The Levites, descendants of Jacob’s son Levi, were selected to serve G‑d in the Holy Temple.

My siblings and I have never been super close, but until now we’ve gotten along fairly well. However, this inheritance has brought out the worst in us, and we have come to the point that we aren’t speaking.

A story of resistance, intense entreatment and eventual, reluctant acceptance. How the reserved son-in-law of the (Previous) Rebbe was induced into assuming the leadership of Chabad-Lubavitch.

The sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, passed away on this date in 1950. Exactly one year later, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson accepted the leadership of the movement, and set about transforming the face of world Jewry . . .

Our lives are like the reverse side of a great tapestry. From the back, it all looks random and chaotic: all we can see are the knots, the imperfections, some bumps, smears of color...