Notes

intro:
thank you.
Rabbi Akiva was Among the greatest of sages of all time. He was the son of converts and an unlearned shepherd. At the age of 40, at the insistence of his wife, he began studying Torah, and ultimately attracting over 24,000 students. one of the things rabbi akiva is most famously known for is what he said on the verse from last week's Torah portion," “'You shall love your fellow as yourself' that this is a major principle in Torah.”

over 1600 years later, the founder of the Chasidic movement, Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov added, saying that “A soul enters this world for seventy or eighty years just to do a favor for another”

to illustrate this concept, I would like to share with you a story that took place around 250 years ago.

the story:
in the midst of prayer on the night of Yom Kippur, the holiest time of the year.
Rabbi Shneur Zalman, also known as the Alter Rebbe, the founder of the Chabad movement, mysteriously took off his tails and left the synagogue, leaving all his Chassidim wondering where can he possibly be going in the middle of prayer?

so the alter rebbe was climbing deep into the woods, with a sack on his back, to chop down wood.

They later learned that he then proceeded to bring the firewood and the sack into the lonely little house at the end of the village, inside was lying an impoverished women who had just given birth that very day to her six child, and there was none else home to help her

No task was beneath this great Torah scholar as he created a blazing fire in the fireplace, unpacked the food and clothes from the sack, lovingly fed the children and left the woman with many kind and caring words.

the lesson for us:
the alter rebbe a great Torah scholar, in the holiest place, on the holiest day of the year, selflessly wn