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Tuesday, November 24, 2026

Halachic Times (Zmanim)
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Jewish History

Reuben, the eldest son of Jacob and Leah, was born in Charan (Mesopotamia) on the 14th of Kislev of the year 2193 from creation (1568 BCE). As Jacob's firstborn, he was initially entitled to the leadership of Israel and to a double portion in the Holy Land, but these privileges were taken from him (and given respectively to Judah and Joseph) because he sinned by "violating the bed of his father." Reuben unsuccessfully tried to prevent the persecution of Joseph by his brothers in 2216 (1545 BCE) and subsequently berated them for selling him into slavery (Genesis 37:21; 42:22). In 2238 he relocated to Egypt together with his father, brothers and their children, where he died on his 125th birthday in 2318 (1443 BCE).

Link: Reuben and Judah
Link: More on Reuben

On the 14th of Kislev, 1928, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, married Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneersohn (1901-1988), the middle daughter of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (1880-1950), the sixth Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch. The wedding was held in Warsaw, Poland, at the Lubavitcher Yeshivah, Tomchei Temimim.

Upon Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak's passing in 1950, Rabbi Menachem Mendel succeeded his father-in-law as the Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch. On the 14th of Kislev of 1953, at a farbrengen (Chassidic gathering) marking his 25th wedding anniversary, the Rebbe said to his Chassidim: "This is the day that bound me to you, and you to me."

Links: Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneersohn; The Rebbe's Marriage; Jewish Wedding Ceremony

Daily Thought

Adam trudged past the gates of Eden, his head low, his heart heavy with the pain of remorse.

Suddenly he stopped. A thought had struck him.

He turned to the heavens and exclaimed, “You had this planned! You put that fruit there knowing I would choose to eat from it!”

“But tell me: Why?

The heavens were silent.

But we have found an answer.

Without failure, we can never truly reach into the depths of our souls. We cannot know that our choices matter, and that we hold our destiny in our hands. That we exist.

With that failure and that discovery, we can return to the garden, reaching higher and higher without end, to the One that exists without cause.

Beyond Eden.

Maamar Bati Legani 5731, citing Midrash Tanchuma, Veyeishev 4:1.