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The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneersohn, encouraged everyone to celebrate their birthday “Jewishly,” and offered the following recommendations:
– Increase in charity before Shacharit and Minchah of your birthday. If your birthday takes place on Shabbat or on a Jewish holiday (when it is forbidden to handle money), the charity should be given before and after the Shabbat or holiday.
– All the daily prayers should be recited with increased intensity and concentration. Read at least one (of the five) books of Psalms on the birthday.
– Study the chapter of Psalms for your new year. This is your age plus one; i.e. if you are turning 32 (thus entering the 33rd year of life), you should study chapter 33. This chapter is also recited every day during the following year. Click here for a translated Book of Psalms along with Rashi’s commentary.
– Add an extra study session, both in the revealed part of Torah and in Chassidut.
– Study (by heart, if possible) a Chassidic discourse (or part thereof), and deliver its message to your friends on the birthday or at the earliest appropriate occasion. The Seudah Shlishit of the following Shabbat is an auspicious time to observe this custom.
– On this day, attempt to increase your positive influence on others – sharing Torah and Chassidut with fellow Jews.
– Sometime in the course of the day, seclude yourself in a private area and make a general reckoning of the past year. Resolve to correct those areas which require improvement, and make productive resolutions for the upcoming year.
– Resolve to be more meticulous in the observance of a particular Mitzvah during the course of the upcoming year.
– Arrange a joyous gathering (“party”) with friends, family and acquaintances, and publicly thank G-d for all He has given you.
– It is recommended to eat a new fruit1 on the birthday. This allows you to recite the Shehecheyanu blessing on your special day.
– For men: Receive an Aliyah on the Shabbat before your birthday (unless the birthday is on the Shabbat itself, in which case you would receive the aliyah on your birthday). If the birthday is on a day when the Torah is read, such as Monday, Thursday or Rosh Chodesh, an aliyah should be received on that day as well.
This section is dedicated to Rebbitzin Chaya Mushka Schneersohn – wife of the Lubavitcher Rebbe – whose birthday is on the 25th of Adar. The Rebbe inaugurated his “birthday awareness campaign” on her birthday, shortly after her passing in 1988. May her saintly memory be a blessing for all.
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