Every Erev Yom Kippur he could be seen standing in the yard of 770, ready to receive the Rebbe’s Kaparos chicken for shechting. He also prepared the Rebbe’s Pesach wine. * Profile of the recently departed Rabbi Yisroel Shimon Kalmanson a”h.
Perek 111 in T’hillim is about emuna. That means that this kapitel is challenging you. There’s a world, and there’s G-d. If the world left G-d alone, or vice versa, there would be no problems. There would be no solutions either. When you juxtapose G-d and the world, it is apparent that the world has one reality, while Hashem has a different reality, and quite often they’re in severe conflict with one another. I’m not only talking about the difficulty in being Torah observant, rather the fact that sometimes it doesn’t seem like G-d is right…
I opened the letter and saw the words “Danny Ben-Gavriel: Blessing and success for complete health. I will mention it at the Tziyun.” I was stunned. I was the one who had written to the Rebbe, not him, and I didn’t even mention his name in the letter. Why did the Rebbe address the answer to him, and how did he know his name?
This is our spiritual inheritance, our gift to humanity and our mission in life: To embody the loftiest of spiritual experiences within a material reality and to disregard the status quo – or create a new one; not to divest from worldly realities or to fight against them, but to transform them, to rebel with them against the prevailing structure, and create a new world order.
Michael Behagen used to be a well-known movie director in the Israeli entertainment industry. He made movies and documentaries and was immersed in the secular world, until the day that he received a letter from his son…
A portion of the conversation of the Rebbe MH”M with the former Chief Rabbis in the Holy Land, Rabbi Avraham HaKohen Shapira o.b.m. and Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu o.b.m., during their visit on Tuesday of Parshas B’Har, 11 Iyar 5749. * “We will not protest if Eliyahu HaNavi appears in the Diaspora, even in Brooklyn, and the following day Moshiach comes to Teveria.”
Stories of miracles and Divine Providence that were told by visitors to Chabad houses in the Far East
There are absolutely no limits to the feeling of z’rizus, excitement and enthusiasm that gives rise to a constant spiritual state of alacrity. * The above should inspire us to action. First off, to publicize that we are presently in “the end of days,” “eis keitz,” during which time, “Many shall refine themselves and make themselves white, and be purified…”
These people bring down terrible danger onto Jews and onto the Land. These people are the ‘demolishers and destroyers’ from amongst the Jewish people and of the land of Israel. Yet they shout “peace now.” There is nothing greater than peace, but G-d says, “The wicked have no peace [to offer]!”
At this point Rina raised her hand, and Ms. Stern gave her permission to speak. “But Morah, doesn’t it say that Tzaraas is a punishment for Lashon Hara? Lashon Hara is compared to the worst sins. How can you say that Lashon Hara is a superficial sin?”
Zeide did not say whether the bear never got up again or just lost consciousness, but now all the brawny shkotzim fled in every direction. Why? Because Yisroel Koshitzker went over to the large boulders. The shkotzim thought he was going to pay them back but good, but Yisroel merely grabbed the rocks and hurled them one by one in order to vent his agitated spirit. It was, after all, a large and angry bear…
This attitude is what undermines Jewish continuity because Jewish people can only thrive when they have a cohesive existence under the guidance of competent leaders. To slander the leader threatens to unravel the chords that bind us together as a people and threatens our very existence.
A seemingly routine response in Igros Kodesh leads a yeshiva student to a very successful shlichus in Italy.
May 3, 2012