From The Desk of Rabbi Yehuda - Chabad Lubavitch of Westport

Thank-FULL

Friday, November 28, 2025 - 10:00 AM

Truth and goodness endure. By definition it must be so. If not, it’s clearly not truth nor the essence of good.

Yesterday I received the following email for Thanksgiving — it’s as true today as it was yesterday and so too tomorrow. Yet how many of us will just move on and won’t adequately think of this for 364 days. Which of course is self defeating…

Here’s the email:

Happy Thanksgiving. As we gather with family and friends, we want to share how deeply grateful we are for each of you. Our community is a blessing in our lives, a place where camaraderie, friendship, faith, and unity come together in the most uplifting way, especially during these challenging times for the Jewish people and for Israel. The strength we draw from one another is something we treasure every single day.

To be a Jew is to live with gratitude. The very word Jew comes from the word that means thankfulness. Our day begins with the simple but profound words we are grateful, reminding us that gratitude is not just a feeling, it is an identity. We thank God for life, for health, for the blessings that fill our homes, and also for the purpose He entrusts to us. Every day carries a mission. Every day is an opportunity to bring more light into the world.

There is a prayer that every Jew begins the day with: מוֹדֶה אֲנִי לְפָנֶיךָ מֶלֶךְ חַי וְקַיָּם שֶׁהֶחֱזַרְתָּ בִּי נִשְׁמָתִי בְּחֶמְלָה רַבָּה אֱמוּנָתֶךָ. In English, it means, We are grateful to You, living and eternal King, for returning our soul to us with great compassion, Your faithfulness. The Lubavitcher Rebbe explained that these last words are not about our faith in God, but about God's faith in us. The fact that we wake up in the morning, that we breathe, that we open our eyes, is a sign that God trusts us with another day. God believes that we will use it with meaning, purpose, and goodness.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving, we want you to know how thankful we are for our community and for the light each of you brings to the world. May this day fill your homes with warmth, joy, and gratitude. Wishing you and your loved ones a meaningful and happy Thanksgiving.

That was the email. Today as yesterday it resonates. Tomorrow as today it will hopefully resonate — for after all giving thanks is an ideal and a way of life every day of our lives!!

Starring Role!

Friday, November 14, 2025 - 10:00 AM

It’s not always clear who the star in a show is.

Each show has multiple actors and scenes and whilst there are starring roles — the star of the show is the one that stands out the most.

In life — the star of the show is “you”. Each person plays the starring role in their life and despite different metrics to evaluate value — the value of each person is 💯 the same.

In this week’s Parsha we read of the marriage of Isaac & Rebecca. It’s a critical part of the journey and perpetuation of the Jewish nation which remains as critical as ever.

Yet what strikes the eye is the unique role displayed by the “Shadchan / matchmaker”, Eliezer. Abraham entrusted him with the role of finding a suitable bride for his son and instructs him to spare no cost. Eliezer follows his instructions to the tee. He embarked on the mission with one goal in mind and success followed him in a miraculous way.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe points out that stories in the Torah are instructions for how to live our lives. Each of us being an Eliezer in the sense that we each have a unique opportunity to fuse the physical and spiritual elements of life. The ability to utilize the physical for elevated and spiritual purposes.

In this parallel, it’s Gd that’s sending us on a mission and together with this mission he provides the resources and capabilities to achieve this!

This week is the International Conference of Chabad Rabbis. There are many thousands of us in every conceivable locale who converge on Brooklyn to share and inspire one another. Each of us sent and empowered by the Rebbe to our respective communities.

In gathering together, there is representation of the majority of world Jewry —of millions of “stars of the show”, in a nation that has endured the worst but produced the best — shining stronger and stronger each day!

Humble and Stumble

Friday, November 7, 2025 - 10:00 AM

I saw a great staying the other day, ”humble yourself or life will do it for you”.

I’m not sure why I stumbled on this saying — perhaps it was a sign…no doubt it was!

We read one of the most powerful dialogues in the Torah this week, between our Forefather Abraham and Gd. It was more of a bargaining from Abraham in defense of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, just prior to G-d destroying these towns.

Abraham put forth a vigorous defense but preceded his bold words by saying, “I am but dust and ashes”. In other words, I am unworthy of approaching and arguing, for who am I to challenge you Gd? Yet then he does.

“I am but dust and ashes”. Humble yet inspired. Humble yet powerful. Abraham uses those same Divine traits of compassion and justice —gleaned from non other than Gd and so inherent in following Gd’s ways —to defend and challenge what was about to unfold.

Humility isn’t weakness. It’s the recognition that it’s not about you. Even undertaking a worthy cause or defending what one perceives to be a worthy cause requires humility. If a noble cause lacks humility it’s just a manifestation of ego and emptiness encased in a fancy wrapping.

Abraham, the epitome of “dust” like behavior, was also promised that his progeny would be like the dust of the earth. “So that if one could count the dust of the earth then your descendants also will be countable”.

Yes, an inherent trait of the Jewish nation is one of humility. It’s also one of being humbled unfortunately. Yet one thing is certain — the Gd of Israel neither sleeps nor slumbers. International pressure, baseless accusations, silence, eloquence, double standards or blatant disregard of the eternal connection of the Jewish nation to the land of Israel — really doesn’t change a thing for after all our existence is one that is woven into the very fabric of the world — for blessing.

“I will bless those that bless you and those who curse you will be cursed — and all the families of the earth will be blessed through you”.

With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom,