Rabbi Shmuel Reichman

Inspiration-like a flash of lightning

You must pick up on every hint of clarity you receive, put the pieces together, and form the image in your mind while still walking in darkness.

It seems strange, even ironic, to derive a source for marriage from a case in which a man’s wife dies. However, this is not ironic, nor is it a coincidence; it reflects the deep truth that marriage is eternal.

Ideally,nthe physical wisdom of the Greeks and Yefes are to reside within the tent of Shem, for science and the wisdom of the world to be in harmony with Torah. The problem occurred when the Greeks tried to destroy the Torah, which contradicted their ideology, and the Jews were forced to fight for their beliefs. This was the battle of Chanukah.

Imagine a life beyond the one you currently experience – one with new senses and sensations, new colors added to your field of vision, and new sounds to your range of hearing. What if you had abilities that far surpassed anything you can imagine?

There are times in our lives when we feel distant from Hashem and when we question whether or not Hashem truly cares for us, loves us, or believes in us. It is specifically at these times that we refer to Hashem as Makom.

Only when we negate our egos and acknowledge that the goodness and beracha in our lives comes not from our own independent efforts but from Hashem, can we then receive more beracha.

If someone were to ask you to prove that you exist, you would seriously struggle to do so. One’s own existence simply cannot be rationally proven.

The physical world was naturally seen as an expression of a spiritual reality, and it was easy to source the physical back to the spiritual.

How can it be that Hashem made a mistake – that He originally wanted to create the world with din but then changed His mind?

As we previously explained, the purpose of techeiles and tzitzis is to straighten the bent path and help connect us back to Hashem, our Source.

The root of the word nisayon (challenge) is neis the Hebrew word for miracle. We are therefore left with two seemingly contradictory views. Either a nisayon is within one’s capacity, which means that it is NOT truly a miracle if one overcomes it, or it does require a miracle to overcome, in which case it is not within one’s capacity. How do we reconcile this seeming contradiction?

Everyone wants to contribute something significant to the world. This desire is an inherent part of being human.

A worthwhile journey often includes a long winding path, twisting and turning in all directions, leading you on a seemingly endless quest. Then, at the very last moment, there can be a sudden revelation that retroactively changes your perspective on the entire journey!

What if we thought that we were on death’s door and then miraculously received a donation from a loving hero? Wouldn’t we live differently and experience life in a whole new way?

In a journey to the self, all that we know is the starting point; the destination remains to be discovered. We don’t know what we’ll find along the journey, the challenges we’ll face, what people will think, or if we will even succeed.

Like Adam, each of us has our own unique creation story.

Each individual dibrah on the right parallels the corresponding dibrah on the left. Together, they make up a unified whole of connection to both Hashem and one’s fellow man.

Insights for the seder

Adam and Chavah are created as one before being split apart to model the oneness that we are striving towards as husband and wife.

When Moshe descended from Har Sinai, his face glowed, to the extent that he had to cover it when interacting with the rest of Klal Yisrael.

Although the Jewish People won, Amalek showed the other nations that the Jews were not as invincible as they seemed.

True happiness is what you experience when you are actualizing your potential, working toward becoming the person you are meant to become.

As human beings, we have the remarkable ability to jump to conclusions, assuming that we know the truth of a situation when we, in fact, have completely misjudged it.

You can’t see, touch, or smell your mind or consciousness. You will never see someone else’s inner world.

If we can change what we want, we can change who we are. When we make new decisions, we create a new reality for ourselves.

The conception of beauty was a fundamental point of contention in the battle between the Jewish People and the Greeks. The Greeks did not believe in using the physical to reflect anything higher; they viewed physical beauty as an end unto itself.

How do we understand and perceive Hashem? Is Hashem within time and space, limited to this world alone, as Pantheists believe? Or is Hashem completely transcendent, beyond time, space, and this physical world, as many of the ancient philosophers believed?

Shana means that which is cyclical and repetitive, representing mindless ritual. However, shana also has another distinct meaning: to learn and to change (shinui, l’shanos). This is because when you add chiddush to shana, i.e., when you infuse newness into the circle, you create spiraling growth.

In order to achieve this ideal flow, one must perfect all three stages of the process. You must first connect to Eden, which requires going beyond the surface of reality and connecting to the transcendent – to Hashem and His Torah, to the spiritual root of the physical world.