Great Throughts Treasury

"This one day is more precious than all treasures. For what does a person gain from all his worldly effort? Nothing remains of your entire life other than this one day when you return to God."

"This ultimate goal is entirely good. For oneness - unity - is entirely good, as we learn from the comment of the Rabbis on this verse in Zechariah: "On that day HaShem will be One and His name One." - "Is this meant to imply," asked the Rabbis, "that right now He is not One? Of course not! What it means is that in our present state, we make a distinction between the different kinds of experiences God sends us in life. When bad things happen, we bless God as 'the true Judge', while when good things happen, we bless Him as 'the good and beneficent'. But in time to come we will bless Him for everything as 'the good and beneficent'" (Pesachim 50a). Thus we see that unity is the ultimate goal and this goal is entirely good."

"This was how King David composed the Book of Psalms. King David's main time for his private prayers to God was when he lay on his bed at night. He would hide under the covers and pour out his heart to God. King David said: "Every night I converse from my bed in tears." (Psalms 6:7). Happy is the person who makes this a regular practice, because it is supremely exalted."

"This was what caused King Jehu's downfall, because he said, "Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him very much" (II Kings 10:18 ) . When King Jehu said these words, he had no intention of committing idolatry. He said them only to trick the Baal worshipers, as explained in the following verse. Yet these words were his downfall, because he later came to commit idolatry."

"This way everything relating to the business transaction is turned back into Torah. This is the Torah's vengeance against the person for having separated the transaction from the Torah laws contained within it and falling to the level of the business deal itself as if no Torah were present within it. By having to come before the court and tell the judges everything related to the matter, turning them into Torah, he comes to see that all business activity is Torah. Everything is relevant to the case, even the person's thoughts - for if he omits a single word or thought, the Torah ruling will be defective. Everything must be put before the judges, who turn it into Torah."

"This will be the main delight of the world to come, which will be a time of desire and longing. This is the "desire of all desires", the level to which Moses ascended when he left the world. Likewise Abraham paid "four hundred silver shekels" for his final resting place (Genesis 23:16). The holy Zohar says these are the four hundred worlds of yearning that the Tzaddikim will inherit in the future."

"This will help you understand a deep mystery: why it is a natural reflex response when a person suffers great pain, heaven forbid, as for example when having a limb amputated, that he screws up his eyes and shuts them tight."

"This world exists only to bring about God's eternal purpose."

"Those sunk in craving for wealth are constantly in debt. When people are dissatisfied with what they have, they take risks and borrow from others in the hope of making large profits from the investment. This way they become saddled with a mighty burden of debt and end up dying as debtors. Even if they are not literally in debt when they die, they are always effectively in debt to their own appetites."

"Those who abuse language fall into forgetfulness, which is the death of the heart. Their heart dies within them and they never remember that the true goal of our life in this world is the eternal life of the world to come. Such people are dead even in their lifetime, because they have no conception of their true goal and purpose."

"Those who draw close to a true Tzaddik have a taste of the Garden of Eden. For "the Tzaddik is the gardener of the garden" (Zohar II, 166b)."

"Thought is like a horse that gallops off the road and tries to go in the wrong direction. The rider controls the horse with the bridle, forcing it to go in the right direction. As soon as you see your thoughts pulling in the wrong direction, take them in hand and bring them back in the right direction."

"Three main desires are the root of all others: the desire for wealth, the sexual appetite and the impulse to eat. Each of the three festivals has the power to rectify one of these desires. Pesach rectifies the appetite for wealth, Shavuot sexual lust, and Succot the impulse to eat to excess."

"Through devotion to the Torah you can strip away all the veils and reveal God's presence even when the "concealment within the concealment" is most intense. At last the unremitting cry of the Torah is heard: "How long, thoughtless people, will you continue loving thoughtlessness?" (Proverbs 1:22). In the end you will be able to return to God regardless of where you have fallen."

"Through prayer we have the power to channel God's providence in a way that goes beyond nature. Nature may dictate one thing but prayer has the power to change nature. This is "greatness" - "For what great nation is there that has God so near to them as HaShem our God whenever we call on Him?" (Deuteronomy 4:7) . Our greatness is that God hears our prayers and alters the course of nature through His providence. Thus Yehoram, king of Israel, said to Gehazi, "Please tell me the great things that Elisha did" ( II Kings 8:4) , for "Whatever Elisha did, he accomplished through prayer" (Megilah 27a). Thus prayer, which gives us access to the realm of miracles and providence, the very opposite of nature, is "great.""

"Through the spread of peace the whole world can be drawn to serve God with one accord, because when men are at peace with one another they talk to each other about the true purpose of the world and its vanities. They discuss the realities of life and how, when a person dies, all that remains is whatever he prepared for the world of eternity after death, because neither silver nor gold accompany a person after death. When people come to understand this they will abandon their illusions and idols of silver, aspiring only to God and His Torah. Their only aim will be to serve God and seek out the truth."

"Thus King David said: "In my distress you relieved me" (Psalms 4:2). You have helped me by means of the very trouble itself!"

"Thus one who is in need of God's compassion must show compassion for others, and this depends on deepening his Godly understanding."

"Thus the people of Israel transcend all the philosophical problems and atheistic ideas that derive from the empty void, because they know that it is impossible to solve them. This is why the people of Israel are called the Hebrews, from the Hebrew root OVeiR , to pass over and transcend."

"Thus when a person throws an object upwards, the force that he applies distances it from the earth: the greater his strength, the higher he can throw it. Afterwards, however, when the countervailing force is spent, the object falls back down to the ground because of the gravitational pull of the earth, which draws everything to it. Were it not for this, nothing would stay on earth, because the earth is a round ball and everyone in the world stands on its surface. It is because of the earth's gravitational pull that a thrown object falls back down to earth as soon as the countervailing force ceases."

"To come to complete Teshuvah you must pass through all the places where you were prior to your Teshuvah. When you encounter exactly the same temptations as you experienced before, you must avert your eyes and control your impulses in order not to repeat what you did earlier. This is the essence of perfect Teshuvah: there is no other way."

"To draw God's providence upon ourselves completely, it is necessary to break the appetite for wealth. This is achieved through giving charity. When a person gives money to charity, it cools his urge to acquire. He conducts his business affairs truthfully and honestly and is satisfied with his portion in life, having pleasure and contentment from what God has blessed him with. Since he is not desperate to become rich, he is free from the constant struggle to make extra profit. The burden of this struggle is the fulfillment of the curse: "By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread" (Genesis 3:19). When a person gives charity he is freed from this, and it is accounted to him as if he has brought an offering of incense to God."

"To experience the essential holiness of the Shabbat, which is the foundation of true faith, it is necessary to observe the purity of the Holy Covenant. Shabbat is deeply bound up with the Covenant, and this is why it is customary to spend Shabbat with Tzaddikim, whose holiness derives from their observance of the Covenant in purity in every way. Spending Shabbat with a Tzaddik enables us to experience the true holiness of Shabbat and deepen our faith."

"To gain spiritual understanding and awareness, you must sanctify the seven "lamps" of your head: your mouth, nostrils, ears and eyes."

"To separate the light from the darkness requires the ultimate level of faith. This can be attained only in the land of Israel."

"To understand this, consider how a small coin held in front of your eyes can prevent you from seeing a great mountain, even though the mountain is countless thousands of times larger than the tiny coin. However, because the coin is directly in front of your eyes, it blocks your entire field of vision."

"Treat yourself to all kinds of delights in the food you eat, what you drink, your clothes... whatever you can afford. The food of Shabbat is completely holy. It is purely spiritual and filled with Godliness. It rises to a totally different place from that of the food of the six working days."

"True devotion is to bind the thought to the word, focusing your mind on the words of the prayers by listening and paying careful attention to what you are saying. This way your inner power will enter your prayers automatically."

"True life is to delight in God. Some people achieve this even in this world; others not at all. Spiritual life contains the same multiplicity of gradations that exist on the level of physical life."

"Try to go through all our holy books in the course of your lifetime, so that you will have visited every place in the Torah."

"Trying to pray is like offering a sacrifice. "For Your sake we are killed every day, we are counted like sheep for the slaughter" (Psalms 44:23). This verse speaks of prayer as a sacrifice. When a person wants to pray, he encounters many distractions. Even so, he gives himself over completely to his prayers, making every effort to focus all his thoughts on the words he is saying and their meaning. Even if his prayers are not perfect, his very efforts are a sacrifice, as it says: "For Your sake we are killed every day.""

"Understand the tremendous power of speech. It can save you from destruction."

"Understand this well: Learn to live within your means. Everyone is constantly in need of all kinds of things: this applies even to the very wealthy. It is best to be satisfied with a minimum and to run your household according to your means at the time."

"Use your ears to listen to the words of the Sages: believe in what they say. The way to sanctify your ears is through discretion and loyalty. If people tell you secrets, be sure to keep them and not reveal them to anyone."

"Wait for God's help! Don't press the hour, insisting that all your needs must be satisfied immediately. Wait until God shows mercy."

"We are fortunate that Moses our Teacher showed us the right way. The Torah begins without any philosophical proof: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1) . We must believe in God through faith alone without demanding philosophical proof. Fear of retribution is the main gateway to true devotion."

"We believe in God with faith alone, not because of philosophical analysis."

"We believe that He created the whole universe, that He sustains His universe and that in time to come He will renew it."

"We call the reward in the world to come "good" because there is simply no other term to describe it. Yet even the word "good" is quite inadequate, because this reward is far beyond good. Still, the only way to explain it to people is by calling it good, although in truth, "no eye has seen it, other than God" (Isaiah 64:3)."

"We eat on Shabbat not to gratify our physical appetites, but in order to open the channels of blessing for the other six days of the week."

"We only need to live a little - as long as we live right!"

"We received the holy Torah from Moses our Teacher. It has been handed down to us by outstanding Tzaddikim in every generation. We can rely on them without resorting to philosophical theories. Our task is to follow in their footsteps and believe in God with pure, simple faith, observing the Torah and its commandments as taught by our ancestors."

"We should pray for our friends when they are in trouble. Why our prayers for friends are effective can be understood from the story of a certain king who was angry with his son and sent him away. The prince came and placated his father, who agreed to have him back, but afterwards the prince again offended his father, who sent him away again. The prince again placated his father and the same thing happened several times."

"Wealth is a "wall" ( ch O mah ), while anger ( ch EY mah ) ruins the wall. Thus when the evil one sees that a flow of wealth - chomah, a "wall" - is being sent to a person - he turns this flow into anger, sending something to make the person angry. Thus the "wall", chomah, is ruined because of the anger, cheymah. Since anger and wealth are at root one category, the evil one can easily turn the flow of wealth into anger."

"Wealthy people constantly travel from place to place, spending enormous sums in order to be able to boast about where they have been. In the same way, in this life you should visit all the holy places in the Torah. Then in your future life you will be able to take pride in having visited every place in our holy literature. For in the world to come you will remember everything you have ever learned."

"What about sin and evil? God's glory is not present there, for "I will not give My glory to another" (Isaiah 42:8) . There is a limit that prevents the glory from spreading there. Although "the whole earth is full of His glory", there is nevertheless a limit that prevents it from spreading to the "outside places", which are beyond the bounds of holiness - for "I will not give My glory to another"."

"What do I care about the money you owe me, replied the rich man. Of what significance is the tiny sum you owe me, whether you pay it or not, compared with the total sum of all the loans, which runs into tens of thousands? What I want you to do is to go to all the people who borrowed from me and ask them for the money. Remind them how much they owe me and ask them why they don't settle with me. Even if they don't pay everything, if each one would just pay back a small part of his debt, that alone would come to thousands of times more than the entire sum you yourself owe."

"What do I mean by the land of Israel? I mean the actual country of Israel with its houses and apartments!"

"What is a good memory? It means keeping the world to come constantly in the forefront of your mind, never forgetting it."

"What is free will? If you want, you do it, and if you don't want, you don't do it."