The Beyond Meaningful Relationships – Relationshipful Meaning series at the kloiz meets on Wednesday nights at 8^pm EDT.

If you missed anything or just want to join mid-stream, there are always the posts in The Kloiz Aspaqlaria category, which has recordings of any chaburos you may have missed from earlier meetings!

Wednesday night (August 10^th, 2022) we completed our study of both versions of Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe’s essay Olam haYedidus. In it Rav Wolbe recorded a shiur he gave to a non-observant audience who were interested in Judaism about its fundamentals. To Rav Wolbe, the fundamental idea of Judaism is to build an Olam haYadidus, a World of Affection. Starting with the relationship a Jew has with Hashem, then how that creates a community of caring among Jews, one of peace and unity between Jews and other peoples, and our responsibilities to the world as a whole. And how this whole structure underlies halakhah, illustrating examples from various mitzvos.

Olam haYedidus concludes with a discussion of zarus (estrangement) and akhzarius (cruelty, which Rav Dessler explains as a contraction of akh-zariyus – an extreme estrangement). Our alienation from other people, from G-d and even our “need” to stay busy and never have to build a relationship with ourselves.

Something to think about when singing “Mah yedidus menukhaseikh — How much affection inheres in your rest!” at the Shabbos table!

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Next week the Beyond Meaningful Relationship – Relationshipful Meaning chavurah starts our study of Rav Dessler’s Qunterus haChessed from Mikhtav meiEilyahu vol I, printed in two parts — pp. 32-51 and pp. 140-145. (Rabbi Aryeh Carmell, who redacted the Rav Dessler’s letters into book form, has translated these sections as “Discourse on Lovingkindness” in Strive for Truth, his translation of volumes I and II of Mikhtav meiEliyahu.)

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Go to http://thekloiz.aishdas.org for links to the Zoom room, a link to join the WhatsApp group, to recordings of past shiurim, and the other posts like this one.

The resource sheet with both versions of Rav Shlomo Wolbe’s essay “Olam haYedidus” is on Sefaria at https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/405067

My translation of the magazine version is available at https://aspaqlaria.aishdas.org/media/RWolbesWorld.pdf