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A sealed Torah was given to us; it is doubtless a Torah of Truth but it is disguised. Every day the Holy One, blessed be He, renews those who study it for its own sake and they find a new taste in it…
Says Moses, son to my Master, my father, R. Israel—may the memory of the righteous be for a blessing for the world to come—seeing that the illustrious author [Joseph Karo] of the Bet Yosef [Th…
Behold, I am aged and gray-headed—I know not the day of my death [see Genesis 27:2]! And when am I going to provide for my own house (Genesis 30:30), which I built, and for my children…
I have always regretted one thing. When I ponder the Hebrew literature of all periods I ask myself: Why is it that our forefathers, who spent so much time on the study of matters of religion and law…
Our dear brethren, Children of Israel, perhaps the time has now come to repair the breaches in our ranks; let us return to uphold the Torah of the Almighty with all our strength. Who will be the…
Since the theme of the Noachide commandments has arisen for consideration, I shall mention here what I presented before the assembly of rabbis in the great city [Paris] in the year 5567 [1807], and it…
Joseph Karo’s Shulḥan ‘arukh (Set Table)—printed together with the additions of Moses Isserles’s Mapah (Tablecloth) and first published in 1565—was a codification of Jewish law that was easy to use as…
1. We have now obtained a preliminary articulation of reason and religion; we turn now to the sources of Judaism, out of which the religion of reason should be derived. We ought…
When I parted from my father and journeyed forth from his home to Brody, I joined up with friends, God-fearing men of purity; we built a bet midrash for…
I cannot refrain from relating an amazing, true story that I heard from that mouth of sanctity, the most outstanding disciple of our Holy Master, the rebbe, my dear friend—may…