#rebbe nachman

[girlactionfigure]

Rebbe Nachman lost his wife, the mother of his eight children, to tuberculosis in 1807. He remarried shortly after. In the late summer of 1807, Rebbe Nachman himself contracted tuberculosis, a disease that ravaged his body for three years. Knowing his time to leave this world was imminent, he moved to Uman in the spring of 1810.

He gave over his last lesson to hundreds of followers on Rosh HaShanah 1810 and passed away a few weeks later, on 18 Tishrei 5571 (October 16, 1810), at the age of thirty-eight. He was buried in Uman. #BDE

Afshine Emrani

[subscribepodcast]

The Prayers of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov - @SubscribePodcast @HypnotistBook 

[the-shoemaker-report]

Mashiach’s Weapon of War

How does Mashiach fight his wars? And by extension, how should we fight our battles?

It is taught (Likutei Moharan 2:1): אִיתָא בְּסִפְרָא דִּצְנִיעוּתָא מִנּוּקְבָא דְּפַרְדַּשְׂקָא מָשַׁךְ רוּחָא דְּחַיֵּי לִמְשִׁיחָא כִּי עִקַּר כְּלֵי זֵינוֹ שֶׁל מָשִׁיחַ הוּא הַתְּפִלָּה שֶׁהוּא בְּחִינַת חֹטֶם כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב וּתְהִלָּתִי אֶחֱטָם לָךְ וּמִשָּׁם עִקַּר חִיּוּתוֹ וְכָל מִלְחַמְתּוֹ שֶׁיַּעֲשֶׂה וְכָל הַכְּבִישׁוֹת שֶׁיִּכְבֹּשׁ הַכֹּל מִשָּׁם כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב וַהֲרִיחוֹ בְּיִרְאַת ה' וְכוּ' זֶה בְּחִינַת חֹטֶם (It is brought down in Sifra di’Tzniuta: from the nostril of the nose, the spirit of life is drawn down to Mashiach. For the fundamental weapon [of war] of Mashiach is prayer [tefillah], which is an aspect of ‘nose’ [chotem], like it is written [Yeshayah 48:9], ‘And My praise is that I will restrain My anger for you’, and from there is the essence of his vitality, and all of his wars that he will make for all of his conquests that he will conquer, all of it is from there, like it is written [Yeshayah 11:3], ‘And he shall smell [the truth of a matter] due to his fear of Hashem, etc.’, and this is an aspect of ‘nose’).

There is a great deal of information in this short paragraph, so let’s unpack it a little.

To begin his teaching, R' Nachman shares a secret from the Hidden Torah, included in a book of the Zohar ha-Kadosh known as the Sifra di’Tzniuta, that Mashiach receives his life-force, his vitality, from the ‘nostril of the nose.’ Although it is beyond the scope of this short article to explain this secret fully, suffice it to say that there is in the upper worlds a ‘spiritual building’ or partzuf that is called Arich Anpin [Long Face]. This is a part of the sefirah of keter [crown], which is the highest sefirah and the most difficult for us to grasp. In simple terms, we are speaking about the ‘Will’ of Hashem. In that partzuf (as is the case for all partzufim), there are 248 spiritual ‘limbs’ and 365 spiritual ‘connections’, and one of those ‘limbs’ is the ‘nose’. It is from one of the ‘nostrils’ of that ‘nose’ that the spirit of life descends down to Mashiach to give him life and to keep him alive (for his life is not a simple matter). When Mashiach comes to redeem his people, he receives his power, his vitality—his very life—from that ‘nose’ and it is through that life that he is able to redeem Yisrael.

At this point, we will cease putting quotation marks around all of these spiritual terms. Just keep in mind that we are not speaking about a physical nose. All we need to know at this point is that Mashiach draws down his power and strength from the nostril of this nose.

Next, R' Nachman states that this nose has to do with how Mashiach fights his wars, specifically through tefillah. In other words, Mashiach will defeat all forces of evil, nullifying and subjugating them, through tefillah. That is the weapon—not guns, bullets, protests, demonstrations, revolutions, etc. Similarly, this is the same for the rest of us (Likutei Eitzot, Tefillah 2): עִקַּר הַכְּלֵי זַיִן שֶׁל אִישׁ הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִי הוּא הַתְּפִלָּה וְכָל הַמִּלְחָמוֹת שֶׁצָּרִיךְ הָאָדָם לִכְבֹּשׁ הֵן מִלְחֶמֶת הַיֵּצֶר הָרָע הֵן שְׁאָרֵי מִלְחָמוֹת עִם הַמּוֹנְעִים וְהַחוֹלְקִים הַכֹּל עַל־יְדֵי תְּפִלָּה וּמִשָּׁם כָּל חִיּוּתוֹ (The fundamental weapon for a Jew is tefillah, and all wars that a man needs to fight, whether a war against the Yetzer ha-Ra [Evil Inclination] or whether other wars with those who put obstacles in his path or oppose him, all of it is through tefillah, and from there is his life force or vitality). How does R' Nachman derive this fact? He quotes a part of the verse from Yeshayah 48:9. Here is the entire verse: לְמַעַן שְׁמִי אַאֲרִיךְ אַפִּי וּתְהִלָּתִי אֶחֱטׇם־לָךְ לְבִלְתִּי הַכְרִיתֶךָ (For My name’s sake, I am slow to anger [a’arich api] and My praise is that I will restrain My anger for you, so that I will not cause you to be cut off [from the upper worlds]).

Notice two main points. First, Hashem says to Am Yisrael that He is patient and takes a long time before getting angry [a’arich api]. Although the words are written in the future tense, Rashi says that it is an expression of the present tense. But what is more interesting is that these words could be translated literally as ‘I am long to get angry’ or ‘I am long of nose’ since אף [af] can mean ‘nose’ as well as ‘anger’. Second, the expression ‘I will restrain My anger’ is e’chetom, which Rashi says is also an expression of nose [chotem]. In other words, ‘I will close My nose so as not to allow the smoke of My nostrils to exit against you in anger.’ But how does R' Nachman know that this has to do with tefillah? Hashem states that His patience is an aspect of “My praise” [tehillati], and as we read in Tehillim 145:1, tehillah is a type of tefillah: תְּהִלָּה לְדָוִד אֲרוֹמִמְךָ אֱלוֹקַי הַמֶּלֶךְ וַאֲבָרְכָה שִׁמְךָ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד (A tehillah of David, I will exalt You, my G‑d the King, and I will bless Your name forever).

R' Nachman also teaches that we can learn this same truth, i.e. that Mashiach draws his power from the nose, from the verse in Yeshayah 11:3. Here is the verse in its entirety: וַהֲרִיחוֹ בְּיִרְאַת יְָי וְלֹא־לְמַרְאֵה עֵינָיו יִשְׁפּוֹט וְלֹא־לְמִשְׁמַע אׇזְנָיו יוֹכִיחַ (And he shall smell [the truth of a matter] due to his fear of Hashem, and not judge through the seeing of his eyes, and not rebuke according to the hearing of his ears). What is the meaning of the word va’haricho translated here as ‘and he shall smell’? As taught in the Gemara, (Sanhedrin 93b): רבא אמר דמורח ודאין (Rava said [it means] that he will smell [a person] and judge [and he will know who is guilty and who is innocent in a case brought by litigants]).

Admittedly, these teachings are somewhat hidden and, perhaps, even obscure. Is there a more obvious source from the Torah that tefillah is the fundamental weapon of the righteous? Yes. Let’s read what R' Nachman states next (L.M. 2:1): וְזֶה עִקַּר כְּלֵי־זֵינוֹ כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב בְּחַרְבִּי וּבְקַשְׁתִּי וּפֵרֵשׁ רַשִׁ"י תְּפִלָּה וּבַקָּשָׁה וּכְמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב כִּי לֹא בְקַשְׁתִּי אֶבְטָח וְכוּ' בֵּאלֹקִים הִלַּלְנוּ בְּחִינַת וּתְּהִלָּתִי אֶחֱטָם לָךְ (And this is the essence of his weapons, like it is written [Bereshit 48:22], ‘with my sword and with my bow’; and Rashi’s explanation is that it means tefillah and entreaty, like it is written [Tehillim 44:7,9], ‘Not with my bow I trust…in G‑d we will praise [hillalnu], this corresponds to ‘and My praise [tehillati] is that I will refrain My anger [e’chetom] for you).

This verse in Bereshit 48:22 is part of the explanation of Yaakov to his son, Yosef, why he was giving him the city of Shechem as an inheritance. He said: אֲשֶׁר לָקַחְתִּי מִיַּד הָאֱמֹרִי בְּחַרְבִּי וּבְקַשְׁתִּי, i.e. that he took it from the Emori with his sword and with his bow. Although the essence of the meaning of ‘sword’ and ‘bow’ is tefillah and petition, Rashi, in his commentary on the Torah, actually states חָכְמָתוֹ וּתְפִלָּתוֹ (his wisdom/cleverness and his tefillah). The actual words ‘tefillah and entreaty’ quoted by R' Nachman come from the Gemara in a discussion on this verse (Bava Batra 123a): וַהֲלֹא כְּבָר נֶאֱמַר כִּי לֹא בְקַשְׁתִּי אֶבְטָח וְחַרְבִּי לֹא תוֹשִׁיעֵנִי אֶלָּא חַרְבִּי זוֹ תְּפִלָּה קַשְׁתִּי זוֹ בַּקָּשָׁה (But isn’t it already said [Tehillim 44:7], ‘For I do not trust in my bow; my sword cannot save me’? Rather, ‘my sword’ is tefillah and ‘my bow’ is petition). So we see that there were two aspects to Yaakov’s weapons of war against the Emori. The first is the sword, i.e. tefillah which corresponds to tehillah, which is praise to Hashem. The second is the bow, i.e. a petition or request for one’s needs. This is stated explicitly in L.M. 2:2: כִּי הַתְּפִלָּה הוּא פִּי שְׁנַיִם שְׁנַיִם שֶׁיֵּשׁ בָּהֶם שִׁבְחוֹ שֶׁל מָקוֹם וּשְׁאֵלַת צְרָכָיו (For tefillah [in a general sense, not in the specific sense used above, i.e. as only tehillah] is itself double, two, there is praise [shevach, which corresponds to the specific tehillah explained above] of the Omnipresent and asking for one’s needs).

And this double aspect of tefillah is likened to a double-edged sword in Tehillim 149:6-7: רוֹמְמוֹת קֵל בִּגְרוֹנָם וְחֶרֶב פִּיפִיּוֹת בְּיָדָם׃ לַעֲשׂוֹת נְקָמָה בַּגּוֹיִם תּוֹכֵחוֹת בַּלְאֻמִּים (The elevated praises of G‑d is in their throats and a double-edged sword is in their hand, to execute vengeance upon the goyim, rebukes among the nations). And where is this battle taking place? The previous verse tells us (149:5): יַעְלְזוּ חֲסִידִים בְּכָבוֹד יְרַנְּנוּ עַל־מִשְׁכְּבוֹתָם (The pious ones [chasidim] will exalt in honor, they will joyfully sing/shout upon their beds). And how do we know that Mashiach is the leader of these chasidim who engage in awesome tefillah upon their beds? It is written (149:2): יִשְׂמַח יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּעֹשָׂיו בְּנֵי־צִיּוֹן יָגִילוּ בְמַלְכָּם (Yisrael will be happy in their Maker, the sons of Tzion will rejoice in their king). And who is that king who leads the battle, upon whom all eyes of the righteous look for guidance and leadership? On the one hand, it refers to Hashem. But on the other hand, it refers to Mashiach himself. Therefore, we see that the execution of the final war against the kings and nobles (see 149:8) who fight against Hashem is accomplished by a group of highly devoted chasidim, b’nei Tzion, through this double-edged sword. So if you want to be part of Mashiach’s army to fight his war, now you know, at least, where it’s being conducted. It is the same place where David ha-Melech fought his wars (Tehillim 63:7): אִם־זְכַרְתִּיךָ עַל־יְצוּעָי בְּאַשְׁמֻרוֹת אֶהְגֶּה־בָּךְ (When I remember You upon my bed, during the night watches I mediate about You).

Further support for these conclusions come from a mizmor that we recite on the days when Tachanun is included in Minchah. It explains how the Jewish People will come to know and understand that the one who claims to be Mashiach is actually Mashiach, as it is written (Tehillim 20:7-8): עַתָּה יָדַעְתִּי כִּי הוֹשִׁיעַ  יְָי מְשִׁיחוֹ יַעֲנֵהוּ מִשְּׁמֵי קׇדְשׁוֹ בִּגְבֻרוֹת יֵשַׁע יְמִינוֹ׃ אֵלֶּה בָרֶכֶב וְאֵלֶּה בַסּוּסִים וַאֲנַחְנוּ  בְּשֵׁם־יְָי אֱלֹקֵינוּ נַזְכִּיר׃ הֵמָּה כָּרְעוּ וְנָפָלוּ וַאֲנַחְנוּ קַּמְנוּ וַנִּתְעוֹדָד׃ יְָי הוֹשִׁיעָה הַמֶּלֶךְ יַעֲנֵנוּ בְיוֹם־קׇרְאֵנוּ (Now I now that Hashem saves His Mashiach; He will answer him from His heavenly place of holiness, with the mighty power of salvation in His right arm; These [trust] in chariot and these [others] in horses, but we make mention of Hashem our G‑d [through tefillah]; These bent over and fell, but we arose and were encouraged; Hashem save! The King will answer us in the time that we call out).

In summary, Mashiach receives his strength, power and vitality from the aspect of the nose of Arich Anpin. Since the nose is an aspect of tefillah, the entirety of Mashiach’s power to wage war, defeat the enemies of Hashem, nullify all evil in the world, and bring the whole world to the side of good and kedushah is only through tefillah, not through fighting a physical war. This is also how we as Jews must fight our wars, our own personal battles against the Yetzer ha-Ra within us and within others who may oppose our walk in the ways of Hashem. There is no other way. These tefillot include Shemoneh Esreh and other tefillot that we pray during the day and during the night, such as during hitbodedut.

Sometimes we find ourselves wondering: “The world is so messed up and getting worse by the day! We need to do something, but what? Since this is the World of Asiyah, the World of Action, we need to do something, right?” The answer is that if we have emunah and believe in the miracle-working power of tefillah, then tefillah is our main action required in this world. No opposing force can stand in its way when it is wielded properly.

[bdkinz]

When in doubt, don't overthink

Life is a series of tests. No, not the kind we take in school. The kind in which we have to make a choice and hope that the choice in front of us is the best possible solution in a given situation. At times, it is important to confront our problems with a multi step approach in which we try to imagine the results of several possible outcomes before choosing the “best” approach as we see it. Of…

[everymanpdf]

had a panic attack and this guy went do you want to try a buddhist meditation. so i did. and i understand jew-bus now i think

[yidspiration]

If you believe that you can damage, believe that you can fix. If you believe that you can harm, then believe that you can heal.

- Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

[mariacallous]

(JTA) — As we mark the grim second anniversary of the Ukraine conflict this Shabbat, I’m reminded of a haunting melody I heard in the city of Poltava last month.

I was standing before Sonia Bunina, a plucky 17-year-old, when she opened her mouth to sing when an air raid siren rang out.

I flinched. Not Sonia — she didn’t miss a beat.

“Kol haolam kulo gesher t’zar meod, veha’ikar lo lifached k’lal,” she belted out before seeking shelter. “The whole world is a very narrow bridge, and the most important thing is to have no fear at all.”

Sonia, like so many Jews I know in Ukraine, is many things — determined, grieving, focused — but she’s certainly not cowering.

As she sang those words by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov — the Ukrainian Jewish sage whose followers continue to come by the tens of thousands to his grave in Uman annually — she embodied the prayer’s indomitable spirit.

Sonia and I met outside Poltava’s Hesed, part of the network of Jewish humanitarian hubs founded by my organization — the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, or JDC — more than three decades ago. Today they’re a lifeline to tens of thousands of Jews facing loss and strife. Since she was a toddler, Sonia has been attending activities at Hesed — her mother coordinates cultural programs for the elderly, and she connects teen volunteers like herself with isolated seniors, a critical source of comfort these last two years.

These days, traveling to Ukraine feels like a pilgrimage — there’s a pull in my soul to visit family near Lviv, to bear witness to Ukrainian Jewish resilience, and to be inspired by the clarity of purpose that is so palpable there. Since my first trip in 2011, I’ve been eight times. Last year, I wrote about how a year of crisis had transformed the ordinary into the sacred in Ukraine. Now, visiting feels even more essential with the worsening humanitarian situation.

Ukrainian Jews aren’t blasé about these challenges — far from it. Just take the delicate ballet of emotions on their faces when checking their phones during an air alert — contacting loved ones, scrolling through photos of devastation, and analyzing Telegram chats speculating on a given rocket’s make and trajectory.

But life goes on — there’s work to do — and though they’ve lost so much, they refuse to give any more away.

Showing up for each other, whatever it takes, is now baked into their very essence as Jews, and in Ukraine, there are tens of thousands to serve — hungry old women and displaced young families, disabled Holocaust survivors and stunned middle-aged professionals, shocked to now need help when they were once donors and volunteers.

They act fearlessly to ensure their communities make it through this crisis, body and soul intact. Can we expect anything less than boundless creativity from the people who birthed Sholem Aleichem and the Baal Shem Tov?

“These bombings, all these things that are killing people, destroying houses, leaving children homeless … it’s very scary,” Galina Limarenko, an 82-year-old retired nurse, told me in her small bedroom in Berezivka, taking note of the warm blanket, firewood, and other winter supplies my colleagues provided. “Thank God for the Jewish community, which never gives up and always shares even their very last piece of bread.”

I saw that irrepressible spirit again at our Beit Dan JCC in battered Kharkiv — a shapeshifting wellspring of strength just a few dozen kilometers from the eastern border. Shortly after Feb. 24, 2022, the center became a staging ground for truckloads of emergency aid — part of the 800 tons of humanitarian assistance we’ve delivered so far.

A few blocks from missile strikes, it now hosts children’s camps and soulful Shabbat services and operates a “kids hub,” offering academic enrichment to children who haven’t had in-person school for years — robbed of normal childhood by the pandemic and now the ongoing crisis.

And amidst blizzards and blackouts, Beit Dan has also become a “warm hub,” a safe place for beleaguered Jewish Kharkivites to charge their devices and obtain a hot drink and warm meal.

“If you share in our pain, and provide support where it’s needed, I’m forever grateful,” said Nika Simonova, Beit Dan’s program director. “The ability to remain human is the main thing. Done right, I believe that can save the world.”

That’s why we at JDC, aided by a coalition of partners including the Jewish Federations, Claims Conference, and International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, deployed a historic response to this conflict and remain committed to the Jewish future here.

We’re focused on ongoing humanitarian support for more than 41,000 Ukrainian Jews, expanding trauma relief, closing children’s educational gaps, and getting unemployed Jewish community members, among millions of Ukrainians plunged into poverty, back to work.

There is no doubt that the Jewish world is now responding to crises on multiple fronts, including this one, but we have been here so many times before. We must draw strength from our history and from the sure knowledge that this is what we’re built for. Our compassion and commitment, when leveraged with that timeless sense of mutual Jewish responsibility, means we can tackle the challenges we face — and come out on the other side even stronger.

As I walked through Lviv on my last day in Ukraine, I asked my cousin Anna Saprun, a 25-year-old business analyst, how this period has changed her.

“I hate what’s brought me here, but I love who I’ve become,” she said with a fierce and feisty smile. “Nothing scares me anymore. I feel powerful.”

Two years after the conflict began, Ukraine’s Jews are inspired anew each day, resolute in the sure knowledge that they know exactly who they’re working for — each other.

[didanawisgi]

"The true wisdom of the Kabbalah begins where philosophy and science end. Philosophers and scientists can speculate only within the limits of the physical world. Their knowledge may reach as far as the stars and galaxies, but beyond that they know absolutely nothing. Even their theories about the physical world end in great confusion, as they themselves admit.

The wisdom of the Kabbalah begins where their wisdom ends - beyond the physical world. The Kabbalah includes the entire physical world as part of the World of Action ( Asiyah ), the lowest world. But the Kabbalah then goes beyond the World of Action to the Worlds of Formation ( Yetzirah ), Creation ( Beriyah ) and Emanation ( Atzilut ).”

-Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

[jeanchrisosme]

Il ne faut jamais être vieux, ni vieux saint ni vieux disciple. Être âgé est un vice ; un homme doit toujours renouveler, commencer et revenir en arrière et recommencer à zéro.

Rebbe Nachman de Breslov

[torahtot]

save me.. save me rebbe nachman.. rebbe nachman save me...

[bisexualmoses]

REBBE NACHMAN MEUMAN …. REMIX????!?!?!?

[girlactionfigure]

🟪 TUESDAY morning - events from Israel  

ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

▪️OPPOSITION LEADER MK YAIR LAPID.. Yesh Atid party, spotted in Washington, DC meeting with Barak Obama, after meeting with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

.. Lapid to US Sec State Blinken: "Israel will not be able to recover from the bloody impact, 101 abductees have been in danger of their lives for 346 days. Don't let Hamas get away with evading returning hostages. We will provide a safety net (meaning the opposition votes will offset coalition parties who would vote against a deal) to bring the kidnapped home. No extremist parties will be allowed to overturn a deal within Israel.”

▪️POLITICAL RUMORS.. rumors and leaks continue to swirl over whether MK Sa’ar and his small opposition party, a break-away from Likud 5 years ago, will join the coalition.  The latest from the rumor mill: The security portfolio to Sa'ar - Minister in the Prime Minister's Office to MK Elkin - Deputy Foreign Minister to MK Sharan Hashakal - New Tikva party will be independent for now (will not immediately re-merge with Likud).

.. (Ch. 14) The details regarding Gideon Sa'ar are already closed.  Alternative source: The negotiations are close to closing, there are still a number of small issues remaining.  Another source: Sa'ar will have a veto on the promotion of legal reform.

.. (Ch. 14) Likud officials are preparing to thwart the return of Gideon Sa'ar to the government.

▪️AMMO THEFT.. Huge theft from an IDF base in the south - 18 containers with military equipment were broken into, a huge amount of ammunition was taken. (Ch. 14)

▪️ISRAEL RETURNS TERRORIST BODY.. to Jordan, from the Allenby crossing attack that killed 3 civilian workers.

▪️RED ON RED - JENIN.. Arab reports, the security forces of the Palestinian Authority, abducted and arrested tonight the senior Hamas operative in the Jenin Tha'er Lahluh Brigades, known as "Abu Sanad".  Violent gunfights broke out between Hamas and PA forces.

▪️TERROR WIFE?  Arab reports, the army arrested Abla Sa'adat tonight in the city of El Bira in Ramallah, the wife of the secretary of the Popular Front in the Territories, Ahmed Sa'adat, who has been imprisoned in Israel since October 2001 for his part in the murder of Minister רחבעם זאבי, hy”m

▪️HOUTHIS WARN.. against an attack against Yemen following the launch of the missile at Israel.

▪️HOUTHIS CLAIM.. "The US offered to recognize our rule in exchange for the cessation of attacks."

▪️US SEC DEFENSE TO ISRAEL.. Austin to Def. Min Gallant: Israel must give the talks (with Lebanon) time to succeed, escalation will have devastating consequences.

▪️UN SEC GENERAL - ISRAEL BAD.. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that "nothing justifies the collective punishment" imposed by Israel on the population of the Gaza Strip "who experience unimaginable suffering".  In an interview with the French news agency AFP, Guterres claimed: "It is clear that we all condemn the terrorist attacks of Hamas, as well as the kidnapping of the hostages, but the truth is that nothing justifies the punishment. The collective of the Palestinians, and this is what we see dramatically in Gaza."

♦️COUNTER-TERROR - SHECHEM.. clashes that developed in the Balata camp in Nablus tonight, between IDF forces who arrived to make arrests, and local terrorists who tried to prevent the arrests, unsuccessfully.  Casualties reported among the terrorists.

⭕3 rounds of HEZBOLLAH ROCKETS at northern towns overnight.  Significant damage in Menara.

✡️A brief daily word of Torah: Truth reveals God’s Oneness in the world. - Sefer Hamidot, Rebbe Nachman of Breslev

[subscribepodcast]

The Prayers of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov - PhilosophyVideos.com

[diwonmusic]

Last night was the yartziet of Reb Shlomo Carlebach, Nili Salem led an epic night at the Ben Yehuda's to celebrate his legacy. It’s difficult to think of a single person who hasn’t in some way come into contact with a beautiful niggun (devotional melody) of Carlebach. More than any other Rabbi, Carlebach composed melodies to the tefillot that are sung all over the world by Jews from all denominations. You could say that he created a new Chassidic musical genre. Many synagogues in Israel & the States have Shabbat melodies that are almost exclusively Carlebach. When I lived in Israel, I would often go to The Carlebach Moshav. The entire Shabbat would be sublime, something not of this world – the spiritual energy, the melodies & Havdala with all the families gathering around the fire & incense singing the Shabbat out. The music that grew out of the Moshav & Carelebach, including Ben Zion Solomon & sons & Moshav continue to inspire young generations in ways that transcend words. Carlebach was born in Berlin in 1925 & is a descendant of a rabbinical dynasty in pre-Holocaust Germany. He’s regarded as one of the most influential composers of Jewish religious music of the 20th century & a pioneer of the modern neo-Hasidic renaissance. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, Carlebach revived the Jewish spirit, helping thousands of disenchanted youths re-embrace their rich & beautiful heritage. His teachings, songs, & stories weaved a tapestry & new form of heartfelt, soulful Judaism – one that was filled with a love for all. In the tradition of the Baal Shem Tov & Rebbe Nachman, Shlomo uncovered the good in every person, found holiness in the outcasts, treasures in the beggars, & righteousness in the rebels. His first record was produced by Vanguard Records in 63, & marked the first time that a religious Jewish artist produced an album with a major American record company. “Holy brothers & sisters, I have something really deep to tell you,” was his way of addressing a crowd. He would see the “pintele Yid” - that no matter how distant one may become, there is always a Jewish point deep within, some small spark waiting to be ignited with wholeness & holiness in every one. https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck0BmBqu1jU/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[bdkinz]

Audacity in Prayer During the High Holidays

Imagine, or maybe just remember, what it was like to turn to a parent and say, “it’s really your fault I am the way I am.” While we all might feel this way at one point or another, it is one thing to think it and another to voice this feeling aloud. If this is the case with one’s parents, how much more so would this be the case as it relates to our relationship with Gd. And yet, we find countless…

[rosen-dovecote]

What is Joy? from Chaim Kramer of Breslov.org