Photo Credit: Jewish Press

When you shiver, it’s the first sign you are getting cold. In Yiddishkeit, cold is the ultimate danger. When you are warm and passionate, you bring life and joy to your avodas Hashem, and express it in Ahavas Yisrael. When you are cold, the opposite happens.

Our eternal battle with Amalak began when “Asher karcha baderech,” when they cooled us down on the way.

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We must never allow ourselves to be cold to Torah, or to our fellow Jew.

So a shiver is a call to action.

There are two ways to react to being cold: 1) Put on a coat to warm up. 2) Light a fire to warm up the room.

In today’s day and age, the coat is no longer an option.

In the aftermath of the European Churban, The Rebbes had a revolutionary vision, to bring the warmth of Yiddishkeit to every Jew all over the world. The Rebbe sent shluchim to be a source of warmth and encouraged every person who came to him to do the same.

In the aftermath of the October 7 Pogrom, it’s only natural to shiver as we think of the evil acts of the Hamas Nazis, yemach shemam.

But that shiver must be followed up with lighting the greatest fire the world has ever seen, so that warmth reaches every single Jew, and spans the globe.

The time for coats is over. Let’s warm away the golus.


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Rabbi Shlomo Litvin is a Chabad rabbi and director of the Jewish Student Center at the University of Kentucky. A national advocate combatting antisemitism, he is a prolific writer and educator with many leadership roles including chairman of the Kentucky Jewish Council. He writes across social media at @BluegrassRabbi.