Yitro
Have you hugged a tree this week? They’re celebrating their new years, you know. Look, if it were up to my fourth grade teacher, I would be a tree for life. That’s all she thought I was good for when she cast parts for the school production.
Anyway, the Jewish New Year for trees is this Thursday, and if you don’t know how to celebrate, you might feel a little awkward walking out there into their party. Obviously, you’ll want to get some fruits to the table—but which ones? I suggest you brush up a little on the topic. How about starting with some of this week's offerings?
While you’re at it, join us in an all ‘round celebration of just how amazing this world really is. That’s the theme of a lot of our magazine this week. Trees are just the beginning.
—Rabbi Tzvi Freeman, just another of your friendly editors at the Web’s busiest Jewish educational website, Chabad.org
Tu B’Shevat, the 15th of Shevat on the Jewish calendar, is the day that marks the beginning of a “New Year for Trees.”
What the holiday means, and how to create your own Kabbalistic Tu B’Shevat seder.
The black and white pictures ask me not to forget. This is my face, this is my family, and this is who you come from. We are your roots.
Did I grow towards the sun, reaching up higher and higher towards that which I can never grasp, but which nurtures me all the same the more I strive towards it?
“I would rather take my chances against any sage,” said the rabbi, “than confront an angry ox in court . . .”
Tzemach has transformed us all. Our firstborn son just became a father. That upgrades us, his parents, into grandparents, our children into uncles and aunts . . .
I started looking around the Rebbe’s room to find the box of toys. I figured thousands of kids came through this room—there must be toys somewhere.
If you see more deeply into me than I am capable of seeing in myself, which is the real me? The deeper, truer me that you see, or my me?
What would be the point of going to Mount Sinai if not to receive the Torah? What other point is there in being there? After all, at this particular mountain there is neither food, nor water, nor skiing . . .
“And [Moses] was there [on Mount Sinai] with G‑d forty days and forty nights; bread he did not eat and water he did not drink” (Exodus 34:28). Very interesting. Have you ever tried it?
If G‑d transcends all limitation and definition, why would we relate to G‑d by imposing further restrictions on our already finite and constricted lives?
Wearing a skirt to your first day of work at a manufacturing and assembly facility falls under an entirely new category.
Just as alcohol cannot solve one’s emotional challenges, inspiration cannot take the place of effort.
The purchase was almost completed when the shekel dropped steeply against the dollar. Aleksander Guravich was suddenly obliged to come up with an additional forty thousand NIS . . .
“Shabbat!” said the Chafetz Chaim in a voice filled with pain and astonishment. And he started to cry . . .
I choose the fastest, easiest course to our destination. She chooses the most enjoyable one, relishing every nuance along the way.
“My children are constantly fighting with each other,” laments Susan, a mother of three. “Will there ever be peace in my home?”
Simply put, no one can resist a storybook ending, especially one with a gin-u-wine prince.
What is an alef?
A point above, a point below, and a line between.
Whatever we may understand of Him
is but an infinitesimal point above.
The only way we can join with Him
is as an infinitesmal point below.
And what empowers us to become this zero-point below
that resonates with the infinite-point above?
Our awe...
