By Tzvi Freeman Joe and Max are sitting in the same sukkah, but they see two very different things. Joe sees a structure thrown up to celebrate the festival. But Max, having studied its laws in depth, sees much more—a kind of crystallization of concepts and principles brought into physical reality. That’s what’s so often missing from our presentation of […]

By Tzvi Freeman Everything Starts Down Here Two weeks before the Jewish new year begins, we read one of the most enigmatic phrases in the Torah. Most enigmatic because its simple meaning seems so radical and strange: אֶת־ה׳ הֶאֱמַרְתָּ הַיּוֹם Literally, that would have to be translated, “You cause G‑d to speak today.” Generally it is translated differently—in many forms—but […]

By Tzvi Freeman Hello Chabad, You rabbis seem to take it as a given that wisdom flows from the vast amount of writings, biblical and more recent, history, interpretations, opinions, etc. that it has accumulated. You appear to think that wisdom flows in one direction only. The supplicant asks and the rabbi answers. A particular rabbi may not have the […]

By Tzvi Freeman Q: Does the Torah promote Genocide? A: No. Q: Did G‑d once not just promote, but command genocide, including women and children, even infants? A: Yes. Not genocide as we know it, since no one spoke of genes in those times, but something that looks quite ugly nonetheless. The Israelites were commanded to entirely eliminate the tribes […]

By Tzvi Freeman There are two kinds of love There is love from the womb. A parent, by nature, loves a child. Siblings, from birth, are bonded to one another. The love came first; the conditions are but an afterthought. True, the flame may burn quietly. They themselves may not even recognize their love for one another. But it burns […]

By Tzvi Freeman Hi Rabbi, You wrote in The Rebbe’s Big Idea that if there’s going to be purpose in life, then there’s got to be some higher context. You seem to be saying that higher context is G‑d. Not sure I get that. Why can’t I find purpose and meaning in life without believing in G‑d? Hey Rabbi, there’s […]

By Tzvi Freeman People the world over have different ways to talk about G‑d. At some point, the Kabbalists began calling G‑d “The Infinite Light.” For example: Know that before the emanations were emanated and the creations were created, there was a supernal, simple light filling all of existence. There was no vacant space . . . rather, all was […]

By Tzvi Freeman It’s All A Miracle Mother Nature is a coverup. It’s 100% authored, directed, engineered and powered by Elokim Unincorporated. Every moment, everything appears out of nowhere, miraculously. For those of you who believe miracles are absurd, dangerous, and a threat to the entire endeavor of science, Nature, it turns out, is nothing more than consistent miracles. The […]

By Tzvi Freeman “Blessed are the cracked,” said master philosopher Groucho Marx, “for they let in the light.” Perhaps it was from Groucho that Leonard Cohen received the inspiration for his poem: “There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” Both got it right. Reality is full of cracks. If it weren’t, life would be dark, […]

By Tzvi Freeman We need to learn from the hackers. Especially the criminal ones—and plenty of the most nefarious, criminal acts today are hacks. We need to learn from everyone. Like the Mishnah says, “Wanna know who’s really wise? The guy who can learn something from anybody!” The Baal Shem Tov took that all the way. He taught that the […]