The ultimate goal of avodas Hashem is to eliminate bechirah, to reach the point where one no longer struggles with conflicted choices and is consistently faithful to Hashem’s will
Purim is a time of immense love — it’s a stick of dynamite, with the power to remove that wall that separates us from Hashem in one blast
What is the equivalency between the cities of refuge in Eretz Yisrael and the Jewish prophets?
“How astonishing it is,” the Chazon Ish writes, “that a person is able to share his worries with the Master of the Universe in the same manner that he would speak to a friend!”
Principles Three and Four Ask someone, “What do you yearn for?” and you’re unlikely to get a shopping list of mundane wants and material desires. Yearning and longing lie in the domain of the soul. What does our innermost soul crave? Self-definition, security, connection. A sense of identity and belonging. We long for a place
The story is told of a staunch maamin who faced an agonizing moment of challenge — perhaps before an auto-da-fé or inside the gas chamber. Confronting his destiny, he asserted, “I could not serve a G-d I understood — for then, He wouldn’t be G-d.” The Thirteen Principles of Emunah define the crucial underpinnings of our life
