Chabad of Malibu

B"H The ancient wisdom of Proverbs whispers to us: “For a Mitzvah is a candle, the Torah is light; and ethical admonishment the path of life.” These words invite us into a deep, spacious mystery, one that calls us to pause and ponder: What is this “path of life”? Is it distinct from the Torah and its mitzvot, or is it their very flowering within us? And why this tender imagery—a Mitzvah as a candle, Torah as light? Let us sit with these questions, allowing them to unfold in the quiet of our hearts. In the Jewish tradition, the sages offer us a lens: a Mitzvah, they say, is like a single candle, its flame flickering, offering protection for a moment. A Mitzvah is a sacred act, a gesture of love that lights up the darkness but fades in time. Torah, however, is light itself—boundless, eternal, like the dawn breaking over the horizon, illuminating all things forever. The Shaloh, a mystical voice, speaks of Torah as a great bonfire, fierce and uncontained, while the sages evoke the ste...

  B"H “And you shall know today, and take it to heart, that the Lord (Havayah) is G‑d (E-lohim)… there is nothing else.” This is not merely a statement of theology. It is a summons to awakening. It is the realization that what we have called “God,” in all our names and metaphors, is not divided. The infinite and the finite, the revealed and the hidden, the thunder and the silence—are all held together in one Living Unity. We often imagine the Divine as operating in two different modes: one radiant and merciful, endlessly pouring out light (Havayah); the other just and restrained, placing boundaries and laws (E-lohim). And yet, the mystics declare: these two are not two. They are One. Not one after the other, not one balancing the other—but One within the Other. One being the Other. The boundless Love that creates the world is the same Love that shapes it. The same Love that withdraws to make space is the Love that fills that space with meaning. Limitation, then, is not the absence...