From The Desk of Rabbi Yehuda - Chabad Lubavitch of Westport

Shabbat Shalom - Living Happily Ever…. Shabbat Shalom & Chag Sameach

Friday, April 18, 2025 - 10:00 AM

And they lived happily ever after…

The longer one lives the more one understands that’s only a line in a fairy tale book.

Living happily after — requires faith, purpose and gratitude. All traits that are attainable but require effort.

Let’s talk Passover. The Jewish nation were taken from Egypt by Gd’s outstretched arm. A week later they face a tremendous challenge. The Sea of Reeds lays in front of them with the Egyptian army and people— riddled with regret for allowing the great emancipation— in hot pursuit.

That is hardly a “living happily ever after” moment. Ouch. Intense pressure. Debilitating anxiety. Discord. If two Jews provide 3 opinions — one can only imagine how many differing opinions amongst the fledgling nation presented at that time. The pressure was beyond intense…

Amazingly, I read of Eliya Cohen, hostage for 505 days, who pilgrimaged to Jerusalem earlier this week to join the mammoth twice annual event of Kohens offering up the Kohanic blessing at the Western Wall / Kotel. Many thousands flock there but for Eliya it was his first visit to the kotel since his release mere months ago.

I think of him offering up the prayer that essentially is the Divinely granted power bestowed upon a Kohen to “bless others”. Sure, it sounds easy and the photo portrays him enjoying himself. Yet think for a moment — having been held captive for 505 days without food, hygiene, shackled without mobility not knowing what the next moment would bring, there are alot of personal things that need tending to. I think of the emotional and psychological trauma Eliyahu must be dealing with. Yet there he is chanting and bestowing onto others ..

“May Hashem bless you and safeguard you. May the Almighty shine his countenance upon you and be gracious to you. May G-d lift his countenance upon you and give you peace.”

Living happily ever after — requires faith, purpose and gratitude. All traits that are attainable but require herculean effort.

As we approach the last days of Passover this is the theme, moving forward despite challenge, adversity and fatigue. It’s about Living happily, purposefully and Jewishly. For after all, leaving Egypt is merely the beginning of the story. What becomes of it is now the focus.

Indeed, the very decision to move forward, in and of itself requires faith purpose and gratitude. A wider perspective on what life is all about.

Eliya - Gd bless his soul — did it with class. He gives great example of the nature of the indomitable spirit of the Jewish nation. It’s how we got here only to have ball passed to each of us — it’s our turn and we can do it. We need only the resolve and sense of purpose and then all is possible.

For the Jews that left Egypt the sea split at the Sea of Reeds. We celebrate this on the seventh day of Passover ( Friday night —Sunday night) because we know it’s not a story of the past it’s the ongoing life of the Jewish nation. The sea continues to split for us and we are here to move forward with strength! Am Yisrael Chai!!

With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom & Chag Sameach,

Rabbi Yehuda & Dina Kantor

P.S. Passover finishes on Sunday night at 8:23pm at which time Chametz is no longer restricted. (Give 30 mins for your Chametz to be purchased back.)

P.P.S. YIZKOR ON SUNDAY — check out your synagogue schedule. At Chabad it’ll be approx 9:50am — YIZKOR donations here.

The Ultimate Mosaic

Friday, April 11, 2025 - 10:00 AM

It’s on all of our minds. The Hostages……

There’s no way to shake it. It’s unfathomable.

Yet, we sit down to the Seder. We’ve done so for thousands of years. Is there anything else in this world that has been preserved and is as alive as the Jewish nation are?

Let’s pause here for a second. It’s not a btw question — it’s a reflection!! One so powerfully true that it’s difficult to wrap our intellectual minds around.

We have museums. We have fossils. We have excavations and relics; in today's day and age we even have methods to clone from DNA which although amazing, just reinforces that we’re dealing with has been and for the moment is no longer. Judaism however, is, has and will be — in a manner that no-thing else on this planet can boast.

That’s the Seder’s purpose. Someone pointed out that a simple 5 minute game of broken telephone can distort a message yet Judaism has been preserved, cherished and ultimately grown in strength, despite the herculean challenges and the test of time— truly miraculous.

Is it? Is it truly a miracle? Is it self serving to say this?

No. It’s true and I say it with pride. Our ancestors worked hard, sweat and literal blood as do we — each in our own way and we deeply desire that our children continue.

Enter the Seder…….

We simulate with detail, servitude and then exodus. It’s historic but oh so current. Replace Egypt with other cultures and foreign elements clashing and providing the greatest challenges to our existence — the proverbial Egypt. Yet don’t stop on that depressing point. Think but then “speak” to your Seder table about the next chapter. Our survival. Our existence. Our love for who we are, the people of Israel, the land of Israel and the reverence we feel when we see the Torah scroll.

The Seder…

Last week in Israel we visited “The Resilience Center”, in Ofakim — a town hit terribly on October 7, mourning the loss of many and now dealing the trauma that has affected a high proportion of the residents there.

Hanging at the entrance of the center is a mosaic. It was a collaborative activity and therapy for the residents of Ofakim. Mosaic therapy shares a message of hope and recovery. It’s the act of bringing together fragments and shards repurposed to create something new and meaningful. The mosaic…

That’s it!! The mosaic. The Jewish nation. Pieces. Each of us a piece. Each Jew throughout the ages a piece. Our own shape. Graceful or broken, worn or fresh, a piece.

A mosaic. Creating a beautiful and miraculous result. With tears, laughter, love, longing and yes, pain too — a mosaic. Our mosaic. The Jewish nation!

We’ll sit down at the Seder and we’ll tell the story. You’ll tell the story, they’ll tell the story, our ancestors on high will tell the story — together the ultimate and eternal mosaic. G-d’s mosaic!!

Please, Almighty on High, bring immediate salvation and freedom to your people Israel and send us the righteous Moshiach speedily — AMEN!

Rabbi Lau's Prayer for the Hostages at the Passover Seder.

Rabbi Yehuda & Dina Kantor

Freedom

Friday, April 4, 2025 - 10:00 AM

Freedom. We aspire to it. We fight for it. Yet do we live it?

Earlier this week, as part of the annual men’s mission to Israel, we had dinner with Or Levy; hostage for 491 days chained for the majority of this time.

It’s not hard to imagine that we all felt the full gamut of emotions. It was essentially a joyous evening with a tremendous insight into the indomitable spirit of the nation of Israel. At times, I felt like my grandmother obm — as I passed food dishes Or’s way, concerned that he wasn’t eating enough and possessing an intense pride for a dear brother that ran deeper than words can express.

He didn’t know his wife was killed as he was taken captive and in totality his son had lived longer in this world not knowing him. That was his return to “freedom”.

Freedom takes many shapes. It’s easy to imagine Or’s glorious moment of freedom, somewhat more difficult to define freedom for ourselves in a democratic country with rights and freedoms.

Are we truly free with all our vices and addictions? Can we honestly shout about freedom when our opinions are largely formed by all sorts of media and agenda driven outlets or our inner fears that steal our ability to rationally think? Let’s face it, the definition of freedom requires real reflection.

I grew up pondering the Mishnaic wisdom that true freedom is one who studies Torah. How? When? So many restrictions in all facets of life — hardly a definition of freedom. Perhaps the contrary.

Experience has illuminated however, the truth of this statement. You see, freedom isn’t the ability to do whatever you want, whenever you want. That’s animalistic —not freedom. Freedom is the ability to choose how to live your “purpose” in life. Purpose isn’t what we choose. It’s not what we create. Rather, it’s what we tap into. Or levy didn’t choose to be a hostage, he did choose how to react to his circumstance. As he smiled and joked with us, not for one second was I fooled by his facade. We were sitting with a man in pain. Deep grief. Shattered dreams and irreversible psychological effects. Yet he was smiling— he was “free” to choose how to react to it all.

The study of Torah isn’t merely about knowing the laws or cynically about controlling our lives. It’s about connecting with our souls, our essence — transcending our physical selves which is limited, thereby attaining our true essential self. In other words “freedom”; connecting with our purpose.

Earlier this week we sat with a released hostage. Next week we sit at the Passover Seder with our families celebrating what our ancestors celebrated for thousands of years — “freedom”. We are here as a people despite adversity with an indisputably miraculous journey.

The Seder is an opportunity for us all to share a message of depth with our families — a captive audience eagerly awaiting the upcoming feast.

What will be your message? Think now or forever hold your… or is it freedom?

Rabbi Yehuda & Dina Kantor

P.S. As we prepare for Passover it’s a big mitzvah to provide for those who can’t afford to celebrate — join the pre Passover Tzedaka drive — Maot Chittim — it’ll enhance your celebration.

Younger and Getting Younger!

Friday, March 28, 2025 - 10:00 AM

I’m writing this from Jerusalem on the 23rd annual men’s mission — it never gets old.

Ironically, there’s virtually no city out there that is as old as Jerusalem so it may seem like an odd expression.

Yet the facts are — as old as it is — it’s as fresh and vibrant as could be.

Earlier today we went to the recently opened National Library of Israel. So much chronicled history, books, artifacts and manuscripts to be found there — yet it was the evocative description of the guide that caught my attention.

“We are a living library”. Bingo!

Jewish life isn’t history. It’s current. Jewish scholarly works aren’t bound books they are Divine wisdom studied, wrestled over but ultimately lived. Life in Israel isn’t mere existence it’s living purposefully.

To be sure, it’s been both an exhilarating week and an emotional one. We’ve celebrated and commiserated in a country that never gets old and in many ways gets younger.

At the end of the day, physical age aside, it’s the vibrancy and vitality of each of our “living libraries” that ensure that the enduring and miraculous nature of Jewish life gets younger and stronger — Am Yisrael Chai!

With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Yehuda & Dina Kantor

P.S. We’ve been distributing funds to different needs and causes — to join the collective Westport Tzedakah fund in Israel — click here.

Totally Confused!

Friday, March 14, 2025 - 10:00 AM

You’ve seen it but do you feel it?

There’s a huge disparity between what we know and how we feel which extends to what we feel and what we do about it.

It’s really counterintuitive. One would assume it’s like changing gears. Knowledge creates feeling which in turn compels action.

If only it was so simple. Or perhaps it is so simple!

Purim — yes Purim (mistakenly thought of as a child’s holiday ) is the Holiday that shakes it all up. Turns the regular order of things on its head removing lethargy and dependency on predictable order.

The actual historical story reads better than a novel — twists and turns, intrigue and suspense, galore. The only thing is, it’s not someone else’s story it’s actually our story — better yet — it’s our cue to shake ourselves out of our intellectual rut. To suspend regular order just as our ancestors did as they recognized and connected with the higher order of life.

Indeed intellect doesn’t play a role on Purim just as our survival can’t be rationally and intellectually explained. We dress up not to conceal the real us rather to reveal the real us. For after all, we aren’t our dress and we aren’t all those masks that we put in front of ourselves the whole year around.

Come to think of it, perhaps it’s all year round that we are dressing up!

Mixed up? Great — that’s the point. G-d runs the world. We intellectually know that but Purim tells us “shake it up”, don’t get caught in your own web of intransigence. Feel it. Do something about it.

Don’t feel it? Well, celebrate it you will be one step closer to feeling for sure!

From sundown tonight to sundown tomorrow — we hear the Megillah ( twice), exchange food gifts with others, give charity to the poor and eat a festive meal. By doing so we not only accord honor and respect to our heroic leaders and brethren of the past— we create the most glorious future for ourselves and our families.

Happy Purim and Shabbat Shalom.

Milestones!

Friday, March 7, 2025 - 10:00 AM

Milestones are a big deal.

They help gauge and measure.

It’s almost as if without them, one moment would blend into the next. Life would be one big whoosh.

So milestones give pause. Help us appreciate, make a reckoning, recalibrate — and thrust forward to the new opportunities that lay in front of us.

In ways we do that every week on Shabbat. We rest. Pull back from the hustle, from the whoosh of the week. We count our blessings, revel in life & recharge for an even greater week ahead of us.

Holidays too. Ordinarily, who has time for reflection and appreciation of the miracles that define ourselves, our nation and our history? In middle of a busy week? When there’s a long laundry list of things to do? Let’s get real….

Ok. Let’s get real. Can one really live life to the fullest when they don’t adequately reflect and consider the life they’ve lived? The moments that have aligned themselves to afford us our opportunities? To recognize that independence is only recognized when we acknowledge those we are existentially dependent upon?

PURIM arrives next week. It has all the lessons in the world to rise from the most stressful and lowest moment possible, to endure challenge, rise to the top, experience total reversal of fortune and fate — all hinged on the faith in Gd that our ancestors exhibited and fostered and the selfless leadership of what we now know were heroines and hero’s but unknown to them when they stepped up.

Milestones. They help gauge and measure. Reflect and appreciate. Renew and reengage — CELEBRATE and well yes, celebrate. For after all — tomorrow is always contingent on yesterday but most affected by “today”. Let’s celebrate!

With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom,

Do I Know You?

Friday, February 28, 2025 - 10:00 AM

Inspiration is found in all sort of places — challenging places included.

The past 16 month is a perfect example. The pain we all well know and have strongly felt — yet the rays of light, nestled between details of pain and heartbreak have been nothing short of incredible.

Last week I was reading about the release of hostage Eli Sharabi who was in captivity for 490+ days — an eternity. Details of his treatment and poor conditions slowly emerging yet right there in the story was the name Kobi Levi.

Kobi actually didn’t know Eli personally but that was of no consequence when he saw a post from Eli’s sister on Facebook looking for a volunteer to put on Eli’s tefillin daily praying for his release. Kobi wasn’t a daily tefillin wearer — yet that too was of no consequence when he committed to laying the tefillin daily. Not an insignificant commitment to say the least.

Upon Eli’s release, Kobi wrote Levi a letter of love and hope that ended with “you’ve touched my heart and I look forward to meeting you again — better days are ahead I’m sure”.

Kobi moved by Eli’s plight and Eli no doubt moved by Kobi’s gesture. Connecting over the timeless mitzvah of Tefillin— transcending the limitation of time and space. One in captivity one in freedom over the performance of a mitzvah that has been at the forefront of Jewish life for over 3300 years.

I think of the myriads of good deeds, gestures and mitzvas that were done since October 7th and recognize that behind the ugly face of evil which pervades the news and too often our consciousness —there is a way greater force of goodness, love, hope, connection & faith at play. It is this that should be pervading our conciousness with way greater attention.

Good news and deeds— may not sell newspapers, but it has, kept us alive and flourishing, for millennia.

Inspiration “is” found in all sorts of places and as a course of action for Am Yisrael it’s up to each of us to fortify each other with acts of goodness, kindness and Mitzvah!!

Reflections on Today

Thursday, February 20, 2025 - 10:00 AM

Today I need inspiration. A lift.

It feels like the wind has been punched out of me.

I speak for myself but I’m sure you feel likewise.

I reflect on why I feel like this. Wasn’t it sort of expected? Weren’t there many telltale signs that the Bibas children were likely not coming home alive?

As I reflect further — I know it revolves around hope. I was so hopeful that it would end differently. It drove another day. Light at the end of the tunnel.

I continue to reflect and cut through the pain — do I stop hoping? Can a Jew ever stop hoping? If I do, who do I become and what does life represent?

My faith kicks in where my hope starts fading. Hope alone can’t navigate me through this mess, I realize. Faith can. It has. It will. In turn, it allows my hope to spring eternal.

Ani Maamin. I believe. Yes, I do.

My ancestors did. I am here as a result.

My reflection is over. I now know that faith and hope need to lead to action.

I learn from my Rebbe. Our Rebbe. Upon returning from the funeral of his late wife Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka — amidst palpable sadness — he instructed his secretary to initiate the opening of a new charitable fund dedicated to supporting the various needs of Jewish woman and children.

Pain to action. Questions to action. Disbelief to action. Faith to action.

Yes. Today is a challenging day that needs to lead to a brighter tomorrow. There’s no one to rely except ourselves. Ani Maamin!!!

With much love,

Rabbi Yehuda & Dina Kantor

P.S. Tzedaka -- a call to action -- if you’d like to contribute to families of hostages or injured soldiers to be distributed on the men’s Israel trip — please do so here.

P.P.S. Prayer-- one of the pillars of the world -- Here are some prayers if you’d like to say Psalms and pray for the betterment of our brethren in the Holy Land.

P.P.P.S. The Rebbe and Eli Wiesel -- FAITH!

Anticipation

Friday, February 14, 2025 - 10:00 AM

The excitement of anticipation oftentimes outweighs the actual experience itself.

It’s true. We look forward to something for long periods of time and then —poof — it’s over. We move on.

We move on — too fast that is. Onto the next thing. Rinse, wash, repeat. Anticipate, experience, move on only to start searching for the next experience.

Curiously, the Torah tells us in this week’s parsha that when the Jewish nation received the Torah they encamped at the “foot” of the mountain.

At the foot? Not at the peak?

No, they didn’t ascend the mountain to receive the Torah. They didn’t because when it comes to foundational and critical moments one doesn’t “arrive” and then move on. It becomes life’s mission to continuously— boldly, relentlessly, persistently and joyously climb the mountain.

Earlier this week I saw this amazing photo and story of two Israeli soldiers Shachar and Boris who pledged to each other before going to fight in Gaza that when they come out they’d climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Unfortunately Shachar was injured by a Hamas grenade that exploded near him and Boris was injured in a tunnel. Both of them suffered significant injuries.

This past week, despite their injuries they climbed and reached the top of Kilimanjaro carrying a flag with the faces of four of their friends who never made it home.

Shachar said as follows:

“We want to show everyone struggling physically or mentally to believe in themselves. Get up. Leave your home. See what you are capable of.

Incredible. Boris and Shachar got to the peak of Kilimanjaro but their unbreakable spirit and their heroism ensures that they will continue to reach even greater heights on the proverbial mountain called — life!

The Torah is the ultimate book of life for the Jewish nation. Receiving it at the foot of the mountain was deliberate. The excitement of anticipation was handed to each of us — to learn it, love it, live it, cherish it — passing it on to our children Dor L’dor!

With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom

Beautiful!

Friday, February 7, 2025 - 10:00 AM

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

On a base level that is true. It’s somewhat subjective.

But is it really true?

Is there no objective beauty? Qualities, dimensions or places that represent objective beauty?

Of course there is. Picture a sunrise or

sunset, a baby at birth or closer to home —freshly blanketed snow first thing in the morning (maybe:)— and then there’s a blossoming garden. Images that universally evoke an appreciation for something greater and larger — a Divine glimpse.

King Solomon describes the world as a garden and 75 years ago — with accepting the leadership of the Chabad movement — the Rebbe quoted this verse as an opening salvo. The world as a garden. G-d’s garden.

Bear in mind it was 1951, the holocaust barely over, Jewish life decimated and morale incredibly low. No, he insisted — it’s a garden. A garden that requires much work. Requiring gardeners and tenders to cultivate, to be sure, but a garden at its core.

Fast forward 75 years. The world has had its ebbs and flows. The beauty has surfaced and at times receded never far from the surface. The gardeners have .. well, this requires a new paragraph.

You see, the gardeners are you and I. There has been herculean gardening that has been done since then, only to be handed over into our hands. As with everything — some gardeners work with more enthusiasm than others yet every gardener adds their special touch and is a vital part of creating and enhancing the beauty of G-d’s garden.

The true “beauty” of this world as a garden will be recognized at the time of Moshiach, the utopian age at which time we shall see the objective beauty of this world!

With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom.

Rabbi Yehuda & Dina Kantor

Get Real!

Friday, January 31, 2025 - 10:00 AM

What would I have done? A question I ask myself often when reading Jewish history— be it Holocaust related or Bible related or anything in between.

There were choices in each of these instances— of people. Real people with real emotions, intellect, families, struggles, financial realities — all so familiar to us — the result of which we get to experience.

This week’s Torah portion relays the joyous and formative story of the Exodus from Egypt. Gd’s abounding mercy and salvation we are all well familiar with, but the individual struggles and decisions of the enslaved people along the way leading up to the emancipation, we rarely consider.

With a moments thought however, we recognize that there were real choices, struggles, ups and downs —the results of which we experience and celebrate today.

We needn’t rewind a few thousand years to find examples. Over the past weeks, as the stories of the released hostages emerge — one by one we read of strength and choice that both inspire and boggle the mind.

Yesterday, after 480+ days in captivity the released hostage Agam Berger was photographed holding a sign that read, “I chose the path of faith and I returned in the path of faith”. It was both a play on words in Hebrew but it conveyed the depth of choice that Agam made in captivity. Foods she didn’t consume chores she refused to do due to it being Shabbat. The strength that she exhibited enough to inspire generations for millennia.

At the end of it all, “what would I have done” is irrelevant. What will I do, is the essential question we all need to ask ourselves. How will I ensure that my decisions create a stronger Jewish experience, family and community.

For after all is said and done, Am Yisrael is Chai and it’s as a result of real people, real decisions — real strength!!

No Deal

Friday, January 24, 2025 - 10:00 AM

Earlier this week, with heightened emotion, we saw the release of three hostages — Romy, Emily & Doron — and as of time of writing, we await the names of the next round of released captives.

Deals, negotiations, concessions, truce —are some of the words being bandied about to describe this phase of our people coming home to our land —an absolute affront and an outrage!

Covenant! The word that aptly describes the relationship between the Jewish nation with Gd, the land of Israel and the Torah.

In today’s Torah portion —which is the very story of the Exodus — an event that we celebrate 8 days out of every year and mention in our prayers “every” single day —Gd tell Moses that he must demand of Pharaoh to “let my people go” — because he is now acting on the “covenant”.

Covenant! What does it actually mean?

A quick google will include in the definition of the word covenant —“an agreement which brings about a relationship of commitment between God and his people”.

This isn’t a deal. This isn’t a negotiation. This is part of the Covenant. Indeed, as one Rabbi noted in his column this week that Jewish connection to the Land of Israel is 16x longer than American existence. It's part of the covenant

To me, we were watching our sisters coming home to our homeland. Simple as that.

Covenant! A commitment that transcends all limitations and conventions, deals and understandings— it’s the ultimate commitment. Merav Berger, the mother of one of the soon to be released hostages expresses the depth of the covenant when she said —

“We are eagerly waiting for our daughters. We also know that this is likely to happen on Shabbat, and it’s not by chance that our enemies are probably aiming for that. It’s important to me, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot in recent days, how I can do this without desecrating the Sabbath,” said the mother.

Incredible. A mother awaiting her daughter who has been held captive 470+ days and this is her quandary? Beyond words. But then again a covenant is beyond words — it’s an essential bond between us and the Almighty.

As we embrace 2025 — let us remember our covenant and connection via Torah and Mitzvah to do just a little more in our lives and may Hashem shower infinite blessings upon each of us, in the very areas that we require for happiness, health, nachas and peace of mind — Amen!

Let My People Go

Friday, January 17, 2025 - 10:00 AM

Bring them home!

With bated breath we await the first-stage of the hostage release.

The names Bibas are supposedly on the list as are many others that for 400+ days we’ve been praying for.

I can’t begin to imagine their physical and mental state but my heart bursts with joy for them and their families, whilst it contracts in pain for those still in captivity and those who we’ll never see again.

“Let my people go”!

Not too dissimilar in chant —yet it’s Moses at the behest of G-d that confronts Pharaoh in Biblical Egypt. It’s G-d that sets it into motion and it’s the first time we are introduced to the very concept of freedom. A Divine idea!

Divine ideas originate and are modeled by G-d and then handed to mankind for us to emulate. That in a nutshell is what the Torah represents. Divine ideas that are “Divine” in that they originate from G-d and then gifted to humankind to aspire to.

“Let my people go”!

It’s our responsibility to be there for one another. Whether in a hostage situation or simply struggling in life; whether it benefits us directly or not — even if it actually costs us financially, emotionally or in any other way. For after all, it’s Divine and regardless of how we see ourselves, we all know in our heart of hearts we are the recipients of G-d’s divine benevolence in abundance.

Whether it’s a good deal or not, pro the deal or not — one thing is for sure — we ought to recognize the Divine elements of life as articulated in the Torah, aspire to them and ensure that the unity of the nation of Israel remains undivided!!

With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom.

Polar Opposites

Friday, January 10, 2025 - 10:00 AM

The images out of the West Coast have been absolutely horrifying this past week.

Entire neighborhoods, lifetime possessions engulfed and incinerated.

All four elements in full force. Some on the destructive side and some on the side of repair. Fire and water battling it out with major input from air / wind scorching the earth.

Every natural disaster is caused by a blend of these four elements each occurrence in a different order. Where water was scarce in this instance, the results of abundance of water are all too familiar to us.

Yet at the same time, who could live without these elements? The very oxygen of life if you will, quite literally. Indeed, the very fabric of our being — human life at the core, was created from earth as is related in the Torah.

The polar sides of life. One moment valuable the next moment worthless.

And then there’s the vivifying element of life. The source of it all, G-d. Who can really make sense of it all? Can one really even dream of trying to grasp the inner mechanisms of the Divine plan?

Of course not. Not the inner mechanisms that is — the blueprint however, we were gifted. The Torah. Quite simply as a blueprint of life. How to live. To surf above the confusing elements of life.

Indeed, most of all, it directs us how to accumulate in ways that can never be taken away from us regardless of any element or natural disaster. Because at the end of it all, good deeds & Mitzvahs far outlive our lifespans and are the only currency that survives it all!

As I write these words — the fire has yet to be contained and we pray for the safety of everyone—with extra prayers to those battling the blazes from the front lines.

With best wishes for Shabbat Shalom,

It's Lit!

Friday, January 3, 2025 - 10:00 AM

Eight nights, eight lights. Then it’s over.

So I thought until the electric suddenly cut out last night. A downed tree the culprit.

Out came the candles. Another night of lighting candles yet with a very different purpose.

Chanukah candles are “not” supposed to be used for their light. Their purpose is pristine. They stand tall with a message of gratitude and acknowledgement for the great miracles and the Gdly love.

In a confusing world driven by a “what’s in it for me” attitude, it’s almost inconceivable doing something that doesn’t offer personal benefit. Why would one do that? Hardly a good use of time or financial resources.

Chanukah states otherwise. A untainted message of gratitude, acknowledging the higher purpose at work. The Divine energy that permeates the fabric of the world. Inherent good that cancels out or rather, dispels the very notion of darkness.

But then the eight days ends. We are now recalibrated. Our priorities in place we can now once again enter our realities. Our Divine given realities that is. Our successes, our gifts, our talents, our resources, our challenges, our tests — all Divine given. How will we use them?

The Torah and Judaism requires living and life in the very world that screams — “What’s in it for me”? “More is better”! “Pursue pleasure, do what it takes to get to the perceived top”. It’s in that environment specifically, that we can transform and refine our surroundings.

The human element of life is what makes life all so worth it… the maze like pattern of life throws curveballs, challenges and decoys — sending us in all sorts of directions which may lead us astray from our Divine goals. Yet as with any maze, when one rises above it for an even a short period of time one sees the whole blueprint and the goal becomes clear and achievable.

Last night’s outage caused an unscheduled inconvenience yet at the end of it all — the candles that we lit to use as light, brought the message of the previous eight days of Chanukah to a crescendo.

With best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom & a Happy New Year