Well, I get a mazal tov. We just had a baby boy on Tuesday, thank G-d! (we Chassidim say Thank G-d not just when getting through danger, but whenever we see a blessing in our lives). He is 6 pounds and beautiful and I am so grateful we got through fine. Every baby is truly a miracle. According to our tradition, we do not officially give a boy a name until the baby is circumcised, eight days after birth. But I will speak about the name and naming in general when this day arrives G-d willing after next Tuesday. I … Continue reading →

The basis for all of our mistakes is foolishness, says Schneur Zalman of Liadi, but what can we do about this foolishness? How can a vicious cycle of behavior be transformed into something productive, and is it necessary to uproot bad habits or to redirect impulses? Today marks 57 years since Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn accepted the leadership of the Lubavitcher Chassidim whose headquarters are in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. After his predecessor, Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, passed away a year earlier, his son-in-law refused the position of Rebbe for an entire year until the day after the anniversary of the previous … Continue reading →

Every child is a miracle, as any woman who has given birth, any father who has cradled the tiny breathing body in his hands, and every midwife knows. However, in Naharia, Israel, a birth, which was intended to be a termination of a pregnancy resembled the kind of miracles we see when the Jewish Messiah comes; when the dead will rise again. A woman in Naharia, a town in the far North of Israel, was having a difficult pregnancy. Five months pregnant, she had gone to the hospital for tests which showed she was experiencing some intrauterine bleeding and the … Continue reading →