Rabbi's weekly Blog - Chabad of Basel

Don’t give up on the dream

Friday, November 28, 2025 - 6:52 AM

Quite a number of dreams appear in the Torah: Joseph’s dreams about the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars, as well as the sheaves bowing down to him; Pharaoh’s dreams about the seven cows and the seven thin ears of grain that swallow their fat counterparts; and more.

This week, at the beginning of the Torah portion, we encounter the very first dream in the Torah—Jacob’s dream: “Behold, a ladder was set on the earth and its top reached the heavens, and behold, angels of God were ascending and descending on it.”

While the dreams of Joseph and Pharaoh served to foretell the future—Joseph becoming a ruler, or the coming famine in Egypt—the ladder in Jacob’s dream did not convey prophecy but rather encouragement and support.

Jacob had set out alone to a foreign land—Haran. He had left his father and mother behind and was fleeing from the wrath of a brother who sought to kill him. In Haran awaited an uncle from whom I wouldn’t buy even a used car. The money he had was left somewhere along the way with his nephew. And so, utterly alone in the world, he walked forward on his journey.

I don’t know what went through his mind as he walked, so solitary in the world. But I am certain that when he fell asleep on that stone and dreamt of a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, with angels ascending and descending—angels sent to guard and protect him on his long, unknown path—it was a formative and meaningful moment for him.

The dream essentially told him: “Yankele, you’re not truly alone! Angels are watching over you! And not only angels—the Almighty Himself said to him, ‘Behold, I am with you, and I will guard you wherever you go.’”

With the strength this dream gave him, Jacob not only survived—he built and established a magnificent, blessed family. A family that became the nation we are today.

For this is how it works: when you walk the right path, angels accompany you and protect you. The road may not be easy, but the goal can be achieved—and achieved greatly—so long as you do not give up on the dream, do not let reality extinguish it.

Our Sages said, “The deeds of the fathers are a sign for the children.” Meaning, what happened to the Patriarchs—in this case Jacob—is a sign for what will happen to their descendants, the Children of Israel.

Jacob’s story has repeated itself time and again throughout the generations. After all, who among us does not have a grandfather or grandmother who was once alone in the world—torn from their parents and family, forced to build everything anew in a foreign land, alone, truly alone? Not all of them dreamt about ladders and angels, but they always knew there were angels accompanying them. For the mother they left behind, the Yiddishe Mamme, would cry as she lit the Shabbat candles and whisper a prayer to the Creator: “Tatte, send Your angels and protect my children.”

So if you sometimes feel a bit alone, if the hardships weigh heavily, and even if there is a “Uncle” standing in your way trying to sabotage your efforts—remember that each of you has your own ladder with angels ascending and descending, yet never leaving.

Shabbat Shalom—and don’t give up on the dream,

Rabbi Zalman Wishedski

The highlight of Issac's life

Friday, November 21, 2025 - 8:32 AM

The Torah portion is described as the “story of Isaac’s life,” even though we are already after the story — the Binding of Isaac, his willingness to give his life for God.

There is an important message here: With all due respect to the willingness to die for God, that is not the purpose of our lives. Our purpose is to live for God — in the way we interact with neighbors, friends, spouses, parents, and children. There, in daily life, we are meant to live as God expects of us.

So when the Torah says “These are the generations of Isaac,” it lists his marriage, the birth of his children, and his conduct with his neighbors, the people of Gerar. And in my eyes, the highlight is his loving approach in dealing with his own troublemaker — Esau: “And Isaac loved Esau,” the Torah tells us.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Zalman Wishedski

Encounter of souls

Friday, November 14, 2025 - 7:04 AM

In my younger years, perhaps one should say in my youth, before I myself became one of the Rebbe’s shluchim, I was nourished by glowing articles in the movement’s magazine or by stories told by people whose eyes sparkled as they spoke. Even once I had already become a shliach and participated myself in the Kinus Hashluchim, it seemed that the most successful among us were those who had built buildings, raised large sums of money, and had stories written about them.

Later on it seemed that the successful shluchim were those with extensive activities, whose events were beautiful and impressive, above all filled with many participants.

A few more years passed and today I know one thing with absolute clarity: when I speak with a shliach, no matter where he lives, how much he has achieved materially or spiritually, how talented he is in writing or speaking, and it does not matter much how old he is or how many shluchim work with him in the large institution he has built with Hashem’s help, when I speak with shluchim, and I speak personally with a very great many of them, and I ask: “Give me a great moment from your life as a shliach, some defining event or a deeply moving point, something for which you say the entire investment and sacrifice of your life is worthwhile,” it is never a building or an institution, nor is it an activity, and usually not even a successful class. Almost always it is a single personal encounter with one soul, or two, or more, an encounter that made a deep impact and brought about real change.

To me, this is both amazing and moving, and no less importantly, it pretty much defines who we are, the Rebbe’s shluchim, the emissaries of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. We truly transform worlds, and we have photos that garner plenty of likes because we have become quite good at using media for the sake of goodness and kindness. But in the end, deep within us, at the core of our consciousness, at the point of truth, the entire story is the encounter of souls. One after another after another, soul after soul, another man and another woman, another boy and another girl. The aspiration is to be there for each and every one, even though it is neither logical nor realistic. But that too is something the Rebbe embedded within all of us: we are not realistic, not logical, we never claimed to be normal, and when we tried, we did not do it very well. We simply do not have that feature in our system.

And take note of something amazing: the Torah portions we are reading in these weeks all speak about a long and all-encompassing relationship between the Creator of the world and a single human being, one person only. Not yet a nation, not even a tribe, not a family or a team. It is an individual named Avram, into whom the Creator invests infinite energy. And Avram, who becomes Avraham, continues doing the same. He goes one by one and one by one. Apparently that is the secret and the simple truth: an encounter of souls, wherever they may be.

On a personal note, this is my twenty third time attending the Kinus Hashluchim as a shliach. I thought it would no longer be emotional, that it had become routine, and again I was mistaken. Because while the large events may be familiar and predictable, the real story is the one on one encounter of souls. That never repeats itself and is never routine. Every meeting, if one only pauses for a moment and looks directly into the soul, is moving, touching, and impactful.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Zalman Wishedski