CHABAD.ORG MAGAZINE: Tevye's Query, Whispers of the Baobab Tree (and more...)

Magazine

Dedicate an email

This email dedicated by:
Ms. Debra Drew
In memory of Patricia Ruth Beebe

To dedicate an email, click here

Iyar 27, 5771 · May 31, 2011

Editor's Note:

"Lift" is a delightfully elastic word. It normally means to make something go up.

In England it is a box that—with the help of pulleys and weights—can transport you to various floors of a building (interestingly, it can take you both up and down). In some parts of the world, it can mean a soft drink made by Coca-Cola (thanks, Wikipedia!). For a thief it means to pilfer something surreptitiously from a store (think "shoplift"). For a guy at the side of the road with his thumb out, it means a spot in the back of your car (think "can I have a lift?"). And to those with saggy faces, it can mean a chance to look twenty years younger (think "facelift").

In this week's Torah portion we learn about another sort of lift. In the midst of a nationwide census, G‑d tells Moses to count the Levite clan of Gershon, employing the words, "Lift up the head of the people of Gershon." When each individual is counted, he is uplifted. No longer an isolated little guy, he is part of a tribe, a clan, a nation. He is one of the many individuals who together make up the 600,000 members of G‑d's chosen people. And when the little guys are uplifted, the "head"—Moses and the other leaders— are given a lift as well.

Now, go and have an uplifting read.

Menachem Posner,
on behalf of the Chabad.org Editorial Team

This Week's Features

Printable Magazine

The Big Picture

Tevye's Query

Fiddler on the Roof's enormous popularity has nothing to do with metaphysical content. Nonetheless, we find one of the most enigmatic issues in religious thought expressed by Tevye the milkman . . .

By Yaakov Brawer

Infinity in Disguise

When you turn it over a few times and rub it between your fingers, everything in our world turns out to contain something of the infinite.

By Tzvi Freeman

The Great Voice

Why was G‑d's voice confined to the Sanctuary?

By Yitschak Meir Kagan

Personal

Whispers of the Baobab Tree

I would recall the bare beauty of the tree, and wonder again why G‑d had left the tree upside-down. What could an inverted tree possibly contribute to the world?

By Rhona Lewis

Every Child Has His Own Song

Exhausted and breathless, I couldn't sing anymore. But I didn't have to; the first cry of the baby as he emerged into the world was a beautiful song in itself...

By Elana Mizrahi

Dignity

Dignity. What a word. What a concept. What exactly did it mean? How could you lose it? Where can you find it?

By Jay Litvin

Call Me Classic

It's got to be one of the toughest marketing problems of all time: selling Orthodox Judaism. You've got all this long black stuff. And then there are the hats . . .

By Matt Lipeles

Recovery

Reacting to Another's Downfall

It seems that the sages knew quite a bit about alcoholics. Who has been as ready to find fault in others as we have been?

By Rabbi Ben A.

Feature Video

We Need Justice!

Renowned Nazi-hunter Tuvia Friedman reveals the Rebbe's role in his life's work (circa 1970).

Watch

Stories to Share

A Joyous Divorce

Just as they had celebrated their marriage with joy, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai told the couple, so should their divorce be celebrated in joy.

Midrash Rabbah, Shir HaShirim 1

The Problem

"Just a minute! Wait!" cried the young man, panting to catch his breath. "You can't go yet! You must tell me the answer!"

By Tuvia Bolton

The Wandering Storyteller

Try as he might, the storyteller could not remember a single tale. Perhaps he was going mad?

By Tuvia Bolton

Info Please

When is the next Jubilee year?

Although the Jubilee year is currently not observed, the reasons for this are complex and involve many different opinions.

By Baruch S. Davidson

Can a bar/bat mitzvah be postponed or advanced?

My son is turning thirteen in January, and my daughter will become twelve two months later. We would like to have a joint celebration . . .

By Chani Benjaminson

Can I delete G‑d's name on a computer screen?

Most authorities deem a computer screen and its contents, even the name of G‑d or words of Torah, to have no sanctity.

By Vidal Bekerman

On Being Jewish

Why Is Conversion to Judaism So Hard?

There are many Jews who don't observe anything Jewish, yet the rabbis demand full observance to become a Jew. Is that fair?

By Tzvi Freeman

The E-Z Pass to Love

How can self-interested human beings love one another altrusitically?

By Mendel Kalmenson

Passing the Buck

I stood outside staring at the dollar bill. I wondered why he wanted me to take his money. He could make a donation himself, right?

By Samantha Barnett

Nazirites and Nunneries

The Talmud suggests that because the nazirite denies himself pleasure, he is considered "sinful." But why should it be wrong to deny oneself?

By Yossy Goldman

Is Confession a Jewish Thing?

The power and beauty of Jewish confession is not that we shame ourselves before others, but that we shame the evil inclination before our true selves.

By Mendel Kalmenson

Focus on the Priestly Blessing

The Priestly Blessing

Who blesses and when, the preparations, the procedure, the congregation's role, and the Kabbalah behind it all.

By Naftali Silberberg

Birkat Kohanim Melody

This wonderful, inspiring tune for Birkat Kohanim originates with the famed "kapelye" (musical group) of the second Chabad rebbe, Rabbi Dovber.

By Avraham Fried

Download

Listen (5:48)

The Priestly Blessing

The kohanim remove their shoes and extend their hands, fingers parted and palms stretched outwards. What is the deeper significance of this celestial ritual?

By Lazer Gurkow

From Our Favorite Lectures