Rabbis' Blog - Chabad Lubavitch

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Friday, January 26, 2024 - 12:11 PM

A university student once asked the Rebbe about the many wonder stories told about him. “I hear you know better than the doctor whether the patient should have surgery, you know better than the lawyer how to proceed with a case. Do you really know more about medicine than the doctors or about the law than the lawyers?”

The Rebbe replied with the following analogy. When the architect draws up a blueprint for a building, a contractor hires all the relevant professionals and then instructs the plumber where to install the plumbing, the electricians where to run all the wires etc. Even if the contractor is not a plumber by trade or never ran electrical wires in his life, he is uniquely qualified to instruct the specialists because he knows how to read the blueprint.

“When G-d created the world,” the Rebbe continued, “He used the Torah as a blueprint for creation. One who knows how to properly learn the Torah as the blueprint of creation is capable of instructing the specialists in their specialty.” Watch a retelling of this story here.

Approximately two months ago I was privileged to complete studying the 33-volume set of the Rebbe's letters that have thus far been published. For over 50 years the Rebbe corresponded with tens of thousands of people from the entire spectrum of humanity, advising people from every age and stage on every aspect of life. It is impossible to categorize these letters in any specific genre and the brilliance of the Rebbe’s advice is astounding.

In this week’s parsha we learn that when the Israelites were thirsting for water or desperate food they turned to Moshe for advice and counsel. The saintly man who served as the prophet to deliver the Torah to the world was also the address for all regular and mundane life matters. Similarly, the Rebbe did not exclusively deal with major academic questions or global communal matters, he guided anyone even in the most simplest of life issues.

However, the Rebbe did not set in motion the publication of his vast correspondence to impress anyone. He gifted us the ability to read the blueprint of creation - the Torah - as he does and apply the advice he gave to individuals or communities decades ago to the real-life questions and dilemmas you and I face here and now.

Learning the vast collection was such an illuminating and enriching experience. I am therefore thrilled that the Jewish Learning Institute just released a brand new course entitled "Advice for Life" which unpacks this treasure trove of teachings and makes it available to all.

Starting Tuesday, January 30 I will be teaching this 6-week course at Chabad and on Zoom, and I hope you can join me in this incredible journey.

Time: Tuesdays (Jan. 30 - March 5) 7:30-8:45pm

Please visit chabadelpaso.com/AFL to learn more about the course and please register at chabadelpaso.com/JLI

Please Make A Bracha for Bracha

Friday, January 19, 2024 - 12:50 PM

This week was very difficult for our family and we are so grateful to our many friends and family for the outpouring of support as my sister and her family sat Shiva for the passing of their baby daughter Bracha obm. When I arrived at their home in Philadelphia which also serves as the Chabad Center serving Drexel University, I was impressed by the diverse crowds of students, alumni, parents and many others who continued streaming in to share their condolences.

In keeping with the theme of their operations on campus, hospitality played a major role in the weeklong Shiva. Throughout the day, a huge spread was laid out on the island counter of the large kitchen and everyone was encouraged to “make a bracha for Bracha.” My niece’s name Bracha means blessing, and while she was never able to articulate the words during the six months of her life, her parents wanted everyone to use the opportunity of their visit to recite blessings before eating some food as a tribute to the memory of our dearest Bracha.

This Shabbat marks 73 years since the Rebbe delivered his first inaugural Chassidic discourse on the 10th of Shvat 1951. It was a powerful inaugural address that set the tone for the Chabad community reeling from the devastation of the Holocaust and Stalinist persecution, setting it on the path to becoming the largest Jewish movement in the world.

During the 40-minute discourse, the Rebbe elaborated on the idea that the revolutionary divine revelation that occurred at Sinai with the Giving of the Torah was the result of seven generations of devotion and service. Although Moshe served as the prophet to deliver the Torah to us and usher in an era of permanent divine presence in our world through the construction of the Holy Tabernacle, his ability to do so was because he was the seventh generation from our first patriarch Avraham - the first person that made it his business to bring the awareness of G-d to all humanity.

For two thousand years humanity had spiraled into a state of idolatry and abject immorality until one couple named Avraham and Sara had the courage to buck the trend and spread the word about G-d, Creator of heaven and earth. They ingeniously set up a hospitality tent in the middle of the desert at the crossroads of civilization. Every traveler was welcomed in and served a feast fit for royalty. When the satisfied guests sought to express their gratitude to their hosts, Avraham and Sara firmly demanded they thank G-d instead of them. When the heathens refused to acknowledge the existence of an omnipotent and omnipresent G-d, they were threatened with a huge bill until they ultimately agreed to say the required blessings.

The millions of blessings recited in Avraham’s hospitality tent set the stage for the divine revolution that followed at Sinai, in the Tabernacle and in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. A revolution that is still underway until the ultimate redemption through Moshiach when every human being and every creation will be permeated with this knowledge as well. And in this historic discourse, the Rebbe declared our generation would make this a reality, through reaching out to every human being and sharing the message of Torah’s divine morality for all.

So the next time you eat some food, please “make a bracha for Bracha.” Discover the appropriate blessings for different types of foods and beverages and recite them regularly and join the millions preparing the world for the blessed era of Moshiach when all pain, grief and anguish will cease forever.

Questions Shouldn’t Scare You

Friday, January 12, 2024 - 2:04 PM

Last week I had the pleasure of spending Shabbat with cousins in Austin as part of our family winter vacation get-away. Rabbi Mendy and Mussie Levertov of the Chabad Young Professionals there hosted over 130 young men and women in their home for Shabbat dinner, and towards the end, a small group stayed for some fascinating discussions.

One of the participants asked “What is G-d?” and I pointed him to the definition articulated in the opening words of Maimonides’ Mishne Torah. (Read it here.) Another fellow sitting at the table exclaimed “Thank you for asking the question! I was always so scared to broach the topic.”

People think it is sacrilegious to have questions, especially about G-d, and to voice them would be an outright insult to the rabbi! Setting aside the rabbi’s feelings, many are concerned that these questions perhaps indicate they have no faith. After all, a true believer would never have any questions.

Wrong.

This week’s parsha opens in the middle of a conversation between G-d and Moshe, the first leader and redeemer of the Jewish people. After he had approached Pharaoh with G-d’s message “Let My people go so they may serve Me” the result was an unbearable increase in their suffering to the point that Moshe himself complained to G-d: "O L-rd! Why have You harmed this people? Why have You sent me? Since I have come to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has harmed this people, and You have not saved Your people."

That’s correct. Moshe, the greatest prophet to ever live and the one credited for transmitting G-d’s Torah to us for all time had questions, and he asked them. Instead of being angered or disappointed with his questions, G-d responded by communicating the greatest blessings and promises for redemption which materialized shortly thereafter.

Questions are not a challenge to faith. On the contrary, questions are the greatest confirmation of faith.

In the aftermath of the Holocaust, Noble Laureate Elie Wiesel wrestled with faith and even considered never starting a family. Why bring children into such a terrible world, he wondered. He had several lengthy conversations with the Rebbe of which we have no written record, but in 1965 the Rebbe composed a letter to him on the topic of faith after the Holocaust and specifically persuaded him to start a family. Here is a powerful excerpt:

“I believe you will agree with me that it isn’t happenstance that all of the authentic questioners kept their faith; indeed, it is impossible for it to have been otherwise. For if the question is sincerely meant and arises from a genuine concern for justice and righteousness, then it is obvious that such a deep feeling can only come from the conviction that true justice and righteousness must originate in a supernatural source, one that is above human understanding and feelings.”

Read the full letter here.

Don’t be frightened by your questions. Search for answers in the right places and the journey will lead you to true personal redemption, which paves the way for the ultimate redemption through Moshiach.

Moses’ First Move

Friday, January 5, 2024 - 3:37 PM

This week we learn about the birth of the most important biblical character Moses. His traditional title is Moshe Rabbeinu which means “Moses our Teacher” and every detail of his life recorded in the Torah is relevant to us all, everywhere and in all times.

The circumstances of his birth were remarkable. His father Amram was the Israelite leader in Egypt and was so revered by his millions of brethren that they followed his example and instructions unquestioningly. When Pharaoh decreed every Jewish newborn boy be killed and Amram divorced his wife to stop having children, every Jew in Egypt followed his lead. When he remarried his wife because his daughter Miriam admonished him and prophetically foretold the birth of the redeemer, every Jew remarried as well and Moshe was born soon afterward.

Although he was named by his parents at birth, he got his famous name Moshe three months later. When his parents were forced to set him sailing in a basket in the Nile River to protect him from Pharaoh’s vile henchmen, Batya, the Egyptian princess noticed the basket as she bathed in the Nile, rescued the vulnerable baby and called him Moshe.

In a fascinating turn of events, Moshe was returned to his family until he was finished nursing. His mother delayed weaning him as much as possible and, according to some accounts, Moshe was closer to seven or eight years old when he was adopted by his benefactor Batya. By then the brilliant child was already trained in the intricacies of Torah study, capable of delving into the depths of Monotheism on his own, and was never distracted by the hedonistic lifestyle of Egyptian royalty.

When he reached maturity he was given the royal mandate to run matters of state. On his first day on the job he intentionally visited the work sites where his brethren were enslaved in the most inhumane fashion to see how they were doing. He noticed an Egyptian taskmaster mercilessly beating a Jewish slave to an inch of his life, killed the vile man, and buried him in the sand. This heroic act almost cost Moshe his life and through a series of miracles, he narrowly escaped the executioner's sword and fled from Egypt only to return as G-d’s messenger approximately sixty years later.

The Israelite slave Moshe saved from the taskmaster’s whip was from the “Jewish riffraff” and the entire altercation was the result of immoral behavior in the family. Nevertheless, even though Moshe had until then lived a sheltered life of spiritual and material bliss when the opportunity to help his fellow Jews presented itself, he risked his life even for one who had the worst reputation.

This is the profile of a true Jewish leader and a lesson to all. Notwithstanding one’s personal spiritual achievements or social status, when moral darkness or ethical corruption threatens even the most vulnerable Jew, we must be ready to risk it all to protect and preserve their connection to Judaism.