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92NY’s Goldman Center for Children and Family provides an exceptional array of programs designed to support children at every stage of their development.
at The 92nd Street Y, New York. Supported by The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity
Nov 05, 1987
Why did he choose, in spite of the advocacy of important Hasidim, not to succeed his father, the Maggid? Why did he choose to embrace the spiritual path of asceticism, which stood opposite to the path of joy espoused by the Baal Shem Tov, by his father, the Maggid, and by Hasidism generally? To be the son of a great father was difficult. So he had to free himself from his father, to follow his own path, in order to admire his father even more. His intense focus on the spiritual had him yearn to leave the confines the material world—which he did at age 36. And even the short span of time he lived in this world came because his remarkable second wife interceded with heaven to grant “the Angel” more years than he was originally allotted. His unique path reminds us that God is at the center of all questions: Rabbi Abraham the Angel once whispered, “Master of the Universe, if one could imagine this world for one second without your intervention and presence, what good would it do us? . . . Who needs the resurrection of the dead, if you are not present in our life? Without you, Master of the Universe, how could anything else be?”
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