Emuna Daily

“Those who fail to get to know Hashem in good times risk being placed in predicaments devoid of any natural or logical solution, where the only remaining alternative is to cry out to Hashem.  In this manner, Hashem – in his infinite loving kindness – helps each of us reach Him and thereby achieve our ultimate soul correction.   The more we cooperate, the easier our lives become.”  – The Garden of Emuna

“When people ignore Hashem’s personal messages, Hashem is compelled to send ‘louder’ messages, in other words, situations of greater difficulty.” – The Garden of Emuna

“Understanding the vital fact that everything in our lives is for our own ultimate good, that is, to help us achieve our soul correction, enables us to cope with all types of situations – whether good or seemingly bad – happily and without stress, worry, and anxiety.” – The Garden of Emuna

“Achieving proximity to Hashem and thereby getting to know Him are the ultimate soul correction, our individual goal and mission on this earth.  Hashem, in His limitless love for each of us, directs our lives in a manner that helps us to successfully achieve this goal.”  – The Garden of Emuna

According to the holy Zohar…Hashem created us for the sole purpose of getting to know Him.  As such, the daily events and experiences of our lives are none other than personal messages  from Hashem, designed to stimulate our emuna, encourage us to speak to Him, and thereby facilitate our efforts to get close to Him.  Why?  The closer one gets to Hashem, the better one gets to know Him.” – The Garden of Emuna

“Once we develop a deep sense of emuna that Hashem, by way of Divine Providence, does everything for our ultimate benefit to guide us on the path of our needed soul correction, then the puzzle-pieces of life suddenly come together in a picture of striking clarity.  With these principles in mind, emuna becomes the universal answer to all of life’s questions.” – The Garden of Emuna

“According to Kabbala, or Jewish esoteric thought, completing one’s soul correction, or tikkun, is the loftiest achievement a person can accomplish in this material world.  Oftentimes, we must suffer or experience hardship in order to attain a higher spiritual level or a correction of the soul, just like a champion athlete must withstand excruciating training sessions to reach higher achievements and peak performance.”  – The Garden of Emuna

“These few words give us the whole message of the Haggadah.  This is what it was all about, going out from Egypt: believing in one God, just the Only One.  What does it mean to believe?  Rebbe Nachman explains: There are two kinds of knowledge in the world – they’re so different they’re almost like two worlds.  There is emes, truth, and then there is emuna, believing.  It’s not that the things we believe in aren’t the truth; it’s that belief is so much deeper than just truth.  Because truth is just things that we know, things that we can figure out, things that can be understood and proven.  But that sort of thing is so limited; and that’s where faith begins.  It begins where knowing the truth leaves off.  Belief is so much deeper – I can’t prove it, but I know something that goes beyond knowing.  You know, it’s like a beautiful song: I can sit here describing it all day, but really it’s beyond my power to describe.  Beyond what I can tell you lies so much more – gevalt, is it deep!  My blessing for you is that you’ll be able to pass on to your children the belief in the One, the only One.  It’s the best thing in the world for them to have, because with belief we can survive all the tornadoes of the world.

When everything looks wrong to us; when the house is falling apart; when the house has already collapsed; when someone has just died – what do we do then?  We get up and yell ‘Yisgadal v’yiskadash shmeih rabba!  God’s name is great; everything is still good.’  You know, my sweet friends, we can really say that, because in the deepest, most inside part of us, we know that Hashem is taking care of the world.  And even if we don’t know what’s going on just now, we believe it’s for the good, we believe it will be good in the end; and believing is so much more than knowing.”                                                                                      – R. Shlomo Carlebach – The Carlebach Haggadah