R’ Sholom Eliyahu Vilenkin a”h was born and raised in a home saturated with Torah and Chassidus. For many years he learned assiduously in secret yeshivos Tomchei T’mimim. Despite the fear, hunger and enormous difficulties, he devoted himself to Torah study. He later began teaching Torah, despite the great danger involved. * Twenty years since the passing of this Chassid.
It’s hard to believe that the young Chassidic man sitting in Yeshivat Daat in Rechovot used to be a basketball player for the top team in Turkey and a well-to-do businessman. But that is part of the remarkable life story of R’ Mordechai Mizrachi who is currently immersed in translating the Tanya into Turkish.
Hi there, it’s me Berel, writing again. This time, I’d like to tell you a story that happened with my cousin, Yechiel, who lives in New York. I heard the story from him on Chol HaMoed Pesach. This is what my cousin told me:
At the end of the farbrengen, the Rebbe shlita spoke, with great emotion and amidst tears, saying that with regard to the Rebbe Rayatz one shouldn’t use the expression “nishmaso b’ginzei m’romim – his soul is in the treasuries of heaven”
Daniel von Weinberger, a Lubavitcher Chassid, plays an active role in the art world in Europe. He’s a multi-media artist who is known for the lively designs he makes out of unusual materials. He also teaches jewelry and fashion design and his work is exhibited regularly around the globe. He sees himself as a shliach of the Rebbe MH”M, not only among Jewish artists, but particularly (l’havdil) among non-Jews. It is not an easy assignment and he has plenty of vexing tales to tell. All this and more in this exclusive interview he granted to the Beis Moshiach.
Knock knock. You open the door even though you aren’t expecting anyone. You find a lovely couple at your door, bearing a cake. “Did you forget? It’s your birthday!” * There are couples who do this sort of outreach on a weekly basis. Mrs. Miriam Bitton tells us how it works
Sequence in the Torah is not only important but it assists us in gleaning the Torah’s message and instruction with greater integrity. Not only is it important for us to know what the Torah says in any given parsha, chapter or verse; it is also important for us to know what lessons we can derive from the juxtaposition of these sections of the Torah and the order in which they are presented.
The Jewish people left Egypt in the merit of the women, who are reincarnated as the women of today. The Jewish women in Egypt went out to the field to help their husbands bring forth the next generation. Mrs. Gita Gansbourg a”h, the unforgettable Eim Bayis of Machon Chana in Crown Heights, was a woman who stood at her husband’s side through thick and thin for the sole purpose of carrying out the orders of the Commander-in-Chief, the Rebbe MH”M.
The Chabad family was saddened to hear about the passing of the shliach, R’ Shaul Yosef Benchimol a”h of France. He ran the HaAderes V’Ha’Emuna Institute, the spiritual factory that produced hundreds of baalei t’shuva and Chassidishe families which was founded by direct instruction of the Rebbe. * The story of a shliach and a shlichus that merited the privilege of having the king himself guide it every step of the way.
Every Friday, years ago, a group of bachurim went on mivtzaim to Queens. One week, they met David Nachmias and got into a conversation with him. He is an older man and he told them many miracles that he saw with the Rebbe. His stories motivated me to go back to him a few weeks later. In talking to him, I realized that these weren’t just miracle stories but an incredible historic chain of events.
Rechov Nachalat Binyamin was busy, as usual. Store owners were busy with customers while others stood in their doorways and hoped passersby would walk in. Some were involved in bargaining with a customer who wanted a significant reduction in price.
For those to whom Moshe is still alive and well, “below ten handbreadths,” they still have the mahn, the well, and the clouds of glory. So, even now they don’t require the concept of a wall.
“Our house is located at the edge of the settlement. On that frightful Friday night the lights were on until very late. The whole house was bustling with life. We never imagined that during those very moments as our son cried out, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings… in order to put an end to enemy and avenger,’ the terrorist killers were looking through our living room window with greedy eyes.” This is the moving and thrilling story of Rabbi Dovid Schneersohn and his wife, Vicky, the Rebbe’s shluchim in Itamar, who work there with literal self-sacrifice.
April 29, 2015