On this date, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, who supported and aided the Czar's army during the Napoleonic wars, was forced to flee his hometown from Napoleon's forces which were advancing through White Russia in their push toward Moscow. After five months of wanderings he arrived in the town of Pyena. There he fell ill and, weakened by the tribulations of his flight and the harsh Russian winter, passed away on the 24th of Tevet, 5573 (1812).
Links: The Rebbe vs Napoleon
R. Eliezer Zusia Portugal (1898–1982), the Skulener Rebbe, is best known for his superhuman efforts to rescue Jewish orphans and refugees in Eastern Europe before, during, and after World War II and his continuing support of them. He immigrated to the United States in 1960, after imprisonment in Rumania and international efforts to secure his release. He was renowned for his lengthy prayers and the beautiful tunes he composed.
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.