Sunday, February 23, 2025

Passing of Rabbi Israel Lipkin (1810-1883), known as "Rabbi Israel Salanter," founder of the "Mussar" (ethicist) movement.

The original emblem of the Jewish people was not a star, but the seven-branched golden Menorah that stood in the inner chamber of the Tabernacle and the Temple.

Why the Menorah? Because the Menorah embodied two opposite qualities of our nation: diversity and unity.

On the one hand, the Menorah had seven branches, just as there are seven general sorts of Jews, and within those seven, countless more branches upon branches, each with their own particular light to shine, their own customs, unique purpose, and distinct meaning in life.

On the other hand, these branches were not forged separately and then soldered together. Rather, they were all extruded from a single ingot of gold. We Jews, too, form a single body with a single golden soul breathing within.

This is the Jewish people, a magnificent paradox: In our diversity, we find oneness, and it is our oneness that allows for such diversity.

Indeed, we are one who shine as many.