Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, Talmudist, Halachist, physician, philosopher and communal leader, known in the Jewish world by the acronym "Rambam" and to the world at large as "Maimonides", passed away in Egypt on the 20th of Tevet in 1204 (4965).
Links: A brief biography of Maimonides
Join the Maimonides Study Cycle
The first volume of the Babylonian Talmud, the tractate Berachot, was printed in Soncino, Italy, on the 20th of Tevet of the year 5244 from creation (1483)
Link: What Is the Talmud?
The Rebbe describes the following as a core teaching of the Baal Shem Tov:
Not only are the pirouettes of a leaf as it falls off a tree,
the quivering of a blade of grass in the wind,
and all the details of the world around you
all brought into being, given life and directed every moment from Above—
but beyond that:
Every nuance is an essential component of a grand and G‑dly scheme, the gestalt of all those vital minutiae.
Every moment burns with the pulse of G‑d’s desire.
Meditate on this. And then think:
How much more so the details of my daily life.