From The Desk of Rabbi Yehuda - Chabad Lubavitch of Westport

Imprint and Impact!

Friday, September 19, 2025 - 10:00 AM

This Shabbat is the last Shabbat of the Jewish year.

Some get nostalgic, others relieved yet others wistful. After all, the last of anything represents time gone-by.

Time flows. Each moment indistinguishable from the next. Sort of like a clear liquid each drop identical to the other.

It is up to each of us to seize the moment — personalize and shape the contours and shades of time.

Time is opportunity. Time is potential. Time is G-d given. Time is a gift!

Ultimately, time isn’t indistinguishable one moment from the other — for we get to define it. We must not allow time to define us. We create the distinction. Each moment is “so” different from the next. Laden with potential and purpose!

Each of us has a unique mission in the world. It is near to us yet not immediately clear to us. It involves thought, speech and most of all action. We live in a world of “deed”. Actions as prescribed in the Torah by no less than the “creator of time” -- is what distinguishes one moment from the other and leaves our distinct fingerprint.

Achieving our mission begins with internalizing and accepting that we are here for a purpose and our effect in this world can only be achieved by us —no one else can do it.

When 5785 concludes we are renewed with further purpose and potential as time spirals upwards defined by us -- in an effort to make this physical world a vessel to reflect the transcendent purpose of life!

With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom & warm wishes for a Shana Tova,

Rabbi Yehuda & Dina Kantor

Baking challah with 220+ woman a few days before the Jewish New Year is special beyond words! Thank you @sivanskitchen for such a beautiful night! It was unforgettable.

Shana Tova • May the blessings and sweetness flow into your homes!

Thank you for setting up the room so beautifully ❤️

Melissa Rutstein, Nogah, Rachel Dymond, Kim Stern, Carly Ridloff, Vanessa Citak

And a big Thank you to our table captains!

Lauren Kaplan, Julie Weiss, Melissa Rutstein, Chelsea Elkind, Marissa Saporta, Celia Offir, Jamie Beyda, Melissa Shein, Sarah Lipsker, Nogah, Jodi Gordon, Leslie Wolf Steiger, Danielle Shemmesh, Dori Bomback

We could have not done it without you all!!!!!

Scroll down for photos!

What’s The Point?

Friday, September 12, 2025 - 10:00 AM

Glass half full or half empty?

Brilliant! Literally dozens of times a day — this concept comes into play.

The rationalist will say, “but of course, both are true” — and promptly miss the point.

You see, half full is a focus on what is. That half is fully there and indeed there is no lacking.

This mindset is particularly important as we wrap up the year 5785, making way to usher in the New Year.

As all audits go — if you dig down deep enough you’ll find whatever you want. Oy vey. All the things that didn’t happen. All the broken dreams, the setbacks, the frustrations; not to name the people that disappointed or unsettling world events — the world is spinning out of control.

And yet the truth is quite the opposite. Personal milestones, simchas, financial windfalls, children’s achievements, personal growth and the satisfying results of helping another and the list goes on.

The funny thing is, challenges can all be put under one umbrella. One word can sum it all up. Call it Tzores, call it problems call it whatever you want. One word will suffice.

Yet for good things it’s foolhardy to lump it all under one umbrella because each good thing that happens leads to something enduring, empowering — more good is sure to result of it.

It can be dramatic like a new house, a new job, a new grandchild, or less dramatic yet equally and perhaps more dramatic just recognizing the plethora of blessings and beauty that we’re all graced with. A sunrise, a loving family, a warm and welcoming community, a fully stocked fridge — the gift of children, the list continues to flow.

And as you focus on the list flowing — you’ll notice it’s not the only thing flowing for indeed —the cup runneth over.

Half full or half empty? Neither!

May 5786 bring yet greater recognition of our respective and collective blessings and may we continue to strengthen and bless one another with a Shana Tova Umetuka!!

With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yehuda & Dina Kantor

P.S. If you’re looking for a place for inspiring and family friendly High Holiday services / experience — consider joining us. Without gloating — I think it’s pretty good . Here.

P.P.S. We all look for G-d’s charity. One way to inspire it is to give extra charity. Please consider Chabad as a recipient — not amount is too large or too small — HIGH HOLIDAY DONATIONS HERE.

Mazal Tov to Miri and Tzvi Dubrawsky on the birth of their daughter Asya. May they have tremendous nachas as the watch her flourish and blossom!!

Mindfulness!

Friday, September 5, 2025 - 10:00 AM

Conscious living in Judaism is a must!

Rote, passivity and mindlessness the enemy.

How else to recognize the absolute torrent of blessings in our lives and the beauty of the world that surrounds us? How else to see the hand of Gd in every breath we breathe and the miraculous nature of life itself?

I’m amazed at times at how much I miss. Not to speak of technology that’s doing a brilliant job of making the art of mindlessness look like a virtue.

Yet I digress. Perhaps I just fell onto the useless path of complaining about all the problems and challenges that’s inherent in life — regardless of which era we live in. That’s hardly “mindfulness”.

So there you have it. Mindlessness versus mindfulness. One is “less” and the other is “full”.

As in everything in life — it’s a choice… of course there are excuses why it’s not really a choice but that too is a choice…

How did I get into this topic? Well, it’s because in this week’s Torah portion it speaks of the agricultural mitzvah of leaving sheaves of wheat to the poor “if” one forgets to collect them. In other words — it happened for a reason, it now belongs to the poor. This, despite sudden memory that you forgot to reap and collect a portion of your field. Too late…

My bad you may be thinking. But the truth is, it’s actually-- my good..You see, at the end of the day, mindfulness has its limitations because it becomes all about “me”. What I remember. What I observe. How I feel.

Important as that is — life needs to transcend that! There’s a vast universe out there that extends way beyond our control. To tap into it however, we need to let go. We need to recognize that smothering life and trying to control it all holds back the full effect of our lives on the greater world.

In ways that’s what the preparatory month before the High Holiday's is all about — letting go. Leave the sheaves behind don’t try to gather it all in for yourself. It is forgotten and forlorn for a reason.

Torah’s wisdom? Count your blessings and then move on and move forward. Amen!

With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom & warm wishes for a Shana Tova,

Rabbi Yehuda & Dina Kantor

P.S. High Holidays is a time for Tzedaka / Charity. Many places to give and many causes -- We will be so appreciative if you make Chabad of Westport one of the recipients --Donate Here