Great Throughts Treasury

"If you won't be better tomorrow than you were today, then what do you need tomorrow for?"

"A person also needs to find in himself a little bit of good. Because no matter how low a person is, how can it be that he didn"

"A Jewish person needs to always look at the wisdom within everything in order that it will enlighten him so that he can come close to God through each thing. Because this wisdom is a great light and it will enlighten all his ways. "

"A person needs holy arrogance, holy chutzpah. He should be bold as a leopard against the people who are preventing him and mocking him. "

"A person must know that Gods glory fills the entire world (Isiah 6), and there is no place void of Him (Tikunei Zohar), and He fills all worlds and surrounds all worlds (Zohar)"

"All the world is a very narrow bridge, and the most important thing is not to fear at all."

"A person who lacks faith is not truly alive, because as soon as something bad happens he gives up all hope. He has no way to comfort himself because, having no faith, he has placed himself outside God's providence and therefore, for him, there is no good at all."

"All my teachings are only introductions, [the main part is up to you to discover]. "

"A person needs to scream to his father in heaven with a powerful voice from the depths of his heart. Then God will listen to his voice and turn to his outcry. And it could be that from this act itself, all doubts and obstacles that are keeping him back from true service of Hashem will fall from him and be completely nullified. "

"A Rav must have in him the two powers that there are in the Torah, that is, a drug of life and a drug of death (Yoma 72), in order that it will be possible for those who come close to him to receive according to their own will, as in the Torah the righteous will walk and the wicked will stumble (Hosea 14). If he yearns for true service of Hashem he can receive from the Rav a straight path to serve Hashem, but if his heart isn"

"Always remember: happiness is not a side matter in your spiritual journey - it is essential."

"And in the future the Holy One, blessed be He, will renew the entire world through the land of Israel , for then it will be revealed that God created everything. The essential holiness of the land of Israel lies in the fact that His providence is there all the time: "Constantly the eyes of HaShem your God are upon it from the beginning of the year until the end of the year" (Deuteronomy 11:12 ) . And in time to come, when He renews the entire world through the land of Israel , the entire world will be governed through providence alone, just like the land of Israel . Nature will then be totally nullified and the world will be governed through providence and wonders alone, not according to nature."

"And know that a person needs to traverse a very, very narrow bridge, but the fundamental and most important principle is to have no hesitation or fear at all."

"And through the true guidance and counsel that are revealed in the world (with each person knowing in his own heart what he must do) faith is able to grow, as it is written, "Counsels from afar, nurturing faith." Then everything can be rectified. For true counsel is a "wonder" - "I will acknowledge Your Name, for You have done wonders , counsels from afar...." This makes it possible to heal the "wondrous plagues" sent by God. Prayer also brings about "wonders", as it is written, "Awesome in praises [i.e. prayer], performing wonders" (Exodus 15:11). The same is true of ancestral merit: "In front of their fathers He performed wonders" (Psalms 78:12)."

"Being humble does not mean you must put yourself in a state of constricted consciousness. Constantly ask God to bring you to true humility and to have faith in yourself. Some Tzaddikim suffer opposition only because they do not have faith in themselves!"

"Anyone who wants to enter into the service of Hashem, the only way possible is to be like Avraham who considered himself to be the only one in the world. That is, he should not pay attention to anyone who is preventing him from coming close to Hashem, whether it be his father, mother, in-laws, wife, children, etc. or anyone else in the world who mocks him and tries to prevent him from serving Hashem. He should not pay attention to them at all, rather he should follow the verse Avraham was one (Yichezkel 32) As if he is the only one in the world. "

"But if you have true faith, your main hope is in the world to come and you therefore have a very good life. Whatever happens to you, you have faith that everything is for good - whether it comes to remind you to repent or to atone for your sins so that you may be worthy of the everlasting good of the world to come."

"But one who has faith and believes in God has a very good life. Even when trouble strikes, he can still fortify himself with his trust in God, because he knows that everything is for the best. Either this suffering will cleanse him of his sins or eventually bring him some great benefit. For God's intention is certainly for good. Therefore the man of faith always has a good life both in this world and the next."

"Criticizing others, giving them an unwelcome feeling, can be done by anyone. Uplifting them and giving them a good feeling - that takes a special gift and spending effort."

"Disparage no book, for it is also a part of the world."

"Each person's knowledge and awareness of God are unique to himself according to the horizons of his heart. Our basic knowledge of God derives from what we have been taught by our holy forefathers, who struggled all their lives to divest themselves of all material attachments. They conquered all their negative traits and desires, releasing themselves from the root of evil. This was how they came to true recognition and understanding of their Creator."

"But truthfully, even in all the concealments, even in the concealment within a concealment, certainly even there Hashem is enclothed. For certainly there is absolutely nothing that doesn't."

"Conceptions of Godliness are only possible to grasp through many constrictions. Therefore a person should search very much for a proper teacher who is able to explain things and make these lofty concepts understandable, for this a person needs a tremendously great teacher who is able to explain such lofty concepts on a simple level enabling small-minded people to understand. The smaller a person is and the further away from Hashem he is, the greater teacher he must find, just as the sicker a person is the greater doctor he needs. Much prayer is needed to find a teacher like this, but one must never lose resolve and settle for mediocrity."

"Every single Jew has a point in them that is uniquely precious. And it is with this point that he bestows upon, enlightens, and arouses the heart of others. We all need to accept this arousal and this unique point from each other. As it says, And they receive one from another. (Isaiah 3)"

"Even when people are serving Idolatry, nevertheless, deep down, they are all submissive to G-d and serving Him, only it is taking place in a greatly concealed realm."

"Even if many days and years pass and it seems as if you have accomplished nothing with your prayers and conversations with G-d, don"

"Even if you have not yet attained this, the cry itself is very beneficial."

"Every single Jew is a portion of God above, and the essence of Godliness is in the heart. This godliness, which resides in the heart of a Jewish person, is infinite, for the light of its flame reaches infinity, that is, his yearnings and desires are without end or limit. "

"If you are strong in your faith, you will eventually come to understand what you believe in. The stronger your faith, the greater your understanding will become. At the outset you have no option but to have faith, because you cannot understand the matter, but through faith you will come to understand it."

"If you ask a believer to explain why he has faith, he will certainly not be able to give you a reason, because faith is applicable only where one does not understand the reason. Yet, because of his complete faith, whatever the believer himself believes in is perfectly clear and self-evident as if he sees it with his own eyes."

"Everybody says there is this world and the coming world. Behold, here is the coming world -- we believe that there that the coming world exist; perhaps this world also exists in some place, because here it looks like hell, for everybody is full of great afflictions all the time, and he said that this world does not exist at all. "

"Every Tzaddik needs to be both well versed in Torah and full of good deeds, for if he is not learned, our sages say, an unlearned person cannot be a Chassid. But a learned person alone isn't."

"For the non-believers, however, repentance is more of a burden. Having suffered little pain or remorse at the time of the sin, they are obliged to suffer when they repent in order to balance the pleasure of the sin."

"Great kings constantly remind their subjects that they have a ruler. Soldiers in particular are trained to know who their king and master is - "In order that His fear should be on their faces" (Exodus 20:17) - so that they should serve their master unconditionally. Subordinates are constantly told, "Know that you have a lord and master." The intention is that they should keep this in mind and never forget it, in order not do anything against his will."

"Faith depends on a person's mouth. We must say that we believe - say it out loud! "I will make Your faithfulness known with my mouth." (Psalms 89: 2) "

"How could they not oppose me, for I walk a new path, one that no man has ever walked before, nor any creature since the time the Torah was received. Even though it is a very old path, nevertheless it is completely new."

"If you are a person of faith, you will find it easier to repent. True repentance must balance the sin. You have to endure pain and suffering in equal measure to the enjoyment derived from the sin."

"If you are not going to be any better tomorrow than you were today, then what need have your for tomorrow?"

"If you believe in everything, some of your beliefs may be foolish but you will also believe in the truth. However, when a person is too clever and does not want to believe in anything, he may begin by ridiculing falsehood and folly but can easily end up so skeptical of everything that he even denies the truth."

"If you believe that it is possible to break, believe it is also possible to fix.[ If you believe breaking is possible, believe fixing is possible.][If you believe that you can destroy, believe you can fix.]"

"If you have faith, you will have a good and beautiful life."

"Immersion in a mikveh redeems a person from all hardships, and purifies from all impurities and from all sins, for the mikveh draws down extremely lofty awareness and supernal kindness and compassion. "

"In this world it is impossible for everything to go the way one wants it. Those who ignore the true, enduring purpose of life, satisfying only their material desires, are doomed to a life of constant pain and suffering without having any way to console themselves."

"It is a great mitzvah to always be happy. "

"It is a great thing for a person to still have an evil inclination because then he is able to serve Hashem with the evil inclination itself. That is, to take all of the fire in his heart and channel it towards service of Hashem. For example, to pray with fiery passion of the heart, etc. For, if there is no evil inclination in a person his service cannot be complete. "

"It is a great thing to hear music from a holy person playing on an instrument for the sake of heaven. Because through this, false fantasies are dismissed, the spirit of depression is dispelled, and the person merits happiness. Through this the memory is preserved, that is, the memory of the world to come, and a person is able to understand the hints that Hashem is constantly hinting to him every day. Furthermore, through this a person can reach the level of the spirit of prophecy and divine inspiration, and he will be able to pour out his heart like water before Hashem. "

"It is better to be a fool who believes in everything than to be so clever that you do not believe in anything."

"It is customary to consider forgetfulness a disadvantage. I believe it is an advantage. Knowing to forget means loosening the troubles of the past."

"It is even good to do silly things in order to cheer oneself up. "

"It is forbidden to be old."