ב"ה

Chai Elul 5762 - August 26, 2002

Chai Elul
"Chai Elul" - the 18th day of the month of Elul - is the birthday, in 1698, of the founder of Chassidism, Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov. It is also the day on which his "spiritual grandson," the founder of Chabad, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, was born, in 1745
Parshah
Nitzavim-Vayelech in a Nutshell
The diverse unity of Israel, the practicality of Torah, the future redemption, freedom of choice . . . Also: The last day of Moses’ life, the Torah is put in writing, a disheartening prediction and an encouraging promise.
What is a Soul?

After my on-line chat with that tech-support angel, I did my research. Here's a little conversation I dug up that tells it all. Phone call from Copenhagen to Berlin, 1926...
Story
The Man Who Crossed the River with a Kerchief

"Perhaps I can help you," said the Baal Shem Tov. On small slips of paper he wrote, in simple Yiddish, "morning prayers," "addition for Mondays and Thursdays," "for Shabbat," and inserted them in the innkeeper's siddur
Parenting
Now or Later?

Raising children requires an investment of time. Regarding that, we have no choice in the matter. But we can choose when that time will be spent
Who is the man who desires life, who loves days to see goodness? Guard your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceitfully
— Psalms 34:13-14
Print Magazine
You Will Come Home (The bravest act in a person's life)

The Torah tells a story about each one of us, a story in which one day we all eventually return home.

Some read it as an instruction. But it is best read as a promise:

And you will return to G‑d, your G‑d…you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deut. 30:2)

Because, ironic as it may seem, r...

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