Mashpia (Spiritual Mentor)

Each and every one of us needs a spiritual teacher and mentor to help us maximize our soul’s potential in divine service...

Therapists are nice (and expensive) and there are times when they are needed. But there are the times when all we need is someone who knows us, who cares for us, a wise person with a little life experience...

Our group of twelve had come to Tanzania to tackle Mt. Meru, an extinct volcano that rises some 15,000 feet into the deep-blue African sky. We began this trip as individuals – but were to return as a single unit...

The first step forward is to know where you are now.

Better advice from a human being that cares than an angel in heaven.

The Torah cautions us that the danger of bribery is not merely a possibility, nor even a probability. It is an automatic effect. We are all judges, all of the time . . .

Loyalty is beautiful, and good for many things. But it is not good for distinguishing fact from fiction. Or for distinguishing fiancés who should be married from fiancés who should not.

We can appreciate the connection between a mentor and a friend. But why is the lesson of judging people favorably taught in the same sentence?

In terms of our spiritual development, we can apply this law to all types of spiritual sicknesses. We are not the ones to make the final diagnosis of our own faults and shortcomings...

Moses made demands of the people; when necessary, he rebuked them. A docile calf would do no such thing...