From The Desk of Rabbi Yehuda - Chabad Lubavitch of Westport

The Perfect Combo!

Friday, July 31, 2026 - 10:00 AM

There’s nothing like a fresh start. Pristine, untainted and blissfully ignorant.

Except —there’s also nothing like the wisdom gained from experience. Tried and true, nuanced and focused.

Walking through Gan Izzy, one gets to see the “fresh start”, all over the place. Many firsts, many new experiences — in a warm and all-embracing setting. The potential and the future of Am Yisrael on full display!

Yet for there to be a future — there needs to have been a past. A past that endured, that built, that preserved and in turn shared it with the next generation.

We are consistently part of the past and a bridge to the future. As long as we preserve what has so painstakingly been preserved for millennia, the future is bright.

The greatest stumbling block of course is ego and Moses in this week’s Parsha warns his nation not to slip into the seemingly natural disposition of, “look at what I did; see how accomplished I am; it’s all because of me”. He speaks from experience and his nuanced and focused message is the result of decades of leading the Jewish nation.

Yet the Parsha doesn’t stop there and the key to maintaining healthy humility is also shared.

Thankfulness. Gratitude. Specifically as it manifests itself in “Grace After Meals” also known as Birchat Hamazon or Bentching.

A simple paragraph composed by Moses himself recited after a meal, to thank the true source of the food, Gd, for his bountiful blessings.

Fast forward a few thousand years. The freshness of Judaism remains. The foundation of Judaism is stronger than ever. Ego may still be an issue — gratitude and thankfulness still the tonic.

Is it cliche to say “Am Yisrael Chai?

Hardly! A quick stroll around Gan Izzy will resoundingly reinforce it and for that I’m profoundly thankful.

Am Yisrael Chai!!!

With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yehuda & Dina Kantor

The Morning AFter

Friday, July 24, 2026 - 10:00 AM

The mourning after.

It’s not a typo — yesterday was the saddest day on the Jewish calendar ( Tisha B’av) but today is the morning after and life, as ordained by Jewish wisdom, continues vigorously.

I walked through camp yesterday, stomach rumbling and all (it was a fast day) yet what I experienced was the antithesis to what one would think the day represents.

Rebuilding. Life. Energy. Future.

I observed a large amount of children engaged in a project with LEGO collectively building the very edifice that we were mourning the destruction of. Hardly a day of mourning — the greatest display of rebuilding!

The physical edifice of the Temples destroyed yet the heart and soul of the Jewish nation pumping stronger than ever!

Jewish life today, does have some challenges to be sure — that is the definition of Exile. The lack of revelation and dominion that exists in times of redemption.

Yet even then, the soul of the Jew can’t be extinguished. The physical edifice, perhaps — the essential core, never!

The mo(u)rning after. It’s morning. It’s fresh. Full of hope and potential. All it takes is U.

You see, Jewish life is vibrant because of all of us. We’ve survived the millennia due to the collective efforts of the entire Jewish nation. Each of us contributing another piece of LEGO on the proverbial structure of Jewish life.

Microcosmically too — each mitzvah we do, irrespective of what we don’t do — adds another piece of LEGO so to speak, to the individual quest and mission that we each individually have in this world.

It follows then, that a fitting morning after resolution is — to add one more mitzvah to our lives. Another mitzvah to our routines. Another Shabbos celebration, Mezuza or Torah podcast — each act truly rebuilding the Third Temple — may we merit the rebuilding speedily in our days, amen!

With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yehuda & Dina Kantor

How?

Friday, July 17, 2026 - 10:00 AM

I recently noticed that the word “how” and “who” have the same letters yet very different meanings.

Apparently, linguistically, the word “who” is used more frequently — yet the word “how” is more associated with change.

The how to get something done or to move forward, far more pivotal than the “who did it” that so often gets associated with blaming or relying on another.

Moses in this week’s Parsha asks the “how” or in the original wording “eicha”— when questioning of Gd, regarding the overwhelming burden of leadership.

The response was fast in coming — set up courts of law, delegate judicial decisions and empower a subset of leaders to shoulder the burden.

How as a catalyst for change. How as a catalyst to take a step forward — opening ourselves up to the Divine blessing.

Next week we mourn the destruction of the two Temples that stood on Temple Mount — on the saddest day of the year, called Tisha B’av. We read of the book of Lamentations — called Megilat “Eicha”.

There we have it again, Eicha. The “how” that’s associated with life. The “how” that’s associated with challenging times.. the how in the most painful of times —the “how” that drives change, and it’s change that guarantees, future!!

Speaking of future — it’s all in the children — see here in photo form the tremendous future that we have here locally with the campers at Gan Izzy — Am Yisrael Chai!

With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yehuda & Dina Kantor

Life!

Friday, July 10, 2026 - 10:00 AM

The Journey of life.

It may sound cliche — but it’s hardly so. Life truly is a journey — many stops along the way. Each stop representing a significant moment in our life’s mission on this earth.

Though we love to see things in real time, at best, we get a mere glimpse of a deeper more transcendent plan — mostly recognizable in hindsight.

I was very moved recently when hearing of 100 year old holocaust survivor Kurt Marx, who read from the same Torah that he read from at his Bar Mitzvah, just two months before Kristallnacht.

“ When I read the same portion I read as a child, before my life was turned upside down, it felt as though all the years in between disappeared for a moment.”

“The remarkable reunion with the Sefer Torah began when Marx discovered an old document recording its arrival at a London synagogue in 1939”

Standing once again before the Sefer Torah from which he had read as a 13-year-old, Marx described the moment as far more than rediscovering a treasured object.

“It was restoring a living connection to my family, my community, and the world the Holocaust tried to destroy,” he said.”

A living connection. The Torah the connector. Generations melting away. Location irrelevant. The connector. The center of gravity. The beachhead. The Truth. The Torah!

As we traverse our journey some things travel with us. It merely requires cognizance and appreciation for them. It makes the journey all the more meaningful and ultimately enduring and eternal.

Walking through the halls of Gan Izzy and hearing the fun, the joy, the chants together with the wide array of exciting and creative activities, I know that what’s being created is way more than a fantastic summer; more than memories which too begin to fade at some point. Rather, It’s melting away the constraints of time and place — connecting us all to the past and creating a powerful future!

The journey. Many stops, many stages. Many choices, many challenges. Many memorable moments with many we’d love to forget. Yet most of all — it’s the story of our lives that continue to live on in perpetuity!

Am Yisrael Chai!

With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yehuda & Dina Kantor

P.S. We are looking for sponsors to help us make Gan Izzy even better. If you’d like to explore the opportunities that will bear fruit for generations to come — please email me. We’d love to hear from you! Or here’s a link for a quick donation to our effort — here.

Who Am I?

Friday, July 3, 2026 - 10:00 AM

Who am I?

The ultimate question that constantly accompanies every person, throughout their lives.

This week Gan Izzy started. It was an amazing week if only a little too hot.

Watching the carefree nature of the campers engaged in a plethora of activities and shows, is always gratifying. Yet it’s what’s “not” seen that’s the most gratifying.

Identity. It comes from the core and is then built upon. The more aligned the outer layer and behavior calibrates with the core — the stronger the identity becomes and the deeper joy in life is revealed.

“Because I’m a Jew, a proud one too” — these words echoing throughout the joyous walls of Gan Israel of Westport!

Yet it’s “not” what’s heard inside the walls that’s the most gratifying it’s what’s being developed and nurtured inside out of the camper’s that resonates. Resonates for generations that is!

Who am I?

Perhaps the answer can be found in the opening words of this week’s Parsha. The protagonist is Pinchas.

Who is Pinchas? The Torah tells us with detailed genealogy. He’s the son of Elazar who in turn is the son of Aharon the first High Priest. ( the brother of Moses)

So who is he? It seems circuitous to introduce his parents and his grandparents when introducing who he is.

The answer is simple. He will shortly display to us who he is. Yet it all begins way before he performs — it starts in his home. His parents and his grandparents, his environment — his nurture.

Today we celebrate America250. Though Australian, I feel hugely patriotic. America is simply a great country founded on Biblical principles as stated in the Declaration of Independence. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Incredible principles. Yet these principles are truest when we live our lives for who we are and what we represent!

Who am I?

“Because I’m a Jew, a proud one too”, the Gan Izzy campers know it and with that we can all rest assured that the future is bright — now let’s make sure we all know who we are!

An Yisrael Chai!!

With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yehuda & Dina Kantor