The Lost Love Discovered in the Vaults
Tech Tribe Dispatch 141
💡 Think:
Please forgive the late arrival of this email due to some very unfortunate technical difficulties.
Recently, Chabad’s central library, a massive research library with over 250,000 volumes of rare books and artifacts, scanned an uploaded its trove of manuscripts to the Internet. Treasures, such as the Siddur of the Baal Shem Tov, can now be seen in their entirety by the public for the very first time.
Teams of scholars and lay researchers have been pouring over the manuscripts, crowd sourcing a trove of fascinating discoveries.
Among them, a handful of laws left out of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of the Chabad movement’s Shulchan Aruch. Known popularly as Shulchan Aruch Harav, it is a monumental work that incorporates the Shulchan Aruch, the code of Jewish law, with all of the major commentaries and definitive rulings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman.
Looking through a manuscript version of the work, it was discovered that a handful of heretofore unknown laws, seemingly removed by the Czarist state censor in print, could be found.
The last of the law discovered reads simply,
“Anyone who hates an upright Jew in his heart, transgresses a negative commandment, as it says "do not hate your brother in your heart."
Though not the end of the printed work, chronologically, as the last part of these newly discovered lines, it creates a beautiful end-cap to the work.
The Shulchan Aruch begins:
”Judah the son of Teima would say: Be bold as a leopard, light as an eagle, fleeting as a deer and mighty as a lion to do the will of your Father in Heaven.”
Thus a work that begins with the fear of Heaven and Jewish pride, ‘ends’ with a call to love your fellow. Love of the Torah, Love of G-d and love of our fellow must all be intrinsically united.
Perhaps fittingly, when the Rebbe, seventh from Rabbi Shneur Zalman, assumed leadership of the Chabad movement, he made (as is customary in America) a statement.
”Love of G‑d, love of the Torah, and Love of the Jewish people are bound up with one another, so much so that they are all one. Only when you love your fellow as yourself are you able to love G‑d, who transcends the world and is the master of all things.”
🏃 DO:
🌇 Synthwave Purim is here! Grab your spot at the posh water tower bar at the Williamsburg hotel! Wed, March 16, 7:30pm
As well, you’re also invited to the Purim feast,Thurs, March 17.
🍷 Join us for the return of #openShabbat at SXSW on March 11!
🎬 Watch:
🕯️Memory:
This week marks four years since the passing of Michael H.K. Cohen. In Venice, Italy in 2004, Michael and I had the opportunity to celebrate an impromptu bar mitzvah with his mother Carol. We exchanged emails and corresponded over the years.
May his memory be a blessing to all who knew him and the good deeds he continues to inspire a comfort to his whole family: his parents Stephen and Carol Fishman Cohen, and siblings Andrew, Sarah and David.
לע"נ צבי בן זלמן
📚 Read:
🥽 Will the Synagogue Ever Go Virtual Reality? Is a metaverse minyan okay?
🍖 American Jewish Cuisine Has Been Around for Centuries. But Not Like This.
🍞 It was the most successful Jewish ad campaign of all time — but who was the model?
📚 How Many Books Does It Take to Make a Place Feel Like Home? There’s a reason that some people won’t let go of their physical books.
🔥 Lit:
This week, light Shabbat candles in NYC at 5:16pm
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