by Elisheva bas Chana Given a Choice to Be A letter in the scroll, a missing note makes a song incomplete. When one letter in the scroll is missing or damaged, chas v’shalom , it is incomplete. We are here for a reason, chosen by HaShem, to be part of His plan. It is not a privilege, but a responsibility to make a broken world whole again. To be part of HaShem’s plan, we have to have bitachon  and emunah , a choice to make the song complete and not to be a missing letter. It

by Elisheva bas Chana Hakaras HaTov Sitting at my desk, with a piece of paper and a pen in front of me, pondering about my next writing, “A Day of My Life.” Half an hour later, I knew nothing would come. I knew I could just start writing about “this day” from dawn to dusk—hundreds of brachos  a day, davening , and reciting Tehillim  in the midst of my busy life. But I want something more, something inspiring, showing how much simcha  is involved. Our lives are full of serving

by Elisheva bas Chana Gratitude Serving HaShem is placing our trust in Him for all our matters, and among them is peace of mind in trusting HaShem. When we choose not to trust HaShem and place our trust in something other than Him, HaShem will remove His providence from us and leave it in the hands of the one we trust instead. “For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the spring of living waters, to dig for themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that do not

by Elisheva bas Chana We all have a path to follow, a mission to fulfil, obstacles to overcome, challenges to let us grow; in all, we can find HaShem. Having emunah  is how we relate to good times, but also to what we call the “bad times.” When we look at the world, the distraction, the chaos, and the immorality, life seems to be one big challenge. In reality, life is good; it is the world that needs fixing. To make a change, we fight our battles with light, in unity. Achdus

by Elisheva bas Chana A Covenant, Klal Yisroel & The Mixed Multitude A piece of paper full of thoughts. A covenant, a land, and a people: a complicated story and a journey full of obstacles. HaShem took us out of Mitzrayim, led by Moshe in challenging times. The many times Pharaoh changed his mind and hardened his heart. It took ten plagues for Pharaoh to relent, to let the Jewish people finally go. After they collected the gold, packed up, the dough not even risen, with the

by Elisheva bas Chana Image: Chabad.org Chassidim is one of the great success stories in world history of religious movements. When the Baal Shem Tov died in 1760, there were no more than twenty to thirty followers linked to and who could claim his legacy. All of his followers were within the far south-eastern corner of Poland, near the borders of Russia. There is little knowledge of any influence of the Baal Shem Tov beyond his followers and his hometown, Miedzybozh. Half a

by Elisheva bas Chana The Power of Tehillim Tehillim  means “Praises” and contains many praises and pleas to HaShem. Most of the Tehillim  was written by Dovid HaMelech, and around half of the chapters are “ Mizmor L’Dovid .” The sefer  contains 150 perakim . The Midrash tells us that when Dovid HaMelech composed the Tehillim , he had not only himself in mind, but every Jew and every circumstance. No matter the situation, the words of Tehillim  speak words from the heart — fr

by Elisheva bas Chana Kayla Haber-Goldstein & Rabbi Shmuel Goldstein When our faith and beautiful way of Torah life becomes a path full of struggle, questions, and answers that raise even more questions. Coming from a home and not being given the space to learn or to grow can be overwhelming. Kayla Haber-Goldstein grew up in a Charedi community in Israel as a daughter of a rabbi. When she married Shmuel Goldstein, she realised that she didn’t want to have the same family life

by Elisheva bas Chana The Torah, Walking in the Ways of HaShem The Torah is love; it's how to live our lives. It is an eternal covenant HaShem made with the Jewish people — a holy and living Torah, to live and to serve HaShem. The Torah is the voice of heaven as it is heard on earth, the words that give light to the world. Matan Torah  is literally the beginning of the relationship with HaShem: His Torah and the Jewish people pairing together at Chorev. Our nation is a nation