Thousands of Chabad rabbis take a group selfie!

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It is not often I find something for the Monday Murals meme, so I was extra happy to discover the Rebbe painted on rolling shutters protecting the entrance to a store in Beer Sheva's old section.

The Rebbe is the late great Rabbi Menachem Shneerson, scholar, teacher, leader, and the pioneer of Jewish outreach.
The head of Chabad-Lubavitch movement died in 1994 in New York,  but many of his devoted followers believe he was, and still is, the Moshiach, the messiah.

In the 1950s the Lubavitcher Rebbe, from headquarters in Brooklyn,  started sending out young rabbis and their wives to cities and towns all over America and the world, even the remotest places like Kathmandu.
These idealistic couples open Chabad Houses and offer worship, classes, support, and love to Jews who are far from being observant.
They are called in Hebrew shluchim, literally, those who are sent out.

This week 4,200 of these rabbis are in New York for their International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries.
Don't miss these amazing photos of how they take a huge group selfie!
It was taken with a particularly large lens that was held up with a 5-meter-long stick carried by two men.

And equally impressive are these pictures of how the 4,200  pose for the more orderly and formal  annual photo.
They even launched a helicopter-drone to take a video of the mass photo shoot!
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UPDATE: This  in today's Times of Israel says it so well:   Thank you Chabad.  Very worth a read.
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(Also linking to Our World Tuesday.)

Shabbat shalom

Dark Paths
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"He could have placed streetlamps along all the pathways of wisdom, but then there would be no journey. Who would discover the secret passages, the hidden treasures, if all of us homed in straight for our destination?"

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From the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, of righteous memory; rendered by Tzvi Freeman.

Obstacle? Just go over.

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This is where I often go walking at the end of the day.

Once it was our village's only way to Jerusalem.

Then the new road, higher on the hill, was built and this old one was blocked.

Grandson No. 1 and I had a big hike from here down to the spring when he came from Australia to visit almost two years ago.

I thought of this picture when today's "Daily Dose of Wisdom from the [Lubavitcher] Rebbe" arrived in my inbox. It is copied below.

Rabbi Shmuel of Lubavitch, known as “The Rebbe Maharash,” the fourth in the golden chain of rebbes of Lubavitch, had an attitude.

Many wise people say if you can’t go under, go over. The Rebbe Maharash said, “Just go over.”
Meaning that instead of first trying to work through a problem by its own rules, and then --if that doesn’t work --gathering the strength and courage to step brazenly over it. . .
Instead, just start by stepping right over it, as though there were no obstacle to begin with.

After all, that’s why obstacles are there in the first place--so you will go higher.

A Daily Dose of Wisdom from the Rebbe
-words and condensation by Tzvi Freeman
Tishrei 13, 5769 * October 12, 2008

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Fastening the pegs

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Friday night--the quiet Sabbath night which leads into the Sabbath day has settled over Israel.
Shabbat shalom to you all, Sabbath peace.
From the wisdom of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, of righteous memory; words and condensation by Tzvi Freeman:

Ways of Peace
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Our mission in life is not to shake up the world but to fasten its pegs. Not to climb to the heavens and holler and roar, but to walk softly on the ground. Not to create a storm but rather a dwelling, an earthly home for the essence of G-d.
If a storm is needed, so it shall be. As for us, we will continue on our path, the path of Torah, solidly planted on the earth. A path of pleasantness and peace, bringing order to chaos step by step, until all the boundlessness of the Infinite Light is arranged firmly in our world.