The Midrash connects the opening words of Tehillim 118:1, “Hodu Lashem ki tov ki l’olam chasdo – Praise G-d for He is good, His kindness is eternal,” the Rebbe’s new kapitel, with the idea underlying the Rebbe’s famous letter to Yitzhak Ben-Zvi (1884-1963), the second president of Israel. In this revealing letter, the Rebbe shares his earliest vision of Moshiach, the nasi and king.
Stanley, an elderly Jewish fellow, decided in his late 80s to get a driver’s license. Once he passed his driving test, he took his brand new Mercedes on a drive on one of the busy NY freeways.
Many Chassidim were killed, imprisoned or exiled, for the “crime” of spreading Judaism, but they kept on going. One such Chassid was Rabbi Refael Nachman Kahn, known as R’ Fole. He was a loyal soldier of the Rebbe. Then came his turn and he was brought to prison in the year 5690/1930.
A famous teaching of the Baal Shem Tov has it, that “Once there was a seven-year war between two gentile [kings] so a Tzadik would be able to hear a melody from the war marches which he used to serve Hashem.” (Kesser Shem Tov, Hosafos, Chapter 150) In this next part of the letter, the Rebbe expounds on the historic message this miraculous war carries for the spiritual mission of the Jewish people:
Our vision is so distorted that the proverbial elephant we are so accustomed to and so adept at ignoring has camouflaged itself completely. * Everything hinges on us conquering ourselves.
It is a minhag (custom) to avoid naming a baby boy until the time of his bris. One of the explanations for this minhag relates the name to the shoresh haneshama (the G-dly source of the soul) which is the source of chayus (vitality) for every person. But for a baby boy, a bris is required for this connection to be realized, when the orlah (foreskin), a barrier of impurity, is removed.
How can we say that the Rebbe is Moshiach if the Alter Rebbe said that Moshiach would be a Misnaged?
The Rebbe hardly left his place of residence and office for all the years of his Nesius-leadership. Besides going to the Ohel, the gravesite of his father-in-law, the Frierdiker Rebbe, twice a week, standing there for hours, the Rebbe hardly went to any other place in the world or even in the city of New York. The Rebbe never took off even a day for a vacation. Anyone else in this position would be considered a hermit and would be oblivious to what was going on in the world.
A Jew who was compelled to convert r”l during the days of the Spanish Inquisition was warned by the authorities that if they caught him eating fish on Friday night, proving that he still observed Jewish rituals, he would face dire consequences.
Reuven Gamliel is an earthworks contractor. An “earthworks contractor,” is someone who oversees the planning and carrying out of construction projects involving land preparation. This includes, for example, moving large amounts of dirt or rocks, paving roads, laying train tracks, leveling ground etc. Bulldozers and diggers, tractors and dump trucks, are used for this work.
April 11, 2019