Living Torah Archives

Upon seeing the Rebbe for the first time, a newly-emigrated refusenik, a Jew who was previously trapped behind the Iron Curtain of the Soviet Union, recites the shehechiyanu blessing.

Tanya opens with a Talmudic passage: “Every Jew, before he is born, is administered an oath: ‘Be righteous, and be not wicked’” -- if it is not possible for you to achieve the level of the righteous, at least do not be wicked; be a ‘Beinoni - intermediate.’ This is followed by an extensive discussion defining the spiritual level and service of the Beinoni - that “he has never sinned, and never will sin…”

Upon seeing the Rebbe for the first time, a newly-emigrated refusenik recites the Shehechiyanu blessing. “We must all learn from his and his wife’s self sacrifice for Yiddishkeit.”