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FEATURED ARTICLES
WEEKLY COLUMNS
3 Dvar Malchus
11 Parsha Thought
34 Tzivos Hashem
CHASSIDIC
14 THE
REVOLUTION
Reuven H.
BITTERNESS
20 TURNING
AND DARKNESS
INTO SWEETNESS
& LIGHT
Hila Crispin
CAN KILL,
28 WORDS
LITERALLY
Sholom Ber Crombie
YEARS AGO:
31 65
THE BURNED
SYNAGOGUE
IN ITALY
10
744 Eastern Parkway
Brooklyn, NY 11213-3409
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:
M.M. Hendel
HEBREW EDITOR:
Rabbi S.Y. Chazan
editorH@beismoshiach.org
ENGLISH EDITOR:
Boruch Merkur
editor@beismoshiach.org
2016-06-22 11:58:24 PM
DVAR MALCHUS
MOSHIACH BA
MOSHIACH
HAS ALREADY
ARRIVED
Sources where the Rebbe proclaims that
Moshiach has already been revealed. * From
Chapter Seven of Rabbi Shloma Majeskis
Likkutei Mekoros (Underlined text is the
compilers emphasis.)
Translated by Boruch Merkur
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PROFILE
MOSHIACHS
STAFF
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Profile
sor Friedman. The Rebbe knew
this and perhaps he did not want
it to be just an order, for some
time later Professor Branover
told me that he had been to the
Rebbe and the Rebbe asked him
to convey the following message. There were two reasons
why I shouldnt leave science.
The first reason, said the Rebbe,
if I allowed him to leave science,
I would thereby erase part of
his life and I have no right to do
that. He put a lot of energy into
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Profile
was given was a difficult mathematical problem which was considered unsolvable. His mentor
told him to work on it.
Then the Yom Kippur War
broke out and R Yaakov was
drafted. Before that, he was able
to publish the first part of his solution to the unsolvable question in an American mathematics
publication. At the height of the
war, while in Syria, he received
a letter from another soldier who
wrote that he had also undertaken
to solve this problem and he had
also published an explanation.
He sent me a copy of his answer
and I saw that he was on the right
track to solving the mathematical
puzzle but he still had problems
that prevented him from reaching the solution. I wrote him back
about his error and suggested an
alternate solution to circumvent
the problems.
When the war was over, I
went to my adviser and told him
that someone at Hebrew University was working on the same
problem. I got his approval to
suggest that we collaborate so
we could work on the solution
together and thats what we did.
We saw that the problem was really very difficult and there were
many pitfalls, but since we complemented one another, me more
on the pictorial geometry side
and him more on the algebraic
formulas, we were hoping that
we would be successful in solving the mathematical paradox
together. We met once a week,
each time for an entire night, and
were able to get past more and
more of the difficulties.
He was a kibbutznik who
knew nothing about Judaism.
He didnt even know the Shma.
I remember being so surprised
and saying, A 36-year-old who
grew up in Eretz Yisroel and
knows nothing?! I was surprised
R Friedman with
Menachem Ziegelboim
SURPRISING HISKASHRUS
WITH THE REBBE
The first time that R Friedman wrote to the Rebbe was
as a bachur in yeshiva in Kfar
Chabad. At that time, he did not
yet see himself as a Chassid, despite his enormous admiration
for Chabad.
There was open ruach
hakodesh here. While I was in
Russia, I would meet with the
Ribnitzer Rebbe. I was a student
at the time and when I was at the
Admur it was the first time I was
seeing a Jew connected to another world, a world beyond the
one we see. When I parted from
him, before I made aliya, he told
me When you are in Lubavitch,
write to the Rebbe and give him
regards from me. That sounded
strange to me. Although I had a
connection with a Lubavitcher
Chassid, I myself wasnt a Chassid. Later on I realized that he
2016-06-21 11:18:16 AM
Rebbe urged me to find a shidduch. The truth was I wasnt interested because I preferred pursuing my doctorate along with
my Torah studies.
About a year and a half after I made aliya, the Yom Kippur
War broke out and I was drafted.
Although the war ended three
weeks later, they kept me in the
army for nearly another year.
I remember that one night, towards morning, I was standing
guard and many thoughts were
going through my mind. I felt in
a turmoil because my doctorate
studies had stalled and I couldnt
progress because of my army
duty. Then the idea flashed in my
mind that perhaps this had to do
with the Rebbe asking me about
shidduchim while I wanted to
pursue academic degrees. There I
was, standing and spending days
and nights on guard duty without
making progress in my chosen
field. That very day I called my
mother and told her I was going
home in a week on furlough and
I wanted her to look into a shidduch for me so we could meet
during my visit.
You said that R Mendel told
you not to expect the Rebbe to
respond to every letter but that
you should know he receives
them. Did you feel that that was
the case?
Definitely. I remember that
when I went to teach at the University of California, it was a very
intense time. I had many things
to take care of, primarily teaching and doing research. I felt that
I did not have the time to write to
the Rebbe every month. It wasnt
easy, but since R Mendel told me
that I should commit, I did it.
The situation at home wasnt
easy, for my wife wanted more
help with the little children and it
was hard for her to see me devoting hours to writing to the Rebbe.
MATHEMATICS, PHYSICS,
ASTRONOMY, AND
EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN
The last time Professor Friedman did a major scientific experi-
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Profile
ment was this past summer, following which he decided he has
to look for another approach in
the world of research.
If I rely solely on experiments, there will always be
doubts. There will be people who
say, Maybe there was some other factor that affected the results,
a factor we dont know about.
From that point I started to look
to what is happening with the
stars and other galactic structures. This winter I published my
first article with this new groundbreaking approach finding answers in the world of astronomy
to explain phenomena in physics.
What does physics have to
do with astronomy?
Dovid HaMelech says, The
heavens relate the glory of G-d
and the skies tell of His handiwork. Meaning, by means of the
sky we can discover Hashems
handiwork here in this world.
Hashem put His wisdom into the
galactic formations where he put
precise rules into place and they
do His will precisely. In the heavenly bodies we can see these laws
in their pure state. If you identify
these rules, you can make comparisons between them to the science on earth. When you identify
the divine rules of heaven, this
can open for you unlimited abilities in technology too, because
the heavenly bodies are the point
2016-06-21 11:18:17 AM
PARSHA THOUGHT
KEEP ON
COMPLAINING!
By Rabbi Heschel Greenberg
THREE DIFFERENCES:
PATTERN, PRETEXT,
PERSUASION
To answer this question one
could suggest that Moshes desire to abdicate was motivated
by three characteristics inherent
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Profile
ciation for the good they had received and demonstrated a resistance to authority.
Upon further analysis of the
events of this parsha one can find
a third, perhaps even more troubling, aspect to their complaints.
To understand the unique
nature of the complaints that so
troubled Moshe that he asked to
be relieved as leader we should
cite an earlier verse describing
the complaint about the lack of
meat:
The rabble that was among
them had strong cravings. The
children of Israel were also influenced and began to cry (with
them). They said, Who will give
us meat to eat?
What emerges is that the
rabble rousers (who, as Rashi
explains, were the Egyptian converts who joined the Jewish people for ulterior motives) involved
in this act of rebellion were supported by the rest of the Jewish
people. However, there was a
more troubling aspect to their alliance with the riffraff. It was the
fact that they could so easily be
swayed by the fringe. It demonstrated an inherent weakness of
the majority that it was so easily
influenced by a small but noisy
minority.
In Moshes mind, while it
might be possible to rehabilitate
2016-06-21 11:18:18 AM
thought that they would not inherit their fathers share of the
Land of Israel. Throughout history Jews have complained to
G-d, ad masai, how much longer
do we have to suffer in Galusexile?
Second, we do have a deepseated resistance to all forms of
authority. While consciously or
even subconsciously, we may
pledge allegiance to all forms of
authority, our essence only accepts G-ds authority. On his way
to the exile imposed by the Soviet
regime, the Previous Rebbe declared that our souls have never
gone into exile! The souls essence always remains steadfastly
connected to G-d and His Torah.
Third, even as a small minority we have the power to influence others. G-d chose us to
bring His message to the entire
world. And within the Jewish
people themselves, there have
always been select individuals
and groups who kept Judaism
alive and spread G-ds message
THREE DIMENSIONS
OF COMPLAINTS FOR
REDEMPTION
The lesson for us in these last
moments of exile is that we must
heed the three positive characteristics that have enabled us to
maintain our existence:
First, we must be persistent
in demanding of G-d to bring
on the Redemption through
Moshiach. The fact that we already demanded it yesterday and
many days before does not suffice. Just as the Jews were persistent in their complaints, we too
must complain persistently that
we want Moshiach now!
Second, just as the Jews
then appeared to be complaining about meat while really complaining about G-d, in a similar
vein, while we demand Redemption for all its material and spiritual benefits, our true underlying
demand is to see G-ds presence
fully revealed and that He be recognized as the sole power in this
world.
Third, we must not be deterred by the fact that we are still
a minority in this regard. The
Rebbe told us in his historic talk
(of the 28th of Nissan, 5751) that
we need but 10 stubborn people
to bring about the Redemption!
May we be among the privileged
10 who will bring us to the Promised Land with Moshiach at our
head!
Express service
Fully Computerized
331 Kingston Ave.
(2nd Flr) Brooklyn NY 11213
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13
FEATURE
THE
CHASSIDIC
REVOLUTION
They saw that we davened for hours, loved to
farbreng and did mivtzaim. We went surfing,
skateboarding, played instruments and then in the
middle of it all we would pull out a maamer of the
Rebbe and fly with it. They were enchanted, says
Rabbi Mendy Levy. * The story of the educational
revolution based in Ramat Gan.
By Reuven H.
definition offered by
Websters for the word
revolution is: a return
to a point previously
occupied. A rolling back if you will.
That definition married with
another which defines revolution
as a fundamental or radical
change tells us why the young
men who started TCR gave it that
particular designation.
TCR,
The
Chassidic
Revolution, is an answer to a call,
a call that resonates with those
who are drowning in confusion
and echoes in the voices of young
bachurim who have spent their
formative years in the Chabad
Yeshiva systems but are losing
their way.
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FEATURE
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BITACHON BYTES
HEAVENLY BREAD
EVEN ON EARTH
By Rabbi Zalman Goldberg
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FEATURE
TURNING BITTERNESS
AND DARKNESS
INTO SWEETNESS
& LIGHT
The amazing story of Nechama
Dina Kaufman, whose husband
was suddenly stricken by
amnesia, demonstrates the
power of the Jewish woman
and why we were redeemed
and will be redeemed in the
merit of women.
By Hila Crispin
2016-06-21 11:18:34 AM
he
familiar,
beloved
scent of chocolate hit my
nostrils as I walked into
the Pralina boutique shop
in Kfar Chabad. Looking around, I
saw trays of pralines chocolate
chocolate and more
chocolate white and brown.
Chess, dominoes and chocolate;
packages tastefully designed.
The place is small and well
laid out and contains numerous
accessories, with the common
denominator being chocolate.
Cartons of chocolates in different
sizes and shapes. Silicon molds
the color of chocolate of various
kinds hanging on the walls, dozens of transparent molds hanging
on the wall in the shape of hearts,
sifrei Torah, earrings, cars, and
more and more. On shelves on
the side are various implements
having to do with baking and
chocolates. When I entered the
store, in the center of the room
was a large table covered with a
plastic transparent tablecloth. On
it were neatly placed spread out
baking paper with printed pages
laid out on top. Everything was
ready for a chocolate workshop
for women, which would be taking place that night.
THE NISAYON
How did you get involved
in a chocolate boutique, where
people learn how to make petit
fours as well as Chassidus?
I am a special education
teacher by
profession,
said
Nechama
Dina. I was born and
raised in Tzfas in a Lubavitcher family. I attended Beis Rivka in
Kfar Chabad. I used to work as
a preschool teacher and I taught
special ed children. My husband
worked as a truck driver. Life
was routine until a tragedy led
our family to drastic changes. It
was a surprise that nobody wishes on themselves, but from the
pain and trauma something new
and powerful emerged.
Nothing about her young,
pretty, smiley appearance prepared me for the shock I would
feel when I would hear her story.
If I called this column Heroines
in Our Time, there is no question that Pralina would fit this
category. Heroism of the sort the
Alter Rebbe writes about that a
persons strength is not necessarily apparent when climbing to the
top of Everest heights or in setting a new Guinness record, but
in daily expending effort in working on ones middos and in connecting with and faith in Hashem, the Rebbe, and the Torah.
This is what she said:
It happened six years ago,
the night before the school
year began for my oldest son,
who was seven at the time. My
husband, who was young and
healthy, was alone at home. He
suddenly fell and lost consciousness. That morning he had complained about dizziness, but we
did not suspect it was anything
serious. He lay there for about
forty minutes without anyone to
help him.
I returned from a trip with
my parents and when I came
home I found him lying on the
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Feature
THE BREAKTHROUGH
MOMENT
How did you feel at that difficult time?
I felt that I was living a
nightmare and that it wasnt possible that this was really happening. You think the nightmare will
never end and you have to hold
on to simple and absolute faith
in Hashem, thats all. So, along
with all the hardships, I believed
that he would one day get up on
2016-06-21 11:18:38 AM
SWEET REHABILITATION
How were you able to take
him home after only a week?
There was a certain risk in
doing that because you cannot
anticipate how a person will react
after amnesia. The doctors want-
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Feature
SHLICHUS IN A
CHOCOLATE WORKSHOP
From this nisayon I learned
something else that I encourage
strongly. The solution is found
where we do a chesed for someone else. When there are problems and I help someone else, the
solution comes through him. For
example, a week ago I needed to
deal with the business accounts
(this is something that I learned
to like, with a lot of working on
myself, because it goes against
my nature) and I was unable to
find the solution to a particular
problem that I was struggling
with for two weeks already. Then
a relative asked me for help in
checking bank statements and I
agreed to help him. I think that
its on this chesed that the world
stands, especially chesed with
family members. It is such a big
thing to help a husband, because
if I dont help my husband, who
will? My helping my husband is
helping my home, my children,
myself. Its that way with every
husband because everyone has
their difficulties and limitations.
We started manufacturing
and selling chocolates. People
loved our products and as I described, it really excited my husband and provided him with a
ray of light. I studied the field
and took courses and workshops
and I mainly practiced and practiced with all my failures going to
the family. At some stage, when
it started becoming intensive, it
was hard for me. Till today, my
husband suffers from pain in his
body and head. So I made the
chocolates myself even when I
was before or after giving birth
and could not operate based on
my abilities but according to lifes
demands. I had to move the busi-
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Feature
the yomim tovim, the tfillos, the
simcha of kdusha, of achdus, the
atmosphere in shul and the farbrengens, he got the strength to
deal with his hardships and pains
which he still has now.
He made incredible progress.
He started arranging the kiddushim after the davening on Shabbos, arranging a Tanya shiur before davening on Shabbos, and
arranging farbrengens. He then
started wearing a sirtuk and hat
and then came the day when he
took our son for his hanachas
tfillin. It was such a moving day,
I was happy like a kalla, for the
father of my child took him and I
did not have to find someone else
to take him.
There was a family that helped
us a lot. We would go to them to
learn how to behave with the children, how to run a Shabbos table.
My husband sat and learned from
the head of this family how to
be a father, how to speak to the
children, how to create a joyous
atmosphere. Our family which
was broken into pieces slowly began to come together. Today he
suffers from the same difficulties but he learned ways to deal
with them, and with it all he still
needs encouragement from me. I
learned that every woman maintains her house and in order to
succeed, a woman needs to be an
optimist. We need to constantly
believe that things will work out.
Every woman needs to bring
chayus into her home, into the
routine. Even when there arent
dramatic hardships like I have,
we need to seek sources of chayus. There are other difficulties
within families, difficulties with
children, with parnasa, and other
everyday stuff. But the avoda is
to always bring chayus into the
house and to value yourself as a
woman. If we focus on what we
lack, that is the yetzer hara. We
A HEALTHY SWEET
What is so special about
chocolate?
Chocolate brings joy to the
home. It makes people happy. After I saw that working with choc-
2016-06-21 11:18:44 AM
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CROSSROADS
WORDS CAN
KILL, LITERALLY
Like a scenario known in advance, immediately after the festive
declarations on the return of the diplomatic process, we got the
murderous terrorist attack in the heart of Tel Aviv. Two terrorists, may
their names be erased, finished eating dinner and then got up to commit
murder. The painful result is the collapse of personal security again in the
center of Eretz Yisroel. It turns out that the truth is more agonizing than
we could possibly imagine and words can kill.
By Sholom Ber Crombie
Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry
1.
Last week was a week for the
people. The good and beautiful
Jewish People at their very best
rose up to express a protest of
love against the wickedness of
the government of the state of
Israel. The story of the soldier
Yehuda HaYisraeli was publicized in the national media and
soon became known to the Israeli
public. Yehuda is an IDF soldier,
married with a daughter, who
was wounded during Operation
Protective Edge. Since the war,
Yehuda has not returned home,
remaining instead in the hospital. The reason is twofold: the
need to provide accessibility for
the handicapped to his home in
Ofra and the refusal of the Israel
Ministry of Defense to finance
2016-06-21 11:18:45 AM
2.
And so we finally have a new
defense minister. Avigdor Lieberman entered his new post with a
rousing shout of approval after
a year in steadfast opposition,
during which he skewered the
national defense leadership. We
recall how he promised that he
would eliminate Hamas terrorist leader Ismail Haniyeh within
forty-eight hours after assuming
control over the defense ministry.
However, all we got instead was
a miserable display of eliminating all political principle. Suddenly, the two-state solution is
relevant and we must advance the
diplomatic process.
Behind the scenes, they explain to us that were talking
about a brilliant policy move.
Barack Obama is now well into
his eighth and final year as President of the United States, and
hell be willing to do anything.
Hes already unfettered by any
obligations and he can freely
choose not to exercise the traditional veto power on United
Nations Security Council resolutions against Israeli settlements.
This is the reason why Prime
Minister Netanyahu is under
pressure as he makes every possible effort to strengthen his po-
3.
It would be one thing if the
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CROSSROADS
prime minister was some simpleton who would believe anything.
We could say in his defense that
hes really just very naive and innocent, unable to see the facts
of the situation in a proper way.
However, Mr. Netanyahu is the
one who has persistently and
most correctly read the writing on the wall, yet he acts quite
the opposite. While he identified
the tremendous danger of the
Oslo Accords, he implemented
Oslo II, gave virtually the entire
city of Chevron to the PLO, and
even signed the Wye Plantation
agreement. He saw the security
2016-06-21 11:18:46 AM
HISTORY
65 YEARS AGO:
THE BURNED
SYNAGOGUE
IN ITALY
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history
uring
the
years
following World War
II, Chabad was very
active in the Jewish
refugee scene, taking care of the
physical and spiritual needs of
refugees. The Jews knew that if
there is any issue, the first step is
to contact Chabad. For example:
when Matzos were needed for Jews
in Italy, when non-Kosher food
was served, and any other needs,
they knew to contact Chabad.
In this installment, we present
the story of a Shul in Rome, Italy,
which burned down in Spring
of 1951, and the refugees were
left without Talleisim, Tfillin or
a Sefer Torah. They contacted
the Rebbe, who partnered with
the American Joint Distribution
Committee (JDC) to ensure
that the Jews have their religious
needs.
These fascinating documents
are part of the JDC Archives
(which were digitized and
uploaded online, thanks to a grant
from Dr. Georgette Bennett and
Dr. Leonard Polonsky CBE).
2016-06-21 11:18:49 AM
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TZIVOS HASHEM
BUSINESS AD VICE
FROM THE REBBE
By Nechama Bar
they needed.
The Minister made a special
trip from Africa and sat with
them for hours in order to
explain all the details. Mr.
Alkabetz and his partner were
sure that very soon they would
be two of the richest people in
the world.
The three men agreed to
meet in another week in Sierra
Leone to sign a contract.
Mr. Alkabetz was very
excited but he did not forget
about asking the Rebbe for a
bracha. One night, he wrote to
the Rebbe in detail about the
deal that Hashem had sent his
way. He asked for a bracha for
success and waited impatiently
to receive it.
Before traveling to Sierra
Leone, he received a surprising
answer from the Rebbe which
said: Check the bank account
of the Minister of Trade and
Industry of Sierra Leone.
was
Alkabetz
Mr.
flabbergasted. It looks as
though the Rebbe is casting
doubt on the deal. If the Rebbe
says to check his bank account,
it seems the situation there
is not good. But how can I, a
private citizen, find out whats
doing in the Ministers bank
account? he wondered.
He did not know what to do.
He already had a plane ticket
and he found it hard to tell his
2016-06-21 11:18:51 AM
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