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Lessons

articles on Foundations of Faith

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More Soulful
How to add more inspiration to our soul
Credit: עין טובה
Setting Out on a New Path
working-from-within approach is destined to fail.
Credit: Shutterstock
The Right Perspective
using Shabbat as the time to gain perspective.
Credit: Shutterstock
The Progression to a Mankind Without Sin
There is no death without sin.

series on Foundations of Faith

Emuna From the Cradle
The main mitzvah upon which all the other mitzvot are structured is emuna, certainty of G-d. The Gemara tells us (Makkot 24) that the Prophet Habakuk "summed up" all the mitzvot into one, saying, "The righteous will live by his faith." Therefore, since we are obligated to teach our children to fulfill the Torah's commandments, it is clear that we must teach them emuna from a very young age – for that is the mitzvah on which everything else stands.
Rabbi Shalom Arush | Shvat 19 5782
45. The “Hassid” (Saintly Person)
The saintly person is a leader. All of his senses and attributes - both spiritual and physical - submit themselves to his command. This is what King Solomon says, “One who rules his spirit is greater than one who captures a city” (Proverbs 16:32).
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
47. The “Hassid” - The Ideal Jew
A 'Hassid' is the quintessential Jew. His heart is filled with faith in God. He constantly senses God's closeness, as if God were standing before him. He believes that God knows all, hidden thoughts, feelings of the heart - all is revealed to God.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
48. More about the Ideal Jew
A Hassid senses that God accompanies him, protects him, and sustains him at all times. It is as if angels of God were accompanying and protecting him. True, he cannot actually see them, but he senses their presence. He feels protected and cared for.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
49. True Faith Brings Trust in God
True and complete faith in God causes one to believe that whatever He does is for the best. This provides a most sturdy defense against hardships and suffering. One who has faith in God is not broken by hardships, but actually receives them lovingly.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
50. One Hundred Blessings
The Sages ruled that a Jew must pronounce at least one hundred blessings each day. Ostensibly, this obligation is a burden and a nuisance. However, a more penetrating view teaches us that such blessings actually give a person pleasure and enjoyment.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
51. Beginning the Day
Upon waking, one's heart becomes filled with rapture due to the renewed encounter with God's great and bountiful creation. This leads to a desire to give thanks to the Almighty for everything. The first word to come out of one's mouth is “Thanks.”
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
44. The Servant of God
Asceticism is not a virtue but a vice. The servant of God loves this world and long life, because through them he acquires the World to Come. With every good deed that a person does in this world he will acquire a higher level in the World to Come.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
43. Hebrew's Preeminence - Continued
The Holy People has a Holy Tongue which possesses intrinsic value. It is a lofty language which God Himself employed when creating the world and giving His Law to Israel. It is a clean and pure language that befits the spiritual content it expresses.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
42. The Preeminence of the Holy Tongue
The Hebrew language. It is only natural that the nation of Israel, which harbors such great, lofty, and divine ideas, should have a special language, a profound, pure, and rich tongue that allows for complete and accurate expression of its views.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
41. Torah and Secular Disciplines
The Rabbi describes the breadth of wisdom possessed by Israel, particularly the Sages of Israel. The Sages had to be versed in all of the world's sciences, for all of these disciplines are needed for a proper understanding of the Torah's commandments.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
40. Reward and Punishment
The Jewish people are unique. The Divine Presence resides amongst them, and this situation brings both privileges and demands. When the nation as a whole senses God's presence in its midst, it possesses the power to lead a sacred and pure existence.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
39. The Commandments - A Beloved Burden
The precepts are not a burden but a privilege. They are beautiful ornaments, and it is a delight to decorate with them. They fill one's entire life, and this is what is so great about them. All aspects of life are illuminated by the Torah's light.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
38. “Israel, Through Whom I Will Be glorified”
Israel was created with the purpose of proclaiming God's praise in the world: “I have fashioned this nation for Myself, they will relate my praise” (Isaiah 43:21). And we relate God's praise through a life of sanctity, through Torah and commandments.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
37. Torah Commandments: The Ultimate Joy
Human intellect says that the ideal servant is one who worships God through fasting and abstention. This, people believe, is how a righteous person ought to be. The Torah, however, says that the perfect service is that which is carried out joyfully.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
35. The Commandments Depend on Good Character Traits
Positive character traits serve as a foundation for the Torah's commandments. It is inconceivable that a person observe the Torah's commandments if he lacks positive character traits. The Commandments themselves constitute the height of perfection.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
36. Well-balanced Character Traits
Honoring the Sabbath is tantamount to thanking the Almighty. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. Hence, observing the Sabbath brings man closer to the Almighty than numerous prayers or acts self-denial and mortification.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
30. The Preeminence of the Holy Land (Continued)
Just as the nation of Israel is God's Chosen People, so too the land of Israel is God's Chosen land. This land was designated as an inheritance for the Jewish people since the time when God established the respective boarders of the world's nations.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
31. Regarding the Holy Temple in Jerusalem
The Sages liken the Holy Temple to the heart: just as the heart is the center of all of the bodily organs, the center of life from which all of the life-forces flow to the rest of the body, so the Temple is the spiritual heart of the entire nation.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
32. Israel's Plight in the Exile
The difference between Israel's faith and that of other nations is like the difference between an actual person and a statue. Nations have sought to imitate the faith of Israel yet have been unable to achieve any more than a superficial resemblance.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
33. God's Covenants with the Jewish People
If any other nation had gone through what the Jewish people did, they would have assimilated and disappeared. What element is it that keeps the Jewish people going under even trying circumstances? Answer: the covenant which God made with Israel.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
34. The Jewish People's Extensive Suffering
When the nation of Israel finally experiences complete redemption, the purpose of their long and difficult exile will become evident. It will be made clear that the Jewish people's suffering was not do to their inferiority, but to their preeminence.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
28. Expression of the Land's Preeminence
The Rabbi explained to the King that the preeminence of the land of Israel is only manifest when the appropriate nation - the people of Israel - resides thereupon and behaves in the proper manner. Only then is the superior nature of the land evinced.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
29. “You have shamed me, King of Khazar”
You have shamed me, King of Khazar. What can I say? Our recitations of such prayers as “Bow down to the Mount of His holiness” are like the warble of a parrot. Israel's presence in the exile is but a weakness and a disgrace that must be put to an end.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
23. Why Was Torah Given to Israel Alone?
God willed that creation consist of varying levels. In this manner the world is capable of attaining perfection. Therefore, humankind itself consists of levels: there is the Chosen People, and there are other people who do not belong to this group.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
24. The Significance of the World to Come
The guarantees of reward in Judaism are not of the sort that it is impossible to prove; they are not related to an afterlife. It does not say in our Torah, “If you will perform this commandment, I will bring you gladness and pleasure after death.”
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
25. The World to Come – Further Clarification
Our relation to the Almighty does not find expression in the World to Come alone. Already here, in this world, God reveals Himself and exerts His special providence over Israel. He provides for Israel in a miraculous and revealed manner.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed
26. This World and the World to Come
Cognizance of the World to Come changes one's entire way of relating to our world. One who possesses such a faith does not look for worldly rewards; instead, he dedicates his life to preparation, in order to guarantee his place in the World to Come.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed
27. The Preeminence of the Land of Israel
The relationship is reciprocal. The special quality of the land of Israel cannot be manifest without the Jewish people settled thereupon. Similarly, the people of Israel are unable to express their great qualities unless settled in their land.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
22. The Sin of the Golden Calf Reconsidered
Following the Giving of the Torah, the Israelites made a Golden Calf and began to worship it. Such a sin, it would be expected, should have brought irrevocable disrepute upon that generation. But this event deserves to be seen in a different light.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
21. God's Elite Line
“How can we be expected to accept the entire story of the Exodus or the Revelation at Sinai, or, for that matter, any other praises of Israel, when we consider how greatly they transgressed against God by making and worshiping the Golden Calf?”
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
17. According to Divine Guidance
One of the pillars of Jewish faith is the acknowledgment that the only way to serve God is by following His guidelines - for His plan is beyond man's comprehension. No individual is capable of arriving at God's desire through sheer contemplation.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
18. The Exodus and Jewish Faith
Religious systems which spring from the human mind begin with individuals and spreads to the masses. This is not true of the Jewish faith, for it originated with God Himself. It came into existence suddenly, not unlike the creation of the world.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
16. God's Hand in Nature
God is like an artist who utilizes various paints to create his work of art. One cannot attribute the profound idea and the beauty of the painting to the paints themselves! Insofar as these matters are concerned, credit must be given to the painter.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
14. Contradictions between Science and Torah
Many ask: How does the Torah account for scientific proofs which demonstrate that the universe has existed for billions of years? How can this be resolved with Jewish tradition which claims that the universe was created no more than 6000 years ago?
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
15. Perceiving God
One of the first questions asked by one who seeks out faith is, “Can man, the finite and ephemeral being that he is, possibly perceive the infinite and boundless God. Why, it is impossible to see God, for, “No man shall see Me and remain alive” (Exodus 33:20).
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
19. Divine Providence and Prophetic Revelation
Through the Exodus from Egypt, the Splitting of the Red Sea, and the Giving of the Torah, the three fundamental principles of Jewish faith were established: God's Divine Providence over creation, His unbounded Sovereignty, and the Torah's Divinity.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
20. God's Incorporeality
“Never does the Torah write something that the logic dictates as false. While religious faith is above the dictates of human logic, it does not run counter to it. Our faith distances itself greatly from attributing any sort of physicality to God.”
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
13. Faith Needs No Rational Proof
Jewish faith does not need rational proofs. It is above this. Because we witnessed with our own eyes God's Divine intervention in taking us out of Egypt, splitting the Red Sea, and giving us the Torah on Mount Sinai, we need no additional proof.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | 5762
12. A History of the Divine
The story of the human race is a history of the evolution of the Divine spark in man. Adam, the Almighty's own direct handiwork, was created flawless, "In the image of God." Yet, not all of Adam's progeny inherited this elevated status.
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed | Tevet, 5762

51 Lessons on Foundations of Faith

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26 min
Bechorot
Daf Yomi Bechoros Daf 54
R' Eli Stefansky | 1 Kislev 5786
30 min
Bechorot
Daf Yomi Bechoros Daf 53
R' Eli Stefansky | 30 Cheshvan 5786
Vayetze
Leah’s Tears
Vayetse 5787
Vayetse 5787
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Z"tl
Toldot
Must I Repeat my Tefillah?
Tolados
Tolados
Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff | Cheshvan 28, 5787
30 min
Bechorot
Daf Yomi Bechoros Daf 52
R' Eli Stefansky | 29 Cheshvan 5786
Bemare Habazak - Rabbis Questions
Dealing with a Ripping Tzitzit
Rabbi Daniel Mann
Parashat Hashavua
The Significance of Repeated Famine
Rabbi Yossef Carmel | Kislev 4, 5787
30 min
Bechorot
Daf Yomi Bechoros Daf 51
R' Eli Stefansky | 28 Cheshvan 5786
29 min
Bechorot
Daf Yomi Bechoros Daf 50
R' Eli Stefansky | 27 Cheshvan 5786
5 min
Chayei Sara
The Story of Hevron - Connections to Eternity!
Rabbi Haggai Lundin | 26 Cheshvan 5787
27 min
Bechorot
Daf Yomi Bechoros Daf 49
R' Eli Stefansky | 26 Cheshvan 5786
35 min
Bechorot
Daf Yomi Bechoros Daf 48
R' Eli Stefansky | 25 Cheshvan 5786
Toldot
Chosenness and its Discontents
Toldot 5787
Toldot 5787
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Z"tl
29 min
Bechorot
Daf Yomi Bechoros Daf 47
R' Eli Stefansky | 24 Cheshvan 5786
37 min
Bechorot
Daf Yomi Bechoros Daf 46
R' Eli Stefansky | 23 Cheshvan 5786
Chayei Sara
Women, Kiddush and Bracha Acharonah
Chayei Sarah
Chayei Sarah
Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff | Cheshvan 22, 5787
32 min
Bechorot
Daf Yomi Bechoros Daf 45
R' Eli Stefansky | 22 Cheshvan 5786
38 min
Bechorot
Daf Yomi Bechoros Daf 44
R' Eli Stefansky | 21 Cheshvan 5786

עוד Lessons

articles on Foundations of Faith

More Soulful

How to add more inspiration to our soul

Setting Out on a New Path

working-from-within approach is destined to fail.

The Right Perspective

using Shabbat as the time to gain perspective.

The Progression to a Mankind Without Sin

There is no death without sin.

Emuna From the Cradle

45. The “Hassid” (Saintly Person)

The saintly person is a leader. All of his senses and attributes - both spiritual and physical - submit themselves to his command. This is what King Solomon says, “One who rules his spirit is greater than one who captures a city” (Proverbs 16:32).

47. The “Hassid” - The Ideal Jew

A 'Hassid' is the quintessential Jew. His heart is filled with faith in God. He constantly senses God's closeness, as if God were standing before him. He believes that God knows all, hidden thoughts, feelings of the heart - all is revealed to God.

48. More about the Ideal Jew

A Hassid senses that God accompanies him, protects him, and sustains him at all times. It is as if angels of God were accompanying and protecting him. True, he cannot actually see them, but he senses their presence. He feels protected and cared for.

49. True Faith Brings Trust in God

True and complete faith in God causes one to believe that whatever He does is for the best. This provides a most sturdy defense against hardships and suffering. One who has faith in God is not broken by hardships, but actually receives them lovingly.

50. One Hundred Blessings

The Sages ruled that a Jew must pronounce at least one hundred blessings each day. Ostensibly, this obligation is a burden and a nuisance. However, a more penetrating view teaches us that such blessings actually give a person pleasure and enjoyment.

51. Beginning the Day

Upon waking, one's heart becomes filled with rapture due to the renewed encounter with God's great and bountiful creation. This leads to a desire to give thanks to the Almighty for everything. The first word to come out of one's mouth is “Thanks.”

44. The Servant of God

Asceticism is not a virtue but a vice. The servant of God loves this world and long life, because through them he acquires the World to Come. With every good deed that a person does in this world he will acquire a higher level in the World to Come.

43. Hebrew's Preeminence - Continued

The Holy People has a Holy Tongue which possesses intrinsic value. It is a lofty language which God Himself employed when creating the world and giving His Law to Israel. It is a clean and pure language that befits the spiritual content it expresses.

42. The Preeminence of the Holy Tongue

The Hebrew language. It is only natural that the nation of Israel, which harbors such great, lofty, and divine ideas, should have a special language, a profound, pure, and rich tongue that allows for complete and accurate expression of its views.

41. Torah and Secular Disciplines

The Rabbi describes the breadth of wisdom possessed by Israel, particularly the Sages of Israel. The Sages had to be versed in all of the world's sciences, for all of these disciplines are needed for a proper understanding of the Torah's commandments.

40. Reward and Punishment

The Jewish people are unique. The Divine Presence resides amongst them, and this situation brings both privileges and demands. When the nation as a whole senses God's presence in its midst, it possesses the power to lead a sacred and pure existence.

39. The Commandments - A Beloved Burden

The precepts are not a burden but a privilege. They are beautiful ornaments, and it is a delight to decorate with them. They fill one's entire life, and this is what is so great about them. All aspects of life are illuminated by the Torah's light.

38. “Israel, Through Whom I Will Be glorified”

Israel was created with the purpose of proclaiming God's praise in the world: “I have fashioned this nation for Myself, they will relate my praise” (Isaiah 43:21). And we relate God's praise through a life of sanctity, through Torah and commandments.

37. Torah Commandments: The Ultimate Joy

Human intellect says that the ideal servant is one who worships God through fasting and abstention. This, people believe, is how a righteous person ought to be. The Torah, however, says that the perfect service is that which is carried out joyfully.

35. The Commandments Depend on Good Character Traits

Positive character traits serve as a foundation for the Torah's commandments. It is inconceivable that a person observe the Torah's commandments if he lacks positive character traits. The Commandments themselves constitute the height of perfection.

36. Well-balanced Character Traits

Honoring the Sabbath is tantamount to thanking the Almighty. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. Hence, observing the Sabbath brings man closer to the Almighty than numerous prayers or acts self-denial and mortification.

30. The Preeminence of the Holy Land (Continued)

Just as the nation of Israel is God's Chosen People, so too the land of Israel is God's Chosen land. This land was designated as an inheritance for the Jewish people since the time when God established the respective boarders of the world's nations.

31. Regarding the Holy Temple in Jerusalem

The Sages liken the Holy Temple to the heart: just as the heart is the center of all of the bodily organs, the center of life from which all of the life-forces flow to the rest of the body, so the Temple is the spiritual heart of the entire nation.

32. Israel's Plight in the Exile

The difference between Israel's faith and that of other nations is like the difference between an actual person and a statue. Nations have sought to imitate the faith of Israel yet have been unable to achieve any more than a superficial resemblance.

33. God's Covenants with the Jewish People

If any other nation had gone through what the Jewish people did, they would have assimilated and disappeared. What element is it that keeps the Jewish people going under even trying circumstances? Answer: the covenant which God made with Israel.

34. The Jewish People's Extensive Suffering

When the nation of Israel finally experiences complete redemption, the purpose of their long and difficult exile will become evident. It will be made clear that the Jewish people's suffering was not do to their inferiority, but to their preeminence.

28. Expression of the Land's Preeminence

The Rabbi explained to the King that the preeminence of the land of Israel is only manifest when the appropriate nation - the people of Israel - resides thereupon and behaves in the proper manner. Only then is the superior nature of the land evinced.

29. “You have shamed me, King of Khazar”

You have shamed me, King of Khazar. What can I say? Our recitations of such prayers as “Bow down to the Mount of His holiness” are like the warble of a parrot. Israel's presence in the exile is but a weakness and a disgrace that must be put to an end.

23. Why Was Torah Given to Israel Alone?

God willed that creation consist of varying levels. In this manner the world is capable of attaining perfection. Therefore, humankind itself consists of levels: there is the Chosen People, and there are other people who do not belong to this group.

24. The Significance of the World to Come

The guarantees of reward in Judaism are not of the sort that it is impossible to prove; they are not related to an afterlife. It does not say in our Torah, “If you will perform this commandment, I will bring you gladness and pleasure after death.”

25. The World to Come – Further Clarification

Our relation to the Almighty does not find expression in the World to Come alone. Already here, in this world, God reveals Himself and exerts His special providence over Israel. He provides for Israel in a miraculous and revealed manner.

26. This World and the World to Come

Cognizance of the World to Come changes one's entire way of relating to our world. One who possesses such a faith does not look for worldly rewards; instead, he dedicates his life to preparation, in order to guarantee his place in the World to Come.

27. The Preeminence of the Land of Israel

The relationship is reciprocal. The special quality of the land of Israel cannot be manifest without the Jewish people settled thereupon. Similarly, the people of Israel are unable to express their great qualities unless settled in their land.

22. The Sin of the Golden Calf Reconsidered

Following the Giving of the Torah, the Israelites made a Golden Calf and began to worship it. Such a sin, it would be expected, should have brought irrevocable disrepute upon that generation. But this event deserves to be seen in a different light.

21. God's Elite Line

“How can we be expected to accept the entire story of the Exodus or the Revelation at Sinai, or, for that matter, any other praises of Israel, when we consider how greatly they transgressed against God by making and worshiping the Golden Calf?”

17. According to Divine Guidance

One of the pillars of Jewish faith is the acknowledgment that the only way to serve God is by following His guidelines - for His plan is beyond man's comprehension. No individual is capable of arriving at God's desire through sheer contemplation.

18. The Exodus and Jewish Faith

Religious systems which spring from the human mind begin with individuals and spreads to the masses. This is not true of the Jewish faith, for it originated with God Himself. It came into existence suddenly, not unlike the creation of the world.

16. God's Hand in Nature

God is like an artist who utilizes various paints to create his work of art. One cannot attribute the profound idea and the beauty of the painting to the paints themselves! Insofar as these matters are concerned, credit must be given to the painter.

14. Contradictions between Science and Torah

Many ask: How does the Torah account for scientific proofs which demonstrate that the universe has existed for billions of years? How can this be resolved with Jewish tradition which claims that the universe was created no more than 6000 years ago?

15. Perceiving God

One of the first questions asked by one who seeks out faith is, “Can man, the finite and ephemeral being that he is, possibly perceive the infinite and boundless God. Why, it is impossible to see God, for, “No man shall see Me and remain alive” (Exodus 33:20).