Vayishlach
Dear Friend,
How was your Black Friday? Did you spend the night in the cold for that gadget you always “needed”? Did you wait in line at the checkout, stuck behind carts laden with gifts, just to buy a pack of batteries? Or did you just stay home and enjoy the peace and quiet while everyone else hit the aisles?
Whether you were a line-stander or a bystander, studies suggest that you were probably annoyed by the retail frenzy that has been foisted on us.
And for good reason. As great is it feels to get a good metziah (bargain), it feels even better not to need one.
This week we read of the reunion of the cosmic twin brothers, Jacob and Esau. During their conversation, they told each other how they had fared. Jacob said, “I have everything.” Contrast that with Esau’s “I have much.” In other words, as much as Esau had amassed, he still did not have the elusive “all.”
This year, as the race to the checkout intensifies, let us be like Jacob. We will feel better—and stay richer.
In the words of the sages: “Who is rich? He who is satisfied with his lot.”
Menachem Posner,
on behalf of the Chabad.org Editorial Team
Antique sells. Even faux-antique sells. Old is good. Except for old people. No one boasts of having their own senior citizen. Or of being one.
G‑d tells the prophet Samuel that the kingship must be removed from King Saul and given to a previously unknown shepherd named David. In this class we learn of the tragic and final chapter of Saul’s life.
If you were to create a world, the first thing you would need to master is tsimtsum. Tsimtsum is a way of being present in your absence. Get that one down, along with creating something out of nothing, and everything else is a piece of cake.
Perhaps it was the mystery of her absolute blackness, or the contrast she held against the bright morning sky. All that could be said is that it was a beauty as indefinable as black is dark.
Our bodies are G‑d’s handiwork. We don’t want to mutilate His product.
The long-standing Jewish custom is for Shabbat breads to be braided. Here's why.
Is it better to keep Shabbat and eat only kosher but be unkind and dishonest, or to be a good person who is not as observant?
It smelled good. It looked good. But it tasted . . . awful. I forgot the salt.
What would people select for me? How was I showing up in 1976? What would they remember? And, would they even remember me at all?
I couldn’t understand what I had done wrong. All I had done was be born, born a female with thick curly hair who apparently did not make a splash for cuteness.
To the miser’s surprise, the rebbe seemed pleased by the gift. He was actually smiling at him warmly as he put the coin into his pocket.
The Rebbe writes, “It has been long recognized in the USA that the erection of a public Chanukah menorah is a positive thing because of its universal message of freedom of the human spirit . . .”
In the month of Elul, the month before Rosh Hashanah, a signal goes out to every Jewish soul that it is time to return to the palace that is home.
It is a signal both subtle and loud.
Subtle, because it does not awaken even those who are closest—every soul must awaken itself. Loud, because it reaches those who have been...
