Avraham ben Yaakov | Torah thoughts from the celestial city of Tz'fat
These letters are sent to you with love, offering Torah insights and paths of empowerment so that we may together make something better out of today’s troubled world.
Let us seek the Unity that underlies our diversity, and learn to respect one another and follow the ways of peace.
“For then will I turn to the peoples a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of God to serve Him with one accord.” (Tzephaniah 3:9)
“Then they that fear God will speak to one another, and God will listen and hear, and a book of remembrance will be written before Him for those who fear God and think upon His Name.” (Malachi 3:16)
6 Tevet 5766 / January 2, 2006 I was in my mid 20’s when back in 1974 I began my slow trek home to my Torah roots. I thought I was alone in no longer feeling satisfied by any of the “truths” and “realities” on which I had been nurtured in the home, at school, in university or through all the philosophy and literature I had ever read. Truth was on offer on all sides...
21 Tevet 5768 / December 30, 2007 Rabbi Nachman’s lesson about the “good points” was the first piece I ever learned from his master work, Likutey Moharan. This was over thirty years ago in the summer 1977, when I was just embarking on my Torah pathway – a 27 year-old secular intellectual working as a BBC radio commentator and knowing barely more than a few words of Hebrew. I...
With outright war being waged against us on all sides and on all levels, we must break free from the surrounding political correctness and recognize that the Final Redemption, may it come soon in our time, depends on the overthrow of all the fake religions and ideologies that hypnotize the millions, such as all those who murder, rape, pillage and wreak havoc in the name of their idols. This is...
From this point in the year onwards, the nights are becoming noticeably longer (in the northern hemisphere) and we should add to our Torah studies during the night-time hours because “a man learns most of his Torah wisdom only at night.” (Rambam, Laws of Torah Study 3:13)
16 Shevat 5780 / February 11, 2020 It was never supposed to happen again! But here it is – happening everywhere! For years the festering cancer of Jew-hatred has been growing and spreading, but most were too politically correct even to pay attention, let alone discuss it, until the shots rang out in Pittsburg, then again in Poway and then in Jersey City, and then the Hanukkah stabbings in Monsey...
This Friday night and Shabbat July 23-24 is the Fifteenth of Av (Tu B’Av), one of the holiest, albeit concealed festivals of the Torah calendar, marking the day when death ceased for the generation of the wilderness and also the reconciliation of the Tribes of Israel with the tribe of Benjamin (Judges 21:19; Ta’anit 30b). Today is particularly propitious for prayers for one’s...
“Mashiah will conquer the entire world without firing a single bullet.” Rabbi Nachman of Breslov “Hillel used to say: Be of the students of Aaron; love peace and pursue peace, love the creations and draw them close to the Torah.” — Avot 1:12 I don’t mind if Hebrews call him Mashiah or Moshiach, or if the English call him Messiah or Anointed. And if the Greeks choose to call him Christos...
21 Shevat 5772 / February 14, 2012 The Talmud relates that the wise men of Athens asked Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hananya: “Where is the center of the universe?” He raised his finger, and said, “Here!” They asked: “Who could prove it?” He replied: “Bring ropes and measure it” (Bechorot 8b). Rabbi Yehoshua did not have the arrogance of the many who instinctively consider themselves as the center-point of...
15 Shevat 5772 / February 8, 2012 Did King Solomon not know maths? King Solomon is said to have been the wisest man that ever lived. Yet critics of the Bible gleefully point to a seemingly glaring error which apparently indicates that he did not know the true value of π (Pi), which as every schoolchild knows is 3.14.. Pi stands for the Periphery (or perimeter, circumference) of a circle, which is...
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