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Light a candle with me

I would like to make a suggestion.

The 3rd of Tammuz is the yahrzeit of my Rebbe, the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The 3rd of Tammuz will begin at sunset on Monday, July 8th, 2024 and will end at nightfall on Wednesday, July 9th, 2024. 

There are several customs for this day, some of which may be suitable for everybody.

If you feel a connection with the Rebbe and his teachings;

if you have been influenced by him, by his way, directly or through his chassidim and emissaries;

if you just thought that the Rebbe brought good into this world –  

here are a few things you can do. Choose some of them or all, as you wish:

1. A ner neshama. Tonight, at sunset (ask Google when sunset is) light a 24-hour candle in honor of the Rebbe. If you don’t have a ner neshama, use a regular candle. It’s better than nothing.

2. Study the Rebbe’s teachings. It could be a ma’amar of chassidut or another Torah speech of the Rebbe. Google will help you with this. In any case, my late uncle, Rabbi Shalom Ber Wishedski z”l, told me several times that even learning one saying that the Rebbe wrote in the book “Hayom Yom” is considered learning his Torah. So here is the saying for the 2nd of Tammuz: “Rabbeinu Hazaken (the first Chabad Rebbe) writes in his siddur: ‘It is right to say before [morning] prayers, “I hereby accept upon myself the positive mitzvah of You shall love your fellow like yourself.’” In other words, the mitzvah of loving Jews is the gate through which a person can come and stand before Hashem and pray. In its merit the prayer will be accepted.”

3. Tzedakah: Choose a suitable sum of money, multiply it by the number of people in your household, and give it to tzedakah for the merit of each one, as the Rebbe himself wrote ‘for himself and for each member of his household, may they live.”

4. Pidyon nefesh: this is actually a note on which you write a request for a blessing from the tsaddik, a note that will be placed on his grave. Here is the proper thing to write: 

פ"נ כ"ק אדמו"ר, אנא לעורר רחמים רבים עבור נר"נ...

- PAN  Rebbe, please awaken much mercy for nefesh, ruach and neshama … 

And at this point write your name and the name of your mother. One can add the names of family members and friends, and then add a personal request or a general request such as “להצלחה בגשמיות וברוחניות” – “for material and spiritual success”, and sign your name and the name of your mother. When you have finished, send it to [email protected].

5. Learning mishnayot. It is customary to learn mishnayot according to the Rebbe’s name – מנחם מענדל – Menachem Mendel. Nine chapters from the Mishna have been chosen, each one starting with one of the letters of the Rebbe’s name. These chapters can be found in this link: 

https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https://w3.chabad.org/media/pdf/1095/Pypb10951536.pdf

including their translation into English.

Do all five, or just one. In any case, this will be all of us connecting to each other in honor of the Rebbe.

 

Mashiach Now!

 

Rabbi Zalmen Wishedski