Great Throughts Treasury

"When a person knows that everything that happens to him is for the best, this is a taste of the world to come. "

"When one sings the words of prayer and the song resonates with great clarity and purity, he enclothes the shechina (divine presence) with luminous clothing. "

"When the Torah tells us to "know" God, it is teaching us to bring this holy knowledge into our minds and thoughts and bind it in our hearts constantly at all times in order that "His fear will be upon our faces so that we will not sin" (Exodus 20:17) ."

"When the world is renewed in the future, it will be governed through wonders and providence alone in a way that transcends nature. For the future renewal of the world will come about through the land of Israel, which in its very essence depends on "the power of His works" (Psalms 111:6; see Rashi on Genesis 1:1) - namely, knowing that God created the world."

"When there are harsh judgments on the Jewish people, God forbid, through dancing and clapping ones hands, the judgments are sweetened."

"When we clap our hands during prayer it awakens the 28 letters that the world was created with which parallel the 28 joints in the hands. Through this we have power to purify the air of the nations, to dispel the impure air and replace it with the pure air of the Land of Israel."

"When you cry out in your heart, this itself is an aspect of faith. You may have many doubts and questions, but when you cry out in your heart it shows that you still have a spark of true faith."

"When you have faith, every day is filled with good. When things go well, it is certainly good. But even if things go wrong and you suffer, this is also good. For you trust that God will have mercy and will eventually send good. Everything must be good, because everything comes from God."

"Whenever a person rises from one level to the next, it necessitates that he first has a descent before the ascent. Because the purpose of any descent is always in order to ascend. "

"Whoever breaks free from the lust for food can become a miracle worker. But someone who is stuck in this desire it is a sign that he is a liar. Even a Tzaddik who already freed himself from all desires and then falls back into the desire for food, it must be that something false left his mouth. It also shows that there is Judgment upon him from above and it is a sign of poverty. "

"Whoever is able to write a book and does not, it is as if he has lost a child"

"Why are you so sad? Because everything goes wrong in your life. But, gevalt, gevalt, do you know why everything goes wrong? Because you are so sad."

"Without this spark you would not cry out at all. Your very cry is therefore an aspect of faith. Understand this."

"Worldly riches are like nuts; many a tooth is broke in cracking them, but never is the stomach filled with eating them."

"You may experience great pain when you regret your sins. You may feel deeply ashamed when contemplating God's exalted greatness. You may cringe in fear of punishment. Whatever form it takes , this suffering is caused by your very fear of God, and "The fear of God increases one's days." Your very pain and anxiety add to your days."

"You must have enough faith in God's goodness to believe that you are important to Him. Have faith that you too are precious in God's eyes. So great is God's goodness that each and every person is great and important in His eyes."

"You must have faith in yourself!"

"You need to greatly encourage yourself in His service as much as you can, even if you are the way you are, you should rely on His abundantly great mercy which is beyond limit, for certainly he will not forsake you, no matter how badly you"

"You need to have great stubbornness in the service of Hashem. "

"You need to know that just as evil arrogance is a very bad character trait, so too a person needs to have holy arrogance. Because it is impossible to come to the true tzaddikim or to draw near to holiness without arrogance as our rabbis taught, Be bold as a leopard "

"You should know. The Torah which is enclothed within the concealment within a concealment is a very high Torah; the secrets of the Torah. Since it needs to enclothe itself in these low places, by those who have sinned a lot until Hashem became concealed from them in a concealment within a concealment, Hashem decided not to place their simple Torah, in order that the evil should not be able to draw strength from there too much, which will cause much defect. Therefore He concealed and enclothed within their specifically very high Torah, the secrets of Torah, which is Hashems Torah itself. This is as it says with regards to Egypt (Shemot 12) I will pass through the land of Egypt, I and not an angel, I and not a messenger, I, Hashem and no other. For in the land of Egypt, the place of much evil, specifically there, Hashem himself is hidden and enclothed, that is, Hashem"

"You will then not need to worry about whether or not things are going as they should, because you are relying on God. If He wants things to go differently from the way you may wish, you will be willing to accept everything the way He wants it."

"Your sins and wrongdoing may cause you great anguish. You may suffer the worst agonies of regret. Yet your very contrition over your sins actually increases your days and adds to your life, for "The fear of God increases one's days" (Proverbs 10:27)."

"A certain king sent his son far away to study. The son eventually returned to the king's palace fully versed in all the arts and sciences. One day the king told his son to take a particular stone that was as big as a millstone and bring it up to the top floor of the palace. But the stone was so heavy that the prince could not even lift it up. He was very upset that he could not fulfill his father's wish. Eventually the king said to his son, "Did you really imagine that I meant you to do the impossible and carry the stone just as it is up there? Even with all your wisdom, how were you supposed to do such a thing? That was not what I meant. I wanted you to take a big hammer and smash the stone into little pieces. This is how you will be able to bring it up to the top floor." In the same way, God commands us to "lift our heart with our hands up to God in the heavens" (Lamentations 3:41). Our heart is a "heart of stone" (Ezekiel 36:26), a very heavy stone. There is no possible way to raise it to God except by taking a hammer and breaking and smashing the heart of stone. The "hammer" is speech!"

"A holy melody can bring you to the level of prophecy. Music is the foundation of true attachment to God."

"A person must long to attain the highest possible level. And he must not allow himself to fall from even the smallest level."

"A number of blind people can all take hold of one sighted person and follow him trustingly. A blind man trusts his stick and follows it even though he sees nothing. How much more should you follow your own self - because the light did shine on you previously, arousing and inspiring you to serve God. Maybe you feel you have fallen and that your eyes and heart are closed. Even so, you should still hold onto those earlier days. Just as you were aroused and encouraged to serve God then, strengthen yourself now by following the sense of arousal you felt then. God will soon help you and His light will shine on you again."

"A person should be so honest that when he performs the mitzvot in all their fine points, he does it for God's sake and not merely to impress others. Even if he is completely alone with no- one watching, he should still carry them all out with the same care."

"A person's ability to show love depends on his level of Godly awareness. One who has Godly awareness will have compassion. For anger, the opposite of compassion, is rooted in foolishness: "Anger rests in the bosom of fools" (Ecclesiastes 7:9). Accordingly our Rabbis said, "It is forbidden to show compassion to anyone who lacks understanding" (Berachot 33a). This is because a person who lacks understanding is necessarily lacking in compassion (since "anger rests in the bosom of fools"). This is why it is forbidden to have compassion on him, because "Everyone who shows love for God's creatures is himself shown love", but if a person lacks compassion, it is impossible to have compassion on him."

"?Before your death? is your entire life. During your entire lifetime, you may be worthy of only one day of repentance."

"A person should never let his own smallness insignificance and humility cover up his true greatness. For sometimes a person downgrades himself to excess and forgets that he still has many amazing attributes."

"A little is also good."

"A storekeeper will sell on credit, allowing the buyer to pay later. Why not do the same with spiritual goods? Say a few Psalms, learn some Torah or carry out some other mitzvot so that they are put aside ready for some time of need. The time will indeed come when you will need them. You will then be able to make use of your reward without having to ask the storekeeper for credit."

"Accustom yourself to learn quickly without too much attention to detail. This way you will truly acquire the Torah and cover enormous ground. You will be able to complete the Talmud, Codes, Bible, Midrash, Zohar and other Kabalistic texts and all the other sacred works. It is unnecessary to review everything immediately. It is better to complete each volume as rapidly as possible from beginning to end and then to review the entire work as a whole. Don't be anxious if you are unable to complete everything. One can be a faithful Jew even without being able to learn at all. One can be a Tzaddik even without being a scholar. It is true that deep perception cannot be attained without Talmudic scholarship, yet even the simplest Jew can be a Tzaddik. "You are not obliged to complete the work, but neither are you at liberty to desist from it" (Avot 2:16)."

"Afterwards, however, the suffering is lightened and we can derive a measure of consolation from the new spiritual insights achieved through the suffering. The reason suffering leads to spiritual insight is that suffering brings one to self-transcendence. Subsequently, even though one returns from self-transcendence to normal consciousness, a trace of it still remains, and from this trace comes Torah insight. This is because in the state of self-transcendence, nullified in the ultimate goal, one realizes that one's pain and suffering are actually of very great benefit. This fills one with joy, which is the "vessel" for receiving new Torah insights. It is the deeper Torah insights resulting from the remaining joyous trace of self-transcendence that later cool the intensity of one's suffering. For Torah quenches the thirst of the soul, namely the pain and suffering. "Happy is the man whom God chastises and from Your Torah you teach him" (Psalms 94:12). The chastisement and suffering are what bring one to greater Torah insight. And indeed, if out of suffering you come to enhanced understanding, this is a sign that you dealt with the suffering in the proper way. Your deepened spiritual awareness is a sign that you were able to use the suffering to attain the state of self-transcendence, nullification in the ultimate goal."

"All physical medicines are bitter, and the same is true in healing the soul: the soul is healed through bitterness. You may have to overcome many obstacles and endure much suffering in order for your soul to be healed. With physical illnesses there are times when the body becomes so weak that the invalid cannot bear the bitterness of the medicines. The doctors despair of ever curing him and simply abandon him. Similarly, when a person falls under the influence of sin, which is the sickness of the soul, he may be unable to bear the bitterness of the remedy. There may seem to be no hope for him at all. However, God is filled with love. When He sees that a person wants to return to Him but lacks sufficient strength to bear the bitter remedies necessitated by his sins, He takes pity and casts all the person's sins aside in order to save him excessive suffering. God sends him only as much as he can bear."

"All the more so when one finishes a whole word: the word pleads and entreats in the same manner, caressing and embracing the soul, refusing to let the soul move on. Yet the truth is that one must go on: there are many more words to be said and many more blessings and prayers to be recited before the conclusion of the service."

"All the pleasures of this world are like sunbeams in a dark room. They may seem solid, but when a person tries to grasp hold of a sunbeam, he finds nothing in his hand. The same is true of all worldly desires."

"An angry parent does nothing for the intellectual growth of their child."

"After heartbreak comes joy. Being happy later on is a true sign of having a broken heart."

"All the obstacles and temptations standing in the way of true fear of heaven are illusory walls. Be courageous and strong-hearted! All the apparent obstacles, such as financial and other material constraints or opposition from others, will disappear if you are determined and courageous in your quest for God."

"All we have is the present day and the present moment. Tomorrow is a whole different world."

"And even when God withdraws and seems far away, you must still pray to Him. You must actually cast your prayers, throwing them towards God from afar, as it says: " Cast your burden upon God" (Psalms 55:23). "Happy is the man who knows how to cast arrows" (Tikkuney Zohar). These "arrows" are the prayers that must be thrown towards God."

"And charity is always a beginning, as it is written, "Open! Open up your hand!" (Deuteronomy 15:8). Even when there is already an entrance and a beginning, giving charity opens and widens the entrance even further. Whenever a person wants to enter any pathway of devotion and service of God, it is necessary to make an opening in order to enter that pathway. "All beginnings are difficult" because it is first necessary to break through and open up the entrance all over again, which is very difficult. However, charity has the unique power of being able to open and widen the entrance further."

"As long as a person has not strayed too far from the right path, it is easy for him to return because he still recognizes the voice. This is because only a short time has passed since he was close to God and heeded His voice, the voice of the Torah. He has not yet forgotten it or strayed too far along those other devious paths. Similarly, when a sheep strays from the path and the shepherd immediately calls it, as long as the sheep has not yet strayed too far, it still recognizes the shepherd's voice and immediately responds."

"Anger and cruelty result from a lack of Godly knowledge and awareness, for "anger rests in the lap of fools" (Ecclesiastes 7:9). This is why a sick person is prone to anger, being subject to stern judgments, which take the form of constricted consciousness, making him angry."

"As the joy begins to radiate within you, it will spread to your legs until you literally start to dance for joy. This will banish the forces of impurity, which take hold of the legs, mitigating harsh judgments and enabling you to receive blessings."

"As long as a person is reluctant to spend money on the mitzvot he performs, his mitzvot are deficient because they have not yet entered the category of true faith, which gives them their perfection. But when a mitzvah is so precious in a person's eyes that he does not mind parting with his money and is willing to spend liberally for the sake of the mitzvah, this is called faith. For a person's faith is evident in the way he relates to money. When a person breaks his appetite for wealth, he becomes attached to the inner face of holiness."

"As soon as the most exalted and wonderful Torah teachings are put into a book, they become concealed behind covers. The boards of the binding of the book are the covers."

"At the actual moment of self-transcendence when one is nullified in the ultimate goal, which is all good and all unity, the pain and suffering are nullified and actually disappear. However it is not possible to remain permanently in this state of self-transcendence as that would be beyond the limitations of our human existence. In this lifetime self-transcendence can only be experienced for brief moments, just as the angels in Ezekiel's prophecy of the Chariot are described as "running and returning" (Ezekiel 1:14). They "run forth", momentarily transcending their limitations and rising towards God, but then they "return" again to their separate selves."