Hayom Yom: Iyar 6, 21st day of the omer

Our sages said: "One should not take leave of his friend other than with a parting word of Torah-law, a d'var halacha."1 Our forefathers, the saintly Rebbes, explained: The parting word should be the kind of Torah-teaching that transforms the listener into a mehaleich. "Progress," hiluch, means to rise from level to level, with one ascent after another. Such progression embodies the superiority of the human soul over the angels, for this ascent is greatest through an act of goodness - extending a favor to another, a material favor in general, a spiritual favor in particular.