Sir Moses Montefiore was a religious philanthropist who worked tirelessly on behalf of his brethren worldwide, and especially in the Land of Israel. He dispensed large sums toward charitable causes and founded numerous establishments and institutions. Sir Montefiore traveled far and wide to visit Jewish communities and interceded on their behalf before rulers such as Queen Victoria, Czar Alexander the Second, the Ottoman Sultan, and the pope. He lived to the ripe old age of 100, passing away on 16 Menachem Av 5645 (1885).
Read a biography: Sir Moses Montefiore
We don’t learn Torah to gain knowledge—not even divine knowledge. At the time you are learning Torah, your mind itself is divine.
Your mind wraps itself in divine modalities. Your soul twirls and rises in a divine dance. As you wrestle with divine words, pathways and wisdom, you merge with them, so that your entire being becomes Torah.
We learn Torah because it is a mitzvah—the mitzvah of merging your mind with the mind of G‑d.