Perhaps one of the more striking themes one notices when learning Gemara is the insistence to properly credit statements and ideas to their originators.

A 🧵on plagiarism in Jewish law and scholarship. "Rabbi Zerika said that Rabbi Ami said that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said . . ." Berachot 3b.

Sentences like this one--from the Talmud's second page--are found thousands of times throughout the Gemara.

In this example, the effort to give proper credit goes three persons back.

Just read that Eliezer Ben Yehuda—the founder of modern Hebrew—was born to a Chabad Chassidic family. Both his wives (sisters Devora and Hemda), also grew up in a Chabad family.

Added to the list of rather unexpected Jewish figures who grew up in Chabad. Perhaps one of the more unusual figures in this list is Solomon Schechter, the founder of American Conservative Judaism.

Solomon grew up in a Chabad family in Romania. His Hebrew name was Shneur Zalman and was named after the Alter Rebbe of Chabad.

“The Haskamah you wrote for my Sefer Hatanya gave me much encouragement.

“That very night, I saw you & the Magid of Mezritch in a dream.

“The Magid told you: Leibine, I tell you that Zalman’s Sefer is Torah from the upper Gan Eden.”

— Alter Rebbe to R Yehuda Leib HaKohen, 1796 This letter is from a collection of over 300 letters and manuscripts discovered in 1918, known as the “Cherson Geniza”.

While some scholars claimed these letters to be a forgery, the Chabad Rebbes remained steadfast in their position that these were copies of original letters.

🧵On R Shlomo Carlebach's tumultuous relationship with Lubavitch:

Born to a German Rabbinic family, Shlomo first encountered Lubavitch when his father brought him & his brother Elya Chaim to the Frierdiker Rebbe in 1936.

Sitting on each side of the FR, he blessed them: "May you be Chassidic Jews. Not German Boys."

“Be sure to sleep with your Tzitis at night, and remember to bentch from a Siddur."

Years later Shlomo said he still sleeps with his Tzitzis, though often forgets to bentch from Siddur.

Pictured, The FR & the Rebbe at the time.

In honor of @netanyahu’s birthday, here’s a little thread about the warm and strong relationship between Netanyahu & the Lubavitcher Rebbe:

Simchat Torah 1984, as the packed hall prepared to begin Hakafot, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, approached the Rebbe. Netanyahu: I came to see you.

Rebbe: Only to see? Not to talk?

The Rebbe must have seen something in Bibi, & a 40 min conversation ensued:

Rebbe: You’re serving in the UN. It’s a house of darkness & lies. But even in the darkest places, a little candle can be seen from afar.