Living Torah Archives

Rabbi Nochum Stilerman is an accomplished fundraiser for various Jewish charities and institutions. As a teenager in the late 1950s, he ran deliveries for his father’s grocery store in Brooklyn, New York. His customers included Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson, the Rebbes’ mother. The Rebbetzin enjoyed talking to him, and on one occasion, he decided to ask her a question. He didn’t know that she’d tell the Rebbe all about it.

The soul of every Jew is an “actual part of God” to which God wishes to grant the ultimate good. This unparalleled opportunity for metamorphosis is possible only when the soul descends into a body, into an environment which is hostile to spirituality.