ב"ה
THEMES of Featured Chasidic Masters Articles
Intermediate
Humility in our divine service is a sign of maturity.
"No leaven and no honey shall be burned as a fire offering to G-d."
The inner meaning of leaven and honey is pride, which rises up like the arrogance that inflates a person's heart. Do not offer it on the altar, for G-d does not take pleasure in pride. |
Every Jew has two souls. The "G-dly Soul" is actually a "part" of G-d and is also referred to as the "Jewish soul"; the so-called "Animal Soul" animates our physical bodies and tendencies.
The raison d'etre of our lives as Jews is that the G-dly Soul should prevail in its struggle with the competing tendencies of the Animal Soul.
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Every human being possesses an animal-consciousness within; the Bible'is "obsession" with animal offerings is to challenge our own inner animal, every day anew, bringing it one step closer to our higher, deeper self, and to the G-dly space within us.
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Intermediate
G-d wants us, not just our sacrifices.
The concept of sacrifices is one that is very foreign to the "modern" mind. We should realize, though, that every sacrifice had to be accompanied by genuine repentance before it was accepted. Only when one gives up something of himself does he make a sacrifice that is pleasing to G-d.
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Advanced
The Divine Presence that dwells within Creation ideally receives light from G-d and reveals it in the world.. However, at times the Shechina falls into "exile"; this is the spiritual root of all suffering and illness.
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