Today,, exactly 333 years ago, a red-headed, bright-eyed baby cried for the first time. His mother was already weak, and his father was old and sickly - but the moment they saw him they knew. This was no ordinary baby. They named him Yisrael, after the nation itself. The man who will wake the nation up. He emerged into a broken world, full of Jews helpless in the face of constant pogroms and hopeless after they were scarred by a false Messiah. They believed that the only way to survive was to build a strict hierarchy within the community, and impenetrable walls around it. Illiterate tailors, coachmen, blacksmiths and fishermen won't keep Judaism alive. The sharp heads studying all day, even at the price of neglecting their families and their own bodies - they WILL. So they're on top. It's as simple as that. But Yisrael, the brave little orphan who didn't want to sit in the cheder all day and didn't fear the forest full of wild animals - knew that wasn't right. What if their minds were simply not built for studying? What if they never had anyone to teach them, or their parents never had the money to send them to a teacher? Why should they be treated as if their souls are any less pure, and their love for G-d any less burning? He decided it should change. Quiet, determined, standing out only because of his flaming red hair, he went from town to town in search of work. Eventually he found his place as a teacher's helper - giving the small children of that unfamiliar village everything he never had growing up. He woke them up with songs every morning, gathered them in his arms and told them stories, talking and singing all the way to the cheder and whenever the teacher wasn't around. But eventually he had to leave - the community didn't like his 'non-traditional' way of treating the young students. So he kept wandering. Young Yisrael became a Kabbalist - immersing himself in Jewish mysticism and the many mysteries of life, on this earth and beyond it. With guidance from older, well-furnished Kabbalists, or 'baalei shem' ('bearers of a name'), he became skilled in the art of curing people and removing evil spirits with nothing but holy names. In one of the villages he visited - always visiting, never settling - he fell in love with a young woman. She saw him once, and already realized there was something... different about him. His soul glowed through his bright eyes, shining on his face like divine sunlight. So when the stranger arrived at her house, with a written promise from her late father to give her to him - she agreed without a second thought. Her brother fought against it, but she didn't care. She recognized that she was standing before a holy man, even though her strict, square-headed brother was blind to it, and decided she will be his wife at any price. Wanting to hide his shame, the woman's brother told the couple that they had to leave the town and go live where there were no other Jews who could encounter them. Yisrael agreed immediately - that was exactly what he wanted. Peace and quiet to learn more and connect with G-d. His wife agreed too - she'll go wherever he goes. No questions.