The Baal Shem Tov, or Besht —  the founder of Chasidism — 
met the soul of the Messiah during an ascent to heaven. 
The Besht asked him, "When will the Master come?" 
The Messiah answered, "When your wellsprings break forth to the outside!" 
(from a letter written by the Besht to his brother-in-law about one of his soul ascents) 

Grace Paley

Grace Paley died August 25 2007 in Thetford VT. She was an extraordinary woman, teacher, and truthteller. I spent time with her at Bread and Puppet's "Domestic Resurrection Circus" in Glover VT, at Dartmouth, and in other crossings of the progressive, activist and Jewish worlds of New England . This was all back before I left New England to go to rabbinical school (she wrote me one of my recommendations). She was a presence to be reckoned with: her humor was overwhelming and delicious, her frankness was both bracing and loving. May her memory and writing continue inspire others to see the truth in our circumstances and the humor of existence.

Read an interview with Grace Paley from Poets & Writers

Design in progress © Rabbi David Mevorach Seidenberg 2006