Passover (Pesach) workshop – story and art activities.
Developed by Gil Dekel. Art activities (about 1 hour and a half) for children age 5 to 10, based on the story of Passover. I have removed the 10 plagues and any other confrontations from the story, so that only positive things are told. Download ZIP folder with all templates/prints you will need to facilitate this art event, here. Downalod Word document of WordSearch game (clean copy)...
Read Moreמסקנות מהספר: שיחות על תורת הנבואה, פרקים נבחרים במורה נבוכים של הרמב’ם – ישעיהו ליבוביץ, חלק 2
מאת גיל דקל. חלק 2. חזור לחלק 1. 491 תודעה ותבונה אינם טבעיים במציאות הטבע. קליטה בתודעה – הבנה (הכרת ה’). קליטה בחושים – מציאות (שמש, ירח, ארץ). 492 פעולת השכל נקלטת קודם כל בדיבור ומשם אל הדימוי. עבודה זרה היא דימוי של אמת,...
Read Moreמסקנות מהספר: שיחות על תורת הנבואה, פרקים נבחרים במורה נבוכים של הרמב’ם – ישעיהו ליבוביץ
מאת גיל דקל. חלק 1. עבור לחלק 2. להלן מסקנות עיקריות מפרושו של ישעיהו לייבוביץ את ‘מורה נבוכים’ של הרמב”ם (רבי משה בן מימון). המספרים הם מספרי העמודים בספר. עמודים 1-25 אופי הוא ביטוי לרצון של האדם. אדם הכועס מבטא...
Read MoreWhere we are at (Judaism Q/A, part 7).
Part 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. If two people make the same mistake, would it be considered worse for one of them? Yes. Each person is judged according to what they’ve been given… We are not judged absolutely. We are all relative to where we are at. Each person has the באשר הוא שם, where the person is at that time. On that level they’re being judged. If a person is sitting and...
Read MoreAngels and ‘Tzadik Gamur’ (Judaism Q/A, part 6).
Part 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. ‘Tzadik Gamur’ is a righteous person. Is this a definition of an angel? No. Most angels don’t have ‘Bhira’, a choice. Most angels are referred to by the names of animals like Hayot, Kodesh and Ophanim; not because they are animals in the sense of being unrefined, they’re very holy and refined. They are more refined than man; but they really don’t have the...
Read MoreReturance (Judaism Q/A, part 5).
Part 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. In part 4 we discussed free-will, which is enabled by the mere existence of balanced things/events (such as good vs bad). But if we look back at things we did, for example, let’s say I bought a car last year. So, it is a fact I have that specific car now. Since this has already happened and I have that specific car now, does this mean there was no other way at that...
Read MorePast-lives and free will (Judaism Q/A, part 4).
Part 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. God makes Himself unseen while He is always present in our life. We now go to explore our own lives, and ask: is there a concept in Judaism of ‘past life’? Yes; very much so. Nowadays it is considered that most of us are reincarnation גילגולים ‘Gilgulim’ of previous lives; some of the many lives. According to some, our generation is just before The...
Read MoreIllumination (Judaism Q/A, part 3).
Part 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. If God created this world and is in this world, why some people say they cannot see/feel Him? We find answers in the Kaballa and particularly in the Kitvei Arizal, the famous writings of the famous Kabalist who lived in Syria, who wrote the Etz Chaim, one of his famous mystical Kabbalistic books. In the beginning, before the creation, the whole of existence was just...
Read MoreBlessings (Judaism Q/A, part 2).
Part 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Many times we say blessings, Bracha. We say ‘Baruch Ata HaShem’, ‘Blessed are You, God’, but what does it mean, blessed? What are we blessing? It doesn’t have any real meaning, because we don’t need to bless God… maybe God needs to bless us… The Hebrew word ‘Bracha’ comes from a number of different roots. One of them means בריכה ‘Brecha’, a...
Read MoreCreation (Judaism Q/A, part 1).
Part 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. The Jewish Bible, the Tanach, is a written document. Why God did not just ‘implement’ its wisdom into our hearts? why have it as a book to read? One answer is that God wants us to have a part in the creative process. He doesn’t give us everything on a plate. He doesn’t hardwire us with everything, but He wants us to make an effort and take part in the creative...
Read MoreLessons in Tanya – Chapter 1 (pt4)
with Gil Dekel. ואפילו העובר על איסור קל של דברי סופרים מקרי רשע כדאיתא בפ”ב דיבמות ובפ”ק דנדה “Even if a person transgresses only a very light rabbinical prohibition [one which was forbidden by the sages, but isn’t explicitly mentioned in the Torah], he is considered a Rasha.” Let’s give an example:...
Read MoreLessons in Tanya – Chapter 1 (pt3)
with Gil Dekel. ולהבין כל זה באר היטב וגם להבין מה שאמר איוב [ב"ב פ"א] רבש”ע בראת צדיקי’ בראת רשעי’ כו’ The Alter Rebbe goes on now to explain a few views on what Beinoni is and what he is not. Alter Rebbe says “we’re going to have to understand all that we mentioned above very clearly; and a further thing,...
Read MoreLessons in Tanya – Chapter 1 (pt2)
with Gil Dekel. אך הענין כי הנה מצינו בגמרא ה’ חלוקות. צדיק וטוב לו צדיק ורע לו רשע וטוב לו רשע ורע לו ובינוני. “The matter is as follows. We find in the Gemara five categories [of human beings]. Tzadik ve Tov Lo, Tzadik ve Ra Lo, Rasha ve Tov Lo, Rasha ve Ra Lo, and Beinoni”. ופירשו בגמרא צדיק...
Read MoreLessons in Tanya – Chapter 1 (pt1)
with Gil Dekel. ליקוטי אמרים, ספר של בינונים, פרק א’ תניא בספ”ג דנדה משביעים אותו תהי צדיק ואל תהי רשע In this first ‘Perek’ (chapter) of the Tanya book, we are being referred to the end of the third chapter of the tract page from a different book – the Talmud tract called ‘Niddah’. In the tract of...
Read MoreLessons in Tanya – Sha’ar (title page)
with Gil Dekel. ספר ליקוטי אמרים חלק ראשון הנקרא בשם ספר של בינונים We start with the title page of the Tanya book, which is known by the name the ‘book of Beinonim’, or book of the average person, the intermediate, ‘Sefer Shel Beinonim’; in Hebrew: ספר של בינונים . Traditionally, It is believed to be original work, but...
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