Behaalotecha: Upwards and Outwards
Dear Friend,
Ever since Moses led the Jews through the Red Sea and into the vast Sinai Desert for an epic 40-year saga, we’ve spent thousands of years wandering.
The annual (thank G‑d, voluntary) wandering season is soon to begin. Via interstates to destinations as exotic as Yellowstone or as familiar as the Catskills. Or perhaps fortune finds you wandering the charming streets of Paris, Venice or Milan.
How does one wander as a Jew?
Our Torah portion tells us, “At G‑d’s word the Israelites set out, and at G‑d’s word they encamped.” Perhaps we can draw inspiration from our ancestral desert wanderers. Let’s begin and end our travel days with G‑d’s word—prayer and Torah study. Shabbat on the road? Plan the itinerary to include a visit to the local Chabad center for a service, a Shabbat meal, or both.
Who knows? Like then, our wandering might just end up in the Promised Land!
Moshe Rosenberg,
on behalf of the Chabad.org Editorial Team
Religion is the natural playing field of hucksters and frauds looking to make a fast buck on the back of some else’s credulity. How can you and I possibly differentiate between the holy and the profane, the profound and the ridiculous?
For the first time since his mission began, he could see defeat staring him in the face.
Aaron lights the menorah; a second Passover is instituted; and people complain about the manna, demanding meat instead. Miriam is punished for speaking ill about her brother Moses, and the nation waits for her before leaving Sinai.
Every day brought new torment. Katya sat at her desk in the classroom, alone, isolated and shunned. She never cried, though. She didn’t cry when they chased her, or threw stones at her, or struck her with their backpacks.
The expectation for disappointment is bred, not born. And once enmeshed in a child’s personality, it’s like gasoline poorly stored in a cluttered garage—it takes little to ignite it. And just like fire can be prevented with a few simple, practical steps, so too can volatile scenes of frustration and blame.
Pharaoh offers monetary compensation for having abducted Sarah, and she and Abraham become rich. Is becoming rich a good thing or not? Is money the root of all evil? Or can money be good, even spiritual?
“I don’t understand,” he complained. “You wanted to spend Shabbat with the rebbe, and you promised to hurry with your prayers. Now you’ve ruined all our chances of reaching Lubavitch on time!”
I was raised Christian, and know how the church feels about it. I’m just wondering where Judaism stands on the issue.
I don’t want my children to be small-minded or fundamentalist, so I haven’t given them a Jewish education. They have been brought up without any religion; they are free to choose whatever beliefs they like.
If only one common factor is found, then there can be no doubt that this is the only basis of the survival.
One of the mitzvot specific to Jewish women is challah. Depicted here is a small girl watching her mother make challah for Shabbat. She is learning and taking her first steps in understanding what it means to be a Jewish woman.
Shelter, material assistance and comfort for victims
Beloved educator Hindy Scheiman, an unassuming leader and an example of faith and self-sacrifice in the Chicago and Des Plaines, Ill., area Jewish communities, passed away after a long illness at the age of 54.
When Rabbi Yossi and Shterna Mintz opened their fledgling Chabad center, people told them that no Jews lived there. Seventeen years later, the first kosher restaurant is under construction in a community that has grown by leaps and bounds.
I grew up in Florida, where we took year-round grilling for granted. Now that I live in New York, and in an apartment, I realize what I’m missing.
There’s no such thing as defeat.
There’s always another chance. To believe in defeat is to believe that there is something, a certain point in time that did not come from Above.
Know that G‑d doesn’t have failures. If things appear to worsen, it is only as part of them getting better. We fall down only in order to b...
