Knowing Yourself, Inside and Out

For most of history, human beings who were thoughtful, responsible, and mature understood that they have free choice. You can be good or you can be bad, you can be beautiful and you can be ugly, you can be idealistic, or you can be low, greedy and selfish. We have good inclination and evil inclination, and we can either be constructive or destructive. For so long, humans lived their lives based on reward and punishment. 

Then, Chassidic Judaism came along and said that’s not really what you should be worried about and that’s not really who you are. There’s something much prettier, much more elegant, and much more worthy of life: that is that you have actually two souls.

One of the souls is Godly, which means it gets excited by Godly pleasure, Godly will, Godly wisdom, Godly emotions, and Godly behavior. With those aspects of your soul excited, you’re a complete person. Then there’s the human soul, but in the human soul it’s all human pleasure, human will, human intelligence, human emotions, and human behavior. My human part is selfish – it’s always about me. The Godly soul is all about a mission, what I am here for and what I am supposed to accomplish. 

You are a being that can choose between being human or being Godly. You should put all your energy into your Godly soul, because if you put all your energy into your human soul you will become a really decent human being without knowing what it’s all for. The only source of knowledge that can answer the question “why am I here”  why was i born is in your Godly soul. That’s because your Godly soul just wants to do whatever is the reason for its existence in this world and whatever mission the soul is supposed to accomplish by being born. You can be practical and successful as a human being, or you can be idealistic and find the truth of why you exist in the first place. Your creator has a reason for you to exist so if you fulfill that reason, you are serving God and becoming Godly yourself.

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyReturn to Shop

    A Meeting of Souls

    Gimmel Tammuz Farbrengen

    With

    Rabbi Manis Friedman & Dr. Henry Nogid

    Thursday, June 11, 2026 | 7:00 PM

    Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

    The Israeli Shabbaton

    Date & Time

    May 15–17, 2026

    (28 Iyar – 1 Sivan | Jerusalem Day Weekend)

    Location

    Marriott Hotel, Saddle Brook, NJ

    Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

    BOOK EVENT

    An Evening with
    Rabbi Manis Friedman

    Thursday Evening, April 30 – 7:30 PM

    Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

    Lag Ba’omer

    FAS welcomes world-renowned author, counselor, lecturer and philosopher:

    Rabbi Manis Friedman

    Monday Evening, May 4th

    Mincha/Maariv @ 7:40PM

    Followed by Lecture @ 8:00PM

    Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

    Book Launch Event

    Are you really living?

    A Lecture with

    Rabbi Manis Friedman & Dr. Elad Ben Elul

    Tri-State Tour: April 20–30, 2026

    West Coast Tour: May 1–7, 2026

    Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

    A Hakhel-Unity Evening

    The Song & The Spirit

    Marking the 29th Yahrtzeit of the Lubavitcher Rebbe

    Tuesday, June 27, 2026 | 7:30pm

    Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

    Bais Chana Invites

    Alumnae and Friends To Our

    Hakhel Gathering

    with Rabbi Manis Friedman

    Sunday, September 3 | 12pm - 3pm

    Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.