Tuesday
Jun132017
…THEN HE SHALL RISE UP
June 13, 2017From Chapter Fifteen of Rabbi Shloma Majeski’s Likkutei Mekoros, Volume 2.
Tuesday
Jun132017
NO ONE IS EXCUSED
This Shabbos, Parshas Shlach, is Shabbos Mevarchim Chodesh Tammuz. We all know that “On Shabbos Mevarchim, the members of the Chassidic brotherhood should rise early in the morning and gather in the synagogue to recite the entire Book of T’hillim. Following that, for about an hour, they should study a maamer of Chassidus that everyone can understand, and then [begin the morning] prayers. The farbrengen [held in honor of Shabbos Mevarchim] should be scheduled to suit the conditions of the place in which they live — and may they enjoy success there, both materially and spiritually.” (HaYom Yom 26 Kislev)
Wednesday
Jun072017
A BINDING OATH TO BRING MOSHIACH
Since Moshiach still has not come, it is clear that in heaven they came up with a strategy as to how to have the tzaddik delay his appeal until later… * The correct approach here may well be to take an oath according to the knowledge and consent of the public, in which case the law is that “there is no disavowal of the oath without public consent.”
Wednesday
Jun072017
STORIES OF THE LEGENDARY RAV OF POLTAVA
“He will be the rav of a large city,” predicted the Rebbe Maharash. * Words fall short of describing this great Chassid, who sacrificed body and soul for his people, a Beinoni who davened all day and whose niggunim have become staples of the Chabad repertoire. The only one who was able to console the Rebbe Rashab after the passing of his father, the chavrusa of the Rebbe Rashab, over a period of 30 years he slept only on a bench, a pure and lofty soul. * Beis Moshiach profiles the gaon and Chassid, Rabbi Yaakov Mordechai Bespalov, Rav of Poltava.
Wednesday
Jun072017
MOSHIACH RETURNS WITH THE CAPTIVES OF TZIYON TO RULE
“Moshiach saw his forefathers, worshipers of idols, and he parted from their ways and became a servant of the Alm-ghty, hidden away in Gan Eden.” In this respect, when “G-d returns the captives of Tziyon,” Moshiach will be among them and he will reign over his nation
Wednesday
Jun072017
FORESEEN IN ADVANCE
For nearly a century and a half, the ‘Bikur Cholim Hospital’ was a permanent fixture in the center of the Holy City of Yerushalayim. With a highly esteemed reputation among the local population, hundreds of thousands of Jews received medical care here over the years. However, when R’ Yitzchak Ben-Ari [Strasberg] received an offer to serve as its administrator, the Rebbe told him in a letter to look into the matter of pensions. In light of the Rebbe’s reservations, Ben-Ari understood that he should not accept the offer. It was only several decades later that he realized that the Rebbe knew exactly what he didn’t know, despite his longstanding association with the public health system…
Wednesday
Jun072017
TRANSCENDING EMOTIONS
In last week’s parsha, Naso, we learned about the gift offerings the leaders of each tribe brought for the inauguration of the Altar. According to Rashi, Aharon felt badly that he was not chosen to bring the dedicatory offering on behalf of his tribe, the Levites, although the leaders of all the other tribes did so.
Wednesday
Jun072017
ACTOR AND HEALER OF THE SPIRIT
He was a successful actor, but the two years that he waited for a kidney transplant led him to discover deeper layers within himself as he pursued the study of psychodrama. * These two tools, acting and psychodrama, he uses today to empower people and to provide them with insights into their own untapped potential. * Meet Yitzchok Dori, an actor of the spirit.
Wednesday
Jun072017
MOSHIACH—AND SCIENCE—ON HAR HATZOFIM
They came together on Har HaTzofim (Mount Scopus) with the Har HaBayis in full view to contribute what is hoped to be the final “stone” in the construction of the Third Beis HaMikdash. Who were they and what was their stone? They were Jewish professors, scientists, engineers, Jews from the street and even protesters. They came together to restore the letter א (the Hebrew letters are compared to stones), representing Hashem, to the wisdom of modern science, thereby redeeming the sciences from their state of exile and allowing them to play their proper role in revealing the glory of Hashem.
Wednesday
Jun072017
THE HISKASHRUS BAROMETER
The Rebbe writes (HaYom yom 1 Cheshvan): The Rebbe my father told someone at yechidus: Ever since G‑d told our father Avraham, “Go from your land etc.” and it is then written “Avram kept travelling southward,” we have the beginning of the mystery of birurim. By decree of Divine Providence, man goes about his travels to the place where the “sparks” that he must purify await their redemption.
Thursday
Jun012017
JEWISH SOULS AT WINGATE
The Wingate Institute, located at the Poleg Interchange between Netanya and Hertzliya, is the largest professional learning institution in Eretz Yisroel for physical education. Thousands of students pass through its gates each day. Waiting for them there are Rabbi Asaf Shaked and his wife Noa, Chabad chassidim who made their own long and winding journey until they discovered the light of Torah and Chassidus. In this profile, the shluchim at Wingate tell their life story for the first time, as they provide a fascinating account of their growing outreach activities.
Thursday
Jun012017
THE INTERFACE OF TORAH AND NATURE
One of the central sections in this week’s parsha, which we read right after the Holiday of Shavuos, celebrating the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, is the Birchas Kohanim, the Priestly blessing.
Thursday
Jun012017
A SOUL crying out to be redeemed
Csanad Szegedi was a leader of a right wing pro-Nazi Hungarian political group in Budapest called Jobbik, which formed the Hungarian Guard, a paramilitary organization. Since its establishment in 2003, he was a member of this extreme party and part of the hardcore that started it, devoted to an ideology of anti-Semitism and holocaust denial.