This Story Puts It All In Perspective
Tech Tribe Dispatch 176
This week’s Dispatch has been generously sponsored in honor of Mordechai’s upcoming Jewish birthday on October 29th by an anonymous friend.
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💡 Think:
In 1798, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of the Chabad movement, was imprisoned by the Czar on charges that Chasidic teachings and practice were somehow subversive. For fifty-two days he was held in the Russian Bastille, the Peter-Paul Fortress, an unfinished citadel-cum-prison in S. Petersburg.
Among the Rebbe’s interrogators was the minister of education who possessed broad knowledge of the Torah and its Hebrew commentaries.
Approaching Rabbi Shneur Zalman, he asked him to explain the verse (Genesis 3:9) set after Adam had consumed the fruit from the Tree, “And G‑d called out to the man and said to him: ‘Where are you?’”
”Rabbi,” he asked. “Did G‑d not know where Adam was? How could the Creator of All somehow be unaware of Adam’s location.”
“Where are you?” Rabbi Shneur Zalman explained, “was merely a conversation starter, so as not to unnerve Adam by immediately confronting him with his wrongdoing.”
“What Rashi says, I know,” said the minister. “I wish to hear how the Rebbe understands the verse.”
“Do you believe that the Torah is eternal?” asked Rabbi Shneur Zalman. “Do you believe that its every word applies to every individual, under all conditions, at all times?”
“Yes,” replied the minister.
“Then know that this passage is an eternal dialogue between G-d and us,” explained Rabbi Shneur Zalman,
“‘Where are you?’ is G‑d’s perpetual call to every human. Where are you in the world? What have you accomplished? You have been allotted a certain number of days, hours, and minutes in which to fulfill your mission in life. You have lived so many years and so many days,”—here Rabbi Shneur Zalman spelled out the exact age of the minister—“Where are you? What have you achieved?”
Each and every single one of us blesses this earth for a certain amount of time for a certain purpose. Take a moment to reflect on where you are, where you are going, and how to channel that current for positive change.
🏃 DO:
🎤 Join us this Wednesday, October 26th for our next Twelvex talk Sofia Gross, former Head of Social Impact and Policy Partnership at Snap — Twelvex: Can Social Media Still Save Society?
🎂 Next Friday, October 28th, is Mordechai’s Jewish birthday. Reply to this email for a special Shabbat meal invite!
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🐦 Tweet:
One of the most wholesome things on Twitter this week is also one of the most Jewish
🎬 Watch:
Now available for limited streaming through October 24th - our second TWELVEX Talk:
Twelvex: The Soul of Soviet Jewry
Don’t miss our next TWELVEX event this Wednesday!
🎉 Mazel:
A special mazel tov to Tech Tribe power couple Simone Weichselbaum, of NBC News, and Jason Ganetsky, of Google, on their marriage this Sunday!
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📚 Read:
🔦 You’re not the only one accidentally turning on your iPhone flashlight
🚩 Why Does Ben Smith Keep Showing Up in My Tweets? How Semafor is building a new global newsroom
🎤This Israeli Hasidic Singing Sensation Will Pull You Into another World. Motty Steinmetz talks about the ‘kosher’ contemporary music scene.
🔥 Lit:
This week, light Shabbat candles in NYC at 5:49pm
For Shabbat candle-lighting time in your area click here.
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