First printing of the Zohar, the fundamental work of the Kabbalah (Jewish esoteric and mystical teachings), authored by the Talmudic sage, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.
Links: The Kabbalah
Av 20 is the anniversary of the passing of the Lubavitcher Rebbe's father, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson (1878-1944), in Alma Ata (currently Almaty), Kazakhstan. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak was Chief Rabbi of Yekaterinoslav (currently Dnipro), Ukraine, and was arrested and exiled to Kazakhstan by the Stalinist regime as a result of his work to preserve Jewish life in the Soviet Union.
Links:
A Brief Biography
Rebbetzin Chana Scneerson's biography, which includes her account of her husband's heroism, arrest and passing.
A gift is a gift, but a gift to one in need is an investment, a seed planted in the ground.
Hidden beneath the earth, a seed decays to nothingness. Yet out of that nothingness it unlocks the endless, transformative power of the earth: The power to reproduce.
The seed germinates. A delicate sprout breaks through the earth’s surface. In time, it will grow and mature to provide many thousands of fruits and seeds like itself. And that process will replicate itself, theoretically, ad infinitum.
A seed ignites the power of the earth, but a gift of kindness seeds the very ground of the cosmos—for out of Divine Kindness the universe emerged, of Kindness it is built, and with Kindness it is sustained and nourished.
And what are the fruits for those who seed kindness? G‑d’s kindness. Beyond infinite, yet here for you in this world.
Invest kindness in those who are in need. The fruits of your investment will be beyond wonder.