Beshalach
Paving the Way
The Midrash tells the story of an elderly man who was observed planting fig trees at the age of 100.
“Surely you don't expect to live to see the fruits of your labor?” questioned passersby.
“Have not my ancestors worked for me? Why then should I not work for the future generation in the same spirit of selflessness?” the man replied.
With so much going on in the world, we often feel powerless to make any real lasting change. How can our small actions make any significant difference? How can my good deeds help bring about the Redemption when our ancestors who were unarguably on a higher spiritual level and did many more mitzvahs did not see the Redemption happen during their lives?
But if we keep at it, even if we don't see immediate results, we are paving the way for the future, just as our ancestors did before us. Goodness lasts forever, and our deeds are accumulative. They all go into the same pile, building upon one another, higher and higher, until, together, we reach the ultimate crescendo.
Miriam Szokovski
on behalf of the Chabad.org Editorial Team
This isn’t just a flowery verse. These seven species are specifically connected to the Land of Israel . . .
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?
The 15th of Shevat on the Jewish calendar is the day that marks the beginning of a “new year” for trees.
Snow is easy to clear, but once it’s been beaten down and turned to ice, what would have been a ten-minute job can turn into hours of banging and salting to break up the rock-hard sheets.
How can we reconcile a nation that reached such spiritual heights with such faithlessness?
“The children of Israel continued to do that which was evil in the eyes of G‑d… G‑d gave them over into the hand of Jabin."
I grew up in a home without chicken soup—no Friday-night candles, no sweet challah, no Shabbat dinner at all.
“Aha,” I said. “They, too, have it. A Vitamin N deficiency. They don’t get enough of the ‘N’ word.” She sighed and smiled wearily. “Yes, that’s it.”
Following the Holocaust and three generations of Communism, Zhitomir was just a shtetl.
In the wake of two anti-Semitic incidents targeting a Jewish student at Beloit College in Wisconsin, students of all faiths have been joining together in a show of solidarity and support.
Levi Pekar, 29, is training to be a U.S. Air Force chaplain, beginning what will be nearly six months of back-to-back training programs.
By the seventh generation of Chabad, the walls separating the Jew from the rest of the world had all come tumbling down.
Many, many years ago my parents took my brother and me to see the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. He gave each of us a crisp dollar bill. Now that I am older, with a family of my own, I feel that there is spiritual value in the dollar. What should I do with it?
This day, so relevant to every Jew in our generation, is surely a day for reflection, learning, prayer, positive resolutions and acts of loving-kindness.
An easy way to jazz up your grapes and make a quick, refreshing, naturally sweet treat.
When the Creator came to create the human being, Truth said, "Do not create him, for he is full of lies.
Kindness said, "Create him, for he will do acts of kindness."
What did the Creator do? He cast Truth earthward, and created the human being.
That is why it says, "Truth will sprout from the earth."
—Midrash Rabba
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