In ruach hakodesh, the person who’s assuming the role of boots on the ground is the initiator and decision maker. They choose a goal, mission, problem or project and pursue it with action and prayer.
The whole drama of geopolitics comes down to “who eats who?": In the end, whose narrative is going to prevail, and absorb everyone else into its story line.
On Tu B’Shvat we celebrate our generous and magnificent fruit trees that selflessly nourish the world for no other reason than that it’s what they are designed to do.
The word for etrog (אתרוג) relates to the Hebrew root, רגג, which means, “to long and desire"; etrog corresponds to to the heart area, the center of conscious emotion and desire.
The kabbalists read into Chanukka’s eight days, a journey of progressive tikun down through the sefirot from Binah to Malchut, beginning and ending on a feminine note.
When is the time for lighting Chanukka candles? The earliest time is sunset but one can still fulfill the mitzvah until pedestrians disappear from the street.
Our world view, our sense of truth, our vision of perfection, our vision of what’s possible… all this is tainted by our long years of exile and association with foreign cultures.