The Size of the Universe @

Space, as Douglas Adams once so aptly wrote, is big. To try imagining how big, place a penny down in front of you. If our sun were the size of that penny, the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, would be 350 miles away. Depending on where you live, that’s very likely in the next state (or possibly country) over. Attempting to imagine distances larger than this quickly becomes troublesome. At this scale, the Milky Way galaxy would be 7.5 million miles

#413 Payment for Work Done on Shabbos

#413 Payment for Work Done on Shabbos

One may not accept schar Shabbos (payment for work done on Shabbos). Even if one is paid after Shabbos, it is nevertheless forbidden since the work is being done on Shabbos. Regarding work done for a mitzvah, there is a machlokes haposkim; even those poskim who rule that schar Shabbos is permitted if  done for a mitzvah maintain that one will not see a siman brachah (sign of blessing) in that money. Being paid for leining (reading from the Torah) on Shabbos, blowing shofar, chazanus are all forms of schar Shabbos. One way of being permitted to accept payment for these, and other similar tasks, is to be paid for the preparation rather than for the act itself; since the preparation is done during the week, it’s permissible to be paid for it, and the work done on Shabbos would be considered as being done “pro bono”.
Accepting payment for babysitting on Shabbos certainly falls under the category ofschar Shabbos. However, schar Shabbos behavla’ah (when “absorbed” with other payment) is permissible, but only if all of the following conditions are met:

• The employment agreement has to be structured in such a manner that the babysitter isn't hired by the hour or by the day, but rather per week or per month.
• The babysitter must be paid for babysitting done during the week or month, and not solely for babysitting on Shabbos. If either employee or employer have the right to opt out of the agreement, and the employee would then get paid pro rata (proportionally), it doesn’t qualify as schar Shabbos behavla’ah, even if it includes payment for weekdays. 

The direct path to the Redemption

Rebbe's advice

Ed Joyce used to have a famous talk show – “The Talk of New York” – before he became president of CBS News.

He  went to see the Rebbe and him the following:  “If the Jews are the Chosen People, what role is there for someone like me who is not Jewish?"

The Rebbe answered, “Everyone has an individual role, and we can’t do our part unless others do their part. Just like a body and all its limbs. If you want to go forward and take something, your feet have to take you over to the object, your hands have to pick it up, and so on. It doesn’t work any other way. You can’t leave your feet here and your hands there. This is the way the world functions too, and every person has a reason for which he was created. Each one has to do his part so the other one can do his part.”

Ed Joyce was very impressed with that answer; so impressed that he wanted his wife and children to meet the Rebbe.

EVERY JEW MUST STRIVE FOR WEALTH

@ Rebbe's instructions for the month of Elul

We should wish each individual Jew and all Jews as one, Ksivah Vachasimah Tovah, Leshanah Tovah Umesukah May you be inscribed and sealed for a good and sweet year!This should be done through any available method face to face, by word of mouth or in writing. Even if we have already blessed a particular individual, we should nevertheless continue to bless them time and again throughout Elul. Our additional blessings can amplify the revealed goodness that had already been designated by Hashem for each Jew and for all Jewry to an incomparably greater extent. It is customary that even children under the age of Bar and Bas Mitzvah wish this blessing to everyone including adults.This is done, despite that fact that it is generally not considered proper for a child to bless an adult.

@ The fifth night of Chanukkah

Rabbi Abraham Zvi Greenvald, was born in Lodz, Poland. When he was 17, he was in Warsaw at the wedding of the future 7th Rebbe,Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson whom he personally met.

This meeting, my father would later realize, would portend much in the future. A youth of about 17, my father arrived at the wedding together with his relative and teacher, Rabbi Menachem Zemba. On the morning after, Rabbi Zemba told him he was going to visit the bridegroom in the hotel, and if my father wished, he could accompany him. Understandably, my father agreed. My father could not remember and repeat all that the two spoke about, but he did remember well the end of the conversation, before these two personalities parted ways.