War? Why must we have war? Could G-d not find a way for us to grow in peace?
Understanding the journey, in which iskafya (self-control) must precede ishapcha (transformation)
The Secret Garden, a classic story, becomes a journey through Jewish Mysticism, bringing harmony within our human psyche.
All so often, all we are waiting for is a sign from G-d what we should do. We are ready to do what ever G-d wants, all we are asking for is a sign to know what He wants us to do. Sort of like a spiritual revelation.
What does Judaism have to say about this?
After a personal catastrophe, it isn't enough to survive, we need to be able to rebuild. How can we, after being so hurt? Come learn the Jewish way.
Mourning is a therapeutic way to deal with a loss. However, only when done in a healthy and productive way.
Learn the Jewish way of mourning in a healthy way.
The first two of the Ten Plagues mark transformation.
Come and learn how to pass through these two gateways.
Jacob stole the blessings from Esau, lying to his father Isaac?!
While we are on the topic of, "Ripley's Believe It Or Not," ponder this: Moshiach, Messiah, offspring of King David, who comes from Judah (son of Jacob) and from Ruth (The famous Ruth who converted to Judaism)...
From Judah: King David comes from the incestial relationship between Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar! From Ruth: Ruth comes from the incestial relationship between Laban and his daughter!
Holy from unholy.... So, is it kosher or not?
The covenant of G-d with Noah and with all of creation lie in the Rainbow. Learn the secret powers of the Rainbow, and how to activate it in your personal life!
This week's Garden of Emuna class on the Torah-portion called, Re'eh, see, offers a very interesting and powerful insight to the works of recovery. Listen and enjoy!
"And you shall love G-d with all your heart, all your soul, and all your might."
What is loving G-d "with all your might," even beyond "with all your soul," which means to be willing to die for G-d. What is even greater than that?
A special lecture delivered on Tisha B'Av to understand how one heals through mourning. Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc presents a Four-Step program for experience the healing through mounring.
Tisha B'Av we read Jeremiah's book of lamentations, which begins with, "Alas, she sits in solitude!"
However, there is also a very precious solitude of, "Solitude, eye of Jacob."
Faith in solitude turns the loneliness of solitude into the preciousness of loneliness. How is this done? Listen and find out!
2a. Reconstructing Our Inner Sanctuary in Menachem Av by Calanit Paz QA by Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc
- Reconstructing Our Inner Sanctuary in Menachem Av by Calanit Paz by Rabbi Avrohom Lipszyc
Speaker: Ms Smadar Gretah
Title: Transformation in Tammuz
Is there transformation & healing in Tammuz? How do we connect with this strength? Where is Hashem in this process?
G-d, Are You In Control of My Life or Not?! If yes, then why is my life so out of control? Why is everything hitting the fan? Where are You?!
Listen, learn, apply, and enjoy!
Are second chances for real? Does G-d forgive and forget, only forgive, or neither as He gives a second chance? And what do we do with the first chance that we messed up?
Listen and find out!
Is Shabbat a struggle for peace, tranquility, and rejuvenation?
If it is, then it isn't Shabbat as it is meant to be.
Let us learn what Shabbat can be, and how we to make it happen!
It's not a question of whether you have faith. Rather, it is a question of whether you activated it. Learn how.
The brain yearns to be freed of its own prison of its intellectual capacity. Faith is the key to the prison cell, offering us liberty.
A unique understanding of the book Garden of Emuna's "Level Three of Emuna" according to the teachings of Chabad.
No prior reading or knowledge necessary to understand and appreciate this lecture.
This Thursday is Lag B'Omer, the day of Passing of Rabbi Shimoen Bar Yochai, composer of the holy Zohar.
What does the Zohar offer us in our Emuna?
The month of Kislev, most famous for the holiday of lights, Chanukah, what energy does it behold?