Living Torah Archives

The Fifteenth of Shevat marks the New Year for Trees, and the Rebbe encouraged men, women and children to celebrate the day with a Farbrengen, a joyful gathering where people inspire each other in the service of G-d.

The walnut is covered by a shell, and its fruit, its seed, can produce many more trees. So too, the Jewish people; outwardly they are like all other nations, but their inner purpose, their inner soul, is to produce spiritual fruit which yields even more fruit. (Collage)

Rabbi Zev Litenatsky was an accomplished educator from Los Angeles, California. He grew up in Montreal, Canada in the 1940s and 50s, when, before his Bar Mitzvah, he accompanied his father for a private audience with the Rebbe. He recalls the Rebbe asking him a peculiar question. And teaching him a lesson that has remained with him since.