Great Throughts Treasury

"Imagine a man was standing before a king. Someone comes along and slaps that person in the face. Out of fear of the king the man will be almost oblivious to the blow. Moreover, he will think to himself, “I can’t retaliate now. The king witnessed what he did tome. If the king approves, nothing I do will help. If the king disapproves of what he did, the king himself will punish that person for what he has done to me.” Similarly we are in the presence of the Almighty and should not reply to insults."

"If a person constantly keeps his mind focused on doing good deeds, his mind will be free from thoughts that lead to sadness."

"The time of our rejoicing’: Sukkah is the unification of HVYH and ADNY (the male and female names of Gd- numerically Sukka=91=the two names of Gd combined). This unification brings about Da’at (which is the Kabbalistic term for the interface between the two highest male/female names of Gd, and literally means Understanding. For context, Moshe, who brings the Torah from Sinai, represents Da’at), and when there is knowledge, there is joy. The proof (for the superiority of joy over sadness, sukkot over the high holy days) is, that if one observes a newborn, who has very little understanding– already at birth he is capable of crying. It is only much later, when their understanding grows– that a baby can smile."

"Every human being has a light in heaven. When two of them meet, the lights fuse, and a new light shines out of them. This is called a begetting and the new light is an angel."

"The divine is most present when I myself am most absent."

"What is G-d? The totality of souls. Whatever exists in the whole can also be found in the part. So in any one soul, all souls are contained."

"If a man fulfills the commandments of the Torah, such as the commandment of the phylacteries, and says the formula prescribed by the Kabbalists, namely, “In the name of all Israel [I am doing this]” then he lifts up the whole universe to its “root” above, for the world is really G-d Himself, like the locust whose clothing is part of its own self [i.e. its own wings garb its body]. Therefore, he annihilates [by his action] the [outward] existence of the whole universe. And if we see that in spite of all this the world is still there, it is because the vital energy of G-d is always active and the world is incessantly renewed.’ In contrast, then, to classical Kabbalistic theurgy, where mitzvot transform the G-dhead’s inner state, for Hasidism, mitzvot transform the worshipper’s field of vision."

"At the time of creation the light of G-d flowed from the sphere of the spiritual down to the physical world through a series of vessels or emanations.] But the vessels proved unable to contain the Divine Light. They broke. This primordial catastrophe is called shevirat hakeilim, the Breaking of the Vessels. You can better understand it with an analogy. Think of a man who is deeply troubled and depressed. Suddenly he receives an exhilarating piece of good news. His troubles are over. Instead of jumping for joy, the man will break down crying. The “bright light” of the good news was too much for him. Similarly, shevirat hakeilim means that the vessels broke because they could not encompass the brilliant splendor of the luminescent Divine Light"

"R’ Pinchas said: “‘The whole earth is full of His glory’ (Isaiah 6:3). His glory [kevodo] should be understood in the sense of ‘His garment,’ i.e., that G-d is enclothed, so to speak, in the corporeal. Hence, the whole earth is full of his glory implies [that G-d fills] all corporeality. Thus ‘G-d’s glory’ refers to His clothing [i.e., ‘just as the body fills a garment, so G-d indwells in the world’]”."

"R’ Pinchas said: “‘Hear O Israel, the Lord is our G-d, the Lord is One’ (Deuteronomy 6:4). The term echad [one] in the reading of the Shema, which proclaims the unity of G-d, [requires us to] state that there is nothing in the whole world other than the Holy One, Who fills the whole earth with His glory. The principal intention [of the commandment to recite the Shema] is that we should consider ourselves null and void, and [understand] that there is nothing to us but the soul within us, which is part of G-d above. Hence there is nothing in the whole world except the One G-d. Our principal thought when reciting the word echad should be that the whole earth is full of His glory and there is nothing [in the universe] devoid of Him”."

"The truth of the Torah is said to be very deep; hence the haughty man, who holds his head high, is very far from it."

"Nothing, great and small, could exist were it not for His help. We find that all the obstacles [to observing the] prohibitions, or even thoughts, are from the Almighty alone. And without His ‘help,’ I would become a meshumad [apostate]. But if you ignore this principle, you may think that you are ‘something’ and value yourself as a man of virtue [a sheiner yid]. [You say to yourself,] ‘I went away from sin and I am clean of sin.’ But the result is that G-d leaves him, for every haughty-hearted person is an abomination to G-d, and he and I cannot live [in the same place]. Then he finds himself in the grasp of his Urge and be caught in its trap and do whatever it tempts him to do. And [R. Pinhas] said that all this is because of the compassion of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His great kindness which is continuously over the soul, he is seduced in order to fail through a [small] thing in order to remind him that without the help of G-d he is worth nothing. [If] he does not remember through a small thing, he would stumble in a great thing until he comes to … [unclear] the belief in his own power … Then he must break himself very much, until he knows that he himself becomes nothing and very small, and then he becomes a vessel prepared to accept help and assistance from G-d, may He be blessed."

"Within us are all the qualities, good and evil, … but they are unborn, and we have the power to beget them. We can transform evil qualities into good, and good into evil."

"In everyone there is something precious which is in no one else. That is why it is said: ‘Despise not any man.’"

"Every sin is linked to a reason, good or bad—with the sole exception of vanity, which needs no reason to grow and grow. If someone finds it necessary to honor me, that means he is more humble than I. Which means he is better and saintlier than I. Which means that I should honor him. But then, why is he honoring me?"

"Prayer is itself divinity."

"One must love even the sinful, but must hate their actions. Although it is forbidden to be close to the wicked, one must still love them, so that perhaps they will return to the path of the Torah."

"Usually, persons asking for advice have already solved their own problem without knowing it."

"Choose your words and deeds with care for they are of momentous importance."

"Every person contains something precious that cannot be found in anyone else."

"One must love every individual of Israel, and when you see that someone hates you, you must love them more, for Israel is a Throne for the Shechinah (Presence of G-d) and for holiness."

"A man's soul will teach him… There is no person who is not incessantly being taught by his soul."

"The soul teaches without ceasing, but it never repeats."

"Joy is on a higher plane than grief. Even with the newborn child, tears come first and smiles only later. Joy constitutes a higher stage, for it springs from higher worlds, from G-d."

"Even when a person feels a descent, things are going badly, Hashem is there for him."

"When a person is afraid of something, he is actually subjugated to that very thing. If he is not afraid, he remains above it."

"It is true that G-d is able to do whatsoever He wills. But man has the similar power, by virtue of his free will."

"A man cannot be consciously good unless he knows evil. No one can appreciate pleasure unless he has tasted bitterness. Good is only the reverse of evil, and pleasure is merely the opposite of anxiety. … And G-d said: ‘There can be no goodness in man while he is alone without an evil impulse within him. I will endow him with the ability to do evil, and it will be as a help-meet to him to enable him to do good, if he masters the evil nature within him.’ Without the evil impulse, man could do no evil; but neither could he do good."

"It is possible for a person to correct the world, while the evil continues to cling to him. The Besht revealed this thing [to Menahem Mendel of Bar]: that one must descend to Gehinnom on behalf of G-d, may He be blessed. And this is alluded to in the gemara [Talmudic aphorism], ‘Greater is a sin for its own sake [than a mitzvah for its own sake.’"

"A righteous person does not take leave of this world until he does a great mitzvah, and in this way he insures that he will cleave to Hashem."

"G-d esteems highly the good deeds of men that are known only to those who perform them and their Maker."

"All can be imitated, save truth; for imitated truth is no longer truth."

"If a man fulfills the commandments of the Torah, such as the commandment of the phylacteries, and says the formula prescribed by the Kabbalists, namely, “In the name of all Israel [I am doing this]” then he lifts up the whole universe to its “root” above, for the world is really G-d Himself, like the locust whose clothing is part of its own self [i.e. its own wings garb its body]. Therefore, he annihilates [by his action] the [outward] existence of the whole universe. And if we see that in spite of all this the world is still there, it is because the vital energy of G-d is always active and the world is incessantly renewed.’ In contrast, then, to classical Kabbalistic theurgy, where mitzvot transform the G-dhead’s inner state, for Hasidism, mitzvot transform the worshipper’s field of vision"

"Dreams are a secretion of our thoughts, and through them our thought is purified."