Korach: Majesty and Service Defended
Dear Friend,
I just called you my friend. Our editorial team has often toyed with how we address our readers in this note. But we stuck with “friend” because we really are friends. Through our Ask the Rabbi service and the lively conversations on the comments forums, many of you have become treasured friends throughout the years. (And even if you have not commented or written, we are still friends; all Jews are friends.)
But there is more to life than the computer screen. When we actually get away from the computer, we each have lives. And this is something that I wanted to share with my long-distance friends.
This was one of the reasons for launching the Chassidic Dad Blog. It is a peek into my life as a father and a religious Jew. Sometimes I may write things that are a bit personal, but hey, it is all staying between us friends.
Please check out the blog, tell me how cute my kids are, and come back often for updates.
The kids and I will be waiting for you.
Menachem Posner,
on behalf of the Chabad.org Editorial Team
On Shabbat, Tammuz 3, 5751 (June 15, 1991), the Lubavitcher Rebbe spoke about the paradox of “natural miracles,” citing three examples.
The Korach rebellion was an unholy alliance of individuals and groups unhappy with Moses’ leadership.
Jewish law allows for the appointment of an emissary to fulfill certain mitzvot on our behalf. But if it is my obligation, how can you do it for me?
Korach challenges Moses’ and Aaron’s leadership, inciting mutiny and offering forbidden incense. The subsequent blossoming of Aaron’s staff proves that his position as high priest is divinely ordained.
She wanted to choose where I went to college, what I studied, whom I married—and continues to disagree with everything that I do. I should do as she says: that, basically, is her philosophy.
Interestingly, I’ve never encountered an episode in the Talmud that involves a polygamous family.
It’s as though a bizarre spell has been cast upon your beautiful three-year-old. You begin the appointment maze . . .
G‑d changes the name Sarai to Sarah. What influence do our names have on us? Can a change of name create a change in destiny?
So much personal attention the Rebbe gave to a small Jew in a small town in Sweden . . .
In June 1941 Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the future Lubavitcher Rebbe, arrived in Lisbon together with his wife, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka (Moussia). Poised to leave Nazi-occupied Europe for the free world, an entry in the Rebbe’s private journal reveals how he drew on his past to chart a dual vision for the future.
But a mess is a discomforting image only because of the message it sends: “Clean me.” If you never had to clean your messes, you would probably appreciate all the things those messes say about you.
For most of his life, Texas builder Dan Markson didn’t really know who his grandfather was. What he learned has become the legacy of the Jewish community in the form of priceless Chassidic manuscripts.
Rabbi Dov Greenberg, executive director of Chabad at Stanford University, is using one of the hottest new technologies to help enlighten Jewish students.
Volunteers from local Jewish communities have been going from house to house, meeting with homeowners, listening to their stories and offering gift cards they can use as cash to start to rebuild.
A new Jewish high school in Wisconsin is using eAchieve Academy’s award-winning online technology and personalized approach to keep local middle-school graduates close to home.
Often, anxiety takes root because a person’s external character is incompatible with his or her inner self.
The anxiety may dwell upon other issues and obsessions—but none of these are the true underlying cause.
Most souls can tolerate a few inconsistencies. But others are sensitive to every nuance.
As soon as some asp...
