Chai [18] Elul , twelve days before Rosh Hashana, is the birth date of two of the greatest Jewish luminaries in the last three hundred years.
The Baal Shem Tov, founder of the entire chasidic movement was born on this date in 1698, and the Baal Tanya, founder of the Chabad school of chasidut, in 1745. It is also the date on which The Besht revealed the movement, in 1734.
This issue includes two articles of the Baal Shem Tov's teachings (1-2), two of the Baal Tanya's teachings (3-4) — both of which related to the holiday season we are in, a story that links both of them (7) and two about the weekly reading (5-6), where the opening thing is entering the Land of Israel.