Chanukah: The Spiritual Battle

Chanukah: The Spiritual Battle The underlying theme of the conflict between the Jews and the Greeks, is the clash between two diametrically opposed worldviews.  In the Jewish view of reality, everything in the physical world is a reflection of the spiritual.  A physical conflict is a superficial manifestation of a deeper spiritual conflict.  There are…

Vayeishev – Dreams

Just two brief ideas about dreams, which are a central theme of the parsha this week and next week.  Joseph tells his brothers about his dreams and a terrible feud ensues.  Later on Joseph interprets the dreams of Pharaoh’s servants and then of Pharaoh himself , leading to salvation and redemption.  One beautiful idea that…

The Place

The Torah relates that Jacob “encountered the Place.”  Our Sages explain that the word Place is actually a name of G-d, Who is called The Place. We use this name of G-d in a number of our prayers and call Him, Ha-Makom, The Place. Why is this so? The Midrash explains that “He (G-d) is…

Reward and Punishment

God rewards those who fulfill His commandments and punishes those who transgress them.  The ultimate reward is the World to Come, and the ultimate punishment is excision of the soul [the soul is cut off from any connection to the spiritual existence of the World to Come.]107  As the verse states, “Moses returned to God…