In 1826, Rabbi DovBer of Lubavitch (see calendar entry for yesterday, Kislev 9) was arrested on charges that his teachings threatened the imperial authority of the Czar, but was subsequently exonerated. The date of his release, Kislev 10, is celebrated amongst Chabad Chassidim as a "festival of liberation." Tachnun (confession of sins) is omitted from the day's prayers, farbrengens are held, and Rabbi DovBer's teachings are studied.
Link: Prison Juice
In Chabad practice, Tachanun (confession of sins) and similar prayers are omitted today.
A Torah scroll is a high-precision document.
Journey deep inside the mysteries of this scroll and you will discover an amazing network of words and letters similar to the neuro-network of a human being.
Each letter of the scroll is a world of its own, surrounded by its own white space, without any other letter touching it.
Each letter is of equal value. Even if one of them is missing, flawed, or incomplete, the scroll is not a Torah scroll.
Alter a single letter and the meaning of a word is changed,
whereby a sentence is inverted,
whereby a story is distorted
—indeed, every other letter of the Torah scroll will be somehow profoundly affected.
The Jewish people, too, are a Torah scroll.
We are all connected in every mitzvah we do, every nugget of Torah we learn, every meaningful task of life we fulfill.
That is why every Jew, especially a Jewish child, must have a letter written for them in a Torah scroll. Our lives are all mysteriously entangled, our destinies inextricably chained together.
You are a letter in that scroll. Everything depends on you. Get your letter here.