This Week In

Here's my story | June 27, 2025

This week in....

5711-1951, in a written response to the question of Rabbi Ephraim Wolf, director of Chabad yeshivot in Israel, the Rebbe advised that sephardi students should study chasidut. The Rebbe explained that the precedent for this was already set generations earlier by the Rebbe Rashab, who advised Rabbi Shmuel Levitin to teach chasidut in Georgia, and that the Chabad schools in Morocco were also doing so. “The resulting success, and vitality in Torah and mitzvot, is visible in those students,” he added.
5742-1982, after Zalman Jaffe asked Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, the Rebbe’s wife, on behalf of the honorary officers of Manchester Lubavitch, whether a suitable birthday gift for the Rebbe would be a silver wine decanter, which the Rebbe could use at farbrengens instead of an ordinary bottle covered by a paper bag, the Rebbe responded that he appreciated the thought, but could not accept the gift. “For, as a matter of principle and practice over the past 30-odd years, I prefer to use a bagged glass container that conceals its contents.... I cannot go into the reasons for the above here. But one reason, if it will satisfy you, is that I do not wish to make a distinction between me and those surrounding me.”

30 Shevat

5711-1951, in a written response to the question of Rabbi Ephraim Wolf, director of Chabad yeshivot in Israel, the Rebbe advised that sephardi students should study chasidut. The Rebbe explained that the precedent for this was already set generations earlier by the Rebbe Rashab, who advised Rabbi Shmuel Levitin to teach chasidut in Georgia, and that the Chabad schools in Morocco were also doing so. “The resulting success, and vitality in Torah and mitzvot, is visible in those students,” he added.
5742-1982, after Zalman Jaffe asked Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, the Rebbe’s wife, on behalf of the honorary officers of Manchester Lubavitch, whether a suitable birthday gift for the Rebbe would be a silver wine decanter, which the Rebbe could use at farbrengens instead of an ordinary bottle covered by a paper bag, the Rebbe responded that he appreciated the thought, but could not accept the gift. “For, as a matter of principle and practice over the past 30-odd years, I prefer to use a bagged glass container that conceals its contents.... I cannot go into the reasons for the above here. But one reason, if it will satisfy you, is that I do not wish to make a distinction between me and those surrounding me.”

30 Shevat

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Here's my story | March 07, 2024