Entries by Rivka

More comments from the Rav

Excerpt of a shiur given over on 22nd Kislev, 5785, (Dec. 22, 2024) to ANSH from Netivot. There is a picture of the head of the shevet of the Nazis, of the Germans, eating her husband.[1] There’s a picture, they wanted to destroy the picture, [but] they didn’t succeed. Now, they already made hundreds of […]

An exercise in critical thinking

I had such a tough, long day yesterday. Out the house around 7am, only back at 7.30pm. Then baby was crying, so I spent another 20 minutes trying to calm him down (the tuning forks worked a treat. If anyone is interested in hearing more about that, let me know, I’m happy to write about […]

How ballistic missiles are meant to work (ho ho ho)

It struck me that even though we are apparently being ‘rocketed’ non-stop here in Israel, most people have absolutely no idea how these ‘rockets’ are meant to work. Why is that important? It’s important, because when the media tells us all ‘you just got rocketed by a short range ballistic missile called a Zolfhagar, by […]

Prayer to get off the internet – reprise

One of my readers asked me if I could re-post the Rav’s prayer to get off the internet. I thought that’s a fantastic ‘nudge’ from Above, so here it is again: == Translation: Ribono Shel Olam, Who can do anything. Strengthen us with great joy, and we will no longer look at the internet again, […]

Houthi-Patootie

Yah, ‘the Houthis’ are rocketing Israel again. Apparently. People who have no bread to eat, no universities teaching astro-physics, no conceivable way of getting ‘rockets’ to Israel from Yemen – those people are rocketing Israel again. Apparently. No wait, I think I just figured out how the ‘Houthis’ have a never-ending supply of intercontinental ballistic […]

The Know-Nothings

Rebbe Nachman talks a lot about the highest level of ‘knowledge’, namely, knowing that we really ‘know nothing’. When I first read this a couple of decades ago now, I didn’t like the idea, and I couldn’t understand it. What does Rabbenu mean, that ‘knowing nothing’ is the highest level of understanding?! How does that […]

The Seventh Beggar – English Translation

Mind….Blown. Here is the English translation of the Rav’s completion of Rabbenu’s Tale of the Seven Beggars. UPDATE 23/12/2024: Apparently, this wasn’t written by the Rav, but by one of his talmidim called Eliyahu Tubul. The Rav saw it and made some corrections in the Hebrew, but those corrections are not in this version. I […]

The Seventh Beggar

“The Seven Beggars” was one of Rebbe Nachman’s last teachings. It contains very deep, mystical allusions to the souls of the ‘True Tzaddikim’, who come down here solely to help rectify humanity, and especially the Jewish bit of it, with their ‘revelations’ of new teachings and Torah. ==== You can read a reasonable English translation […]