From The Desk of Rabbi Yehuda - Chabad Lubavitch of Westport

The Peak Experience

Friday, May 30, 2025 - 10:00 AM

Peaks and valleys.

Real life— ups and downs..

Some of it can be controlled but oftentimes it can’t. Then there’s what do we do at the peak moment or in the valley for that matter…

Recently I saw footage from on top of Mount Everest of a group of climbers holding a sign that included the names of the victims of October 7th. Right there on top of the mountain — they said Kaddish.

Standing on top of Everest is a “peak” to say the least. Thinking of others at the peak, is an even higher peak.

Next week we celebrate Shavuot — the Festival when we received the Torah 3337 years ago. The location is Mount Sinai — the lowest of all mountains — clearly not the highest peak and as we are speaking of Gd’s choice — clearly the highest peak wasn’t the criteria.

Perhaps in reading the Torah’s narrative we glean some insight. “And G-d descended on Mt Sinai”. You see, mortals ascend journeying onwards and upwards — “Gd in turn descends” to meet us in our attempt —assisting us to reach an otherwise unattainable peak.

Sure the Torah could have been given on Everest or maybe an even higher mountain could have been produced, but then what?

The event was never about Gd, it was about us. It was about the relationship and mission entrusted to the Jewish nation that would and does require thoughtfulness, study and an effort to put our best foot forward with an eye to “ascending” triggering the chain reaction of Gd descending.

At the end of the day, it’s not about the location, it’s not about the peak or the valley — that’s merely the setting rather it’s about what we do and how we act when we are at the peak or in the valley, the rest Gd does!

With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yehuda & Dina Kantor

P.S. To take it out of the abstract — here are 2 real life opportunities to re-enact the receiving of the Torah. TORAH dedication ceremony June 1 — JOY- ISRAEL — FEAST and of course CONTINUITY— RSVP here.

Monday — Full on Shavuot dairy dinner buffet for the whole family — and an ice cream party for the kids HERE.

How Are You?

Friday, May 23, 2025 - 10:00 AM

Held hostage for 505 days in unfathomable conditions.

The mind stretches and the heart breaks trying to understand the depravity and magnitude of it all which is of course, unfathomable — and then….. in an interview…words of blinding light, angelic in nature, unbridled power — the soul of the Jew.

“I would literally sit and talk with G-d”, said Omer Shemtov. (Click here for video)

“You know how it is, everyone just asks things from Gd but don’t ask Him how He’s doing.

So I always started by asking are you ok father? What’s going on with You? How are You? How are You feeling?

Then I would first give him thanks. Thank You that I’m alive. Thank You that I’m breathing. Thank You for the food that I have. Thank You for everything that I have. Then I would start shooting my requests”.

A lesson in prayer to say the least. Perhaps an even greater lesson about gratitude.

Is there really something to thank Gd for, sitting in a dungeon deprived of sunlight, sustenance, hygiene and water? Apparently yes.

Closer to home. Do we begin to appreciate the magnitude of our blessings? Ongoing and unabated blessings that is…

How fortunate and blessed we all are, upon even mild reflection!

And then came his actual request of Gd..

“Father, put me on the right path. Help me get home in peace. Direct me. Give me strength. Take care of my family”.

Enlightening. Guiding. Perhaps a little bit sobering when compared to some of the prayers that make it to my list — amazingly inspiring.

The indomitable strength and spirit of the Jew. It has ensured our survival and vibrancy since the times of Abraham and Sarah. We all have it yet it can lay dormant when not nurtured.

Next week, we celebrate Shavuot — the Festival we received the Torah. It’s the source of our wisdom, discernment, sensitivity and survival. It’s a Festival that’s too easy to miss yet too critical to miss. It gives a time and a place that we truly became a nation — receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai — and from that time on we’ve cherished it, studied it, protected it and celebrated with it.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe campaigned that everyone, even little children should hear the reading of the 10 Commandments. For something to really resonate hearing it from the source —together with community — reengages the soul, the senses and ultimately the blessings!

With best wishes for Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yehuda & Dina Kantor

P.S. To actually welcome a new Torah into the Westport community — dedicated to all those who we lost on October 7th and in prayerful wishes for the return of all the remaining hostages — please JOIN US on June 1.

Lifeline!

Friday, May 16, 2025 - 10:00 AM

Last year upon returning from a mission to Israel I penned the words below.

It feels all the more timely now as we prepare to welcome a new Torah into the Westport community dedicated in memory of all the pure souls lost on and since October 7th!

We hope you’ll join in tribute — rsvp here.

——————

He fought like a lion! Ten of his friends weren’t as fortunate as him and they heroically died defending their base on October 7th.

Dolev told us his story as he was clutching a Torah that he saved on that fateful day. Amidst fighting for his life and those of his battalion, he saw a terrorist grab a Torah and run into the bushes to hide with it. Dolev eliminated that terrorist — and here he was holding onto that very Torah.

We were there on a Chabad solidarity mission and we had sponsored replacing the Torah cover that had gotten sullied — it was a small gesture but outsized in the experience — a life altering experience.

You see, the dancing that ensued was some of the most fervent, joyous, existential and uplifting expression of pure soul that I’ve ever experienced. We were dancing with the source of the Jewish nation’s strength, the Torah. We were dancing for our lives. Not that we were threatened rather it was “for our lives”. It was a dance that underscored the entire depth of our existence. It was a dance that encapsulated the enduring nature of Am Yisrael through thick and thin since Abraham and Sarah — we were dancing “for life”.

Dolev stood there clutching the Torah and wouldn’t let it go. The palpable emotion permeated every inch of the room and then the penny dropped. We were dancing the dance that was never danced on Simchat Torah October 7th, 2023 in Israel. Everyone was in bomb shelters, fighting for their lives or no longer able to dance. Yes, the joy of the Torah with the dancing that accompanies it on that most joyous day of the year, was being enacted right there in that very base that so many ” Kedoshim- holy souls” were snuffed out. It was being enacted by Dolev who was standing there elevated and elevating us all.

———-

Skip back to the current — on June 1 we will welcome a new Torah dedicated to all those we lost on and after October 7th. The significance is so powerful, for after all — Torah as the oxygen of the Jewish nation representing “eternal life” which has been bequeathed to the each of us and entrusted to us to cherish, celebrate and ultimately perpetuate!

We hope to see you RSVP here.

With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yehuda & Dina Kantor

Winds of Change

Friday, May 9, 2025 - 3:46 PM

One of the Divine gifts that life offers up is the ability to “change”.

One can change their mind, their opinion, their perspective, their behavior — it’s the Divine Gd gift that we are all endowed with. The ability to change…

Oftentimes we fight against changing as if we are perfected and complete products that require no enhancing, refining, upgrading or rectifying — choose the word that you’re comfortable with…

Yet, it’s precisely the gift of change that distinguishes the human race from other creations. Animals can be trained to be sure, yet they can’t change their inherent nature. Not so a human.

Next Monday we celebrate a one day replay of Passover called “Pesach Sheni” the second Passover. The ceremony of the day is limited to eating some matzah yet the message and symbolism is one that adds the cherry onto the top of the already gleaned message of freedom — that was imparted and imbibed over the Passover festival.

It is sourced in the Biblical story that come the first anniversary after the exodus and the Jewish nation unbeknownst to them are instructed to offer up the pascal offering just as they had the previous year at the actual exodus .

How were they to know that this would be instructed of them? Indeed they had no idea and this is exactly the complaint that a number of them who were ritually unfit to do so, complained of. They didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity and let Moses know their grievances.

Moses the fearless advocate approached Gd with this exact message questioning what was to be done. In a stroke of fortune the response was, exactly one month later they were to be gifted the opportunity to bring up the Pascal offering. A second chance if you will. The ability to create change despite lost opportunity and the Divine gift to ensure that what seems to be past tense isn’t actually in the rear view mirror after all!

With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yehuda & Dina Kantor

The Power of Workds

Friday, May 2, 2025 - 10:00 AM

Most of us can remember something painful someone said to us growing up—maybe a teacher who called you “lazy,” or a classmate who said you were “weird” or “ugly.” Even years later, those words stick. They shape how we see ourselves, often more deeply than we realize. Words don’t just hurt in the moment—they leave lasting imprints.

In a groundbreaking UCLA study, neuroscientist Naomi Eisenberger found that social pain—like exclusion or verbal humiliation—activates the same area of the brain as physical pain. That means being gossiped about or rejected literally hurts the same way a broken bone does.

The Torah understood this long before neuroscience caught up. In this week’s portion, Tazria, we learn about tzara’at—a physical sign of a spiritual wound caused by negative speech (lashon hara). The consequence? Separation from the community. The person who divided others with their words is made to dwell alone—not to shame them, but to help them experience the very isolation they caused, and to awaken the desire to return with humility and compassion.

In secular law, truth protects you from defamation. But in Jewish law, even true speech can be harmful if it serves no constructive purpose. Why? Because the goal isn’t to win arguments—it’s to preserve dignity. The Torah asks: not is it true, but is it necessary? Not can I say this, but should I?

The separation was not a life sentence. It was a spiritual timeout—a reset for the soul. When the speaker healed—body, mind, and spirit—they could return to the community not just restored, but elevated.

The Torah doesn’t punish to destroy—it isolates to transform. It doesn’t aim to silence—it invites us to speak with purpose. Because in Judaism, speech is sacred. Words shape reality. And when we use them to lift others, we rise with them.

In a world where so many feel cut off and unheard, there is no greater power than speech that reconnects. And no greater holiness than using our voice to heal, not harm.

Let’s speak like it matters—because it does.

Rabbi Yehuda & Dina Kantor

P.S. Today’s column was not written by me, however, it says it all and rings so powerfully!