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Shainy’s Grandmother, Mrs. Itu Lustig OBM

Fri, 6 Mar 2026 11:15:00 AM

Shainy’s grandmother, Mrs. Itu Lustig (“Bubbe Lustig” to all her grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren), passed away yesterday. She was 97.

I was privileged to know her for 16 years and have learned so much from her remarkable character and her life story of faith, sacrifice, and perseverance. Although she was a Holocaust survivor with a tattoo from Auschwitz, I rarely heard her dwell on the horrors of the past. In fact, her most common reference to the Holocaust was to state proudly that every special occasion in the family, whether it was a Bris, Bar or Bat Mitzvah, or wedding, was her personal revenge on Hitler. She even came to El Paso for our son Menachem’s Bris when she was 84 years old.

Instead of crushing her, the memories of the past fueled her passionate love and dedication to her family. She was an involved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother who knew all her descendants by name and kept tabs on every one of them.

She was born in Strimtera, Romania, in 1928, where her father, Rabbi Tzvi Kahana, was the town’s rabbi. On Passover of 1944, all the Jews of the town were rounded up and deported by the Nazis to Auschwitz. Her entire family was murdered. Miraculously, she and her brother Zanvil survived. She eventually came to the United States, married, and raised a tribe that was her pride and joy.

Like many survivors, she only started speaking publicly about her story fairly recently, and in the spring of 2020, she shared her story with our community via Zoom for over an hour. Watch the recording here.

Although you can listen to her story directly from her in the recording, I’d like to share one anecdote that encapsulates what is most inspiring to me about her.

When she spoke of the infamous numbers the Nazis sadistically tattooed on the concentration camp inmates, she described the pain as “like giving you fifty shots in your hand without any protection.” Then she would say, “They wrote on me what G-d wanted to happen to me. They wrote Chai, which means Life!”

Her number is A-7443. The sum total of all four numbers is 18 (7+4+4+3=18), which in Jewish numerology spells out the word “Chai - Life.” I’m so moved by the fact that the scar, which is perhaps the most visible and inescapable part of her excruciating suffering, came to embody what she felt was her mission in the aftermath of it all.

Although she did not explicitly say this, I would like to add that that number also embodies the ultimate destiny of the Jewish people - “Am Yisrael Chai.”

Yesterday, she passed away peacefully after attending the Bris of her great-great-grandson, two days after Purim. The holiday which celebrates G-d’s everlasting kindness to our people in protecting us from all the Hamans, Hitlers, and Khameneis who seek to destroy our nation in every generation.

In 1944, fifteen-year-old Itu Kahana needed unfathomable faith in G-d to believe she could survive the concentration camps and continue living. In 2026, 97-year-old Mrs. Itu Lustig proved to the world that “Am Yisrael Chai” is not a catchy slogan. It’s a scientific fact.

May her memory be for a blessing. But most importantly, may we all learn from her story and continue that unbreakable chain of life, proudly and joyfully.

Bubbe Lustig participating in Menachem's Bris in El Paso, 2013.

My thoughts after Bondi

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 11:03:00 AM

On Sunday, the world went dark. When I heard what happened in Bondi, at one of the world’s first public menorah lightings for 2025, I was crushed. Anger, grief, sadness, and oh so many questions came crashing all together inside of me. But there was no time to process. I knew what needed to be done. I knew we had to move forward with our celebrations and public menorah lightings. But the jarring realization that the “festival of lights” had just gone dark, and a holiday of joy had been shattered by unimaginable sadness, made it feel so surreal.

The rest of the week continued in the same way. As more details of the tragedy emerged, my personal sadness intensified, but our efforts in spreading the message of light and joy of Chanukah reached peak success. In the span of two days, three new public menorah displays were arranged and installed in the El Paso County Courthouse, El Paso City Hall, and at El Paso High. Dozens of Jews have reached out to procure menorahs and candles, and based on the news coming out of Australia and around the world, public menorah lightings are happening like never before. How does this make sense?

Although I have learned and taught the Chanukah story for years, and projected its message of light overcoming darkness and goodness overcoming evil countless times, this week I finally understood what it is all about.

The central observance of Chanukah, the nightly kindling of the Menorah, commemorates the miracle of the one-night’s supply of pure olive oil that burned for eight nights in the seven lamps of the Menorah of the Holy Temple. However, there are fundamental differences between the way we light the menorah today and the way it was done in the Holy Temple.

In the Holy Temple, the same number of lamps were lit in the Menorah every day, well before nightfall, inside the sanctuary. On Chanukah, we light an increasing number of candles each night, specifically in the evening, by a door or window to project the light outward.

The reason for these differences is that the two menorahs represent two different eras. The Holy Temple represents a time when the Jewish nation experienced independence, success, peace, and tranquillity. The eight, ever-increasing flames of our Chanukah menorahs emerged from an era of persecution, terror, and darkness.

When life is good and the world is bright, there is no need to increase light or make an effort to project it outward, because all is normal. A flame in sunlight is unnecessary. But when life is turbulent, evil is on the rise, and the world becomes very, very dark, we must increase in light and project it outward as well, because even one flame in darkness can make a world of a difference.

Although the Maccabees heroically fought their enemies with weapons and military maneuvers, they focused the commemoration of their salvation on the miracle of the menorah lights because they understood their struggle as one of good over evil, morality over depravity, and light over darkness. Their victory was represented by the flames of the menorah, miraculously fueled by very little ritually pure olive oil.

“Light Overcomes Darkness” is not a cliche punchline to wish away reality. It is the greatest acknowledgement of the overwhelming darkness so pervasive in our world today, and an urgent call for all humanity to uproot it at its core by responding to evil with ever-increasing goodness.

The horrors that shook the world from Bondi Beach on Sunday brought the urgent message of Chanukah into sharper focus. When the world goes darker, we must make more light.

Menachem’s Final Training Before Bar Mitzvah

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 12:23:00 AM

Bar Mitzvah is the most important milestone in a Jewish boy’s life, primarily because of the tremendous trust placed in him on that day by G-d, his parents, and the entire community. On the day he turns 13 years old, he is placed on Jewish active duty for the rest of his life, and there is no turning back. Everything that happens until then is meant to train him for the important mission of being G-d’s agent to inspire and elevate creation through Torah study and the observance of the Mitzvot.

Perhaps the greatest display of this trust is that he becomes the proud owner and user of his own pair of Tefillin.

Tefillin was the first Mitzvah given when our ancestors departed Egypt and embarked on their historic journey to Sinai. The pair of black boxes, containing scrolls with chapters of the Torah that describe the exodus, the declaration of our faith in G-d’s oneness, and the covenant of Mitzvot, are worn on the arm near the heart and above the head, respectively, signaling our preparedness to serve G-d intellectually, passionately, and actively. Jewish men wear them every day, aside from Shabbat and biblical festivals.

Tefillin cannot be mass-produced on an assembly line in China. The boxes, straps, and scrolls are meticulously handcrafted based on thousands of years of Jewish law and tradition by highly skilled and devoted craftsmen and scribes who dedicate their lives to this holy task. Every pair is the result of a labor of love; a holy endeavor.

Just as any high-stakes performance demands many dress rehearsals, the Bar Mitzvah boy is given two months before the big day to become a pro at using his Tefillin, and the day he starts to practice is a huge milestone unto itself.

On Wednesday, I had the joyous privilege of witnessing Menachem begin his two-month practice period. Before we prayed morning prayers near the Ohel, the Rebbe’s holy resting place in Queens, NY, Menachem carefully placed the Tefillin on his bicep, wrapped the leather straps around his arm and finger, and placed the Tefillin above his forehead; a routine he will follow every weekday going forward.

Mazel tov, Menachem, on reaching this special milestone!

The Price of Peace

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 12:34:00 PM

Ever since the beginning of “the ceasefire” in Israel, I have been asked by many for my opinion on “the deal.” While everyone is ecstatic and grateful to G-d for the return of all the living hostages, the disturbing events of the past few weeks have many wondering about the ethics of the deal. Will it lead to peace, or is it just a matter of time before things get much worse, G-d forbid?

I have no formal security, military, political, or diplomatic training, but Torah is my field, and like everything in life, it provides us with the definitive paradigm through which we can evaluate everything. I will share two points I believe are relevant when grappling with what has been happening based on some messages from this week’s parsha.

The opening story of this week’s Parsha is G-d’s instruction to our patriarch Abraham to go to Israel. Although at the time it was known as the “Land of Canaan” because the heathen Canaanites were conquering it from the indigenous Semites, G-d promised Abraham that the land would ultimately belong to his descendants, the Jewish people.

The divine eternal promise of the land is mentioned four different times throughout the Parsha, in four separate contexts: 1. Upon Abraham’s arrival to the land. 2. After his nephew Lot moves away from him. 3. At the Covenant of the Parts. 4. When G-d instructed Abraham to do the Bris circumcision when he was 99 years old.

The most important message we must know as Jews throughout the world is that the Land of Israel belongs to us. Especially when many nations protest the Jewish presence in the Middle East, we must know with absolute certainty that the Jews living in Israel are in the right place at the right time and should never apologize for it. We don’t need anyone’s approval or support on this matter whatsoever.

At the end of this week’s parsha, we learn of how G-d forms a covenant with Abraham through the Bris circumcision. Despite his advanced age and the public mockery he endured, Abraham did not hesitate to follow G-d’s instructions to the letter.

In addition to being our deed of ownership, Torah is first and foremost a detailed and definitive guide to life containing clear instructions on how we must ensure our security in our homeland and everywhere else in the world. So-called international law, public opinion, or any other ethical philosophies are irrelevant when it comes to the crucial obligation to protect life. Torah provides the ethical context, concrete instructions, and most importantly, moral clarity in how Israel ought to handle this delicate and precarious situation. International condemnation, isolation, or mockery must be ignored.

I highly recommend watching this 8-minute video produced by Jewish Educational Media, providing 3 important points on Torah’s perspective on the current situation in Israel.

The Price of “Peace”: The Torah’s View on Israel’s Moral Battle Over Gaza: https://youtu.be/g561t74Wzkw

Although most of us are in no position to influence specific change on the ground, as Jews, we have the collective responsibility to know who we are and what paradigm ought to guide Israeli leadership and all the decision makers as they seek to achieve security and stability in the region. In fact, based on Torah’s guidance, it is possible to achieve what most of humanity thinks is impossible: true and enduring peace in the Middle East.

The Slumbering Lions

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 4:02:00 PM

We spent the day in America’s first zoo in Philadelphia. My kids enjoyed the sights and scenes of wildlife, and I learned something new, courtesy of the big colorful signs near the wild cats exhibit: Lions sleep 20 hours a day, and after a good meal, can sleep up to 24 hours. This “Snapple Fun Fact” caught my attention because it connected to an interesting detail from today’s Torah portion and sheds light on something that has bothered me about Jewish history for a while.

In this week’s parsha, we learn about the paranoid Moabite King Balak, who hired the vile prophet Bilaam to curse them to extinction. Historically, Bilaam’s curses were fatal and had destroyed powerful nations before. But it all turned out for the best. Bilaam ultimately delivered beautiful blessings to the Jews three separate times, and rounded them off with the clearest prophecy of Israel’s future stratospheric rise and the arrival of Moshiach ever recorded in the Torah.

The Jews were completely unaware of the dramatic saga of how G-d foiled this fiendish scheme, and it was brought to their attention only through Torah’s prophetic record.

In two of the blessings, Bilaam described the Jews as lions. The first verse was famously used as the inspiration for the name of Israel’s recent miraculous war against Iran, “Operation Rising Lion.” “Behold a people that rises like a fearsome lion, raising itself like a lion. It does not lie down until it consumes prey, and drinks the blood of its slain enemies.” (Numbers 23:24)

The second time Bilaam invoked the image of a lion in his blessings, he said: “You will settle and dwell like a lion, like a fearsome lion that no one would dare rouse.” (Numbers 24:9)

In both, there is a focus on the lion sleeping and rising, and through understanding the deeper meaning of sleep and how it applies to the Jewish nation, we will appreciate the tremendous blessing herein.

During sleep, a person retains all their faculties and abilities, but they do not function properly. The eyes do not see, one cannot notice their surroundings, nor communicate properly. Even in the subconscious mind, which is working during sleep, dreams are typically a hodgepodge of random and chaotic events that usually make no sense. The most absurd things happen in dreams, and when we wake up, we are well advised to forget about them.

Reality can be experienced in two ways: either as a coordinated series of events choreographed by G-d to the minutest detail, or as a chaotic jungle of the survival of the fittest. The first option is the “awake” experience, where life functions according to a divine plan; the second option is a nightmare that only happens during sleep.

When Bilaam compared us to slumbering lions, he meant to emphasize that even when we may be making chaotic choices contrary to Torah’s clear plan for our lives, we are still majestic lions who only need to be awakened to the truth. And even when overwhelming forces of exile and persecution force the Jewish nation into a crouching, sleep-like position, it is only temporary.

I was always disturbed by the fact that the Jewish people have been forced into this position for the vast majority of our history. Today I learned this mirrors the experience of the lions we are compared to, who sleep most of the day, to conserve energy for their nocturnal hunts for prey. But even when we are sleeping, we are conserving and gathering the strength we need to overcome the final hurdles of exile to usher in the blessed era of Moshiach, who will awaken the entire world to the truth of G-d’s divine providence, and true peace and tranquility will reign for all.

The story I heard while waiting in line

Fri, 4 Jul 2025 1:37:00 PM

The 31st anniversary of the Rebbe’s Yartzeit was observed on Sunday, the third day of Tammuz. At noon, my son Menachem and I joined the line of tens of thousands seeking to enter the Ohel, the Rebbe’s holy resting place. We waited for over two hours and utilized the time by reciting Tehillim (psalms) and standing in quiet reflection in preparation for being in the Rebbe’s presence and placing our petitions at the Ohel.

During that time, I met Yair (a pseudonym), a Jew from Florida who said that, although he is not a Chabadnik, he was deeply gratified to be at the Ohel that day. He then shared an amazing story, which I later heard in more detail from his wife, Sarah (a pseudonym).

For weeks, Sarah’s friend had invited her to join a Tuesday morning Tanya class hosted in different homes led by a charismatic Chabad woman named Batya in Hollywood. The first time she participated was on a summer Tuesday last year, which coincided with the 30th anniversary of the Rebbe’s Yartzeit. Much of the discussion revolved around the Rebbe’s continued influence today, and the opportunity to petition the Rebbe to intercede on our behalf for all of G-d’s blessings by visiting the Ohel or writing letters to be placed at the Ohel.

Toward the end of the class, the women were encouraged to share a request for blessing, which would be placed by Ohel later that day. Sarah shared with the class that her son and daughter-in-law, who had been married for three years, had not yet been blessed with children, and she expressed her request for a blessing that they should have children very soon. Batya then suggested that when the blessing materialized, Sarah could celebrate it by hosting the Tanya class in her home, and she readily agreed.

A few months later, Sarah and Yair received the long-awaited news that their daughter-in-law was expecting, and she joyfully hosted the Tanya class at the earliest opportunity.

Three weeks ago, their adorable granddaughter was born in New York City, and they traveled from Florida to meet her and celebrate the joyous occasion. A day before their return flight home, Yair told Sarah that Sunday was the Rebbe’s Yartzeit and suggested they visit the Ohel. At once, she made the connection that a year earlier, she had requested a special blessing for the birth of their grandchild, on the Rebbe’s Yartzeit, and here they were in New York celebrating the realization of that blessing on the Rebbe’s Yartzeit. They both felt it was appropriate to come and thank the Rebbe for this special blessing.

“It is all coming full circle,” Yair told me with a huge smile. “By divine providence, we were able to come here to say 'thank you' to the Rebbe on the perfect day.”

I have heard hundreds of such stories, and they are all unique and meaningful. Thousands visit the Rebbe’s Ohel every day, and many more thousands of petitions arrive at the main office from around the world via email and fax, which are placed at the Ohel with utmost privacy assured. Please visit OhelChabad.org for more details. The Rebbe continues to be a beacon of light and hope to the entire world, guiding our path to the ultimate redemption through Moshiach, when peace and tranquility will reign for all.

A Week of Miracles

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 11:49:00 AM

It has been a historic week, filled with tremendous miracles, for which we must be thankful and rejoice. But, staying in character, instead of using this space to communicate information you already know or can access with the tap of your finger, I’ll continue sharing how I am absorbing what’s happening through the lens of my reading of the weekly Torah portion of Shlach.

The main theme of the parsha is the tragic story of the spies. A year after the Exodus, as the Israelites approached the Promised Land, Moshe reluctantly acquiesced to their request to scout the land before conquering it, and he sent twelve representatives, one from each tribe, on the reconnaissance mission. Upon their return, ten spies delivered a scathing report of how conquering the land was impossible and essentially a suicidal mission. Devastated, the people revolted and refused to continue. The fallout from the scandal was severe. The rogue spies died immediately, and the rest of that generation died in the desert over forty years.

The two heroes of this story were Yehoshua and Kalev, the two spies who remained dedicated to G-d and the cause despite their colleagues’ treachery. With great personal risk, Kalev contradicted them and said: “We can go up and take possession of it, for we can indeed overcome it.”

When the spies insisted he was wrong, and the masses started to revolt against Moshe, Yehoshua and Kalev proclaimed: “The land we traveled through to inspect is an exceedingly good land. If G-d desires us, He will bring us to this land and give it to us, this land flowing with milk and date- and fig-honey. Just do not rebel against G-d, and as for you, do not fear the people of that land, for they are our bread. Their protection has departed from them. G-d is with us; do not fear them!”

This week, we witnessed the opposite of what happened to the Jews in the desert 3,336 years ago. With Israeli airspace closed since the launch of Operation Rising Lion, 100,000 Israelis stranded overseas are trying very hard to return. Instead of running away from the Promised Land in a time of extreme danger, Jews are desperate to go there.

Make no mistake. This is a generations-long struggle about the Jewish connection to the Promised Land. As a nation, we must rise to the opportunity of projecting this truth to all humanity. And as Yehoshua and Kalev proclaimed over three millennia ago, we know G-d is with us and will continue to grant tremendous success to this military operation and protect all of our brothers and sisters around the world, so there is no need for fear. However, we must follow G-d’s instructions, articulated in Torah, to ensure our natural efforts are crowned with miraculous success.

I highly recommend watching this new 11-minute film produced by Jewish Educational Media: Israeli Jets Over Tehran. What’s next? | The Lubavitcher Rebbe

It has six crucial Torah ideas, explained by the Rebbe, on how Israel can ensure this war concludes with true peace for the entire region and how we can all contribute to making this happen.

May this Shabbat be one of true peace and tranquility for all.

Scatter the Enemies!

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 1:30:00 PM

I am not a military analyst nor a media pundit, so I will not use this space to describe what is currently happening in the Middle East, but clearly, we are now living through historic events. Israel’s Operation Rising Lion will go down as a defining moment in history on multiple levels, and I’d like to share with you what came to mind as I studied today’s Torah portion.

The weekly parsha is divided into seven parts, corresponding to the seven days of the week, and we are called upon to “live with” and be inspired by the portion corresponding to that day.

This week, we continue reading about the process of the Israelites' forty-year journey through the desert. There was a divine cloud hovering above the Tabernacle at all times. When it lifted, that was the sign that it was time to pack up and start traveling behind it to the next destination. The priests prepared the Holy Ark and the rest of the holy furniture for transportation, and the Levites dismantled the tabernacle and loaded its parts onto wagons. With the blast of trumpets, millions of Jews followed the lead cloud in a preordained order.

An ark containing the broken shards of the first set of Two Tablets was carried in front of the procession, and together with the lead cloud, it paved the way for the journey by flattening mountains and hills and killing all dangerous desert beasts. Today’s portion opens with:

Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say, “Arise, G-d! May Your enemies be scattered, and may those who hate You flee from You.”

These immortal words are recited when we open the Holy Ark during synagogue services before the reading of the Torah, and they jumped out to me today with profound relevance. As we continue journeying through the wilderness of history to the “promised land” of the Messianic era, we are led by G-d who scatters our enemies. While the mechanics of Operation Rising Lion happened through many years of meticulous and outstanding intelligence and military work, its brilliant success is an epic miracle.

Let us give joyful thanks to G-d for the many miracles, and may we be strengthened in our confidence and trust in G-d that what follows will bring the entire region to an era of true peace and tranquility.

As our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land continue to shelter in place, please do an extra mitzvah and add another prayer in their merit, and may this Shabbos be a restful and joyful one for us all.

We are all divine porters

Fri, 6 Jun 2025 12:00:00 PM

We just received the Torah anew for the 3,337th time on the holiday of Shavuot. Since Torah is an eternal guide for life relevant for all times and places, I would expect the Torah reading for this Shabbat would be super appropriate to us here and now. However, at first glance, this week’s parsha opens with a ritual that seems narrow in focus and interesting only to Jewish history buffs.

The opening narrative of the fourth book of the Torah, Bamidbar, is about Moses and Aharon counting the Israelites in the Sinai desert shortly after the inauguration of the Mishkan (Holy Tabernacle). Three separate censuses were taken at the time. First, all Israelite men aged 20 through 60 were counted, excluding the Levites. Then all Levite males aged one month and older were counted. As the “Kings' Legion” who served in the Mishkan as priests and supporting staff like musicians, singers, guards, and porters, they were designated to be counted differently.

Finally, the men of the three Levite families of Gershon, Kehos, and Merari aged 30 to 50 were counted separately. This elite cadre of men was tasked with transporting the Mishkan through the desert. Each time the divine cloud lifted, signaling it was time for the Israelites to journey closer to the Promised Land, the Levites dismantled the Mishkan, transported it, and set it up at their next destination.

This week’s parsha opens with the census of this divine moving team. I always wondered how this piece of information is relevant to us today. After all, this team was only operational for approximately forty years, so why does the Torah focus so much on it?

Here is the deal. The forty years in the desert served as the template for life. After we received the Torah at Mt. Sinai, G-d set up the Israelite camp and the process of its journeys through the wilderness as a guide to how we as a nation and as individuals can navigate the wilderness of life.

The wilderness is an area devoid of, and often hostile to, human habitation, cultivation, or significant use, and is a metaphor for any time, place, or thing devoid of divine meaning and purpose. G-d gave us the Torah in the wilderness to illustrate that the goal of Judaism is to reveal divine purpose in everything, even in the mundane and hostile. This is accomplished by carrying the Mishkan, the embodiment of holiness, into the mundane. Instead of battling impurity and evil through condemnation or persuasion, we transform it all through observing a Mitzvah or learning and teaching Torah, the embodiment of divinity we received at Sinai.

Reading about the divine moving team that did their holy work in the desert so many years ago is super relevant today. It reminds us that we are all divine porters, tasked with the mission of bringing Torah and Mitzvos to every corner of the spiritually desolate wilderness of our world, allowing the brilliant divinity inherent in every single Mitzvah and every word of Torah to transform it into a lush garden of divine peace and tranquility for all.

The Stranded Princess

Fri, 23 May 2025 11:42:00 AM

A prince once fell in love with a princess and wished to marry her, but she was stranded in a market of tanneries. Royals never entered the area because of the terrible odors of the tanning process, but because his beloved bride was there, the prince considered the foul stench pleasant and sweet like the most aromatic scents. He ran into the market to be with his bride.

This fairytale-esque story is a metaphor taught in the Zohar to describe the relationship between G-d and the Jewish people during the times of exile.

In this week’s parsha, we read about G-d’s covenant with the Jewish people. If we diligently study Torah and joyfully observe the commandments, we will merit long, prosperous, and peaceful lives in the Holy Land. But if not… what follows is a lengthy list of intense curses to befall the nation culminating in exile from the homeland.

Yet, the nuanced language of the curse of exile expresses one of the most vital characteristics of our divine relationship with G-d.

“I will have treated them reciprocally with stubbornness and brought them into the land of their enemies.” (Leviticus 26:41)

The eleventh-century commentator Rashi points out that instead of saying “sent them to the land of their enemies,” G-d says, “I Myself will bring them.” This does not conjure the image of an insulted monarch banishing his child to wander the wilderness while he bitterly stews in his rage in the comfort of his palace. Even when G-d needs to banish us from our true home, He comes into exile along with us, despite the spiritually foul odor.

Rashi continues: This is a good matter for the Israelites, so they should not say, “Since we are exiled among the nations, we may do as they do.” I will not allow them to do so, but I will appoint My prophets to bring them back under My wings, as it says: “That which enters your mind will never happen, that which you say: ‘Let us be like the nations….’ As I live, declares G-d, so with a mighty hand…I will rule over you.”

Although we are surrounded by spiritual and moral decay and filth, we must remember that its impact on us is never internal. It is only external, like the impact of a foul smell. When we reject the temptation of assimilation and continue to study Torah and observe Mitzvot while still in exile, we connect with G-d, who is present with us in the dark and difficult times, thus transforming the spiritual stench of exile into the most pleasing spiritual aromas.

But just as the prince in our story would never dream of marrying his beloved bride in the filthy corridors of the tannery market despite his blinding love for her, so too, G-d plans to imminently bring us back home. He only seeks to hear us demand and cajole for that blessed moment, and for us to do our part to hasten the onset of the era of redemption when peace and tranquility will reign for all.

Ask, “What can I give today?”

Fri, 16 May 2025 1:44:00 PM

On Tuesday, when I arrived at City Hall for the City Council meeting, I was holding an ARK giving box to give charity before delivering the invocation. City Representative Art Fierro said to me, "Rabbi, those boxes are everywhere!" He even displayed his ARK on the dais during the invocation and the pledge of allegiance. A month ago, Mayor Renard Johnson gifted these ARK giving boxes to 1,300 city employees in observance of Education and Sharing Day, and clearly, they are very popular because of the message they represent, which is connected to the hero of today’s holiday of Lag B’Omer.

We celebrate the legacy of the great Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, a Talmudic scholar of epic proportions, best known for being the author of the Zohar and the father of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism. When he was overheard criticizing the Roman Empire and was sentenced to death, he hid in a cave together with his son, Rabbi Elazar, for thirteen years.

When the decree was annulled, the two sages emerged from hiding, transformed men. Thirteen years of non-stop Torah study elevated them to unparalleled spiritual heights. Yet, despite his superior spiritual status, Rabbi Shimon inquired whether there was any way he could be helpful to the local population. The citizens of Tiberias suggested he visit their town to attend to a matter of significant inconvenience.

In this week’s parsha, we learn of the laws concerning Kohanim, the descendants of Aharon the High Priest who would serve in the Holy Temple. Required to be in a state of ritual purity, they are barred from attending funerals or being in close proximity to a grave (with few exceptions).

The main road of Tiberias was off limits for Kohanim because the marker of an old grave had vanished, and no one recalled its exact location. Hence, the local Kohanim were forced to make a long and inconvenient detour to circumvent the suspected grave. Miraculously, Rabbi Shimon located the grave, and the decades-long problem was finally solved.

What is striking about this episode is that, upon rejoining society, Rabbi Shimon immediately searched for ways to be helpful and worked hard to correct a problem that impacted very few people in town.

Instead of waiting to be asked, seek ways to give. Be alert for the opportunities that abound, and even if your efforts impact even one person, be grateful for the ability you have to put a smile on someone’s face.

This is why having a Tzedaka box in your home and office and putting small amounts of charity into it every day is so important. It helps us begin the day on the right note. Instead of asking ourselves each morning, “What can I make today?” we should ask ourselves, “What can I give today?”

The connection between Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai as the patriarch of Jewish mysticism and the paragon of initiating goodness and kindness is significant. His teachings are the primer for the awareness of G-d to reach every human being, which will happen when Moshiach comes, and increasing in acts of goodness and kindness is the best way to hasten the advent of that blessed era.

May the tremendous merit of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai bring blessings to us all, and inspire us to our part in preparing the world for the ultimate redemption through Moshiach, when peace and tranquility will reign for all.

G-d is in the details

Fri, 9 May 2025 2:01:00 PM

“G-d is in the details” is an idiom often attributed to a German architect whose buildings are masterpieces of proportion and detail. Although an appreciation for art and creative vision is necessary to craft beautiful things, the true grandeur of anything will depend on the mundane, tiny, and often hidden details.

As I studied the two Torah portions we read this week during Shabbat services, I realized this idiom is more accurate than we’d think. Not only are success and beauty in the details, but literally “G-d,” the realization of the purpose of creation and its perfection, is in the details of life.

The first portion, Acharei Mos, opens with the Holy Temple service of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year. The Kohen Gadol (High Priest) represented the entire nation in the holiest place on earth, achieved atonement for them, ensuring a good and sweet new year. After describing the dramatic process, the Torah extolls Aharon the High Priest for following the formula meticulously, down to the minutest detail.

The second portion, called “Kedoshim” which means “holy,” opens with the statement “You must be holy, for I, G-d, your G-d, am holy.” What follows is a list of 51 Mitzvot that run the gamut of Shabbat observance and monotheistic devotion to having accurate scales and abstaining from gossip. If you thought holiness meant running away from life and meditating on remote mountain peaks, you must know that conducting your business honestly, helping the poor, and giving proper advice is the real deal.

This past Shabbat, Rabbi Shalom Lipskar of Bal Harbor, Florida, passed away. He was an iconic Chabad emissary who served as a mentor and inspiration for so many and was the embodiment of the possibility for the average guy to live life to its fullest. His accomplishments are legendary, and I have been spiritually enriched reading about him. For me, this story he shared from his teenage years encapsulates everything you need to know about living a life of meaning and purpose.

As a seventeen-year-old student studying Chassidic teachings and training in its application, Rabbi Lipskar started to engage in “Iskafya” – loosely translated as self-restraint – a fundamental aspect of spiritual refinement and divine service. Iskafya is promoted in Chassidus as the way to become holy and the formula for perfecting the world and ushering in the era of Moshiach. The problem was, his frame of reference for Iskafya was stories of legendary Chassidim physically depriving themselves, and living this way to an extreme was hurting him.

When he had a private audience with the Rebbe to receive a blessing for his birthday, the Rebbe explained that he had misunderstood Iskafya. “Iskafya means to not waste your time, to not do what you want, and to eat healthy,” the Rebbe said.

Iskafya is a principle, not a lifestyle. Appreciating that every detail of life can and should be harnessed in the service of G-d. Living this way joyfully sets you on a path to true spiritual fulfillment and holiness. Whereas in previous generations this service may have looked more dramatically ascetic, today it’s achieved through mastering the nuts and bolts of living a focused and productive life, because G-d is revealed through us in this world, specifically in the small details.

My Weeklong Social Media Conversation About Time Management

Fri, 2 May 2025 12:18:00 PM

This week, I had an interesting experience with social media. WhatsApp Status is a feature on the messaging app that allows users to post temporary updates that disappear after 24 hours, visible only to their contacts. I went fishing for tips on mastering the art of utilizing time by posting a question on my WhatsApp Status: What tips have worked for you to master the art of utilizing your time properly?

As friends and family responded to me privately, I posted screenshots of the responses to my WhatsApp Status, and it blossomed into a wide-ranging conversation on this topic, from practical tips to in-depth analyses on why many struggle managing their time.

From the many massages I received throughout the week in reaction to this slow-motion, completely anonymous conversation, I learned that even very successful people struggle with mastering their time, and that time is a commodity everyone wishes they utilized better.

I found it providential that the day I started this conversation had a unique relation to the topic. In 1943, the Rebbe published a special calendar with short Chassidic teachings, anecdotes, or customs for each day of the year called Hayom Yom. Here is the entry for this past Tuesday, the first day of Iyar:

At a chassidic gathering during the period of Sefirat HaOmer, in the 1890s with the fifth Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Shalom Dov Ber Schneerson, known as the Rebbe Rashab, someone said: "The students of the Alter Rebbe (the founder of Chabad) were always keeping count." The Rebbe Rashab commented: "That idea characterizes man's divine service. The hours must be 'counted hours,' then the days will be 'counted days.' When a day passes, one should know what he has accomplished and what remains yet to be done... In general, one should always see to it that tomorrow should be much better than today."

Starting from the second day of Pesach, we are instructed to count 49 days, or seven weeks, and celebrate the 50th day as the holiday of Shavuot. This 49-day counting period, called Sefirat HaOmer, is not the only context in which Jews count. We count six days of the week and rest on the seventh. When living in Israel, we count six years of agricultural work and observe the seventh as a Sabbatical year without working the fields.

However, Sefirat HaOmer is unique in that it requires every individual to make a blessing and intentionally count the days, and every individual keeps track of their own count. Whereas Shabbat happens for everyone the same, with Sefirat HaOmer there are scenarios where someone may be on a different counting schedule than the rest, and even celebrate Shavuot on a different day! Crossing the international date line during this period can complicate Shavuot observance. Read more about this here and here.

My weeklong conversation about time management helped me appreciate the correlation between “counting the hours and days” of life and the unique style of the counting we do with Sefirat HaOmer. Everyone must do it, but everyone must do it in their unique way. There is no one-size-fits-all formula for mastering time, because time is extremely personal. Although I went fishing for practical tips - and still need to decide which tips work for me - I reeled in much more than that. The appreciation that time is the most individual and personal treasure I have, and every moment G-d grants me is mine to fill in ways no one else can.

I’d love to hear what has worked for you to master the art of best utilizing your time. Thank you in advance!

When should you feel most Jewish?

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 1:22:00 PM

This week, the Annor Family Discount Store opened in Lubbock, Texas, and an article from a local podcaster about the grand opening illustrated a deep lesson from this week’s Parsha Shemini.

When the Israelites constructed a golden calf and served it as a deity, G-d’s presence, which had permeated the camp since the revelation at Sinai with the Giving of the Torah, disappeared. After Moshe succeeded in securing their forgiveness from G-d they were instructed to build the Mishkan (holy tabernacle) to serve as a conduit for G-d’s presence to return to the camp. After months of preparations, Moshe constructed the Mishkan and officiated the daily services for seven days, but G-d’s divine presence did not dwell in the edifice. Only on the eighth day, after Aharon, his brother, was initiated into the priesthood and offered a calf as a sacrifice, did G-d’s presence return.

Why was Moshe’s service not sufficient to trigger the revelation of G-d in the Mishkan?

While idolatry in its crassest iteration and ritual relevance means serving a physical image or object as a deity, its origins and core philosophies are more nuanced than that. The first humans interacted with G-d and did not doubt His existence, power and relevance, but later generations started viewing the forces of nature as independent and powerful conduits for G-d’s blessings. They reasoned that these forces are like waiters in a restaurant. Just as it is appropriate to respect, appreciate, and tip the waiter to get good service, even though the meal is provided by the restaurant owner, the same is true for the sun, moon, stars, clouds, and rain. From there, it was a slippery slope to bowing down to molten images of the sun and all the other nonsense they came up with.

Their mistake was comparing nature to human waiters instead of correctly comparing them to tools and computers. Just as one would never genuinely credit a hammer for banging a nail into place or a computer software for producing accurate data, crediting nature for providing for our needs, or a business venture as the source of income, is similarly misguided. While we must engage in agriculture, commerce, and research on nature's terms, it must be done primarily on G-d’s terms, because every component of nature, and every man-made mechanism, is G-d’s tool to provide us nourishment, health, wealth, and peace. Thinking differently sets everything up to be a potential idol.

That’s why Aharon and the sacrificial calf, both associated with the scandalous golden calf, were necessary for G-d to once again dwell among the people. To illustrate that our G-d consciousness must be all immersive. We must feel G-d’s presence and act accordingly not only when we study Torah, do a mitzvah, or pray at the synagogue, but even in the “potential idols” of our mundane daily lives of eating, sleeping, exercising, working, and relaxing.

Which brings me back to the new discount store in Lubbock. Yesterday, the Jewish owners invited Chabad Rabbi Zalman Braun to help them mount a Mezuzah to the door at their grand opening, and Richard Jenkins wrote this in his article on Focus LBK after explaining what a Mezuzah is: We sensed the strength of the Ezer family’s faith in G-d and family the whole time we browsed and mingled with them at Annor Family Discount Store.

When could you feel most Jewish? Whatever you do, whenever and wherever, can and should be your most Jewish experience, provided it is done following G-d’s will and wisdom as articulated in the Code of Jewish Law.

Preparing for a better world

Fri, 21 Mar 2025 1:33:00 PM

In this week’s parsha, we learn about the construction of the Mishkan, the first portable holy sanctuary, which accompanied the Jews through their forty-year journey to the Promised Land. It was set up permanently in three respective locations until King Solomon built the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, destroyed 410 years later by the Babylonians. After seventy years, the second Holy Temple was rebuilt and destroyed 420 years later by the Romans. The biblical prophets foretold that a third Holy Temple will be built when Moshiach comes which will stand forever.

The fundamental difference between all previous divine sanctuaries and the third Holy Temple is their relationship with the world. While the Holy Temples of the past represented the wholesomeness of Jewish observance and our relationship with G-d, the world they inhabited was far from perfect. War, disease, poverty, and chaos were rampant around the globe, and jealousy, corruption, and hatred plagued all humanity, including the Jewish nation.

The third Holy Temple, however, will inhabit a world of health, prosperity, peace, and tranquility for all. This is the era Moshiach will usher in. Everything humanity can agree to wish for will be fulfilled at that time.

This is the meaning of the short prayer recited at the beginning of our morning prayers and after the Amida prayer: “May it be Your will, L-rd our G-d and G-d of our fathers, that the Holy Temple be speedily rebuilt in our days, and grant us our portion in Your Torah.” The third and final Holy Temple and our service in it represents the blessed era of Moshiach we all crave.

In addition to reading the weekly Parsha Vayak’hel, this Shabbat every congregation will read an extra portion known as Parshat Parah. One of the hallmarks of the Holy Temple was the necessity for anyone who entered it and all participants to be ritually pure. The laws of ritual purity are complex, but the most severe type of impurity occurs when coming in contact with or being under the same roof as a corpse. In addition to immersing in a Mikva, to be cleansed of the impurity of a corpse one must be sprinkled with spring water mixed with the ashes of the Red Heifer, as described in Parshat Parah.

This reading was instituted to remind the Jews living in the times of the Holy Temples to ensure they were ritually pure in preparation for the sacrificial service of the Paschal Lamb which was the centerpiece of the Passover Seder. Although today, in the absence of the Holy Temple, these laws do not apply to observe Passover properly, we continue to read this extra Parsha on schedule because Moshiach may arrive at any moment, perfect the world, rebuild the Holy Temple, and set in motion the original rituals of Passover, including the process of ritual purification. We need to be ready for that.

As we read Parshat Parah, consider the fact that we all can influence and expedite the perfection of the world and the rebuilding of the Holy Temple. In the words of the twelfth-century sage Maimonides, “Each person must view themselves as though the entire world were held in balance and with a single good deed, spoken word or even thought, they could tip the scales” ushering in the era of redemption.