Iskafya: Ploughing the inner soil

Iskafya: Ploughing the inner soil

Rabbi Yehoishophot Oliver

(For earlier articles on this topic, see here,  here, here, and here.)


(In this recent article, we discussed how tremendous effort is required to go from love for the physical to love for Hashem. This article develops that theme.)


What is Iskafya? Iskafya means that when your heart craves a material pleasure, you tell yourself “no.” You restrain yourself, and you don’t do it.


G–d forbid, there is no emotionally unhealthy, masochistic desire here to bring oneself to suffer for the sake of suffering. (If there is, such a person shouldn’t be engaging in Iskafya.) On the contrary, a Jew should serve Hashem with joy, and Chassidus rejects the approach of bringing afflictions (“siggufim”) upon oneself as an atonement for one’s sins.[1]


Rather, true Iskafya stems from a profound desire to bond with G–dliness, and the knowledge that in order to reach this goal, one must give up worldly pleasures to a significant degree.


The Torah instructs us, “All your actions should be for the sake of Heaven.”[2] This means that when a Jew engages in the material world, he shouldn’t do so in order to satisfy his physical desires, or even to provide for his basic needs and survive (although it is indeed necessary). Rather, he should do so for the sake of serving Hashem—e.g., he eats and drinks in order to have strength to study Torah and davven; he pursues a livelihood in order to provide his children with a pure Torah education, give charity to the poor, support Torah study, and so on.


Now, when one craves something physical, that means that he wants it for himself, for his own egotistical enjoyment and pleasure, and not for the sake of Hashem. And so giving into this desire will strengthen his ego, and make him that much less receptive to G–dliness. Conversely, by engaging in Iskafya and restraining oneself from indulgence, the Jew makes himself that much more receptive to G–dliness.


We can understand this from an analogy. In order for plants to grow, a farmer must plough the soil. This softens it so that the seeds deposited on the soil can germinate and grow into a plant. In contrast, a seed sown on hard soil cannot grow. The more the soil is ploughed, the softer it becomes, and the more easily the seed can take root, thrive, and produce fruit.


So, too, hidden in the heart of every Jew lies a priceless treasure: The ahavah mesuteres, a natural love for Hashem that stems from the Neshamah, which is “literally a part of Hashem above.”[3] But in most of us, it is deeply hidden by the negative spiritual forces of Kelipah, of concealment of the divine, and to be more specific, by the coarseness of the Bestial Soul within the person, which stems from Kelipah.


How do we break through this coarseness, this spiritual blockage, and enable the Neshamah to emerge? By working on the avodah of Iskafya. Each time we practice Iskafya, we weaken the Bestial Soul. Just as ploughing loosens the soil and enables the seeds to grow, so does Iskafya weaken the Bestial Soul so that the ahavah mesuteres can come to the fore. (On the topic of eliminating coarseness and removing spiritual blockages, see here. As for the way to approach Iskafya in practice, and which areas it is preferable to focus on, see here.)


However, Iskafya itself does not reveal the ahavah mesuteres. Rather, it humbles the person and prepares one’s heart so that during Tefillah, the heart will be truly receptive to the various steps in the process of Tefillah (see here), until one reaches love of Hashem.


To be sure, the Jew who engages in Iskafya probably already feels love for Hashem to a significant extent, for it was this desire to connect to G–dliness that motivated him to engage in Iskafya in the first place. However, by engaging in Iskafya and actually davvening with that extra sensitivity, with Hashem’s help, he will reach a far more sublime level of love for Hashem.

Adapted from Likkutei Torah, Masei 96d. 

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[1] Tanya, Igeres HaTeshuvah ch. 1. Cf. Hayom Yom 28 Shevat.
[2] Avos 2:12.
[3] Tanya ch. 2, beg.



Dedicated in the merit of a speedy release for the captives Yonasan ben Malka (Jonathan Pollard), Sholom Mordechai Halevi ben Rivka (Sholom Rubashkin), and Zeva Rochel bas Chaya (Wendy Weiner Runge).


Dedicated by avi mori, Reb Kasriel Oliver and family, as a merit for imi morosi, Chana Feigeh bas Reizel (aka "Zippi"), on the occasion of her 60th birthday, tzu langeh, gezunteh, zisseh yorn, filled with material and spiritual success and prosperity.




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Emotional transformation: The main goal of inner change

Emotional transformation:
The main goal of inner change

Rabbi Yehoishophot Oliver

Hashem exhorted the Jewish people, “Make for Me a Mishkan, and I will dwell in their midst.”[1] Chassidus quotes earlier sources[2] that explain that the reason that it doesn’t say “I will dwell in its midst” is to allude to Hashem’s desire to dwell “in their midst”—that every Jew make a Mishkan for the Shechinah, the divine presence, within his or her inner self. Thus, all the details of the Mishkan provide a lesson for us in our divine service, alluding to the correct approach to revealing the Shechinah within.

The Torah relates[3] that Betzalel decided to make the Mishkan first, and then the keilim, the vessels to be used there. This represents the two stages of within: The external structure of the Mishkan—intellect and the keilim—emotions.

To digress, as is known, the Nefesh HoElokis, also known as the Neshamah—the extra Divine Soul unique to the Jewish people—is called adam, man.[4] Sometimes Chassidus explains that this alludes to the relationship between the intellect and the emotions in this soul. Just as in a human, the brain is above the heart because the intellect is (or ought to be) controlling the emotions, so, too, in the Neshamah, the intellect dominates over and dictates the emotions of this soul. This is in contradistinction to the Bestial Soul, where the emotions dominate over and dictate the intellect.

At first glance, one might deduce from this that in the Nefesh HoElokis, the emotions are somehow of secondary importance. However, this is incorrect. The above merely describes how the emotions of the Nefesh HoElokis are to be evoked—via intellect. But in terms of their relative value, especially when considering how we should approach our service of Hashem, to the contrary—inspiring the emotions of the Nefesh HoElokis is the main thing, and the intellect is merely the means to that end, albeit a stage that is an essential prerequisite to emotions.

This is another interpretation of the fact that the Nefesh HoElokis is called adam, “man.” Adam has the numerical value of 45, which corresponds to the divine name of Mah, which refers to the emotions of the heart.[5] This means that the Nefesh HoElokis is called adam primarily because of its emotions. It follows that only when the emotions of the Nefesh HoElokis are manifest is the Nefesh HoElokis truly revealed within the Jew, and he is truly called adam.

Back to the lesson from Betzalel’s preferred order in constructing the Mishkan.

The Mishkan was, of course, a kind of edifice. Now, an edifice benefits the person by providing shelter and the like, but encompasses the person and does not relate to those within it on an individual level. This represents the concept of an ohr makif—a kind of influence that affects the person to a certain degree, but remains superficial, and does not permeate that person’s inner self.

In contrast, the keilim, each of which is designed to hold certain contents in a measured fashion, represent the concept of an ohr pnimi—a kind of influence that is measured to fit the level of the recipient, and therefore permeates and transforms that person’s inner self.

This may seem odd to some. Chassidus typically describes intellect as an ohr pnimi, for a teacher must deliver his or her teaching to the student in a way that the student can comprehend. Yet in the context of changing one’s inner self, intellect is described as an ohr makif, while emotions are called an ohr pnimi.

The reason is that although one typically identifies both by one’s intellect and emotions, of the two, emotions cut to the core of identity. We are defined by what we feel far more than by what we understand.

For instance, when a person understands intellectually that a certain course of action is wrong, but his emotions are excited by it and attracted to it nonetheless, we would correctly define this person by his desires and not by his abstract understanding. Moreover, emotions are the key to thought, speech, and action, so only through reaching suitable emotions can one come to proper behavior.

This is the deeper meaning of the verse, “Know today, and take to heart, that Havayeh is Elokim.”[6] First and foremost, “know today”—study about Hashem’s greatness until you reach hispa’alus sichlis—intellectual excitement. This reveals the Neshamah’s intellect.

But don’t suffice with “know today.” Go further: “Take to heart”—take the excitement at what you studied from the realm of abstract theory down into the emotions, to hispa’alus shebelev—excitement of the heart. Bring the heart to become passionate with whatever emotion ought to emerge from the concept that you learnt, whether love of Hashem, fear of Hashem, or the like.

So Betzalel made the Mishkan first, to represent the first stage (in this context)—“know today,” and then he fashioned the keilim, to represent the next stage, the goal of divine service—“take to heart.”

Then one may merit a personal fulfillment of the next phrase: “Havayeh is Elokim.” This means that then the most sublime aspect of the Shechinah becomes revealed in one’s innermost self, and this constitutes the ultimate fulfillment of “I will dwell in their midst.”

To be continued. Next, G–d willing, I need to explain the meaning of the inner revelation of “Havayeh is Elokim” in the heart.

Adapted from Ma’amarei Admur HaEmtza’i, Shemos, Vol. 3, p. 671 ff.

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[1] Shemos 25:8.
[2] Shelah, Terumah 325b.
[3] Vayikra 35:30.
[4] Cf. Bava Metzia 114b. See Ma’amarei Admur HaZaken 5466, Vol. 2, p. 460.
[5] Etz Chaim, Sha’ar HaTikkun, ch. 3. Ma’amarei Admur HaZaken, Parshiyos HaTorah, Vol. 2, p. 567.
[6] Devarim 4:39.

Dedicated by Rabbi Levi Kurinski (Levi Yitzchok Halevi ben Chana Brocha) and family in honor of his birthday on Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av.



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Overcoming the coarse pre-Tefillah state

Overcoming the coarse pre-Tefillah state

Rabbi Yehoishophot Oliver

During[1] sleep, the higher faculties of intellect and emotions[2] fall dormant, and only the more inferior faculties, such as the respiratory and digestive systems, remain functioning actively.


A parallel process occurs within the Neshamah: During sleep, the faculties of the Neshamah withdraw and become hidden, and the Bestial Soul, the coarse, animalistic side of the person, seizes control. And so before the Jew begins to pray in the morning, he is in a coarse, lowly, selfish state.


Of[3] this state we are told:[4] “Anyone who greets his fellow before he has prayed, it is as if he made him a bamah [a sacrificial altar for idolatry, may G–d save us], as it is written, “Stay away from a man whose soul is in his nose, for what [“bameh”] is he worth?”[5] The Talmud explains: “The word bameh can also be read bamah.”[6]


Granted,[7] every morning the Jew becomes “a new creature.”[8] This means that Hashem restores his Neshamah to him renewed and refreshed,[9] for which the Jew thanks Hashem in Modeh Ani “for returning my Neshamah within me.”


However, although upon waking, the Neshamah exists within in a refreshed state, before Tefillah it is said to be only “in his nose.”[10] This alludes to the Neshamah as it exists in a makif (“encompassing”) state.


In this context, the concept of makif refers to something that is present but hidden, not affecting the person on a conscious level.


So although the Jew always possesses a Neshamah,[11] when he first awakens, it is yet to have an impact on his conscious self. However, proper Tefillah reveals the Neshamah—i.e., it brings one to be consciously connected with and sensitive to his Neshamah.


Moreover,[12] through Tefillah one can overcome not only the coarseness brought on by sleep, but even the natural coarseness of the body and Bestial Soul.


To explain,[13] before birth, while the Neshamah is in heaven, it knows only spiritual realities. But when it descends to this world and becomes vested in a body and Bestial Soul, its perception of Hashem is vastly diminished. Its conscious intellect is coarsened, making it relate directly to the physical, and connect with the spiritual only via the physical.


To be specific, the soul-levels vested in the body are Nefesh, Ru’ach, and Neshamah. These levels also lie dormant before Tefillah,[14] and one reveals them through the first three sections of Tefillah, respectively.


Then in Shemonah Esrei one manifests the soul’s essential faculties (which surely lie dormant before Tefillah), as they existed before the Neshamah descended into a body. Generally speaking, this refers to revealing the level of Chaya, which is the root of the Neshamah. This is the ultimate goal of Tefillah.


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[1] Sefer HaMa’amarim 5714, p. 156.
[2] In Chassidic parlance, the “kochos penimiyim.”
[3] Cf. Toras Menachem 5718, Vol. 22, pp. 89-90. Preface to Likkutei Torah l’Gimmel Parshiyos. Also printed in Ohr HaTorah, Bereshis, Vol. 6, 1020a ff.
[4] Berachos 14a.
[5] Yeshaya 2:22.
[6] This is a deeper explanation. The simple meaning of this law, as Rashi explains ibid., is that one should not engage in conversation with someone who has not yet prayed Shacharis, because the duty to honor Hashem in prayer takes precedence over the duty to honor one’s fellowman. Hence, the Maharsha explains that honoring one’s fellowman first is like sacrificing on a bamah, a personal altar outside the Beis HaMikdash, where it is forbidden to offer a sacrifice.
[7] Sefer HaMa’amarim 5724, pp. 176-177.
[8] Yalkut Shimoni, Tehillim, #702.
[9] Shulchan Aruch Admur HaZaken, Orach Chaim, Mahadura Kama, 4:1. Cf. 6:1, 46:6.
[10] Yeshaya 2:22. Cf. Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 79d. Ma’amarei Admur HaEmtza’i, Vayikra, Vol. 2, p. 757. Ma’amarei Admur HaEmtza’i, Hanachos 5577, p. 15.
[11] Even the most wicked Jew still possesses a Neshamah—see Tanya ch. 11, end.
[12] Sefer HaMa’amarim 5692-5693, p. 40 .
[13] Ibid., p. 24.
[14] Sefer HaMa’amarim 5672, Vol. 2, p. 809.

Dedicated in the merit of a speedy release for the captives Yonasan ben Malka (Jonathan Pollard), Sholom Mordechai Halevi ben Rivka (Sholom Rubashkin), and Zeva Rochel bas Chaya (Wendy Weiner Runge).


Also dedicated by the Solomon family in honor of the birthday of Yehoshua Simcha ben
Chana Devorah.


Like what you read? The articles I write take a lot of time and effort. Please contact me to sponsor an article for (at least) $36 in honor of the birthday, wedding anniversary, or yarhtzeit of a loved one, or for a refuah shleimah or the like. Also, see here concerning the tremendous merit of supporting the dissemination of Chassidus, and the blessings that one receives for doing so.

Tefillas HaShachar: Uninternalized commitment

Tefillas HaShachar: Uninternalized commitment

Rabbi Yehoishophot Oliver

We begin Tefillah with the declaration, “Hodu—acknowledge Hashem.” This is the purpose of the first section of Tefillah: A general, all-encompassing submission (hoda’ah) to Hashem that is yet to be fully understood and integrated within one’s personality.

However, this hoda’ah is different from that of Modeh Ani.[1] Since Modeh Ani is recited when one first wakes up in the morning, the person has not engaged in any reflection at all. He is akin to one who simply recognizes that something exists, despite his total lack of comprehension of it. He sees that Hashem has restored his Neshamah to him, so he offers thanks to Him on the most basic level, despite his total lack of understanding.

In contrast, Tefillas HaShachar is akin to a person who acknowledges something that he has begun to understand, albeit only on a very superficial level. The reason that this section involves some level of understanding is that it follows the Morning Blessings, in which the person reflects upon Hashem’s kindnesses on a basic level.

Here one connects one’s Neshamah with the spiritual energy of the world of Asiyah, the world of action.

This reveals the lowest level of the Neshamah, that of Nefesh, which drives the Jew to bring his thought, speech, and action to conform to the will of Hashem. This is the most basic level of divine service. This represents the concept that divine service begins with obedience, with declaring “we will do” before “we will hear [understand].”[2]

At this point one lacks inspiration and enthusiasm, for by definition, a beginner has not yet invested the necessary effort to reach such a feeling, for that is a more advanced stage—the next level of Tefillah, Pesukei DeZimrah.

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[1] Sefer HaMa’amarim 5691, p. 207.
[2] This was the declaration with which the Jewish people committed themselves to follow the Torah. See Shemos 24:7; Shabbos 88a.


Dedicated in the merit of a speedy release for the captives Yonasan ben Malka (Jonathan Pollard), Sholom Mordechai Halevi ben Rivka (Sholom Rubashkin), and Zeva Rochel bas Chaya (Wendy Weiner Runge).


Dedicated by Doctor Binyomin Rothstein and family, as a merit for their aliyah to our Holy Land to be crowned with material and spiritual success and prosperity.




Like what you read? The articles I write take a lot of time and effort. Please contact me to sponsor an article for (at least) $36 in honor of the birthday, wedding anniversary, or yarhtzeit of a loved one, or for a refuah shleimah or the like. Also, see here concerning the tremendous merit of supporting the dissemination of Chassidus, and the blessings that one receives for doing so.

Avodah: A Tough Job

Avodah: A Tough Job

Rabbi Yehoishophot Oliver

The purpose of a Jew’s life is avodas Hashem. The word avodah has multiple meanings. The most basic meaning is sheirus, to serve Hashem like a servant serves and prepares things for his master, similar to the expression, “I was created to serve my Maker.”[1] Thus, the word avodah means service.[2]

However,[3] the Hebrew word avodah also has a different but related connotation. It is etymologically related to the word ibud, “processing.” This involves taking a coarse, unusable substance, and treating it in various ways until it is refined and usable.

The classic example of this is taking a smelly, foul hide of an animal, and investing the tremendous effort necessary to treat it using many and various treatments until it is converted into leather. Then not only can it be used for constructive mundane purposes, it can even be used for holy purposes, such as parchment for Tefillin and the like.


Likewise, the Jew must engage in avodah in the sense of processing a coarse substance—taking the gashmiyus and the chumriyus (see here) of his body, his Bestial Soul, and the world around him, and fighting and struggling with herculean strength, even in the face of tremendous adversity, to reject the chumriyus and refine and transform the gashmiyus into a vessel for spirituality and G–dliness.[4]


The[5] extent and nature of the effort required to accomplish this transformation varies greatly, depending upon the person’s individual level and life circumstances.


Just[6] as processing hides involves transforming a substance from one extreme to another, so are we to transform the Bestial Soul from a desire for worldly pleasures to the other extreme—love of Hashem.[7]


Furthermore,[8] the hide resists being changed into leather, because one wants to change it into a state completely different from its natural state. So, too, the Bestial Soul naturally resist one’s efforts to transform it, and this necessitates avodah—tremendous effort to go against one’s nature.[9] And yet this resistance is in fact positive, because otherwise we would not need avodah—toil to change the Bestial Soul, and Hashem wants this task to require effort.


This[10] analogy, which emphasizes the need for toil, also implies that it is insufficient to serve Hashem out of fear alone; fear of Hashem does not necessarily require toil, for some people possess a natural fear of Hashem.[11] In contrast, love of Hashem always requires effort to evoke;[12] thus, true self-refinement requires developing both fear and love of Hashem.


Moreover, the hide is hard, and so processing it involves crushing it in order to soften it, and then it can become leather. Likewise, a Jew should engage in Iskafya, lit. “subduing”—going against his nature and crushing it.[13] This softens his personality, fulfilling the directive of our sages, “One should always be soft like a reed, and not hard like cedar.”[14]


This[15] analogy also expresses to the emotional difficulty involved, for the task of processing hides is degrading. Thus, we find that “One may not appoint a king or a high priest who was a tanner [one who processes hides]; since this task is degrading, the people will deride them.”[16] Likewise, the task of transforming the body, the Bestial Soul, and the outside world, will involve enduring unpleasantness and degradation.


A[17] Jew who struggles to overcome his nature is called an oved Elokim, a servant of Hashem. The use of the word oved in present tense implies that this expression refers to one engaged in a constant, lifelong battle with the evil inclination.


Why[18] is the specific name of Elokim used in this context? Because Elokim, which has the numerical value of hateva, nature,[19] is the divine name that creates the natural order. And when a Jew toils to change his own nature within, this has an impact upon the cosmos in general, such that he “processes” and refines the natural order as a whole, which stems from the divine name of Elokim.[20]


Moreover,[21] ultimately, investing the tremendous effort required to refine the physical elevates the Jew to a state of bittul bimetzius, complete submission to Hashem. This means that not only the Neshamah, but even the Bestial Soul and the body reach a state of bittul bimetzius, such that their entire being exists only to fulfill Hashem’s will. May we all merit to reach this level!


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[1] Kiddushin 82b.
[2] Hemshech Mayim Rabim 5636, p. 91.
[3] Torah Ohr, Bereshis 5b; ibid., Mishpatim 76a. Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 2d.
[4] Hayom Yom, 17 Sivan.
[5] Toras Menachem 5718, Vol. 22, p. 39.
[6] Ma’amarei Admur HaTzemach Tzedek, 5615, p. 266.
[7] Cf. Tanya ch. 17.
[8] Toras Menachem 5711, Vol. 3, p. 152.
[9] Tanya 118a.
[10] Toras Menachem 5712, Vol. 4, p. 329.
[11] Kuntres HoAvodah, chs. 1-3.
[12] Of course, some may have to exert more effort than others—cf. Tanya ch. 42.
[13] Ma’amarim Melukatim, Vol. 2, p. 361.
[14] Ta’anis 20a.
[15] Sefer HaSichos 5751, Vol. 1, p. 158.
[16] Kiddushin 82a. Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings, 1:6.
[17] Tanya ch. 15.
[18] Toras Menachem 5712, Vol. 5, p. 138.
[19] Ramak, Pardes 12:2. Reishis Chochmah, Sha’ar HaTeshuvah, ch. 6, s.v. vehamargil.
[20] Cf. Likkutei Torah, Balak 73d.
[21] Sefer HaMa’amarim 5733, p. 377.



Dedicated in the merit of a speedy release for the captives Yonasan ben Malka (Jonathan Pollard), Sholom Mordechai Halevi ben Rivka (Sholom Rubashkin), and Zeva Rochel bas Chaya (Wendy Weiner Runge).




Dedicated by the Weinberger family in honor of the yahrtzeit of Melech ben Sara Masha a"h on 19 Tammuz.

Like what you read? The articles I write take a lot of time and effort. Please contact me to sponsor an article for (at least) $36 in honor of the birthday, wedding anniversary, or yarhtzeit of a loved one, or for a refuah shleimah or the like. Also, see here concerning the tremendous merit of supporting the dissemination of Chassidus, and the blessings that one receives for doing so.

The toxicity of spiritual emptiness

The toxicity of spiritual emptiness

Rabbi Yehoishophot Oliver

Recently someone said to me, and in all seriousness: “I’ve become more moderate and modern. I trim my beard, I don’t make a point of studying Torah so much anymore ... But I’m very careful on Halachah, really. True, I watch movies sometimes, but only kosher ones ... Yes, I do a, b, and c, which most people consider forbidden, but I got a heter from my Rav, so it’s alright ... It’s just that I’m not as machmir as I once was.”

When[1] Yosef was thrown into a well, the Torah tells us, “The pit was empty; it contained no water.”[2] Now, if the pit was empty, then it certainly contained no water. So what is this apparently repetitive language coming to tell us? The Gemara explains: “It contained no water—but it did contain snakes and scorpions.”[3]

In context, the Torah is explaining to us that on account of Yosef’s righteousness, he was saved from these lethal creatures. However, there is a deeper meaning and lesson. “Water refers to Torah,”[4] and when the Jew “contains no water”—no Torah, i.e., his life is bereft of Torah study, then “he does contain snakes and scorpions”—he exposes himself to the assault of his evil inclination, which is compared to a pit.[5]

Likewise, the Baal Shem Tov interprets[6] the verse, “When you stray and worship other gods,”[7] to mean that as soon as you stray from Hashem and Torah, “you will worship other gods.”

To explain, as soon as the Jew allows a situation in which he neglects Torah study and Mitzvah observance, he is left in a spiritually empty atmosphere, an “empty pit.”[8] He then goes from drifting to sliding down a slippery slope, and “one sin brings another in its wake”[9]: It begins with machshovos zoros—empty, idle, and inappropriate thoughts; it continues with devarim beteilim—empty, idle, and inappropriate chatter; until, may Hashem save us, it leads to inappropriate actions and behavior.

Unless this downward fall is halted, the inappropriate but perhaps technically permitted thought, speech, and action degenerate slowly (and sometimes not so slowly) into borderline forbidden thought, speech, and action, and from there to outright forbidden thought, speech, and action.[10]

To be more specific, different people will be affected by living in an atmosphere of spiritual emptiness in different ways.[11] One may be overcome with an urge to gaze at forbidden sights; think thoughts of irreverence and heresy; gossip and spread malicious rumors about others, or listen to such speech; or tell hurtful and even perverse jokes, and so on.

This also relates to our interactions with others.[12] Our sages say: “When two sit together, and they do not exchange words of Torah, it is a gathering of scoffers. However, when two sit together and they exchange words of Torah, the Shechinah [divine presence] resides in their midst.”[13] Our sages indicate that there is no middle option—a gathering to eat that is neither a gathering of scoffers nor a resting place for the Shechinah. The very act of neglecting to discuss words of Torah is in itself an act of derision of Torah, may Hashem save us, for Hashem commanded: “You shall speak in them”[14]—in words of Torah—“and not in idle chatter.”[15] Thus, as our sages say[16] “One who has the opportunity to engage in Torah study and does not do so, of him the verse states,[17] ‘He has disagraced the word of Hashem.’”

There is only one way for a Jew to live in happiness and personal fulfillment (see here): “I was created to serve my Maker”[18]—the Jew’s purpose in life is to serve Hashem, and so he must live a life sincerely devoted to this goal, in which “Hashem is always placed before him.”[19] He sets fixed times for Torah study, and is careful in all mundane matters that “All your actions should be for the sake of Heaven,”[20] and “In all your ways, know Him;”[21] he is careful to follow the letter of the law, and he strives to go beyond the letter of the law according to his capabilities, all the while setting up a solid wall (see here) between himself and the spiritually hostile secular world (see here).

Thus, there is no middle ground, no “Modern Othodox,” no “pareve” and “neutral” way to live as a Jew vis-à-vis the world., to have “the best of both worlds,” somewhere “moderate” and “modern” in between holiness and unholiness.

The explanation for this is simple. Evil lurks both within and without, waiting to pounce. It exists within, in one’s own evil inclination, for “man was created evil from his youth,”[22] and the evil inclination fights mightily for total control over the Jew’s body.[23] And it exists without, for ours is a “world of the forces of Kelipah and Sitra Achra, and the wicked prevail in it.”[24]

Our survival as Jews depends upon Torah. As Rabbi Akiva taught,[25] Torah is to the Jewish people as water is to fish. When fish are separated from water, they immediately die; so, too, when the Jewish people separate from Torah, they cannot survive as Jews. Just as a fish cannot spend some of its time inside the water and some of the time outside it, so is it with a Jew—either he is actually learning Torah, or he is involved in revealing the light of Torah in the mundane world.

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[1] Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 15, pp. 324-325.
[2] Bereshis 37:34.
[3] Rashi, from Shabbos 22a.
[4] Bereshis Rabba 84:16. Cf. Bava Kama 82a.
[5] Likewise, our sages declare, “Fortunate is the Jewish people, for when then are occupied with Torah and bestowing kindness, their evil inclination is delivered into their hands, and they are not delivered into the hands of their evil inclination” (Avoda Zara 5b).
[6] Tzava’as HaRivash §76. Cf. Likkutei Torah Shelach 41a ff.
[7] Devarim 11:16.
[8] See Sefer HaMa’amarim 5658, p. 213.
[9] Avos 4:2.
[10] Cf. Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, 240:1—“ ... the permitted [indulgence] will lead him to forbidden [indulgence].”
[11] Sefer HaMa’amarim 5701, p. 61.
[12] Bi’urim l’Pirkei Avos, chs. 1-5, p. 139.
[13] Avos 3:2.
[14] Devarim 6:7.
[15] Yoma 19b.
[16] Sanhedrin 99a. Cf. Tanya ch. 1.
[17] Bamidbar 15:31.
[18] Kiddushin 82b.
[19] Tehillim 16:8. Quoted in Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, 1:1.
[20] Avos 2:12.
[21] Mishlei 3:6.
[22] Bereshis 8:21.
[23] Tanya ch. 9.
[24] ibid. ch. 6.
[25] Berachos 61b.

Dedicated in the merit of a speedy release for the captives Yonasan ben Malka (Jonathan Pollard), Sholom Mordechai Halevi ben Rivka (Sholom Rubashkin), and Zeva Rochel bas Chaya (Wendy Weiner Runge).


Dedicated by Doctor Binyomin Rothstein and family, as a merit for their aliyah to our Holy Land to be crowned with material and spiritual success and prosperity.

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17 Tammuz: Rectifying Undesirable Contact with Non-Jews and their Culture

17 Tammuz: Rectifying Undesirable
Contact with Non-Jews and their Culture

Rabbi Y. Oliver 

The Rebbe explains the significance of the Seventeenth of Tammuz, and the lesson to be derived from it.

On 17 Tammuz, the walls of the city of Jerusalem were breached.


The purpose of a wall is not to isolate oneself from the outside world, for a proper wall has gates in order to enter and leave. Rather, a wall exists to protect against the penetration of undesirable influences.

[In the case of the walls of Jerusalem,] however, [by departing from the city through the gates in the wall,] the wall had a constructive impact upon all matters outside the wall, and upon the entire outside world.

Thus, as long as the wall of Jerusalem was intact, this represented the completeness of the state of the Jewish people. They were both protected from undesirable outside influences, and able to rectify and perfect the outside world by exiting from the wall’s gates.

Thus, the breaching of the walls symbolizes a lack of protection from undesirable influences. Thus, when the walls were breached, the non-Jews invaded Jerusalem. An undesirable relationship between Jews and non-Jews was then formed.

We rectify this by establishing a desirable relationship between Jews and non-Jews—by Jews influencing non-Jews to abide by the Noahide Code. Thus, 17 Tammuz is an auspicious time to intensify our efforts in influencing non-Jews, and so it is also an appropriate occasion to mention yet again the need to influence non-Jews to adhere to the Noahide Code.

Hisva’aduyos 5744, Vol. 4, p. 2251.

In my own words: The seventeenth of Tammuz represents the sin of having some degree of inappropriate contact with non-Jews and their culture, and unfortunately, in our generation we still suffer from this malaise. We have sinned by imbibing secular influences that should have been utterly foreign to us (see here), and thereby compromising our unique role (see here).

We rectify this not only by consistently refraining from such activity in the future (of course), but by doing the opposite—actively influencing non-Jews to come ever closer to Hashem and His Torah, by teaching the universal laws and principles found in the Noahide laws to all the gentile nations. And in this way we also fulfil our divinely-appointed mission, as Rambam rules.[1]

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[1] Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings, 8:10.


Dedicated in the merit of a speedy release for the captives Yonasan ben Malka (Jonathan Pollard) and Sholom Mordechai Halevi ben Rivka (Sholom Rubashkin).



Dedicated by Avi Turner and family, in honor of the birthday of Nechama Bas Luba on 8 Tammuz, and also as a merit for a refuah shleimah for her.


Like what you read? The articles I write take a lot of time and effort. Please contact me to sponsor an article for (at least) $36 in honor of the birthday, wedding anniversary, or yarhtzeit of a loved one, or for a refuah shleimah or the like. Also, see here concerning the tremendous merit of supporting the dissemination of Chassidus, and the blessings that one receives for doing so.