Moshe Teldon @MosheTeldon

I was once asked by a Jewish mother to share the Chanukah story at the private school her son attended (he was the only Jewish student there). I told the story. Did my spiel. A room of 200+ students and teachers stood as I held a candle and sang the Menorah blessings. 🎶 “Baruch Atah Hashem… 🎶Elo-keinu Melech ha-olam…” and then lit the Menorah. As the assembly ended and students headed back to class, one young student came over to me and said, “Thank you, sir. That was a great experiment.” I chuckled. But it got me thinking. That *was* a cool experiment. I thought about a one-liner that shows up at countless moments in Jewish life. Before we eat. When we pray. Before we do a mitzvah. Like a song we never stop singing. The same six words! “Baruch Atah Hashem, Elo-keinu Melech ha-olam…” We say it so often, it feels familiar. And because it feels familiar, we stop being curious. We translate it automatically: “Blessed are You, L-rd our G-d, King of the Universe…” But what if we’ve been saying it a little too quickly? Baruch doesn’t just mean “Blessed.” It shares a root with the Hebrew word ‘berech’, meaning ‘knee.’ To crouch. To lower. To draw downward. Reciting a bracha (bessing) in Jewish life is not just another blessing or praise directed *upward*. It’s an opening through which the Infinite can flow *downward*, into the finite. The mystics understood the recitation of a bracha as a formula for inviting a higher reality into our life. “Baruch → Atah → Hashem” is the moment we shift from speaking to G-d to making room for G-d to enter our awareness, into this moment, into this object, and into this holy act. A bracha is where the Infinite becomes personal.  Psychologically, pausing to make a bracha interrupts autopilot. It moves us from rushing to pausing. From consumption to presence. From ritual to relationship. Mystically, it opens a channel. If you’re feeling down or low, make a bracha nice and slow, and picture something higher flowing down to meet you. Ready to try? Here we go. Baruch: not “blessed,” but *drawing down*. A flow of Divine energy into this moment. Where does that flow begin? → Atah: “You.” Essence. G-d *beyond* titles or definitions.  → Hashem: the name that refers to the Infinite, where past, present, and future are one. → Elokeinu: “Our G-d.” The Creator we encounter as divine energy flows through nature (Elokim shares the numerical value of ‘ha-teva,’ Nature). → Melech: “King.” A divine presence that enters through a relationship we mutually choose to make room for, not force. → ha-olam: “of the universe.” From the word ‘he’elam,’ concealment. The flow finally reaches our world, where the sacred hides in the ordinary, waiting for a mitzvah to reveal it. It’s the bracha formula that invites and channels that downward flow from a higher reality. Into the words of our prayer. Into the food we eat. Into the physical act of a mitzvah. What was merely a physical moment now becomes a meeting point between heaven and earth. That child was right. A mitzvah is a great experiment. There’s the action: the physical mitzvah we do with our hands and feet; There’s the result: holiness finding its way into the world; And there’s the blessing: the moment we open ourselves to be part of it. On this Holocaust Remembrance Day, as we remember the souls taken from us, may their memory be a *bracha,* a light that continues to descend into this world through the lives we live and mitzvot we do. Amen.

@ezalmanov @BluegrassRabbi Just what I need

WE WON'T LET THE LIGHTS GO OUT "We Don't Turn Off Our Menorahs, We Don't Stop Shining Light!"

@bentziavtzon @BinyominS x.com/moshepargod/st… saw this right after listening

הפרגוד @moshepargod

a year ago

אין יותר חזק לסיום הזה כמו הוידאו הזה מנסים לשכנע את הרב שטינמן זצ"ל להסכים שלא לקבל ילד מבית שמוגדר "מודרני" לחיידר בבית שמש. הרב קובע שההורים שמתנגדים לקבלתו המניע שלהם הוא רק גאווה. לא יראת שמים רק גאווה!!

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6:33pm. Frantic call: “What do I do? I forgot my tefillin!” He’s at a swim meet in Madison. Just started putting on daily. We got him his brand new pair last week. I text the Chabad rabbi. By 7:15? Tefillin selfie. Union Square. One mitzvah. One yes. Infinite ripples.

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So proud and grateful that our very own @wilmettetheatre hosted this after another venue pulled out at the last minute. Thank you for standing strong. Am Yisrael Chai!

Kosha Dillz (BRING THE FAMILY DOC out soon!!) @koshadillz

a year ago

The first screening of my film has been cancelled because I am who I am. Rami Matan even-esh / kosha dillz My first ever screening sold out and cancelled Please RT!! The perils of a jewish rapper that is Israeli

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@bentzysu Mazal tov Bentzy!!

@bentzysu @ShabbosReads ⭕ 🤔

I wanna be like him when I grow up. My grandfather is a beast

Mendel Teldon @CommackRabbi

2 years ago

Zaidy Mexico, at the age of 100, is learning to read Hebrew! Love this man!!!

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@bentzysu @AlamoRabbi You just doxxed me that I'm @AlamoRabbi brother

@realEstateTrent Is no one gonna mention the @Chabad menorah in the pic?

@Mottel If my calculations are correct, @FarroYossi was only 4 years old at the time

@bentziavtzon Another thing is that there's no way to tell if that's 5:50 am or pm.

droppin this like a hot latke ⤵️

@ArieFriedman Am Yisrael Chai!

@bentziavtzon Going viral on Whatsapp. Gold

@bentzysu That comma is beautiful

Four people share how the Rebbe impacted their lives. Even if they never met him.

@haivry @SamuelSokol chabad.org/therebbe/artic… Direct instructions from the Rebbe!

@ShalomGood Definitely above-the-fold news! Mazal tov!