On January 18, 1943, the Germans began their second deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto, which led to the first instance of armed resistance. The deportation was halted within a few days; due to their brave efforts, 3,000 of the 8,000 Jews whom the Nazis intended to deport at that time were saved. The Nazis retreated, only to return three months later, at which time the Warsaw uprising started in earnest.
Link: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
R. Chaim Kapusi was one of the leading sages of Egypt in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. He passed away at the age of ninety, on 12 Shevat in the year 5391 from Creation (1631).
It is related that R. Chaim once became blind, and the townsfolk spread rumors attributing his condition to bribery, as the verse states, “Bribery blinds the eyes of the wise.” Hearing this, R. Chaim got up before the entire congregation and announced: “If it is true that I have accepted bribery, may my eyes retain their sightlessness. But if it is not true, may my vision be restored!” Miraculously, his vision returned immediately, and he proceeded to identify the congregants by name (Shem Hagedolim).
Link: Don’t Get Bribed!
A woman’s influence is different from a man’s. A man needs to conquer, to vanquish an opponent. Therefore, his victory is often superficial—he may get the other guy to nod his head, but not to surrender his heart.
A woman is able to reach inside a man, so he may not even recognize her influence. He feels as though this was his idea all along. Her conquest is through nurture.
From where does this talent come? Paradoxically, from the woman’s union with a man. In that union, she discovers what it is to be a woman, and how a woman conquers with love.
So too, from the man’s union with a woman, he can learn to heal the world through nurture. To be truly a man.