Sanctification as Purity

by | | NLE Journal Posts

Amongst Jews, genius is found only in the holy man. Ludwig Wittgenstein (notebook, 1931) There are two types of kedushah (holiness). The first is the active generating of holiness through doing the commandments and through sanctifying the material. However, there is another type of sanctity — purity (taharah). [1] Simply stated, purity is achieved through... Read more »

How Does Holiness Work?

by | | NLE Journal Posts

The heavens will always remain heavens. But the earth we can elevate and make heavenly. Kotzker Rebbe [1] HOLINESS AS A MORAL IMPERATIVE G-d gave us 613 commandments. These are precise activators of holiness. In addition, G-d created man with physical and other needs — taking care of our health or earning a living, for... Read more »

How Does Holiness Work?

by | | Kiruv and Chinuch Blog

The heavens will always remain heavens. But the earth we can elevate and make heavenly. Kotzker Rebbe [1] HOLINESS AS A MORAL IMPERATIVE G-d gave us 613 commandments. These are precise activators of holiness. In addition, G-d created man with physical and other needs — taking care of our health or earning a living, for... Read more »

What Does it Mean to be Holy?

by | | NLE Journal Posts

Be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Exodus (19:6) THE SWEEPING BREADTH OF HOLINESS Leviticus 19 is one of those chapters that totally changes our perspective on how to live our lives. Moses gathers the entire nation together, [1] and he transmits G-d’s instruction: “Be holy, because I, the Lord your G-d, am... Read more »

Inner vs. Outer Directedness

by | | NLE Journal Posts

And what does G-d demand of you except to do kindness and justice and to walk modestly with your G-d. Micah (6:8) IN THE IMAGE OF G-D R. H. Tawney stated that “The essence of all morality is this: to believe that every human being is of infinite importance, and therefore that no consideration of... Read more »

The Unity Theme of the Universe

by | | NLE Journal Posts

THE HISTORY OF MAN AND THE HISTORY OF EACH MAN We are, as the British-American poet W.H. Auden once said, “history making creatures.” [1] We make this history together with our G-d. As Jews, we cannot allow ourselves to be passive observers, swept along by the events that others make. We are a history-making people!... Read more »

Belief as Truth

by | | NLE Journal Posts

KNOW YOURSELF TO KNOW G-D Knowledge of the self perforce precedes knowledge of G-d. If I don’t understand myself, I cannot understand the ultimate Being beyond myself. We learn this from the story of the prophet Balaam, who was asked by King Balak to curse the Jewish People. [1] As he was riding along, Balaam’s... Read more »