There is a story in the Talmud about Shabbat Mishpatim. It says when Moses went up to the Heavens to receive the Torah, the angels asked the Creator, “Master of the World, why is there a human being here among us?” And an argument, or conversation, ensues. Because what was being given to humankind, through the Torah, was not wisdom or a spiritual path; it was an actual detachment of the essence of the Light of the Creator, being sent down for anybody who wants it. The angels could not understand that, therefore, they asked the Creator, “How can you give over control of the essence of Your Light to man?” If the Creator was simply giving over wisdom, or even giving over a spiritual path, the angels would have no difficulty understanding. But the Creator is giving over His essence, and that is what this Shabbat is about: the concept of the giving of the Torah, which is a giving over of the... read more

The great Light of the 72 Names of God, the conduits through which miracles are awakened, is revealed on Shabbat Beshalach, the Shabbat of the Splitting of the Sea. There are numerous powerful teachings about this portion, but I’d like to share one that I find to be particularly beautiful from the Maharal. After the miracle of the Splitting of the Sea, the Israelites sang a song, the first word of which is Az. And the Maharal says that this word, in two letters, is really the secret of certainty. Why? Because Aleph, the first letter of Az, represents the Light of the Creator, the one Light that is everything, and the last letter, Zayin, he explains represents the number seven and how things manifest; the seven lower Sefirot, or emanations, of what is called the Tree of Life, are the levels through which things manifest into this physical world. The word Az represents the consciousness... read more