…the Syrian and Egyptian armies had suddenly attacked from the north and the south. He was agitated and emotionally overwrought, and said that the Rebbe was surely immersed in his prayers and did not know what was going on while the Jews in Eretz Yisroel needed a great salvation.
Only four months after he married, the Chassid, R’ Tzvi Hirsch Lerner was arrested and sent to Siberia for seven years. * An unexpected encounter with a general led to his early release.* His granddaughter shares stories and memories, suffused with Chassidic flavor, about his outstanding character. * Part 2
He went far in his musical studies and then changed the course of his life under the influence of the mashpia, R’ Reuven Dunin a”h. * He came up with the idea of forming a Chabad choir to sing for the public and led this choir at “Evenings with Chabad.” * An overview of the life of the Chassid, R’ Yosef Marton a”h, the man responsible for Chabad’s anthem of U’faratzta, who passed away on Chanuka.
It is the center because it comprises both the right (chesed-kindness) and the left (g’vura-judgment) and synthesizes them. Torah, as the Rebbe stressed, is the epitome of truth. Truth is impartial to arguments from either of the directions. If truth dictates veering to one particular direction then so be it. If truth then demands that we make an about-turn and go in the opposite direction so be it! Truth is unlimited and inviolate and cannot be swayed by any other consideration.
Even when Yitzchak Shamir flew to the Madrid Conference, he too merely wanted to show respect for the Americans – but that was too much for the Rebbe. He toppled Mr. Shamir’s government in order to put an end to any discussions on dividing Eretz Yisroel and placing the security of its millions of Jewish residents in mortal danger, simply in order to “show respect for the Americans”…
…the Rebbe told us the goal of our generation: “This, then, is why the seventh is so cherished: it is he who draws down the Sh’china, in fact, the essence of the Sh’china; moreover, he draws it down into this lowly world. It is this that is demanded of each and every one of us of the seventh generation, and ‘all those that are seventh are cherished.’
Yud Shvat is approaching, the day the Rebbe accepted the nesius. Already starting on Asara B’Teives – “thirty days before the chag” – I began making a spiritual accounting about how to ready myself for this great day with a gift for the Rebbe, a gift worthy of being called a gift.
Chassidic thought was first unveiled by Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (1698-1760). These profoundly spiritual teachings were later harnessed into a comprehensive and methodical philosophical system by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (the Alter Rebbe, who was born in 1745 – the same year as Volta).
It was a long journey that Rabbi David Shvedik had to take until he reached a life of Torah and mitzvos. A meeting with a shliach is what set him off him in a new direction. He later went on shlichus himself, to Kaliningrad, formerly Konigsberg, a center for Haskala. He is gathering neshamos, one by one, and making a difference in the lives of many young people.
Regarding the prophecy of 10 Teves and the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash, the Navi (Yechezkel 4:3) writes: “And you shall take yourself an iron skillet and make it an iron wall between you and the city and direct your face toward it, and it will be in the siege and you shall besiege it; that is a sign to the house of Israel.”
Daniel Efrati, a philosopher and lecturer, categorized himself as a Tel Avivian bohemian. He found himself living through a distressful saga when he was jailed in Poona, India. The shluchim, R’ Betzalel Kupchik and his wife Rochel, supported him throughout the painful ordeal. When he was released under house arrest, he stayed at the Chabad house for nearly four months where he became acquainted with Judaism and his perspective on life changed.
Many Lubavitchers knew the Chassid, R’ Tzvi Hirsch Lerner. For many years, he lived a difficult life of mesirus nefesh for Torah, mitzvos and Chassidus. * His granddaughter shares stories and memories, suffused with Chassidic flavor, about his outstanding character. * Part 1
In an exclusive interview with the Beis Moshiach Magazine, Chassidic conductor and composer R’ Moshe Mordechai (“Mona”) Rosenblum speaks about his childhood (“My mother gave me an accordion when I was four and a half years old”), the uniqueness of Chabad niggunim (“Every time I hear the Alter Rebbe’s niggunim, I feel as if I’m listening to them for the first time”), producing CDs of Chabad niggunim (“It’s slow and painstaking work, as it’s not easy to put the emotions into distinctive vessels”), and his family connection with the Alter Rebbe.
December 17, 2013