THEMES of Featured Chasidic Masters Articles

To grasp the meaning of G-d's supernal greatness and loftiness, one needs to serve Him with utter devotion and a fiery burning love and enthusiasm. Yet, should one achieve this, it is crucial to understand that it is not your own accomplishments that brought you this far, but simply a chesed from G-d, who is always prepared to help one who desires to elevate and purify himself.

The root of evil - that which gives it life - is goodness. But when it descends below through the chain of worlds it becomes physical suffering or spiritual debilitation.

So too, the Israelites should see the serpent as it is raised upward to its root and realize that it is not detached from Him and that no evil descends from Above.

The generation of the Exodus, which journeyed in the desert for forty years, was composed of men of huge intellect.The first generation to enter Israel was a generation of the heart. We, a few hundred generations later, are the "generation of the heels."

According to the Midrash, the 2 episodes of Moses hitting rocks were more than attempts to draw water from a hard inanimate object. They were also psychological and moral tales about how to educate and refine human "rocks" so that they can produce water.

It is permitted at first to use pride, ostentation and self-centered actions to serve G-d, for "amidst selfish reasons, one comes to selflessness". But truly selfless worship must be pure and clean from all traces of ego.

Jewish mysticism teaches that the body too was created by G-d and contains enormous unique Divine energy of its own, in some ways superior even to the energy of the soul!

G-d saw that Balaam was intent on going to Balak to help him implement his malevolent plan. Since He, as it were, could not influence Balaam properly through his soul, the body was called into play. So it was the "chamor" – the body – that saw the "angel" and cried out, prodding Balaam to open his eyes.

G•d chose to rest His Presence on Balaam, a wicked gentile, so that the gentile nations will not have any allegation against G•d saying, "Had you given us prophets, we too would have improved our ways."

The Me'or V'Shemesh explains that that the mighty giant kings Sichon and Og fell before Israel, without even inflicting any casualties because Israel had attained a very high level of unity.

In response to Jewish unity, Balak tried to come against Israel with his own show of unity. He made a pact with none other than his archenemy Midian in order to battle Israel together. But in truth, all of Balak's efforts were in vain. When there is Jewish unity, there is no force which can do us harm!

There are two perceptions of G-d, from which two experiences of transparency before G-d derive. The first level stems from a lower perception, wherein the individual feels himself to be a separate existence from G-d, yet recognizes his utter dependence upon Him. The higher perception gives birth to an experience wherein the individual does not feel any separateness and is inherently and essentially nullified.