Sublime

Hashem loves righteousness and justice, the objective of both being the bringing of balance to this world.

Like God, Torah’s authority is persuasive: an invitation to wisdom, rather than an intimidation through fear.

The matter is captured in the proverbial statement, “When wine goes in, the secret comes out,” nikhnas yayin yaṣa sod, the rabbinic analogue to the Latin epigram in vino veritas.

From this assumption there follows the further one that both genders are circumscribed in a closed circle of nondifferentiation—to be contrasted with an open circle of indifference—much like the serpent eating its tail, according to the archaic mythological image. A critical and influential formulation of this ideal is the zoharic description of th

It is in the wilderness, in the aliveness of the world, that Torah comes alive.

From this vantage point, it is possible to view the life of Schneerson as a form of self-effacement, which rendered him feminine in relation to his predecessor, a point immortalized in the fact that he is buried to the left of his father-in-law.

the talmudic dictum that one must get so inebriated on Purim that it is no longer possible to discern the difference between “cursed is Haman” and “blessed is Mordecai.”49 Just as the consumption of wine on the physical plane brings about the nullification of the senses (biṭṭul ha-ḥushim), so, in the spiritual plane, the disclosure of secrets can l

ripostes,

Each of us come to Torah with our own yearnings, questions, and needs. In our learning, each of us gets to ask: What is it that we are aiming for? What is it that we seek? Is it greater clarity? Heart-opening? Guidance? Connection?