Essence & Expression; Etzem & Giluyim

Trees, like man, can be 'givers' or 'receivers' or both

Your mother told you so many times. Your high school principal didn’t seem so convinced. Certainly not your employer. But it’s true. And even more: You are not just the center of the world—you are the entire world. It’s an explicit Mishnah: Every human be...

Korach had a strong point to make: If we are all G-d’s people, what makes some more G-dly than others?

In a single cryptic sentence R. Schneur Zalman of Liaidi pushed the limits of divine knowledge to an unprecedentedly esoteric height and paradoxically declared that the loftiest peak is openly accessible to all.

Q. What is Chasidism? A. It's difficult to say. An examination of the internal lieterature addressing this question draws the conclusion that Chasidism is no less than the paradoxical communication of the ineffable core of divinity.

Trees, like man, can be 'givers' or 'receivers' or both

The Code of Jewish Law states that a child of a Jewish mother is Jewish, regardless of the father’s lineage.

Sages and mystics explore the primordial "mind" of G-d to ask: Is it the Torah that makes the Jew a Jew, or is it the Jew who makes the Torah a Torah?

For many people, a major aspect of life is looking for the "essence." What does it mean? they ask, what does it really mean? The questioners might be teenagers looking cynically and quizzically at the world around them, students at university, backpackers...

Brit Milah carries the promise of three rewards: the divine presence, the land of Israel, and the royal House of David. What is the connection between these three gifts and the covenant of circumcision?