Emuna Beams

Learning to Walk: Likutei Moharan II, Torah 48

When newcomers enter in to the service of Hashem, it looks like Hashem is pushing them away. They're hit with all kinds of problems that they never had before? Why? 

Escape from Darkness: Psalms 57-59

King David suffered unspeakable emotional and physical hardships. These included imminent death in captivity on more occasions than one. Prophetically, he felt our pain and wrote these Psalms for us too.

Purifying the Heart - Likutei Moharan I:156

The heart has a spiritual self-cleaning mechanism that is capable of cleansing it from all forms of impurity. Rebbe Nachman teaches us how to activate it.
 

Wings of a Dove: Psalms 54-56

Sometimes our troubles are so tormenting that we'd be happy to sprout wings like a dove and just fly away to a place of peace. King David felt exactly like that when he had no rest from enemies, both foreign and domestic. Prophetically, he felt our pain and wrote these Psalms for us too.

The Gaza War: No End in Sight?

There are those who claim, and seemingly rightfully so, that the Gaza War would have been over in 8 weeks, were it not for the interference of the Biden administration. Biden and Blinken forced Israel to enable the so-called "humanitarian aid" that enabled Hamas to recover from a near knockout. That may sound logical, but it contradicts the truth of emuna. Emuna tells us that everything is from Hashem, and that includes the Biden administration and Hamas. As such, today's broadcast helps us understand the emuna message of current events.

The Beauty of Simplicity: Likutei Moharan II, Torah 19

The closest distance between two points is a straight line. In spirituality, straightness means simplicity and honest innocence. The two traits, which are really one, makes a person beautiful. They also create the closest distance between the person and the Creator.

Renewal of the Spirit: Psalms 51-53

Confessing one's wrongdoings to the Almighty does more than merely cleansing one's soul. It rejuvenates the spirit. A rejuvenated spirit is a healthy spirit, and a healthy spirit is a happy spirit.

Remodeling for Moshiach

Why all the chaos in the world and in each of our lives? The Gemara teaches us an amazing lesson: before enhanced abundance and joy, there's chaos, both physical and emotional. We are taken out of our comfort zone in order to accustom us to a new and better reality. That's the key to understanding current events. It's also proof that Moshiach is imminent. Here's how:

Curing the Age-Old Plague

During the Omer, Rebbe Akiva's 24,000 students died because they didn't properly respect one another. We still mourn them, almost 2,000 later, because we haven't yet corrected their sin. We're all still guilty of intramural hate. Do you know why? Let me explain, with an amazing story from over sixty years ago, about my father, of blessed memory...

The Story of Passover, Part 3: Exodus From Egypt

The 210 years of exile and 116 years of slavery in Egypt ended with on the eve of the 15th of Nissan, 2448 in the Hebrew calendar. This was the year 1312 BCE. Hashem gave a most difficult command to the Israelites. Each family had to slaughter a lamb, which the Egyptians held sacred as their prime deity. This was an act of total dedication to the Almighty, where emuna had to prevail over logic and fear. Such dedication triggered the final exodus from Egypt, in a remarkable chain of events that we learn in todays lesson.

The Story of Passover - Part 2: The Ten Plagues

When Moses relayed Hashem's message of "Let My people go" to Pharaoh, the Egyptian monarch snarled back, "Who is Hashem that I should listen to Him? Besides, I've never heard of Hashem before" (Exodus 5:2). With such unprecedented insolence, Pharaoh was begging for punishment. The punishment came quickly. There were ten different plagues. Each one was a precise measure-for-measure response to the suffering that Pharaoh and the Egyptians meted out to the Israelites, as we see in today's lesson.

The Story of Passover: Part 1, Slavery in Egypt

How did a fierce, proud and independent people like the Israelites fall into slavery in Egypt? Why did they have to suffer unspeakable atrocities? Here, in first of our 3-Part "Story of Passover," we gain a deeper appreciation of the Passover holiday and of true freedom.