The Language of Truth
שפת אמת
The Sfas Emes Online Library
The complete Torah of Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter of Ger (1847-1905): 5,125 essays on every parsha and festival, translated into clear, faithful English.
This Week
Vayeira
ויראStill recovering from his circumcision, Abraham welcomes three visitors who foretell Isaac's birth, and Sarah laughs in disbelief. Abraham pleads with God to spare Sodom, but the city and Gomorrah are destroyed; Lot and his daughters escape as his wife turns to a pillar of salt. After a sojourn in Gerar, Isaac is born and circumcised, while Hagar and Ishmael are sent away and rescued in the wilderness. The parsha culminates in the Akeidah, where Abraham binds Isaac upon the altar and, at the last moment, a ram is offered in his place.
- Milah and inner sight of Hashem
- Mitzvos as gateways to revelation
- The Akeidah, fear refining love
- Trials of the Avos
- Chesed tempering judgment
- Bittul brings closeness
Must-read teachings
- 1The inner point as source of lifeתרל"ד
- 2Mitzvos as openings to Hashem's secretתרמ"ח
- 3Milah unlocks the hidden secret of Hashemתרמ"ז
- 4Milah and mitzvos reopen the gates of Gan Edenתרמ"ט
- 5Perceiving Hashem through the Divine imageתרנ"ו
- 6Akeidah unites chesed and gevurahתרנ"ב
- 7Trials that refine Avraham's love into an eternal pillarתרמ"ט
- 8Milah sealing holiness into body as seed of truthתרס"א
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The Language of Truth
The Sfas Emes - “the Language of Truth” - is among the most beloved works of Chassidic thought ever written. Composed over thirty-five years of Shabbos and Yom Tov teachings, it weaves Midrash, Zohar, and the teachings of the Kotzker and Chiddushei HaRim into a sustained meditation on finding the inner point of holiness within everything. Each essay here presents the original Hebrew alongside a clear English translation and explanation.
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“Truthful speech is established forever” - Mishlei 12:19