First printing of the Zohar, the fundamental work of the Kabbalah (Jewish esoteric and mystical teachings), authored by the Talmudic sage, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.
Links: The Kabbalah
Av 20 is the yahrtzeit (anniversary of the passing) of the Lubavitcher Rebbe's father, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson (1878-1944), in Alma Ata, Kazakhstan. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak was Chief Rabbi of Yekaterinoslav (currently Dnepropetrovsk), and was arrested and exiled to Kazakhstan by the Stalinist regime as a result of his work to preserve Jewish life in the Soviet Union.
Links:
A Brief Biography
Rebbetzin Chana Scneerson's biography, which includes her account of her husband's heroism, arrest and passing.
Your soul is full of words, some inscribed, some engraved.
The words inscribed on your soul are like ink upon a page. They came to you from the outside, from life and its experiences. Eventually, they may fade and fall away, to be replaced by other words.
The words engraved are of the soul itself—just as engravings are no more than the form of the stone. When the soul finds quietude, those words are there. If the soul is in turmoil, or soiled by experience, those engravings need only be cleaned and uncovered. But they can never be torn away.
Those same words that are engraved in your soul are also engraved in a holy fire within the depths of the Soul of All Things. They are the words that Moses heard and inscribed on stone and on parchment. They are the words of the holy sages of Torah who found them within their own souls.
Immerse yourself in the words of Torah, allow them entry to touch your soul. Listen quietly, and you will hear those same engravings resonating within your soul.
