So the new year of school began and thank G-d all of my children are doing okay in their respective classes and schools and getting used to the new rhythms of life. Zalman is enjoying online school with twenty students from places like Chile, Venezuela, Colombia, Canada and many States within America. Mendel is enjoying in person school in Brookline with social distancing protocol and likewise Chana & Levi are doing the same in their schools in New York.
However a few nights ago, one of my children who studies out of town was potentially exposed to someone with COVID like symptoms and at midnight on Sunday we were scrambling to figure out quarantine and how to make it manageable. Luckily after three days of quarantining… Read More »
Yesterday Reb Yehoshua (Hershke) Raskin of London, England returned his soul to his creator at the age of 97 years old. His passing left me with many emotions and thoughts as a piece of my childhood moved on to heaven.
Usually when you say hello to someone and they respond, you don’t get all excited and emotional. Yet as El Al pilot Tal Becker who flew the first direct flight from Israel to the UAE described, that is exactly what happened when instead of being ignored, he was spoken back to by Saudi Air Traffic Controllers.
One of the greatest gifts that we have been endowed with as human beings is "Free Choice". Free choice means that each and every action that we choose to do is fully guided by our choice alone and not simply part of our destiny or the way we were made. Free choice means that when we choose to do good, it has a special unique value to it, as we could have easily have chosen to do the opposite, yet instead we chose the better option.
Did you know that in a study done in the US it was found that an average American spends 67 minutes per day eating and drinking beverages as part of their daily meals. When you include snacking time and drinking time while doing other activities that number is almost doubled. This does not include time spent on buying food, planning what to make and preparing food, taking selfies and more which could easily add another hour or two to the amount of hours spent on food consumption.
Did you know that the saddest day and happiest day on the Jewish Calendar are within days of each other? And no it is not Purim or Chanukah….
Sir Issac Newton is known for many things including his research in calculus and in the field of universal gravity. Yet a lesser known side of Newton is that he intensely studied the Hebrew language so that he could study the Torah in its original form and understand it properly without relying on translations that he felt were at times questionable and not so accurate.
Sometimes it might seem that as a society we might be slipping backwards and losing parts of our values and accomplishments that have taken so long to achieve. Sometimes it may appear that we are simply treading water and going around in circles and then there are the moments when we feel like we are actually making progress and advancing towards growth and positive change in society.
Many people are dealing with vacations and travel plans that were canceled or rescheduled. There are people that I know who had trips to Israel, Europe, Australia and cruises and more that were planned and have since canceled.
This week the parents of one of my Bar Mitzvah students who have had to revise and reschedule long planned Bar Mitzvahs, asked their son what he would like to do on his upcoming 13th birthday to make the day itself special. They told me that offered him various fun activities and options, but instead he responded that what he wants to do on that day, is to go to Chabad and wrap Tefillin for the first time in his life.
As I drove along the highway on Wednesday as I headed down to New York, I suddenly noticed a big wheelbarrow in the inside lane. I quickly moved over to avoid it and called 911 to report it so that the police could safely stop the traffic and remove the danger. When I called they told me that they are already on to it and will be there any minute to take care of it. We continued driving down the Interstate 84 and I chatted and learned a little with my son as we enjoyed some quiet one on one time.
Last night a young man approached me as I left the resting place of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Queens, NY and asked me for a ride to Brooklyn where I was headed. After I ensured that he had a mask (and he had long since recovered from COVID), I said that he could come in my car and we began to drive.
In the months since Passover, we have managed to personally deliver hundreds of pre-Shabbat Packages filled with Challah, sometimes Chicken Soup and Desserts and packed with a dose of love, to families, friends, neighbors and others living in Sudbury and the surrounding area. By far the best feedback we get is for the Challah itself and everyone wants to know Shayna's recipe for this amazing Challah (which is available on request).
Imagine a small gold cup full to the brim with pure olive oil with a wick leaning on its side waiting its turn to share its light. Suddenly a lamplighter approaches and momentarily stalls next to the wick and behold there is a spark and a hiss and then the wick lights up. The lamplighter pauses momentarily to make sure that the wick is burning independently and now beginning to give its own beautiful light and glow, and only then does it move on to the next cup of oil waiting to be lit.
In 1991 a young six-year-old child by the name of Gavin Cato was killed in a terrible and tragic car accident in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and the resulting tension after his death, led to three days of race riots.